January 25, 2019 • 28 mins
With Doug off, Dan Beyer and Aaron Torres fill in and tell you why it’s time for the NFL expand their replay review system. They also want to know why James Harden is receiving so much criticism for his current scoring streak. Plus, they talk to former NFL Scout John Middlekauff about head coaches in the NFL and if “player coaches” work out long term.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best
(00:21):
of the Doug Gotlive Show on Fox Sports Radio Boom
on a Friday, Welcome in to the Doug Gottlieb Show.
It's not only us. John Ramos is hanging out. Ryan
Music is here, zing glow and grown at the update desk.
Glad to have you with us. Is we have our
first Friday without football. I guess the Pro bowls playing it.
But it's a different feel as we get set for
Super Bowl fifty three because there really isn't a game
(00:44):
that we're looking forward to or a matchup that we're
looking forward to on this weekend. You get that different
feel Friday today. Mr Aaron Torres, Yeah, first of all,
I was gonna say, are we sure the Pro Bowl
is actual football? I actually thought the Pro Bowl was
on at night. It is now on in the afternoon.
I thought, all right, seven o'clock Eastern time, watch the
Pro Bowl in Orlando. And then all of a sudden,
(01:04):
I see how the score thing. It's like, oh, noon
Pacific time, three o'clock Eastern time start for the Pro Bowl.
So on Sunday. Wow. See I didn't know that? Yeah?
Did I? Are they still doing the rotation between Hawaii
and filling the blank American city? It's it's been Orlando
for a little while, and so it's in Orlando again now.
I don't know if Hawaii is going to get the
(01:26):
Pro Bowl again, for the simple fact of the Rams
are gonna be playing a preseason game in Hawaii next year,
and that may be the route that the NFL takes
to get a game in Hawaii, maybe trying to expand
the Rams fan base to the Hawaiian Island so that
can be an option. I just have to say I
am so happy that Sean McVeigh finally caught a break
in his life. That poor guy that if anyone needs
(01:49):
a trip to Hawaii, it's that poor guy just turned
thirty three going to the Super Bowl. I hate to
say it, Hollywood good looks, but yeah, he he was
due for a break. That guy now thirty three years
old in a day after his birthday yesterday, one of
the Rams got some bad news today, but in the
overall big picture of things, it's really good news. The
cal Robie Coleman find more than twenty six thousand dollars
(02:12):
for his hit on Tommy Lee Lewis of the Saints
on the play that did not result in a pass
interference call and also did not result in a helmet
helmet hit, which is the reason that Robie Coleman got
to find today. And this fine said a lot to me, Aaron.
It's said a lot from the get go, and it's
said a lot from the National Football League. And and
first things first of saying a lot and not saying
(02:35):
much at all, the Saints need to get over the
pass interference call. It's we don't need to hear from
Roger Goodell. I don't need to hear the commissioner send
out an empty statement on a Monday or a Tuesday.
And if he sends one out now it's way too
long to even send out a statement. Mights will not
even do it. Wait till you meet the media next
week and you can address it there and move on.
(02:55):
But the Saints need to get over this. The lawsuits,
the the calling out admission a goodell like Ben Watson
did yesterday, the billboards that are going to be in Atlanta.
I think it's it's it's never going to get better,
But you just have to move on, and I think
it's about time that the Saints fans do that. Well.
Today's decision to find Nickel Roby Coleman probably won't help
(03:17):
that cause one bit. But I do agree with you,
by the way, and all of the reasons why I
have been talked about at nauseum. You're up thirty nothing,
you kicked two field goals in the first two possessions.
When you can get some points, all the miss calls
on the Rams behalf Jared Goff face mask. So yeah,
and and not only that, nothing's gonna change. They're not
going to decide on Tuesday. You know what, Rams and Saints.
(03:39):
You're playing this again. No lawsuit is gonna make the
Saints feel better while watching the Rams play in the
Super Bowl coming up a week from Sunday. None of that,
So none of it is going to matter. So you
might also just get over it and move on because
nothing is going to change to make you feel any better.
But what I do think today's fine for Robie Coleman
(04:01):
did was it showed us that the NFL needs replay
on pass interference, and the NFL needs replay for this
simple reason. What today's penalty did, or what today's fine
for Robie Coleman did, was it showed that the referees
in question, or the officials in question then of the guts,
(04:24):
did not have the wherewithal to not have the cojoness,
as you could say, to throw a flag with a
minute left in a conference championship game, with a super
Bowl on the line, and with the NFL coming out
and finding the Rams defender Nickel Robie Coleban for that hit,
showed that the referee, whether you missed the pass interference
(04:45):
call eron or not, and maybe you were in a
spot you could not have missed the helmets helmet hit.
And what today shows is that if you are in
NFL official, you want that safety net of replay. And
that's what I think we've got from today's conclusion is
that a referee is more likely to be willing to
make a call in a clutch situation or a very
(05:09):
decisive moment in the game instead of just saying for
all the moments that you rattled off of getting a
stop on the final drive, or of getting not throwing
an interception and not having Drew Brees to be hitting overtime,
all of those things, we're probably reasons why the ref
didn't throw it, saying, hey, the Saints will have enough
opportunities to do this. This show today that if you
give the safety net of a replay to an official,
(05:32):
they are more likely to not swallow the whistle and
throw a flag on the play. And I think that
is going to help usher in a new era of
replaying the National Football League. Yeah, and it's ironic that
the pen or the fine was for helmets helmet because,
as you and I were kind of discussing a little
before we came on air, is in college football, the
kind of the standard in college football with helmet to
helmet is, if you think it's even questionable, just throw
(05:56):
the flag and you can always pick it up. But
we want to get these hits out of the sport.
And if you think there's the possibility that one of
these penalties has occurred, we want to keep our players safe.
Through the flag. We can always overturn it. We can
always change the call, whatever the case may be. And
so I think that this is where the NFL needs
to go. These are humans. Humans make mistakes and at
(06:16):
the end of the day, we all just want a
clean game. We all want a game where there is
no question at the end whether a ref took a
game from the players, etcetera. And so to me, if
you have to expand replay so we get these calls, right,
I have no problem with it. And there were and
you mentioned this being in the college game, and that's
not even what what this play would be for the
(06:36):
National Football League. What what it does is and maybe
the National Football League would want to do this thing.
The NFL has put a lot of stuff in two
make it look like they care about, say, with one
of the rules that we've talked about a bunch on
this show is just the stupid helmet rule of why
there's no more throwback helmets of of teams that take
the Bucceteers, for example, when they wear their white cream
(06:58):
cycle helmets for so many years, is well, now the
NFL for the last five or six years, he said,
you can't have a throwback game and wearing those helmets
because we want you to wear the same helmet throughout
the sixteen games of the season because you are less
likely to have a concussion. Studies has shown that's not
really the case. Guy's break helmets all the time to
get new helmets during the year. But the NFL wants
(07:20):
this appearance of that. You could see a college type
of rule come in if they want to show how
safe they are trying to make the game. We saw
it with the kickoff rule, and now the onside kick
has pretty much become extinct because of these new rules
to try to make the kickoff safe. What today did
with this fine is show that the referee not only
(07:42):
missed one, but missed two calls. And that's the bigger
deal here, is to show that he missed both calls.
