November 7, 2018 • 48 mins
Doug discusses Dez Bryant signing with the Saints and what he has to do to be successful. Ryen Russillo from The Ringer breaks down what he saw in Duke’s dominating win over Kentucky. Plus Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to tell Doug if Jason Garrett needs to develop a better offense for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.
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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
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 FSR. This is the best of
(00:22):
the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What
Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Coming to
here from the Sunny city of Southern California or Sunday
area of Southern California city City of Los Angeles. I
hope you're having a great day, man, We got a
(00:45):
lot to talk about. Yes, we will talk about duke basketball.
Duke basketball. You heard that Sam Donald likely out with
a foot sprain. Will get into that why it could
be the best thing to ever happen for him, man.
Do we also is a video of Levy on Bell
working out at a fitness center. So he's starting to
trying to trying to get that It's like trying to
(01:06):
get the babyweight off. He's trying to get the hold
hold out weight off. But he is in Pittsburgh. We
assume getting ready to rejoin the Steelers. Why not I
just rejoin the Steelers Now, I feel like he's getting
some bad advice. But let's start with the story of
the day. And that said, Dez Bryant is back, and
he's not back with Dallas Cowboys. Instead, he's back with
(01:26):
a guy who he used to play for, going back early,
very very early in his career, or guy has a
relationship with in Sean Payton. Dez Bryant is now a
member of the New Orleans Saints. Side note, I get
a chance to call Dez Bryant's first game as member
of the New Orleans Saints as I'm doing the radio
(01:47):
call with Brian Baldinger of Saints Bengals this weekend. So
that's kind of cool. I mean, and look, I have
never been I mean, I was a Dez Bryant guy
before it was cool to be a Dez Bryant guy.
And then I've been a des Brian realist before other
people were a Dez Bryant realist. And I gotta tell you,
this is the best possible scenario for des Bryant. The
(02:10):
best possible scenario because they already have Michael Thomas, and
outside of that, they really Ted Gin Jr. Is on
I R Uh, Tommy Tommy Lee Lewis is on I R.
You know you got Cameron Meredith, you have Benjamin Watson,
(02:31):
but there's there's no other guy that demands attention. And
Dez isn't well, he ain't good enough to be a
number one guy, but he's good enough to be a
number two or a number three guy, because Alvin Kamara
is really their second second best wide receiver. He's also
their running back, one of their two tremendous running backs.
But but the the issues with Dez are, hey, can
(02:54):
he get along? Can he handle being the number two
or the number three? Can he handle only getting a
couple of targets to go his way? Will he still
play hard? Will he still block? Does he understand we're
not gonna pay him a ton of money? And for
Dez Bryant, what do we know about sports? If you're
around a winner, you don't even have necessarily have to
(03:16):
play well. People just want people that come from winning organizations,
and they convinced themselves that you're one of the reasons
that they won. And right now, the Cowboys look worse,
not better without Dez Bryant. The Saints already winning, so
he can only add to and I know their their
schedule is much more difficult down the stretch. Here. By
(03:39):
the way, this weekend the Bengals. Bengals have given up
more yards than anybody in the NFL, anybody. So you
get an opportunity against a bad defense. The other guy
is gonna be seeing double teams with a tremendous, creative
play caller, with a good quarterback in a winning organization
that's gonna be in the playoffs. And if you just
don't do anything or saying stupid, play hard, work hard,
(04:01):
come to practice, catch the balls that are throwing your
way as often as possible, be a good teammate like
he'll be back on the market next year and have
a chance to get back into the league legitimately for
an entire season. I honestly think, and I've said this
about other guys, I said this actually about Dez in
(04:22):
the in the preseason. Sit and wait till somebody needs you.
Until somebody needs you, man, we need you. We need
one more piece to take that next step. And that's
what he's become and in in searching for Dez bryan
two point oh, you can't get any better than playing
indoors with a tremendous quarterback opposite a guy who's going
(04:47):
to command a double team in the best cover corners
in the league. Michael Thomas is right there in the conversation,
the best five wide receivers in the NFL. Plus you
have Alvin Kamara, who the second he splits out wide,
you better take that line back of that safety off
of him. I mean this, this is a golden opportunity.
(05:09):
Des Brian was a guy who was a lead actor
who then took a secondary or tertiary role. And if
you can roll with it, if you cannot try and
scene steal and just be part of the ensemble cast,
they'll be roles for days. The question about Dez Bryant
has not been anything other than can he accept a
(05:30):
lesser role than he's used to? All right? And and
unless a role like look, he can't be the number
three or number four wide receiver because those guys have
to play special teams and des Brian ain't playing special teams.
Unless a role doesn't mean you're gonna be playing for
the league. Minimum in the in the in the years
to come, it's can you be? And Kwan Bolden, can
(05:53):
you be? Larry Fitzgerald? The other part two it is
you sit there and you watched long enough and all
those things that people told you start to ring true
to you, Like when the Cowboys cut him, he started
to go through the states. You know the process of
(06:15):
you know, his denial is the first first of the steps, right,
but once you get to acceptance, you accept that, hey,
I'm not as fast as I used to be. I
have established a reputation as a guy who done had
the best hands, done run the bus routes. Might not
be a number two guy. But if that doesn't motivate
(06:37):
you as a competitor, it being out of the league
for half of a year if openly opening for the
Patriots to bring you in, and they don't, and instead
they trade for Josh Gordon after acquiring Eric Decker and
then cutting Eric Decker before he retired. If those things
don't motivate you, nothing will the Saints in because they
(07:00):
get a guy was was still with a good amount
of talent left on the absolute cheap and he still
has fresh legs, and they like it and probably lose
five pounds before he plays, and that I think DEAs
can do now once he kind of cranks up the conditioning.
(07:21):
And for Daz, there's a little bit of desperation combined
with a lot of opportunity and you're playing on a
winning football team and you don't have the concerns of
playing with a bad quarterback. Now, look, there's a downside
to it because if it doesn't work out, if he
isn't making catches, Drew Brees is gonna catch zero of
the heat. If he is a pain in the ass. No,
(07:44):
Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara and Sean Payton and Drew
Brees ain't having But they have two outstanding running backs,
they have a great wide receiver, they have a tremendous
home field advantage. They're not a lock, but they're trending
the way of a lock as a playoff team likely
to get at least one home game in the playoffs,
(08:06):
if that maybe more, especially after they play the Rams
and beat the Rams, so you get them head to
head and tiebreakers. Like all things are good, you don't
want to be the guy that screws it up. On
the other hand, if you're just on the winning team.
How many guys have we seen on a winning team
benefit greatly from it and then benefit from it financially
(08:26):
after the season is done. Happens all the time. Happens
all the time, and this is one of those. Like
I hate to be morbid, but my dog died almost man,
almost four years was it? Yeah? Three years almost three
(08:51):
years ago? Three years ago before Halloween. My dog died.
And UM, I'm not gonna cat explain in anybody in
my house who may have run over the dog's hind
end because the dog was old and couldn't hear and
was medicated. I would never do that. But if you've
ever lost an animal, and I did this when I
(09:15):
was in um as an elementary school, I used to
have a rabbit and I came back from summer camp
and I used to take my rabbit out of the
cage and I played with the rabbit. And I don't
have the phone ranger. I went inside to get food
and I forgot that the rabbit was outside. I built
this little fort. You know, I'm like nine years old,
and my dogs got loose, and one of my dogs
chased down my rabbit. And we're just trying to play
(09:36):
with it and I think broke its neck. I was devastated.
My parents ran out and the very next day I
made them buy me a French lap a really cute
little rabbit. But it wasn't the same. I was kind
of over the rabbit thing, and it was the knee
jerk reaction. It was the bounce back girl, if you will,
and that rabbit. Fast forward like six years dater. I
(10:00):
remember my my brother. I called home from a basketball camp.
Remem brother said, hey, Bugsy died of a broken heart.
Because it was just too soon. I didn't appreciate my
old rabbit in or did I really understand what would
it be to get a new rep. Well, my dog
Um had to be put down. She was thirteen years old.
This is like three years ago. I wanted to meeta.
(10:20):
I got online, I started looking up new dogs. I
wanted a new dog. The next day, there's an old
George Carlin thing. If the thing about dogs is you
can go take your old dog in, put him up
in the counter, goes that was a good dog. Give
me one that looks and acts just like that, and
you know what they can. But we waited and waited,
and we actually we decided we want to get a
(10:42):
We had Bassett bassett hound. We want to get a sheepadoodle.
And you know what, we weighed like six seven months
till we really wanted a dog until it wasn't the winner.
So they weren't always you know, going out in the
middle of winter when you're trying to house train the dog.
And we end up getting just the right one, just
the fit. And my dog now is amazing. And Dez
(11:05):
Bryant went and visited the Cleveland Browns. How big a
disaster would that have been? Todd Haley wasn't getting along
with Hugh Jackson. They both end up getting fired. You're
playing with a rookie quarterback Josh Gordon end up being
traded away, like remember when he visited them on hard knocks.
That would have been running out and getting a new
rabbit or getting a new dog. Instead, des took his time,
(11:29):
got a little bit lucky. Gets to play a playoff
team with a Hall of Fame quarterback, a Hall of
Fame play caller, and one of the top five wide
receivers in the league, so it takes away the double
team that he can't beat anymore. Be sure to catch
live editions of the Doug dot Leap Show weekdays in
noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. Or Let's just Welcome in,
(11:50):
Ryan Rasilo. The Rasilla podcast on ESPN, as well as
the Dual Threat podcast on The Ring are both available.
So he can sit uh in his in his workout gear,
Pound Pound Creating, and uh pound out some some podcasts
on a daily basis while living at the beach, living
the life, living the dream. Ryan, Let's uh, let's let's start.
(12:13):
Let's start with the college football rankings. Because you like
me like this is a it's a it's a love
affair with college football. That that if you share um
as vociferously as we share it. When you saw him
pop up last night, what was your first reaction, Um, well,
I think the biggest thing that may not even matter
is that L s U was ahead of West Virginia
(12:35):
and ahead of Washington State, and in the eyes of
the committee and the way they do the rankings, which
I actually think is a better way to do it,
is that the ap Historically, if you are a good
team that lost to a team we all thought was
better than you, we dropped you like ten spots and
they didn't do that with l s U, despite the
fact getting shut out when I was in bath Rouge
the Saturday watching that game and it wasn't close. But
(12:56):
they still like the fact that they beat Georgia, that
they played Florida lost them, and the rest of their schedule.
I mean, they liked the teams that they've played against.
And I talked to Rob Mullins, the chairman Committee, the
Committee chair last night on my podcast, and he was like, look,
you know, we just we still as of right now
have them there, but it's impossible for them to get
really back into this thing. So it doesn't really matter,
(13:17):
but that seems to be the thing everybody is most
upset about. I think ultimately hif o'house date wins out,
it'll be an interesting conversation to see how Notre Dame
messes this whole thing up, and ultimately if there's some
sort of four or five debay between Michigan and Notre Dame,
knowing that the head to head was was Notre Dames
in week one and if that will matter that it
was the beginning of the season. So I still think
(13:38):
a lot of this stuff that we get really worried
about it's a lot of fun, but it does find
a way to kind of play itself out right. I
mean like West Virginia would have to beat Oklahoma twice twice,
and if they beat him twice, then they'll probably play
in the College fall playoffs. Right. I mean that because
I you know, I mean everyone, because generally half the
at least half the teams are going to the Georgia
(14:00):
or Alabama. Somebody's gonna listen. I guess here's my question.
