In The Zone: Wolves Struggling, Brosmer’s Turn

The FAN's Dave Sinykin and Trent Tucker are back talking some Wolves hoops and plenty of NFL as the Vikings go to Seattle.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Human. Oh it's eight oh one on a snowy Saturday

(01:41):
morning and you are in the zone on the fan.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend, one and all. I am Dave sinnecon
joined as always by my partner, the professor of hoopology,
Gopher legend, NBA champion double t Trent Tucker in the house.
Good morning, my man, Mike would be good. Good morning, Davy.
How are we doing? Happy Thanksgivings? Same to you.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
But I know you guys are feeling pretty good about
yourselves right now in Titletown, USA.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, it was a fun way to start the day.
Everything tastes a little bit better when the packers start
out Thanksgiving with a w on the road, for sure. Yeah,
but it was great. It was a fun, fun day
as always. I love them. It's my favorite day on
the calendar. Lived up to all the hype. I was
in Milwaukee with the family. Got back last night, beat
the snow, and yeah, it was a great trip. How
was How was your holiday? Well?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
How day was great? I know Brett is gleaming from
ear to ear. You know his wild had a great
game yesterday.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, it's good to be Brett blaking right now. There's
no question. That is where I was going to start today.
By the way, I have a full slate here of Wolves,
I mean therapy and NBA stuff and fighting for the
Axe and all the NFL. But I'm gonna give you
the Wild your flowers. After the big three to two
shootout win over the Lanch last night, what is that

(02:56):
ten in a row that the Avalanche came in winners
and the Wild naked a seven? I read something about
it was only the eighth time in NFL history the
two teams met with two streaks that long. Did you
see that? I didn't, but I believe it because both
teams are red hot, only one still has that streak alive.
How right? How excited are we about the state of

(03:17):
this team suddenly in the month of.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
November, Well, about a few weeks ago, we've been kind
of concerned, right, kind of man walking up and they
passing great hockey. But that was a great game yesterday.
That was a really, really, really good hockey game.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
I think it was a complete team effort. I thought
Carill showed up when he needed to. The stars were
out and the great Wall of Saint Paul is just unbelievable.
And thankfully I've I've never wavered in in a Falstets,
so uh yeah, Beyond the Pond season debut. After in
the Zone, we'll break it all down.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
What a perfect time to bring back Beyond the Pond,
program director Chad Abvit brilliant in the buttons he pushes
in the timing of bringing back Beyond the Pond. This
sat to revel in a seven game stretch a November.
That's what eleven to one and one is there? Any
way we can just not turn the calendar on Monday
and just just keep calling it November for your Minnesota

(04:13):
while that would be helpful, that would be very helpful.
So congrats to your wild outstanding month, not so much
in an outstanding week for our Minnesota Timberwolves. Double t.
You were not present last Saturday morning and I had
to vent myself about the collapse in Phoenix the night
before where the Wolves. It doesn't get worse, And for me.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I was gonna call you, but you know I was
not since you only had an hour, so I thought, you, guys,
may you know, turn your most of your attention to
the you know, to the Green and Gold.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, well, no, I was fair. I just wasn't pleasant
to be around last Saturday morning. I was grouchy about that,
not only just the meltdown at the end, but just
the fact that you're playing a Phoenix team that without
two of their top four scorers and Grayson Allen and
Jalen Green, and then down the stretch their top two
scorers had filed out, they didn't have a Booker or Brooks,

(05:11):
and they still couldn't do anything without the top four
scores for Phoenix on the court the last five minutes,
to say nothing about the turnovers by Aunt and Randall.
That just cannot happen. And so they come back Monday
night and Sacramento, Oh good, it's the Kings. That's the
team that you know pretty much own right now, beaten
I think three times by a zillion points. So at

(05:32):
least they'll take out their frustrations on the Kings ten
point lead in the final two minutes, feeling really good,
and there's another collapse, another example of this team unable
to take care of the basketball down the stretch, make
terrible decisions and allow a Sacramento team without its best
player in Devonte Sibonis to knock them off in overtime.

(05:53):
You know, miss free throws down the stretch. Just everything
that could go wrong did and the ant the Walls
now then have a two game losing streak and know
that Okac is looming a couple days later, so let's
start here. Chris Heine had an interesting story that Mike
Conley called a mandatory team dinner in Okac the night
before the game to just kind of get together. They

(06:16):
went to Mahogany Prime Steakhouse in Oklahoma City. I checked
out the menu because I was curious. Looks like a classic,
you know, top end steakhouse. I would probably go at
the Porterhouse trio. Okay, would you get the Porterhouse plus
the Alaskan King Crab and the Australian Rock Lobster. I'm
guessing there were a number of those ordered for the table.

(06:37):
Just my guests say so, if you wanted the Coldwater
Lobster tail, that's seventy nine bucks. Well, you know that's
an easy bat for them to pay, no question, Japanese
wag you whatever you wanted. I'm sure they ate. Well,
they had TV screens in the room. They're watching basketball,
they're talking, they're hanging out. They are doing what players
do when they get together, just sort of air out

(06:58):
some of the things that are going on, try to
have some fun. So I immediately thought of you, And
I don't know if I've asked you this question the
thirty plus years we've been together. Did you, guys ever
call a mandatory players only get together? I doubt you
know that's not necessarily the steakhouse, But just did that
ever happen? Did you ever get to that point where, hey, guys,
let's just leave the coaches behind, let's get together and

(07:19):
kind of figure out what's going on.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
We've called team meetings for sure, but not at a steakhouse.
He never went to a restaurant for like, hotel conference room. Yeah,
maybe you know, you got in somebody's room or maybe
in the locker room at the practice when things weren't
going well and you can feel when negativity is in
the air and when players are not on the same

(07:44):
page and everyone is kind of going in different directions.
At some point in time, the leader of the team
has to sense that and see if he can bring
this team together so this thing doesn't fall all the
way apart. But when you lose games like they have
lost over the last week or ten days or so,
you know, you start to scratch your head and say,

(08:05):
you know what's going on here. You know there's some
concerns from somewhere because a team of this nature, with
this type of talent, should not lose games like this.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
The coaches said they noticed there's just been no joy,
no connectivity among the players. And that's surprising, I think,
to me to a lot of fans, because this is
a team that you feel like has been really connected.
They everything you hear, they support each other, they work
out together, they play together in the off season that
they know. They enjoy this chemistry, and that's in large

(08:35):
part probably why Tim Connolly made sure to keep as
much of this core together after two straight trips to
the Western Conference finals. So when you hear coaches say
not seeing the joy, not seeing any kind of connectivity,
there's nothing going on. We don't feel like we're playing
like a team. How do you get that back? Grant,
We'll talk about the OKAC game because they played much better,
but it can't just be flipped, Oh, we just had

(08:56):
steak in lobster and then we laughed a lot, so
everything's good.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
I mean, how do you get that back? Well, I mean,
the players can like each other. I don't think, you know,
there's a divide in terms of whether they like each
other and get along well off the you know, off
the court. But it's something that's not clicking and there
is no joy of fun on the court. That's where
the head coach has to has to come in and

(09:20):
sit down and have a conversation with his players and
figure out along with his staff. You know, Okay, what's
the problem here, Because now I'm the you know, I'm
the league guy in the room.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
You know, I'm the one.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
That is supposed to set the table in terms of
how we're going to play and how we're going to function.
And if you guys are not are not feeling what's
what's going on in a positive way, well then we
need to sit down and have a conversation to see
how we can figure this thing out.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, and obviously, you know, look, I didn't have both
eyes on the OKAC game. I was, you know, in Milwaukee,
out to dinner with the big group, big family dinner
at a sports bar. So the game was on in
the back and got home and watched a good chunk
of the second half. But it was a much more
Wolves like performance, right, I mean, you got your forty

(10:10):
job forty point night from ant they were in this
game till the very end. You know, they were right
there against the team. That's what nineteen and one and
I think got Jalen Williams back for the first time
last night. So you're not going to necessarily go in
and okac and win very often. But I think it
was reassuring for a lot of Wolves fans that they competed,
they were right there. It was a step in the

(10:31):
right direction. The fact still remains they've dropped three straight
in the last seven or eight days, but I thought
there were some reasons for hope that they they were
right there punching hard against the best team in the league.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, I mean you want to see that for sure,
But it's not just about you know, finding your energy
for against the best team in the league. Where's the
consistency against the other teams as well? You know, in
a tight Western conference, it's going to be hard, you know,
to find a good playoff positioning as as the season

(11:02):
moves along and you cannot afford, you know, to give
games away. And I think the uh, the measure stick
for this team now going forward is to see how
they're going to play and what type of energy and
effort are they going to bring against teams that they
should be. Yeah, it's easy to get up for Oklahoma City.

