Jonny Athletic/Ben Leber - Bumper to Bumper 12/22/25 Hour Two

Dan and Jonny Athletic take an extended look at the Vikings vs Giants game. Dan offers his opinion on a play that didn't count. Ben Leber joins to offer his reaction, talks about the flight delay, and accidentally left an important item in NYC.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time, Johnny, Johnny ahead, I didn't do something about
right now?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Question for you, Johnny, right off the top. Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Let's go?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
You got a pen.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
You might have to write this one down, but maybe not,
maybe not, maybe not. Which quarterback has been more durable
during the twenty twenty five football season JJ McCarthy, who's
I think twenty two or Aaron Rodgers who's closer to
fifty two.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, a rod has kind of withstood the test of
time with this, right, He's proven to be the tough,
durable one. Maybe those old bones just like have calcified
over the years or something like that. And JJ still
deals with the with the with the baby bones or
something like that. But yeah, I got to give it
to Aaron for making it through this whole season.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Yeah, it's uh, it is interesting we we make these
determinations on about youth and the we believe in youth,
and we tend to be very skeptical and nervous about age,
and yet every once in a while, in this case,
the football guys laugh at us all and say, oh, really,
you think it's that simple. Well, I'm gonna have the

(01:27):
kid out again with his fourth injury in two seasons,
why Mathuselah keeps, you know, somehow, even though he can't
really move like he used to, uh, still finding a
way to not end up with the kind of injury
that that sides on sidelines him for any length of time.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I said this earlier.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
I'm curious to know your view or get your view
on this, and I'll again emphasize this is not a
statement about McCarthy's present and future at the position. But
I now believe whether he's an unlucky player or whether
he's just one of those players who has whatever reason
difficulty staying up right, that the Vikings would be committing

(02:12):
malpractice if they come to training camp in twenty twenty
six without a viable starting quarterback option veteran QB two.
If you don't want him to compete for the job,
which you should, but if you don't want to do that,
to be there just in case JJ McCarthy is not
going to be available, what do you say to that?

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, I think that's one hundred percent what has to happen, Dan,
when you look at how this season has played out,
certainly encouraging the last couple of weeks that he that
JJ McCarthy started to play better, and that Kevin O'Connell
seemed to find a little bit more symbiosis with McCarthy
on the game plan and what would work for him
and what wouldn't. But just given the nature of two

(03:00):
seasons now worth of injuries that are kind of adding up,
you do have to factor that into your evaluation of
JJ McCarthy's viable future. I think they have to do
the same thing with Jayden Daniels in Washington. I think
they have to do the same thing with Tua in
Miami back you know when they did and and so

(03:22):
it would there's no way that they can come into
next season with the same plan that they did this
season and try and then try it have to scrape
and cloth for some retread like a Carson Wentz in
the eleventh hour to bring in. It just will not
work that way. You have to have someone that can
be prepared to come in and win games for you.

(03:44):
Should JJ McCarthy get hurt again, which is what we've
seen two years worth right now.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah, it's just and and none of that has to
be a statement about his relative progress, right how.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
He all progress that his ability not any of that
part of you know, the cliche is one. The greatest
ability is availability, especially in the NFL. And there are
certain players who what you know, whether it's their fault
or not, whether that you know that was a big
hit that he took, is it his fault that the
helmet went right onto his hand? And he's hurt not necessarily,

(04:18):
that's not like a soft injury. But he's had several
of these now and that and and his body. There
are some guys who are built to withstand this a
little bit more than others. And I can't make a
blanket statement about Jaj McCarthy's ability to stay healthy just yet,
but the early evidence is is that he is a
guy that's going to miss games at least here and there,

(04:39):
and so you have to have a viable, good plan
B should that happen, because you know you want to
have him out there, and he has done enough things
that you make you want to see what he can
continue to do to leave this ball club. But if
he can't be out on the field, it doesn't really
matter in the end.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
What is it is he I think he's played so
far total eight and a half games, correct if you
if you mentioned and the benching or not benching, but
he was sidelined after the first half, coming up on
you know, close to two well, by the end of
the season will be obviously thirty four regular season games.
I mean, that's just not viable. And we have, you know,
they're even in Viking's history, there have been players who've

(05:17):
had been very unlucky from an injury standpoint early in
their careers. Robert Smith included, and you you know, and
for whatever reason that that evened out and he ended
up being a very good and relatively speaking, durable player.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
And maybe that'll happen here as well.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
But it's the difference is it's everything that we know
flows from the quarterback position, and the problem, I think
the challenge is going to be threading the needle that
we're talking about, because it's easy to say, all right,
you got to have an option, but then the devil's
in the details. Who's the option, how much are you
willing to spend for the option? Who is even going

(05:55):
to be the available suspects in that regard, so none
of it it's easier to say, it, not so easy
I think to figure out, well, who fits that, who
would be willing to accept that kind of deal, accept
the possibility that well, you're not going to start, but
you you might have a chance to play because the
guy in front of you gets hurt a lot.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, that will be the question. And I don't have
right on the tip of my tongue the available veteran
free agents for next year, but I envision something along
the lines of when case Keenum came here or you
know you, I think you want to find someone who
is an older quarterback who has started a lot of games.

(06:35):
Maybe they haven't had a brilliant career, but certainly enough
that they have been in the fire before they've done it.
And if you, again, like circling back to a lot
of the conversation that we've had about J. J. McCarthy,
you should feel confident, if you're the Vikings, if you're
Kevin O'Connell, that we have a good system here that

(06:55):
a quarterback can succeed in with this coach, with these receivers,
all of the all the above that we've talked about
for so long. But there will probably be someone of
that ilk, not someone that's going to knock your socks off,
but just an accomplished quarterback who has been through it,
who understands the landscape and knows what he's getting into,

(07:17):
worry to come here who probably doesn't have a ton
of other options out there. Certainly not to start right away,
but I think you can do better than what devices
did at the start of this season going into it.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
There's no question.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Well, if I look back on it now, maybe this
is an example of just they'll admit they just blew
the evaluation. But there's a part of me that says
there was a hell of a lot of arrogance and
hubris in thinking enough of how quickly they could turn
this quarterback JJ McCarthy into a big time quarterback that

(07:50):
they were willing at the start of training.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Camp to have Sam Howell as their backup.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
And they obviously realize their mistake pretty quickly, right or
at least by the end of training game said well,
this is untenable. We can't possibly we'll even take a
shot at Carson Wentz because this isn't going to work
and it has to be, as you say, somebody better
than that. Now, at the risk of being accused of
recency bias, the guy who might intrigue me a little
bit to at least test the tires a bit is

(08:20):
the guy who filled in when Jordan Love went down
against the Bears, Malik Willis. Malik Willis looked like, you know,
he now how much of it is he's getting. You know,
he's now gaining some experience. He's been around the block
a little bit. Maybe you know, they know how to
handle quarterbacks there too. Maybe they think they got their
own quarterback whisper. Maybe he's figured some stuff out there.

