Game On with John Ellis (11-18-2025)

A spirited Football Tuesday!

Anish Shroff (ESPN/Panthers PxP) and Trevor Sikkema (PFF) joined up with us to talk NFL, and more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Act for Sure Stadium. We have a nickname for the
city of Hinesfield. It's the Unhappy Hour here on kick Caught.
It took jay Z seven years to become an overnight sinsation.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I mean opponents are running through them like skyline Chill.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Why are you?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I don't understand Edmunds tinkle table.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
This is actually going over the air.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
It is.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
I love you.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
That car for it.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Let's go to work Man's Fun.

Speaker 5 (00:24):
It's officially the happy hour right here on Game On
with Big Cat and Fruit Loops. Go on, pull up
a chair, unwind and come soak in the undeniable greatness
of sports talk's most dynamic duo. Brought to you by
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Speaker 1 (00:41):
Did we peek early put it in the flump file? Probably?

Speaker 5 (00:44):
Are we still coasting on it?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I've seen it a couple of times.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
Absolutely, and yes, it's all black, gold and processed blue
as far as the eye can see.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
You know, I'm winning Rome.

Speaker 5 (00:54):
He's gonna be rom call us. Let's fight about it.
It's there a call two four zero fifty four. Now
here's John Ls and Trey Paulyy Walnuts Falcon. Yes, sir,
It's another football Tuesday here on Game On.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Good to be with y'all as we spent the better
part of yesterday basking in the glory of a couple
of big wins for this studios. The Steelers last time
I checked, they still won on Sunday they did. Yeah.
Change and the Carolina Panthers. I don't know how they
keep doing it, but they're the cardiac cats once again,
my friend, as they continue to win these remarkable games,

(01:28):
some of them going all the way to extra innings,
if you will, overtime game on Sunday at Atlanta, where
Bryce Young is making that his own personal playground. Welcome
into Game On, Hope y'all are doing well. It's John Elic,
It's Trey Pauli, Walnuts FALCONm we'll take your casts here shortly.
We are guested heavy in this hour, and it's a
good thing we are, because we've got two of our

(01:49):
favorites joining us here before six pm. Coming up at
five point thirty, Trevor Sikima from Pro Football Focus stops
by and we're gonna get the pulse of the NFL
from him around the league joining us now, and it's
been a minute, it's our good friend. He's the play
by play voice of the Carolina Panthers. You can also
hear him on college football for ESPN. Welcome back a

(02:09):
niche Shroff. How you doing, big guy?

Speaker 6 (02:13):
I mean quite the weekend after watching Clemson Louisville Friday
and then Panthers Falcon Sunday. I mean, I need a
disfibrillator right now. It's still only Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
I'm gonna say, Man, we caught that on Friday night
and that was glorious for Clemson. Although that game at
the end, let's talk about that one for a minute.
That was crazy. You got to obviously covered this game
all throughout the week, get to know some of the coaches,
the players, and talk about what a challenge it's been
for the Clemson Tigers this season. And it was a
clunky game at the end, some crazy things happening with penalties,

(02:46):
bad snap on a punt. But give credit to Dabo Swinty.
He's galfinais this group held it together through tough times.

Speaker 6 (02:54):
Yeah, I think you got to give Dabo some credit
for the culture that's intact. But listen, we can't really
for anybody. That was a bad football game.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
And the ending.

Speaker 6 (03:05):
You know, it's funny. We walked away going, what what
did we just watch? Two teams who seem like they
were playing for a draft pick. That's what it felt like.
I mean, two teams who wanted to give it away
time after time. And you know, Clemson comes out, you
know with the win, you got Louisville with college kicker issues.
You got Louisville with discipline issues, five personal foul, six

(03:28):
penalties in the fourth quarter. You know, Clemson kind of
got a little cute at the goal line trying to
get Peter Woods into the end zone. But yeah, I'll
say this the thing, you know, surface level, when you
look at Clemson, you go, you know, this doesn't make
any sense that they're as average as they've been when

(03:49):
they check off all the boxes you wanted to contender.
And I'll be honest, I thought, legitimately going into the
season with an experienced quarterback, an NFL guy in a
first round guide every level on defense, probably a half
dozen future nflers, at least on the defensive side of
the ball. Continuity, which is maybe the biggest outlier and

(04:12):
the most coveted thing that you want from season to
season in college football, right now they had that. They
were coming off a year where they got to the playoff,
won the ACC and like the league hasn't exactly been
great this year. I thought Clemson was gonna run away
with the ACC. I really did, And so it's been surprising.

(04:32):
And I know they've had some you know, they've had
some injuries, but you know, in some places, it's just
kind of weird. You have all these great ingredients, and
you know, you coach long enough, I guess you have
a year where sometimes you know, the things just don't
go your way. And they've just had breakdowns with the
worst times and some of their losses, but they were

(04:53):
able to pull it out. And then credit to them,
they pulled it out on the road and something went
on the road in conference, and you know, aesthetics aside
they got.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, aesthetics matter a little less than the NFL in
terms of the scorecard. But Clemson being out of this
college football playoff race, they've got Furman left and obviously
the big game against South Carolina. That's always big no
matter how the records are. And e Strof is our guest.
He was on the mic for Clemson Louisville and ESPN
and He's going to be on the mic on many
more of those games, But primarily it's about the Carolina
Panthers here, and we've been talking this team up every

(05:22):
single day on this show, and we always do. We've
been doing this show together Falco and I for about
three years, and there have been peaks and valleys. As
John Fox once said, we've seen the deepest and the highest.
And I don't want to say this is a championship
bound team because I certainly don't think they've proven themselves
to that point yet. But to be in mid November,
to be in the conversation for a division championship, and

(05:44):
it all starts with this quarterback. Obviously there's a lot
of layers here, but this quarterback answering some doubts at
the very least with what you saw on Sunday in
that game, a franchise record for passing. A lot of
ingredients went into that, but boy, Bryce Young playing through pain,
that was quite a performance.

Speaker 6 (06:01):
Niche You've seen the movie Pulp Fiction, right, of course,
so you know when Jules quotes the Bible Verse from
the movie, I say Bible Verse and quotes Ezekiel twenty
five seventeen and at the end, I will lay my
vengeance upon thee Yes, that's what came to mind watching that,

(06:25):
because I listen, I gotta give Bryce Young this much.
All week long, I mean, he was getting killed. Yeah,
he was getting destroyed from all corners locally, nationally, and
people were doubting if he could be the guy going
forward for the Carolina Panthers. People wondered if he could
throw the ball down field. I mean they questioned every

(06:47):
single aspect. They were even putting odds on quarterbacks who
were playing elsewhere on being the next QB for the
Panthers week at that point. Yes, and kind of look
at the matchup on paper and you're going all right,
like the Falcons twenty ninth rank, run defense, number one,
pass defense fifth, and sacks. Jake Luke and I were

(07:09):
talking about it before the game. We're almost kind of like,
you know, I get it, everybody wants to see Bryce
have a big game, but this just might be one
of these games where you know, you run the ball
and you might be able to run on them. Indy
ran for three to twenty three at Atlanta last week, Like,
you may not have to throw it more than twenty
twenty five times, and Atlanta stacked the box, sold out
against the run, and Bryce kept on beating them over

(07:30):
the top, over the top, and his receivers made plays.
They made plays after the catch. Lee Get made plays.
I mean you look up and down all the different
pass catchers. But McMillan had a thirty nine yard catch,
leg Get had a thirty six yard touchdown catch. Cocher
had a catch for at least twenty yards, Mitchell Evans
had a catch for at least twenty yards. Ricodowbell had

(07:51):
that little swing pass that almost turned into a touchdown
that went for twenty plus Tommy Tremble, Now again that
was run after the catch. But all these explosive plays
that we're not there in the past, game manifested themselves
on Sunday, and again I just thought Bryce Young with
that Willis Reid moment, You know, I think the hope

(08:11):
is for me and for that everybody who follows the
team and wants them to win, is that we can
look back at this moment and it becomes a mile
marker of sorts in Bryce Young's career, because I think
it was a needed reminder for all of us. This
dude was the number one pick in the draft. This
was not some guy you got in the fourth round.

