LeBron James needs load management

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gottlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to six Eastern,
twelve to three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your
local station for the Doug got Leave Show at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.

(00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What up you boy?
Doug Gottlieb here, Welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much
for listening. We got a lot to get to. Will
preview the games, give you my picks. My picks has
been really good this year. Right, forty eight and thirty
four or something like that. It's been good. So I
got my five picks for you. Middle cough will join me,

(00:44):
my officier, will join me as a Cowboys insider. Wait
wait to hear what he has to say about the
Cowboys and the potential for a coaching change and whether
or not that's gonna get his big contract. But let's
let's start with last night and what I saw from
Lebron the Lakers when they lost to Janice in the Bucks?
What up to God Leave show? Fox Sports Radio? What

(01:05):
I plase you? I hope you're having a great day.
The Doug Gotlip Show is brought to you by Discover Card.
We treat you like you to treat you. Um, I
actually love doing this show on this day. I'll also
be working on Christmas Eve Day or Christmas Eve afternoon.
And my my logic behind it, so as we tweet

(01:26):
it out and tell a friend, my logic behind this
is pretty simple. I think it's pretty sound logic, which is, Hey,
there are certain days when people are in their cars
for an extended amount of time. Those of the days
in which you want to be there. I'm I've been
doing this time slot for eleven years now, and I'm
I'm here for you. I'm here for you. And one

(01:49):
of the things. As we get ready for a huge
football weekend, Eric Wood is gonna join us. Former Bills
offensive lineman now covers the Bills, where their radio network
also works for the A c C network. Get his
thoughts little Clemson, but a lot on on Buffalo and
their chances to beat New England. John middle Cop is
gonna join us. Former NFL scout will ask him about
that game as well as Dallas Philadelphia. Oh yeah, by

(02:12):
the way, some other huge games like the Saints going
on the road to take on the Tennessee Titans, and
we'll take you inside the Cowboys huddle with Mike Fishers,
the Cowboys inside. So we got a lot to get to.
But as you'r if, if this is the weekend in
which you chose, and you know what, let's just go
do Christmas. Sometimes you guys have split families. Sometimes you
have the in laws one weekend and then on Christmas

(02:34):
you want to be back home. Like this is a
big travel day, So travel's sake, keep it right here
to Fox Sports Radio phone numbers eight seven, seven ninety
nine Fox. The Twitter handle is at Gottlieb Show. Feel
free to communicate us. Communicate with us at your leisure
or your leisure. But this is one of the things
you'll you'll get to when you get home. So, um,

(02:55):
when I moved back to California both times, obviously this
time I moved back. My mom is a widower, and
like she's she is, I don't know much you give
this away. She's seventy three years old. It's gonna be
seventy four years old here in January early, Happy birthday. Mom.
So Um, I think Sunday we're gonna go over to

(03:20):
my my parents house down My mom obviously lives there,
and it's the first night of Hanukah. We'll have a
bunch of the kids there. We'll have you know, my
brother and my sister will be there as well. You know,
I can't help, but remember every time I've gone over,
and this happened. Last time I went over to her
house where you know, you go somewhere You're like, wait,

(03:44):
how did this get from here there? I moved it?
So last time I was out of her house, my
son who's ten, kind to help me move a sofa
and we had to go out through one door and
she starts trying to help me. She starts trying to
pick something up. I was like, what are you doing now?
My mom is she doesn't have a cane. She's a walker,

(04:06):
right like, there's no there's no nurse. She's had dual
knee replacement. But other than you know, she does the
swimming thing. You know, don't there's no cocoon water there.
It's not like she's jumping up and jumping out of
the pool. But she does a pool workout a couple
of days a week. Seems to like that. She walks
her dog every night. She's fully capable. So I'm not

(04:28):
saying that we're going to have this conversation, but I
gotta put mom in a home. No, no, no, we're
not there. But we have had to have the conversation
of hey, look here's the thing. Those things you used
to always do and take for granted you just can't
do anymore. You just can't. You know, she's tried. She

(04:49):
got a puppy, or we had to put her dog
down a couple of years ago, and so she got
a puppy about a year ago, and I've had to
tell her like, look, this was not a great idea
because you just you're not at the puppy rearing age anymore.
It's a bigger dog. And so even going to obedience classes,
like in truth in truth, that dog needs to go

(05:12):
to a park and be let off leash and run
around and come back to you. The problem is if
that dog goes away, runs away like you, she physically
has no chance of chasing it down. None. But more
than anything, when it comes to moving things, or like
if your dad's a gutter guy, like I'm gonna go
clean out the gutters like that dad, you're in your seventies, Like,

(05:34):
what are you doing well? I've I've done this for
twenty years. Yeah, okay, but not anymore. I watched Lebron
James play last night. It's thirty four years old. He was,
for the most part, the third best player on the floor.
I can make the case that Chris Middleton was actually
more effective. Um. The Bucks have a really unique way

(05:56):
of playing where it is kind of a you know,
it's the kind of a strength in numbers. They all
shoot a bunch of threes. They're doing without Eric Bledsoe,
who's also they don't really have a bet of if
if Janice and we'll get to Janice who had a
career high and single game career high five threes last night.

(06:16):
They don't really have a number two. They don't have
a Robin to a Batman, but they do have other
good pieces, and Lebron James was he was fine. Now,
Remember twelve out of the last fifteen games been on
the road. Eight in the last nine games been on
the road. Unlike Anthony Davis, he did not take Tuesday
night off, so he's played all of these games. Last

(06:39):
night was their fifth rate road game over the course
of eight days. Brural for anyone, anyone like, look, even
if you're not playing basketball, you go to five different
cities in eight nights. You get home, you're like, damn,
I'm tired, and and I'm somebody who traditionally doesn't get tired.
But you fly that much and you may not have

(07:00):
flown the plane, but you feel like you did. Now,
add in that you're thirty four years old, and no
matter how fresh you are, because you didn't play in
the playoffs last year and you didn't play Summer Team
USA basketball, that's a lot. The Lakers have lost back
to back games, and here's how Lebron is played from
the field from three point line nine turnovers. Last night,

(07:23):
he started the game over five with one turnover, and
late in the game he had two really bad turnovers.
When the game is closed, he looked tired, He looked older.
He looked like a guy who you want to pull
aside and go like, hey, dude, hey listen. It used
to be when you'd come out of the game, the
team would collapse, and so we'd have to have you

(07:43):
carry the team. Now, when Anthony Davis comes out of
the game, the team kind of collapses. You're just a
little too old to be doing this, carrying a team
for eighty two games. Thing. Somebody needs to pull him aside.
Just like when you go to dinner, you have dinner

(08:03):
with your mom, with your dad, You're like, wait, how
did that table get in there? Oh yeah, moved it?
Like no, no, no no, no, that that ends. That ends. Sorry,
I can't do it anymore. Sorry, can't go up on
the ladder anymore. Right, no more changing light bulb. If
you need a light bulb, change call me. I'll get
my car. Like, wow, the traffic, about the traffic. If

(08:25):
you fall off a stool, now a sudden, you break
a bone, and you break a hip, like it, it happens,
it go it you. You decline really really fast. You
gotta take preventative measures, and you've gotta understand where you are.
We have a tendency to do this with younger people,
all right. We're very protective of you know, six teams

(08:47):
really too young to drive, and many states have pushed
that back. We don't do it with older people. We're
not saying you don't have a wealth of experiences. We're
not saying that we need to put you in a home,
or that all your food needs to come amount of
a straw like we're not we're not there. We're not there.
Like I remember when my dad was sick. I remember,

(09:08):
like we're putting limitations on him and his whole thing.
Don't tell anybody. People don't want to Older people don't
want to be treated like they're dead before they're dead.
I understand that you want to still live while you're alive.
On the other hand, you gotta be smart about it. Yeah,
Kauai came to the Clippers and said, hey, I ain't

(09:29):
playing more than sixty games, and the Clippers looked a
little bit like a hot mess. Last night, you I go,
who goes? Whatever? You know, Lou Williams gets kicked out,
kind of screws up their rotation late. They end up
getting beat by the Houston Rockets. So so what. The
Clippers are gonna have a healthy ready Kauai, Leonard, a

(09:50):
healthy ready Paul George, and they still got plenty of
games to clean things up for you get to the playoffs.
The Lakers are the opposite. The Lakers are trying to
prove something to everybody, proved they still have it right.
It's like your grandpa when you walk in the door,
he peels off his shirt and says, go ahead, hit
me in the stomach. Feel what I got working down

(10:11):
there like grandpa. Look, I know you were a longshoreman.
I know you're a badass in the day, but I'm
not punching you in the stomach. It's not happening. That's
what Lebron the Lakers are doing. They're trying to prove
to us that somehow they are the only impervious to
Father Time team. So at at the dinner table around

(10:33):
Christmas time, maybe the night before Christmas, when the Clip
Lakers are getting ready to play for the Clippers play
the Clippers, Rob Poligan needs to saddle up next to
him and go, hey, man, listen, you still got it.
You're still great. You can still do many of the
things that you used to do. But you just you
can't carry us every night. We have to be reasonable

(10:54):
about what we're asking of you. You remember when Lebron
say this about load management early in the week, Well,
I wouldn't not play if I'm healthy. It doesn't make
any sense to me personally. I mean, I don't know
how many games I got left in my career. I
don't know how many kids that may show up to
a game that they're to come see me playing. If
I sit out, then what that's my obligation. My obligation

(11:15):
is to play for my teammates and if i'm if
I'm healthy, I'm gonna play. If coach sets me out,
then I'm not healthy. And it's just that simple, Okay,
I mean now, obligation obligated. Lebron James, he a couple
of years ago he sat out of Memphis game. You know,
it is the only time they played in Memphis. I
get it. There are people are pulling at you and

(11:35):
Nike he's pulling at you. You're trying to establish but
he's right, you only have a finite number of games.
And that's what Lebron, that's what an exhausted Lebron James
looks like. Look, he's he's not as athletic as he
used to be. He doesn't move and especially early in games,
if you watch him in the first half, it takes
me a while to kind of get his motor running.

(11:56):
Like it's a there's a lot to get that's a
big old body, that's like a big old suburban that's
ten years old. Like you fire it up and you
know you still it's fuel injected, but you still gotta
warm that sucker up on a cold morning in Milwaukee.
But somebody needs to pull him aside and go, hey, look,
we're not putting you in a home. We're not telling

(12:17):
you retire, We're not telling you you can't play point guard,
you can't do Lebron James things in the fourth quarter.
But this whole changing light bulbs, cleaning out the gutters,
doing all the stuff you used to do, you know,
put me in with whomever. Just clear out, give me
a high ball screen, let me go like that. Just
it doesn't it's not not only does it not work

(12:39):
as often or maybe not work much at all, but
it's just gonna wear you out for when we really
need you. I want you to think about this for
a second. Tell me the historic regular season moment in
NBA history that anyone holds in regards for This is
why a guy is the best, This is why a
team is the best. Like the regular season moments we

(13:01):
know are you know Kobe eighty one, Will Chamberlain a hundred,
Those are individual achievements and maybe the mouice of the Palace,
like those are the things you know Nobody knows who
wins and who loses a game, a Thursday night game
in early December. Come on, So when you pull up
to your mom's house, your dad's house, your grandpa's house,

(13:22):
your grandma's house. Sorry, pop up, can't go up in
the ladder anymore. Not because I don't love you, Not
because I think somehow you got one ft in the grave.
We're you know, we're not calling the priest. This is
just not smart. That's not who you are anymore. Doug
Gotlip Show rolls on here on Fox Sports Radio. Um,
it's Cowboys versus Eagles, it's Dak versus Carson Wentz. But

(13:46):
it reminds me of a college football rivalry. Share that
with you next on The Doug Gotlib Show. Be sure
to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show
weekdays at three pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio a app. Sunday America's
Game of the Week is the Cowboys taken on their

(14:07):
rival the Philadelphia Eagles. Fair, fair, knot. We're gonna make
Sunday's game about all the quarterbacks, right, even though the
quarterbacks don't actually play one another, and people like to
point out the fact that Carson Wentz has never beaten
the Cowboys when Ezekie elliott Is is healthy and in
the backfield, and of course ezekiellett will be healthy and
in the backfield for the Dallas Cowboys. And look, this

(14:28):
has been a wild season for the Eagles, as they
started the year with drop scalore and they continue the
year with all sorts of injury issues. Des Sean Jackson
was supposed to take the top off of defense, he
hasn't played all Sean Jeffreys out for the year. Nelson
Aghilar is not gonna play. He's gotta get Ben and
he's had some huge drops. So all backup wide receivers
and some some frankly practice uh practice team guys, practice

(14:53):
squad guys that will be lining up stef Zach Kurtz,
and we got a good running game. And it seems
a bit unfair to the Eagles who are taken on
a Cowboys team that's essentially at full strength. Eagles secondary
is terrible. That has nothing to do with Wentz, the
wide receivers they picked off the street. That has nothing
to do with wins. The drops have nothing to do
with wins. Losing lane Johnson who's out with an injury.