(08:42):
And again it's one game. You're coming in while adrenaline
in the middle of a game. But that's that sort
of guy. Is I think an example of someone that
I'd at least have to take a look at who
you look at and say, well, no, he might have
a chance to actually help you for a series of
games if indeed you actually had to.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Go to the backup.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, I think that's a it's a good candidate or
a good name to bring up because I think that
he is also probably just a step below like let's
say Mac Jones, right, yes, because I think that I
think that Mac Jones is probably going to have a
chance to go start somewhere else this year, like right
from the jump, and so that's going to be asking
a little too much. You're assuming that the Vikings do

(09:22):
want to have a pecking order of McCarthy at the
top and then a veteran below him. I think Malik
Willis probably fits more of that profile than mac jones
does right now with what he did in San Francisco
this year. But yeah, I like that name. Hey what
about do you what about a rods coming in as
the backup year? I mean, maybe he's getting a little old,

(09:43):
maybe doesn't want to play eighteen seventeen games anymore, but
say hey, if we need you for five or six,
can you do that? And maybe he'd be happy to
come in and sit in here and tutor tutor, a
young JJ McCarthy and be ready to put his cap
on when, if, and when number nine gets hurt.

Speaker 4 (09:59):
So here's the problem now, I really do think they
blew their opportunity on a Rodge not getting him last
year because they I just saw on the way off
the field in Detroit yesterday that the Steelers had a
terrific victory holding off the Lions at the end, a
huge win for that organization, and A Rodge is seen

(10:21):
walking off the field side by side with his head coach,
and he's looking ahead towards the camera, a Rodg is
and he's saying, it's the best coach in football right here,
This is the best coach in the National Football League.
So now everybody assumed, who's just gonna be one year
they're in love with each other. If he's gonna stay
in football at all, he's.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Gonna be going back there. We blew the opportunity.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
He could have been saying the same thing about our
guy if we had just taken the shot.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Imagine that wouldn't that have been something just to see
that Kevin O'Connell and a Rodg arm and arm walking
off the field. And now like the Steelers fans from
what I understand, want to run Tomlin out of there.
But just going down with that ship, he's saying, this
is my captain. We're going to ride this thing out,
maybe do another ten wins, and we'll both have to
be back here. It's amazing you over.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
The years, you covered a lot of meaningless Wolves games,
didn't you before they became a relevant team again?

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Correct?

Speaker 3 (11:18):
I mean yeah, fourteen years on the without a playoff
game to show for it.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Think about it.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
So that's a lot of meaningless basketball that you still
had to write about. Compose, copy right, put words together.
I feel like yesterday's Vikings Giants game was similar in
that regard, and that I felt for the writers. You
got to write something, but then I worry that because

(11:43):
you have to write something, end up manufacturing something, because
I don't think there was anything that particularly resist The
headline and the start to beut it I think was gritty,
and it's like, come on, man, you can't apologize for
winning ever. I get that, I don't expect it to.
But there's just some games just just leave it alone,

(12:04):
just to get through it and talk about a couple
of highlights and let's move on with the rest of
our lives, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, there's nothing gritty about beating a two and twelve team,
you know, sixteen to thirteen or whatever. It was like, yes,
they're JJ McCarthy went down, okay, but that Giants team
is terrible, just terrible, And so it was a meaningless game,
especially Dan once McCarthy went down, because really the only

(12:34):
thing to pay attention to on this team down the stretches.
Does JJ's development continue here? Is he is he really
figuring it out? Or he had just a couple of
good games against bad defenses and what does it portend
for next year at the quarterback position everything else. It's
really hard to get excited about or try to get

(12:55):
invested in when you're playing, you know, the Giants, Like
what can you take away from it? Like, Okay, great,
the defense has gone another game without giving up a
passing touchdown. That's really impressive, But certainly it's nothing can
be really taken away from that game against that offense
because of how inept they are. So yeah, that's definitely
one of those games that felt like, you know, a

(13:18):
Timberwolves hornet game in March when the Wolves are headed
toward the lottery again and all you're thinking about is
maybe the lottery chances. There's really nothing redeeming about that
one at all.

Speaker 5 (13:29):
I don't think no, I uh.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
And look, I know you have never complained about the
work that you've done. You appreciate and love the job
that you do, and it beats for all of us
working for a living. All that's true, But man, there's
gotta be some trauma involved when game after game it's
like that. Now, in the case the Vikings, it hasn't
been that so much as we're well aware but that

(13:54):
that just felt like a slog to me, especially.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
When the Giants.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
I don't know if this was, you know, like an
attempt at responsible tanking or just no belief.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
That the quarterback could throw.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
But as much as I like to, you know, run
the ball, I'm sitting there screaming at the TV try
to pass somewhere in there. But it didn't look like
Dart had any interest in throwing it. He didn't look
like he had any ability to throw it. He looked
better earlier in the season throwing it. And so by
the end of that game, you just say, well, I
guess I watched this thing out of obligation, out of habit.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
There really was not much redeeming value otherwise.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah, Dan, do you remember the Timberwolves Memphis Grizzlies game
at the end of I can't even remember what year
was where mad Dog started.

Speaker 6 (14:40):
All over.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I was there for that one.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Yeah, yep, just just to try and lose that game.
And that's what the Giant strategy felt like.