(08:33):
You brought him in to be a franchise quarterback, and gosh,
d dang, and he played like one on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, and we've seen a history of not only Bryce
performing well at times against great pass defenses. I would
consider this one to be one of the best in
the conference. But in that stadium. You know, there's something
remarkable about what he's done in Atlanta since that opening
game where Jesse Bates baited him into those interceptions, since then,
it's been a clean slate for Bryce. You go all

(09:01):
the way back to Alabama. He played some great games
in that stadium when he was with Bama. So there's
something about that.

Speaker 6 (09:06):
Brought that up.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
That environment.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
I brought that up. Go back to twenty twenty one. Yeah,
SEC Championship. He threw for four to twenty one, Yes,
pass for three touchdowns, ram for another. Oh, by the way,
that Georgia defense ended up with something like fourteen NFL.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Draft Yeah, they're all on the Eagles now, both of
them are, right. Yeah, it was a remarkable turn of events,
and certainly I think you brought up the matchup dynamics
That's what Billy and I were talking about on the
pod last week too, that maybe this is not the
week to take whatever bait could be out there. Not
that teams do that, but there was a real push,
I think, to get the passing game rolling. They certainly

(09:44):
did that, and a couple of guys I feel great for.
Obviously Ted Rowan McMillan. We'll talk about him. He's just
been magnificent as a rookie. All you could won for
from a top ten guy who was really disgraced by
some pre draft. We'll get to that another time. But
Tommy Tremble with the big catch and run at the
end and the Xavier look get Obviously it's been an
up and down season, but they both both made big

(10:07):
plays in this game, in the second half, in and overtime.
I was happy for both those guys, and especially for Tremble,
a guy that just does all the dirty work and
to have that moment where he's stiff farming a guy
fifteen yards down the field, that was a cool moment.

Speaker 6 (10:21):
Yeah, And I'll be honest, Tommy's probably one of my
favorite guys on the team, Just the type of dude
that you want in a locker room. He busts as
you know what, the guy plays hard, wants to win.
He's part of the culture. He's been here now, you know,
he's what you're five, right, Yeah, Like he's kind of
one of those guys who has gone through it and

(10:43):
I mean gone through it him, Derek Brown, Cuba, J C. Horn,
and you know you kind of see it with those guys,
like this thing is turning, we feel it, we want
to be a part of it. And that exuberance by
Tommy at the end of the play, I mean it
felt like Kathar like we can now punch back. But

(11:04):
that's one thing this team has been able to do.
And you know, one last thing on you mentioned Bryce, Right,
the people who peruse box scores and only look at
box scores and don't watch games, I think sometimes you
lose sight of how a game is played. Right, the
Green Bay, well he only threw for one hundred and
two yards or whatever it was. Well, you know, win
was a big factor and managing the game was a

(11:26):
big reason that the Panthers won that game. And that
was the case in some of these other games too. Right,
balance in football is not fifty to fifty one pass
It's being able to do what you want when you
need to do it. Right. So, if the team is
loading up the box and you need to throw, and
maybe they do that all game, and you got to
throw forty five times, you got to throw forty five times,

(11:47):
that's balance. If you're spreading them out and you can
run the football and you're gaining five six yards and
they can't stop you and they're not matching their personnel
with your heavy personnel, and you're able to run successfully
and you're running for two hundred yard cards you're on
the football, that is balance. It's not well, we need
to run for one hundred and pass for two hundred.

(12:07):
It's not like you know this. It's not a mathematical line.
It's being able to do what you want when you
need to do it.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, they have that flexibility and these Shroff is our
guest here Carolina Panthers Radio Network and ESPN talking about
the Carolina Panthers moving above five hundred again in mid November.
You don't want to get caught up too much in it,
but it certainly feels good for this fan base and
for those that cover the team like you and I
both to have some relevance here. I think one thing

(12:35):
that has made this team relevant again the Giro Evro
and a host of others on that defensive staff. And
I know there were some breakdowns early in that game
in the secondary, but boy, to come from where they
came from this time last year in terms of the
trenches being able to be respectable at times almost at worst,
and at best dominant in terms of stopping the run,

(12:57):
it's great. And what they did in the second half
against Robinson limiting his activity and against some of these
backs that we see continue to dominate now, like Javonte
Williams eight chan down there in Miami. That to me
has been one of the hidden storylines of this season.
To go from disaster last year to respectability. That's sometimes
very good setting the edge, being disciplined and filling your

(13:18):
gaps there in the run game, if.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
You think of it this way. Last year the run
defense was historically bad.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (13:27):
This year, in a six week span, which is a
third of the season, Week two through Week seven, only
Seattle had a better run defense than the Panthers. Yeah. Wow.
And in the first half, the Jean Robinson put up
big numbers, had almost one hundred yards rushing at halftime.
There were a number of plays where they kind of
had him dead to rights in the backfield, and you know,

(13:48):
Bejon did bijon stuff. I mean, he might be as
good of an all round player as there is in
the NFL. But in the second half, Atlanta had eighty
seven total yards of offense. And you know, you watch
a guy like Claude sherri Liss, who I thought played
his best game as a Panther, right, the guy who's
been in the system three years. Trevin Wallace is out

(14:08):
and Rose Boom goes down. You know, he shows up.
He's making big plays, He's covering receivers in the slot, right. Yeah,
and he had ten tackles. He had a career high.
He made some huge plays in that game. Corey Thornton
right stepping up getting some more run as the nickel,
made some big plays in the game. So you're starting
to see that depth. Lebrian Ray blew up a big

(14:28):
play in the second half of that game. Obviously we
know what Derek Brown brings. But yeah, they play with
the violence, they play with the physicality upfront. And you
know the great thing about Sunday was this team has
shown that it can win a game with its defense.
We saw that a couple of times this year, the
first Falcons game, the Jets game. We have seen this
team win with special teams. We have seen them win

(14:50):
by running the football, and then on Sunday we saw
them win by passing the football. That ability to drive
in different lanes and get to your destination. Those are
the under the hood signs that this team is in
a far far better place than it's been in the
last few years.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Any shause Bryce doing, Do we have an update on
his ankle?

Speaker 6 (15:12):
We're gonna get one on Thursday.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
Okay, we'll keep an eye on that because it looked
like he was limping pretty good after the game, and
some of the reports today had him looking pretty decent
walking around the facility. But we'll avoid for the update
from the head coach, Dave Canalis, who's done a masterful job,
I think, in a lot of ways, along with Dan
Morgan and the staff, getting this team in a position
at the end of November here as we get to
the Thanksgiving stretch with a real chance to play meaningful games,

(15:35):
And certainly that holds true with this game coming up
in week twelve. They're in San Francisco ten years later
from the site of their Super Bowl loss. And there
are a lot of dynamics that play here rematch with
Kristin McCaffrey, brock Purdy back in the lineup, a team
that's tried and s trued and tested, but banged up
in their own right, with Carolina coming in as an underdog.

(15:56):
There's a lot of history here. They go back to
nineteen ninety five together. I was around for those games.
I'm fascinated by this matchup in so many ways here,
Niche Yeah.

Speaker 6 (16:06):
And I'm glad you brought up, you know, the early years,
because you know, for a lot of younger fans, remember
Carolina used to be in the NFC West, back when
the NFL really didn't have geography. Right when it came
to division you have the Arizona Cardinals or the Phoenix
Cardinals right in the NFC East. Remember that it didn't
make any sense. But you had the Saints, the Panthers,
and the Falcons you know in the West at one point, right,

(16:29):
and so like, the divisions didn't make a whole lot
of sense. But when the Panthers again were an expansion team,
they're in the NFC West and San fran At the time,
as you know, John, they were kind of what Buffalo was,
or take any top team Philly, Dallas, not Dallas, Philly,
Kansas City. I mean, they were at that level. They
were the defending Super Bowl champions in ninety five. They

(16:51):
were coming off three straight appearances in the NFC Championship Game.
And when Carolina went and beat San Francisco in ninety five,
it was kind of a whoa, these like, who are
these guys? Where did they come from?