It just that he swallowed the whistle. And I think
with the safety of replay, the safety net of replay,
I just go back to the Chief's Patriots game. One
of the controversial calls that you saw on game was
the punt on Julian Edelman's apparent muff and the call
(08:05):
on the field even though Julian Edelman made no effort
to try to tackle the person who had gotten the football.
The call on the field was turnover Chiefs football. And
you know what that did. That allowed them to review
that play look it over with no penalty to New
England for having to use the time out, or no
penalty to Kansas City for trying to see if there
(08:27):
was a replay, just allowed them to take a look
at it. In the end, they overruled it, but the
referees were willing to make the decision on the field,
and I think referees and officials are now willing to
call are more willing to call turnovers and touchdowns because
they know there's an automatic replay. And I think if
the referee of the official in question last Sunday had
(08:48):
the safety net of that call or of of replay there,
he would have made that call. And the fine today
is such a big deal for the simple fact of, yeah,
you didn't miss the second call. But it really goes
to the point of me and replay of you could
take a look at this, You could use it in
an NBA style, you could use it in a college
but replay and penalties is something that the NFL has
(09:09):
to incorporate. In twenty nineteen, after the this play last weekend. Yea,
as you were speaking right there, I thought about the
word official, right. This guy is an official. He's there
to officiate. He's not there too, He's just supposed to
make sure everything goes his plan, right, And if you're
a good official, you never know who they are. And
so to me, I think this plays into it. This guy, ironically,
(09:33):
by not making this call, he doesn't want to become
the story right correct, absolutely exactly, and and so he
did what human nature dictates. I think what most of
us would do, which is, I don't want to become
part of this story. I don't want to quote unquote
cost the Rams a shot at the super Bowl, which, ironically,
instead a lot of people in New Orleans will say,
you cost us the shot at the super Bowl. And
so because of that, I'm with you. I just think
(09:55):
that there. I just think that at the end of
the day, we as hands. Everyone says, oh, we don't
want to expand the game. We don't want to make
it longer, there's too many replays. No, we want it
to be right. We want to get it right. We
want the game to be contested fairly. We want the
result to be reflective of excuse me, the right calls,
and so I just think if you're adding one or
(10:16):
two replays, maybe less, maybe sometimes more, I think that's
for the good of the sport. You can see it
in the n b A. You can look at flagrant
one follows, flagrant two follows. You saw it last night,
JaVale McGee popping Dario Saris in the Lakers Timberwelves game
review it it's a flagrant one. I know that. I
know there's flow of the game. NFL games are actually
really well paced, are ending in most are ending at
(10:38):
about three hours, the exact opposite of college football, which
drags on. But that's more about a stoppage of the
clock after a first down and other stoppages that that
you have in the game. The NFL game flows pretty
pretty well if you have a challenge, which is something
that I proposed to Doug earlier this week, the ability
to challenge a penalty in the with the coach's back pocket,
(10:59):
you could figure are on a way to do final
two minutes of a questionable penalty. You could have them
look either way to do it. To at least have
this safety net, I think you would see referees more
willing to make a call in that tough situation, flagrant foul,
breakaway follows that you've got it was in a clear
path foul. Those are things that you can can determine
(11:20):
with replay. In pass interference, I think you can also
look at face masks. I think those are things are obvious.
I don't think holding is is a call. I don't
think illegal contact. I don't think that those sort of things.
But blatant pass interference, to me, is the same as
determining if it was a flagrant one or a flagrant two.
And that's something that the NFL should look at. It's
almost like the the NFL should go towards what the
NBA has done to try to figure out how the
(11:42):
replay and replaying calls than maybe more so in other places.
But just today's ruling to me, to show out, give
the ref that safety net, they're gonna have more guts
to make a call it in the game. Yeah, And
because the alternative is I missed the call, I cost
a team. And again it's human nature. Every you you
don't think all that can kind of flaster your head
in a split second like that, But we all know
(12:03):
what's at stake for ref if they blow a call,
and that's some scary stuff, right, And so I also look,
when you talk about the NBA, the other one that
comes to mind is Major League Baseball. And I'm not
even a huge baseball guy, but like ten years ago,
the idea that you could challenge safer out at first base,
safer out on a stolen base attempt, it seemed preposterous.
(12:24):
Now it still feels weird when a when a manager
challenges a play. But at the end of the day,
if they get it right, if the if the ump
just misses a stolen base or a guy out at
first or out at home, like, it's better for the
sport that you get it right, that the game is
contested on more fair grounds. And in this case it
would have actually resulted and obviously probably very much so,
(12:47):
a different result. And it makes it easier for the
ref to, as you said, Dan, to make the call
in that moment. And the NFL doesn't need Roger Goodell
to speak because they spoke on it today there They
said there was a missed call because something that should
have should have been penalized. He's getting a fine for it.
That's all that the NFL has to say. About this,
but today it shows the repaide is played because there's
(13:09):
no way you can miss both calls. And that's what
happened on Sunday. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug dot Leap Show weekdays at noon Eastern three
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Joining us now, he's the host of the
Three and Our podcast on the Herd Radio Network. Former
NFL scout John Middlecoff joins us again here on Fox
Sports Radio. Hey John, how you doing? What's up? Guys?
(13:31):
How you doing? We are we are doing well? The
kel Robie Coleman Fine today now, yesterday Ben Watson of
the Saints wanted to hear from the NFL, wanted to
hear from Roger Goodell. Did this fine? Say enough for
the National Football League from the play that happened Sunday
in New Orleans. Now, but what are they gonna do? Yeah?
I mean it's over. I mean it's just it's you
know that old saying like spilled milk, I mean, watering
(13:53):
the bridge. Whatever it is, what it is now, it
has enormous financial implications. Whatever teams they able to get
to the Super Bowl, the finances that that team is
gonna make up for merchandise to just playing in the
Super Bowl when it impacts the players, But they're not
going to replay the game, right I mean, it is
what it is. Uh. My issue has always been this
(14:14):
whole time with we spent so much time on this
play and the play was wrong. I mean, they should
have thrown past interference. They should never have been in
that situation in the first place. They should have ran
the ball three straight times and they probably are, you know,
getting ready to go to Atlanta if they had just
milked the clock. Even if Jared Goff got the ball
back with fifty seconds, he didn't have any time outs
(14:35):
and they wouldn't have been able to get in the
field goal range. And I think we spend so much
time on this call rightfully, So I mean it was
a I mean, the controversy speaks for itself. But Sean
Payton's coaching in that situation, for a guy that I
think we all agree at the top four or five
coach in the league, was just an abomination. By the way,
for all the complaints about overtime in the Chiefs game,
(14:55):
the Saints actually got the ball in overtime unlike what
mor can you ask for. Here's the other thing. At
the end of the day, the best player in Saints history,
their quarterback that's gonna go to the Hall of Fame,
did not play very well in the playoffs. He just didn't.