Alabama lose the Georgia in the SEC championship game, did
they get in over a Michigan team that runs the
table that that one is? Like her Street last night
was just saying, hey, Michigan, they're they're twelve and one
with the lost and there name who maybe is in
the playoffs and they're big ten champs. They're getting in.
(14:23):
But you know, throughout this entire thing and going through
the mock selection thing myself twice, like the message they
kept hammering home is who do we think the four
best teams are? Who do we think the four best
teams are? So when they say conference championships matter and
then they don't pick a conference champion, then that fan
base gets really upset and says, oh, the committee lied
to us. It's like, no, they're they're telling you that
it matters to a point. But if they sit there
(14:43):
and go, you know what, we just think Alabama is
better than Michigan, then that's going to be the defense
for I have a hard time believing that, you know,
unless how State were to lose some other game here,
that doesn't make any sense, you know what I'm saying.
So if Ohio State all of a sudden, like the
wait a minute, that they are this really messed up
team that got housed by Pertina, when that one doesn't
seem to be as impressive, then maybe there's an argument
against it. And the teams of the Big Ten West,
(15:05):
you know, they're not really that impressive, so they don't
have this kind of Georgia type team. On the other side,
for Michigan to be in a Big Ten championship game,
that maybe it's another data point that's super impressive. But
that's going to be a really really tough sell to
everybody that they don't just love the top of the SEC.
But you know, to this, to this like the historic point,
(15:26):
we only have four years of this stuff, and I
like I like the idea of these guys going in
the room and saying, you know what, we just think
this team is better than that team, and that's put
that out to do. So, So with that in mind,
if you were in that room and they said, rissilo,
four best teams, go well right now, or are you
giving me the end of the season scenario. I'm forgetting
(15:48):
this season. I'm just asking you best teams does not
is not record dependent, Like, who are the four best teams?
In your opinion? I think George is better than Notre Dame,
so and I have against third, and I would have
and and and people would sit there to go with
Notre Dame beat Michigan, like, yeah, look, I could go
into the whole Notre Dame might even be better offensive
than they were then because their quarterback plays so much better.
(16:10):
But there was a ton of luck and fortunate Tarik
Black didn't play. He just now playing for Michigan and
wide receiver Shaye Patterson's in his first game, plus he
was cramping, Plus it was on the road, and they
still could have won that game. I'm with you. I
don't think Notre Dame is one of the four best teams.
But if they end the season undefeated, they're going to
play for a national championship. Correct, Yeah, that's I mean.
The other thing too, is that when you're looking Notre
(16:31):
Dame schedule before the season starts, you go, you know,
I can't really even take them serious of playoff contender
because there's no way they're gonna be able to go
to that. But then it turns out that they get
the win against Michigan, and Michigan is really good at
least that's what we think right now, right and smashing
Penn State when other teams have been in battles of
Pennce Date. Pense Date's not what they were last year,
but they smashed them this weekend and that was really
really impressive. Okay, they maybe have the best defense going
to college football, but Notre Dame Stanford is even close.
(16:53):
I mean, Stanford not being able to run the football
is like the thing that makes the least amount of
sense to me in college football. Um, Virginia Tech not good.
Granted they had a backup, but they went down to
Laye Stadium and put a forty on them. The USC
isn't gonna be any good. Um, you know how a
Syracuse might be their second best opponent, right, I mean,
and even with the Northwestern game, I go, ah, you know,
(17:15):
I'm not sure, and I'll admit like at times, there's
certain certain games like Northwestern is definitely better than I think.
But then I go, well, they're not in that big
boying neighborhood, so I'm a little bit more Dismissivebou. I'm
almost like a little bit like Kentucky. Yeah, you have
a good defense, but also watching the Zoo game, and
I don't think you're that great. So the noted Names
fan is gonna freak out of even hearing this, saying,
how could you not have us in undefeated? Well, if
(17:36):
you're undefeated at a different conversation as of right now, though,
I just think George is better than you. If Georgia
were playing Notre Dame in a neutral site, I would
took Georgia. I just would. And I know that there's
this Notre Dame argument that I wasn't even that aware
of when I first heard it. Noted Names fans saying,
you know, not only to be basically beat him with
our backup quarterback. That's a really convenient way of kind
of lying, even though it's sort of true. But whin
(17:57):
Bush to start the year was your guy. And the
reason they started over Book is because they trust him
to go up against that Michigan defense. So it's not
like you played, you know, Chase Bryce back there with
zero experience instead of Book who had no experience. So
I don't think like that sounds really good and the
Bag show, but I don't really think it's all that accurate.
Doug Galli Show, Fox Sports Radio. Let's get to the NBA.
(18:18):
How come Lebron doesn't looked like Lebron yet? I wonder
sometimes if he knew that this was gonna like, I
didn't think they were gonna be great, Okay, I thought
they're gonna be a playoff team, so you know, I
didn't know that to be this bad and there. I
thought they'd be okay on defense because they were pretty
good last year. But with all these different pieces, it's
gonna be tough and they have to be better than
(18:39):
being one of the two hourst teams defensively. Okay. I
didn't like how they did the roster, and a lot
of it had to do with you had. You can't
have like twelve or thirteen guys at all Legitimately, expect
minutes and shots. It just doesn't work that way, okay,
And that's what they have. So from what I had
heard when Lebron was pitched on this whole thing, I
don't think this is really the plan. So in a
weird way, even though there's no pressure on him and
(19:01):
we didn't think this team was really going to challenge
you're coming out of the West. That I don't know
if he's pacing himself in a way that we've seen
him pace himself in seasons before. I mean last year
he paced himself defensively. He didn't play any defense last year,
and he's kind of doing the same thing again this year.
So I think it's he's going through the motions of
(19:21):
trying to figure out what this roster is. And I
think it's ridiculous for Magic to criticize Luke and say,
you know, you got to get a solid rotation here
and everybody has to know their role. Well, wait a minute,
you're the one to put this roster together. Has all
these different pieces that I still need to figure out.
We're not even twenty games into this thing. But Lebron
can be pretty theatrical, and I think his frustration is
something he can't mask, so when you're watching it, he
(19:43):
is playing up to the disappointment and frustration how bad
they're playing. That's what I see. I see a guy
that kind of checks in and checks out a little
bit in games. He's still putting up big numbers, and
he still has these stretches where it's total dominance that
we expect from him. But I think there are a
lot of kind of lulls throughout the game when he's
in there where it almost looks like he's taking a
quarter off totally. And I mean like and he's kind
(20:05):
of checked out in terms of his facial intensity, and
something goes bad and he just kind of runs back
on defense and it's not that big a deal, Like
I just look, look, Kevin became to the eye roll
right like he has He's that guy in your group
that has no poker face. He has no poker face
whatsoever when things aren't going right, and it's almost like
he wants us to see it. And he's always been
(20:25):
that way as a player. Yeah yeah, but now it's
even more obvious because it's l A, it's clearly his
team and it's it's not going well. Um, all right,
what about the Celtics. Why haven't they been consistently better.
It's really their offense. I mean, their defense is terrific,
and that's another team that's trying to figure this thing out.
And Gordon Hayward has this very good I askeolutely because
(20:48):
he just sort of out of basketball shape. They're like, no, no, physically,
he's good to go, but he just hasn't he hasn't fit.
And the other night when they closed against Denver in
a close game, they actually shot him out to close
the game. So I always pay attention to kind of
the last five more than starting five. Jalen hasn't been
very good, Tatum hasn't had these moments. Horford is terrific,
but I've even seen games where I'm surprised how much
(21:09):
he's shooting. I thought he made might take like two
shots per game because he's so unselfish with the rest
of this roster. And I went to go see him
play Orlando in person, and when they come out for
the tip, I go Horford, Tatum, Brown, Kyrie Hayward, and
then off the bench ro Zero More. It's like, I'm like,
this team is stacked. And then they stopped for forty
eight minutes like they couldn't do anything or screwing up
(21:31):
all sorts of stuff, and Brad was getting frustrated, stuffing
guys in and out. And I could have expected him like, Okay,
well they'll figure this out and pull away, and they didn't.
Like the Orlando Magic who aren't good beat him and
beat him start to finish the whole time. So I'd
still rather have the talent and have that be my
issue than a lack of talent. I still have all
the faith in the world and Brad Stevens kind of
figuring this thing out. But what you have here is
(21:52):
I think you have Jalen a little annoyed that Tatum's
the guy where Jalen's been with better as an NBA
player than I thought he would be. You saw the
report or today, which is no secret that Rogier is
annoyed after being kind of a playoff hero because the
injuries that he's not getting any minutes smart who I
wish somebody would say, hey, dude, you've got your contracts,
you can stop shooting now. Um, that's not gonna happen.
He's just he's just gonna take his shots and they're
(22:15):
rarely ever good and you know, Kyrie's kind of been
up and down as he balances playmaker versus one of
the top five scoring finishers in the entire league. So
I still think they figure it out. But it's weird
that it's an offensive system issue. I'm not saying like
they have the wrong system, but there's zero flow to them.
(22:35):
They just they're choppy all the time, and yet they're
still winning enough games. It's not like they have this
terrible record. It's just not the the fluidity that you'd expect,
and different guys just not being where you thought they'd be. Yeah,
and we also haven't had the you go, I go,
you go, I go kind of like we've have a
golden state right where you've got three different guys and
they've each had a different night where you're like, oh, yeah,
(22:57):
when if they wanted to, they could, you know, they
could do the US on their own team. He kind
of haven't had that from Boston yet. Yeah, Clay really
is the greatest. I don't even want to call him
a secondary guy, but in that offense, I mean, he's
not even the secondary guy, but he is as great
as I think I've seen as as a non Bald
dependent score he's just he could play with anyone and
(23:22):
still put up massive numbers because he doesn't need the ball.
Before I didn't think he was great with the ball,
and now he is, but he just doesn't need to.
And I think there was some ridiculous staff And in
his fifty point game, he had like fifty six dribbles
and Rose had like six dribbles in his I'm serious,
like I think, I don't know not don't quote me
right to the number, but it was something like that.
(23:42):
So you know, Kyrie's gonna dribble, Heyward. Remember with the
Jazz like, he could do a lot of different things.
Remember that Jazz team didn't even have a really trusted
second score when he was closing out of his career there,
so he could he could do all sorts of stuff.
I think they play they should play with him as
more of the facilitator, like I've talked to Brad. Yes, yeah,
(24:06):
I think so too. And he's been and he's way
bigger than like anybody I think realizes like has a
big dude um, and so you can run things where
he's and and you know, and I also think that
he's a little bit of he's the opposite of Kyrie.