Speaker 7 (17:03):
Right?

Speaker 6 (17:03):
You know, how dare you knock off a San Francisco
team that basically for fifteen years had been winning you know,
double digit games and usually you know, twelve thirteen games
a year. And then in ninety six the Panthers sweeped
the forty nine ers. Yes, and their wins against San
Francisco in the early years of their franchise I think
more than anything put the Panthers on the national stage.

(17:25):
Like that was a whoa, Okay, yeah, you're not just
like these expansion guys from Carolina. Where do they play?

Speaker 5 (17:32):
Is it?

Speaker 6 (17:32):
Is it Charlotte? You know where Charlotte is that North
Carolina or South Carolina. They're like, this is what people
would say, right, and all of a sudden, you know,
it was kind of like, hey, no, they punched up,
they knocked the bully in the mouth. And this game
on Monday n kind of feels that way, Like, I know,
San Fran coming off a down season, but you know,
they're still in the playoff mix. They have been one

(17:53):
of the better franchises over the last seven eight years,
at least since Shanahan's been there. And this is like
a national stage for the Panthers to hit a bully
in the mouth and to show that they can hit
the bully in the mouth with everybody watching. And I
think it's a big test, not just because it's Monday
night football, but if you look at the arc of
this season, John, Right, you had that big win against Atlanta.

(18:15):
What happened the following week against New England and not
so good? Right, pregame win streak, everyone's feeling good. You
come home against Buffalo, You're thinking, yeah, you know, don't
happen with Buffalo in Atlanta? And then not quite. You
go to Green Bay, right, where nobody thinks you can
do anything, You win, and then the letdown against the Saints. Right,

(18:36):
these are growing pains that happen with young teams still
figuring it out. Well, now the schedule gets exponentially tougher
the rest of the way. And I'm not saying you
got to go out and beat every single one of
these teams and go six and zero down the stretch,
but can they unlock that level of consistency right, make
it a four quarter game with all these teams. I
think that will go a long way and showing people

(18:58):
how far this team has come, because now you're facing
all the bullies. You got the Niners, you got the Rams,
you got the Bucks twice, you got Seattle. So I'm
calling it a Christmas Carolina. John. You know why it's
a Christmas Carolina because there's four ghosts of Christmas past.
If we're going to do this, it's McCaffrey, it's Baker twice,
and it's Sam Darnold.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Sam Well. Yes, that is a remarkable way to frame this.
I didn't think of all that until now, and I'm
glad you've framed it in such a way that it's
got a holiday pep to it, and hopefully as we
get into the giving months here, into the holiday season,
Carolina gets their own something in the stocking other than
a lump goal, which has been the case since twenty seventeen.

(19:40):
They've got a real shot here, and I think it
starts one game at a time. With San Francisco. You
broke it down so well for us here. And when
you see Dom capers around the building, give him a
hat tip because he's going back to San fran And
he was the architect of those teams that you talked
about thirty years ago, and he was, Yeah, it's an
amazing story. He went to Green Bay. It was a

(20:00):
part of that staff that took him to the NFC
Championship in ninety six. And he's back there in that
stadium a couple of weeks ago getting a win. Just
some cool little storylines with this team in Eiche.

Speaker 6 (20:10):
Yeah, and I just think again that venue you mentioned it, right,
I mean that venue. We all know what happened in
that venue. And you know there's the playoff game and
the history of the forty nine ers. What was that
twenty fourteen right, the Division Round game at Bank of
America Stadium, and you know, you go back to the
early years. I mean I remember Wesley Walls. That was
like the revenge game for Wesley Walls. Yes, every time

(20:32):
he faced the forty nine ers, it felt like he
scored two touchdowns. But if you've looked at the schedule
on Sunday night, did you see what the Sunday night
game is this week?

Speaker 1 (20:41):
I did. Yeah, We're in flex season.

Speaker 6 (20:44):
Now, so Sunday Night is Tampa Bay at the La Rams.
Huge if the Rams win that game, which again very
likely possibility as good as the Rams have looked, the
forty nine Ers and the Panthers play Monday Night, and
Carolina goes into Monday Night potentially playing for sole possession

(21:04):
of first place in the NFC South at the end
of week twelve. How wild is that?

Speaker 1 (21:09):
It's lovely?

Speaker 6 (21:10):
I mean you talk about how many people in the
Carolinas are going to gather around their Thanksgiving table. Yes,
and when they go around, they're going to say, and
I know you'll do it to your family. What are
your kids?

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Is going to say it?

Speaker 6 (21:21):
John, I'm thankful for the Carolina Pantas.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, well we've always been, but more so
this year that we're seeing something around Thanksgiving that resembles
playoff football. And it's been a minute a Niesroth and
Jake and Luke in the whole game. Kirk Coleman doing
such a great job calling those games will be on
the pregame The Tailgates Show before the Monday night game
live from Charlotte in advance of you guys on ninety
nine seven The Fox, and I can't wait to hear

(21:45):
the call.

Speaker 7 (21:45):
Man.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
It's going to be exciting a Niche. Thanks for all
you do, man, Thanks for all the great work you
do on ESPN and for stopping buy and sharing some
moments with U.

Speaker 6 (21:52):
Year. Yeah, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Man.

Speaker 6 (21:55):
Always fun to chat with you. And this is a
big one. I hope, I hope we can enjoy it,
and I hope we get a heck of a game.
And you know it's listen, you know you want one more?
Bryson C. McMillan, going, going back back. I'm not gonna sit.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
We'll cue the song up after break. Don't worry. You're
the man in Niche bring back a dub.

Speaker 6 (22:18):
Please all right, see you guys, see.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
About a Niche Shroth Panthers Radio Network ESPN had a
busy weekend. Think of that weekend. He's all the way
up there in Louisville covering Clemson right right, you know Louisville,
a hell of a game with, as he said, some
clunkiness at the end. There he hops a bird down
to Atlanta and calls a dynamic overtime game. I forgot
to ask him, who's he on the mic for free

(22:41):
ESPN this week? Does he have to do a doubleheader?
He'll be in there with San Francisco coming up Monday night.
We'll research that and we'll get back to you on that.
Coming up next. Another guest and then it's all about you.
Coming up in a few short minutes, it's our good
friend Trevor Sikhama from Pro Football Focus. We'll talk Panthers,
We'll talk Steelers with him, get his perspective on all
these teams that we're trying to figure out. Are they

(23:03):
real contenders for tenders around this league? It's game odd.
Welcome into the party today. It's brought to you by
our good friends at Ingles Markets, Low prices, love the savings.
We're back read after this.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
This is game on on one O more nine Fox
Morns substant Thank our good friend Anisee Shack for stopping

(23:52):
by for a good twenty five minutes. Had a good
conversation with a niche he's all over it with ESPN,
ABC College Football, and of course he's the voice of
the Carolina Panthers. Panthers all of a sudden means something
again right before Sun'sgivings, and he said, let's fly out
to San Francisco, somehow get a w against this team
that has been a thorn in their side, and you

(24:14):
can celebrate your turkey dinner as a potential first place
team in the NFC South. There's a long way to go.
You're not gonna believe it. I still don't believe it.
You got to see it before I can believe it was.
And it's an early Christmas miracle, it's a Thanksgiving miracle.
Let's hope it all goes well for that team. But
there's another team they're being challenged by right now, as

(24:35):
always the standard bearer in the NFC South, it's the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There are a lot of storylines around
the NFL, and we're blessed to have our good friend
back on this air from Pro Football Focus.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Let's welcome in Trevor Sickima.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
What's going on, friend, Guys, It's always going to be
with you. I appreciate you having.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Me back Oh man, you're the best, dude. Thanks for
making time for us. And look, let's let's start with
what's going on in a crazy NFC South. You know
this division well, obviously you've been covering the higher NFL landscape,
but you have a history with Tampa Bay. I've got
a history with Carolina, of course, and this is a
bit of an interesting dynamic shaping up. I still sense
that it's Tampa's division to lose because Baker's always so

(25:12):
good down the stretch and that defense. They've had some
moments lately against great teams where it hasn't been so great.
Let's size it up with Tampa right now. A loss
in Buffalo, they play against the Rams this week. What
do you make of the team right now being a
little bit depleted injury wise, Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Mean it's I do agree with you. I think they
should still be the betting favorites to win the division,
although I think, of course, Caroline has given him a
good run for their money.