(15:16):
Nothing to do with wins. Now for wins and Went's
his favor again nothing to do with it. But Dak
Prescott's dealing with a risk injury is brained, Dacy joined
and a fractured I think middle or ring finger on
his throwing hand. But but how we judge the winner
of this game? You know, like Jason Garrett loses and

(15:38):
he's fired, and does Dad get the big contract that
he wants? If Carson Wentz loses, Like see Carson Wentz,
this is the biggest game he's ever played in the pros.
When he came up short. We become so result oriented
that our judgment, especially about the quarterbacks, is gonna be

(16:00):
a lot like the judgment we have of coaches in
college football. And the best example of that is Jim Harbaugh.
It doesn't matter that Ohio State is a remarkably talented
team that they had, you know, a ten year head
start on Michigan when he got there, between recruiting and winning,

(16:20):
and and how much they were spending on coaches and
urban Meyer was ingrained. I mean, they were they were
rolling downhill with national championship caliber players, whereas Michigan had
to completely change the weightlifting program, the recruiting prowess, find
the right quarterback. And even this year when maybe you

(16:40):
felt like because of what Ohio State lost at quarterback,
you'd be okay, they owned They end up getting Justin Fields.
Justin Fields was the number one rated player in America.
They didn't just get a quarterback who transferred. They got
a quarterback who transfer didn't have to sit out, and
Justin Fields had played at Georgia. Now they got a
guy who was a bust at a different place and

(17:02):
was backing up and was sitting collecting dust. You know,
obviously uh From beat him out and was the starter.
But Justin Field played, so you had experienced former number
one overall recruit in college football to go with, or
you know, the Chase Youngs of the world. If Ohio
State has better players, maybe they have lower academic standards

(17:23):
of Owa State has the best team in the country
because Urban Meyer was next to Nick Saving the best
coach in the country. Michigan has has had good season.
Michigan in the process of climbing back up to the
top of the Big Ten. By the way, Michigan's won
all of one national championship in the modern era, and
yet they feel like they're entitled to compete on a
yearly basis, Like, look, before you get to a house state,

(17:45):
you gotta dethrone Penn State and Michigan State. They've dismantled
Michigan State the past couple of years. They did lose
to Penn State this year, but had marvelous comeback and
go back to last year and they demolished Penn State.
Like they're in the process of climbing back up the
and we expect them to take one big jump and
be on top of that mountain. My point is that

(18:08):
most businesses are in fact bottom line businesses, so sports
is not separate from that. But man with fans were
in a bottom line business. It doesn't matter what hardbod
does or how well he's coached, how much his team
has improved, he has a beato House States. Somehow he's
a failure. And the same can be said for both
these quarterbacks. If they lose the game, it doesn't matter
the defense let you down, or if they don't have

(18:29):
quality wide receivers, or if they're playing with the spray
DC jointing of fractured middle finger. The fact is if
you lose this game, somehow, somehow, it makes you less
of a man, less of a leader, less of a quarterback.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific.

(18:49):
Let's welcome to Eric Wood works for the Buffalo Bills
as their radio analyst. Of course, also you see him
on the A c C Network. Former longtime Buffalo Bill.
He joins us in the Doug Gotlip Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Woody, How's how's Sean McDermott done this? Like?
You played for how many coaches? Six coaches nine years?
That right, seven head coaches in nine years? That includes

(19:11):
two interims? How did so when McDermott got there, did
you think he was different? He's definitely different, and he's
he's the most consistent person I've ever been around. He
did it a little bit differently than anyone else I've
been around. He goes for full team buying. Um. He
has guys get up in front of the room and

(19:31):
tell their stories. He wants everybody close. He talks to
you any chance he can get, and he refers to
your wife and their kids by their first names. So
you love him, you appreciate him, um, and you play
hard for him. Him and his staff is also extremely organized,
extremely hard working. They get to the facility. UM, I

(19:54):
know Sean's a four am guy. He he and that
staff are kind of cut from the Andy Reid john
got to get there super early. Um. And and and
despite all the new sleep sign stuff, they are pushing
through and putting in the hours. But but you respect
a guy like that. And UM, you know what what
Sean McDermot and Brandon Being have done from a roster

(20:16):
standpoint to taking over a team in Seen that had
terrible cap issues and um, I would say some high
end talent on the roster, but absolutely no depth. And
what they've built in three years as phenomenal. The defense
obviously is the signature, you know, calling card of the guys.
A former defensive coordinator of course helped UH take the

(20:37):
Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl and of course learned
under Jim Johnson when when he was in Philadelphia. But
there have been mrs offensively right, like you know, I mean,
think about some of the wild swings and MSRs that
that they've had. What what about Josh Allen? How have
they been able to manage Allan and have such success
with him well that this is a year two under

(20:58):
Brian dab Also, Um, they've kept an offensive coordinator around,
which I mean, you talked about how many head coaches
I've played under just as many offensive coordinators, and so
they they they're letting him develop under offensive coordinator Brian Dable. Now,
there was a ton of turnover this offseason on the
offsite offensive side of the ball. Nine new starters on offense,
but there needed to be a lot of new starters. Um,

(21:20):
they just frankly weren't very good on offense last year.
They go out and they get John Brown and they
get cold easily. They pick up Tyler Croft from Cincinnati,
They draft Devin Singletary, they pick up Frank Gore in
free agency, just a number of moves, um, that had
benefited them well. And then um, oh yeah, in the
off season they signed six free agent offensive lineman and

(21:43):
draft uh Cody Ford in the second round. So they
put a lot of assets into the offense, and um,
it's taken them a while to gelvis year. They've kind
of played up and down. Would you expect that with
so many new starters on that side of the ball
next year. UM. You know, obviously they would hope for
more offensive improvement um, and not solely rely on the defense.

(22:04):
But the defense has been incredible, and the Bills like
what they've seen this year in the second year from
Josh Allen. Has he made mistakes this year? Yes? Is
he perfect? Absolutely not? But they like his development a lot.
And probably the thing that myself, the organization and all
the fans like is that in the biggest moment, Josh
Allen shows up. Um in the fourth quarter, his passing

(22:25):
passer rating goes up. On third down, his passer rating
goes up. The biggest game of the season, front of
the most eyes, on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys, Josh Allen
shows up. And that's what they love about him. Last
time they took on the New England Patriots, he had
a bunch of turnovers and then he got hurt and
then Matty. They dusted off Matt Barkley, like man, Matt
Barkley is still in this league, and Matt Hey. Matt

(22:48):
Barkley played great for the Bills last year, played great
the preseason. I'm I'm with you. He got shuffled around
and maybe uh, he came to Buffalo and saw the life.
But I'm I'm one of the Uh, I'm one of
the people. I'm on Team Barkley as as a backup
in this league for a while. But I'm sorry to
cut you off. No, No No, you're you're you're you're good. Um, okay,

(23:09):
So what do they have to do differently because they
it's so close to winning that game? Um? What do
you feel like? Uh, specifically the offense has to do
better in order. I mean, I know there's a block
punt as well in that game, Like you can't have
special teams. But it feels like this Patriots team is
not one that's gonna beat you. It's one that's gonna
let you beat yourself. Is that fair for sure? And

(23:31):
you can't turn the ball over the last time Josh
Allen had a fumble and they threw three interceptions. One
was um at fifty ball that one of the receivers
who is no longer on the team let the defensive
backgrab um. And then the other two. Um, we're we're
good players by the Patriots, but you can't beat yourself
when you play the New England Patriots. Another thing they

(23:51):
force you to do is beat man coverage. And that's
against the quality defensive backfield UM and one of the
maybe the top corner back in the legal former teammate
of mind Supond Jilmore. UM. But they make you defeat
tight man coverage and then you're gonna have to get
the ball out quick because they are going to bring guys,
UM and and they're not bringing the house. They're not

(24:14):
covers zero blitzing eight ton. They will do it at times,
they don't bring it a ton. The Baltimore Ravens sent
sixteen covers zero blitz Is that Josh Allen. I don't
know that Bill Belichick will try and copy that recipe
even though it worked. Um, But they will bring pressure,
So you gotta get the ball out of your hands
quick and beat man coverage quick. So UM, what I
would like to see the Bills do maybe a little
bit more rub routes on the outside, UM, some man beaters,

(24:37):
and then ultimately you're going to have to catch against
these guys to move the ball down the field. Now,
the last time the Bills played against the Patriots, they
ran for well over a hundred yards. Frank Gore had
over a hundred yards on the ground himself, so um,
you know when they had the Fox bro the recipe
is not gonna look a whole lot different that has
the rest of the year, and that's don't turn the

(24:57):
ball over, let your defense play and do their thing,
and then you can't make a costly um mistake on
special teams like they did last time against the Patriots.
They lose six to ten and seven of the points
for the Patriots comes on a block punt for a touchdown.
Eric Wood joining us. He's the analyst for the Buffalo
Bills Radio network, also an analysts for the A c

(25:19):
C Network for a longtime Buffalo Bill and Louisville cardinal alum.
Let me ask you about the Patriots and Tom Brady.
It looks to all of us like it's a It's
a combination of things. Right. Kicking games suddenly has has
been an issue for them, but the lack of weapon
rh on offense trying to replace Rob Gronkowski and dare

(25:40):
I say that Tom Brady looks a little long in
the tooth when when you can't run the football as
as well as they'd like to run it, and you
don't have enough guys to get open on their own. Now, now,
Tom isn't able to throw guys open. He hasn't been great.
What's your breakdown of why the Patriots offense has been

(26:00):
so average at best against the quality competition. Yeah, you
mentioned the first thing you said was a combination of things.
Of the combination, I see, Yes, Rob Gronkowski not being
there is a huge factor. He was a matchup nightmare.
It was hard to even determine what personnel to throw
on the field. Do you treat him as a receiver
because he's a phenomenal receiver, or do you treat him

(26:20):
as a tight end because he's a phenomenal blocker. It
was hard to match up with a guy like that.
He dictated certain personnel groups. And if you've got in
um Nickel personnel on defense and Rob and another tight
end or in the game, they would run the ball
under your throat and and he was just a matchup nightmare.
They do not have him. Their offensive line, Isaiah wind
has been hurt uh andrews Um was out before the

(26:42):
season started. Their center, They have issues upfront. Marshall Newhouse
gets torched on the edge and Tom Brady throughout his
career has hated pressure. I mean that's a fact. He
gets to rid of the ball extremely fast because he's
not trying to get hit. He's trying to play until
he's sixty years old. He's not trying to take a
bunch of shots in the pocket. And this year they're
getting home quickly. Uh. And there's just there's also not

(27:04):
a lot of playmakers outside. You know, you're talking about
really Julian Edelman being his only guy that can get
open that he has over a thousand receiving yards of
the year um. And then you get White out of
the backfield, who catches a ton of balls for them
every year. But beyond that, you know they're searching for
their next answer, whether it's Jacobe Myers, uh to kill
Harry their first round draft pick from this year who

(27:26):
was on IUR and they activated just not sure exactly
where it's gonna come from. And you know this is
this is one of those deals though where Oh and
I'll also say Tom Brady's average yards per game UM
since they announced that elbow injury have gone from two
eighty a game to like just over two game, So
there there may be something going with that elbow as well.