Where's Kyrie. His default is to just go do it
by himself, and he's had to learn to play make
(24:29):
Gordon Haywards had to learn to be a more dominant
score whereas he's totally cool setting other people up. I
almost think they should play through Hayward and let him
set other guys up. He just hasn't been one of
the better players. I mean he really that's a problem
the five best players. I think that's the problem is
that you try to give him the benefit doubt given
the minutes, and eventually you expect, at some point he
figures this out. But then you have you know, Marcus
(24:51):
Smart's gonna take jumpers, and Morris is gonna he's gonna
take shots like Morris is looking around the rest of
the team saying, I don't think any of these guys,
you know, Rosiere still wants to get his so I don't.
I don't see it as a season long problem. And again,
the record, it's not like their record is terrible. We're
talking about them the way we're talking about the Lakers.
(25:11):
But you know, Brad's just so good that you expected
he'll figure it out at some point. I think even
he has nights where he's ordering what he's going to get.
Um last thing last night we saw Duke and therefore
Freshmen were incredible. Zion Williamson is going to get so
much of the press because he just jumps off the
screen literally and figuratively jumps off the screen. But in
(25:34):
the in the reality of the NBA, how close is
it between he and R. J. Barrett to be the
number one pick? Oh, I think it's really close. Now
here's the thing. I saw the game play out that
way last night on Twitter without watching it, and because
I was doing the college football stuff and I was
talking to Rob Mullins, so I had to take down.
I taped it late after those guys get done with
the years Man Show, and so I thought, like Zion
(25:58):
did a seven twenty or something, which I think he
probably could. I don't know. I don't follow on Instagram.
But then I watched the game this morning, and you know,
it's almost like going into a movie with expectations. And
I kept watching Barrett go This guy is huge. He
can shoot and no one can stay in front of him.
So I don't want to do the thing where it's, hey,
everybody's going to Zion. I want to be the Barrick guy,
but you're absolutely light, Like Barrett was insane last night.
(26:21):
And the thing about Zion that I thought is something
all of us and I didn't watch him high school, right,
I don't time to go to the showcases check that
stuff out. He has a much more complete game than
all the stuff that we had seen, right. I think
I watched highlights and clips of him for a year
where I go to have I ever even seen him
take a jump shot? And it's passing and going and
and is great. But if I were in the front office,
(26:42):
I think I'm reread about Zion's body, like I don't
want you to get any bigger, dude, if you're this
big now and you have those hips, like I don't
want to turn I don't want you to turn into
like I'm trying to think of like like Drew Gooden
filled out you know, Robert Tractor trailer. He was the
guy that like, get big. I'm not saying that his
eyeon is well, I don't know you're saying it's exactly right. No,
(27:03):
the guys I've talked to her like, look the weight,
it's gonna be an issue. Like he's just he's thick dude.
He's huge and he's yeah, and he's but and he's
only like six five and he's six five and he's
kind it's not like he's fat, but he's just big.
And how can you sustain? Can you sustain the athleticism
(27:25):
if you lose weight and and and can you can
you even lose weights? Some guys just can't. They're just
big bone that way. Yeah, that's what you have to do.
And I'm sure the people listening to was going, what
do you guys not? Did you see him last night?
He was He was insane. He was beyond anything that
I expected because there was so much more, Like watching
him get out in half on the brake, I'm like, man,
this is special. And it was funny a couple of times,
(27:46):
like they had a break and I'm like, get a design,
get a design, and I think it's Barrett. He would
finish and I'd be like, oh wait a minute. You know,
like he's looked terrific too. But if you're a front
office guy, you're I mean, I know this sounds funny
to people, but you're looking at it, but up going
all right, it's good now, But you know, I can't Okay,
I don't know. I don't know if you can stay
(28:08):
that big or are you going to get bigger? Are
you in the A tend your decision. It's as opposed
to you know, what we saw last night was incredible,
but Barrett's special, I don't think. I don't know how
you watch that game and go, wait a minute, that
barratitude is right there. I think some of the prospect
stuff hasn't right there anyway. So you know, it's feels
so early in this well the other year plays out.
But that was that was scary because ridiculously good. They're
(28:30):
so big now, which is a difference between other big
teams that I don't think it played defense. I think
they have some real options now now they're they're they're
pretty amazing. And then you got Trey Jones, a legit
point guard. It's yeah, but he impressed me last night.
You know, it's funny he looks older than his older brother. Yes,
he looks more physically mature. Yes he does, he absolutely does.
(28:51):
And his older brother this is kind of weird. I
don't know if they mentioned in you know Travis read
Travis who Kentucky forgot they had on their team for
the first half. Um, they're both from he's from Minnesota
as well. Like they came out together, they played together
kind of growing up, right, So it's just weird that
one guy has been in the league NBA for a
couple years, the other guy has been in college basketball
(29:13):
for several years now. He's playing against his brother Ryan Sell.
The podcast UH is available, plus the Dual Threat podcast
is over on the Ringer at some point in person.
We gotta do this in the meantime. Thanks for joining us.
Thanks appreciate. Be sure to catch live editions. So the
Doug Dot Leap Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm Pacific,
(29:33):
all sort of. Today, here's Clay Travis talking about Jim
Harbaugh and Michigan being ranked fourth in the country. What
I have pointed out is that Jim Harbaugh is being
treated as if he is Nick Saban Urban Meyer or
Dabbo Sweeney. Those are the three best college football coaches
over the last decade. After that, I think there's a
fairly substantial gap. I think after one, two, and three
(29:56):
there's a fairly substantial gap, and Jim Harball is up there,
probably somewhere in the top ten. What he hasn't done
is perform at the level of the absolute most elite
coaches in college football. All right, I mean that's because
dab was Swheney won a national championship win year. I mean, look,
Dabo has been really, really good. And after the first
(30:19):
couple of years, you know, first year as a full
time head coach, nine and five, then six and seven. Uh,
then they were ten and four. But remember there they
played and got blown out in the Orange Bowl. Uh.
Then they started cranking it up in eleven, eleven, ten.
Then the last two years. With the last two years
with Deshaun Watson, he had fourteen and fourteen wins, losing
once in the college while playoff winning it the next year.
(30:41):
Last year they lost in the Sugar Bowl. Um. I
just think context matters. I just I just do. I
think context matters. Like this whole idea that you have
to win a championship or how you really like, it's
just dumb to me. It's just dumb to me. You know,
it's I watch I watch, I watch NBA games and
(31:04):
people are like, well, look at his stats. You know,
Trey Young, for example, stats have been really good for
most of these games. But the problem with those stats
are they're playing at a faster pace, averaging a hundred
possessions per game, so more possessions equals more stats. What's
your plus minus are you guarding anybody? How many of
the points the guy you're having guard? What's your shooting percentage?
(31:25):
How many turnovers do you have? All these things are important.
And I also realized that Tree Young is nineteen years old,
so he's going to get better, But is he getting
better at the things that he needs to improve? College football,
It's like, look, he took over San Diego, they weren't
any good. They were awesome when he left. Took over Stanford,
they hadn't won a game. They were awesome when he left.
He took over San Francisco they had gone like a
decade before without winning. He went to an NFC championship
(31:48):
game and to a Super Bowl, nearly won a Super Bowl.
Did it fall apart a little bit? Yeah, that's because
Jeduard and him couldn't get along. Um, But he built
a team that couldn't figure out a way to get
right into a into a winner. It took Michigan from
kind of a laughing stock, a team that had no
real direction for a decade and now has made them
(32:09):
into the most dynamic team in the big tent much football.
Did the team get better? Sure? Like? Look if even
if you take the stats of well, remember they didn't
be to Hos State. They had a bad spot, didn't
be Michigan State. Like, if you look at the raw
data without looking at context, you're doomed to make a
statement that's in reality falls. Fox Sports Radio has the
(32:31):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to
listen live. Greg Cosal works for NFL Films, an absolute
legend of the business, and we are so honored that
he joins our show on a weekly basis. Uh, Greg,
let me first start with the New Orleans Saints. I
(32:52):
do want to ask you about Dez Bryant, but you
watched the Saints tape against the Rams. Um. Look, on paper,
the Rams have this dynamic defensive line, but in reality,
Drew Brees was able to to shred it, to to
tear it up, to find some holes, to find some weaknesses.
Now I know some of it is in the defensive backfield. Right,
(33:12):
Marcus Peters got got burned by by Michael Thomas and
staring in the backfield again. But but a lot of
the good work was done up front. How are the
Saints able to to keep Drew clean? Well, I think
a lot of that, Doug has to do with the
style of offense and the schematics of the Saints pass game,
because there's a lot of quick game. Breezes is a
(33:33):
master at getting the ball out. I think Breeze is
also a master at understanding fronts and coverage before the
snap of the ball, so he wins more often than
not before the ball is snapped. Now, I will say this,
in the second half, the Rams pass rush did become
a factor at times. They didn't get a sack and people,
I'm sure to look at that, but they had some
(33:55):
some timely rushes in the second half. And that's why
the Saints after putting up thirty five uh in the
first half, we're not as efficient. But there's no question
that the combination of what the Saints do. The Saints
do a number of things. It's it's personnel, it's formations,
and it's it's tempo and uh, the Patriots do the same.
(34:15):
So it becomes difficult to defend them. Uh. Now you
add in Dez Bryant. Does that really help them? Do
they need another wide receiver? Well, I guess they think
they do. Uh. And I'll say this, I think that does.
Brian is helped by the nature of the schematics because
they're a highly schemed pass game. Based on what I
(34:36):
just said, whereas the Dallas Cowboys are not. The Dallas
Cowboys basically ask their receivers to win a lot of
individual and isolation routes and does Brian has passed the
point in his career whe he could do that consistently.
Now he's in a schemed offense. Now I'm not sitting
here suggesting he's going to go off and catch ten
balls a week. And and I don't know what he
has left or what kind of person he is. I
(34:57):
don't know that stuff. But I will say at what
the tape showed of him a year ago, he could
not function effectively in the nature of the Cowboys offense.
He has a better chance to at least be a
factor in the schematics of the Saints offense. Yeah, I mean,
I mean, like look, and and this is more layman
discussion than Gregor at your level. Of discussion, right, You're
you're talking graduate doctoral stuff just from a layman NFL
(35:22):
fan who knows a little something point of view. Michael
Thomas is in the conversation. Being a top five wide receiver,
Alvin Kamara is always a mismatch no matter where they
line him up, and so you can't really put Camput
a line background because that's in fact teams put safeties
on him. Now, he actually caught that touchdown pass in
that game with LaMarcus Joyner covering a man to man.
(35:45):
So so so the point is, like, look, if des
Brian is going to succeed, it's it's not where he
has to be the double team and it's not where
he's gonna have to beat the top corners. It's where
a couple of times a game he's gonna have to
get open against the slot corner or the secondary corner
and find spots within a zone and and occasionally run
blocked downfield. Right, And so this is this is the
(36:08):
perfect And oh yeah, by the way, you're gonna need
a guy who throws him open sometimes because he's not
gonna run open and and he's gonna do that with
with with Drew Brees. It if it's gonna work for
him at this point in his career, this is probably
the best opportunity, right, or the scheme will get him open.
Let's say, you know, they go three receivers to one
side and two of them are tight ends, and they're
on the outside and is the inside slot and he's
(36:30):
working against a linebacker. Right, you know, the scheme will help.