Speaker 5 (14:48):
Here.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
It's like, come hell or high water, we are not
going to win this game and improve and decrease our
draft position. Because I think it was last year or
two years ago, where they won a game late and
then they missed out on you know, all of the
good quarterbacks, yeah, because of it, and so they don't
want that to happen again. Even though there isn't like
an A plus quarterback right now coming out of this draft.

(15:09):
I just think that they are not messing around and
they're making sure one hundred percent that they lose all
of these games and so they have the best draft
position possible going into next year. And when you watch that,
especially in the NFL, like in the NBA, it's kind
of par for the course. Unfortunately. I think it's running
rampant in this league, and it's it's the worst part
about it. But in the NFL, there's not a lot

(15:31):
of those games, especially with the Vikings involved. You just
to their credit, they're usually relevant. And so when you
get into that situation, you're like, gosh, this really thinks
like there's there's no real real reason to watch it,
but you have to. It's the NFL. But uh yeah,
it's a it's a different feeling for it to be
happening with the Purple this late in the season, that's

(15:52):
just uh just ugly.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
Right now.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
I want to get a quick break in We got
more with Johnny Athletic will broaden out the conversation beyond
the Minnesota Vikings as well. Don't forget Ben Lieber later
this hour Vikings talking points in much more.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Stay tuned.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
Part two with our guy John Oh, okay, call him back. Yeah,
Johnny Athletics should be with us in just a minute.
We had already a good chat with him about Minnesota
Vikings stuff.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Today.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
I think we are pretty sure we're going the distance
until six point thirty this evening. Sam Byrd is in
for Guardsy today, who is I think already landed in
Arizona on Golden Gopher Bowl coverage, and we have not
explored any of the Vikings talking points yet put together
today I think by programming director Chad Abbott with Guardsy

(16:48):
heading west, so there's still a lot to get to
over the course of this broadcast. Ben Lieber coming up
later this hour. Johnny brought to you by RBC Wealth Management.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Of course. Interesting A text.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
From this is from Burrow Oaks chef Guy Well. You
asked Johnny if he can chronicle when all four injuries
happened from last year to this which with the jay
Let's j McCarthy odd that we really don't know in
my opinion, on any of them really, and it's a
fair point, right we it seems like with McCarthy we've

(17:24):
had some difficulty for whatever, it's worth drilling down on
exactly when these most of these injuries took place correct Well, I.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Think like definitely on the knee injury last year, he
finished the game and then was announced later. And then
the ankle to this year was was one that was
a little bit more of a mystery.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
I think the retaped it, remember that during the game.

Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the concussion I know that my colleague
Gallic Lewis went back and looked at the film and
saw one where he really bounced his head off the
turf and so it wasn't specifically definitely yes that's where
it happened, but that looked like where it was could
have happened. And then the hand injury and with the Giants,
like I mean, he was hit hard by burns and

(18:11):
so like that. It I think that's a pretty clear,
you know, cause and effect with with that one. But
to the to the collar or to the textas point, yeah,
the first two were a little bit more mysterious or
at least like we're not anticipated when you know it
was announced layer that he was going to be out
for a while with those injuries. But I think that

(18:31):
two of them, two of the four, we can pretty
much point to where where it happened and and why
he was out.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
For sure, I'm gonna read you a quote and see
if you can identify who said it and who he
was referring to. I don't think this is going to
be that difficult for you, but we'll see. You ask yourself,
is this just one particularly bad year? Is it the
fact he is a China doll somewhere? You have to

(19:01):
have some durability and resilience. Who said it and who
was he talking about?

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Well, if we're staying in the modern day, I would
say it's probably Chris Carter about J. J. McCarthy hasn't
been his biggest fan, but it's good good.

Speaker 7 (19:19):
Guess you tell me it was Brad Childress on Tavaris
Jackson in two thousand side remember that that became part
of the fan lexicon for a while, you know, the
Chinadaw syndrome for yes, yes, of.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
Course and oddly man, that was a blast in the past.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
It's relevant again to a certain degree, because that's sort
of what we're trying to find. What he asked out
loud is sort of what people are asking now, is
it just one bad year where the odds are against you?
Is the fact that that you know there's there's something
lacking there regarding the durability and of course much later
that the t Jack story turned tragic, as I think
most people know, completely different context away from the vikings.

(19:58):
But that's what I would thinking about today again. This
feels a little like the China doll thing again, where
you're trying to figure the thing out, not suggesting the
injuries aren't legit, but just whether there's some players who
just seem to get more than their fair share and
never are able you know, to be quite as bouncy
and and you know, and survive game after game.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, and two things on that. First of all, like
with Tavares, it's different right in terms of watching it
play out with him, because McCarthy is a slight build,
He's a skinny white guy. Davarus was a big dude,
like big strong guy that you wouldn't have thought that
these injuries would keep cropping up, but they did. I mean,

(20:41):
that's the nature of the game. Bodies respond differently to
a violent game. And then there are other guys like
you know, Joe Montana, plenty of others that just didn't
get hurt that much. But the second part that I'm
glad you brought it up, because when we were in
the meat grinder with Chili, it was a it was
a grind every day with those press conferences and things.

(21:02):
But when you look back on the totality, but he
gave us some gems. Yes, he did the China doll
with kick gass offense with the I remember he told
Judd Dulgad one time that he'll drink a vodka as
big as his head when after they won the division
or something like that. So I'm trying to appreciate the
old Brad now that I'm not in the Foxhoul with it.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
Wasn't there didn't he have a good one about the
quote unquote strip Mall where Dante was rehabilitating.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Wasn't there some controversy about that that he was a
part of.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
I think there was, Yes, I remember that was very awkward.
I don't remember the exact quote. But then he also
had the gem of all gems, and I'm one of us,
and I can still acknowledge it. But he's like, Minnesotans
are great. They'll give you directions everywhere but their house. Yeah,
and he nailed it, And uh, I can't even I

(21:52):
can't even dispute it. But and then I remember the
one time he was walking through the press box after
a I think it was after a win, maybe it
was after lost, but he exited the stadium through the
press box, which is always awkward as we're in.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
There hammering away at it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, and he goes, oh, here you go, and here's
everyone who came down the hill to shoot the wounded.
He just walked right out.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, that was the way out. You're right back in
the day. You're exactly right.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
One last night, I'm gonna read you this. This is
a volatile one, so be ready. Wolves related Okay, okay, where.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Did it go?