And that's why the Eagles game, if it wasn't for
a Aushon Jeffrey drop that led to an interception, you
know that they were up only up six. So if
(15:17):
Nick Foles scores and that touch, maybe they don't win.
You know, I'm not saying I don't like playing that game,
but Drew Bree just overall did not have a very
good playoffs. Switching gears. A big story out today Antonio Brown,
his relationship with Mike Tomlin. With Ben Roethlisberger, I don't
think we learn anything significantly new. Mike Tomlin kind of
a looser ship and of course a b played by
(15:38):
some rules maybe that others didn't real quick. You know,
I have this theory, but but does it work long
term to be kind of a quote unquote players coach
the way that Mike Tomlin does. Because I just feel
like eventually somebody gets away with some stuff that other
guys don't like. You eventually lose the locker room, which
appears to be the case somewhat in Pittsburgh right now.
I think you just have to funnel guys in and
(15:59):
out quick. The problem is Antonio Brown is so good
that you wouldn't look to get rid of him. Like
in Seattle. Pete Carroll, I think is the best example.
You know, he's won a super Bowl. His team every
year makes the playoffs. Even in a terrible year like
last year, they still went nine and seven, but they
waited like a year too long to funnel everyone out,
and it cost him. You saw this year they were
(16:20):
playing with a bunch of people that the casual fan
are not gonna know beside Russell Wilson, and they were
really good. They were a playoff team and they're gonna
be even better next year. So to me, the key
is just the you know, funnel guys in and out.
Now it gets complicated, you know, and and it did
with Seattle. When you have super famous, elite players, it's
harder to get rid of them. That's what you know,
makes Bill Belichick the modern day Bill Walsh, like he
(16:42):
has the equity and the stones to just do it,
because it's not an easy thing to do, because you
take a lot of heat when you get rid of
a Richard Seymour, a Logan Mankins, a West Welker. Sometimes
now Antonio Brown is arguably better than all those guys.
You know he had, he had fifteen touchdowns last year,
but you know it can snowball on you fast. And
now they're in this weird situation. And the worst thing
(17:04):
in the NFL, and like in any business, is when
people know that you want to sell, because then you
lose your leverage. Like everyone knows they would like to
trade Antonio Brown, Well, what does that mean? Their offers
are gonna go down? So instead of like Belichick is
the master at this, you never quite know and then boom,
the guy's gone. Well he because he maximizes value. And
sometimes when you let these things become so public, you know,
(17:27):
the NFL is like high school rumors. They know everything.
Everyone talks. So I find out you don't want Antonio
Brown back, I'm not gonna offer you a first or
second round pick. I'm gonna offer you like a fourth
a fourth rounder for Antonio Brown. Well, yeah, if I
know they want to get rid of them, I'm not
gonna give them much. Just just simple supply and demand, right,
simple economics. You just why would you offer? Now, if
everyone thought they were in love with each other, they
(17:48):
probably could get a first round pick for him. But
we all know that he's kind of a pain in
the butt. John Middlecoff joining us here on Fox Sports
Radio on the Doug gott Leaps Show. You can hear
us three and Out podcast on the Herd Radio Network.
He's here in whereas I'm Dan Buyer in four DUC today.
Is Antonio Brown good enough to fit in anywhere? And
I I hear myself ask that question, and I'm like, boy,
(18:09):
that sounds stupid. But we've heard Jerry Rice campaign for
him to go to the forty niners. Wherever he goes,
is there going to be success or is there more
to the equation? Yeah? I think it's hard, you know.
I mean, he was in the perfect environment in Pittsburgh
and he's flourished, right, but that's the historical environment and
everyone flourishes there. I do think you saw, like Terrell Owens,
(18:31):
as his career went once Andy Reid kind of sold
stock on him, he was kind of a pain from
there on out. So yeah, I don't think by any
means he would just be some plug and play player
to have a lot of success. Also, he's played with
the Hall of Fame quarterback. You know, you went to
the wrong team with a quarterback that wasn't playing that well.
It could get ugly fast, just because he clearly has
(18:53):
beliefs in the way he's gonna do things, and he's outspoken,
and he's acting on social media and he's got no
problem you know, doing and whatever he wants to do,
which I have most people in the NFL don't really
mind if you're an elite player. Now there is kind of,
like you said, that threshold, where is it t O
and the peak of his power still found it Now,
I'm not saying Antonio Brown is quite there, even though
(19:14):
I just before I jumped on with you guys saw
a headline that TL has been a mentor to Antonio Brown.
So it's just you know, I, I don't know. They
go off for the top one. They go off for
popcorn all the time. That's what. Yeah, I can see that.
I was gonna say, kind of staying with that Steelers theme,
So Levyan Bell, we're starting to get some buzz maybe Miami.
I feel like he's kind of backed himself into this
(19:36):
corner where when you turned down all the millions that
he did this year by electing not to play, I
feel like you kind of have to go to the
highest bidder, even if it's not necessarily the right fit.
Am I crazy to think that, Yeah, he doesn't really
have a choice now, And I mean I know that
social media loves acting like you know, he was making
fifty grand. I mean, they had fourteen and a half
(19:56):
million dollars on the table for him and he said no,
fourteen and a half million after they had just paid
him I think twelve and a half so that would
have been almost thirty million in two years. Like he
he chose this situation. Also, it's pretty it's been proven
now even the Rams who paid Todd Gurley, who's easily
an easier guy to deal with, higher level guy, no issues. Uh,
(20:17):
he just hasn't played well in the playoffs and didn't matter.
They replaced him with C. J. Anderson, who was cut
by like three teams this season. So to me, his
value like that hurts Lebion Bell because Todd Gurley is
just a better player in the sense that he's less
drama so and he was their guy and they paid him,
and it's kind of proven like, no, they probably didn't
need to pay him all that money. So who is
giving People I talked to in the league don't expect
(20:39):
Lebian to get thirty million dollars. And one of the
reasons he held out was four thirty million guaranteed. So
people thinking that he was gonna get that forty five
million gurle money, well you actually have. Even if he
got thirty you have to sub subtract the franchise tag
that he just turned down because he got nothing this season,
So it would really just be like, you know, he
(21:00):
should have made that money and had more money coming.