And they didn't do that kind of stuff in Dallas,
certainly not last year, and they're not doing a lot
of it this year either. That's the voice of Great
Costell who joins us and makes it smarter every week
here on the Dug out Lip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I want to ask you about the Indianapolis Colts. We
have a tendency to talk about all these other teams. Um,
We'll get to Houston a second as well. Cults are
(36:51):
kind of a team lurking out there is like, hey,
you know, look at their schedule. They're getting better, Marlon
Max starting run the football. UM. A lot of us
had questions about Andrew lux ability to throw the ball downfield.
You pointed out early in the year he wasn't throwing
the ball downfield. Midseason, take a snapshot where is Luck
on the combat trail. Well, he's still not throwing it
a ton down field, But I think the nature of
(37:13):
that task game. It's Frank Reich so and he's been around,
not just with Doug Peterson a year ago, but Frank
Reich has a lot of experience in this league and
understands the talent of his players. So what you're dealing
with ultimately is a pass game that is a lot quicker,
quick game. Stuff the three step drop, five step drop,
the ball gets out. I don't believe Luck has been
sacked in three games. Much of that is a function
(37:35):
of the offense. Certainly it's a function of the old line,
a young old line improving, but it's the nature of
the past game. And uh, and they don't have a
ton of weapons. That's the thing. On the perimeter. They
have t Y Hilton, but they don't have much else. Now.
They certainly have tight ends. They have the Ebron, they
have Doyle who's back, so they run a lot of
two tight end sets and they're very effective. Greg Costell
(37:57):
joining us in the Doug Outland Show on Fox Sport
Radio Texans survived. I mean, I don't know what they're
doing in Denver, Why they're kicking a sixty two yard
field goal when the other team has two time outs
and you end up, you know, giving Houston a chance
of the sixteen and ten lead at the break and
then you know, taking essentially taking a knee with a
fifty one yard field goal. Um. So, Houston has been very,
(38:19):
very fortunate with some untimely coaching decisions. When Indy could
have tied them and they didn't, when Dallas could have
beaten them and they chose to punt. And now in
Denver where Vance Vance Joseph made some bizarre decision that
said and one six in a row. Um, what is
the offensive line better? I mean, how how have they
(38:40):
been able to function behind behind a line that previously
people were telling me bottom five line in the NFL. Well,
I think it's still not a great line. I think
it's slightly improving. Keep in mind, everyone wants to talk
about their offense, because obviously DeShawn Watson is a dynamic player,
but this is a team dog with a very good defense.
Their front seven when it's at its best, just top
(39:00):
three front seven in the league. I mean, the players
they have in that unit are pretty darn good. So
they know, for the most part, if they're all healthy,
that their defense will keep them in games. You know,
Watson is is still a work in progress to some degree. Um,
but he's but he is dynamic. The best part of
his game is his movement at this point. But he
(39:21):
can make very good throws from the pocket. And I
think to Marius Thomas will help them quite a bit.
They needed a second receiver. Now, he's not a burner,
he's not an over the top receiver, but he's a
professional receiver and I think that will help them. Great.
Go Sell joining us in the Doug Otlib Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. Let's get to the Dallas Cowboys. Um. Now,
(39:42):
so they fired an offensive line coach and they ran
the football pretty well in the first half, couldn't get
it going at all, and really didn't try a ton
in the second half. They lose to the Tennessee Titans. Um.
I know it's not one thing, right, It's not just
the line, it's not just the schematics, it's not just
Dak Prescott. But in order of who's most responsible for
(40:02):
the issues with the Dallas Cowboys offense, what's the answer. Well,
it's funny, you say, that they actually did try to run.
In the second half, the nature the game got away
from them because the Titans had the ball for a
number of long drives and the Cowboys got into some
long yardage situations when they got the ball and they were, uh,
they were stuck. But they did come out on their
(40:23):
first possession and try to run the ball. So so
just so you know, the argument that that Elliott only
had six touches as if that's terrible, that's the wrong
response based on watching the tape. But I will say
this their offense, Um, it could get better now Cooper
will gives them at least a route runner who can
win versus man coverage. It's an offense that asked their
(40:44):
receivers to win a lot versus man. They run isolation routes. Uh,
they don't have great receivers to do that on a
consistent basis. Cooper will help Um. Prescott is not a
true anticipatory thrower. He's what I call see it throw
at quarterback, So he's not necessarily the kind of quarterback
that throws receivers open. He has to feel very comfortable
(41:07):
with what he sees. So there's a lot of things
that go into the fact that their past game is
a week to week proposition. That's the voice of Greg Cosell.
He joins us in the Doug Otlip Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. Um okay, so does that mean I
mean there's a lot to unpack their Um what does
that mean for the head coach most importantly? Uh, Well,
(41:29):
that that I can't answer. But I assume if they
go six and ten that there will be some problems
there because I mean, the reality is this, Jerry Jones
has come out and then you don't need me for
this dog. But Jerry Jones has come out and said
they're extending Dak Prescott. So he's their quarterback. So if
he believes that Dak Prescott for whatever reason, is not
playing up to what he believes, Jerry that is that
(41:51):
Dak is then that usually means you get a new coach.
Teams tend to get a new coach quicker than they
get a new quarterback. No question, I guess do you
agree with you watch the tape? So and the tape
does not lie. Does the tape say that Dak Prescott
should absolutely be extended? Well, here's a question. I don't
think there's a lot of mystery about Dak Prescott. I
think Dak Prescott is probably more along the lines of
(42:13):
the middle of the road quarterback that needs people around him.
And that's fine. There's there's more guys like that than stars.
You can win with guys like that as long as
you understand what they are. So so, I don't think
there's a lot of mystery. But if you're not going
to resign him, then you have to decide who's going
to play quarterback. See it's always easy to say, go
out and get another guy, but who's the other guy?
(42:36):
I don't know. It's it's a great it's a great
it's a great question. I mean, that's really what happened
in Denver where you know what, why did you go
get case Keenum? Like? What were other options? They're trying
to line up, and more than likely Prescott's going to
be better than anybody else they're going to get unless
they decide in their mind they want to totally start
over and draft a quarterback very high, and my guess
(42:57):
is that's not going to happen. Um, the hackers, I
don't know if you've heard this sound and let me
blame play something for you that I'm sure you've heard
because you work at the NFL films, so you probably
get this stuff, uh put into your phone before you
when you wake up on Monday morning. But this is
this is this is Sunday night. This is Bill Belichick
talking to his defensive lineman during their win over the Packers. Hey,
(43:17):
the pass rush is what we want. We just gotta
keep doing it. Hey, we gotta keep doing it for
sixty minutes. The pass rush is what we want, all right,
Keep working to out of those guards. Keep in the pocket.
He's trying to throw us two interceptions. Now we're gonna
get one, all right. He's just lobbing it up there.
That's a great job. Keep pressing up. If he runs backwards,
(43:38):
all right, then run him out of bounce. That's great,
all right, Let's stay with that rush now. They want
to get upfield. Keep him in the pockets and and
and and make him throw from from the pocket. Um.
Very interesting because he's talking about Aaron Rodgers. Yes, of course,
right so, which is a very interesting point, but one
based on years of film study with Aaron Rodgers makes
(44:01):
sense to me because there are many times when Aaron
Rodgers is to me a little uncomfortable throwing from the pocket.
In other words, I think he's more comfortable moving around
and making throws. I've always described him this way, Doug,
and I don't know if I've said this to you,
but I've always described him more as kind of an
improvisational jazz musician more than a classical pianist, you know.
(44:25):
I I think that's the style of quarterback he is.
I think he's comfortable like that. Now, that doesn't mean
he can't throw it from the pocket. Believe me, he's
a great thrower of the football and he can make
great pocket throws and certainly his career's testament to that.
But I think that when all said and done, I
think that they would rather have him do play from
the pocket and the sort of close down the pocket
(44:47):
and make him feel like he's throwing out of a hole,
then allow him to move. It's a it's a it's
a fastening point. Um. Okay. So how much of their
flaws are that? Their offenses and clicking? Is it a
relationship thing? When you watch the Packers on tape, why
does their offense get stagnant so many times? Well, I think,
(45:10):
to me, I would like to see them be more balanced.
I think that they form for my from my worldview,
I don't think they run the ball with enough commitment.
I really liked Aaron Jones coming out of you TEP
and I think he's a really solid back. And I
think Jamal Williams would be a really good number two.
So I think they need to run the ball with
greater commitment. Um. Rogers is a fascinating player. Uh, there's
(45:33):
been times where their their offense has been inconsistent because, Uh,
to quote my friend Andy Bennoit, he can he can
always make something out of nothing, but he sometimes has
a tendency to make nothing out of something. Wow, that's
a really good one. He here's can I give you what?
Can I give you a basketball analogy? Um? Sure? There
are teams that play defense simply because they know it's
(45:55):
their only way to play offense. Right. It's like, yeah,
we're just standing here waiting for you to shoot, because
then we get the ball back, we can start playing,
we can start having some fun again. Mike d'antoni's teams
sometimes have done that, and it feels like that's when
you're saying their lack of commitment to running the football.
It's like, yeah, we're running it because we know we
have to run it, but we really want to throw
it and let Aaron snap it to Aaron and let
him make something up back there is that? Is that
(46:18):
anywhere anywhere parallel? I mean, I think that can be true,
you know again, because you know, we're not in Mike
McCarthy's head, and we don't know how he sees the
game and what his game plan is for the week.
And if he, you know, ends up running it or
gets away from it, that's what we don't know. But
I think when all said and done, Rogers this year,
in all his games, he's averaged more than forty five
dropbacks per game. I think that's too many. No matter
(46:40):
how good Aaron Rodgers is, I tend to agree with you.
Um and obviously, as you said before, with the Dallas
Cowboys and they just signed him to a long term deal,
it's much easier to get rid of your to get
rid of your your coach, than in your coach than
your quarterback. Yeah. How the how the Patriots do it?
I mean, you got no grounk, you got no Sonny Michelle.
(47:01):
How they how they still? How are they still able?
I mean I know they were in the double pass,
but boyd, it seemed like never has there been a
greater statement for their ability to be pragmatic on a
week to week basis. Then without there, those are the
two best players this year. Sonny Michelle running the football
with you and I have talked about and obviously drunk,
how they're still able to be successful. Well, you know, look,
(47:23):
I mean cor Daryl Patterson for the second week in
a row was an eye back and and pretty impressive. Um.
I think they look at every game as a totally
unique game. I remember Troy Brown telling me that that
they would come in Monday and literally it was as
if the previous day never happened and they'd start totally
from scratch with an entire new approach for the team
they were playing. My guests is they're the only team
(47:44):
in the league that does that. I think they're really
good with the details of strategy. In other words, you
saw them come out in that game and get a
lead right away because they went with speed tempo. You know,
they're so good with their formation variation out of all
their different personnel packages. So I think they present difficulties
for a defense even if they don't have great personnel. Mhm,
(48:08):
awesome stuff, just awesome. Hey, thanks so much for joining us.
We love it. We learned so much. We appreciate you
being it on the show. All right, I appreciate it.