(11:23):
It's because you know the national spotlight is on you.
You're playing against you know, the best team, but one
of the best players in the league, and you want
to showcase yourself and you want to measure yourself against
those teams. You play those teams maybe three or four
times out through the year, but you cannot afford to
lose games against Sacramento and Phoenix when you when you
are in control for a large portion of the.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Game, no doubt. And you know, the storyline this season
has been they have been very good in clutch time.
They are the third best clutch time rating team in
the league. They've done they've really turned a corner. Before
the two meltdowns against Phoenix and Sacramento and until the
loss to the Kings, they were ten and zero against
teams with losing records. They hadn't beat anybody with a

(12:04):
winning record. Phoenix would have been the first opportunity for that.
And that's the concern is all right, you have checked
one box from the issues of last season. You have
to beat the teams you're supposed to beat for the
most part, they've done that. Now you have to compete
and beat against the good teams. And granted that schedule
hasn't given them a ton of opportunities to play good
teams just yet, they're coming. But the elephant in the

(12:27):
room clearly is turnovers and the issue at point guard,
which we've been not just us, but we've been talking
about forever. I saw a graph that was posted on
x earlier this week ranking teams clutch turnover percentage, So
the percentage of turnovers you commit in clutch time. For example,

(12:48):
number one of the league, the best in not committing
turnovers in clutch time are the thunder at two point
one percent. You go all the way down to the
twenty ninth team and you've got the Wizards at nineteen percent.
The thirtieth team is your Minnesota Timberwolves at twenty six
and a half percent. They're they're lapping the Wizards at
twenty nine. They are by far the worst team in

(13:11):
the league when it comes to clutch time turnovers. And
you know, Johnny Krazinski wrote a nice piece, Who's your
point guard? To Anthony Edwards, is your point guard that
is your He is the point guard of your Minnesota Timberwolves.
As the roster is currently set up, that's not going
to be. This team is not going to reach where
it needs to be if Anthony Edwards is its point guard.
And you know, we all want to see them do something.

(13:34):
I think that's that to me, double T is alarming.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, I mean when you when you get into close games,
coming down stretched and you'll see a ton of turnovers,
you know that means that there's no plan on how
we're going to.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Execute in the last two or three minutes.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
And those things happen in practice and we used to
call them, you know, situational basketball, situational stuff that that
took place in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of practice.
You know you're up four, you know, with with two
minutes to go, you know you're down by four with
the buck fifty. You know, these are the things that

(14:14):
you know, you know we're going to go to and
how do you find consistency in those moments is that
you have to practice those situations and when you see
a team fall apart and the stat that you just
brought up, yeah, you know, we all talked about the
lack of a point a true point guard, but also
there's a lack of a plan, you know, from the

(14:36):
guys who are running the team, because you should be
able to have something that you can go to to
put these guys in a good situation where they're not
in a position where they're going to turn the ball
over so often.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, I think back at the end of that Sacramento
Kings game and it was just infuriating, you know, you know,
I'm friging the ball up and he's just dribbling iso
iso and then takes a bad shot like there's no
there's a play, there's no play call, there's no thing
going on, and you know.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
And that falls back on the head coach one hundred percent,
it does, Yes, I mean because you know, yes, we
don't know, you don't have a point guard. Okay, So okay,
so what are we going to do? How are we
going to execute? How are we going to finish off
this game? And if Anthony that was is going to
continue to drip around and take a bad shot against
the shot clock, well, you know, at some point in time,

(15:24):
the head guy has got to step in and career
the plan in those situations. So that his players now
are not in a position to fail. And that comes back,
that comes back to the head coach. That's what that
comes back to and his staff. What are we doing
when we have time to get together at practice time
to make sure that we don't put ourselves in this situation.

(15:45):
And that's why when I when I played for the
for the Bulls, it was it was so important even
though we had, you know, perhaps we had we had
the best player and manytime we had the second grades
player in Scottie Pippen, and we had, you know, a
team that had won two back to back champion But
it was very important to get those practice days to
get back to the basics, you know, so guys could

(16:08):
could all of a sudden now go back and understand,
you know, how do we execute when games are on
the line, and you have to do that during practice time,
you know, and Wolves do have practice time, they do
have practice time. So I would I would like to
see you know, Finch in this staff, you know, take
a little bit you know, more of a concern look
on how we're going to finish off games coming down stretch.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, there were so many issues with what Finch has
been doing late whether it's you're not calling offensive plays,
not calling timeouts like down the stretch and Sacramento when
they're cutting it in the final minute and a half.
There were a couple of times where you had to
call time out, the leads cut down to five, the
leads cut down to three, and he just lets them
keep playing. You didn't let his team settle down. Who's
out there on the court was questionable. Where's Jalen Clark
at the end of the Phoenix game when you needed

(16:50):
to make a stop and just one defender to stop
Colin Gillespie, the one guy that wanted to shoot, he
was sitting on the bench. So a lot of issues.
Will get to more of that when we return. And
where do the Wolves go from here? Celtics in town
this afternoon for a four o'clock tip at Target Center.
Lots more on the Wolves at NBA plenty on the

(17:11):
battle for the Ax today, and of course, the Max
Brozmer era begins tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Bears and Packers have
already flexed during this Thanksgiving weekend. Went into all of
that and much more as we roll on. Glad to
have you along for the ride. In the zone. I'm
the Fan Hour back a twenty two. You're in the Zone,

(17:55):
Tucker and Sinecon hanging out till ten as usual on
a Saturday morning. We couldn't have a fuller day of
programming for you on Kfan and our family of stations.
Let me run through it quickly for you following us
at ten today Beyond the Pond, as we said the
season debut of Beyond the Pond. If you're a little

(18:16):
annoyed by the lack of wall to while wild coverage
during in the Zone, I would first say, well, wake
up and understand who we are and who I am.
But fear not, because from ten to noon it's Beyond
the Pond wild wire to wire, well maybe not, but
a lot of wild coverage with Fallness and Nickeltti at ten.
At twelve thirty today it's Gopher Pregame a couple of

(18:37):
hours to get you ready for the battle for the
Acts Badgers Gophers at a perhaps snowy Huntingdon Bank Stadium.
Can't wait to watch that, Nope, can't wait to listen
to that on the Fan two thirty the kickoff Live
on the Fan today will have Wild and Sabers Tonight
from Grand Casino Arena as the Wild look to make
it eight in a row. That's at seven o'clock tonight.

(18:59):
If you want to listen to your Minnesota Timberwolves, you
will find them on the Timberwolves channel on the iHeartRadio app.
That's a four o'clock start from Target Center this afternoon.
And that's not all. If you cannot live today without
listening to Michigan Ohio State, we will have that for
you on Kfan plus ninety seven to nine. I don't

(19:22):
know why that never stays ninety six to seven. Where
do I get ninety seven nine from?

Speaker 3 (19:31):
I just got flashbacks from another day. I'll tell you
about that.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
The break all right, ninety six seven, ninety six point
seven on your FM dow that somehow has to register
and absorb it in my brain. Kfan plus ninety six
point seven FM and will have Michigan Ohio State as
the buck Geys look to punch their ticket to the
Big Ten Championship game, something they missed a year ago.
They look to meet up with my Indiana Hoosiers, who

(19:54):
completed a perfect twelve and oho season with a fifty
six to three edge of Purdue fifty six to three
in West Lafayette last night. Yeah, I yes, you know what,
it was a little dicey early. It was seven to three.
Score was very close. It was seven three, it was
fifty six to three. Yeah, they turned it on and

(20:17):
ran it down their throats, not unlike the Chicago Bears
did to the Eagles, which we'll get to that a
bit later. About those Chicago Bears and that that was
an eye opener. I think for every football fan not
in the state of Illinois, that was an eye opener.
We will we'll dive into football in our second hour,
as we typically do this time of year. Kind of
basketball first hour, football second hour. That's kind of the

(20:39):
way I like to roll. So let's get back to
the Wolves conversation double Tea. We talked about the meltdowns
and Phoenix and Sacramento, the clear need for someone to
run the show, particularly offensively, when they need to get
into actions and need to hold on to Leeds. The
point guard conundrum is very much alive. Somebody named Mike Scotto,

(21:02):
who's a senior NBA insider USA Today, does a Hoopside podcast.
He is reporting that while Edwards and McDaniels are considered
the young pillars of this roster and the fact that
they did due diligence on Jaw a couple of weeks ago,
just to check and see what the Memphis appetite was
to perhaps look at moving him. That there is a

(21:23):
clear desire to upgrade the point guard position, then they'll
continue to be that will continue to be on the
agenda leading up to the trade deadline, that Connley and
his staff will continue to look to see how they
might be able to upgrade the roster at the point
guard spot. And that's going to be a talker. It's
going to continue to be a talker as this team
struggles to put teams away. And you know, it's interesting

(21:45):
because you've got a team that's gotten to the Final
four the last two years and elected to just you know,
re sign their guys. And you know, if if this
was Mike Conley circa twenty twenty, I think we feel
a lot better about, yeh, the roster. And it's no
shade Mike Conley. I mean, you have a point guard.
He's just not able to do the things that he
used to do.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
So coming into the season, you know, the main concern,
you know, for us, was that who was going to
play point guard, and it was it was very visible
that the lack of point guard played in that first
game against Portland right there should have told you all
you needed to see. The Trailblazers a lot gave a

(22:29):
game away coming down the stretch, but the Wolves had
so much trouble trying to get into their offense when
Portland decided to to full court prece when they put
the pressure on ninety four feet. You know, there was
turnover after turnover after turnover, and somehow, someway, the Wolves
spawned a way to win that basketball game. But in