I think he's he got terrible advice, and I get
him being passionate and think he's getting screwed. But man,
that's you just play the wrong position. There's nothing else
to say. If you played quarterback or you played pass rusher,
they would have taken care of you. But you played
running back and you've been in trouble, you've been suspended. Uh,
you've been pop for d u I, So that means
(21:22):
if you get in trouble again, you would get suspended.
Like part of it is on you, my man, right,
you know, I don't think you never hear anyone tweeting
about that. He created the situation. Todd Gurley, zero issues,
zero problems, great teammate, that wasn't really the case with Levian.
He's John middlecof former NFL Scout, host of the Three
and Out podcast. Find him on Twitter at John middle Coffin. No.
(21:43):
When you join us next week with Doug in the chair,
it's gonna be a whole bunch of Super Bowl fifty three.
Looking forward to what John going to talk to you
again and have a great weekend. Thanks guys, Enjoy Friday.
Be sure to catch live editions so the Doug dot
Leaps show weekdays at noon Eastern three pm Pacific. The
Rockets take on the Raptors tonight in the NBA. No
Chris Paul, but Paul could return from his hamstring injury,
(22:04):
possibly on Sunday for Houston and Aaron. I want everybody
to to to take a step back because there's been
a lot of heat on James Harden and a lot
of in my mind, unfair criticism of James Harden. He
is one of the few superstars in the n b
A that can do so much good and do so well,
(22:27):
yet be criticized for playing well and seeing what James
Harden has done. I don't think people realize what exactly
is going on with Harden, what is exactly is going
on with the Rockets, and what could be going on
with the NBA's Western Conference, because as James Harden has
been on this unbelievable tear of scoring lately, all I
(22:48):
hear about is criticisms of James Harden, of him not
scoring on assists. Of James Harden is going to wear out.
This usage rate is not sustainable. Continuing this through May
and June and the NBA playoffs just won't work. And
I just get the sense that James Harden is such
(23:09):
a target for negativity that if this was Steph Curry
or a or a star that is loved by the NBA,
we would be eating this up like Thanksgiving turkey, Like
this would be oh my goodness. Look at what Steph
Curry is doing with the Golden State Warriors with Durant
and Clay Thompson OUTI is single handedly carrying his team.
(23:31):
That's exactly what James Harden is doing. And I just
don't get the angst and the criticism that is thrown
towards James Harden as he is on one of the
most unreal streaks that we have seen in recent history
for an NBA individual player. Yeah, to me, what it
says is and I think it's a great point by you.
I think, first of all, the way we cover the NBA,
(23:52):
there are black hats and white hats, right, there are
good guys and bad guys. Steph Curry can do no wrong.
Janice your boy, everybody loves, Everybody loves poor zingis Anthony Davis.
I don't think he's on TV enough for anybody not
to like him, right, But then there's Westbrook, there's hard
and there are guys that, no matter what they do. Katie,
now that he's been a golden State, that can do
(24:14):
no right. I think for some reason, James Harden, we've
just decided he is this offensive side show, which is
part of a larger offensive side show in Houston. And
to me, that's what this speaks to is. I think
we think of the Warriors, Oh, they're so progressive, Steve Kerr,
this advanced offense, and we think of Mike D'Antoni like
(24:35):
gimmicky offense. All they do is shoot threes. And so
because the Rockets are kind of perceived as gimmicky in
their own right. I think people are taking this James
Harden thing and making a gimmicky too. I'm gonna have
some numbers on Harden that is going that the hardened
haters can take, and I'm gonna shove it down their
throats because they say a lot about what James Harden
has done. But I look at the We're just talking
(24:57):
with John Middlecoff. We're talking about the Rams, we even
talked about at the start of the show, and and
Sean McVeigh and what Sean McVeigh does. The Rams towards
the latter part of the year had an injured uh
Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, wasn't playing well. Things they just
signed C. J. Anderson. Things weren't going well, and this
was supposed to be a time of the year where
you start peaking. So you know what Sean McVeigh does.
(25:18):
Sean McVeigh figures out this recipe of how through the
warts and the bumps and the bruises that they had
at the end of the year, of how they can
actually win a playoff game. When two playoff games and
go to the Super Bowl, A magnificent job. They are
now more of a run first team without your all
pro running back doing the running. That's magnificent. When you
take the Houston Rockets, who were out of the playoff
(25:40):
picture when Chris Paul was hurt a month ago, when
you have now have led them to fifth in the East,
to a record of eleven and six without Chris Paul,
with wins over the Spurs, Thunder, Celtics, Warriors, and Nuggets
still be fourth in the NBA and assist per game
and fifth overall in total assists. That's what you've got
(26:01):
with that. That's all that James Harden has done is
continuous assist right, lead them to big wins over title contenders,
not just conference contenders, but title contenders. Continue to stretch
his leading the scoring race, and and now you've got
Chris Paul with the month of rest and Clint Capello
who's not going to have a month or two of
(26:22):
NBA games on his leg as you enter the playoffs.
This is all a positive. James Harden is doing what
he needed to do and has now got the Rockets
in a position that I think sets them up for
a playoff run. Yet, all we want to hear is
to he never passes the ball. Well, you know what,
maybe it's the guy's passing to him. Of the reasons
why he isn't getting on those assists. If he's still
averaging eight assists per game in his top five in
(26:44):
the n b A, how is that James Harden's fault
that Eric Gordon or p J. Tucker aren't aren't hitting shots.
I mean, it's it's absurd to see the criticism that
James Harden has gotten over this great run. Well, and
he's shooting. The other thing two is he's shooting from
the field. It's not like he's shooting thirty six percent
and he's bricking all these shots, like, yeah, he's shooting
thirty five thirty six times, but he's making a very
(27:05):
high percentage of them. And so to me, it just
goes back to I think that I just think that
it has become this perception that the Rockets are this
side show and part of what the Rockets what made
them so successful last year. We saw the three point shooting,
Eric Gordon, Trevor Reason when he was with the team,
(27:26):
Chris Paul, James Harden. They were a good defensive team
last year. But everyone perceives them as this, I don't
even know. It's like Texas Tech football, like like all
they do is just shoot a bunch of threes and
when they go in, they went. And that's the furthest
thing from the truth. When they lost last year in
Game seven of the Western Conference Finals, it's been from
that point until now that people want them to prove
(27:48):
it in the playoffs, and so that's why there's been
no playoffs since that's like, what are they supposed to do?
Then they've He's gotten the team in the playoff picture.
They're a five seed right now if the playoffs were
to start the day, all without their starting center, who
makes a big difference when you play Golden State, and
without your all star point guard who probably didn't need
to play eight games in the regular season. That's all
(28:09):
James Harden has done. He's Aaron Torres. I'm Dan Buyer.