Thank you. Pleasures all ours, great Costell from NFL Films
joining us, and the Doug Gotlips
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 FSR. This is the best of
(00:22):
the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What
Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Coming to
here from the Sunny city of Southern California or Sunday
area of Southern California city City of Los Angeles. I
hope you're having a great day, man, We got a
(00:45):
lot to talk about. Yes, we will talk about duke basketball.
Duke basketball. You heard that Sam Donald likely out with
a foot sprain. Will get into that why it could
be the best thing to ever happen for him, man.
Do we also is a video of Levy on Bell
working out at a fitness center. So he's starting to
trying to trying to get that It's like trying to
(01:06):
get the babyweight off. He's trying to get the hold
hold out weight off. But he is in Pittsburgh. We
assume getting ready to rejoin the Steelers. Why not I
just rejoin the Steelers Now, I feel like he's getting
some bad advice. But let's start with the story of
the day. And that said, Dez Bryant is back, and
he's not back with Dallas Cowboys. Instead, he's back with
(01:26):
a guy who he used to play for, going back early,
very very early in his career, or guy has a
relationship with in Sean Payton. Dez Bryant is now a
member of the New Orleans Saints. Side note, I get
a chance to call Dez Bryant's first game as member
of the New Orleans Saints as I'm doing the radio
(01:47):
call with Brian Baldinger of Saints Bengals this weekend. So
that's kind of cool. I mean, and look, I have
never been I mean, I was a Dez Bryant guy
before it was cool to be a Dez Bryant guy.
And then I've been a des Brian realist before other
people were a Dez Bryant realist. And I gotta tell you,
this is the best possible scenario for des Bryant. The
(02:10):
best possible scenario because they already have Michael Thomas, and
outside of that, they really Ted Gin Jr. Is on
I R Uh, Tommy Tommy Lee Lewis is on I R.
You know you got Cameron Meredith, you have Benjamin Watson,
(02:31):
but there's there's no other guy that demands attention. And
Dez isn't well, he ain't good enough to be a
number one guy, but he's good enough to be a
number two or a number three guy, because Alvin Kamara
is really their second second best wide receiver. He's also
their running back, one of their two tremendous running backs.
But but the the issues with Dez are, hey, can
(02:54):
he get along? Can he handle being the number two
or the number three? Can he handle only getting a
couple of targets to go his way? Will he still
play hard? Will he still block? Does he understand we're
not gonna pay him a ton of money? And for
Dez Bryant, what do we know about sports? If you're
around a winner, you don't even have necessarily have to
(03:16):
play well. People just want people that come from winning organizations,
and they convinced themselves that you're one of the reasons
that they won. And right now, the Cowboys look worse,
not better without Dez Bryant. The Saints already winning, so
he can only add to and I know their their
schedule is much more difficult down the stretch. Here. By
(03:39):
the way, this weekend the Bengals. Bengals have given up
more yards than anybody in the NFL, anybody. So you
get an opportunity against a bad defense. The other guy
is gonna be seeing double teams with a tremendous, creative
play caller, with a good quarterback in a winning organization
that's gonna be in the playoffs. And if you just
don't do anything or saying stupid, play hard, work hard,
(04:01):
come to practice, catch the balls that are throwing your
way as often as possible, be a good teammate like
he'll be back on the market next year and have
a chance to get back into the league legitimately for
an entire season. I honestly think, and I've said this
about other guys, I said this actually about Dez in
(04:22):
the in the preseason. Sit and wait till somebody needs you.
Until somebody needs you, man, we need you. We need
one more piece to take that next step. And that's
what he's become and in in searching for Dez bryan
two point oh, you can't get any better than playing
indoors with a tremendous quarterback opposite a guy who's going
(04:47):
to command a double team in the best cover corners
in the league. Michael Thomas is right there in the conversation,
the best five wide receivers in the NFL. Plus you
have Alvin Kamara, who the second he splits out wide,
you better take that line back of that safety off
of him. I mean this, this is a golden opportunity.
(05:09):
Des Brian was a guy who was a lead actor
who then took a secondary or tertiary role. And if
you can roll with it, if you cannot try and
scene steal and just be part of the ensemble cast,
they'll be roles for days. The question about Dez Bryant
has not been anything other than can he accept a
(05:30):
lesser role than he's used to? All right? And and
unless a role like look, he can't be the number
three or number four wide receiver because those guys have
to play special teams and des Brian ain't playing special teams.
Unless a role doesn't mean you're gonna be playing for
the league. Minimum in the in the in the years
to come, it's can you be? And Kwan Bolden, can
(05:53):
you be? Larry Fitzgerald? The other part two it is
you sit there and you watched long enough and all
those things that people told you start to ring true
to you, Like when the Cowboys cut him, he started
to go through the states. You know the process of
(06:15):
you know, his denial is the first first of the steps, right,
but once you get to acceptance, you accept that, hey,
I'm not as fast as I used to be. I
have established a reputation as a guy who done had
the best hands, done run the bus routes. Might not
be a number two guy. But if that doesn't motivate
(06:37):
you as a competitor, it being out of the league
for half of a year if openly opening for the
Patriots to bring you in, and they don't, and instead
they trade for Josh Gordon after acquiring Eric Decker and
then cutting Eric Decker before he retired. If those things
don't motivate you, nothing will the Saints in because they
(07:00):
get a guy was was still with a good amount
of talent left on the absolute cheap and he still
has fresh legs, and they like it and probably lose
five pounds before he plays, and that I think DEAs
can do now once he kind of cranks up the conditioning.
(07:21):
And for Daz, there's a little bit of desperation combined
with a lot of opportunity and you're playing on a
winning football team and you don't have the concerns of
playing with a bad quarterback. Now, look, there's a downside
to it because if it doesn't work out, if he
isn't making catches, Drew Brees is gonna catch zero of
the heat. If he is a pain in the ass. No,
(07:44):
Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara and Sean Payton and Drew
Brees ain't having But they have two outstanding running backs,
they have a great wide receiver, they have a tremendous
home field advantage. They're not a lock, but they're trending
the way of a lock as a playoff team likely
to get at least one home game in the playoffs,
(08:06):
if that maybe more, especially after they play the Rams
and beat the Rams, so you get them head to
head and tiebreakers. Like all things are good, you don't
want to be the guy that screws it up. On
the other hand, if you're just on the winning team.
How many guys have we seen on a winning team
benefit greatly from it and then benefit from it financially
(08:26):
after the season is done. Happens all the time. Happens
all the time, and this is one of those. Like
I hate to be morbid, but my dog died almost man,
almost four years was it? Yeah? Three years almost three
(08:51):
years ago? Three years ago before Halloween. My dog died.
And UM, I'm not gonna cat explain in anybody in
my house who may have run over the dog's hind
end because the dog was old and couldn't hear and
was medicated. I would never do that. But if you've
ever lost an animal, and I did this when I
(09:15):
was in um as an elementary school, I used to
have a rabbit and I came back from summer camp
and I used to take my rabbit out of the
cage and I played with the rabbit. And I don't
have the phone ranger. I went inside to get food
and I forgot that the rabbit was outside. I built
this little fort. You know, I'm like nine years old,
and my dogs got loose, and one of my dogs
chased down my rabbit. And we're just trying to play
(09:36):
with it and I think broke its neck. I was devastated.
My parents ran out and the very next day I
made them buy me a French lap a really cute
little rabbit. But it wasn't the same. I was kind
of over the rabbit thing, and it was the knee
jerk reaction. It was the bounce back girl, if you will,
and that rabbit. Fast forward like six years dater. I
(10:00):
remember my my brother. I called home from a basketball camp.
Remem brother said, hey, Bugsy died of a broken heart.
Because it was just too soon. I didn't appreciate my
old rabbit in or did I really understand what would
it be to get a new rep. Well, my dog
Um had to be put down. She was thirteen years old.
This is like three years ago. I wanted to meeta.
(10:20):
I got online, I started looking up new dogs. I
wanted a new dog. The next day, there's an old
George Carlin thing. If the thing about dogs is you
can go take your old dog in, put him up
in the counter, goes that was a good dog. Give
me one that looks and acts just like that, and
you know what they can. But we waited and waited,
and we actually we decided we want to get a
(10:42):
We had Bassett bassett hound. We want to get a sheepadoodle.
And you know what, we weighed like six seven months
till we really wanted a dog until it wasn't the winner.
So they weren't always you know, going out in the
middle of winter when you're trying to house train the dog.
And we end up getting just the right one, just
the fit. And my dog now is amazing. And Dez
(11:05):
Bryant went and visited the Cleveland Browns. How big a
disaster would that have been? Todd Haley wasn't getting along
with Hugh Jackson. They both end up getting fired. You're
playing with a rookie quarterback Josh Gordon end up being
traded away, like remember when he visited them on hard knocks.
That would have been running out and getting a new
rabbit or getting a new dog. Instead, des took his time,
(11:29):
got a little bit lucky. Gets to play a playoff
team with a Hall of Fame quarterback, a Hall of
Fame play caller, and one of the top five wide
receivers in the league, so it takes away the double
team that he can't beat anymore. Be sure to catch
live editions of the Doug dot Leap Show weekdays in
noon eastern three pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app. Or Let's just Welcome in,
(11:50):
Ryan Rasilo. The Rasilla podcast on ESPN, as well as
the Dual Threat podcast on The Ring are both available.
So he can sit uh in his in his workout gear,
Pound Pound Creating, and uh pound out some some podcasts
on a daily basis while living at the beach, living
the life, living the dream. Ryan, Let's uh, let's let's start.
(12:13):
Let's start with the college football rankings. Because you like
me like this is a it's a it's a love
affair with college football. That that if you share um
as vociferously as we share it. When you saw him
pop up last night, what was your first reaction, Um, well,
I think the biggest thing that may not even matter
is that L s U was ahead of West Virginia
(12:35):
and ahead of Washington State, and in the eyes of
the committee and the way they do the rankings, which
I actually think is a better way to do it,
is that the ap Historically, if you are a good
team that lost to a team we all thought was
better than you, we dropped you like ten spots and
they didn't do that with l s U, despite the
fact getting shut out when I was in bath Rouge
the Saturday watching that game and it wasn't close. But
(12:56):
they still like the fact that they beat Georgia, that
they played Florida lost them, and the rest of their schedule.
I mean, they liked the teams that they've played against.
And I talked to Rob Mullins, the chairman Committee, the
Committee chair last night on my podcast, and he was like, look,
you know, we just we still as of right now
have them there, but it's impossible for them to get
really back into this thing. So it doesn't really matter,
(13:17):
but that seems to be the thing everybody is most
upset about. I think ultimately hif o'house date wins out,
it'll be an interesting conversation to see how Notre Dame
messes this whole thing up, and ultimately if there's some
sort of four or five debay between Michigan and Notre Dame,
knowing that the head to head was was Notre Dames
in week one and if that will matter that it
was the beginning of the season. So I still think
(13:38):
a lot of this stuff that we get really worried
about it's a lot of fun, but it does find
a way to kind of play itself out right. I
mean like West Virginia would have to beat Oklahoma twice twice,
and if they beat him twice, then they'll probably play
in the College fall playoffs. Right. I mean that because
I you know, I mean everyone, because generally half the
at least half the teams are going to the Georgia
(14:00):
or Alabama. Somebody's gonna listen. I guess here's my question.