(27:48):
But like we said, it's it's a combination of things.
And when you look at that combination and you're the
Buffalo Bills, you think we have to go to Foxborough
and and at least play them tough. But we should
win this. We should go in there and we should
get this victory, would he? Um? How big would this
wind be? Like? Like, look, they want to get there,

(28:08):
getting the playoffs second time in third years, three years.
They beat the Cowboys in Dallas on thanks even that
was a huge one last weekend, putting themselves in the playoffs.
Those so it's not like they haven't won big games
this year. They have but to but to beat the
Patriots in New England, how big would it be? I
mean it'd be It would be enormous for the franchise.
You know, this is the team of the Patriots that

(28:30):
have just had a stranglehold on the division for so
long and really a stronghold on the Buffalo Bills franchise
as well. Um just being absolutely dominant when you look
at the record against the Bills. Um, the last time
the Bills wanted Foxborough was the Jacoby Prosette game when
he had an injured thumb and the the plate gate
deal was going on before that. Um, I don't. It

(28:53):
wasn't during my time so before two thousand nine. Um,
and then we beat them one time in Orchard Park,
um in two thousand eleven. So you're you're talking about
a team that has completely owned the franchise. Well, the
Patriots are showing more vulnerability. Um. You know there is
not Rob Groundkowski over there. Tom Brady is getting old

(29:15):
or Bill Belichick maybe you've seen him enough times and
maybe his genius wearing off. That's that's me completely reaching there.
I admit that the last one. But this is a
game that if you go in and win, maybe this
is the tide turning in the a f C East.
Because the Bills have their second year, hopefully future of

(29:36):
the franchise quarterback. They have their twenty one year old
been a linebacker, Tremade Edmonds, who was an absolute baller
in the middle of the field for them. They have
another ninety million dollars in cap space. I believe this
off season for free agency. I mean, it looks very
bright in Buffalo, but if you go up there and
lay an egg in New England this week, it's it's

(29:57):
a very sobering loss in a very um, a very
big reality check that New England Patriots still control this
division and it might not be as close as everyone thinks.
The last thing you do work to the a CEC network. Um,
most people stopped watching Clemson when they nearly lost in
North Carolina and they made the statement, you know, Trevor

(30:18):
Lawrence isn't as good the defense is, and the same
losing seven guys in the NFL. You've watched Clemson all
season long. How good are they in comparison to the
Ohio State team they're gonna take on. I think I
think Clemson's excellent. You're right, Um, they they did. They
played North Carolina. North Carolina played him to a one
point game, went for two and had a chance to

(30:39):
beat them. Well. Then then Clemson goes on in the
remaining seven or eight games, wins by an average of
thirty over thirty five points a game, including the a
SEC Championship. Now, the a c C was down this
this year, but some quality teams in there. They played
two teams from the SEC this year. They can't help
that A and M in South Carolina, the rival game
that they play every year. Those two teams are fair

(31:00):
lea down as well. So they handled business. Now I
would be careful betting against Clemson. You're talking about um,
a returning quarterback that won a national championship last year,
obviously returning coach, a lot of familiar faces in my opinion,
top three defensive football player in the country, and Isaiah
Simmons on defense for Clemson. But I think excellent day

(31:22):
of first rounders just splattered all over their team, as
does olive to speak though, but Clemson has first rounders
just all over the place offense and defense, and UM,
I think it's gonna be a matchup of a ton
of talent. I love these playoff games, maybe because of
the amount of time I spend in the NFL. But
it's funny how how low scoring these playoff games often

(31:43):
get because you have just two so talented teams. All
four of the teams UH in it this year just
so incredibly talented, and I can't wait to watch it.
But but I'd be careful betting against Clemson if you
didn't follow him for the rest of the year, because
they they may have the most talented country. Awesome stuff
Eric would of course, you'll hear him call games UH

(32:03):
for the Buffalo Bills, and you see him on the
A SEC network. Would you marry Christmas to you and
your family, Happy New Year and uh safe travels to
Foxboro this weekend. We appreciate you joining us Wickwise Brother,
and hey, tune into the Independence Ball on the summer
twenty six you can check me out there as well.
I'll h my wife. My wife's loving that. In my
first year in the broadcast gig, I missed Thanksgiving and

(32:26):
I'm traveling out on Christmas Day. But hey, I'll I
know where I stand on the total poll and I'm
I'm going to work my way up. And hey, listen,
I mean, you know, her boyfriend's gotta come over. So
it's a good thing that you leave anyway, so he's
gotta get his Christmas present. Thanks so much. What is
it time for the Cowboys to ride Ezekie Elliott to
a victory? On Sunday we'll discuss next. Fox Sports Radio

(32:49):
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app search f s
R to listen live every day. At this time, we
like to play for you a game where we have
to This is game time Tide on the Doug Gottlieb,

(33:11):
show what you got today. But Doug game today is yes,
it is there, It is there. It is all right, Psychic. Well,
the Cowboys compensate for Dak Prescott's shoulder injury in Sunday's
game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Uh their game plan. Yeah yeah,

(33:32):
I mean, like, look, they just shut him down for
two days and he threw today and he's not gonna
be on the injury report, so it obviously appears to
be something sort of nagging more than chronic um. But yeah, look,
last time they played the last time they played the Eagles,
Eagles Pune with the first two possessions, they had a
big lead and they ran the hell out of the football.
I would expect him to continue to try and run

(33:53):
the football against the Eagles. Eagles have a good run defense.
But I think it's strength versus strength, whether it's there
it's uh protecting his shoulder or you know, just riding
their best player. I do think they'll run the football
time with their playoff lives on the line, and still
that may not be enough for postseason hopes. Psychic, which
Rams team will show up tomorrow night in Santa Clara

(34:14):
against the forty Niners. M hmmm, the Todd Gurley fuel,
the Rams or the Yeah, I just don't think they
have enough. Like I just I just think that the
Niners have better personnel and what kind of come down?
Psychic Saine squad receiver Michael Thomas is eleven catches away
from the NFL single season record four receptions? Does he

(34:34):
break it in Week sixteen at Tennessee? How many catches away? Yeah? No,
not this week. I think he breaks it next week.
They play a little bit just to break it with
Teddy Bridgewater probably as as quarterback, maybe some with Drew Brees,
but I do not think he breaks it this week. Alright,
Psychic will Spygate to become anything more than it is

(34:56):
what it is right now? Um? No, I don't think
it will become anything more than it is right now.
Just where people who have decided they cheat, they're always
gonna think they cheated. Most people who know football are like, yeah,
I don't really know what they're doing there, but there's
no real advantage gained. I just think it's gonna be
one of those things where you point to if you're

(35:17):
a Patriot hater. Alright, Psychic after turning thirty six just
two weeks ago. Well, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers played into
his forties like Drew Brees did, Tom Brady and others.
It's gonna be a fourty year old quarterback in the NFL.
I don't think so. I don't believe so. One he
sustained a couple of collarbone injuries to Aaron Rodgers has

(35:39):
other interests. Really, bright, dude, I don't see it. I
do think he wants to win another Super Bowl. So
maybe this is determined based on Super Bowl. But I
think if you asked him right now, in his heart
of hearts, he's done before he's forty, alright, psychic. Who
will be better off from last night's outcome? The Lakers
of the Bucks better off? I think, um, well, I

(36:01):
think they're both can be fine. They're they're both remember
the Lakers, they're both you know, Bucks are playing without blood,
so that's an important piece. The Lakers are playing without Kuzma.
I think they're both can be fine. I just we'll
talk about this next hour. But the whole idea that
now Janice is the best player because he made some
three point shots like last night was the outlier. That's
that's not a he's not a consistent shooter, Like, yeah,
I'd still make him do it every single night. Psychic

(36:24):
Coo will be better off from last night's outcome. The
Clippers are the Rockets. I think the Clippers will be fine,
really do alright? The the final one. What child of
your psychic will love their presence the most this year?
I hope they're not listening. Um hm oh, it would
be my son Hayes, just because he's super gracious about everything,

(36:47):
like Harper will be as well. Frankly, she already got
like her biggest present. Um, but Haes. Hayes is like
the type of kids that hairs open a package of socks.
It's like, these socks are awesome. I love kids like that. Yeah,
he's like hey, We're like, hey, what do we do

(37:08):
in the twenty six? Is like nothing, We're playing with toys,
Like yeah, but you don't only have that many toys.
It's like, well that's before Santa. Oh that's awesome, that's
game time. Is game time on the Dug Gottlieb Show
Doug Gotlive show here on Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, he's

(37:31):
he's a pretty great kid, pretty fun and you know
my kids, they they they crush it. They get Hanakah.
Now you got Hanakah, which is both before and after Christmas? Like,
are you were kidding ourselves here? It's amazing, amazing. Plus
they got they got some money from my in laws
family going back to Thanksgiving, they go spending themselves literally

(37:53):
they know how fast it actually goes. But that'll be
that'd be fun for that. We'll do that after after Christmas. Well,
the page it's our dynasty. All dynasties come to an end.
And I think Sunday's game is very very telling, alright,
what Sunday's game means of the Patriots dynasty? Coming up
next to The Doug Gotlip Show. Be sure to catch

(38:16):
the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at
three pm Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the I Heart Radio app Boom. What Up America, Doug
Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Man, There's a lot to
get to. There's this expression called death by a thousand cuts,

(38:39):
and I think it applies to a lot of things,
a lot of things. And I the first time I
actually ever heard it was when I was working at ESPN.
And there's a guy named Barry Blind. I love Barry Blind.
I find what Barry Blind does to be fascinating. Barry
Blind was their head uh researcher, like marketing researcher, and

(39:06):
you know, he could tell you, based upon hardcore statistics,
what topics work, what didn't, what shows work what didn't,
all the target demos, and how they program what they program.
And at the time when I was at the ESPN,
I feel like it was the golden era of that network.