This is the Doug Gottlieb Show. Today's show is brought
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(28:29):
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(00:21):
of the Doug Gotlive Show on Fox Sports Radio Boom
on a Friday, Welcome in to the Doug Gottlieb Show.
It's not only us. John Ramos is hanging out. Ryan
Music is here, zing glow and grown at the update desk.
Glad to have you with us. Is we have our
first Friday without football. I guess the Pro bowls playing it.
But it's a different feel as we get set for
Super Bowl fifty three because there really isn't a game
(00:44):
that we're looking forward to or a matchup that we're
looking forward to on this weekend. You get that different
feel Friday today. Mr Aaron Torres, Yeah, first of all,
I was gonna say, are we sure the Pro Bowl
is actual football? I actually thought the Pro Bowl was
on at night. It is now on in the afternoon.
I thought, all right, seven o'clock Eastern time, watch the
Pro Bowl in Orlando. And then all of a sudden,
(01:04):
I see how the score thing. It's like, oh, noon
Pacific time, three o'clock Eastern time start for the Pro Bowl.
So on Sunday. Wow. See I didn't know that? Yeah?
Did I? Are they still doing the rotation between Hawaii
and filling the blank American city? It's it's been Orlando
for a little while, and so it's in Orlando again now.
I don't know if Hawaii is going to get the
(01:26):
Pro Bowl again, for the simple fact of the Rams
are gonna be playing a preseason game in Hawaii next year,
and that may be the route that the NFL takes
to get a game in Hawaii, maybe trying to expand
the Rams fan base to the Hawaiian Island so that
can be an option. I just have to say I
am so happy that Sean McVeigh finally caught a break
in his life. That poor guy that if anyone needs
(01:49):
a trip to Hawaii, it's that poor guy just turned
thirty three going to the Super Bowl. I hate to
say it, Hollywood good looks, but yeah, he he was
due for a break. That guy now thirty three years
old in a day after his birthday yesterday, one of
the Rams got some bad news today, but in the
overall big picture of things, it's really good news. The
cal Robie Coleman find more than twenty six thousand dollars
(02:12):
for his hit on Tommy Lee Lewis of the Saints
on the play that did not result in a pass
interference call and also did not result in a helmet
helmet hit, which is the reason that Robie Coleman got
to find today. And this fine said a lot to me, Aaron.
It's said a lot from the get go, and it's
said a lot from the National Football League. And and
first things first of saying a lot and not saying
(02:35):
much at all, the Saints need to get over the
pass interference call. It's we don't need to hear from
Roger Goodell. I don't need to hear the commissioner send
out an empty statement on a Monday or a Tuesday.
And if he sends one out now it's way too
long to even send out a statement. Mights will not
even do it. Wait till you meet the media next
week and you can address it there and move on.
(02:55):
But the Saints need to get over this. The lawsuits,
the the calling out admission a goodell like Ben Watson
did yesterday, the billboards that are going to be in Atlanta.
I think it's it's it's never going to get better,
But you just have to move on, and I think
it's about time that the Saints fans do that. Well.
Today's decision to find Nickel Roby Coleman probably won't help
(03:17):
that cause one bit. But I do agree with you,
by the way, and all of the reasons why I
have been talked about at nauseum. You're up thirty nothing,
you kicked two field goals in the first two possessions.
When you can get some points, all the miss calls
on the Rams behalf Jared Goff face mask. So yeah,
and and not only that, nothing's gonna change. They're not
going to decide on Tuesday. You know what, Rams and Saints.
(03:39):
You're playing this again. No lawsuit is gonna make the
Saints feel better while watching the Rams play in the
Super Bowl coming up a week from Sunday. None of that,
So none of it is going to matter. So you
might also just get over it and move on because
nothing is going to change to make you feel any better.
But what I do think today's fine for Robie Coleman
(04:01):
did was it showed us that the NFL needs replay
on pass interference, and the NFL needs replay for this
simple reason. What today's penalty did, or what today's fine
for Robie Coleman did, was it showed that the referees
in question, or the officials in question then of the guts,
(04:24):
did not have the wherewithal to not have the cojoness,
as you could say, to throw a flag with a
minute left in a conference championship game, with a super
Bowl on the line, and with the NFL coming out
and finding the Rams defender Nickel Robie Coleban for that hit,
showed that the referee, whether you missed the pass interference
(04:45):
call eron or not, and maybe you were in a
spot you could not have missed the helmets helmet hit.
And what today shows is that if you are in
NFL official, you want that safety net of replay. And
that's what I think we've got from today's conclusion is
that a referee is more likely to be willing to
make a call in a clutch situation or a very
(05:09):
decisive moment in the game instead of just saying for
all the moments that you rattled off of getting a
stop on the final drive, or of getting not throwing
an interception and not having Drew Brees to be hitting overtime,
all of those things, we're probably reasons why the ref
didn't throw it, saying, hey, the Saints will have enough
opportunities to do this. This show today that if you
give the safety net of a replay to an official,
(05:32):
they are more likely to not swallow the whistle and
throw a flag on the play. And I think that
is going to help usher in a new era of
replaying the National Football League. Yeah, and it's ironic that
the pen or the fine was for helmets helmet because,
as you and I were kind of discussing a little
before we came on air, is in college football, the
kind of the standard in college football with helmet to
helmet is, if you think it's even questionable, just throw
(05:56):
the flag and you can always pick it up. But
we want to get these hits out of the sport.
And if you think there's the possibility that one of
these penalties has occurred, we want to keep our players safe.
Through the flag. We can always overturn it. We can
always change the call, whatever the case may be. And
so I think that this is where the NFL needs
to go. These are humans. Humans make mistakes and at
(06:16):
the end of the day, we all just want a
clean game. We all want a game where there is
no question at the end whether a ref took a
game from the players, etcetera. And so to me, if
you have to expand replay so we get these calls, right,
I have no problem with it. And there were and
you mentioned this being in the college game, and that's
not even what what this play would be for the
(06:36):
National Football League. What what it does is and maybe
the National Football League would want to do this thing.
The NFL has put a lot of stuff in two
make it look like they care about, say, with one
of the rules that we've talked about a bunch on
this show is just the stupid helmet rule of why
there's no more throwback helmets of of teams that take
the Bucceteers, for example, when they wear their white cream
(06:58):
cycle helmets for so many years, is well, now the
NFL for the last five or six years, he said,
you can't have a throwback game and wearing those helmets
because we want you to wear the same helmet throughout
the sixteen games of the season because you are less
likely to have a concussion. Studies has shown that's not
really the case. Guy's break helmets all the time to
get new helmets during the year. But the NFL wants
(07:20):
this appearance of that. You could see a college type
of rule come in if they want to show how
safe they are trying to make the game. We saw
it with the kickoff rule, and now the onside kick
has pretty much become extinct because of these new rules
to try to make the kickoff safe. What today did
with this fine is show that the referee not only
(07:42):
missed one, but missed two calls. And that's the bigger
deal here, is to show that he missed both calls.