(22:49):
game number one, if he was watching this thing very closely,
you could see very clearly, you know that the lack
of point guard player could come back to hunt this team.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
The Wolves have been statistically way better, oddly enough, with
Dillingham on the court than with Conley. It's not even close,
which is unusual and surprising, and you know, frankly with surprised.
Dillingham was still in the rotation Wednesday night when Shannon
came back, because now they're Finch went ten deep against OKC.
You know, we thought he might be going eight deep
and we were sort of hoping, imploring that maybe he'll

(23:20):
think to go nine because we like the bench. The
bench has not been productive. The bench has really struggled.
The knas has kind of found himself in the last
week or so, and then it's a sight for sore
eyes to get see Nas looking like Nas again. But
the fact that you know, until Wednesday, TJ. Shannon's foot
injury has kept him from being who he is and
you know, Jalen Clark and Dillingham, you're just you're not

(23:41):
seeing consistency off the bench. And we thought heading into
the season, this is a real strength of this team
that they're eight or nine deep, and Alexander Walker is
is a huge loss to that bench. What a season
he's happened for Atlanta. Do you see the other night
he at eight threes at thirty some points. He was
a you know, he was a valuable member coming in
up the bench. But also he had the experience. You know,

(24:02):
he got consistent playing time. He was a guy that
understood his role and played it very well. But also
he could play in big moments and be very productive. Now,
you know, Shannon for the first time is getting probably
extended minutes and his role has expanded, So it may
take him some time for all of us to see

(24:22):
what kind of player he's going to be, you know,
in some critical moments, especially come playoff time, because we
haven't seen a large portion of him at this time
of the year. Now, He's had moments where he came
in last year and he gave us a flash of
what we thought or what we thought he could be,
or what we think he can be. If he could
play the Thunder every game, I think he'd be a

(24:42):
Hall of Famer. He just saves his best for the Thunder.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
But you know, when you when you talk about you know, consistency,
and we just haven't seen enough of him to decide
what kind of player he's going to be when we
get into those playoff type moments, you know, if he
has to be on floor for a large portion.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Of the game. Yeah, the slow start the injury has
been disappointing because I think I, like a lot of
Wolves fans, were really excited about what the addition of
real rotation minutes for TJ. Shannon could mean for this team.
We see a ceiling there that could be really high,
especially offensively. What he gave this team against the Thunder
in the playoffs last year, that energy that you know,

(25:22):
toughness on both sides of the court. You know, defense
is still something he's working on play and that's the
big difference. See, you know, Nikhil Alexander Walker had had
an expanded role. He wasn't just asked to do one thing.
You know, he was asked to defend at the time.
He had to play point guard, he had to score,
he had to do all the other intangibles. You know.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
He was just a key member, a very valuable guy
who played critical minutes by this team at playoff time.
We don't know if Shannon can do those things that
because what we have seen from him at playoff time
was to come in and give you a spark as
a one dimensional player.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Right now when your road.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Is being asked to expand and to extend, to do
other things that we haven't seen you do. We just
don't know, you know, if this guy is really ready
to step up in those critical moments and make those
type of plays.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, and it's been kind of a lost season up
until this point, with the foot injury keeping him in
and out. Text from Matt and he Dinah, who writes,
watching the last couple of close type games for the Wolves,
I'm reminded that Randall has some limitations as being the
number two guy. His banging inside style doesn't work. He's
almost like a two and a half guy. And I'm
wondering if he's still the guy that will be moved
eventually in a bigger trade.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
Well, you have to move someone if you're going to
up you know, upgrade at the point guard position.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
And it's him or NOAs right, I mean, really, it's
not McDaniels, it's not at and who else is going
to really draw value from another team if you're looking
for a real point guard to make a difference.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
Right, I mean, you know, when when you signed nas
Read to the long term contract, the first thing got
thought that if they were going to make a move,
it probably would be Julius render because they had seen
enough over the last few years. You know, it's to
give them an indication that nas Read was ready to
step in and take or on a starting role and
play thirty five or thirty eight minutes a night. At

(27:08):
some point in time, you know, you don't want this
season to get away from you before you make a
decision on who to move. I think the time is now,
and I believe that you know Collie is looking, you know,
to see what kind of deal he can strike, but
it's gonna it may come down to either one of
those two players.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
They may have to go. Yeah, there's very little trade
stuff or draft stuff you can deal. It's going to
have to be players. And you know, it is kind
of an unbalanced roster because of the money you are
putting into those two guys at the power forward spot,
Randal and Reid, and so I would not at all
be surprised if one of those guys was not on
the team by the trade deadline. And I think most

(27:47):
fans would love to see Nods stick around because Nas
is our folk hero. But you know, you think back
to how good Randall was in the postseason last year,
how even how the season started when when Ant was
kind of up and down, kind of to get started. Reynald,
I mean, he's kind of maddening because you see games
where you go, that's an absolute All Star. I mean,

(28:08):
after ten games he was an All Star, we were
thinking he's an All NBA guy. He still could get there.
So fascinating decisions and conversations have to be happening at
six hundred First Avenue about what to do there's plenty
of potential guys that you could look at around the
league that could be had that I think would fit
on this rock. I mean, I mean, i mean, we

(28:28):
know what what the answer is.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
You know, it's all about can can you go out
and and and get this this player that you're looking for.
I mean, if you look over the last two years
when the Wolves made their run, you know, towards the
Western Conference finals, there were there were a couple of
teams that that dominated them during the regular season, Phoenix
Signs and the LA Lakers. What was one of the

(28:53):
things that they lacked. They didn't have a point guard.
They go out and trade for Bradley Beal. You have
Kevin Durant and you have Devin Booker, But who's going
to play point guard? But he said with Bradley bial
can play point guard. No, he did not make his
career or his living being the point guard. He was
a guy that put up twenty five to twenty six
points tonight. It's because he was a scorer and a shooter.

(29:16):
Devin Booker is the same. But now they might be
able to play point guard three or four minutes a game.
But when you're talking about a true point guard, somebody
that is going to run and lead this and lead
your team. Those guys were not to answer, and right
now the Wolves don't have you know, that guy on
their roster. As well as because Mike Conney Junr has
gotten older. Like I said, if he was four or

(29:38):
five years younger, you know, there would be no concern.
But having Dante and Anthony evwas trying to to show
that they can be consistent point guards throughout the entire season.
It's just too difficult to ask because when you talk
about what they do well, it's not play.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
It's not playing the point guard position. Right, Conley's too
old and Dillingham, frankly's too young and not ready. He'd
like to think when you move up to the eighth
spot and give up a future number one to grab
a point guard of the future, that by the second
year you're gonna be ready to roll with that guy.
But he was what nineteen or twenty when they dressed
the point guard coming out of Kentucky. No, he's little,
so you figure, all right, he's only six feet tall,
he's got to be a point guard. But that wasn't

(30:17):
his role.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
No.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
I mean, when you evaluate players just say I need
a point guard, but then go out and get you
a point guard.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
You know, just because the guy shows that he might
be able to play the position on a limited basis
doesn't mean he's the right guy to feel that position
of position. And the most critical position at the NBA
level is the point guard position. And when you see
teams that are able, you know, to execute when the
game is on the line, especially as they make deep

(30:47):
playoff runs. They got a guy you know they can
handle that position and do that job very well. Well,
step away when we come back. One more, one more
Finch related question for you when we come back, and
a few more NBA now gets says the NBA Cup
game finished last night. A couple of story lins. I
want to get rolling with you our number two All
Football Gophers NFL. That's all coming up as we roll

(31:08):
on in the zone. We are back eight forty four

(31:37):
on a Saturday morning. You're in the zone. Trent Tucker,
Dave sinnecon Brett blakemore with you until ten o'clock. We're
talking hoops. The Golden Gophers are in southern California or
they were at the Acresher event. Six or eight teams
West what the event. I don't know. Actressure that's the

(31:57):
sponsor the invitational in Southern cal Correct. They lost a
Thursday to Stanford seventy two to sixty eight, and that
was a one lost Stanford team. I don't know if
they're any good, but off to a decent start. So
I ducked in last night, found the game on True
TV and they were down late in the first half

(32:19):
to Santa Clara by twenty four points, so it wasn't
a great bounce back performance, although they only lost by
eleven eighty six to seventy five to the finals, so
that the second half they did come back in the
second half to drop to I believe four and four.
Now for the season, and next up is some Big
Ten basketball. The Indiana Hoosiers come into Williams Arena Wednesday

(32:39):
night for the first Big Ten game that you know,
you get two games in December. I don't know how
many years ago they started that, not too many. And
sometimes you get lucky and you get like, oh, we
get Rutgers in Penn State, you know, to kind of
ease into the Big Ten schedule. Not so much for
Nico and the boys. They get the well, the twenty
fifth ranked Hoosiers, who undefeated so far with their new

(33:01):
head coach Darren Devrees. What are you guys doing that?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Basketball on DEFEATA, football is on DEFEATA. You know What's
what's going on in blooming.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
It's a good time to have a couple of kids
at IU. They're just beaming right now about the sports
scene in Bloomington. And I was a little down in
Indiana because they messed around with Incarnate Word and some
other hyphen air school in San Antonio. Correct, you know
that's what it Spurs used to practice at their Is
that right? Yeah? But Indiana did bounce back and play

(33:33):
much better earlier this week against Kansas State, you know,
obviously a big conference opponent, and they blew them out
by twenty. I don't know that they'll compete against the
Michigan's Purdues and Illinois of the world, but but Indiana
looks like legit. So it'll be a good test for
the Gophers Wednesday, and then the following Wednesday they have
to go to West Lafayette and play the top rank
Purdue boiler Makers. So not a not a great way

(33:56):
to start the Big Ten season for your Golden Gophers
with a whole new team, a whole new system to meet,
a couple of the Big Ten heavyly who know who
you are and what you have to learn and what
you have to do right's it's probably not the worst thing.
So Golden Gophers will tip off their Big Ten season
on Wednesday night. One last note on the walls, and

(34:16):
it's about Finch. And I'm just curious. You know, we
understand what he's accomplished here and how far he's taking
this team and what he's done to help develop Anthony
Edwards and the vibe those two have, and and you know,
everything has been wonderful. But you got two new owners
now who are in the seat. They didn't hire Chris Finch.