(39:27):
Um And keep in mind, I have no ill will
towards anybody who I worked there with. When I left,
I had a five year contract on my desk that
I chose to pass on to try different things. So
this I'm not a guy who's going to sit here
ripe with bitterness and and and crush the place I
used to work, where I have a lot of friends
that still work there. But I remember sitting these meetings

(39:52):
and they were talking about what ultimately would bring ESPN down,
and they called it a death by a thousand huts,
and I was like, wow, that's a really interesting, really
interesting term. And many of many of the things that
have affected that company were things that he foreshadowed. This

(40:12):
is going back ten years ago. You know, he said,
there'll be a real challenger in in sports broadcasting. That's
happened with UM that that's happened with Fox Sports one right,
and UM he said, like, look, there's things. Would there

(40:34):
be cord cutting, which is what happened, the increased costs
of cable, which has caused people to not, you know,
go to cord cutting, go to digital. The increased popularity
of regional networks over a national network. Just all these
different things which have kind of come to I had,
in addition to talent leaving that place, look at the

(40:56):
people I work with here at Fox Sports Radio for
my boss Scott Shapiro to Colin Cowherd, Dan Patrick, Chris Broussard,
Rob Parker, Like we were all there and now we're not.
Talent leaving, increased rights fees, cord cutting, the challenge of
regional versus national like, the spread of the popularization of

(41:19):
of digital new players the game, a direct frontal assault
from another cable sports network, All of these things, All
of these things, all of them have ended up happening.
And I don't know whether their dynasty is dead, but

(41:41):
it definitely is not for your the same way, right,
Like I'm not and again, this is there's no animosity
my voice. But when I was much younger, Sports Center
at night was must watch TV. And you know, like
ESPN is no as the worldwide leader, and we used

(42:03):
to when I worked there, we used to call it
the leader and there was no argument there, no argument there.
And I think you know from Scott van Pelt, John
Anderson is a great friend of mine, you know, Neil Everett.
These guys when they do they're still really really good.
They're not bad. It's just there's all these challenges in
the business. Well, take a look at the New England

(42:25):
Patriots have been doing this essentially for twenty years and
they've been doing a good job of keeping their top
costs low. In terms of Tom Brady, some of that
is just luck, right, he's become such a superstar. He
met and married Giselle Bunden, who is the most financially
successful supermodel in the history of supermodels. So he doesn't
need the money. He's also a guy that takes care
of himself. He also plays a style of the position

(42:47):
where he doesn't need real speed, quickness, quick twitch muscles,
and he takes care of himself. He doesn't need money.
He doesn't need great athleticism. He's like the perfect long
term quarterback. You go through what that that like? All
of the stuff is just perfect in New England. But

(43:08):
dynasties do come to an end. And what what's happened? Well,
you know, look, there's a salary cap. There are guys
that need to get paid, and they've put a bunch
of their expenses into their defensive side, knowing Tom Brady
and the offensive line can bail them out. But the
offensive line has been injury has been injured. You're losing
Isaiah Win, you lose your starting center, You lose these guys,

(43:29):
and now all of a sudden, your depth is challenged.
They had two super talented wide receivers, but off troubled
wide receivers. Who to think that both of those guys,
Granted they didn't get Antonio Brown until uh the season
had already begun, but who would have thought that both
of those guys would not only be let go, but

(43:50):
as of now they're both out of the league. They
missed Nikkill Harry, who doesn't appear to be ready for
prime time, plus he was injured to start the year.
Rob Gronkowski retired. Whether they plan on or didn't plan on.
The fact is he's almost impossible to replace Tom Brady.
His age right before our eyes, and eventually you would

(44:12):
have thought that one of the other teams in the
division would get it right. The Jets had it, got
it pretty right for a couple of years, but couldn't
figure out their quarterback situation. The Dolphins haven't been able
to figure out quarterback and they've been just mired in mediocrity.
The Bills had the longest playoff drought streak until Sean
McDermott got there. Now they've been there too, in three years.
So here's the thing. Sam dar will be entering his

(44:34):
third year next year. Miami's on a complete redo model
in which they're probably a year away, maybe from being
a year away. And now the Buffalo Bills are a
real team. They've been to the playoffs two of the
last three years, and they have a second year quarterback
who's going to get better. Not only is the end near,

(44:56):
but I would tell you this, if the Buffalo Bills
a team with a second year quarterback, a team that
that doesn't have a great offense, but coming off their
biggest win of the season, which put them in the playoffs.
If the Buffalo Bills beat New England. In New England,
the dynasty is over. I don't want to I told
you yesterday. It's like, I don't want to declare anybody

(45:19):
dead until some until an actual doctor, an actual doctor
tells you they're dead. Right, No one wants to be
declared dead until they're dead. It's the real reason that
This is the reason that no one puts a lot
of people don't put a donor thing on your door,
a donor card on your driver's license, right because they

(45:42):
have this fear. They're like, well, you know what, I
don't want I don't want them to cut me open
when I still have a chance of living. Like, they
don't do that. They do that in New Orleans, but
that's on the black market. They don't do it in
real life. These are jokes, people. That was a really
good joke. That was a really really good joke. Anyway,
no one wants to be cut open before they they

(46:06):
they know they are done. They don't want their liver,
their kidney, their heart removed if there's a chance that
they can still fight and come back. Right. We we think,
we think that the Patriots are a lot like Hulk Hogan.
Remember Hulk Hogan. Man, I should have used this on TV.
Remember he used to do when he get knocked out,

(46:26):
was when he's a whole Hogan, whole comania. You know,
they try and raise his hand up to see if
there was any life in there, and it would fall down.
And they'd raise his hand there and it would fall down,
and then you're like, oh man, Hulks done, Hulkes finished,
Hulk's gonna lose the belt. Oh man, hold Hogan. And
then he lift up his arm and suddenly, instead of

(46:48):
falling down, it clenched into a fist and he'd pop up,
hey tear up in his shirt, and he'd come back
and he'd win. Look if the if the Bills beat
the Patriot, it's it's over. There's playoff games to be played.
But if you can't beat the Bills or the Chiefs,
or the Texans or the Ravens, these are all the
playoff teams in the ABC. You can't beat the Bills

(47:12):
at home. The other teams have good offenses. It's they
can score points, not the Bills. I would be okay declaring, okay,
declaring the Patriots dynasty over if they lose. At home
to the Buffalo Bills. I'm okay to Clarton dead. Last night, Uh,

(47:35):
Jannis Denna Coompo had a great night, hit five threes.
The Malkee Bucks took down the l A Lakers. We've
declared him, some have declared him the king of the NBA.
A matter of fact, he crowned himself during the game.
Why I go, um uh Lee Corso not so fast,
my friend, I'm coming next. Be sure to catch the

(47:58):
live edition of The Doug gott Leaps weekdays at three
p m. Easter noon Pacific. Twitter. Last night you had said,
watch out, Janice is hitting threes. It's over. I also
read no one can stop the Greek freak now that
he can shoot. I was on with with Nick Wright
on First Things First earlier today on Fox Sports one,

(48:19):
and he said that they basically passed the crown from
Lebron James to Johannas and Tentacopo. Okay, um, Janice was
one for six in their last game. He's shooting from
three for the season. That's after he made five out
of eight last night. So what we do is we're like, oh,

(48:41):
now he can shoot. I'm not saying his shooting isn't
getting better, But that's not you know, it's it's gonna
be fascinating, honestly to see how this evolves. You know,
does that become I taught my son about fool's gold,

(49:03):
and does that become fool's gold where now he's chasing
those five made threes again a game like, he doesn't
need to make five threes for them to win and
then to be great, he just has to make him
so that when they dare him, he confidently steps in
and makes a decent enough percentage of him. He does
because jannat Antenna Copo has been a great player without

(49:24):
a jump shot, and his size is versatility. He basically
plays points center for them many times in the game
where he can guard the center and play point guard
and have four or three point shooters spread out. He
gets about at the top of the key, he dribbles
to the left and then spins back to the right,
or dribble straight at you and then eurosteps around you.
Like that's kind of his game, and the best that

(49:47):
you can do is hope that he misses. But before
we crown him the greatest player on Earth, Like that
was a regular season Thursday night in Milwaukee. That's exactly
what honestly supposed to do at home in what's the
biggest regular season game of his career. Remember, they lost

(50:08):
to the MAVs without Luca. This is a very three
point dependent team, and last night they made a bunch
of their threes and their worst three point shooter of
their starters, their star that that's he hit five out
of eight. He get five out of eight. So I'm

(50:29):
I'm just gonna sit there and and nod my head
and go like, look, I get that. We want this
kid who seems to be just full of joy, all
about his team, focused on winning, happy in Milwaukee. We
all want him to be the next superstar great player.
Should be pointed out that to me, the the Lebron

(50:52):
walking around like he's the best player and he was
in the best player in the league last year, he
just wasn't. Kevin Durant was. Kevin has been the best
player in this league for the last two years or so,
maybe three. He took that title from Lebron in the
NBA Finals when they faced off, and you can go,
remember Kevin duran I think hes led the league in

(51:12):
scoring four different times. Now he's hurt you got James Harden,
you got Joel Embiid. You're sitting there with Joel em
beat only averages. Don't give me averages. Joe and beats
seven ft seven ft one and he can do everything.
He's crazy, crazy good, crazy, crazy talented. Kawhi Leonard is
currently in the best player in the League discussion. And

(51:36):
you may think, well, last night he didn't play all
that well. Like, all right, he's the last two NBA
finals he's been in, he's one, He's won the finals
M v P. And the Clippers are a quasi favorite
or a second favorite to the Lakers to come out
of the West. Why is that because of Kawhi Leonard?
That dude is Legit doesn't mean that Lebron stinks all

(51:59):
of a sudden, but he is thirty four years old.
This isn't I hate Jannice, This is just reality. Last night,
he had a great night last night. He played really,
really well after the first five minutes where he was
a little too hyped up. He stepped in, knocked down
some jump shots. But percentages will tell you last night
was the exception. The norm is what he does most

(52:21):
the rest of the year, and maybe it's him rising
to the level of competition, or maybe it was just
one of those nights. Be honest, doesn'ta make five threes?
You tip your cap, but you know how many times
he made five threes during his NBA career? Once you
know what that was last night. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all

(52:43):
of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R
to listen live. Let me just discuss this with the
Houston Rockets. The Rockets go in and for the second
time this year, they beat the l A Clippers. Lou
Williams goes berserk. Louiams goes berserk, gets himself thrown out
of the game kwhile Leonard kind of disappeared, and the

(53:05):
Rockets behind thirty behind forty points from Russell Westbrook win
the game. Dear Houston, you're a nice city. This will
be shocking to most people. Houston is actually the fourth
biggest city in the United States. You like really like, yeah,
huge city, but nobody cares what you do in the

(53:26):
regular season. This is like year five of this We
we just don't care. You found you tried to find
yet another running mate for James Harden to hide the
fact that James Harden doesn't guide anybody guard anybody, and
Russell Westbrook that they brought in honestly doesn't really guard
anybody anyway. You won the game, you played well. You
have some competitive guys, obviously, James Harden's a spectacular town.

(53:51):
But no one thinks that Mike Mike D'Antoni team will
win in the playoffs because he hasn't gotten as far
in the playoffs should like to at NBA Finals. He
just hasn't gotten there. So between your coach, your genle
manager being on the hot seat, your best player not
playing any defense, and your second best player being a

(54:11):
highly inefficient player even though you preach efficiency. Sorry, Houston,
didn't say I didn't like you. I experienced the Final
four in the Super Bowl there and liked the town immensely.
But nobody watches, nobody likes watching the way in which
James Harden plays, and no one thinks that last night
meant anything because we all know that Houston will not

(54:32):
lose in the playoffs. They'll likely lose at home. Let's
welcome to John Middle. Call three Now is the podcast
from NFL Scout. We're getting ready for Cowboys taking on
the Eagles. Do the Eagles even have the horses to
win this game? But the hell of a question. But
really quick on Houston, because I can't stand that franchise.
Let's not forget that the Warriors officially ended any credibility

(54:53):
they had last year when Kevin Durant went down and
they broke them in Houston. Who can take that franchise
seriously until they in a meaningful game? Point? Yeah, I mean,
anytime you have a home game and you have a
raucous crowd like Philly, and you do have a star quarterback,
though he struggled this year, you have made some big

(55:16):
time plays the last couple of weeks. Now granted it
was against the Redskins and the Giants, but you know,
you're either making plays or not. And he made some
big time plays and he's throwing it to Greg Ward.
I'm like, God, that name sounds familiar. I had to
Google at mid game and I realized it was a
quarterback from Houston, So I mean, that's who they're dealing with.
Al Sean, DeShawn, LUs Shawn. Those guys aren't walking through