It just that he swallowed the whistle. And I think
with the safety of replay, the safety net of replay,
I just go back to the Chief's Patriots game. One
of the controversial calls that you saw on game was
the punt on Julian Edelman's apparent muff and the call
(08:05):
on the field even though Julian Edelman made no effort
to try to tackle the person who had gotten the football.
The call on the field was turnover Chiefs football. And
you know what that did. That allowed them to review
that play look it over with no penalty to New
England for having to use the time out, or no
penalty to Kansas City for trying to see if there
(08:27):
was a replay, just allowed them to take a look
at it. In the end, they overruled it, but the
referees were willing to make the decision on the field,
and I think referees and officials are now willing to
call are more willing to call turnovers and touchdowns because
they know there's an automatic replay. And I think if
the referee of the official in question last Sunday had
(08:48):
the safety net of that call or of of replay there,
he would have made that call. And the fine today
is such a big deal for the simple fact of, yeah,
you didn't miss the second call. But it really goes
to the point of me and replay of you could
take a look at this, You could use it in
an NBA style, you could use it in a college
but replay and penalties is something that the NFL has
(09:09):
to incorporate. In twenty nineteen, after the this play last weekend. Yea,
as you were speaking right there, I thought about the
word official, right. This guy is an official. He's there
to officiate. He's not there too, He's just supposed to
make sure everything goes his plan, right, And if you're
a good official, you never know who they are. And
so to me, I think this plays into it. This guy, ironically,
(09:33):
by not making this call, he doesn't want to become
the story right correct, absolutely exactly, and and so he
did what human nature dictates. I think what most of
us would do, which is, I don't want to become
part of this story. I don't want to quote unquote
cost the Rams a shot at the super Bowl, which, ironically,
instead a lot of people in New Orleans will say,
you cost us the shot at the super Bowl. And
so because of that, I'm with you. I just think
(09:55):
that there. I just think that at the end of
the day, we as hands. Everyone says, oh, we don't
want to expand the game. We don't want to make
it longer, there's too many replays. No, we want it
to be right. We want to get it right. We
want the game to be contested fairly. We want the
result to be reflective of excuse me, the right calls,
and so I just think if you're adding one or
(10:16):
two replays, maybe less, maybe sometimes more, I think that's
for the good of the sport. You can see it
in the n b A. You can look at flagrant
one follows, flagrant two follows. You saw it last night,
JaVale McGee popping Dario Saris in the Lakers Timberwelves game
review it it's a flagrant one. I know that. I
know there's flow of the game. NFL games are actually
really well paced, are ending in most are ending at
(10:38):
about three hours, the exact opposite of college football, which
drags on. But that's more about a stoppage of the
clock after a first down and other stoppages that that
you have in the game. The NFL game flows pretty
pretty well if you have a challenge, which is something
that I proposed to Doug earlier this week, the ability
to challenge a penalty in the with the coach's back pocket,
(10:59):
you could figure are on a way to do final
two minutes of a questionable penalty. You could have them
look either way to do it. To at least have
this safety net, I think you would see referees more
willing to make a call in that tough situation, flagrant foul,
breakaway follows that you've got it was in a clear
path foul. Those are things that you can can determine
(11:20):
with replay. In pass interference, I think you can also
look at face masks. I think those are things are obvious.
I don't think holding is is a call. I don't
think illegal contact. I don't think that those sort of things.
But blatant pass interference, to me, is the same as
determining if it was a flagrant one or a flagrant two.
And that's something that the NFL should look at. It's
almost like the the NFL should go towards what the
NBA has done to try to figure out how the
(11:42):
replay and replaying calls than maybe more so in other places.
But just today's ruling to me, to show out, give
the ref that safety net, they're gonna have more guts
to make a call it in the game. Yeah, And
because the alternative is I missed the call, I cost
a team. And again it's human nature. Every you you
don't think all that can kind of flaster your head
in a split second like that, But we all know
(12:03):
what's at stake for ref if they blow a call,
and that's some scary stuff, right, And so I also look,
when you talk about the NBA, the other one that
comes to mind is Major League Baseball. And I'm not
even a huge baseball guy, but like ten years ago,
the idea that you could challenge safer out at first base,
safer out on a stolen base attempt, it seemed preposterous.
(12:24):
Now it still feels weird when a when a manager
challenges a play. But at the end of the day,
if they get it right, if the if the ump
just misses a stolen base or a guy out at
first or out at home, like, it's better for the
sport that you get it right, that the game is
contested on more fair grounds. And in this case it
would have actually resulted and obviously probably very much so,
(12:47):
a different result. And it makes it easier for the
ref to, as you said, Dan, to make the call
in that moment. And the NFL doesn't need Roger Goodell
to speak because they spoke on it today there They
said there was a missed call because something that should
have should have been penalized. He's getting a fine for it.
That's all that the NFL has to say. About this,
but today it shows the repaide is played because there's
(13:09):
no way you can miss both calls. And that's what
happened on Sunday. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug dot Leap Show weekdays at noon Eastern three
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. Joining us now, he's the host of the
Three and Our podcast on the Herd Radio Network. Former
NFL scout John Middlecoff joins us again here on Fox
Sports Radio. Hey John, how you doing? What's up? Guys?
(13:31):
How you doing? We are we are doing well? The
kel Robie Coleman Fine today now, yesterday Ben Watson of
the Saints wanted to hear from the NFL, wanted to
hear from Roger Goodell. Did this fine? Say enough for
the National Football League from the play that happened Sunday
in New Orleans. Now, but what are they gonna do? Yeah?
I mean it's over. I mean it's just it's you
know that old saying like spilled milk, I mean, watering
(13:53):
the bridge. Whatever it is, what it is now, it
has enormous financial implications. Whatever teams they able to get
to the Super Bowl, the finances that that team is
gonna make up for merchandise to just playing in the
Super Bowl when it impacts the players, But they're not
going to replay the game, right I mean, it is
what it is. Uh. My issue has always been this
(14:14):
whole time with we spent so much time on this
play and the play was wrong. I mean, they should
have thrown past interference. They should never have been in
that situation in the first place. They should have ran
the ball three straight times and they probably are, you know,
getting ready to go to Atlanta if they had just
milked the clock. Even if Jared Goff got the ball
back with fifty seconds, he didn't have any time outs
(14:35):
and they wouldn't have been able to get in the
field goal range. And I think we spend so much
time on this call rightfully, So I mean it was
a I mean, the controversy speaks for itself. But Sean
Payton's coaching in that situation, for a guy that I
think we all agree at the top four or five
coach in the league, was just an abomination. By the way,
for all the complaints about overtime in the Chiefs game,
(14:55):
the Saints actually got the ball in overtime unlike what
mor can you ask for. Here's the other thing. At
the end of the day, the best player in Saints history,
their quarterback that's gonna go to the Hall of Fame,
did not play very well in the playoffs. He just didn't.