Speaker 7 (25:37):
Now.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
I think that Atlanta is probably out of it right
with Michael Pennick Shunior going to IR. I've seen Kirk
Cousins this year and he he doesn't have it. His
arm doesn't have anymore, and so I just I don't
think that the Falcons, who I already thought were going
to be pretty high variant on the defensive side of
the ball, I don't think they're going to make a
run for it. But you know, with Carolina, they're playing
incredibly well. And when Carolina plays well, it's really impressive football.

(26:01):
I mean it starts up front with them. Their offensive line,
which was a top ten unit last year, got up
to a little bit of a shaky start this year,
and now they're playing extremely well. Now you get in
a situation where it's been frustrating because like some weeks,
the passing game isn't great some games, the running game
isn't great, and that's sort of hit them a little
bit with their inconsistencies. But when they're on, they can

(26:22):
be good teams in this league. And I think that
they've shown you that with their wins. They've been some
really impressive wins when they've been there. Now on Tampa
side of things, they have struggled as of late. Right
they've lost three of their last four games. The only
win they have is against their divisional foe in New Orleans.
But you know it's lost to the Lions. It's loss
of the Patriots, it's a loss of the Bills. I'm

(26:43):
not going to be picking them against the Rams. But
then after that things do get a little bit easier
or at least a little bit more in their control.
They take on the Cardinals, they take on the Saints,
the Falcons, and then it's three very interesting weeks with Panthers, Dolphins,
Panthers to end the season. Now with the Bucks in
the middle of the year. I follow a lot of
Bucks fans with being from Tampa. They're like, this happens

(27:05):
every year, and it's kind of funny that it does.
I mean, when you get to the middle of the year,
for whatever reason, it just takes Todd Bowles and that
coaching staff. Maybe it is just the seasons of the
NFL year a couple of weeks to kind of like
take their losses, if you will. I don't have the
stats off the top of my head, but there have
been chunks in the middle of the year over the

(27:26):
last four years where they'll start pretty hot and then
they'll go one in three or one in four or
one in six, and then they always seem to bounce
back and figure it out. At the end of the year, they'll,
of course, they hope get a lot more healthy, like
Evans could be coming back, Chris Godwin's supposed to come
back at some point, Bucky Irving and those are major
difference makers on their offensive side of things. But I

(27:49):
think for them the Cavalry is coming and with them
having that game in hand over the Panthers, I'd still
take them to win the division. But it could be
shitited that three week stretch of Caroline and Miamiline and
then obviously vice versa on the Panthers side of things,
that could be a pretty phone went down the stretch well.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
And who knows? This year, this has been the ultimate
who knows year in the NFL. Like I we've covered
this league for a long time. I don't recall a
year where it's been this turbulent amongst almost every team
in the league, with maybe one or two exceptions. That
brings you back to Carolina. You've covered this team extensively.
I saw you tweeting some stuff out on Sunday. Let's
start obviously with Bryce Shong. It wasn't on my Bengo

(28:27):
card that he would be coming out against that defense
with a four hundred and forty eight yard performance, breaking
from cam't Newton's franchise record, but boy, it was clicking.
Tede Roa McMillan is just so good and I don't
want to box him into the Drake London Mike Evans mold,
but it feels a little bit like that, and he's
playing above his expectation versus a lot of draft experts

(28:47):
out there. Just talk about that connection between those two.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
Yeah, and look, you know, you could say that you
don't want to necessarily put him in that box with
those wide receivers, but the common denominator with those names
that you just mentioned is their wide receiver ones, right,
therue talented players, and I think that if you want
to sort of put him in that mold and in
that box, I think that most people would be pretty
good with it. Ted was my wide receiver one this
past year. I had him as a top ten player.

(29:10):
I can't remember if I ended up having him top
five or not, but I mean I thought that he
was one of the best players in this class. And
I remember doing some video content with the Panthers themselves
over at Panthers dot Com. Great people to work over there.
I love working with those guys, and they were kind
enough to have me in and run a little mock
draft for them, and we kind of went through a
little bit of a mock draft scenario where we got

(29:31):
to number eight in the draft order. And this was
around the time when basically everyone was saying, you have
to pick defense, right, They're going to pick a pass right,
you don't have.

Speaker 6 (29:41):
To pick defense.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
And I said to them, I was like, look, I
think I'm going to take defense just for this exercise
because I think Panthers fans want it. But I said
this to them. I was like, I would take Ted here,
I would take Tetro McMillan, and I'd feel great about
it because when I looked at this scenario, for them
to get McMillan, it made their entire wide receiver group

(30:02):
better because unfortunately last year, Xavier Leaguett was having to
be a wide receiver one. Okay, he's probably not a
wide receiver one. A wide receiver two, sure, but not
a wide receiver one. Adam Feelin was forced to be
a wide receiver two, and we know the twilight of
his career he wasn't that type of a player. Jalen Coker,
who was great was sort of forced to almost be
this wide receiver two player coming off being an undrafted

(30:25):
wide receiver for them. So all of that to say,
if you were to put teamac at the wide receiver
one spot, then everything else fills in so nicely gets
to be the vertical stretching wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Two.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
Coker gets to be the wide receiver three. The tight
ends get to be involved in a lot of different
ways in this offense. And I think getting back to
last week, that's what we saw. And for Bryce Young specifically,
I understand he doesn't have all the physical talents in
the world. He's not Justin Herbert, he's not Josh Allen,
he's not Patrick Mahomes. But he's a Heisman Trophy winner.
He's one of the most impressive player during his starting

(31:01):
time when he was at Alabama against some of the
biggest games that college football had to offer. This kid
can play in the NFL, and he could win in
the NFL. The big difference between the good Bryce Young
games and the bad Bryce Young games is confidence. I
truly believe that. Sure, you could go to some games
and say, well, he was pressured here and he didn't
handle it well. Well, they were dropping a lot here,

(31:22):
and they didn't really hit it well. They didn't have
a run game here, and he didn't really handle that
well when more.

Speaker 6 (31:26):
Was on his play.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
You can say all that kind of stuff, but I
have counters for games when those things have happened and
he has still played well. And the difference is just confidence.

Speaker 6 (31:37):
To me.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
When you look at last year, the beginning of last
season before he got benched, he looked so void of
confidence in those first two games. That's why you bench it,
not because the lack of the talent, because he just
didn't have it mentally. Now he comes back in the
second half of last season, he had a lot of
time off, had a lot of time to think about it,
getting the lab, get in the film room, get confident again,

(31:58):
and we saw him play great. And obviously this year
it's been a little up and down. There have been
games where he's put up some stingers, but we've also
got some great Bryce Young games and last week was
one of them. So if you tell me that Bryce Young,
I don't know, just needs to get to the second
half of every season and he's going to play on
fire like a top ten quarterback in the league. Then
you got to love where this team is at right now.