(55:37):
the door right now, so it's gonna be very very difficult.
There is. You know, if if the Cowboys lose this game,
how does Jason Garrett make it the week seventeen? I mean,
this is a absolutely must win for the guy's coaching career,
just simply because he has better players. Uh, his team
already beat him earlier in the season when the teams

(55:59):
were more cool. They're definitely not equal. Now, the amount
of pressure on Jason Garrett in this game and just
the Cowboys players in generalism meant John minokof former NFL
scout three Now is the podcast he joints in, the
Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. How is Carson
Wentz playing? And they've been times he's had a lot
of fumbles. Twenty three fumbles last twenty five games, seven

(56:19):
fumbles this this year, seven fumbles lost this year, So
there are some turnovers. But he did make a crazy
accurate throw to to to put them ahead of the
Washington Redskins. And we've seen him make other incredibly accurate,
very difficult throws in the fourth quarter just only to
have it be dropped. As is he playing better? I

(56:40):
think he is. I think he's just playing a little
more under control. The one thing middle of the season,
even when the guys were going down. That really jumped
out to me. Yes, he was like a baseball pitcher
that was only throwing fastballs and eventually, you know, especially
at quarterback, sometimes you have to throw lob passes. You
have to when a guy's running a wheel route. You
can't throw a nine hour heater. And everything Wentz was

(57:03):
doing was just full speed. It was. It reminded me
a little bit of Kaepernick uh back in like thirteen
and fourteen when he kind of started struggling under Harbaugh.
It was he couldn't mix up his pitches and everyone
I think, and part of it was Wentz was just
trying so hard, felt the pressure his team was struggling.
I couldn't put my finger exactly on it, but he

(57:24):
was not playing well. And I just think the last
couple of weeks he's played much more under control. And
maybe it's help. They were down in the game, so
he kind of has you know, he could just what
do I gotta lose at this point? Uh probably helps
also that he's playing with a bunch of no name
wide receivers, Like it's hard to crush him when you're
playing with wide receivers that were quarterbacks two years ago.

(57:45):
This is the NFL, not high school, So I mean
it's that's pretty crazy. Uh. I just you know, it
speaks to Doug Peterson, which is back to the Cowboy game.
You know, Doug just much better, much more of a
dynamic coach, especially as an offensive play caller than Jason Garrett.
And I think he deserves a lot of credit for
just getting Carson just a little under control this last month.

(58:06):
What about the Cowboys? Why were they so much better
against Rams? That's a good question. I mean the Rams
have been a weird team all season. Um, you know
that's I really don't have an answer for that. You know,
I struggled to even pick that game last week. The
Cowboys were coming off three straight losses. And it wasn't
just three straight losses, right, It was like the Bills

(58:27):
embarrassed them on Thanksgiving and then the next week I
say that the Bears were That game was even worse.
So maybe you just get kicked in the tea so
many times you you eventually respond, Uh, Zeke was really
good in that game. I mean the defense was just
housing Jared Goff. I think the score entering like early
third quarter was thirty one to seven. The game was over. Uh,

(58:48):
the Rams got some meaningless touchdowns in the second half,
but yeah, I mean that's the Cowboys. You see that version,
you go, yeah, there was no excuse for them not
to win this weekend. But you know, you start reading,
you know, Dak Prescott's shoulders hurt and he didn't really
practice the first couple of days. I think he was
at practice today throwing. But still, that's to me, that's

(59:09):
a little bit of a red flag. And I saw
Mari said something yesterday that in the huddle of that
Eagles game. He said something and I was like, whoa.
I mean, if you shoulders hurt, your quarterback, right, not
a kicker. So it's you kind of need that shoulder
to go. And the Eagles got a couple of defensive lineman.
What if what if Fletcher Cox falls on that shoulder
in the first quarters? Does that That's that's a pretty big,

(59:30):
pretty big curveball potentially in this game. If Dak Prescott,
let's say he's right, I mean, that's that's something to
keep an eye on. Do you know whose backup is?
We did this? Steel wed? I do, just because I
saw the headline he was taking snaps and practice Cooper Rush.
So if that guy's got to play their screwed Yeah,
I couldn't even begin to give you us. I do

(59:51):
this for a living, scattering reports strength. I know nothing
about the guy who does what an incredible gamble to
have him. As as as your back, John, do you
think Derek Carr makes the track to Vegas night left
in the Desert? Yeah, I'd lean fifty fifty. I think
there is one scenario, Okay, all lean a lean nine

(01:00:16):
he makes it because the way that he wouldn't make
it would be they sign a veteran guy. And I
think there are three names to keep an eye on,
the White Whales, Tom Brady, who they would love to sign,
and they would pay forty million dollars for two thousand twenty.
But you know the wild cards Tom really going to
entertain free agency If he did, would he would it

(01:00:37):
be a money grab? Or would he want to go
to a team that he could win? The Raiders are
not good, their defense is terrible. It would be a
big risk for his legacy to stink. But he could
make a lot of money. Philip Rivers, you know that's
probably better than I don't know what the Charger's plans
are to do with him. Are they just gonna let
him walk? Are they gonna franchise? If he became available,
I think Gruden would immediately cut or try to trade

(01:00:58):
Derek and sign him and Cam Newton, who's a little
bit of a wild card. Obviously Gruden would like the
other two guys more, but they need to get a
little buzz going, so maybe he would, you know, and
Gruden would get some credit right if he signed Cam resurrecting.
What's what's missing there? Uh, that's a good question, you know.

(01:01:20):
I think he has all the physical attributes. You know,
we've seen him play really well. I think he's one
of those guys that when your team is really good,
and in two thousand and sixteen it was they had
the best offensive line in the league. Maari was playing,
Crabtree was killing it when he his talent is a
you know, immense around him, he can dominate and he
did that year. But once you pay him, you know,

(01:01:41):
it cuts into the salary cap. You have to cut
some corners. You don't have the money, and your talent
around you is not as well is good, so it's
harder for him, especially when your offensive line is not
as good to play at that level. I would say
he's a pretty inconsistent passer. Uh. He doesn't really play
well in the second half the games, you know, and
that's that's a lot of quarterbacks, you know, they the
game plan is really set. You master that thing, and

(01:02:03):
you can play well in the first half, but in
the second half it's a little bit more of an
ad lib game. It's more of it's on you to
adjust on the flies. White playing quarterbacks so difficult, and
then he turns the ball over and just key situations,
especially in the red zone, something that has drive, you know,
kind of Gruden nuts. And then I don't know, I mean,
it's just it's just really difficult to be a top

(01:02:24):
ten quarterback. I mean, there are things that are hard
to quantify that. There's a toughness aspect. I don't think
he's soft or anything. He's clearly played through injuries, but
just his consistency to stay in the pocket, Like think
about Rivers for the last fifteen years. He will sit
in the pocket and he'll throw some picks too, but
if you're coming to hit him directly in the face,
he will wait till that last second to let that

(01:02:45):
guy get open, and that that's just stuff that Derek
doesn't really do, that doesn't doesn't seem to happen. Let
me let let me, let me go to the Niners. Um,
you know, I don't know how that happens other than
you get a letdown. But how do you beat the
Saint down the road then come back and lane Egg. Well,
they were missing Richard Sherman, who's, you know, a very

(01:03:05):
important guy on that defense, and to me, it would
be one thing if the Falcons had middle Cooff and
Gottlieb and these random receivers that lit him up. But
it was Julio Jones kicking their butt. So it's one
of those things that it's like, yeah, you lost to
a bad team. Granted, they've been playing much better since
that bye week, and I think they've won that four
the last six games, but it was Julio Jones that

(01:03:27):
they couldn't stop, and they were missing multiple corners, one
being Richard Sherman. It's tough, but I think it's also understandable,
and at the end of the day, it didn't really
mean anything. You know that they still control their own
destiny if they win tomorrow, and then obviously win next
Sunday against Seattle. I don't think it's as crazy as
it felt at the time. Now, a couple you know,

(01:03:48):
six seven days removed, John Middlecoff three Now is the
podcast you should download as soon as he finishes here,
he joins in the Doug Gotlin Show on Fox Sports Radio. Okay,
the Vikings had the Packers in their place, but they
won't have Dalvin Cook. How do you think the Vikings
do in a prime time game Kirk Cousins quarterback against

(01:04:09):
their rival Packers. Yeah, I mean if Dalvin was playing,
they would one million percent to be my pick. Uh.
I know the rookie running back from Boise Miss last week,
I like that guy a lot. So if he's playing
this week, I look at it a little differently. But
I still like Minnesota at home. Uh, you know, is
Feeling's healthy and he played last week, and he plays

(01:04:31):
this week with Diggs and root Off, their offense is
still really dynamic. The other thing is their defense at
home is kind of a different animal their offensive. The
Packers offensive line isn't quite as strong as it probably
was three or four years ago, though it's still serviceable.
But Minnesota, when those couple of defensive ends they have
in Griffin and Hunter, who's just a monster. They just

(01:04:51):
they can take over games. Now, the one question mark
is Minnesota secondary. I mean, Zavie Rose make a lot
of money, but he's not that good of a player.
But it's not exactly like the Packers are rolling out
Donald Driver, Greg Jennings and Davante Adams. It's kind of
Davante Adams and a bunch of random guys. So there's
gonna be a lot of pressure on Aaron to just
play really well. But the numbers are kind of in

(01:05:12):
the Packers favor. Even if they lose this game, it
doesn't really mean much as long as they win Week
seventeen because of the divisional record. You know, the Vikings
already have two divisional losses and the Packers haven't lost
the divisional game. So for as big and cool as
this game feels, I don't really think it has. It
won't determine much at all. Now, can it give Minnesota

(01:05:32):
confidence if they match back up in the first or
second round of the playoffs? For sure? And that's where
you know, I think you think big picture, but just
I would imagine the casual family. Oh, it's for the
NFC North or Now. It's really not. There's not as
much on the line as as it looks like on paper.
Jamis Winston has two consecutive games of four and fifty
yards and more. Um, he'll get a good football team

(01:05:53):
and you won't have either of his two top two
wide receivers. Where are you on what Tampa should do? Yeah,
I mean throwing. I think a Evan touchdowns in the
last three games, and uh, you know, if you wipe
out some of those first drive interceptions, he's been pretty
lights out. I think it's you just got to bring
him back, unless you know, I don't know, maybe Bruce
arians doesn't like him, but it sure feels like they

(01:06:15):
were two and six and they were three and seven,
and now they're seven and seven. You would say, remember
a couple of years ago, like when the college football
playoffs happened, and it was like, oh, if USC and
Sam Donald got in, they were the hottest team in
the country. It's not quite that with this team, but
they are pretty dynamic now with Evans and God when
missing there, those two guys are monsters. But still, I

(01:06:37):
mean Jamis give him credit. I mean the guys for
for all the picks and turnovers that he does have.
He is a bona fide playmaker, you know, he is
unlike the Mariotas and I think even the Dereks or
whatever the cars. He is has no problem just letting
a rip down the field. And that's why he gets
in trouble. But isn't that also why they paid Bruce
arians and he's known as one of the better offensive coaches.