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Here it is? This is from emailer Chris.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
Are you guys in the bandwagon with those celebrating Finchy
for acting like an idiot against OKC? To me, he
may want to take a break from berating the refs
one of these days and try coaching his team instead.
There's a lot to chew on there as it will say, guardsy,
Johnny go, you have at it.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah. Well, I'll say this I have said in the
past and I continue to believe that there are times
absolutely where Finch is too consumed with the refereem. He
is one of the more vocal guys during the game.
I don't think the referees like it at all. I
think sometimes it does work against them, no question about it.

(23:07):
But in that case, I think that was a lifetime
achievement award that was building up for not only the
referees who are kind of always in his crop, but
also Oklahoma City and the way that he perceives and
many in the league perceived that they are officiated differently.
And one thing you cannot argue about that game, in particular,

(23:28):
after he got thrown out, the game got called differently
and there was forty seven free throws and there was
a ton of fouls called. And I think that if
you were you know, if the script was slipped and
the thundershot forty seven free throws, the Wolves would be
absolutely out of their skin. But it was I do
think effective in that game in changing the way that

(23:49):
it was called. I had him on the podcast on
Saturday at the Brewery and there are four hundred people
in there, and he has never had a higher approval rating.
But I do think overall, yes, Dan, that I think
that sometimes he is too consumed with the officiating, and
it would behoove him and the team and Anthony Edwards
and Nazried and a bunch of these guys who do

(24:10):
complain a lot to try and compartmentalize a little bit
more sometimes.

Speaker 4 (24:15):
Appreciate to help merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all
those good things.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
And we'll talk soon. Thanks Johnny.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
I always appreciate being on the show, Dan, thanks so much,
and happy holidays all the listeners out there, and we'll
see you on the other side of the year.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Ain't that far off, Thank you, sir.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
We'll talk to that John Athletic Johnny Krazinski brought you
by RBC Wealth Management quick Break and then we'll get
to maybe our first Vikings talking point and then prepare
for Nacho Levers. All right, let's get to a Vikings

(24:56):
talking point I think I labeled I just would headline
this one giant horseshoe.

Speaker 6 (25:04):
The Vikings have the ball with McCarthy out of the
shotgun takes a snap four man rush throws to the
right and Jalen Naylor pettit go off one of his
hands and it's picked off by a New York Giant
to the forty, to the fifty.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
And all the way to the end zone.

Speaker 6 (25:20):
Goes Javon Holland. Unofficially a touchdown for the New York Giants,
but we have a flag on the play. Javon Holland
with his second interception, touchdown.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
Defense number fifty one under the zone. Over is wand
bring it back Javon Holland. Nope. Wow, what a swing,
What a swing of emotion right here for the Giants.

Speaker 5 (25:47):
They were all they all, the entire defense ran one
hundred yards down of the field to celebrate with them.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
But a ball that should have been caught long hmm.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Interesting, Well, uh, it was all or not, giants being
the Giants. I didn't like the trajectory on that throw.
I know the cliche, See.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
Who gets to hold on it, See who's going to
make the play.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
I did not think that was a particularly outstanding throw.
But just want to remind Vikings fans who constantly tell
us we never get the brakes. The other teams always
have the horseshoe. We tend to remember what we want
to remember. That was a rather large horseshoe moment, because
it was fairly clear that no matter how many quarters

(26:35):
that game went, six eight, twelve, the Giants were not
going to score a touchdown on minus. Some of that
being the Vikings defense playing well, some of that is
the Giants' offense not seeming all that interested in participating
in most of the festivities. We have several more one, two, three, four,

(26:58):
five more Vikings talking points. To get to one of
them actually might be part of the conversation with Nacho
liber We've got a lot of good texts that I
have been holding onto and saving six four six eighty
six is the Bradshaw and Bryant k FA and text line.
So keep them coming and I will try to hold

(27:20):
on to some of the best ones. We are guest
free between five and six. Well, also, I think before
this program wraps up with Guards the Out, Sam Byrd's
kind of enough to join us today. And not only
is he does he have a top five at five.
Actually the problem is we can't do it. If we
do a top five at five today we go with

(27:41):
liber to like twelve after so we but if you've
prepared it, we could still do the five twenty Sports Fix,
that's what we used to call it, So hold on
to it. Sure, it just might be a little bit delayed.
And we'll talk about your little field trip this weekend
to Chicago, Illinois. Very good timing there as well, so
a very busy program the rest of the way. Let's
try to get a little bit back on schedule. Yes,

(28:05):
I am aware of the incident in the Steelers Lions
game of a player, a certain wide receiver, taking a
I wouldn't call it a punch, kind of a swing
and a fan that allegedly he had some kind of
history with.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
I hope to get more on that story a little
bit later.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
But let's prepare for Nacho liber Ben Lieber, who got
a little national TV time yesterday. I remember what Viking
player it was that he ended up grabbing on the
sidelines or meeting up with on the sidelines, and so
very briefly you got a shot at the handsome Ben
Lieber face. We'll talk about that and a lot of
other things that probably aren't all that important, because the

(28:45):
game itself was not all that important.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Liber is next.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
If you have questions or Nacho liber hit the Bradshaw
on Brian Kafan text line at six four six eighty six.
As many of you already have, we'll have the top
five of five will be delayed, but we'll get to
it via the five twenty Sports Fix and more Vikings
talking points to get to in a couple of other

(29:21):
ancillary items as well. Monday Night Football tonight, interesting little matchup.
The Methusla quarterback for the Colts taking on the San
Francisco forty nine ers in a game that the Colts
pretty desperately need after a great start, they've kind of
come very much back to the pack. Liber is as usual,

(29:44):
brought to you by the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company joins
us via the Connectico Water Systems Hotline.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
I don't know how much of a detective you.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Like to be in your role it's on the sidelines
for Vikings games. How much deductive reasoning you like to use?
But do you have a handle on when JJ McCarthy
suffered whatever hand related injury he seemed to suffer that
had him sidelined for the second half.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
You know, I would say a fair amount of what
I do is very Agatha Christie life. I'm very much
trying to decode things and figure things out on the sideline.
Actually no, I mean I would have. I would imagine
it happened probably on the series beforehand, and I didn't