(34:37):
They might love Chris Finch, but we had no idea
their opinions of Chris Finch. We also don't know as
they survey, you know, what coaches might be available out there,
that there might be guys that they're thinking, you know,
if things don't turn around at some point, we've got
a guy we'd like to bring in. I just wonder
if you think the seat is going to get a
little bit warm if if things don't turn around. We

(35:00):
talk about roster constraints and issues with the balance of
the roster of the point guard position. But as we've
talked about a little bit today and certainly over the
last couple of weeks, there have been some alarming coaching
decisions and non decisions laden games. And you know, we
can go back to the Memphis playoff series a few
years ago. I remember, if you had hair, you had

(35:20):
been pulling it out with him not calling timeouts, and
we just it's been an ongoing issue. And then you know, again,
I'm not calling for his firing at this point, but
you are certainly a guy that understands that when a
team has a generational talent, sometimes ownership has to make
a tough decision and say, do we have the right

(35:41):
guy to get all the way to where we want
to go. And I'm not suggesting Finch isn't that guy,
but I am suggesting that we don't have a whole
lot of reason to believe that he is. When we
see some of the meltdowns late, whether it's playoffs or
just Layton games, that come on your coach to settle
these guys down Layton games and call the play and
figure out who should be out there. And call timeout

(36:03):
when they need it, and I don't see development there.
So I just wonder if you think with Rodriguez and
Lori running the show, maybe the seat starts to warm
up just a little bit if some of these things
don't get answered. I think the seats is already warm,
do you Yes. And he has to get back, you know.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
To the Western Conference Finals, I believe, and that's going
to be a struggle, yes, and all the things that
you have talked about, you know this this this morning
about you know, what's the plan, you know what are
we trying to accomplish? Where are the players that we're
in a good position to close out games? And you

(36:44):
just mentioned you can go all the way back to
into the Memphisers when he allowed the Grizzter to make
a twenty one oh run before he even called a
time out. But we have seen coaches have success and
make deep playoff runs and then the very next year
they will have a job. And I heard you talking

(37:05):
about maybe last week. I may have caught three or
four minutes while I was driving up to Duluth at
a boy and you talked about, you know someone and
call him mentioned, you know, the Doug Collins and the
Phil Jackson situation. Well, how did pat Riley get his start?
You know, Jack McKinney back in the late seventies is
out in the bike. Riddy falls off his bike, he

(37:25):
bumps his head. He was no longer able to coach.
Then they hired Paul west Ham. He comes in the
Lakers win the NBA Championship. He allowed Magic Johnson to
be Magic Johnson, up and down the floor. Magic Johnson
becomes the MVP to beat the seventy six is in
Game six. But the very next year, Paul Wellstead decided
that he wanted to coach. He didn't want Magic Johnson,

(37:46):
you know, playing like Magic Johnson. I want four or
five passes now before the first shot is taken. Magic
Johns said, I can't play this way, you know, and
Jerry bust says, no problem, we'll make a change. That's
how pat Riley got his start. That Rolly was never
ever in a position to be a head coach. All
of a sudden, by default, he gets into a really

(38:07):
good situation and then he builds from there because he
allowed Magic.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
And Kareem to be who you know, who they could be.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
And that was and that was the birth of pat
Riley as as a top flight coach in the top
flight you know, front office guy. So if things don't
improve the way that the new owners would like to
see them improve, and if this team cannot get back
to where they were maybe over the last two years,

(38:36):
yeah that see, could could be pretty hot at the
end of the year.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Yeah. I think it's something that's going to be a
talker if we don't see a dramatic turnaround. And again
you said you think they need to get back to
the Western Conference finals, and you look at the teams
sitting atop the West right now, they are playing some
really good basketball. We forget okay, see, but you know
the Lakers now that Lebron's back, they look almost unbeatable.
I mean, they've won three straight since Lebron had been back,

(39:01):
and they found a new role for him. Or he's
not bringing the ball up, he's setting screens, he's cutting,
he's he's being complimentary. He seems all all with it.
They've got Dantich and Reeves as they're ball handlers, and
and they're finding a role for Lebron. In just three
or four games in that Lakers team is second in
the West right now at thirteen and four playing great basketball.

(39:21):
And then you've got you know, all the others, the Nuggets,
the Rockets, the Spurs. The Spurs beat Denver last night
in a big Cup game. Uh, they're not going anywhere.
So there's the idea that this team needs to get
back to the Western Conference finals in your mind for
things to stay status quo. That seems like a real
uphill putt right now. And I understand it's early, it's
Thanksgiving weekend. Everything can change, but man, oh man, but.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
That's what that's what you know, that's that's the expectation.
And as you mentioned, you know early on that they
kept this core together except for you know, Nikhil Alexander
Walker just kind of what to pay him, you know,
But for a large majority of the guys who have
made the run over the last two years, they're here.

(40:07):
And the expectations now is either to get back to
the Western Conference final or take one more step and
play for a championship. And if this team is not
able to achieve that, well, yeah, that that coaching seat
is going to get pretty warm very quickly.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
And again not suggesting Chris Finch is not a very
good coach. Right, But sometimes you look at the situation
to go. If the dream is to get to the top,
you know, are we sure we've got the guy that
can can pull those strings and make that happen. And
he very well might be, But I think there's legitimate
reasons to be concerned as we look at the big
picture of you in big moments, now is he is

(40:47):
he ready to meet that challenge? I think it's going
to be something we follow unless things dramatically turn around here.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
And also, it was surprising to me to see this
team go through an entire offseason and not really address
the point guard situation, because when you look at Rob
Dillingham and if he wasn't playing a whole lot in
such in games where he could have got on the
floor and earned some valuable minutes, maybe gain some experience,

(41:17):
and have an idea of what Chris Finch wanted him
to do from that position to lead his team. And
when you didn't see those minutes happen as a front
office guy, you got to know right then, this is
not the answer. Not to say that Dillingham is not
a good basketball player. He can help us in different ways,
but where we are, where we are lacking production at

(41:40):
you know, he's not the guy that can that can
feel that hole. And I was very surprised to see
that this front office, which has been very good over
the last few years and put it in the right
pieces together, not address that key situation quickly.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Just a couple of nuggets. Jalen Williams made his season
debut for the Thunder last night, eleven points in limited
minutes as he's knocking the rush off. The Thunder won
their eleventh straight game working him back in beating Phoenix
one twenty three to one nineteen to win their Cup
Group eleven straight for the Thunder. They are now nineteen
and one, double t and borring significant injuries. They were

(42:17):
eighty well you know, eighty is kind of funny, but
seventy five I might not be out of the road.
I mean this this does look like an historically great team,
does it not. I just don't know where the os
sure ye are going to come from? You know they
all you know, I say, you know they on that
path for sure, and.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
You know they just have and they it's said that
they win the games can be close, but it seems
like they win the game a whole lot easier than
the score indicates. It's a team that doesn't waste a
lot of energy. They know exactly what they're supposed to do,
it consistent. You know what they're trying to accomplish. On

(43:03):
the offensive end. When the game is on the line,
they know where the ball is supposed to go, and
if the defense countersn't take take away one option, they
know what the second option is. And if the second
option is taken away, they know where they get the
ball to the third option. The defense can only take
away so many things. That's why you have to have

(43:24):
a plan so you can count what the defense is doing,
especially when the game is on the line.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
They've been winning without three of their top rotation players.
They're still what nineteen to one. We know they've got
more draft capital in over the next five years, and
any team in basketball, including the Clippers number one pick
and a number of draft swaps, you know pick swaps
where they're going to be up higher, they're not going anywhere.
This has the makings And again, I know an injury

(43:50):
to Shay or something could change everything, but just this
has the makings of a dynasty like maybe we haven't
seen for a while and It just seems so hard
to do that nowadays with the salary limitations and the
cap stuff. What Presty has done to not just you know,
make the trades, but to just acquiring a guy like

(44:10):
Aj Mitchell, you know, on a Draft night, second round pick,
on a Draft knight trade with the Knicks where they
give them cash and they move up a few spots
and take Aj Mitchell, who right now is like the
best defensive guard in the nf in the NBA and
is average in seventeen eighteen, like he would be a
legit starting guard for almost every team in this league.
And it's just another guy now for the thunder that
they've they've found under the rocks and turned into this