Speaker 6 (32:17):
You do.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
And I think the biggest thing about Bryce, and you
know this as well as anyone if you cover this team,
you covered college football, it's the resilience. I think. You know,
you try to put these guys into a certain framework
of what their technique looks like, what their tangibles look like.
And it's hard to measure in tangibles, but boy, over
the years, whether it was the game in LSU when
he was at Alabama where he led them down the field,

(32:40):
whether it's you know, the SEC Championship where he throws
for four hundred yards against Georgia's defense, and you mentioned
most recently being benched, being challenged, the turnovers early, the
injury in that game. He seems unfazed by a lot
of what happens around him. He's very introspective and I
like that about him so much as Carolina finds himselves
on the step of potentially challenging not just for a

(33:02):
wild card maybe this division. Trey Facco, big Steeler fan,
got a Steeler question.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yeah, Trevor, I've got a I do have a Steelers question,
But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the magic
school Bus that is Mount Washington mowing down Cincinnati defenders
there in that game Sunday.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Just your thoughts on that run.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
So, as somebody who had Darnell Washington as a top
twenty player in that class, you absolutely love to see it.
When I watched him at Georgia, I was just so
enamored with the potential that this guy had. You know,
if you put him attached to the line of scrimmage,
he's legitimately big enough to be a sixth offensive line

(33:40):
up for you. When you have him in motion with
split zone, he's he's a locomotive when he's blocking guys
who are left unblocked on the other side of the
line of scrimmage. And then I watched just a little
bit of when they got him involved in the passing game. Now,
you got to remember he was in the same passing
game as Brock Bauers, so they were obviously going to
use him a lot. But when they threw it to
Darnell Washington, there were good things. But throughout his NFL

(34:02):
career before this season, he just felt like, I don't
he just didn't have that edge to him. He just
wasn't playing with that edge to him. Actually this year
that is no longer the case. And that run against
the Bengals where he had three forced missed tackles and
if you would have stayed in bounds, he probably would
have had three more as he scored the touchdown. It's
fun to watch a player who is that talented have

(34:23):
that much confidence in himself.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
I love it so much, and I'm so glad they're
finally utilizing him. I've wanted him to utilize him since
he came out, and it just seems like they're content
with just sticking him at the line, which good, I
get it. But man, if you put the ball in
his hands, magical things happen. So flipping over, obviously, Aaron
Rodgers goes down with the with the wrist injury. How
concerned should Steelers fans be with Aaron Rodgers potentially missing

(34:45):
this game against the Bears?

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Do you is Mason Rudolph enough.

Speaker 7 (34:51):
Not?

Speaker 8 (34:52):
I won't.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
I wouldn't be picking them given how the Bears have
played lately. It's a little bit less of a Steelers thing,
and I think it's more are of a Bears thing
because Caleb Williams, you talk about guys who are playing
with a lot of confidence. He is now playing with
a lot of confidence. And what I like so much
about where the Bears currently are is they've got all
of these passing weapons, and all those names look really

(35:13):
great on paper. But the fact of the matter is
is that if you don't have a quarterback who's confident
and trusts all of those names on that depth chart,
well then it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how talented
they are. And I think that with last week he
ran the passing attack through Cole Comet and Cole c Lovelan. Okay,
now he's got the tight ends. We know he's got
that chemistry with Romo Doonze from what we saw at

(35:34):
the beginning of the year. Now we're starting to get
Luther Burden involved a little bit. DJ Moore obviously has
been more quiet than I think they have wanted to,
but I do think that he's got confidence throwing him
the ball. So now you have Caleb with a fully
unlocked depth chart, and obviously Ben Johnson who's not afraid
to scheme these guys up to make these throws a
little bit easier, to create those throwing windows with a
lot of talented players. So the way that the Bears

(35:57):
are playing right now on offense, say that I'd still
be taking Chicago here. The X factor would be if
Aaron Rodgers would play, because, as Aaron Rodgers has said before,
I love playing a soldier field. He says he owns barriers.
That to me is the is the ultimate X factor

(36:17):
there is. I think Aaron Air realizes that this is
probably the last time he'll play in soldier field, and
I don't think that he wants to take that opportunity
away lightly. So I haven't seen anything. Maybe you guys
have seen, like whether he's out for sure or not,
But I think you're going to do everything he possibly
is to play in this game.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah, we'll see what happens there. Classics Sports Talk goober
question for you here. Trevor Sikima is our guest and
we're going to ask him the just the brain rock question,
but it's got some depth to it. These three teams
are not in the playoff picture right now, at least technically.
The Chiefs, the Lions, the Ravens. Can you rank them
one to three from most assured to least assured that
you have for them to make a run at this thing,

(36:56):
because none of them are in the playoff picture at
the current moment.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yeah, man, that's that is actually I mean you might
say it's a brain rock question, but that is actually
a good question. I actually think the Ravens are one.
I think the Lions are two, and I think the
Chiefs are three. I don't know if you guys have

(37:20):
a graphics department. I can't wait to be put on
that graphic for social media with the Chiefs med at three.
But you know, the Ravens, the Ravens. The Ravens have
the easier path right because of that division, and it
feels like they've got that momentum. The schedule isn't too difficult,
and Lamar hasn't even really started to play super well yet,

(37:42):
so I think that their path is just the easiest.
I feel the most confident in Detroit as a team,
but that division is absolutely brutal. The Chiefs, Yeah, of
course it's the Chiefs. I'm never going to count them out.
But like guys, this rushing attack is bad. I mean,
they are not They are not fool and anybody with
what they're doing out there, A lot of things are straightforward.

(38:03):
There's no deception, there's no second guessing between the defenses
that they're playing, those defensive players, whether they want to
be aggressive on a certain guy or whether they got
to be worried about somebody else like and I think
that it starts in the backfield. They are not dynamic
enough out of the backfield. I haven't checked this week,
but two weeks ago I checked it. They have the
least amount of misstackles forced in the NFL from running

(38:24):
backs out of the backfield on early downs first and
second town. It's just it's and and I was I've
heard rumors that Brett Veach, you know, would have given
a fourth round pick for Brest Hall, but the Jets
wanted a third. It's like, man, I understand sticking your principles,
but you got nobody.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
I mean, there's nobody the deadline. They didn't make a
move to Trevor. I was stunned they did. Kamara maybe
didn't want to leave New Orleans, but there were a
number of backs out there they could have made it
play for that. That to me was surprising.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
And what's even more surprising to me is that they
didn't make a move. And then they've got a dynamic
athlete in Brishard Smith who okay, maybe is a little
bit more of a receiver than a runner from his
wide receiver days, but he's still listed as a running back.
He is the most dynamic athlete that they have in
their backfield right now, especially with Pachako Hurt. You guys

(39:18):
don't how many carries he got last week after the
trade deadline is over. Zero, not a zilch none. They
gave every single designed carry to Kareem Hunt in twenty
twenty five. It is twenty eighteen. Okay, maybe I understand
that Kareem Hunt at the same player he was before.
So they have a major issue with lack of dynamic

(39:41):
athletic ability out of the backfield in the run game,
and that is why this team has the lowest third
down conversion percentage in the Patrick Mahomes era. That's why
their record is what it is right now.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Trevor Sikima, PFF dot Com. They do such a great job,
especially with that draft simulator, that this time every year
we start doing his Panthers guy because we have nothing
else to look forward to. So we'll table that till
maybe January because we have some playoff football ahead of us,
we think. But let's promote everything. You're doing right now
with PFF. Man, get it out there.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
No, I appreciate it. Yeah, all the good stuff over
at PFF dot com. We're covering the league with preview
and review shows over at the PFF YouTube channel. And
then yeah, whenever Panthers fans just want to dip their
toe in the water for the draft. Not saying you
should now because that's a very exciting time, but if
you ever want to look at the future, the mock
Draft simulator over at PFF dot com, and then the
NFL Stock Exchange podcast myself and Connor Rodgers covering the

(40:35):
draft three sixty five.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
They do it better than anybody. Trevor, thanks for your time, man,
This is so much fun. Let's do it again, Bud.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
I appreciate it guys anytime, truly.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
All right, be well. Trevor Sikham of one of the
best in the business out there, and hey, breaking news
tomorrow his cohort that appeared on that show that McAfee showed. Yeah,
Dalton Wasserman joins us tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Oh nice.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
So two of McAfee's favorites there at Trevor Sikima and
then you got Dalton Wasserman coming up tomorrow. I believe
that's at six thirty. I'll double check that we're off
the air today at six thirty if I'm mistaking. Gamecock
Basketball is tonight, So we have a ton to get to.
We'll take a break here, come back, get the six
pm hour going. We'll start open up the phone lines
for you guys with some NFL and college football questions.