(30:35):
notice anything as far as him on the sideline getting
extra treatment or looked at by the trainers very easily
just could have been an oversight by myself as I
was kind of walking by the bench. But my guess
it was, you know, a passplay that happened before that,
because as we all saw from the replay of the
sack fumble, like he he lost that ball before he
was even contacted. So I think the the lack of

(30:58):
grip strength and obviously his hand being compromised is what
led to that stumble.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
I don't think we have any new information yet on
availability for the last couple of games.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
We've all, I believe, agreed.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
If we've agreed on anything JJ McCarthy related, it is
that the number one goal once the team was mathematically
eliminated was to continue to play him and to give
him as many reps as possible to try to gain
some confidence with him, figure out what he is comfortable with,
and then you know, just trying to build upon that.
So for the sake of this discussion, let's say, whatever

(31:29):
the injury is, and I don't know if you have
a Sherlock holmesyan or Agatha Christie like prediction to make
based on your detective work on whether he plays either
the last two weeks or weekends. But I guess one
of them is Christmas and the other one's weekend. But
if he is unable to play the rest of this season,
or they just decide, you know, caution is the better approach,

(31:53):
what do we do?

Speaker 2 (31:54):
I mean, you and I have talked about this before.
I'm not one of those media jacks gulls who is
going to suggest that JJ McCarthy is soft something soft
about him.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
But he hasn't played very much, right, He's missed a
bunch of games for whatever the reason. This is now
a fourth injury. So how does that factor into you
think the way this organization should go forward in this offseason.
Can they count on, well, it's just bad luck, it's
going to even out. Everything's fine, or do you start

(32:28):
having to say, well, this is something that might force
us to give ourselves some kind of an option in
case this trend continues.

Speaker 5 (32:38):
I definitely think it has to be part of the equation,
and I think that they're in a really tricky spot
and something I don't really envy because we've been around
and we've seen enough players where it seems like they're
injury prone and they go through a spot of injuries
and then then all of a sudden, they get a
clean bill of health for years and they seem to

(32:59):
be fine and always available. So I've kind of seen
it both ways where that's the case and then other
guys just can't shake the injuries. I mean, even look
at Carson Wentz. I mean, Carson Wentz has been battling
injuries his whole life, and it's like, well, they're all understandable.
You know, they all happen under physical conditions, and this

(33:21):
is a guy that's being a competitor, and you know,
sometimes s happens. But I think in this case, as
you're looking at the future of this team, if you
believe this team is talented enough to make a playoff
push next year, then you might have to start looking
at a situation where you have a stopgapp quarterback and

(33:42):
you bring it in to somebody else that you can
hopefully turn into a Sam Darnold. So I definitely think
it has to be part of the equation. I don't
know what they're going to do, but I would not
I would not hate them if that's the decision they
have to make.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Yeah, I'm with you on it, I almost think. And again,
as we talked about earlier in the show, it's easier
to throw that out the challenges, well who right, because
that's where you because I think in my case, I
don't want it to be just any backup. Right you say, well,
that's the guy's a backup, and we just have to
have somebody in that role. I you know, in my

(34:16):
perfect world, it is somebody who you feel can give
you a decent chance to win a series of games. Right,
And so how many of those quarterbacks are attainable? How
many of those quarterbacks would be willing to come here?
That's the open question because there's a lot of suspects
a Nacho, but that there's not a lot of guys
necessarily who I think could could fill the bill we're

(34:38):
asking for.

Speaker 5 (34:40):
Yeah, I think the dialogue has to be to whoever
they bring in. You know, I'm not talking about the
compensation package, right, just whoever they bring in the dialogue,
and the conversation has to be very much about you
can come in here and compete. And this is not
a job that JJ McCart Dorothy is just going to

(35:01):
be penciled in and like inked in and saying like, okay,
he's the starter, You're just here's a backup. I think
for the health of everybody, the organization, for McCarthy's development,
that it has to be an open competition and you know,
may the best man win. And I say an open
competition to where KOs is running his playbook, yes he is.

(35:22):
He is comfortable calling the plays how he wants to
call them. You know, yes, he is adapting to the
quarterback situation as it is right now. But if you
want the best out of your play caller, then I
think that you have to find a quarterback that it
can at least get you eighty to ninety percent away
versus you know, the pairing down that sounds like it's
happening right now. So I think all those things are

(35:44):
in play. You bring somebody in to compete, and on
top of that, it has to go back to the
old system and it has to be the big plays
down the field, and it has to be what Justin
Jefferson excels at as well.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Well, it's interesting.

Speaker 4 (35:57):
I'm glad you brought up Jefferson because he had a
much better game. Although a lot of the throws were
I thought, you know, just him making something out of
not much right, they were a couple more I guess
you would say, receiver screens where I'm thinking third and
twelve third and he ain't going to get there, and
he got there a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
I like that. I mean, because we've all talked.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
About the fact that you have to find a way
to get him more involved. But it's a very different
kind of involvement necessarily than we're used to regarding JJ.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Correct Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
Yeah, And the thing is like, does it work in
the short term. Sure, I mean they've changed up their offense.
They put him in some other positions where he became
the primary progression guy, where he's the first or second
read and oftentimes the number one read. I mean, it
was absolutely the intentional target some of these screen passes
and some of these shallow crosses, but that's not his game.
I mean, he's not built like Cooper Cupp who you know,

(36:52):
fit into this offense very well, and he was so
much of a run after catch. He's not Pooka Nakua.
He's not built like that. Yes, were we surprised at
some of the yards zfter catch. Absolutely, because he's an athlete.
He's stronger than most people think. But if you want
the best out of Justin Jefferson, he's the deep guy, right,
He's the guy that's running. You know, you've got to
clear out some zones for him. And he's going to

(37:13):
come in on a deep dig eighteen yards down the field.
He's on a deep over that's twenty five yards down
the field. That's where he excels. And I think that
if you're trying to fit him into this this role
where he is Nikoua or Cooper Cup, I think you're
setting yourself up for injury. I mean, he's just not
built the same way.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
This is an interesting Well let's before I get to
a couple of good texts that have come in. Are
we at a point where you think, speaking of injury
and now in this case injury history, that we're at
a point where we're going to have to start our
search all over again for a big time center.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
I think so. You know, it's unfortunate. Yeah, nobody wants
to go out like that, especially in the season, and
it sounds like, you know, probably his career is in
jeopardy because of these concussions. And I would say, you know,
if i'm if I'm one of his family members, I'd
absolutely be pushing for that and say, listen, you've had
an awesome career and you you're very well respected, you know,

(38:14):
get out while your health is still hopefully pretty good.
So yeah, I do think that we are we are
going to be in the markets for a center, and
I would even probably suggest a veteran center, like we
bringing Ryan Kelly as a veteran. I don't know if
you want to have a second year left guard. You know,
you got your veteran right guard, but then all of
a sudden, now you're you're breaking in a rookie center.