(44:32):
really really strong player. It's remarkable and I just have
to tip my hat to what they're doing down there. Well,
it's a talent, you know, to identify, you know, talented
players that people overlook. And I go back to to
your to.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Your album monitor in Indiana, how they have been able
to turn things around with their football program, and you
have mentioned to me that most of those guys came
from they followed their coach and what James Madison.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Yep, you have a lot of the lower conference type players,
bowling green, that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Yeah, and so you know there are a lot of
talented players out there and with his basketball, football, hockey, baseball,
it's it's all about having that talent and that eye
to identify that this guy can project it to be
this two or three years from now, you know, with
a little coaching and the little teaching and providing that
you know, the right foundation for some of these players

(45:28):
who go unnoticed all of a sudden, now they become
these guys just say, where did this guy come from?
But it's it's a talent that that Sam Presty has
down in Oklahoma City along with his staff. You know,
they they are they are scanning the globe, you know,
looking for talented players like I just mentioned, you know,
to have that that kind of eye that's a real

(45:48):
talent in itself. And obviously Tim Connolly is right there.
He is on the earth terrific talent. I mean, he
is the guy that found Nicola Jokic in the second round.
And you know, Jokic Maco down is the greatest player
of all time before things are all done, or at
least the conversation. So it's not like our guys, you know,
smelling his fumes. He's very good too. But but now
it's time for him, you know, to make that critical move.

(46:08):
He's got to identify who's going to run this team
at that point guard position over the next two or
three years. How many more years does Anthony Evis have
on his contract? Is it three or four at least?

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Yeah, And so you're going to have to address that
situation to bring in somebody here as quickly as you
can to make sure you know over the next three
or four years that you know that you can stay
in that window of making a deep playoff run. Yeah,
and you have to maximize the opportunity when you have
a talent like that who is just now entering his prime.

(46:39):
There's no question.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Because you know, if we can see that you said,
he's a he's a he's a heck of a talent.
But in critical moments, him trying to be the point
guard when the game is online is not the best
situation for him to be in. You want him to
catch the ball where he can attack off of one

(47:01):
or two dribbles and use his you know, his phenomenal
skill set to either make a play for himself and
one of his teammates, you know, off of one or
two bounces. So when he has to try to beat
the guy from twenty eight feet, knowing that Rudy Gobert
is going to set to pick who's a nine offensive player.
If a team is very smart, they just trap him
and force him into a bad situation. Either he's going

(47:21):
to take a bad shot with the shot clock running down,
or he's going to turn the ball over. And and
you should never ever put your best player in the
situation to fail like that.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Uh Bolves is trying to snap a three games slide today,
Target Center, four o'clock. The Celtics, the shell of the
Celtics that used to be the contending Celtics are in
town and we'll see if the Wolves can get back.
You'll hear that game on the Timberwolves channel on the
iHeartRadio app four o'clock the tip off. Alan Horton bringing
you the call Wolves Celtics Today on a snowy afternoon

(47:54):
in the Twin Cities. It looks like football weather out
there with the snow flying. Let's get into it. Go
for Badgers this afternoon. The Max Brozemer Era begins tomorrow
in Seattle against Sam Darnold. The Packers and Bears have
already flexed this weekend. Lots to get to when we
talk football.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
Our number two in the zone, how.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
A back nine six hour Number two in the Zone,
Tucker and Sin again, Blake Moore hanging out till the
top of the hour again. The season debut of Beyond
the Pond follows us today at ten o'clock. The Red
Hot seven wins in a row, Minnesota Wild winners in
dramatic fashion over the Avalanche last night, knocking off their
ten game winning streak three to two. All Wild talk,

(49:05):
mad some Gophers and other stuff, But to hockey talk
follows us ten to noon today, and then it's Gopher's
football at twelve thirty. The pregame two thirty, the kickoff
from Huntingdon Bak Stadium, the season finale, pending a bowl
game for your golden Gophers, the hated Wisconsin Badgers in
town two thirty kickoff today. You'll hear it right here
on the fan. Of course, the battle for Paul Bunyan's ax,

(49:27):
which has found a home here. It feels like over
the last five years is PJ and boys have done
their job. They're looking for their fifth winning season now
in nine years and four of the last five over
the Badgers, who have had a miserable season. And I
think a lot of the fan base was hoping and
waiting for the Luke Fickle era to end. And when

(49:48):
the Badgers gave the vote of confidence and announced that
Fickle would return next season, it seemed to kind of
open things up for that team. They have played much better.
They go and they beat Washington, they beat Illinois, They've
won a couple of Big Ten games. Now they're two
and six after starting zero to six, and they'll come
in looking to salvage something against the Golden Gophers. Here

(50:09):
this afternoon and reading about the Bowl ramifications win or
loss for your Gophers today, it sounds like if they
beat the Badgers, they're likely either going to go to
Phoenix to play in the Rate Bowl or Yankee Stadium
to play in the Pinstripe Bowl. A loss today might
send them to Detroit. Well, they call it now the

(50:29):
Game Above Sports Bowl. Who I'm just reading what I
read the Game above Sports Game Above Bowl. And if
the Gophers are to maintain the treasured trophy that is
Paul Bunyan's Axe, they need their defense to wake up
double t. That defense has given up over the last
three games fifteen hundred yards of offense wow, and seventy

(50:53):
eight yard completion percentage to quarterbacks who are not named
Fernando Mendoza or saying and for Ohio State, and they're
they're making game average quarterbacks. I knew I'd make it simple.
You could do that math and yes that you could
figure that was five hundred a game. Very well done. Uh,
this obviously means everything, right. I can give a five

(51:14):
hundred yards a game. Asked the Eagles that question yesterday,
asked the Eagles that question. I don't know if it
was five hundred, but I felt like the Bears could
do whatever they wanted. Yeah, when when the defense, when
your defense, like the Golden Gophers, has struggles to get
after a passer and allow quarterbacks to stand back and

(51:35):
just play pitch and catch, which has been a lot
of it, you know, they're they're worried about the big play.
They're allowing teams to just move the ball up and
down the field. Long drives is tiring out their defenses.
And you know they just hadn't run the ball well
enough either. So they're their drives are ending quickly. The
defense is on the field too much. But I was
surprised to see you are we Are we concerned here

(51:56):
about the future of this program, the Golden Gophers? Yeah? Well,
I mean, you'd like to see a higher ceiling, all right?

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Are we okay just making the pin stripe Bowl pinstripe
bowls in Phoenix? The I think it's the Rate Bowl
or something, and now the New Bowl, and you try
to call once again game above sports? Yeah, I mean,
are we okay with those bowls?

Speaker 1 (52:19):
I prefer fruits and flowers. I prefer, you know, peaches
and roses, roses and what else? Am I missing? Citrus
and all that? Fiesta? Not sure what a fiesta is,
but a party is what it is. The sugar, that's
a good one, the sugar, the orange. I forgot the
orange once in a while. If we all get to
a fruit bowl.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
If we just okay with these you know, unnamed bowls,
But then I guess we're okay with the direction of
the futures program.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
I doubt the majority of the fan base is content.
You'd like to just punch above your weight occasionally, and
not just the record, but just the way the losses
have gone for the most part on the road last
week against Northwestern. Couldn't stop Northwestern, right, I mean well,
I mean you mean talking about them a five hundred
yards a game. I mean, you miss a field goal,
it's hard to stop anyone, right, I mean they had

(53:08):
a very makeable field goal at the end of that
game descended to overtime and they didn't make it. So,
I mean, you turn that thing around, you beat Northwestern
and you're sitting there now at seven and four with
a chance to have an eight game, eight win season.
You're feeling a lot better. So it's the it's the
razors edge sometime and just it was too easy at
Wrigley Fields for the lost.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
Of those eight wins. You know, what type of teams
did you play to get into that position? Are you
playing high quality nine conference teams or not? I mean,
if you're playing this team that you should beat, especially
in a non conference season, you know that's going to
help you get to six or seven wins. In Michigan
State was not a good football team. That's a game

(53:46):
that that you could have lost, found a way to
win because Michigan State is just that bad. So that's
why I asked the question, are we you know, what's
the what's the what's the direction of this football pro
graham going forward?

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Well, and you're the proud alum, so I'll ask you,
are you content with very concern? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I know some of this conversation is one of my
good friends the other night and he's a diehard going
and Gopher fan and and he'll be outside tail getting
in today as well.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
And at some point, Tiy, you know, you you got
to want to get.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Beyond, you know, the the level that you've been staying
at or playing at over the last four or five years.
I mean, I'm not saying that you're gonna be ahouseh
to Michigan and have a chance to play for the
Big Ten championship or fight for a national championship year
and then you're out. But at least, you know, let
us feel whether it's like every once in a while

(54:44):
to be in that position.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Yeah. I mean, look, we're not looking for what Indiana
has done is unprecedented, So let's set that aside. You
look at the Iowas in the Wisconsins, the trophies you
fight for, the rivals that you hate the most, and yes,
they've dominated the was sconsin rivalry of late, but just
looking at the overall success of those programs over the
last twenty years, the Badgers and Hawkeyes have had higher highs.