(01:06:59):
You get him another year with this guy, you probably franchise,
unless you know, Doug, would he take like a three year,
sixty million dollar deal guaranteed like fifty you know, or
would he get more than that on the open market.
I don't know who's really in, you know, with the
Raiders sign a guy like that. There aren't really that
many teams in desperate need of a quarterback, so that

(01:07:21):
the Buccaneers have a little leverage on their side. But
I don't really I have a I have a hard
time kind of gauging with the number would be because
he's clearly not like a thirty million dollar quarterback. But
it's not like he's like a fifteen million dollar quarterback.
But he's spend in some trouble and he still throws
a lot of picks. He's one of the more bizarre
players I've ever remember watching. To be honest with you,

(01:07:42):
be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
gott Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio
app every day. At this time, we like to play
for you a portion of a previous show on Fox
Sports Trader of Fox Sports One, Don't We Call It?
And now j Glazer Fox NFL Inside. It was on

(01:08:02):
the Jason Smith Show talking about the reports regarding Odell
Beckham Jr. Saying come get me to rival teams once
O'Dell came out yesterday and said, look, I'm gonna be
here and I'm gonna put it to bed. The tweets
I got, I don't know what's wrong with y'all whenever
I do something on Odell to eight that I get
from fans. We only learned our lesson on this because
it's unbelievable. People just like if I even mean tweets,

(01:08:25):
it's beyond ridiculous the stuff that these people are tweeting
that I'm wrong about Odell, not wrong about Odell. O'Dell
absolutely said what he said teams absolutely not wrong, and
it's unbelievable and it wasn't and it's it's still it's
going on and on, and I'm like, just because the
player says, now, oh no, I'm gonna be here and

(01:08:46):
I want to be here, doesn't mean he didn't say
it when he said it. I don't know what else
kind of confirmation you need that you know he didn't
addressed first, and that you have other teams have talked
about it, and you know that what happened to Arizona
last week it's really not a it's so before not
out of left field, that they have a guy that
wants to get out of there, that's not being utilized
and not happy and and even his production isn't good

(01:09:07):
when he is being utilized, he's not happy. Yeah, like Lixton,
I've said this about Jay Glazer. He was Oliver Rhodell
Beckham Jr. Being traded the first time. So the idea
that he somehow has this story wrong when Jay Glazer,
he doesn't. He's not a volume story he's a quality
of story guy. He's not breaking every story, but the

(01:09:27):
ones that he breaks are usually big ones. And I
I mean, I'm I'm sure he's been wrong. I'm sure
there's one that's changed. I just don't recall it. I
just don't. These are long standing relationships. And I don't
think that anybody believes that Odell Beckham Jr. Only suddenly
now has says some epiphany when we don't know who

(01:09:48):
his head coach is gonna be, We don't know what
changes they're gonna be made to the Cleveland Browns. I
do think that the Cleveland Browns take on the Baltimore
Ravens is interesting just because they can actually still make
the playoffs. A lot of things have to happen, and
they've already beaten the Ravens this year to clearly have
the talent to compete in this game. But I'm with Jay,
I'm not just going, oh oh well, he said he

(01:10:08):
doesn't want to go. He said he's put into bed.
He was the one who said, no one knows if
what ill where I'll want to be next year. Yes,
one person absolutely knows where you'll want to be. You you,

(01:10:29):
And And my guess is that that Cleveland doesn't mean
it's all his fault. It does not not his fault
for all the penalties, not his fault for Miles Garrett.
Not his fault for his head coach trying to do
too much be a play caller for the first time
for an entire season as a coordinator, and be a
head coach. That's not his fault. But when he missed

(01:10:50):
o t when he when he said to start the
year that I'm about winning, I'm about winning, and then
he doesn't show up to he as you're not about winning.
And then when he wears a watch the first couple
of weeks, You're not about winning. You're about you, how
you look, how you feel about how you look, which

(01:11:10):
is fine, but it goes directly counter to what you're
telling us. Your actions outweigh your words. So he's just
not And and then you know there's the goats, the
goat cleats, which I get that all these guys want
to somehow say, I just imagine, I think I think

(01:11:33):
about it. I don't want you to imagine if I
did this to somebody from another network, right like Jim
Rome's show. You know, I grew up listening to Jim
Rome's radio show when he was on in San Diego. Like,
just imagine if I'm competing with Jim Rome same time slot.

(01:11:57):
He beats me and I go on his show and
go like, hey, man, just wanted you know your show
better than my show? Yea, how about your gift? Who
does that? No, no, nobody, you don't do that. You
can be privately and respectful or whatever. I mean, there's
there is no business to where you go like, hey,
we just lost. I was preparing to give you this gift,

(01:12:17):
so I had a special gift when they clearly don't
have any any sort of relationship, because if he did,
he just said in the shoes in the mail, I know. Yeah.
By the way, Tom Brady is an under armed guy.
He's not wearing Nike cleats, even if they are made
of goat hair. I don't know. I just I think
he's a really talented guy. I don't think he gets it.

(01:12:39):
I'm not sure he'll ever get it. We make all
kinds of excuses for him because he does seem fairly harmless,
with the exception of the video when he was in
the hotel room with the woman and appeared to be cocaine.
He appears to be fairly harmless, but harmful to a
team and their success in their chemistry. One from his
lack of desire to be year round in the off

(01:13:00):
season to two do the right thing early in the season.
If Jay Glazer says the guy said come get me,
I want out, I believe Jay Glazer above even Odell
Beckham Jr. Right, this is the same Jay Glazer that

(01:13:21):
I only broke the Odell Beckham Jr. Thing. But he
and he didn't just have the video tape that the
Patriots had. He had tape of the conversation and the video.
That's how good that guy is. He got the video,
but he got the video of the cameraman and NFL

(01:13:44):
security interviewing the cameraman, and the video included. He got
it all in one, like he got the videotape of
the guy who stole Tom Brady's jersey. I don't know
how he does it. I know he does it. I
don't know how he He runs his own gym and
he does all this mm A stuff and he's like everywhere.

(01:14:07):
I don't know how he does it. But do you
think he's gonna make up a report when nobody really
asked him about Odeck com Jr. No. I believe Jay Glazier.
That's all right, A lot to get too. In the
third hour of the show. I got my picks upcoming
obviously only five for the pros. Excuse me, but I'm

(01:14:29):
coming next. I do want to get to last night's
Laker game, right Listen, the Lakers lost. It's not the
end of the season. They only got four points off
their bench for the entire game. This without Kyle Kuzma,
who when he's right, he's a twenty game guy. But
to me, this is about a conversation you have to
have with Lebron James. It's the same one you may

(01:14:52):
have with your parents this upcoming week. That's next to
The Doug Gotlip Show. Be sure to catch the live
edition of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
p m. Easter noon Pacific. What I'm to Godli Show,
Fox Sports Radio, brought to you by Discover Card. We
treat you like you'd treat you. Everybody has traditions, or

(01:15:13):
at least you should have traditions this time of year music.
You are not yet thirty years old, you're engaged to
be married. What are your Christmas or holiday traditions you
man um that you want to share? Yeah, I don't
really know if we have that many other than we're

(01:15:33):
not that tradition rich in our house. I mean just
the general like you know, like the opener, present the
night before, no day of day. Yeah, I mean, I
guess it's like the pre Christmas rituals, right like people
you know you're supposed to dedicate time to dedicate decorating
the tree. Are you going shopping with her this weekend
or leading up to Christmas? No? Did a lot of

(01:15:56):
did everything we need online or ahead of time? Yet
I take your shopping. I'm just telling you just take go,
like go and go like, hey, let's just go shopping,
like you know, the things that when you kind of
look back at your relationship years later, you go like, hey,
remember we used to go shopping in Christmas. Maybe it's
you don't want to do it because eventually you won't
do it, but uh yeah, it used to be when

(01:16:17):
before we had kids, that's what we would do. We'd
go and and we go shop Christmas Eve and by
one thing for one another, and it was it was
kind of cool. So I don't know, um, I do
think that that that Christmas has taken on. Here's the
funny thing. I'm out. I was born and raised both
my parents were Jewish raised the Jewish household. We didn't

(01:16:38):
celebrate Christmas obviously when I was growing up, but I
married a woman who was Southern Baptist. My wife and
you Southern Baptist, so you know, we've always celebrated both.
And the truth about Hanukas, it's not a hugely important
Jewish holiday. It is in the United States because Christmas

(01:17:00):
such a big holiday for so many Christian people anyway. Um,
but it's weird, like, I don't know, who are these
people who you can say, marry Christmas to anyone? And
if you're not Jewish or you're agnostic, you know what,
even if you don't, what does it call when you
don't believe in God? Um? When you're what's the term? Yeah,

(01:17:23):
when you're an atheist, it's actually okay. I believe you guys,
tell me if I'm wrong. I believe it's okay to
wish somebody an atheist to marry Christmas, because all you're
saying is like, hey, I hope you're having a great
time of year, Like, yeah, Christmas obviously would be you know,
the birth of Christ. And if you don't believe that
Jesus was the son of God or that I don't

(01:17:45):
I don't know whatever you believe, that's okay. But wishing
somebody like hey Mary whatever, like that's not a bad thing.
So if you see me in a hallway in a
store and a report, you go with me, marry Christmas,
knowing I'm Jewish, I don't you know, it's it's okay,

(01:18:08):
okay um. One of the traditions I think most people
have as you get together with family, parents, grandparents, you
know that there's a a Thanksgiving aspect towards. It obviously
gets trickier with split families with in laws and right

(01:18:29):
and grandparents and you got all that, plus you just
want your nuclear family to be together. There's a lot
going on. But when you roll into the grandparents house
or the grandparents roll into your house. My mom has
this thing where she always buys my kids pajamas. She's
just like, we don't have to ever go shopping for

(01:18:50):
pajamas because every Christmas they'll all get pajamas. They'll get pajamas.
But we're we're good. This is like the third straight
year living close to my mother, would go to her
house and you know, I've walked into her house and said, like,
how did that table get from there to there while
I moved it. What are you doing? I moved it

(01:19:14):
and needed to be moved. You lived fifteen minutes from here,
twenty minutes from here. Okay, so call me or text
me and I will come move whatever you want. Your
lights out. Tell me eric condition is not working. Tell
me no, I can't fix an air condition. But I'll
be here if somebody needs to. If I need to
get up on the roof and see if there's a
leak in the roof, like, tell me, these are things

(01:19:35):
that you know. She's a seventy three year old widower.
You you just can't do anymore. You can't do anymore.
And I told my my mom that her dog is
not getting enough exercise. So a dog needs to run.
So I'm gonna find somebody who will take her dog daily,

(01:19:56):
not for a walk, but to go and run in
the park. Just run in the park for fifteen minutes
and bring it back. That's it. She can't do that anymore.
It's not being mean. I'm not I'm not putting her
in a and even putting somebody in a home isn't
being mean. Now. This is not hospice, not expecting her
to die, But I I want to protect her from herself,

(01:20:18):
from her own desires to continue to be her older self.
Kind of feels like the Lakers are at that place. Look,
I'm not saying that Lebron is a senior citizen the
NBA at thirty four years old. For a thirty four
year old, he's amazing, But he's a thirty four year
old who's been playing in the NBA for twenty years, right,

(01:20:39):
essentially for twenty years. The wear and tear on his body,
and it's a he's got an incredible motor. He's before
last year he'd never really been hurt. Even last year,
A soft tissue growing pole slash tear like that's not
a you know, knock wood. Lebron James has been very
fortunate to never sustain any sort of sear vious injury.

(01:21:02):
And as big as he is, while you may think like,
well he puts punishment on other people, it's not the jumping,
it's the landing all of those all that time you
land on your body, like man, that's a lot of
power and pressure to put on your joints and on
your ligaments and on your tendons and on your muscles.
And the guy doesn't get hurt But if you watched

(01:21:23):
him last night in there twelveth road game out of
last fifteen, eight road game out last nine, first time
they've lost back to back games all season, he looked
like thirty four year old Lebron James wasn't moving the same,
struggled to handling the ball early and handling the ball late,
and and in those these last two games in which

(01:21:46):
he's looked a little bit older, a little bit tired,
little bit sluggish. Fort from the field three point range,
nine turnovers last night, specifically, he started over five, struggled
to get his motor going. Why you're tired? To you
for two from the free throw in the first quarter.
But those are his only attempts the entire game. Why
because he can't get a step on people, can't get
an angle on people. He doesn't have that burst he

(01:22:09):
used to. So we're we're not saying that Lebron needs
to retire, just like we're not telling your mom or
your dad that they need to go in a home
or they need full time assistance. We're just saying, don't
do stupid stuff. Don't change the light bulb. You know,
can't she can't you get the kid next door to

(01:22:30):
take down your trash and take it back up. Pay
somebody to run your dog. Is that a needed expense?
Maybe not? But all it takes is the dog running
off you can't chase it, or the dog seeing another
dog and pulling you, and you falling down trying to
get up on a ladder, and you're you're old man's like,
I'm gonna clean out these leaves, Like, no, you're not.