(38:36):
I think that it'll probably be a free agent pickup
in the offseason.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
The hopsplash, your hopspat splash. I should say, player of
the game is.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
Hobsplash. Player of the game is Jonathan Allen. If you
can believe that, I understand that if you looked on paper,
the team was not great against the run, yesterday that
we had rushes on the ground, and yeah, we gave
up a bunch of yards. Now that was their whole
game plan. But I thought when I went back and

(39:08):
watched the film, especially early in the game, the dude
was physical.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Man.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
He was doing some stuff up front that, you know,
I think a lot of people would appreciate, and he
was making us presence known, and I sort of really enjoyed.
I think the physicality of which he played with so
a lot a lot to like. I mean, how can
you not like five sacks basically seven sacks of the
two that they negated, but the front and the secondary

(39:36):
and everybody they played a part in all the disguised packages.
But I like the physicality of job Van Allen yesterday.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
Do you, again, using your sleuthing skills, did you get
any sense last night exactly what the Giants had in mind?

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Offensively? What was it? As a fifteen straight place?

Speaker 4 (39:57):
I think they ran and then I think they tried
a couple throws or wanted to, But then I think
the qube got sacked. They may have been like twenty
two plays before they completed a pass. I'm not exactly sure.
Was this part of some sort of master plan. Was
this an example of responsible tanking? Was this how fearful
they were of what the young quarterback might face, because

(40:18):
it was it seemed very strange to me.

Speaker 5 (40:21):
Yeah, it was a coddle the confidence type of game plan. Yes, yeah,
let's not put our young rookie out there and have
to decipher and break down b flows defense, you know,
twenty five thirty times during the game. So, I mean
it was a little bit of a give up game plan,
which I don't think anybody really enjoyed, even though I

(40:43):
mean they kept themselves in it. You know, they did
run the ball effectively. But the other thing you also
noticed was there wasn't a lot of intentional quarterback runs,
which had been a big part of their offense because
of the concussion issues with Jackson Dart. So it was
a lot of just having the running backs handle all
of the yardage. And then even in the passing game,

(41:04):
you know, there weren't those sort of read option type
of plays where he has the run pass option to
throw the football and because he can't stop himself, that's
the other he can't stop himself from being a competitor
and wanting to run. So I think They're trying to
protect Jackson Dart in a lot of different ways mentally
and physically, and unfortunately, even when they did drop back
those times, he still was hit, you know, like I said,

(41:27):
seven times, and two of those were directly in the head.
So even when they're trying to protect him, they couldn't
protect them enough.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
What was the atmosphere like there? It didn't look very full.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
Obviously the Giants were long done then and Giants fans
are kind of used a little bit of that.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
But what did it feel like in the.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
Building kind of mah, sort of like what you saw
on TV. I mean, it was I don't know, maybe
seventy percent full if I'm being generous and not very
very loud. And again seventy percent, and I would say,
you know, almost half of those being Vikings fans. Yeah,

(42:07):
so yeah, thankfully we do travel well, even to New Jersey.
But no, it was a pretty dead environment, easy to
operate in, and I mean, I think the biggest concern
was just how windy it was. I mean throughout the
course of the game. I was even kind of fooled
by the forecast because it was supposed to be sunny

(42:27):
and forty eight degrees forty nine degrees, and I was like, oh,
it's just kind of good football weather. But then it
was this kind of blustery and windier than I was expecting,
colder than I expected, and definitely, as you could tell
about watching the game, the receivers had a hard time
sort of catching the football.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
How did you handle the plane misadventures the day, the
day before and night before.

Speaker 5 (42:52):
Pretty well? You know. I think we had the soothing
voice of our captain when she came off and was like, Hey,
this is what's going on. She was very transparent about
what was going on. She's like, I want you everybody
know that we're not in danger. The landing gear still works,
you know, and and basically it's better that the hatch

(43:13):
was still open versus they couldn't. They couldn't get it open,
So you know, all that being said was, uh, yeah,
we got this issue. Unfortunately, we can't go up to
cruising speed because then you run the risk of the
landing gear actually freezing because they can't close the door.
So yeah, when we had to turn around because of

(43:33):
that issue, I think everybody was like, all right, we're cool.
It's an inconvenience, it's no big deal. It was kind
of fun to see the fire trucks out on the runway.
But you know, as we've kind of talked about before,
especially with all the London games and traveling abroad, you know,
Paul Martin and his staff, they do such a good
job with all the logistics. I'm sure he was frantic.

(43:53):
I'm sure. I know I wasn't seeing next to him,
but I'm sure he was on the phone the whole
time trying to get things organized logistically. But you know,
they've done this a long time. They have contingency plans
for when playing sort of malfunction. So we got on
the ground. We were on the ground, probably a little
bit longer than I think they anticipated, but everybody was safe.
They took care of us. We got a bunch of snacks,

(44:14):
a lot of players.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 5 (44:16):
I mean, I don't know, I don't I don't see
how they can really complain.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
No, it's not yeah, there's uh, there's I'm actually proud
that the media jackals. I sensed after Saturday that they
were going to fixate on that yesterday and not so
much you know, in the in the game story, because
it's inconvenient, it's not fun. It's not ideal, but I
don't think it necessarily has to be the end of
the world, especially for people who travel as much as

(44:39):
you guys all travel.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
No, not at all. And I think that they were
I'm sure that the coaches were able to communicate whatever
they were gonna they were going to talk about in
their meetings and their breakdown meetings on Saturday night anyway,
I'm sure they could get all that necessary information to
privately to the guys and to the you know, specific
position groups. And it's not like you guys need to
have KOC give them a raw ros speech on a

(45:03):
Saturday night, you know so, and and I'm going to
guess some of it was even handled on Sunday morning
with they it was necessary. So yeah, it does throw
you off just a tad But your professionals, it's not
like we're on a ten game road track and this
happens like we're you know, hockey players or baseball players.