(55:08):
You know, they've they've been in the bigger they played
the bigger games, right, And that's I think that's where
we'd like to start, is you know, start to show
that you can beat the teams you need to beat,
and that's going to help you land those recruits too. Obviously,
if you start to win those games against the better
better half of the Big Ten, you're gonna get kids attention.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Well, you know, it'd be great to, you know, at
some point in time to see the Gophers playing in
the Rose Bowl or playing in a very not saying
that bowl games that don't mean anything for a lot
of the players. It's great to have a chance to
play one more game. But you know, let's hopefully, at
some point in time get into a situation where we're
playing in a much bigger deal. Yeah, I like to

(55:48):
feel that, you know, before I saw sitting down with yeah,
I don't.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Blame, Yeah, I don't blame yet I was a little
surprised to see the Badgers are favored today by a
point and a half. That's surprises me.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
But when you give up five hundred plus yards per
game of the last three, I'm not surprised that.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
The the Badgers, they don't have an offense. I mean,
this is a two and six Big Ten team coming
into your house. They won their last two games, yep, right,
and that's why their favorite. They're they're okay, starting to
field a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
And the head coach now has gotten a voter confidence
that he may come back, right, Yeah, And all of
a sudden, you're going against the team you know that
defensively can't get off the field. Offensively, they can't you know,
they can't keep the defense off the field. So when
as you mentioned, fifteen hundred yards over the last three
games they've given up in total yards, I mean, I mean,

(56:39):
if you're an ours maker, when you make the Badger's favorite, I.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Guess I understand it the momentum thing. But it just
feels like this is a young.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Guy that you know, you you know, you know, you
understand the lines much better than I do. Yeah, I'm
surprised that you're surprised. Well, it's a momentum thing. Yeah,
I get it.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
I would have guessed the Gophers were three point favorites
if you had said, who do you think the line
is today? That that's what I would have thought. I
understand the momentum of the Badgers, but yeah, it's a
two and six Badger team against a four and four
Gopher team that's you know, played pretty well at home
for the most part. But there's also that, you know,
taking back the acts, you're going to get the best
from the Badgers. For sure. It's their last game. There's

(57:17):
no bowl game for the Badgers. This is it for them,
so you will get their best shot. Frequent Texter run
from Golden Valley asked name a single game Homer Road
where Fleck has beaten a team he had no business beating,
a legitimate upset he thinks they'll get beat by the
Badgers today. I don't, you know, have a photographic memory,
but top of your head, can you think of a
big surprise upset win in the last few years in

(57:41):
the Fleck gun for the Flat State team somewhere? Yeah?
They did. I mean there've been a couple, there's no question,
But I mean, I'm I'm not a great Maroony gold mine,
but That is a fair question, Like you don't see
a lot of like, Wow, didn't see that coming from
this program, and.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
You seem like, wow, wouldn't they see that coming and
they lose to a team that they could.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
We've seen more of it, We've seen that. You're right,
I definitely have seen more of that. There's no question
Michigan Ohio State's at eleven. You can hear that on
KFA and plus today. That's ninety seven nine one years dime?
Is it Columbus that's in ann Arboro Andoro? Ohio State's
a ten and a half point favorite. I remember last year.
Of course, Michigan stunned Ohio State and kept them out

(58:21):
of the Big Ten title game, and anyone who win
a national chick didn't hurt them a whole lot. And
that's why, like teams like Georgia were being asked last night,
like would you rather not play in the SEC championship
game and get the week off? Because Georgia in light
of it, in because Texas A and M got got
upset by Texas last night, their first loss of the season.
That opens the door for Yeah, Arch showed up. Arch

(58:43):
played Wally in a beautiful thirty five yard touchdown run
than kind of ice the game. A and M had
kind of down to one score and arch leads his
team right down and then scampers for thirty five yards
to get them up ten again. Huge upset. A and
M goes down the number three team in the country
and now they're out of the SEC title game. It'll
likely be Alabama if they beat Auburn tonight against why

(59:09):
am I losing the Uh? It'll be Alabama against either
ole Miss or who's playing? Oh, Georgia, So it's Georgia. Uh.
If they take Georgia Georgia Tech yesterday, So it's Georgia
in the title game for sure, and they'll face either
Bama if they win, or ole Miss. Okay and ole Miss. Interesting,
they're gonna find out today if Lane Kiffin is gonna

(59:29):
stay there. He was upset at some podcast, wasn't he? Well,
he doesn't want any any worry, obviously, you feel bad.
This is the best season in ole Miss history. They's
seventh ranked in the country. They're about to lose their
coach to LSU, and they can't even like wait till
the season's over, Like, let's just play this out, you know,
And you're talking about the media here. The media doesn't wait.
But if I'm a miss, I'm not waiting. Look, if

(59:51):
you're gonna leave me, let me know now, let us know. Now,
let's go ahead and see. Uh so, why you upset?

Speaker 2 (59:56):
If you know, if if you if you to hang
out with LSU, Okay, if you want to go there,
you go there. Well, let's know now, you know, don't
play this cat and mouse game. Well, I don't know.
And then he get upset because people are asking you
the question when you've kind of put you know, oh,
missing in a tough situation. You put yourself in a
situation where now you're going to get those questions. So

(01:00:19):
why should you be upset when somebody brings it up?

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Yeah, obviously, just say, look, I'm not going anywhere. This
is my team, these are my boys. Let's play if
that's what you feel. You know, we know he's leaving,
and so it's too bad for the team there are.
You know, it puts a real damper on their season
and wherever playoffs they'll be in the playoffs. I doubt
he'll coach, right if he taking the LSU job, they're
not going to let him coach the playoffs, I wouldn't know.

(01:00:42):
I wouldn't either, So it's just a it's that unseemly
side of sports where when when a coach is looking
to move on there everybody knows it. It's the worst
kept secret. You just feel for the team man school.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
I mean, at some point in time, can they is
that way they can change their room where you know.
I understand that coaches can move here or there. Now
players have a chance to move a little bit more often.
But if another team, another school wants to come after
your head coach, there should be a ruling place that
you cannot contact that person until their season is over.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
That puts you so late though in the game. It's
so hard to start at that point.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
You know, now you're putting the kids in the school
in a bad situation, is because now they don't know
whether they head coach is invested in that Is he
really all in? Does he have one foot out the door?
Because the package is a whole lot bigger across the
railroad tracks? So does he really care about my future

(01:01:45):
going forward? I think they need to needs to be
a ruling place that if you want to come after
the coach, and especially someone like Lane Kiffin who has
a team that may have a chance to make a
playoff run.

Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
You never know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Yeah, they to not be able to be contacted by
any other school into the season is over.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
In a perfect world, I agree that that would be
the ideal situation, but it's it's really hard to execute
that these days where that should be like Tampaman, Yeah,
it's just it's just the rule of the land is
business is going to happen. Transactions now, it's going to happen.
But but don't put don't put.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
The school and the players and the kids in a
tough situation when you don't have to. And it's much
easier to say, hey, okay, Lane is going to leave
at the end of the year, but right now, no
one can talk to him while he's under contract, and
they'll miss until the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
Season is over. Okay, when the season ends, whether.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
We you know, we we we make it to the
SEC championship game and lose and we don't get into
the playoffs at the end of the year. Now, okay,
he's free game for you guys to have it and
come in and have a com Yeah, but who wants
a coach that season ends in s There's no playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
They're looking for coaches that have taking their team to
the playoffs. Now you gotta wait until January.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Sometimes yeah, I mean, but you know, yeah, but at
the end of the day, you but you don't, you know,
you don't confuse and throw everybody off because the kids
are the main reason why I would like to see
that route change, because now everyone is not going to
go on to play in the NFL. We all know that,
and this might be their last opportunity. I would like

(01:03:24):
to know if this is my last run as a
football player at this level, then my coach is fully
invested one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
I get it. I totally get it. We're getting PJ
supporters reminding us, so the win at Southern Cal last year,
where they were ranked eleventh, the win at Illinois last
year on the road was a pretty good win. So yeah,
I'm sure there have been a few where you, oh wow,
didn't expect to win that, but there haven't been probably
enough for a lot of Gopher fans who love this program.
Will pause here, we'll come back, turn our attention to

(01:03:51):
the National Football League. It's Donald versus Brosmer Brosmer versus
Donald as the Vikings head to Seattle tomorrow. We'll chat
about that and the perhaps surprising results in the NFC
North already this Thanksgiving weekend, and how crazy the NFL
playoff bracket looks right now with teams you don't expect

(01:04:12):
to see there in teams you absolutely expected to see
on the outside looking in NFL the rest of the way.
When we come back in the zone, power back nine

(01:04:37):
twenty seven, you're in the zone. Tucker and Sinnecin's talk
some NFL. I gotta say double te I enjoyed the
second half of last Sunday's game at Lambeau more than
I have a lot of football of late seeing who
did play last Packers defense do what they did to
your Minnesota Vikings and your quarterback in the second half

(01:04:59):
of what was they very you know it was ten
six a half. I wasn't feeling great. Well, I mean
the major turnover at the start of that's yeah, That's
where I was going on. They get the stop, that
was you know, that was that was the deal. Yeah,
I mean, you get to stop. I think we may
got one first down in the first drive of the
third quarter. They punt the ball away and I'm thinking, gee,
I mean yikes, right right here. Yeah, here they go.

