October 30, 2025 • 35 mins
Hall od Fame pitcher John Smoltz breaks down the Dodgers' hitting woes, and praises Trey Yesavage's incredible game 5 performance. College basketball analyst Jay Bilas raves over Victor Wembanyama and previews who is the best in college basketball this year. NFL analyst Ross Tucker says the Falcons are banned from his bet list and says Bills/Chiefs isn't a rivalry until Buffalo beats Kansas City when it actually matters.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
John Smoltz working on three hours of rest. He was
on the call last night with Joe Davis and the
World Series game and tomorrow night eight Eastern on Fox
as the series shifts back to Toronto. John, thanks for
joining us. Game five the fifth time in the last
eleven postseason games, the Dodgers managed just two runs or less.
(00:23):
And you're going against the Blue Jay team that was
known for its hitting, not its pitching. What is the
big problem with the Dodgers' bats.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, you can't get in a funk seven out of
nine guys collectively and keep asking your starting pitching to
cover your lack of offense. That's what they did this
whole postseason. They dominated, you know, subconsciously, when you had a.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Team but four right, great starters, there's a it's not
literally this way, but you feel really good when you
get to the park that three runs is going to win.
This offense last year for the Dodgers was much better. Obviously,
they had to win a different way. They won with bullpens.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
And look, I mean it's not an excuse, but the
statistics and things that have been thrown out there, which
is mind boggling that a team that sweeps their series,
facing a team that played a seven game series has
never won the World Series. It still blows my mind.
(01:25):
I know it's just a stat but then you start
reading into maybe the layoffs do do harm to hitters,
you know, and then your timing is all thrown out
a whack and it's hard. I've said this about a
starting pitcher that pitches twice in a series, much easier
for him to make the adjustment in a series than
a hitter who's struggling. The next day, he's got to
(01:48):
make the adjustment, then he's struggling, and the next day
he's got to do it again. So it's definitely the
worst time of the year for that to happen. But
the Dodgers are going to have to figure out a
way on the next two two games to not solely
rely on their starting pitching for the only way for
them to win.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
What made Trey you Savage unhittable He got.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Back to the mechanics in the field of that split.
I felt like he would make the necessary adjustments. I
watched too much tape, even though he hasn't thrown a
ton of games that I'd never seen two games in
a row where he didn't have a split. He did
not have it. In the first game against the Dodgers,
he abandoned it went to thirty two sliders, I think,
which you know, it's a good pitch. It's not his
great pitch. The great pitch is his split. But I
(02:32):
thought he was so mechanically sound and his fastball command
was much better. I thought the last game he was
short with it, cutting it off, maybe trying to generate velocity.
And look, it's a unique release point, and when he's
able to throw enough strikes, they don't really have a
chance on seeing too much evidence of somebody who throws
(02:55):
like this that they can throw as a comp.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
What I like last night as you talked about gut
everything's about analytics, but you leave you savage in and
you talked about this is a gut feeling by John Schneider.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And he learned the hard way. He even talked to
it openly about you know, I've learned. I had to
sleep all off season. I'm making a decision taking out
my starter burrels against Minnesota, and there were other situations
that didn't work out well. And you know, I've always
felt like if you don't give a player a moment
(03:32):
in the postseason, you'll never know because in the one
sixty two they live and die by the numbers. And
that's fine, but I think you've got to when a
guy's having a moment, you don't let the other team
breathe and take them out and feel better about you know,
any decision that you make, especially this time of the year,
(03:53):
that makes the other team go thank you, is not
a great decision.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Blake Snell gave up the home runs two of the
first three pitches, but he did settle down, which is
remarkable when I can't imagine that feeling John when you
give up a home run to somebody to lead off,
and you know, a playoff game, now a World Series game.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's a shock. I really thought that he was going
to establish his fastball because he didn't have a great
fastball last time. And I'll tell you what, when they
take that away from you, immediately you got to go
into a mode where you're like, oh man, that game plan,
like a scripted game plan, is great. But then they
(04:37):
took it away from him. So I did think he
settled down and made necessary adjustments. And the one thing
about Blake Snell is normally that outing would be good
enough to win a game, but the offense was not
good enough to win the game.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
In a show, is there any chance let's just throw
out hypotheticals the Dodger win. Could Lad Guerrero Junior somehow
be the MVP in a losing effort.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I'll tell you what, Blad Guerrero Junior has single handedly
showed the world what it's like to be a complete
player and how The World Series has absolutely been his
time here to show that for everybody, and I think
for the Toronto Blue Jays, for this country, for everything
(05:29):
that he signed on for. I said and asked the question,
did Glad need the World Series more than anybody else?
And I think the answer is yes, because of everything
that this year, this contract, who's been emotional about it.
I think it's been an awesome display of what a
(05:52):
great player he is, because obviously, focusing on Otani is
the easiest thing to do, because he's the greatest player
of our universe.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I talked to Kevin Malar this week and I said
that Yamamoto reminds me of Pedro Martinez. Do you see similarities?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I do, in the sense of the nastiness and his
ability to pitch in strike so and then to get
guys to chase the one thing that Yamamoto, which now
I'm like blown away when he went to the full
pen and what was going to be beginning nineteen, that's
all I needed to see. He instantly became for me
(06:31):
one of the guys. I'll never forget that moment. If
it were to go to the nineteenth after pitching a
nine inning complete game in today's game and then say
I want to go pitch in the bullpen, that was awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Would you rather pitch to Otani or Vlad Guerrero.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's gonna sound crazy, but o'canni mainly because of the
left handed at bat versus the right handed at I
would normally say right handers, but Vlad Gray Junior is
a cross breed between Miguel Cabrera and the ability to
(07:10):
hit the power and average and his ability to not
come off certain pitches is swing wild. I mean, Poohols
did the same thing to it, and like facing either
of those two right handers, but the one thing you
got to know facing o'tani is you're going to be embarrassed.