Alabama lose the Georgia in the SEC championship game, did
they get in over a Michigan team that runs the
table that that one is? Like her Street last night
was just saying, hey, Michigan, they're they're twelve and one
with the lost and there name who maybe is in
the playoffs and they're big ten champs. They're getting in.
(14:23):
But you know, throughout this entire thing and going through
the mock selection thing myself twice, like the message they
kept hammering home is who do we think the four
best teams are? Who do we think the four best
teams are? So when they say conference championships matter and
then they don't pick a conference champion, then that fan
base gets really upset and says, oh, the committee lied
to us. It's like, no, they're they're telling you that
it matters to a point. But if they sit there
(14:43):
and go, you know what, we just think Alabama is
better than Michigan, then that's going to be the defense
for I have a hard time believing that, you know,
unless how State were to lose some other game here,
that doesn't make any sense, you know what I'm saying.
So if Ohio State all of a sudden, like the
wait a minute, that they are this really messed up
team that got housed by Pertina, when that one doesn't
seem to be as impressive, then maybe there's an argument
against it. And the teams of the Big Ten West,
(15:05):
you know, they're not really that impressive, so they don't
have this kind of Georgia type team. On the other side,
for Michigan to be in a Big Ten championship game,
that maybe it's another data point that's super impressive. But
that's going to be a really really tough sell to
everybody that they don't just love the top of the SEC.
But you know, to this, to this like the historic point,
(15:26):
we only have four years of this stuff, and I
like I like the idea of these guys going in
the room and saying, you know what, we just think
this team is better than that team, and that's put
that out to do. So, So with that in mind,
if you were in that room and they said, rissilo,
four best teams, go well right now, or are you
giving me the end of the season scenario. I'm forgetting
(15:48):
this season. I'm just asking you best teams does not
is not record dependent, Like, who are the four best teams?
In your opinion? I think George is better than Notre Dame,
so and I have against third, and I would have
and and and people would sit there to go with
Notre Dame beat Michigan, like, yeah, look, I could go
into the whole Notre Dame might even be better offensive
than they were then because their quarterback plays so much better.
(16:10):
But there was a ton of luck and fortunate Tarik
Black didn't play. He just now playing for Michigan and
wide receiver Shaye Patterson's in his first game, plus he
was cramping, Plus it was on the road, and they
still could have won that game. I'm with you. I
don't think Notre Dame is one of the four best teams.
But if they end the season undefeated, they're going to
play for a national championship. Correct, Yeah, that's I mean.
The other thing too, is that when you're looking Notre
(16:31):
Dame schedule before the season starts, you go, you know,
I can't really even take them serious of playoff contender
because there's no way they're gonna be able to go
to that. But then it turns out that they get
the win against Michigan, and Michigan is really good at
least that's what we think right now, right and smashing
Penn State when other teams have been in battles of
Pennce Date. Pense Date's not what they were last year,
but they smashed them this weekend and that was really
really impressive. Okay, they maybe have the best defense going
to college football, but Notre Dame Stanford is even close.
(16:53):
I mean, Stanford not being able to run the football
is like the thing that makes the least amount of
sense to me in college football. Um, Virginia Tech not good.
Granted they had a backup, but they went down to
Laye Stadium and put a forty on them. The USC
isn't gonna be any good. Um, you know how a
Syracuse might be their second best opponent, right, I mean,
and even with the Northwestern game, I go, ah, you know,
(17:15):
I'm not sure, and I'll admit like at times, there's
certain certain games like Northwestern is definitely better than I think.
But then I go, well, they're not in that big
boying neighborhood, so I'm a little bit more Dismissivebou. I'm
almost like a little bit like Kentucky. Yeah, you have
a good defense, but also watching the Zoo game, and
I don't think you're that great. So the noted Names
fan is gonna freak out of even hearing this, saying,
how could you not have us in undefeated? Well, if
(17:36):
you're undefeated at a different conversation as of right now, though,
I just think George is better than you. If Georgia
were playing Notre Dame in a neutral site, I would
took Georgia. I just would. And I know that there's
this Notre Dame argument that I wasn't even that aware
of when I first heard it. Noted Names fans saying,
you know, not only to be basically beat him with
our backup quarterback. That's a really convenient way of kind
of lying, even though it's sort of true. But whin
(17:57):
Bush to start the year was your guy. And the
reason they started over Book is because they trust him
to go up against that Michigan defense. So it's not
like you played, you know, Chase Bryce back there with
zero experience instead of Book who had no experience. So
I don't think like that sounds really good and the
Bag show, but I don't really think it's all that accurate.
Doug Galli Show, Fox Sports Radio. Let's get to the NBA.
(18:18):
How come Lebron doesn't looked like Lebron yet? I wonder
sometimes if he knew that this was gonna like, I
didn't think they were gonna be great, Okay, I thought
they're gonna be a playoff team, so you know, I
didn't know that to be this bad and there. I
thought they'd be okay on defense because they were pretty
good last year. But with all these different pieces, it's
gonna be tough and they have to be better than
(18:39):
being one of the two hourst teams defensively. Okay. I
didn't like how they did the roster, and a lot
of it had to do with you had. You can't
have like twelve or thirteen guys at all Legitimately, expect
minutes and shots. It just doesn't work that way, okay,
And that's what they have. So from what I had
heard when Lebron was pitched on this whole thing, I
don't think this is really the plan. So in a
weird way, even though there's no pressure on him and
(19:01):
we didn't think this team was really going to challenge
you're coming out of the West. That I don't know
if he's pacing himself in a way that we've seen
him pace himself in seasons before. I mean last year
he paced himself defensively. He didn't play any defense last year,
and he's kind of doing the same thing again this year.
So I think it's he's going through the motions of
(19:21):
trying to figure out what this roster is. And I
think it's ridiculous for Magic to criticize Luke and say,
you know, you got to get a solid rotation here
and everybody has to know their role. Well, wait a minute,
you're the one to put this roster together. Has all
these different pieces that I still need to figure out.
We're not even twenty games into this thing. But Lebron
can be pretty theatrical, and I think his frustration is
something he can't mask, so when you're watching it, he
(19:43):
is playing up to the disappointment and frustration how bad
they're playing. That's what I see. I see a guy
that kind of checks in and checks out a little
bit in games. He's still putting up big numbers, and
he still has these stretches where it's total dominance that
we expect from him. But I think there are a
lot of kind of lulls throughout the game when he's
in there where it almost looks like he's taking a
quarter off totally. And I mean like and he's kind
(20:05):
of checked out in terms of his facial intensity, and
something goes bad and he just kind of runs back
on defense and it's not that big a deal, Like
I just look, look, Kevin became to the eye roll
right like he has He's that guy in your group
that has no poker face. He has no poker face
whatsoever when things aren't going right, and it's almost like
he wants us to see it. And he's always been
(20:25):
that way as a player. Yeah yeah, but now it's
even more obvious because it's l A, it's clearly his
team and it's it's not going well. Um, all right,
what about the Celtics. Why haven't they been consistently better.
It's really their offense. I mean, their defense is terrific,
and that's another team that's trying to figure this thing out.
And Gordon Hayward has this very good I askeolutely because
(20:48):
he just sort of out of basketball shape. They're like, no, no, physically,
he's good to go, but he just hasn't he hasn't fit.
And the other night when they closed against Denver in
a close game, they actually shot him out to close
the game. So I always pay attention to kind of
the last five more than starting five. Jalen hasn't been
very good, Tatum hasn't had these moments. Horford is terrific,
but I've even seen games where I'm surprised how much
(21:09):
he's shooting. I thought he made might take like two
shots per game because he's so unselfish with the rest
of this roster. And I went to go see him
play Orlando in person, and when they come out for
the tip, I go Horford, Tatum, Brown, Kyrie Hayward, and
then off the bench ro Zero More. It's like, I'm like,
this team is stacked. And then they stopped for forty
eight minutes like they couldn't do anything or screwing up
(21:31):
all sorts of stuff, and Brad was getting frustrated, stuffing
guys in and out. And I could have expected him like, Okay,
well they'll figure this out and pull away, and they didn't.
Like the Orlando Magic who aren't good beat him and
beat him start to finish the whole time. So I'd
still rather have the talent and have that be my
issue than a lack of talent. I still have all
the faith in the world and Brad Stevens kind of
figuring this thing out. But what you have here is
(21:52):
I think you have Jalen a little annoyed that Tatum's
the guy where Jalen's been with better as an NBA
player than I thought he would be. You saw the
report or today, which is no secret that Rogier is
annoyed after being kind of a playoff hero because the
injuries that he's not getting any minutes smart who I
wish somebody would say, hey, dude, you've got your contracts,
you can stop shooting now. Um, that's not gonna happen.
He's just he's just gonna take his shots and they're
(22:15):
rarely ever good and you know, Kyrie's kind of been
up and down as he balances playmaker versus one of
the top five scoring finishers in the entire league. So
I still think they figure it out. But it's weird
that it's an offensive system issue. I'm not saying like
they have the wrong system, but there's zero flow to them.
(22:35):
They just they're choppy all the time, and yet they're
still winning enough games. It's not like they have this
terrible record. It's just not the the fluidity that you'd expect,
and different guys just not being where you thought they'd be. Yeah,
and we also haven't had the you go, I go,
you go, I go kind of like we've have a
golden state right where you've got three different guys and
they've each had a different night where you're like, oh, yeah,
(22:57):
when if they wanted to, they could, you know, they
could do the US on their own team. He kind
of haven't had that from Boston yet. Yeah, Clay really
is the greatest. I don't even want to call him
a secondary guy, but in that offense, I mean, he's
not even the secondary guy, but he is as great
as I think I've seen as as a non Bald
dependent score he's just he could play with anyone and
(23:22):
still put up massive numbers because he doesn't need the ball.
Before I didn't think he was great with the ball,
and now he is, but he just doesn't need to.
And I think there was some ridiculous staff And in
his fifty point game, he had like fifty six dribbles
and Rose had like six dribbles in his I'm serious,
like I think, I don't know not don't quote me
right to the number, but it was something like that.
(23:42):
So you know, Kyrie's gonna dribble, Heyward. Remember with the
Jazz like, he could do a lot of different things.
Remember that Jazz team didn't even have a really trusted
second score when he was closing out of his career there,
so he could he could do all sorts of stuff.
I think they play they should play with him as
more of the facilitator, like I've talked to Brad. Yes, yeah,
(24:06):
I think so too. And he's been and he's way
bigger than like anybody I think realizes like has a
big dude um, and so you can run things where
he's and and you know, and I also think that
he's a little bit of he's the opposite of Kyrie.
Where's Kyrie. His default is to just go do it
by himself, and he's had to learn to play make
(24:29):
Gordon Haywards had to learn to be a more dominant
score whereas he's totally cool setting other people up. I
almost think they should play through Hayward and let him
set other guys up. He just hasn't been one of
the better players. I mean he really that's a problem
the five best players. I think that's the problem is
that you try to give him the benefit doubt given
the minutes, and eventually you expect, at some point he
figures this out. But then you have you know, Marcus
(24:51):
Smart's gonna take jumpers, and Morris is gonna he's gonna
take shots like Morris is looking around the rest of
the team saying, I don't think any of these guys,
you know, Rosiere still wants to get his so I don't.