(01:22:52):
Lebron James trying to carry his team trying to play
eight two games. Take a look, this is Lebron James
being the old man who wants to clean his own utter.
Why I wouldn't not play if I'm healthy? It doesn't
make any sense to me personally. I mean, I don't
know how many games I got left in my career.
I don't know how many kids that may show up
to a game and they're to come see me playing.
If I sit out, then what that's my obligation. My

(01:23:13):
obligation is to play for my teammates, and if i'm
if I'm healthy, I'm gonna play. If coach sets me out,
then I'm not healthy. And it's just that simple. Sorry, dude,
you're too old to be playing eight two games. You
could do it. You can. You know, there's plenty of
old dudes that are like seventy five years old and

(01:23:34):
go up and like, man, I can go out and
I'm gonna go remove my maroof and I'm gonna go
clean my gutter. Like there's guys that can do it.
But you lose your equilibrium, you fall off, you break
your hip. Now all of a sudden it begins. You know,
like you're Lebron James. You're trying to win one word championship.
You're trying to become the only player to lead a
team to three lead three different franchises to a championship.

(01:23:56):
That's what you're trying to do. Your goals are bigger
and truthfully, you he wants to play with his son.
I don't know if that's gonna happen, but he wants
it to happen. All of these things. He's not wrong
for saying that. You know, look, people pray hard earned money.
It's like, do you take a road game off because
there's a limited time those those fans can see you,
or do you take a home game off because the

(01:24:17):
Lakers all their ticket prices are based upon Lebron playing.
I just gotta be smart about it. And if you
think that he's the same guy, because Janice said, he's
what are your honest calm an alien because he's still
running and jumping like he'd for a for a normal
human being at thirty four years old. He's remarkable. He's spectacular.

(01:24:42):
If you saw him last night, he's not one. He
wasn't one of the top five athletes in terms of
spring speed quickness on the floor at any time last night.
Like Pat Connaughton comes in and Pat Conton's got more
bounced than Lebron James because he's half his age, you know,

(01:25:03):
because he's half his age. Kauai came to the Clippers
and was like, hey, look, I am playing more than
sixty games, and like, whatever you want, dude, long as
you play in the playoffs, we don't really care. We'll
take the bullets, will pay the fines. We'll talk about
you know, we won't talk about load management, but we'll
we'll handle it now. Look, Kauai has never been a

(01:25:23):
guy that's played all Lady two. He's the guy doesn't
play a ton of minutes, but he plays hard. He
plays both ends, and he's a two time finals m
V p his process seems to work. No one, by
the way, has ever said load management doesn't work. They've
just said it's a bad deal because it looks bad
for the fans and you're collecting all this money for
games you haven't played. And I'm not saying that Lebron
has to miss twenty games, but you see what happens

(01:25:47):
when he tries to play every minute of every game.
You see what happens when he tries When when they
struggle in the second half is when Anthony Davis went out,
not when Lebron went out. When Anthony Davis went out.
Lebron has done some amazing things in the first half
of the season. But if you paid attention when they
played the better teams so far this year, the ones

(01:26:08):
in which they've lost to, that's when Lebron's ages has
come out. The they're not going to talk about whether
or not he played eighty two games when he's done.
They're just not They're gonna talk about whether or not
he won another NBA championship or did not if he

(01:26:28):
loses another NBA finals. Right, this is what's he's been
to eight and he's three and five, he's three and
six or what if he doesn't get to one, that
that becomes the narrative. Nobody cares if he plays sixty
five games the young man's game, and Lebron can still
have all of his uh, all of his nitrous in

(01:26:51):
his container that he can use for a turbo boost
once he gets to the postseason. But the machismo. Somebody
needs to pull him aside. The Lakers are four and
five against teams with a plus five record. Lebron has
scored twenty in those games and shout a poor percentage
against the better teams. He looks like thirty four year
Oldlebron James. Maybe he needs some time off, Maybe he

(01:27:16):
needs to understand his role. Maybe the Lakers need to
understand his age. They gotta get Kyle Kuzma going to
carry some of the scoring. Look when you get together
with your mom or your dad, your grandma, your grandpa,
help pop pop hell, tell uh me ma. All everybody's
got their funny names for their grandparents. Just tell them, Hey,

(01:27:37):
don't change the light bulb. You need to change the
light bulb, Call me, I'll change it. I'll change it
for it, all right. Coming up next to the Doug
Got lip show here, on Fox Sports Radio. My picks
have been really good this season. Can I keep it up? Time?
And makes some money next? Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of

(01:27:57):
our shows at Fox Sports Radio Dot and within the
I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live.
This is the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
In sports, surprises can be fun, but when it comes

(01:28:19):
to selling or trading in your car, not so much.
That's why True Car shows you what your car's value
is and lets you get a cash offer in minutes.
So when you're ready to sell, visit True Car Today
Doug Gotlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio forty eight and thirty four. Overall,

(01:28:42):
that's fifty cent in the season that is making you
some cash. And really it hasn't been and Ryan Music,
Um can it can attest this? It has not been
you know, like a one or um um one or

(01:29:03):
two week sort of deal. Right. It hasn't been the
one or two weeks or deal. It's been almost every week,
like we're in week sixteen, and it feels like almost
every week has been three and two. So I can't
tell you which three will win and which two won't.
But I will tell you if you just stuck with
my picks, you would have hit on fifty eight percent,

(01:29:24):
which is kind of professional gambling sort of territory right there,
right like their goal SI is is money time. Let's
get to him. I won't winner twelve. We got him
five NFL five College it's five for five, which Doug Goblin,

(01:29:45):
Let's go five, all right. Let's start with the Ravens
taken on the Browns, Odell saying he wants to stay
in Cleveland, Myles Garrett obviously not playing the rest of
the season. Ravens taking on the Browns. Ravens a chance
to continue to solidify themselves, is the number one seed
in the a f C playoffs. They take on the
Brownies in Cleveland, a team who beat them in Baltimore.

(01:30:08):
I want you to think about this. If it's a
nine and a half point line, okay, and you give
home field the normal three points, even if you give
it two and a half points, you give the Ravens
home field three points. So based upon this line, ay,
this is what r J. Bell always tells us. You

(01:30:29):
can hear r J Bel after our show straight at
a Vegas. Really good show. Jonas knocks is a great job.
By the way, I'm a big fan of Jonas um.
But I want you to understand what this means. This
means the Browns would be fifteen point underdogs if they
played in Baltimore. The Browns have not been good, They've
been disappointing this season, but they shouldn't be fifteen point.

(01:30:52):
This line is too big, too big. Give me the Browns.
I don't think they'll win the game. I do think
the Ravens will follow their script and they'll get off
to a big D. But I think the second time around,
the Browns they know some things. It's competitive group, they're
not terrible. Um. I think the Browns cover this spread
fairly's nine. It has a lot of points in the NFL.

(01:31:14):
Give me Cleveland. The Bengals are taken on the Dolphins. Obviously,
the Bengals finally got one win and now they don't
need to play to win the rest of the season.
So that's that. That's some of the argument for why
I would take Miami. The biggest thing with Miami is,
you know, even going to last week like they play hard.

(01:31:36):
That that that's really what it comes down is they
play hard and in a game where somebody has to
win the essentially the toilet Bowl, right, that's what this is,
the toilet Bowl of NFL games. I'm gonna I'm gonna
take the Miami Dolphins to win, and that would they
are a one point dog at home. You know, Joe

(01:31:58):
Mixon impressed every buddy last week in New England. But
this is the Miami team that's gonna rally to the ball,
that's gonna rally and win a game. Just based upon
I think they'll win the game. Better coach football team,
give me the Dolphins. Uh, the Bills are taking on
the Patriots. We have said this, if the Bills can

(01:32:19):
beat the Patriots in New England with a second year
quarterback in December, in a game which the Patriots really
need to win to solidify themselves getting a bye in
the playoffs, then the dynasty is over. Now. I think
the Patriots find a way to win. But the Patriots
have been awful in the kicking game, and the Bills, well,

(01:32:42):
I mean between beating the Steelers last week, beating the
Cowboys on the road, even the loss of the Patriots,
that was a game that I would think if Buffalo
Um hadn't lost Josh Allen, they might have won the
game again if this is in now this if it's
in Buffalo, the spread is a half point spread, so

(01:33:04):
this one feels about right. But I think Buffalo wins
if they played again in Buffalo. I think Buffalo keeps
his close. I'm gonna say the Buffalo Bills cover. I
still have the Patriots money line. I wouldn't take Buffalo,
but six and a half is too many for this
Patriots team that just doesn't seem to have the scoring pop.
Saints are taking on the Titans. Saints are trying to
maintain their seating in the NFC race. Titans disappointing loss

(01:33:28):
last weekend at home, but the Titan Ryan Tannehill has
been outstanding since he's become the starting quarterback, even last
week when he gave up that a hundred yard pick six,
that was a ball thrown right to his wide receiver
who just dropped it. You know. And if you've looked
at what they've done since the by their three and one,
the one loss to the Houston Texans at home, they

(01:33:48):
had back to back road wins over Indie and over Jacksonville.
You know what, I might even go to the money
line on this one. Titans are two and a half
point dogs at home. I'll take the Titans to win.
I'll take the Titans straight up. Cowboys taking on the Eagles,
and this is not a case of me hating on
the Eagles. I just don't like what they're throwing out
their talent wise, meanwhy the Cowboys. They're healthy or the

(01:34:11):
healthiest they've been in a while. With that in mind,
you're better at running back, although Philly is pretty good
at running back. You're definitely better at wide receiver with
Philly starting guys off the street. You're much better on defense,
and you're better on your offensive line with Lane Johnson
on the shelf. Cowboys is gonna win. Cowboys are gonna cover.
So to review, Brown's home Dogs take them, Dolphins home Dogs,

(01:34:32):
take them, Bill's Road Dogs take them, Titans home dogs
take them. So four dogs, the one favorite, the Dallas Cowboys.
Those are my picks there. It is five NFL. Let's
go five college five for five with Doug gottlie Be
sure to catch the live edition of The Doug Gottlieb

(01:34:53):
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I heart radio a app.
Let's sell Welcome in Mike Fisher these Cowboys inside for
Sports Illustrate. You also hear him on one oh five
point three the fan Fall on Twitter at Fish Sports. Mike,
what changed with the Cowboys last weekend? I think they
got ahead of the Rams, got to unleash their pass

(01:35:16):
rush a little bit, including a couple of guys that
are really good at getting after quarterback but maybe don't
care too much about the other stuff. Um. And then
they did the same thing in that game that has
happened this week here at the Star. They had two
guys that became rallying cries that Jason Witten, hundred year
old tight end making the one hand and behind the

(01:35:37):
head touchdown catch that that really fired people up. Then
came the Shawn Lee interception, and Doug had had Joe
Thomas or just another guy, just another linebacker made that
interception a little bit nice. But the fact that it
was Shaun Lee who these players revere because they know
that but for the grace of God, all those injuries

(01:35:59):
that have fallen the otherwise Hall of Fame talent could
have been them. They they they dog piled him after
that and they're still dog pilot him for the turnaround
the game and maybe even the season interception. Doug Dak
Prescott said after the game he has never been happier
for any player ever who made a play. And Sean
Lee is still talking today about how um he'll always

(01:36:23):
remember being at the bottom of the dog pile and
what everybody was saying to him in terms of encouragement. Well,
now we've got the injured Dak Prescott and his toughness
has become this week's rally and cry for a Cowboys
team that's trying not to be mediocre. Um, last time
they played the Eagles, the Eagles fumbled on their first
two drives, so it became a blowout. Was it a

(01:36:45):
mismatch in addition to a blowout? Well, if the Eagles
do that again, and here's one of the problems, and Doug,
you know you're you're all around the country, you know
exactly what I'm talking about. If the Eagles fumble at home,
or have a turnover, or give up a score or
go three and outs, that Eagles crowd that is so vicious.