(41:21):
We've got the college football playoff rankings coming out in
a short while here. I'm sure we'll have a lot
to chew on with that tomorrow. And in case you
miss any of these interviews, go to the iHeartRadio app
and subscribe the Game On with John Ellis. We got
you covered there. We're back after this.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
Game On with John Alis weekdays four to six on
one O, four to nine, Fox Sports up State.

Speaker 9 (41:56):
Let Oh, it's a good day to be doing sports talk.

Speaker 6 (42:39):
Man.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
A lot going on, not going on in football, lot
going on in college football. As a Game On continues,
John I llu's trate PAULI Walnuts Falcom long for the
ride here as we're driving you into that six pm
hour special. Thanks to our friends Annis Shroth Panthers Radio
Network ESPN. He joined us at the top of the
show and our good buddy Trevor Sikkamutz in a minute.

(43:00):
Since Trevors has been on our show, Busy Guy, guys
everywhere as you've got like five shows, he's got appearances
on NFL network. But we reached out earlier and he's like, yeah,
let's do it. So it was a lot of fun man,
Trevor Sikhima, Anieshroth. You can getch those later tonight on
the iHeartRadio app. Just to subscribe on the iHeart app
to Game on with John Ellis and don't miss a

(43:22):
minute of our full library of shows that we've been
doing here. Lane Kiffin tell you some He went on
McAfee today and so that it's not true that he
was given an ultimatum by old miss to make a
decision on any particular job offers out there. But as
is the case in college football, we were talking about
this off air and in the SEC in particular, like

(43:45):
tracking flights has become like a tradition. It's this tweet
from Big Content guy. My favorite thing about SEC culture
is people tracking private flights and driving to local airports
to see if a coach is in town to interview.
Just an insane thing to do for literally anything else
besides sec football. Baby, I'd agree with that.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
That's it is a little it's it's interesting.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
It's yeah, it would be a sick o behavior. It
is sick o. Yeah, it's the kind of sick o
behavior we tip a cap to and respect. But definitely
an interesting way to go about living your life. But
there there are rumors out there that it could be Florida,
could be LSU. We'll see where the lane train ends
up parking, or maybe it's just a play to squeeze

(44:29):
a little squeeze a little more money out Old Miss.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
He should go to he should go to the Giants.
Just keep coaching the check art, you know what.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
That was a thought. He's been in the NFL. I
don't think that's going to happen at this point, but
that was one of my initial thoughts with the lane train,
looking maybe for another opportunity. Kiffin has guided Old Miss
to a ten to one record this season, and he's believed,
of course, according to ESPN dot com, be a top
candidate for the vacancies at Florida and LSU. Kiffin said earlier, Yeah,

(44:58):
that's not absolutely true, or that's ap altely not true.
On the Pat McAfee show. There have been no ultimatums,
nothing like that at all, and so I don't know
where that came from. Like a lot of stuff that
comes out there. Like I said, man, we're having a blast.
I love it here. When I watched, I wasn't totally convinced. Yeah,
oh yeah, like you know, sounded like a guy who

(45:19):
said all the right things. But we'll have to see
what happens. He's making nine million a year right now
and another two and a half million in potential bonuses.
Let's go find you check book. Tenth highest paid in
FBS this season, but he's the fifth highest paid SEC coach,
so he's looking to make some more. Brian Kelly was
fourth on this list ten point two million. Now, family, well,

(45:42):
family's going to be fed well despite the fact that
he's out of a job. We're gonna truck on here
to the six pm hour. Come on and join the show.
Two four zero five four eight zero. We're back after
this on Game one for sure. Stadium isn't even nicknamed

(46:07):
for the citium field. You can pay him out at
Parson What have you got hit by Trump again? I'm
not taking CJ over ma Holmes. Let me tell you
about Sam Dark. You could have him right now for
a bag of him. And it's Philly. I'm just a
dumb sports talker, but.

Speaker 6 (46:22):
I love to start up.

Speaker 10 (46:25):
John.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Oh yeah, baby, the weight is over. I got pure
octane right now.

Speaker 10 (46:30):
I woke up.

Speaker 6 (46:30):
I'm ready.

Speaker 5 (46:31):
Finally something to argue about. That isn't your co workers
fantasy trade proposal or Bryce Young's height. It's game on
with John Ellison, trade poly Walnuts, Falco with wall to
wall NFL action all season long. I am the new
from first snap to final whistle, rookies, revenge games and

(46:51):
questionable calls and absolutely zero patients for your power rankings.

Speaker 7 (46:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
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Speaker 1 (47:05):
Let's talk some football. Here's John Alis.

Speaker 9 (47:09):
Yeah baby, having a good time today.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
It's game on. It's a football Tuesday, nothing but football,
ball to wall as We've got you covered from the
NFL side of things, the college football side of things,
and much much more. Here's a big question of the
day for you. Brought to you by Ingles Markets, Low Prices,
Love the Savings. This is courtesy of our friends at
Super seventies sports. That's a great sight. When I say

(47:34):
great player, who's never won a championship, who's the first
guy that comes to your head? Oh, that's a good
never won a championship. The first name that comes to
your head in any sport a culture player two four
zero five four eight zero. I've got a few names
in mind. Julius Peppers comes to mind from the Panthers,
obviously close to home. Dan Marino would be the one

(47:54):
of the quintessential top names out there. I mean I
would say Steelers, but most of them have one. There
you go, And that's what me.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Talking about current and he probably never will well. I
mean that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
This is the Garrett Miles.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Garrett's a great name, never gonna win one.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Think about all the Hall of famers in the league
that are still playing right now. Hell, Josh Allen, yeah
hasn't won one. Yeah, will he win one? I mean
they look good last week, he looks like great.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
But his year, if he's gonna do, it's gotta be
this year.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
It needs to be. With the Mahomes sort of struggles
we're seeing right now with this Chiefs team that has
been the ultimate bugaboo for all of these teams out
there in the AFC. And if you can somehow, even
if it's just psychologically, find a way to eliminate Kansas
City from this playoff run, then you go in with
a clean slate. This would be the ultimate year though

(48:49):
the NFL is Let's just envision this. The Chiefs missed
the playoffs, and all these teams that have been trying
to go through the gauntlet play primarily Baltimore and the
Buffalo Bills, they all make the playoffs. Like, ah yes,
it ends up being the Colts.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Taylor and Aiana Jones.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
That's right with the owner on the sideline with the headsets,
and that's gonna be a tough team to beat. They
are help. Here's the ultimate irony. What if it's the
Dan Patriots. You finally think you're best the nightmares for
John Harball and Sean McDermott. You finally get Brady out

(49:29):
of the picture. Oh yes, thank god mac Jones.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Ah yes, here comes Drake Brady.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
There he is the DNA clone. We cloned dogs and
we clone quarterbacks in New England. And that that to me,
would be the ultimate hilarious storyline. Chiefs take a bye
week in the playoffs this year. He's like, you know what, y'all,
y'all go fight it out this year. As Jay talked
about earlier this week, it might not be the year,

(49:56):
and he's at peace with that. Maybe it's not, but
it doesn't it's automatically going to be Buffalo's year exactly.
Doesn't mean it's going to be Lamar's year either. I mean,
there's a lot to climb through. Could be Denver. Oh,
it could be a lot of teams. With the New
England angle.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
I had looked at it from that, but that's a
good angle.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
You think about. Some people have been tweeting out something
to the effect of, you know, you got to feel
good for Patriots fans after all that struggling for three years,
they're right back. That's the point. Though. Some teams they
disappear from championship relevance for decades, yeah, or at least
a decade, and then they're back and they're fighting for playoffs.

(50:35):
But it's like, the Patriots have the best record in
the league right now along with Denver, and they're not
missing a beat and they're not losing to anybody. No,
We'll see what happens down the stretch. Here, we'll look
at the playoff standings of the current playoff picture as
we sit here on the eighteenth of November. It's shaken
up right now. Boy, We're about a week away from Thanksgiving,
and that's where the rubber meets the road in the NFL.