(45:23):
Those guys have it way worse. So if you can't
handle that hiccup, then you're not much of a professional.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
Did you I'm getting text about, so, did you leave
your notebook at Giants Stadium?

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Is there a good backstory.

Speaker 5 (45:35):
Here, man, I wish there was a good backstory. You know.
I take pride in in the notebooks that I used
for this season, and it's one of the few joys
that I have in my life is going to an
office supply store and getting my my stuff before the season. So, yeah,
you know, I go out and get this nice noteball.

(45:56):
It's really heavy duty paper, and I know exactly what
where I left it on the field, and I ran
off the field because yes, I was being a baby
and I was cold, and I'm like, I'm tired of
being out here for three and a half hours. I
want to run inside. So I run inside, And yeah,
didn't realize that I didn't that I left it there
until this morning as I was on the power trip

(46:18):
and I go through my backpack to try to find
my notebook to pull out all my game notes that
I'd handwritten down, and I wasn't there, and I'm like,
son of a bee, I know exactly where that's at.
So I went across the street, went to the office
supply store, got a brand new notebook. It's fresh, I
got a different color this time, nice, and I'm ready
to rock and roll.

Speaker 4 (46:37):
So you're telling me no one turned it in at
Giant Stadium, right, No.

Speaker 5 (46:43):
I'm guessing. I'm guessing the people that a clean up crew,
they probably they probably flipped through that and they're like, well,
this guy has terrible penmanship. I can't even read what
this chicken scratches. I'm just gonna go ahead and throw
this away.

Speaker 4 (46:54):
What is the closest Ben Leber has ever come to
having a confrontation, either before, during, or after a game
regular season, preseason, postseason with a fan. Has there ever
been anything you can point to say, Man, I really
can't Yeah, I didn't do it, but I really I
wanted to nail somebody. Or is this completely like a

(47:17):
foreign language?

Speaker 5 (47:19):
Oh, that's never happened with me with a fan. All
the fan engagement in the interactions that I've ever had
have been really, really positive. Now we'll see this. There
was a time where I was in Chicago and I
was wearing one of those those baseball caps that just
say soda on it, so ota, and one of the

(47:44):
security guards comes over to me and he's like, hey, man,
what's up with the hat? And I go, what do
you mean? I go ah. This is a short for
the slang from Minnesota this soda. He's like sure about that,
and he like kind of got he kind of like
got aggressive, like you kind of stepped to me, and
he's like you sure about that? And I go, yeah,

(48:06):
what's what's the problem? And he's like, you're you're telling
me that that's all that means? I go, yeah, what's
your problem?

Speaker 4 (48:13):
Pal?

Speaker 5 (48:15):
And he basically was telling me that that is like
a biker gang or some sort of gang. And I
was like, yeah, man, I'm I'm not a part of
a non affiliate with any sort of gang. I'm like,
I'm the sideliner reporter for the Vikes. And he's like
side eye me. He's like all right, and then I
thought it was over. Then another police officer later on

(48:38):
approached me more aggressively and was like, sir, what's up
with your hating? Yeah? And I'm like, boy, you guys
are all worried about the wrong thing, Like what if
what if I was a biker gang member of the
Chicago affiliate, Like what's the deal? Like, I've got my
wristband on that says I'm part of the NFL media.

(49:01):
Like what are you gonna what are you gonna do
about him?

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Huh?

Speaker 5 (49:04):
That's why I want to say to him. But should
I didn't have to talk back to them.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
So this was Chicago, this Chicago. How long ago is
that I remember this story? How long ago was this?

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Probably I can just I can just hear it. You
sure about that?

Speaker 4 (49:21):
You know that, that that whole attitude, you know, we
all know it, we all see Well.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
You sure that's what it's about. You sure there's not
some other statement you're trying to make. Oh God, that's fair.

Speaker 5 (49:29):
Yeah, I'm like, chill out. Yeah, she like yeah, I'm like,
I'm I'm sure you know, like take you take your
little gold tooth and like stop staring at me and
stop giving me a hard time. Like not that big
of a deal.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
So you probably heard the news. I brought it up
obviously because Metcalf. I think the league is suspended him
for two games. He had an altercation, uh with a
fan over the top of the railing behind the visiting
bench in Detroit and kind of took a I don't
wouldn't call it a punch, but kind of a swipe
at him. It's a very bizarre scenes. I guess he's

(50:01):
suspended for two He's appealing to suspension what I don't
know about the way the NFL works is if you
appeal the suspension, does that mean it takes a long
time before they actually can act on the suspension or
is it likely that he's gonna still miss time this year?

Speaker 2 (50:17):
Do you know how that works in the NFL?

Speaker 5 (50:19):
Yeah, I think this will be one of those like
he'll serve it next year, because there's got to be
a whole thing of discovery, right I mean, yeah, yeah,
the the act of it, you have to like respond
immediate and say, like then you can't put your hands
on a fan, right, So we're gonna we're gonna ding
you for that. But if it does come out that
the guy was using racial slurs right right, saying say

(50:42):
and stuff like that, then I would say, yeah, man,
punch away. You know, Like I think the NFL p
PA is obviously going to get involved in DK saying
hey this was said and that was said. Then I
think he's got a case for getting it reduced or
if not, just like completely expunged. So yeah, I'm kind
of excited to see what happens. I mean, I know

(51:02):
that you know DK, you know, I think he's got
a little bit of a temper history. But yeah, then terrible.
And you know this, if this uh, this fan was
being unruly in a really racial way, then I say
he deserved to punch to the face.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
What so, what do we got two games left?

Speaker 5 (51:21):
Right?