And that's why the Eagles game, if it wasn't for
a Aushon Jeffrey drop that led to an interception, you
know that they were up only up six. So if
(15:17):
Nick Foles scores and that touch, maybe they don't win.
You know, I'm not saying I don't like playing that game,
but Drew Bree just overall did not have a very
good playoffs. Switching gears. A big story out today Antonio Brown,
his relationship with Mike Tomlin. With Ben Roethlisberger, I don't
think we learn anything significantly new. Mike Tomlin kind of
a looser ship and of course a b played by
(15:38):
some rules maybe that others didn't real quick. You know,
I have this theory, but but does it work long
term to be kind of a quote unquote players coach
the way that Mike Tomlin does. Because I just feel
like eventually somebody gets away with some stuff that other
guys don't like. You eventually lose the locker room, which
appears to be the case somewhat in Pittsburgh right now.
I think you just have to funnel guys in and
(15:59):
out quick. The problem is Antonio Brown is so good
that you wouldn't look to get rid of him. Like
in Seattle. Pete Carroll, I think is the best example.
You know, he's won a super Bowl. His team every
year makes the playoffs. Even in a terrible year like
last year, they still went nine and seven, but they
waited like a year too long to funnel everyone out,
and it cost him. You saw this year they were
(16:20):
playing with a bunch of people that the casual fan
are not gonna know beside Russell Wilson, and they were
really good. They were a playoff team and they're gonna
be even better next year. So to me, the key
is just the you know, funnel guys in and out.
Now it gets complicated, you know, and and it did
with Seattle. When you have super famous, elite players, it's
harder to get rid of them. That's what you know,
makes Bill Belichick the modern day Bill Walsh, like he
(16:42):
has the equity and the stones to just do it,
because it's not an easy thing to do, because you
take a lot of heat when you get rid of
a Richard Seymour, a Logan Mankins, a West Welker. Sometimes
now Antonio Brown is arguably better than all those guys.
You know he had, he had fifteen touchdowns last year,
but you know it can snowball on you fast. And
now they're in this weird situation. And the worst thing
(17:04):
in the NFL, and like in any business, is when
people know that you want to sell, because then you
lose your leverage. Like everyone knows they would like to
trade Antonio Brown, Well, what does that mean? Their offers
are gonna go down? So instead of like Belichick is
the master at this, you never quite know and then boom,
the guy's gone. Well he because he maximizes value. And
sometimes when you let these things become so public, you know,
(17:27):
the NFL is like high school rumors. They know everything.
Everyone talks. So I find out you don't want Antonio
Brown back, I'm not gonna offer you a first or
second round pick. I'm gonna offer you like a fourth
a fourth rounder for Antonio Brown. Well, yeah, if I
know they want to get rid of them, I'm not
gonna give them much. Just just simple supply and demand, right,
simple economics. You just why would you offer? Now, if
everyone thought they were in love with each other, they
(17:48):
probably could get a first round pick for him. But
we all know that he's kind of a pain in
the butt. John Middlecoff joining us here on Fox Sports
Radio on the Doug gott Leaps Show. You can hear
us three and Out podcast on the Herd Radio Network.
He's here in whereas I'm Dan Buyer in four DUC today.
Is Antonio Brown good enough to fit in anywhere? And
I I hear myself ask that question, and I'm like, boy,
(18:09):
that sounds stupid. But we've heard Jerry Rice campaign for
him to go to the forty niners. Wherever he goes,
is there going to be success or is there more
to the equation? Yeah? I think it's hard, you know.
I mean, he was in the perfect environment in Pittsburgh
and he's flourished, right, but that's the historical environment and
everyone flourishes there. I do think you saw, like Terrell Owens,
(18:31):
as his career went once Andy Reid kind of sold
stock on him, he was kind of a pain from
there on out. So yeah, I don't think by any
means he would just be some plug and play player
to have a lot of success. Also, he's played with
the Hall of Fame quarterback. You know, you went to
the wrong team with a quarterback that wasn't playing that well.
It could get ugly fast, just because he clearly has
(18:53):
beliefs in the way he's gonna do things, and he's outspoken,
and he's acting on social media and he's got no
problem you know, doing and whatever he wants to do,
which I have most people in the NFL don't really
mind if you're an elite player. Now there is kind of,
like you said, that threshold, where is it t O
and the peak of his power still found it Now,
I'm not saying Antonio Brown is quite there, even though
(19:14):
I just before I jumped on with you guys saw
a headline that TL has been a mentor to Antonio Brown.
So it's just you know, I, I don't know. They
go off for the top one. They go off for
popcorn all the time. That's what. Yeah, I can see that.
I was gonna say, kind of staying with that Steelers theme,
So Levyan Bell, we're starting to get some buzz maybe Miami.
I feel like he's kind of backed himself into this
(19:36):
corner where when you turned down all the millions that
he did this year by electing not to play, I
feel like you kind of have to go to the
highest bidder, even if it's not necessarily the right fit.
Am I crazy to think that, Yeah, he doesn't really
have a choice now, And I mean I know that
social media loves acting like you know, he was making
fifty grand. I mean, they had fourteen and a half
(19:56):
million dollars on the table for him and he said no,
fourteen and a half million after they had just paid
him I think twelve and a half so that would
have been almost thirty million in two years. Like he
he chose this situation. Also, it's pretty it's been proven
now even the Rams who paid Todd Gurley, who's easily
an easier guy to deal with, higher level guy, no issues. Uh,
(20:17):
he just hasn't played well in the playoffs and didn't matter.
They replaced him with C. J. Anderson, who was cut
by like three teams this season. So to me, his
value like that hurts Lebion Bell because Todd Gurley is
just a better player in the sense that he's less
drama so and he was their guy and they paid him,
and it's kind of proven like, no, they probably didn't
need to pay him all that money. So who is
giving People I talked to in the league don't expect
(20:39):
Lebian to get thirty million dollars. And one of the
reasons he held out was four thirty million guaranteed. So
people thinking that he was gonna get that forty five
million gurle money, well you actually have. Even if he
got thirty you have to sub subtract the franchise tag
that he just turned down because he got nothing this season,
So it would really just be like, you know, he
(21:00):
should have made that money and had more money coming.
I think he's he got terrible advice, and I get
him being passionate and think he's getting screwed. But man,
that's you just play the wrong position. There's nothing else
to say. If you played quarterback or you played pass rusher,
they would have taken care of you. But you played
running back and you've been in trouble, you've been suspended. Uh,
you've been pop for d u I, So that means
(21:22):
if you get in trouble again, you would get suspended.