I don't see it as a season long problem. And again,
the record, it's not like their record is terrible. We're
talking about them the way we're talking about the Lakers.
(25:11):
But you know, Brad's just so good that you expected
he'll figure it out at some point. I think even
he has nights where he's ordering what he's going to get.
Um last thing last night we saw Duke and therefore
Freshmen were incredible. Zion Williamson is going to get so
much of the press because he just jumps off the
screen literally and figuratively jumps off the screen. But in
(25:34):
the in the reality of the NBA, how close is
it between he and R. J. Barrett to be the
number one pick? Oh, I think it's really close. Now
here's the thing. I saw the game play out that
way last night on Twitter without watching it, and because
I was doing the college football stuff and I was
talking to Rob Mullins, so I had to take down.
I taped it late after those guys get done with
the years Man Show, and so I thought, like Zion
(25:58):
did a seven twenty or something, which I think he
probably could. I don't know. I don't follow on Instagram.
But then I watched the game this morning, and you know,
it's almost like going into a movie with expectations. And
I kept watching Barrett go This guy is huge. He
can shoot and no one can stay in front of him.
So I don't want to do the thing where it's, hey,
everybody's going to Zion. I want to be the Barrick guy,
but you're absolutely light, Like Barrett was insane last night.
(26:21):
And the thing about Zion that I thought is something
all of us and I didn't watch him high school, right,
I don't time to go to the showcases check that
stuff out. He has a much more complete game than
all the stuff that we had seen, right. I think
I watched highlights and clips of him for a year
where I go to have I ever even seen him
take a jump shot? And it's passing and going and
and is great. But if I were in the front office,
(26:42):
I think I'm reread about Zion's body, like I don't
want you to get any bigger, dude, if you're this
big now and you have those hips, like I don't
want to turn I don't want you to turn into
like I'm trying to think of like like Drew Gooden
filled out you know, Robert Tractor trailer. He was the
guy that like, get big. I'm not saying that his
eyeon is well, I don't know you're saying it's exactly right. No,
(27:03):
the guys I've talked to her like, look the weight,
it's gonna be an issue. Like he's just he's thick dude.
He's huge and he's yeah, and he's but and he's
only like six five and he's six five and he's
kind it's not like he's fat, but he's just big.
And how can you sustain? Can you sustain the athleticism
(27:25):
if you lose weight and and and can you can
you even lose weights? Some guys just can't. They're just
big bone that way. Yeah, that's what you have to do.
And I'm sure the people listening to was going, what
do you guys not? Did you see him last night?
He was He was insane. He was beyond anything that
I expected because there was so much more, Like watching
him get out in half on the brake, I'm like, man,
this is special. And it was funny a couple of times,
(27:46):
like they had a break and I'm like, get a design,
get a design, and I think it's Barrett. He would
finish and I'd be like, oh wait a minute. You know,
like he's looked terrific too. But if you're a front
office guy, you're I mean, I know this sounds funny
to people, but you're looking at it, but up going
all right, it's good now, But you know, I can't Okay,
I don't know. I don't know if you can stay
(28:08):
that big or are you going to get bigger? Are
you in the A tend your decision. It's as opposed
to you know, what we saw last night was incredible,
but Barrett's special, I don't think. I don't know how
you watch that game and go, wait a minute, that
barratitude is right there. I think some of the prospect
stuff hasn't right there anyway. So you know, it's feels
so early in this well the other year plays out.
But that was that was scary because ridiculously good. They're
(28:30):
so big now, which is a difference between other big
teams that I don't think it played defense. I think
they have some real options now now they're they're they're
pretty amazing. And then you got Trey Jones, a legit
point guard. It's yeah, but he impressed me last night.
You know, it's funny he looks older than his older brother. Yes,
he looks more physically mature. Yes he does, he absolutely does.
(28:51):
And his older brother this is kind of weird. I
don't know if they mentioned in you know Travis read
Travis who Kentucky forgot they had on their team for
the first half. Um, they're both from he's from Minnesota
as well. Like they came out together, they played together
kind of growing up, right, So it's just weird that
one guy has been in the league NBA for a
couple years, the other guy has been in college basketball
(29:13):
for several years now. He's playing against his brother Ryan Sell.
The podcast UH is available, plus the Dual Threat podcast
is over on the Ringer at some point in person.
We gotta do this in the meantime. Thanks for joining us.
Thanks appreciate. Be sure to catch live editions. So the
Doug Dot Leap Show weekdays in noon eastern three pm Pacific,
(29:33):
all sort of. Today, here's Clay Travis talking about Jim
Harbaugh and Michigan being ranked fourth in the country. What
I have pointed out is that Jim Harbaugh is being
treated as if he is Nick Saban Urban Meyer or
Dabbo Sweeney. Those are the three best college football coaches
over the last decade. After that, I think there's a
fairly substantial gap. I think after one, two, and three
(29:56):
there's a fairly substantial gap, and Jim Harball is up there,
probably somewhere in the top ten. What he hasn't done
is perform at the level of the absolute most elite
coaches in college football. All right, I mean that's because
dab was Swheney won a national championship win year. I mean, look,
Dabo has been really, really good. And after the first
(30:19):
couple of years, you know, first year as a full
time head coach, nine and five, then six and seven. Uh,
then they were ten and four. But remember there they
played and got blown out in the Orange Bowl. Uh.
Then they started cranking it up in eleven, eleven, ten.
Then the last two years. With the last two years
with Deshaun Watson, he had fourteen and fourteen wins, losing
once in the college while playoff winning it the next year.
(30:41):
Last year they lost in the Sugar Bowl. Um. I
just think context matters. I just I just do. I
think context matters. Like this whole idea that you have
to win a championship or how you really like, it's
just dumb to me. It's just dumb to me. You know,
it's I watch I watch, I watch NBA games and
(31:04):
people are like, well, look at his stats. You know,
Trey Young, for example, stats have been really good for
most of these games. But the problem with those stats
are they're playing at a faster pace, averaging a hundred
possessions per game, so more possessions equals more stats. What's
your plus minus are you guarding anybody? How many of
the points the guy you're having guard? What's your shooting percentage?
(31:25):
How many turnovers do you have? All these things are important.
And I also realized that Tree Young is nineteen years old,
so he's going to get better, But is he getting
better at the things that he needs to improve? College football,
It's like, look, he took over San Diego, they weren't
any good. They were awesome when he left. Took over Stanford,
they hadn't won a game. They were awesome when he left.
He took over San Francisco they had gone like a
decade before without winning. He went to an NFC championship
(31:48):
game and to a Super Bowl, nearly won a Super Bowl.
Did it fall apart a little bit? Yeah, that's because
Jeduard and him couldn't get along. Um, But he built
a team that couldn't figure out a way to get
right into a into a winner. It took Michigan from
kind of a laughing stock, a team that had no
real direction for a decade and now has made them
(32:09):
into the most dynamic team in the big tent much football.
Did the team get better? Sure? Like? Look if even
if you take the stats of well, remember they didn't
be to Hos State. They had a bad spot, didn't
be Michigan State. Like, if you look at the raw
data without looking at context, you're doomed to make a
statement that's in reality falls. Fox Sports Radio has the
(32:31):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to
listen live. Greg Cosal works for NFL Films, an absolute
legend of the business, and we are so honored that
he joins our show on a weekly basis. Uh, Greg,
let me first start with the New Orleans Saints. I
(32:52):
do want to ask you about Dez Bryant, but you
watched the Saints tape against the Rams. Um. Look, on paper,
the Rams have this dynamic defensive line, but in reality,
Drew Brees was able to to shred it, to to
tear it up, to find some holes, to find some weaknesses.
Now I know some of it is in the defensive backfield. Right,
(33:12):
Marcus Peters got got burned by by Michael Thomas and
staring in the backfield again. But but a lot of
the good work was done up front. How are the
Saints able to to keep Drew clean? Well, I think
a lot of that, Doug has to do with the
style of offense and the schematics of the Saints pass game,
because there's a lot of quick game. Breezes is a
(33:33):
master at getting the ball out. I think Breeze is
also a master at understanding fronts and coverage before the
snap of the ball, so he wins more often than
not before the ball is snapped. Now, I will say this,
in the second half, the Rams pass rush did become
a factor at times. They didn't get a sack and people,
I'm sure to look at that, but they had some
(33:55):
some timely rushes in the second half. And that's why
the Saints after putting up thirty five uh in the
first half, we're not as efficient. But there's no question
that the combination of what the Saints do. The Saints
do a number of things. It's it's personnel, it's formations,
and it's it's tempo and uh, the Patriots do the same.
(34:15):
So it becomes difficult to defend them. Uh. Now you
add in Dez Bryant. Does that really help them? Do
they need another wide receiver? Well, I guess they think
they do. Uh. And I'll say this, I think that does.
Brian is helped by the nature of the schematics because
they're a highly schemed pass game. Based on what I
(34:36):
just said, whereas the Dallas Cowboys are not. The Dallas
Cowboys basically ask their receivers to win a lot of
individual and isolation routes and does Brian has passed the
point in his career whe he could do that consistently.
Now he's in a schemed offense. Now I'm not sitting
here suggesting he's going to go off and catch ten
balls a week. And and I don't know what he
has left or what kind of person he is. I
(34:57):
don't know that stuff. But I will say at what
the tape showed of him a year ago, he could
not function effectively in the nature of the Cowboys offense.
He has a better chance to at least be a
factor in the schematics of the Saints offense. Yeah, I mean,
I mean, like look, and and this is more layman
discussion than Gregor at your level. Of discussion, right, You're
you're talking graduate doctoral stuff just from a layman NFL
(35:22):
fan who knows a little something point of view. Michael
Thomas is in the conversation. Being a top five wide receiver,
Alvin Kamara is always a mismatch no matter where they
line him up, and so you can't really put Camput
a line background because that's in fact teams put safeties
on him. Now, he actually caught that touchdown pass in
that game with LaMarcus Joyner covering a man to man.
(35:45):
So so so the point is, like, look, if des
Brian is going to succeed, it's it's not where he
has to be the double team and it's not where
he's gonna have to beat the top corners. It's where
a couple of times a game he's gonna have to
get open against the slot corner or the secondary corner
and find spots within a zone and and occasionally run
blocked downfield. Right, And so this is this is the
(36:08):
perfect And oh yeah, by the way, you're gonna need
a guy who throws him open sometimes because he's not
gonna run open and and he's gonna do that with
with with Drew Brees. It if it's gonna work for
him at this point in his career, this is probably
the best opportunity, right, or the scheme will get him open.
Let's say, you know, they go three receivers to one
side and two of them are tight ends, and they're
on the outside and is the inside slot and he's
(36:30):
working against a linebacker. Right, you know, the scheme will help.
And they didn't do that kind of stuff in Dallas,
certainly not last year, and they're not doing a lot
of it this year either. That's the voice of Great
Costell who joins us and makes it smarter every week
here on the Dug out Lip Show on Fox Sports Radio.