(01:05:21):
If if they move the wall down the field, they
can take the lead in the third quarter. Here's JJ
on the road in the division again where he's unbeaten.
He's been very good in those situations. Yeah, and the
turnover obviously flipped the script. The quick touchdown. Now it's
a two score game, and you start to look and saying,
how are we going to get to uh this over
two scores on this defense the rest of the way. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
I mean, you know, you, when you have a tough
time scoring, you just cannot make mistakes like that, and
when all of a sudden, now that bad luck starts
to creep in, and then now you find yourself on
the outside looking at him very quickly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Yeah, the McCarthy performance was somewhat stunning. I I I
I predicted twenty three to nineteen pack, and it was
twenty three six pack. I went with, you know what,
I'm not going to just totally discount McCarthy because of
what we've seen in Chicago and in Detroit this season,
like somehow, for some reason, when he's on the road

(01:06:14):
in the division, he has stepped up. So I had
that little back of my head thinking is he going
to execute some magic here? Yeah, that was clear early
on that that was not going to happen on a
windy day at Lambeau. And now you know he had
the concussion symptoms on the plane apparently. All right, let
the record show I'm not the one who laughed when

(01:06:34):
I made that statement. That would be a Viking fan
douple tea. So we hope JJ gets better and your
former Gopher Max Brosmer gets his first start against the
former Vikings quad. I mean, you couldn't script it better, right,
Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks for Max Brosmer and
the Vikings who go in as I think twelve thirteen

(01:06:56):
point underdogs against a very had a bad day against
the Rams Seattle team. Yeah, he looked like there's certain
teams that he just cannot play against.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
He didn't play really against the Rams a year ago.
He didn't play. He didn't play well against the Rams
a week ago.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Yeah, yeah, he and they were right there to win.
He looked like late season Vikings. I think he saw
some Rams ghosts. He might be right. Let's hope Max
doesn't see any ghosts. I'm like many intrigued to see
the opportunity. I feel for him that that's the first
defense he has to face, especially with no Donovan Jackson
on the road in Seattle. Again, a Seahawks team that

(01:07:36):
oddly enough has been better on the road than they've
been at home. That they seem to play better on
the road, it's still very tough at home. Uh they
are one of the best pressured defenses in the league.
Seven fourth they are eight and three, eight and three
the uh the Rams lead that division there right behind
and trying to fight to win that Western NFC West

(01:07:58):
there that Mike McDonald's a great defense of coach. Of course,
he came from the Ravens. He's got that team getting
after the quarterback. So that, to me is the story
of this game is how does the Vikings offensive line
hold up for their young quarterback knowing that they're not
going to have Donovan Jackson. Darrisaw with the foot injury
left the game of course last week is questionable. I

(01:08:20):
haven't been in town to read whether it's likely he's
going to play or what his status is, but clearly
you've got an undrafted rookie quarterback making his first start.
You'd like to have as much of your offensive line
there as possible. And you know, we know that that
Brozemer is older than JJ, he's more game tested, I

(01:08:40):
mean in that he's played a lot more football, granted
New Hampshire mostly, and obviously for the year here. I
wouldn't be surprised if the offense looks more functional than
it's looked lately. I just what are you expecting? What
are you hoping to see from from Rosemer in his
first start tomorrow? I don't know. I mean three zero

(01:09:03):
five kickoff on the fan.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
I was hoping that, you know, there's some consistency, you know,
with what they're trying to do on the offensive end.
But I haven't even a bigger question right now. Yeah,
should I be concerned about the future of our quarterback
and the situation going forward?

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
Yeah? You know, should I be concerned about the future
on the quarterback position from the Minnesota vice? I think
you have to be in light of the I mean,
a historically awful start so far that you can't look
at the numbers and dispute that it's really bad now,
I said last week before the Packer game, Like everything

(01:09:43):
O'Connell has said is, you know, organizations fail young quarterbacks
more than young quarterbacks fail organizations. You have to give
him a runway here. You have to to me he's
your quarterback this year or next year, is what I
said heading into last week. I feel that way because
I just think if you ditch him after the Sea
and it is this constant cycle of he's not the
guy and then how many that would be a really

(01:10:06):
bad message to send to the fans. Agreed, But also,
I mean, how many quarterbacks have we seen find life
in their second or third stop now that you may
not have the time here because the unusual situation that
they put this veteran team around him. They're spending more
money than any team in football in their payroll this year.
It's a veteran team built to win now, except at

(01:10:26):
the quarterback position. So they were in a real weird
balancing act. And I don't know if the organization will
have the patients knowing that the clock's ticking on a
lot of these thirty something players. But you know, we
could go out down the line started with Baker Mayfield
and Donald and even mac Jones has had a chance
and Daniel Jones, I mean, quarterbacks sometimes gach time and

(01:10:49):
you know, maybe Ultimately, JJ would would have been better
off going somewhere where he wasn't asked to play in
this first couple of years.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
But those guys you mentioned, they were in not so
good situations, you know. Sam Donald goes to the Jets,
were another good football team. They have had one good year,
and with the Giants when they came in and won
a playoff game Baker Mayfield and Cleveland wasn't a good situation.
Then he goes to Carolina, which could have been a
worse situation. All of a sudden, now they find themselves

(01:11:20):
in organizations that can function for the game plan around
what they do well, and now they have taken the
next step. Sam Donald comes here. He went to San
Francisco first, he kind of learned, you know, what it
what it took to play that position. Comes over to Minnesota,
where the situation is very similar, and all of a sudden,
he goes off and takes off and the Vikings go

(01:11:42):
fourteen and three, and now he's one of the you know,
one of the better quarterbacks in the leagues in terms
of keeping his team in the situation where now they
may have a chance to win their division. As a
Viking fan, right Now I didn't think I would be
asking this question at the stage of the season.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
You know, should should we be concerned about the future
of the quarterback position right now for the Minnesota Vikings.
And the answer is unqualified. Yes. You have to be right,
you have to be I mean, go back to August,
the optimism. You know, the quarterback whisperer. He's had a
year to watch and learn from the sideline and now
he's going to take over, and he's a winner and

(01:12:22):
he does everything right. And then he goes out and
beat the Bears. And then he beats the Bears in
the fourth quarter after looking miserable for the first three
A tough spot to go on the road Monday.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
And the understand, you know, this first start of the
nervous here or there found himself and found his way.
So now all of a sudden, we you know, jump
it up and down on the couch, screaming and yelling.
But you were and we found him. Hey, we found
that guy. And they called him number nine, right, No,
he called himself number nine. Oh I thought they had
coach calling him.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
No, he's not. He that persona takes over him when
he when he crosses the line apparently himself is number nine.
It's not a great not a great thing to go
with at this point in your career. Probably, I don't.
I don't hear Love calling himself ten necessarily. I don't
think you need to call yourself nine, you know, unless
you can really back it up. Now, if you're lighting
it up and you talk about your alter ego nine,
that takes over. Cool. Yeah, you're showing.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Us so your magic going to the basketball court, but
you're irving off the court.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
I think that's probably true. Okay, Yeah, takes over when
you when you're running the fast break with James working
exactly suddenly your magic. Yeah. No, I think there's absolute
reason to be concerned. I mean, will we see JJ
barring an injury? Well to Brozemer, do you think we'll
see JJ back in a week or two? Do they
hand it back to him or do they just let him?

(01:13:36):
It probably comes down to what Brosmer looks like. This
week is this is week twelve, this is week thirteen,
it's the twelve twelve game. Yeah, okay, four and seven?
Would you have the four? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
I would if he's ready to play. You have to plan.
You have to plan because you got to see what
you what you have going forward. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah,
So you're going to have to make a decision at
the end of the year, say, Okay, you know, we
had a tough year. He's a rookie, he's a young guy.
But we got some stuff that we can work with here.
So it's over the offseason if he's healthy and we

(01:14:10):
can train him and get him in the right condition
where he's not trying to rehab. We believe that, you know,
he's going to be in a good situation and the
following season. So if he's ready to go, and I
think and he's healthy and you're not going to put
him at harm's way yet he has to play to
finish off the season.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
All right, let me just throw hypothetical. Let's just fast
forward thirty hours. It's three thirty, No, because it don't
have to be about thirty three hours. Basically about six
thirty tomorrow night. The Vikings game has just ended. They
lose a hard thought game to Seattle twenty seven to
twenty four. Brozemer goes twenty for thirty for two forty
and two touchdowns and looks like a quarterback that understands

(01:14:51):
the position the moment's not too big. He's not the
reason you lost, but he keeps you in this game
and looks like an actual NFL quarterback. Does your position
change at all? If Brozma really surprises tomorrow because JJ
McCarthy is was built to be the future of this
organization and you're not ready to give that up yet.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Well, I have to see, because it's not like that
I'm fighting for a playoff spot.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
If I was fighting for a final playoff spot, I
may have a different tape that makes sense. But if
I'm out of the playoff type situation, and if I
have games still left to be played this and my
future quarterback is healthy enough to go out there and perform,
then I have to put him on the field.