Like part of it is on you, my man, right,
you know, I don't think you never hear anyone tweeting
about that. He created the situation. Todd Gurley, zero issues,
zero problems, great teammate, that wasn't really the case with Levian.
He's John middlecof former NFL Scout, host of the Three
and Out podcast. Find him on Twitter at John middle Coffin. No.
(21:43):
When you join us next week with Doug in the chair,
it's gonna be a whole bunch of Super Bowl fifty three.
Looking forward to what John going to talk to you
again and have a great weekend. Thanks guys, Enjoy Friday.
Be sure to catch live editions so the Doug dot
Leaps show weekdays at noon Eastern three pm Pacific. The
Rockets take on the Raptors tonight in the NBA. No
Chris Paul, but Paul could return from his hamstring injury,
(22:04):
possibly on Sunday for Houston and Aaron. I want everybody
to to to take a step back because there's been
a lot of heat on James Harden and a lot
of in my mind, unfair criticism of James Harden. He
is one of the few superstars in the n b
A that can do so much good and do so well,
(22:27):
yet be criticized for playing well and seeing what James
Harden has done. I don't think people realize what exactly
is going on with Harden, what is exactly is going
on with the Rockets, and what could be going on
with the NBA's Western Conference, because as James Harden has
been on this unbelievable tear of scoring lately, all I
(22:48):
hear about is criticisms of James Harden, of him not
scoring on assists. Of James Harden is going to wear out.
This usage rate is not sustainable. Continuing this through May
and June and the NBA playoffs just won't work. And
I just get the sense that James Harden is such
(23:09):
a target for negativity that if this was Steph Curry
or a or a star that is loved by the NBA,
we would be eating this up like Thanksgiving turkey, Like
this would be oh my goodness. Look at what Steph
Curry is doing with the Golden State Warriors with Durant
and Clay Thompson OUTI is single handedly carrying his team.
(23:31):
That's exactly what James Harden is doing. And I just
don't get the angst and the criticism that is thrown
towards James Harden as he is on one of the
most unreal streaks that we have seen in recent history
for an NBA individual player. Yeah, to me, what it
says is and I think it's a great point by you.
I think, first of all, the way we cover the NBA,
(23:52):
there are black hats and white hats, right, there are
good guys and bad guys. Steph Curry can do no wrong.
Janice your boy, everybody loves, Everybody loves poor zingis Anthony Davis.
I don't think he's on TV enough for anybody not
to like him, right, But then there's Westbrook, there's hard
and there are guys that, no matter what they do. Katie,
now that he's been a golden State, that can do
(24:14):
no right. I think for some reason, James Harden, we've
just decided he is this offensive side show, which is
part of a larger offensive side show in Houston. And
to me, that's what this speaks to is. I think
we think of the Warriors, Oh, they're so progressive, Steve Kerr,
this advanced offense, and we think of Mike D'Antoni like
(24:35):
gimmicky offense. All they do is shoot threes. And so
because the Rockets are kind of perceived as gimmicky in
their own right. I think people are taking this James
Harden thing and making a gimmicky too. I'm gonna have
some numbers on Harden that is going that the hardened
haters can take, and I'm gonna shove it down their
throats because they say a lot about what James Harden
has done. But I look at the We're just talking
(24:57):
with John Middlecoff. We're talking about the Rams, we even
talked about at the start of the show, and and
Sean McVeigh and what Sean McVeigh does. The Rams towards
the latter part of the year had an injured uh
Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, wasn't playing well. Things they just
signed C. J. Anderson. Things weren't going well, and this
was supposed to be a time of the year where
you start peaking. So you know what Sean McVeigh does.
(25:18):
Sean McVeigh figures out this recipe of how through the
warts and the bumps and the bruises that they had
at the end of the year, of how they can
actually win a playoff game. When two playoff games and
go to the Super Bowl, A magnificent job. They are
now more of a run first team without your all
pro running back doing the running. That's magnificent. When you
take the Houston Rockets, who were out of the playoff
(25:40):
picture when Chris Paul was hurt a month ago, when
you have now have led them to fifth in the East,
to a record of eleven and six without Chris Paul,
with wins over the Spurs, Thunder, Celtics, Warriors, and Nuggets
still be fourth in the NBA and assist per game
and fifth overall in total assists. That's what you've got
(26:01):
with that. That's all that James Harden has done is
continuous assist right, lead them to big wins over title contenders,
not just conference contenders, but title contenders. Continue to stretch
his leading the scoring race, and and now you've got
Chris Paul with the month of rest and Clint Capello
who's not going to have a month or two of
(26:22):
NBA games on his leg as you enter the playoffs.
This is all a positive. James Harden is doing what
he needed to do and has now got the Rockets
in a position that I think sets them up for
a playoff run. Yet, all we want to hear is
to he never passes the ball. Well, you know what,
maybe it's the guy's passing to him. Of the reasons
why he isn't getting on those assists. If he's still
averaging eight assists per game in his top five in
(26:44):
the n b A, how is that James Harden's fault
that Eric Gordon or p J. Tucker aren't aren't hitting shots.
I mean, it's it's absurd to see the criticism that
James Harden has gotten over this great run. Well, and
he's shooting. The other thing two is he's shooting from
the field. It's not like he's shooting thirty six percent
and he's bricking all these shots, like, yeah, he's shooting
thirty five thirty six times, but he's making a very
(27:05):
high percentage of them. And so to me, it just
goes back to I think that I just think that
it has become this perception that the Rockets are this
side show and part of what the Rockets what made
them so successful last year. We saw the three point shooting,
Eric Gordon, Trevor Reason when he was with the team,
(27:26):
Chris Paul, James Harden. They were a good defensive team
last year. But everyone perceives them as this, I don't
even know. It's like Texas Tech football, like like all
they do is just shoot a bunch of threes and
when they go in, they went. And that's the furthest
thing from the truth. When they lost last year in
Game seven of the Western Conference Finals, it's been from
that point until now that people want them to prove
(27:48):
it in the playoffs, and so that's why there's been
no playoffs since that's like, what are they supposed to do?
Then they've He's gotten the team in the playoff picture.
They're a five seed right now if the playoffs were
to start the day, all without their starting center, who
makes a big difference when you play Golden State, and
without your all star point guard who probably didn't need
to play eight games in the regular season. That's all
(28:09):
James Harden has done. He's Aaron Torres. I'm Dan Buyer.
This is the Doug Gottlieb Show. Today's show is brought
to you by True Car. In sports, a trade can
make or break your team. It's no different when it
comes to selling or trading in your car. You need
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True Cash Offer not available in all states. Will the
(28:29):
Dallas Cowboys have a top ten offense offense that is
in the National Football League next season. I'll tell you
next year on Fox Sports Radio
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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