I want to ask you about the Indianapolis Colts. We
have a tendency to talk about all these other teams. Um,
We'll get to Houston a second as well. Cults are
(36:51):
kind of a team lurking out there is like, hey,
you know, look at their schedule. They're getting better, Marlon
Max starting run the football. UM. A lot of us
had questions about Andrew lux ability to throw the ball downfield.
You pointed out early in the year he wasn't throwing
the ball downfield. Midseason, take a snapshot where is Luck
on the combat trail. Well, he's still not throwing it
a ton down field, But I think the nature of
(37:13):
that task game. It's Frank Reich so and he's been around,
not just with Doug Peterson a year ago, but Frank
Reich has a lot of experience in this league and
understands the talent of his players. So what you're dealing
with ultimately is a pass game that is a lot quicker,
quick game. Stuff the three step drop, five step drop,
the ball gets out. I don't believe Luck has been
sacked in three games. Much of that is a function
(37:35):
of the offense. Certainly it's a function of the old line,
a young old line improving, but it's the nature of
the past game. And uh, and they don't have a
ton of weapons. That's the thing. On the perimeter. They
have t Y Hilton, but they don't have much else. Now.
They certainly have tight ends. They have the Ebron, they
have Doyle who's back, so they run a lot of
two tight end sets and they're very effective. Greg Costell
(37:57):
joining us in the Doug Outland Show on Fox Sport
Radio Texans survived. I mean, I don't know what they're
doing in Denver, Why they're kicking a sixty two yard
field goal when the other team has two time outs
and you end up, you know, giving Houston a chance
of the sixteen and ten lead at the break and
then you know, taking essentially taking a knee with a
fifty one yard field goal. Um. So, Houston has been very,
(38:19):
very fortunate with some untimely coaching decisions. When Indy could
have tied them and they didn't, when Dallas could have
beaten them and they chose to punt. And now in
Denver where Vance Vance Joseph made some bizarre decision that
said and one six in a row. Um, what is
the offensive line better? I mean, how how have they
(38:40):
been able to function behind behind a line that previously
people were telling me bottom five line in the NFL. Well,
I think it's still not a great line. I think
it's slightly improving. Keep in mind, everyone wants to talk
about their offense, because obviously DeShawn Watson is a dynamic player,
but this is a team dog with a very good defense.
Their front seven when it's at its best, just top
(39:00):
three front seven in the league. I mean, the players
they have in that unit are pretty darn good. So
they know, for the most part, if they're all healthy,
that their defense will keep them in games. You know,
Watson is is still a work in progress to some degree. Um,
but he's but he is dynamic. The best part of
his game is his movement at this point. But he
(39:21):
can make very good throws from the pocket. And I
think to Marius Thomas will help them quite a bit.
They needed a second receiver. Now, he's not a burner,
he's not an over the top receiver, but he's a
professional receiver and I think that will help them. Great.
Go Sell joining us in the Doug Otlib Show here
on Fox Sports Radio. Let's get to the Dallas Cowboys. Um. Now,
(39:42):
so they fired an offensive line coach and they ran
the football pretty well in the first half, couldn't get
it going at all, and really didn't try a ton
in the second half. They lose to the Tennessee Titans. Um.
I know it's not one thing, right, It's not just
the line, it's not just the schematics, it's not just
Dak Prescott. But in order of who's most responsible for
(40:02):
the issues with the Dallas Cowboys offense, what's the answer. Well,
it's funny, you say, that they actually did try to run.
In the second half, the nature the game got away
from them because the Titans had the ball for a
number of long drives and the Cowboys got into some
long yardage situations when they got the ball and they were, uh,
they were stuck. But they did come out on their
(40:23):
first possession and try to run the ball. So so
just so you know, the argument that that Elliott only
had six touches as if that's terrible, that's the wrong
response based on watching the tape. But I will say
this their offense, Um, it could get better now Cooper
will gives them at least a route runner who can
win versus man coverage. It's an offense that asked their
(40:44):
receivers to win a lot versus man. They run isolation routes. Uh,
they don't have great receivers to do that on a
consistent basis. Cooper will help Um. Prescott is not a
true anticipatory thrower. He's what I call see it throw
at quarterback, So he's not necessarily the kind of quarterback
that throws receivers open. He has to feel very comfortable
(41:07):
with what he sees. So there's a lot of things
that go into the fact that their past game is
a week to week proposition. That's the voice of Greg Cosell.
He joins us in the Doug Otlip Show here on
Fox Sports Radio. Um okay, so does that mean I
mean there's a lot to unpack their Um what does
that mean for the head coach most importantly? Uh, Well,
(41:29):
that that I can't answer. But I assume if they
go six and ten that there will be some problems
there because I mean, the reality is this, Jerry Jones
has come out and then you don't need me for
this dog. But Jerry Jones has come out and said
they're extending Dak Prescott. So he's their quarterback. So if
he believes that Dak Prescott for whatever reason, is not
playing up to what he believes, Jerry that is that
(41:51):
Dak is then that usually means you get a new coach.
Teams tend to get a new coach quicker than they
get a new quarterback. No question, I guess do you
agree with you watch the tape? So and the tape
does not lie. Does the tape say that Dak Prescott
should absolutely be extended? Well, here's a question. I don't
think there's a lot of mystery about Dak Prescott. I
think Dak Prescott is probably more along the lines of
(42:13):
the middle of the road quarterback that needs people around him.
And that's fine. There's there's more guys like that than stars.
You can win with guys like that as long as
you understand what they are. So so, I don't think
there's a lot of mystery. But if you're not going
to resign him, then you have to decide who's going
to play quarterback. See it's always easy to say, go
out and get another guy, but who's the other guy?
(42:36):
I don't know. It's it's a great it's a great
it's a great question. I mean, that's really what happened
in Denver where you know what, why did you go
get case Keenum? Like? What were other options? They're trying
to line up, and more than likely Prescott's going to
be better than anybody else they're going to get unless
they decide in their mind they want to totally start
over and draft a quarterback very high, and my guess
(42:57):
is that's not going to happen. Um, the hackers, I
don't know if you've heard this sound and let me
blame play something for you that I'm sure you've heard
because you work at the NFL films, so you probably
get this stuff, uh put into your phone before you
when you wake up on Monday morning. But this is
this is this is Sunday night. This is Bill Belichick
talking to his defensive lineman during their win over the Packers. Hey,
(43:17):
the pass rush is what we want. We just gotta
keep doing it. Hey, we gotta keep doing it for
sixty minutes. The pass rush is what we want, all right,
Keep working to out of those guards. Keep in the pocket.
He's trying to throw us two interceptions. Now we're gonna
get one, all right. He's just lobbing it up there.
That's a great job. Keep pressing up. If he runs backwards,
(43:38):
all right, then run him out of bounce. That's great,
all right, Let's stay with that rush now. They want
to get upfield. Keep him in the pockets and and
and and make him throw from from the pocket. Um.
Very interesting because he's talking about Aaron Rodgers. Yes, of course,
right so, which is a very interesting point, but one
based on years of film study with Aaron Rodgers makes
(44:01):
sense to me because there are many times when Aaron
Rodgers is to me a little uncomfortable throwing from the pocket.
In other words, I think he's more comfortable moving around
and making throws. I've always described him this way, Doug,
and I don't know if I've said this to you,
but I've always described him more as kind of an
improvisational jazz musician more than a classical pianist, you know.
(44:25):
I I think that's the style of quarterback he is.
I think he's comfortable like that. Now, that doesn't mean
he can't throw it from the pocket. Believe me, he's
a great thrower of the football and he can make
great pocket throws and certainly his career's testament to that.
But I think that when all said and done, I
think that they would rather have him do play from
the pocket and the sort of close down the pocket
(44:47):
and make him feel like he's throwing out of a hole,
then allow him to move. It's a it's a it's
a fastening point. Um. Okay. So how much of their
flaws are that? Their offenses and clicking? Is it a
relationship thing? When you watch the Packers on tape, why
does their offense get stagnant so many times? Well, I think,
(45:10):
to me, I would like to see them be more balanced.
I think that they form for my from my worldview,
I don't think they run the ball with enough commitment.
I really liked Aaron Jones coming out of you TEP
and I think he's a really solid back. And I
think Jamal Williams would be a really good number two.
So I think they need to run the ball with
greater commitment. Um. Rogers is a fascinating player. Uh, there's
(45:33):
been times where their their offense has been inconsistent because, Uh,
to quote my friend Andy Bennoit, he can he can
always make something out of nothing, but he sometimes has
a tendency to make nothing out of something. Wow, that's
a really good one. He here's can I give you what?
Can I give you a basketball analogy? Um? Sure? There
are teams that play defense simply because they know it's
(45:55):
their only way to play offense. Right. It's like, yeah,
we're just standing here waiting for you to shoot, because
then we get the ball back, we can start playing,
we can start having some fun again. Mike d'antoni's teams
sometimes have done that, and it feels like that's when
you're saying their lack of commitment to running the football.
It's like, yeah, we're running it because we know we
have to run it, but we really want to throw
it and let Aaron snap it to Aaron and let
him make something up back there is that? Is that
(46:18):
anywhere anywhere parallel? I mean, I think that can be true,
you know again, because you know, we're not in Mike
McCarthy's head, and we don't know how he sees the
game and what his game plan is for the week.
And if he, you know, ends up running it or
gets away from it, that's what we don't know. But
I think when all said and done, Rogers this year,
in all his games, he's averaged more than forty five
dropbacks per game. I think that's too many. No matter
(46:40):
how good Aaron Rodgers is, I tend to agree with you.
Um and obviously, as you said before, with the Dallas
Cowboys and they just signed him to a long term deal,
it's much easier to get rid of your to get
rid of your your coach, than in your coach than
your quarterback. Yeah. How the how the Patriots do it?
I mean, you got no grounk, you got no Sonny Michelle.
(47:01):
How they how they still? How are they still able?
I mean I know they were in the double pass,
but boyd, it seemed like never has there been a
greater statement for their ability to be pragmatic on a
week to week basis. Then without there, those are the
two best players this year. Sonny Michelle running the football
with you and I have talked about and obviously drunk,
how they're still able to be successful. Well, you know, look,
(47:23):
I mean cor Daryl Patterson for the second week in
a row was an eye back and and pretty impressive. Um.
I think they look at every game as a totally
unique game. I remember Troy Brown telling me that that
they would come in Monday and literally it was as
if the previous day never happened and they'd start totally
from scratch with an entire new approach for the team
they were playing. My guests is they're the only team
(47:44):
in the league that does that. I think they're really
good with the details of strategy. In other words, you
saw them come out in that game and get a
lead right away because they went with speed tempo. You know,
they're so good with their formation variation out of all
their different personnel packages. So I think they present difficulties
for a defense even if they don't have great personnel. Mhm,
(48:08):
awesome stuff, just awesome. Hey, thanks so much for joining us.
We love it. We learned so much. We appreciate you
being it on the show. All right, I appreciate it.
Thank you. Pleasures all ours, great Costell from NFL Films
joining us, and the Doug Gotlips
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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