Speaker 4 (51:21):
They're both in the division? I think, what what are
we looking for the rest of the way just to
get through it? Or especially if if you know McCarthy
can't go, what's what's left to do? Well?

Speaker 5 (51:34):
I think that's the problem here is if McCarthy can't go,
then then the season has been kind of a waste. Yeah,
you know, like I know that sounds harsh, but if
you're not gonna if you're not going to make the playoffs,
and and feel like your quarterback is the franchise quarterback
that can lead us in the future, then then what

(51:56):
do we got here? Then we got just a bunch
of injuries and just a bunch of question marks. I
think the worst thing that could happen to this team
going forward was to walk out of the season with
question marks, especially at the quarterback spot. And if that's
what we're in And I know there's probably some fans
out there saying right now, like doesn't matter if he
plays two healthy games and continues to play well. There

(52:18):
are still some people that think that's a question mark,
and I would I understand it. I disagree. I think
if he plays well and continues to improve and we
continue to expand the playbook, then I would say it's
a winning season because guess what, we found the answer
to the most important position in football. And if we
can't get that, then, yeah, unfortunately, it's a bit of

(52:41):
a failed season.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
Now I'm being told I got to ask you about
the airplane bathroom. Is there another another backstory that we
need to go over that you discussed earlier that's too
good to miss.

Speaker 5 (52:51):
Out to not follow up on the airplane bathroom?

Speaker 4 (52:55):
Is airplane bathroom store? There's three different people were asking
me about a plane bathroom incident. Maybe they're just trying
to get me going.

Speaker 5 (53:03):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
No, you're not trying to protect me from that might.

Speaker 5 (53:07):
Be like more of a Chris Hockey story.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
That's probably true.

Speaker 5 (53:10):
Yeah, maybe there's maybe there's some confusion.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
Yeah, there might be.

Speaker 5 (53:14):
I've never had never had a story that I could
share or maybe like privately could share that involved an airplane.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
I thought maybe it was an added mishap from the flight,
you know, where you had to change planes, and that
was to add insult injury. There was something else, but
maybe maybe it's a little bit more decadent than that. Lastly,
you got a little national time light yesterday.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Do you know that? Who Who was it who ran
to you?

Speaker 4 (53:38):
What Viking ran to you towards in the towards the
sidelines where you got some national camera time yesterday?

Speaker 5 (53:43):
Yeah, that was Aaron Jones.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Jones, that's right.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (53:47):
The funny thing about that is, like ten seconds before that,
I was closer to the Vikings bench, just again taking
some notes on my notebook they don't have anymore. I
was kind of finishing some and I was kind of
I just kind of walked over and found a little
hole in the scrum of people on the sidelines where
I could watch the action. And I was literally staying

(54:09):
there for like a couple of seconds before that play started.
And then he comes running over, and yeah, it just
happened to come running right towards me, and I knew
he was going to stop, so I didn't. I didn't
feel like I had to like run out of the way,
so I just kind of like stood.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
There, did pat on.

Speaker 5 (54:24):
The shoulder path and did not realize that the camera
that was to the left of me was the National
Fox camera. So yeah, I got a couple of texts
from that, people sent some pictures.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
Yeah, I mean it was you See, that's the difference
in me. I'd have been retreating like twenty five thirty feet,
just assuming the worst. But see, you're a former player
and you know how to You know you're not going
to panic, You're not going to over or react and
look like a fool like I would.

Speaker 5 (54:48):
I actually, you know, I I do want to. I
am very aware about what's going on, and yes, that
is the last thing I would rather get run over
than look like one of those guys that scurry and
like a little mouse off. So I do feel like,
even though I'm not pad of them, I know how
to protect money.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Yeah, that's probably true.

Speaker 4 (55:06):
By the way, the notebooks, including now the one you lost,
you lost, But like, so do you say, I mean,
do you have them for like the last several years.
Do you have like you keep them in a special place,
all the notes you take each year?

Speaker 2 (55:19):
I figured you probably would.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
Yeah, yeah I do. I've got ah, I've got a
drawer in my office where I've got. Yeah, that's nice,
you know, for I don't know, i'd probably say the
last five seasons of game notes.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
That's good. I like that.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
That's good history right there, you know. I mean you
I don't know how often you look back at it,
but it's just, you know, there's probably a feeling of okay, yeah,
that's part of what I do.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
You know, I kind of like I.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
Liked putting that together, whish I did, But I hardly
ever look back at them because it's just, you know,
every year kind of stands on its own, right. So
I do still have I do still have my San
Diego Chargers playbook. That's kind of fun. Do you really
actually interesting?

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Is it? Is it a big fat playbook? Was it
a big fat one?

Speaker 5 (55:59):
Yeah? Yeah, oh yeah, there's probably it's probably you know,
two hundred pages all, you know, it's got everything on there.
It's got all of our offensive identifications, it's got all
the terminology, it's got all our plays and blitzes. Yeah,
it's kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Two on eight Guy Rights.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
We've gotten more updates on Lever's missing notebook today than
we have on JJ's hand, which is probably true because
I don't think we're getting anything official today, we didn't
get I don't think they had to meet officially today
with the Jackals, so I don't We may have unofficially.
You may have more knowledge, but I don't think we've
got anything official on JJ for the next ques No,

(56:33):
I've heard.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
I've heard nothing official, So I'm kind of waiting, just
like you guys are right, you know, kind of refreshing
my my x account. But yeah, if there was no
official press conference, then we probably won't know it till tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (56:46):
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. I'm going to take a
little time too, so we'll get back together at some
point down down the down towards the end of the season.
Thanks Natcho.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
All right, sounds good man. Merry Christmas to you.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (56:58):
Take care you too, Nacho liber on a lot of things,
and we didn't really spend all that much time on
the game because, let's be honest, it's just that much.
I mean, we could light in pretend that there was
reason too, but they just ain't that much meat on
the bone. However, instead of the top five at five,
we're going to get the return of the five twenty

(57:20):
Sports Fix, which in effect is the Top five at five,
just a little bit late with Sam, who's filling in
for Guargy today. You want to tease us with any
of your top headline items, we're going to discuss. Sure,
got wolves wild, big night in Miami on Friday, and
some football playoff stuff.