(01:37:06):
When we roll in and out those buses, Cowboys buses
come in and they're throwing they're throwing eggs at the buses,
and Doug not only did they throw beer bottles at
the buses, they're not even smart enough to drink the
beer first. And now they do that to the visiting team,
as the Cowboys know very well, but they'll do it
to their own home team. And so one of the

(01:37:26):
advantages that the Cowboys theoretically have is the Eagles fans
are so on the lip of the cup of hating
the Eagles that that maybe an early break made or
lucky for Dallas can be the landslide in this game,
just like it was in the last meeting. That's that's
a fascinating point that they actually turn on their own

(01:37:47):
team because of their frustrations with the turnovers, and those
turnovers a lot of mar Carson wentz right, twenty three
fumbles and twenty games, you know, seven and fourteen games
this season. Uh kind of remarkable. UM are with with
Layton Vanderesh Layton Vanderesh, which was five weeks ago, a
next stinger they said, in fact, it happened in the
Eagles game and I was in the locker room with

(01:38:09):
him and they had just one thirty seven to ten,
and I said, kid, what are you so mad about?
Because there was no reason for me to come out
of that game my next Fine, Well, here we are
five weeks later and they're continuing to do testing. I
don't think you're gonna see Layton Vanderesh at all. And
I'm not talking about this weekend. I'm talking about for
the near future. And and then obviously Doug the jump
out one is uh, Dak Prescott. He does not have

(01:38:31):
a fractured finger. Somehow that the TV network screwed that up.
But you're right about banged up finger, banged up hands,
and now this a c uh sprain and his shoulder
a c joints. A lot of people in the locker
room are saying I had that in college. I played
with it. Says, you know, there's different degrees of a sprain,
different degrees of pain threshold. But I will say this,

(01:38:53):
and I watched practice today. These reports that say that
Dak Prescott through the today a practice are not true.
That's not throwing. He was. He was catapulting, he was lobbying,
he was softballing, he was shot putting. He cannot throw
like an NFL player today. They will have a walk
through tomorrow morning before we get on the plane. And

(01:39:14):
usually that's not a throwing session, but it will be
for Dak and then Doug. The very first guy at
the link who will be on the field on Sunday,
first guy off the bus will be Dak Prescott out
there trying to test it to see just what he
can do. Even though he's officially not even on the
injury report that was just released today. How can he
be so so sure that he's gonna play. Yeah, he Uh,

(01:39:36):
he's very cock sure about it. Uh. The game plan
is all about it. Of course, the game flan will
be Ezekiel Elliott heavy, and it should be Ezekiel Elliott
against the Eagles. Five and oh Lifetime has never rushed
for fewer than ninety six yards and I think averages
a yard from scrimmage a hundred and forty one yards.
But even if that goes out there with one shoulder,

(01:39:57):
he's playing and and if that sames that he's got
to throw through the pain, then he will. Or you
know that tour doll that'll help you throw through the pain,
that thing you know there is that and that's just
part of football. That's the way it is. Um. But
where whereas the Eagles could be criticized because there seems
to be a lack of emotional toughness and support for
their quarterback. That's not true here. And one of the

(01:40:20):
reasons that Dak pass Up is gonna get paid isn't
because he's physically better or bigger or stronger. You know,
we're gonna make him into Paul Bunyan by the time
this game is done. If if Dallas wins, it's not
all that it's it's in his head. He is mentally
and spiritually the right guy to be the Dallas Cowboys
quarterback this week and for a long time after this.

(01:40:42):
What about Jason Jason Garrett. Obviously, if they lose, they
don't make the playoffs, he's gonna get fired. Um. But
but I made the case today, like we just look,
they get in the playoffs, they have the talent. I
think if they win two games to get to the
NC Champion Championship game, there's no way that There's no
way that that Jerry bounces him. What's the reality in

(01:41:02):
your mind, having covered this team as long as you have,
on what Jason Garrett's future looks like. Yeah, I can
go to the Jones family's mind, which is there's not
a there's not a specific line of demarcation. If he
does this, he gets this. If he doesn't do this,
he is not brought back in this his final year
of his contract. But you go all the way back
to Jerry Jones press conference that the first day of

(01:41:24):
training camp and Oxnard, which I have called come to
call the glory Hole press conference, where he refused to
answer questions about Jason Garrett's job security and in fact
pretended he couldn't hear the question because there's some construction
drill that was going on in the background. That was
all you needed to know about the hot seat that
exists here. The Jones's view is we have to be

(01:41:44):
better than we've ever been in the in the Jason
Garrett era. So that kind of suggests NFC Championship game.
The reason I don't like to make a line in concrete.
What if they play the greatest game of their lives
in the second round of the playoffs and lose already
the thirty nine or what if I mean, the kicking
game has failed them so much this year? There you go,

(01:42:06):
what if lose lose on a kick? They play really
good football but they lose on a kick and it
comes down to the selection of kickers, which is a
really hard thing to do. Yeah. The really smart money, though,
is number one, this team doesn't win the Super Bowl
and that therefore number two, they will have fallen short
of what the Joneses believe is the building of a
championship roster, and they will make changes as much as

(01:42:27):
they support, love, admire Jason Garrett and and I've known
it for twenty five years, I feel the same way
about him personally. There's a reason that they're already playing
footsie and they are with the Urban Myers and the
Lincoln Riley's and the Matt Rules and even the Sean Payton's.
And by the way, and I said this, uh we
We interviewed Jerry Jones on one h Fire three the

(01:42:49):
Fan the other day and I said this essentially to
his face, Jerry, You've got the nicest wife, the finest home,
the biggest yachts, the best state him, the coolest brand,
the best headquarters. Why would you not get the best
head coach? And I think this offseason there will be
a pursuit of the Dallas Cowboys aligning themselves with somebody

(01:43:11):
who is quote the best head coach. Mike Fisher, Cowboys
insider for sports Hills Traded one oh five point three
the fan. That's the station that Jerry Jones always goes
on and and has those interviews that we replay for
you fall on Twitter at and Fish Sports. Mike, thanks
so much for joining us. Things have gone from bad
to worse of one NFL team. I'll share it with
you next. Be sure to catch the live edition of

(01:43:34):
The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m. Easter
noon Pacific. Doug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio
every day. This time, we'd like to get you caught
up on the stories of the day, get you ready
for your weekend. Here comes the press, the press, Dan Buyer,
what do you have, my friend? A couple of quick hitters.

(01:43:55):
Injury wise, Dak Prescott will start for the Cowboys. No
Jadevian Clowney, Well, he's only for the Seahawks listed as
doubtful against the Cardinals because of a core muscle injury,
and the Raiders one of running back Josh Jacobs against
the Chargers on Sunday because of his shoulder injury. In fact,
he could be shut down for the season. If the
Raiders are eliminated from postseason contention, it feels like they

(01:44:16):
know the end is that I mean like Vegas has
the Chargers is like a six and a half point favorite. Yeah,
it feels like they know that that that the Raiders
are done, and the Raiders know that the Raiders are done.
Cruden's even had that message. Some of the Bay Area
of said that he's already looking ahead to and and
moving on. I mean, their chances are extremely, extremely slim,
even though mathematically it's still a possibility. Would you deem

(01:44:38):
this season a success for the Raiders? Yes, yes, the
the tech of a success for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but
not early this morning for one of their players or
should I say former players. They cut safety Cameron Kelly
following his arrest outside of a bar for making terroristic
threats and resisting arrest. The incident reportedly started when he

(01:44:59):
threat the bar employee after a song selection on the
jukebox was skipped. What was the song selection? I'm not sure. No, Listen,
this is partial reporting. If you're you're going to a
jukebox in a bar, you get one song because remember,
it can't necessarily be your song. You gotta have one
that you get some cred. What do you go with? Um?

(01:45:24):
Maybe friends in low places, oh little garth Brooks State. Alum, Sure,
I think that one gets everybody. Oh maybe not everybody,
but a lot of people. That's like, that's a that's
the new age piano man um, which is what it
was designed after. What about what about you music? You get?
You get one song of the jukebox, one that you'd
fight for. What is it? Well, it's funny you said

(01:45:46):
piano man. I would have said piano man or everyone
always loves the Sweet Caroline. Everyone's always in a good
mood when you hear that song. So probably one of
those two. Um. Now, there are people listening to us
in the South, in the Midwest, And if you to
school or you grew up in the South Midwest, you
know what I'm saying is true. There's an artist, there's
a country singer named David allen Coe. There's a song

(01:46:09):
called You Never Even Call Me by My Name that
is number one on every Texas, Midwest, Southeast Like, that's
the song that gets everybody singing. And if that was
the song that he wanted to fight, the guy at
the bar for I think the Pittsburgh steel has made
a mistake. Following an investigation by the Naval Academy, officials

(01:46:32):
there say the hand gestures caught on TV prior to
coverage of the Army Navy game last week, we're not
attended to be racist signals. Yeah, like there's some there's
some Twitter discussion about this that basically this is like
a made up thing that people try to make it
into some white power deal or whatever. I it's a
game that we were empowering the wrong people by continue

(01:46:56):
to make this narrative that it means something it doesn't
did doesn't. Um. I'm glad that they interviewed a bunch
of people and turns out there are not white supremacists
in our armed forces, or if there are, they're not
so uh they're they're not so over the top they
do it on national TV. The n c double A
punished TCU today with a year of probation and finds

(01:47:18):
and other things after it was discovered that football players,
along with men's and women's basketball players, were paid for
jobs they didn't do. The Fort Worth Star Telegram says
the violations were reported when the players weren't quocking out
for their shifts, which were to replace light bulbs on campus. Wow,
this is old school SMU style cheating. And they just

(01:47:38):
got a year of probation. That's really amazing. When Gary
Patterson heard it, heard about this, he said, what it? Yeah,
lightbulb ESPN report. But you got really good dad. As
ESPN reports, as part of a plan to revamp the
NBA schedule prior to the start of season, players who

(01:47:59):
are the championship team for the mid season tournament would
each receive one million dollars per player. You know, this
reminds me. That is my thing about Sean Connery. Right
when Sean Connery was asked to play a dragon in
Dragon's Heart, it was like, I'm Jean Conry. I'm not
gonna play a dragon. Wait how much? Right? Like these guys,
I don't want to play more game. I can't play
eighty two games. It's too much of my Wait, a

(01:48:19):
million dollars if I win? Okay, yeah, I can do that.
That's the press. Well, the weather outside is frightful, but
the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place
to go, let us snow, Let us snow, let us snow.
Have yourself a great weekend. Um. I do think Cowboys
Eagles is gonna be interesting. I think the Cowboys win.

(01:48:42):
I don't know. If the Patriots lose this game, it's
okay to say the Patriots dynasty is over. Like I know,
regular season games don't mean everything, but this one means
a lot in terms of the optics of it considering
who else is out there in the a f C.
Have a safe and happy weekend. Back Monday in The
Doug Gotlip Show, Fox Sports Radio,

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Doug Gottlieb

Popular Podcasts

Crime Junkie

24/7 News: The Latest

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}LeBron James needs load management