Speaker 1 (01:15:40):
I have to put him on the field because he
is the future.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
The reason why we didn't re sign Sam Donald is
because we felt like that JJ McCarthy was the guy
that was going to he was going to lead this ship.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
I know, but maybe you were just wrong, And maybe
Broseman gives you thoughts of hey, this is brought perty
two point zero undrafted guy. I get that point. You
can change your mind. You're not You're allowed to.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
I could be run, but as an organization, I have
to see because I invested a high first round draft
pick for this individual, and if there are games still
left to be played and it's not in a situation
where we're trying to make the playoffs, I have to
see what I have going forward so I can make

(01:16:25):
a better choice in the off season on which direction
I need to go in.

Speaker 1 (01:16:29):
Yeah, I can't argue that, but at some point you
could just say, hey, we we screwed up, but look
we found a guy off the scrap people, but we
don't know that. I mean, right, of course not, but
I got to find out. I mean, because you know,
how can I go back to the owners and say,
you know what, with four games left to go, With
five games left to go, we're now the playoff team.

(01:16:49):
But I'm not going to give the number one pick
another opportunity to show what he can do in live
action against NFL players. Only was like, well, you know,
if if you guys made that bad decision a year ago,
where then maybe it is time for me to think
about who should be running my football organization. Well it's

(01:17:10):
now the realm of possibilities. There could be some change.
I'm hearing this offseason.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
So over the last three or four games, if JJ
McCarthy is ready to go, you know Cavin O'Connell in
his staff, they have to put him on the field.
I can't argue I think it's a lost season. You
have to get more data points on what this kid
might might be or it might have the chance to
be what he may not be.

Speaker 1 (01:17:33):
Correct, let's pause one final time. I believe the hated
Chicago Bears delivered this singular most stunning performance of this
very unusual National Football League season with what they did
in Philadelphia yesterday. What it means for the rest of
the NFC North and the rest of the season, let's
chat about that. I might even mentioning what the Packers
did on Thanksgiving Day when we come back. Final segment

(01:17:56):
in the Zone after these Harberbach Final segment in the

(01:18:23):
Zone for this snowy Saturday morning, stay tuned beyond the
Pond to chat all about your red hot Minnesota wild
Fallless MIKELETI in the house standing by, They'll follow us.
Gopher pregame at twelve thirty, Then the Battle for the
Axe on the fan in two thirty Gopher's Badgers kickoff
just shortly after two thirty. Then wild look for eight
in a row against the Sabers tonight, O tas Thompson's

(01:18:44):
in town. Whose Thompson? He's very good? Is he? Is
that a Saber player? Yes? Okay, very good. Yeah. You'll
hear the Wolves Celtics on the iHeart radio app. Just
look for the Timberwolves channel and you'll hear Alan Horton's
cause the Wolves looked a snappy three game skid against
the Boston Celtics this afternoon four o'clock at Target Center

(01:19:05):
mentioned earlier very much enjoyed Thanksgiving Day much because the
Green Bay Packers went into Detroit and engineered a sweep
of the Lions with a just a really fun strong performance.
Remember last year the Packers went one in five in
the North, barely got the one against the Bears. So
the theme this year was you gotta win your games

(01:19:25):
the North. The Packers are three and zero in the
North after that win. Jordan Love was spectacular again. Duntavian
Wicks wakes up and makes a couple of huge catches.
That fourth down throw by Love now and catch was
Michael Parsons was the dagger. Then Mark Mike is the
closer folks want him to use Enter Sandman the song

(01:19:46):
now that relievers use when he comes in late in
the game because he just knows how to close out quarterbacks.
He's the first player now in NFL history to start
his career with twelve sacks or more in his first
five seasons since they started measuring sacks in the early eighties.

Speaker 2 (01:20:01):
But I think that position went it all, really you.
I mean, when you look at how things are now
starting to play out, if the playoffs had to start today,
you know, based on how the top teams have played
over the last few weeks, I would have to say

(01:20:24):
best two teams right now in the NFC are the
Rams in the Packers.

Speaker 1 (01:20:28):
I get the Seahawks the edge still even though they
were a little ugly last week. Seattle's been so good. Yeah,
But I mean, right now, dolls can't beat the Rams,
and right now I have to say the best two
teams based on what you guys have done in the
last few weeks, probably are the Rams in the Packers.
I look back at that Eagles game and go, how

(01:20:49):
did we not beat Philly after what they did yesterday?
A defense that defense decided to not you know, not
take the night off. Yeah, it took the day off
in a and Dallas is playing good football. They got
up twenty one nothing and they just said okay, yes, disease.

Speaker 2 (01:21:04):
And then yesterday they just fell asleep against the Bears
in you know, congrats to Kevin Warren. You know, the
Bears now finally have the right guy in charge. And
like what happens when you put you know, the right
people in high places to make the best decisions.

Speaker 1 (01:21:20):
But I would argue Ben Johnson seems to be the
right guy in charge. He took his shirt off in
the locker room as they celebrated, and Ben Johnson Kevin Warren,
did there you go? That triggered? Have you ever heard
a Wiener Circle? The chart Dog hot dog place in
Chicago on Clark Street had many a chardog in my
three years in Chicago. They had had a month ago.
If Ben Johnson takes his shirt off after a game,

(01:21:40):
it's free hot dogs for everyone. And he did that
after he yesterday's win, so had to twenty six hundred
something North Clark. If you're in Chicago for free char dogs,
they are outstanding. I did not nobody saw that coming.
If you would have told me that the Chicago Bears
are going to run for two hundred and eighty yards
on that defense in that stadium. After they the five

(01:22:00):
straight wins that were against backups and lousy they barely
beat the Raiders, and all these wins seem so fraudulent,
and they go into Philly and not just beat the Eagles.
They was embarrassed. I was not surprised at all. Really,
why is that after Philly lost that collapse against Dallas.
I thought they'd be on their game yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:22:22):
I wasn't surprised that the Bears went in and one. Now,
I may have been a little surprised, how do you
ran football against the defense?

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
But I wasn't surprised a lot of that the Bears
went huh. I certainly was. I expected Philly to hammer
the Chicago Bears, who again had not beaten the team
that was impressive yet and I did not believe it
in them at all. I have to put my hate
for that organization aside and show respect for that performance.

(01:22:51):
They get their defensive backs back Jalen Johnson, Kyler Gordon.
That makes a huge difference. Lambeau Field three twenty five,
the first of two games in three weeks against the
each other to determine the North.

Speaker 2 (01:23:02):
I do believe that the most talented team in the
NFC are the Philadelphia Eagles, but they're not playing up
to their their level of talent.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
Their offense is broken. Their offensive coordinator does not know
what he's doing right, And so that's why I wasn't
surprised to see.

Speaker 2 (01:23:20):
The Bears go in and win their football game because
they have no idea what they want to do offensively.

Speaker 1 (01:23:25):
They got the talent. Chicago's defense has been taken for
the defense, and the defense is as good as any
defense in football. But there's a mental thing right now
in Philadelphia. There's a mental block, and and if they
don't correct that soon, I don't know if they can.

Speaker 2 (01:23:42):
We believe they can. Most people believe they can. They
can find themselves on the outside looking in. I mean, yeah,
the Cowboys are six five and one and the Eagles
are eight and four, So we've got five games left
here from both teams. Yep, And I know that you know,
the schedule looks very favorable for the Philadelphia Eagles, but

(01:24:04):
with the mindset and how they're playing right now, every
game for them to win might be a struggle.

Speaker 1 (01:24:10):
I do think they'll win the East, but you're right.
When you put up a stinker like that, it does
open your eyes and say, well, wait a minute, look
at look at Kansas City on Thursday. They fall to
six and six, they're likely not to make the playoffs.
I remember the season started, we said.

Speaker 2 (01:24:23):
The Eagles and cansaid that, you know, to go to
the supers. I know you did you like chalk the
I mean who had you know? Who had downated football?

Speaker 1 (01:24:31):
The laste understood, right, But the thinking going into the
season was in the AFC, it's Buffalo, Kansas City and
Baltimore clearly. And get back to me after that. What's
from with Josh Allen? I don't know. But right now,
of those three teams, only Buffalo is in the playoffs.
Right now, Buffalo is the seventh seed. Casey and Baltimore
are on the outside looking in. New England, Denver, Indy,

(01:24:52):
Pittsburgh your top four seeds. It's craziness in the in
the AFC this year, it's really going to be a
fun stretch run. We might see a those new set
of teams. Lamar Jackson's been hurt. What was his excuse
Thursday night? You know he's out there playing Cincinnati. Granted
Burrows back, but they couldn't do anything offensively against a
terrible defense. The defense has been bad too. It's not

(01:25:13):
been up to snuff, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:25:15):
I think the biggest concern even though, like you said,
Baltimore is in the playoffs, my Baltimore, Buffalo's in the playoffs.
They no one saw Buffalo's strudgling like the struggle. No,
it's it's been a crazy year. Look enjoy the snowy weekend.
Good luck to the Golden Golphers against the hated Badgers today,

(01:25:35):
and stay tuned Beyond the Pond.

Speaker 1 (01:25:37):
Your wild Talk is next on the fan