(50:56):
We'll see how tested these teams are and which ones
are left standing in December with a real shot to
be in the tournament, because that's the ultimate goal for
a lot of these teams. Two four zero five four
eight zero. Kick it out to the Engles sideline. Welcome
into game one.

Speaker 8 (51:12):
Good evening, John, Hey, what's going on man, Rocky?

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Yeah? But what's happening?

Speaker 7 (51:17):
Rock Uh?

Speaker 8 (51:20):
I'm calling about James Franklin and Votek Virginia Tech. You
just had that on my and I'm kind of a
James Franklin fan. I've seen him talk and on game
day and that kind of thing, and I'm just you know,
if you can the thoughts of him in the profession,

(51:42):
he's a he's a great guy, I'm sure, but he's
a good football coach. If you can win at Vanderbilt
and the guys Andy, Now, he ain't gonna be there longer,
that much longer.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
He'll be gone soon.

Speaker 8 (51:55):
But and you can go and defend state and help
to revamp that hold whole image of that institution and
the football program and win football games. And I know
he gets and I mean, yeah, he gets ragged him
because he plays those big games, the top five games
and top ten games, and he's not been that successful.

(52:17):
It's not like he's been blown out up there at
Penn State. He's just yeah, just not able to win.
And and maybe and maybe the some sometimes you just
wear out, you're welcome or something like that. Maybe it
was good for him or whatever. But I'm will tell
you something him at Virginia Tech, ACC, Clemson, Miami, Florida State,

(52:40):
everybody else, Uba, whatever, watch out for vaugh Tech because
ENTERSTANDMN is going to be. Yeah, give him a couple
of years and he may bring all players with him.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
He already. Yes, it looks like there are a couple
commits to to Penn State that are reportedly eyeball Virginia Tech.
At least one I saw today on social So here's
the thing about Franklin, Like he came in during a
time I think Bill O'Brien took over for Paterno and
that stabilized things a little bit. And O'Brien now is
Boston College rough year for injuries there, But I like Bill,

(53:17):
but I do like James Franklin. He followed up O'Brien,
and there was still a lot of residual hurt and
pain and problems with that scandal that broke out with Sandusky,
of course, and Paterno was overseeing it as a tragic
ending to that career, and that was not an easy
situation to walk into. And I think it goes a

(53:37):
little bit forgotten because he was there for a decade,
over a decade, and he was able to sustain a
winning culture. It's not easy in the Big Ten, as
you know, it's a gauntlet. You've got some great Michigan
teams over the years, in Great Ohio State teams over
the years. That conference has since expanded and become even
more difficult to win consistently. So I think it's a
home run for Virginia Tech. And I know that Bruce

(53:59):
Arian he was on McAfee. Bruce is a Virginia Tech guy.
He was a part of the search committee for a
new coach, and I don't think they could have done
much better with what was out there. I really I
liked him so much.

Speaker 8 (54:10):
No brainer that that that was, I mean it and
is Yeah, that's a that's a no brainer. And you
could almost see Franklin. I mean, he's he's been up
there in that area. And my understanding, I'm just listening
to some radio radio folks that seem to know national
radio that he recruits that area a lot. Oh yeah,

(54:34):
in that Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, DC, that that pocket area
of Delaware that area is and he he he recruits
that area very well. So of course he I mean
in Blacksburg, he's right in the dang middle of it.

Speaker 7 (54:51):
You know.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
Well, absolutely, three straight double digit winning seasons. They won
thirteen games last year.

Speaker 10 (54:57):
I know.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
Look, things go south when your quarterback gets hurt. Two
consecutive seasons are actually two out of the last three seasons.
You've lost Micah Parsons and then Abdul Carter. So they've
turned some guys over. They've also gone through some coordinator changes.
But look, look, there were some obvious flaws within some
of what happened in his spectrum there in terms of
losing some of the games they should have won. That's

(55:19):
gonna happen. But when he came back after that twenty
twenty one season eleven wins, ten wins, then they're in
the College Football Playoff. He won the Rose Bowl back
in twenty twenty two. I'm just saying, for what Virginia
Tech has been through and Lane Stadium being one of
the great venues not just in acc history, but in
the entire spectrum of college football, it brings some excitement back.

(55:41):
One man's trash is another man's treasure, as they say.
And I think they're a static down there in Blacksburg
to have Franklin just come a few miles down the
road and to continue to sort of own that territory
from a recruiting perspective. You're exactly right. That's a big
part of this thing.

Speaker 8 (55:57):
If you're and I'll hang up after I say this comment.
You're a Virginia Tech fan, you have to be so ecstatic.
Ain't even stand it because you just you just got
the gift towards that got it got right to you.
And uh and you just based on the way the
program has been over the last under the previous guy,

(56:20):
you got this man coming in out of the Big
ten and yeah, and you mentioned that that beat Michigan
and Ohio and stay man, that's hard as hell.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
He needs to do that.

Speaker 8 (56:29):
But you've been competitive in him. I'm unfortunately you just
come up on the short end. But he's he's won
a hell a lot more than he lost up there,
that's for sure. Anyway, all right, take.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
It easy, brother, A good call, good shift into the
college football world as James Franklin is getting that job.
No word on lane Kiffin yet now we're not tracking
his flight.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
I can tell you that we haven't been tracking the
door ad, the Lane Kiffin door ad tracker, Santa Kiffin.
That's right. Where will he land? Will it be Gainesville?
Will it be LSU? Will he stay put in Oxford?
We shall see. Is the college football season is coming
up on week thirteen? Huh thirteen? What that can't be? Right?

Speaker 6 (57:16):
What?

Speaker 1 (57:17):
Yeah? And some games obviously that don't stand out in
terms of the most highly competitive, some have called a
cupcake week because a lot of teams are facing off
with teams that are not quite as good as their own.
But we'll take a closer look of some of the
games to look out for this week. And obviously you've
got Coastal Carolina taken on South Carolina this week, and
Furman will be playing against Clemson. I think it's important

(57:40):
for Clemson to have a resounding win at home hammerdown. Yeah,
and that's no disrespect to a strong Furman program historically.
I just think it's one of those games where you
need to fire on all sidlers. It's been a hard
home stretch for this team.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
Don't leave any doubt for the fans, and especially don't
leave any doubt for the media, because they'll tear your part.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
No, I'll tell you a part. No matter what, we'll
see what happens. A lot of things will get settled
over the next couple of weeks. And the great thing
about the college football playoff rankings, a lot of people
hate it. They it's like college football. A lot of
people just hate stuff because they're raised to hate stuff.
Like right, college football, the BCS rankings, or the apeople
as as always said, we bask in the glow of

(58:23):
the controversy. Like right, the NFL equivalent to the rankings
in college football is officiating, Like those are hand in
hand issues that are just red meat for sports talk,
Like let's get irrationally mad and pissed off about all
this stuff, although I will say in the NFL the
officiating has quietly been as bad as I've ever seen

(58:44):
it this year get as. I think it's because the
Chiefs have been out of the picture a little bit
and they're not front and center. This tush push crap
where they oh these false starts on it, the past
interference on Sunday night at the end of the game
on AJ Brown that was clearly out of PI. There
were a couple of the Panthers games that were like
what are we doing here? But tis the season. We

(59:06):
love to hate things. We love to hate things. We
don't love to hate people, but things abstract things like officiating. Yeah,
it's it's hard to do, which comes back to Daboswiney's
comments about make them full time. Yes, yes, just all around.
We got to stop playing this game where everything is
half measures. You could go all in, go all in. Yeah,

(59:28):
everybody's talking about it. It's like somebody brought up the
playing field. Did you see the Madrid game on Someday
all the potholes or whatever where it just looked awful? No, no, no, no,
this one that that was that was the one earlier
the season. Madrid quite the opposite. Their stadium, immaculate their grass.
It's kept underground in like a basement, and there are

(59:49):
like led lights downstairs that helped the grass grow throughout
the year. It cost them millions of dollars to build
that thing so front on the pitch. For the soccer
folks out there, they can play on real grass all
throughout the year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
It's a huge investment. But we're over here, like somebody said,
for the Packers. My ass just played on concrete this
week at Medlife Stadium. It's awful, man. And with all
the money flowing into this league. I know it sounds
like Joe's sports fan here, but it's true, Like, let's
do something about this. You have endless funds. The spickett

(01:00:25):
is never gonna cut off. It's Scrooge McDuck money. It's
gonna keep flowing in. You're not gonna run out. You
can make the quality of the game just as great
and still have your concerts. But she could put that
field underground, roll out guitarp, and be like, all right,
bring in Jason Aldie.

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
I feel like the least thing the NFL could do
if you're not gonna do if you're not gonna make
the officials full time sure whatever, right, fine, whatever, Yeah,
I can't do that. You could at least make a
consistent playing surface across all thirty two NFL teams, Yes, teams.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
That's the very least you could do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
That's a no brainer. That's something that should be done,
standardized play. Yeah, and I just uh oh, the league
and they put out the data points like, well, study
show there are no more of a chance of getting
injured on this turf than that turf, and tell the players,
tell the players it's not just the catastrophic injuries. Luthor
Broughton's been on this show. Yeah, yeah, he talked about

(01:01:18):
well that's fine, John, but your body feels like crap, right,
more often than not when you play on that fake
stuff than when you play on real grass because it
doesn't have to give anyway. Theres are soap Fox for today,
all about grass and all about officiating. When we come back,
we'll take a closer look at the playoff standings in
the National Football League and get a quick peek at

(01:01:39):
what's coming up next week. Is Dallas got a big
win last night. Put them Cowboys?

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Yeah, how about them? Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
All the Raiders are as keep it a buck, indeed
Mega cheeks. I mean, look they are. Oh I couldn't
even watch it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
You see somebody that's a picture airs Ado of an
alpaca chewing something and like.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Pete Carroll on the sideline.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
I saw another video of a Seattle walking through a
supermarket and he found an old guy like didn't have
his dentures in. He looked like Pete Carroll, like, hey,
I found Pete Carroll. Guys like hey, we got to
go see Hawks. Just come on. Raiders are so bad? Yeah,

(01:02:28):
and asking Genty it's it's early, but he does not look.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Good even with the Michael Myers stance.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
The Michael Myers stance. The only Michael Meyer on that
team is Michael Mayer. The tied end. I'm gonna play good, right,
You got your Michael Meyer, you got your Michael Mayor.

Speaker 6 (01:02:47):
Also got your quarterback and your half back.

Speaker 1 (01:02:49):
And he doesn't look comfortable in past protection. Just catch
a football to save his life. And it's a stagnant offense.
It's a bad team. Man. I didn't I didn't have
them being this bad. But give Dallas credit. Uh jes
see Pickens and Lambs started the game on the bench.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
Yeah, yeah as well.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
So I think I didn't realize it watching it, you know,
because I wasn't paying too much attention to it. And
I see all the stuff after and JB text in
because we were talking about on a Riches show and
apparently Shot he was like, oh, well, you know they
didn't do.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Some things throughout the week or something and check.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
That's what I would imagine. You're in Vegas the next
pay four you miss. I have no sourcing on that.
I'm just imagining they're out at the crash table at
two am and Shot he's like, where are my guys,
and the camera catches him in the casine.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
If he's crashing out at the roulette table.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
You've got Look, if you're playing in Vegas as a visitor,
your team hotel needs to be like an hour. Yeah.
I would assume that's how they handled that. Tom Brady
walked in with his Raiders jacket. Just that he walked
out with another loss. That team has two wins on
the season. We'll break down the standings in more detail.
We got Gamecock basketball coming up in about eight minutes
or so. If you've got one last chance to get

(01:03:57):
a phone call in. Do it right now on Game On,
Game On with John Alice, weekdays four to six on
one O four nine, Fox Sports, Some.

Speaker 10 (01:04:06):
Sticks and Stuff, m dram Ship.

Speaker 5 (01:04:34):
My sing.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
Oh yeah, coming on home stretch here, got a few
minutes left, uh, big gameclock. Basketball's coming on in three minutes, y'all. Yeah,
Let's go to the Ingles hotline real quickly. Game On,
Take us home.

Speaker 7 (01:05:06):
Man, big cat walnut, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Chef defending machine King, the undisputed champion of pickhams. What's
going on? My friend?

Speaker 6 (01:05:18):
Oh?

Speaker 7 (01:05:19):
Man, we're gonna chime in on the question of the day,
real quiz. Do it man, We're gonna you know which
way I'm going. I'm going Nascar, Man, We're gonna say
Mark Martin Man, he finished four He finished second place
in the Cup four times. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Yeah, that eluded him for sure. Mark Martin's a good one. Man.
That that's one I can remember. That's back in my
day of following racing a little closer than I do now.
And Martin was the bridesmaid, never the bride man, never
able to get over that win.

Speaker 7 (01:05:53):
Any one man deserved a saddle, and that sport would
be Mark Marton Man I agree with that. He didn't
get it.

Speaker 8 (01:06:01):
He didn't get it.

Speaker 7 (01:06:02):
I always liked him, man. He was a clean racer,
never got no trouble, never got caught, no drugs or
six craft or anything else. Man, he was just always
a good dude.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
Man, you're good salt of the earth. Man. We got
we got game cock basketball. That's gonna cut us short
here tonight, but we're gonna be back tomorrow and we
got a lot of Panther stuff to talk about. Man,
is this team there for real?

Speaker 6 (01:06:27):
Man?

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
You're Trevor Sickima. You heard a niche earlier today. Man,
the vibes are good.

Speaker 7 (01:06:31):
I did. It's sounding good. I'm getting kind of incided,
Big cat got to we're gonna wait to playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
Hey, you sent me a graphic earlier today. We're gonna
talk about tomorrow the most difficult schedules left in the
NFL the rest of the season.

Speaker 7 (01:06:47):
Yeah, yeah, we're gonna have to touch down that.

Speaker 6 (01:06:49):
Man, that was pretty interesting, little.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Gradiots, look at that. Here's a hint. Uh, Panthers by
far have the hardest schedule left and the team that
has the easiest schedule. Let's go ahead and just say this, right,
now it's the Patriots. Yeah, and they have had a cupcake,
but they're taking advantage of it. Chad, we'll talk to
you tomorrow, but i'd be well out there.

Speaker 7 (01:07:13):
A big cat tray.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Let me turn in a Chad very efficient Chad appearance,
very efficient nose the clock. Well, we got Gamecock basketball
coming up here at the bottom of the hour. We're
gonna get out of here in just a couple of seconds. Here.
I want to remind you you can catch us every
single night on the iHeart Radio app. Just look up
Game On with John Elis. You can catch us live
anywhere you go. You can look it up a Game

(01:07:36):
On with John and let's subscribe to the podcast. As
you'll hear the full cut of the show. Moving forward.
Issom doing this for a couple of weeks. Now you
miss any second of Game On, you can just log
in anytime you want, pop it open in podcast form
and catch us anywhere you go. Man, it's a fun listen.
We have a good time around here. I've got a
lot of new folks calling in that don't know the
show that well in there getting used to what we

(01:07:58):
do and how we do it. That's a row. What's
a fruit lube. Why they call him big Cat. Well,
there's a story behind every story. But we appreciate y'all
tuning in. Hey, shout out to our friends at Ingles Markets.
Stop in tonight. Get you some of those rotisserie chickens.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Oh they're so good.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Oh just three? I won't grab like three of them tonight. Yeah,
just load up, get some of those fixings there at
the deli and get yourself some of that good Uh.
Obviously the boris Head they got everything there for you
and their produces right there behind. Ingles has you covered
for everything you need and much much more, low prices,
love the savings. Check them out online at Ingles dash

(01:08:37):
Markets dot com. For everybody here at Fox Sports Upstate,
that's Trey Falcom, I'm John. You'all have a great night.
Joys Againcock basketball, y'all,