You're going to be embarrassed, but you have a chance
to strike him out, and this year he had more
strikeouts than ever understandably, so just doing the role and
(07:33):
doing what he did. So either way it's not a
great result, but I feel like the ability to pitch
away and splits give you more chance of strikeouts with
Otani than you do with the Guerrero. And depending on
your circumstances, you may need that strikeout more than you
need the ability to pitch around somebody, because you may
not be able to do that. Given the circumstances.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What do you expect to happen Friday night?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
First? And for most it's the lowdest place, it's the
most insane atmosphere. I expect that to be off the chart.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
In all the baseball's that's the loudest by.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Far, right now by far, not even close. I mean
they're the hungriest, right they haven't been in a while. Yeah,
and it's a whole country. It's not a city, it's
a whole country rooting from the team. I wouldn't be
surprised they had twenty five thousand sitting there waiting for
it to see if they'll workout on today. I mean
they got a watch party. It's pretty cool. I mean
(08:32):
all the hats came back out. You know, it usually
happens that way, Like in nineteen ninety one, all the
Braves hats came out. It's been thirty two years. I
expect the Dodgers to be relentless in their quest because
much like the Jays, and they're relentless, the Dodgers have
a quiet, calm confidence. I say this before ever since
(08:54):
they were down two games to one last year to
San Diego Padres, something clicked, something changed and turned only
for the Dodgers from a player's only standpoint, and the
noises an't going to Literally the noise isn't going to
bother them, but the narratives that are following this club
won't bother them. Now, it doesn't guarantee they're going to win,
but that's a great recipe for a chance to defend,
(09:17):
which we haven't seen in a long time.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Quite as ballpark he ever pitched.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
In Montreal, that's when that's when they used to have
not the technology that we have today. And but Montreal,
actually the pridest ballpark ever pitched in was when I
got my first year in Atlanta because we didn't have
(09:41):
any When you can hear the lights buzzing and the
vendors yelling you're in trouble man. That is not I'll
never forget the first time I went to a comedy
club in Atlanta and every single punchline was about the
Atlanta Braves. Like this would be a good year to
paint the seats, you know, like the it's it's just
amazing how it turned and how the chop and everything. So,
(10:06):
cities that haven't one in a while, you're gonna have
this incredible roar and excitement.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Safe travels, John, Thanks for getting up with us, and
we'll be watching on Friday night, My pleasure.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
That's John Smoltz on the call with Joe Davis for
a World Series Game five last night. Be sure to
catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays
at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Hey is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio Now.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
In addition to hearing us live weekdays from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,
we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for
the show.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yup, that's right.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Every day all you gotta do.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Search Covino and rich FSR on YouTube again. Go to
YouTube search Covino and Richt. That's are Check us out
on YouTube. Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon coming away.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Jay billis he ESPN college basketball anlust? All of a sudden,
I'm watching the Spurs game. There's Jay and he is
raving about Victor winban Yama. When's the last time you
raved about somebody like you did Victor winban Yama.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Probably Zion Williamson in college, something like that, or Lebron
Kevin Durant, you know, when they were in college and
coming into the draft. You know, it's rare that you
have a guy that you're you're looking at him going,
I've never seen this before, and you know you're old enough.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
I'm not sure how much your audience is.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
But the only guy I could kind of compare wemban
Yama too was Ralph Sampson.
Speaker 7 (11:51):
Like, I really believe this.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
If Ralph Sampson were born twenty one years ago, he'd
probably be in the wimban Yama atmosphere, because you know
he was. Samson graduated college in eighty three and he
was MVP the All Star Game in eighty five and
averaged over twenty and ten with the Rockets before he
got injured, and at seven four, really graceful, athletic, very
(12:16):
very skilled, but he was put down the post. If
he were allowed to play today's game, yeah, I think
he could be in that atmosphere. But there's never been
anything like Webin Yama at seven six or whatever he
is now. He was standing next to Derek Lively the
second of seven to one, and he made him look
like it made it look like Derek Clivey was standing
next to you.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
How would you describe his game?
Speaker 4 (12:39):
He is.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
He's like a seven foot six praying mantis that has
the skills of a six to one guard, and he's
he's become more physical to the point where last year
I think he was shooting about eight almost nine threes
per game and half the amount of free throws, and
this year he's not taking near as many threes. I
(13:04):
mean he might be taking two a game, and he's
shooting a ton of free throws. I mean he's playing
his game more in the paint and making his presence
known from fifteen feet an end rather than outside of
that area, and his effectiveness has gone way up. But
I just think he's learning how to be more dominant
(13:26):
in every aspect of the game. And he's only going
to get better as long as he stays healthy. I mean,
he's twenty one years old and he's only going to
get better. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
How much of his development do you lean on where
he played that he didn't go to college, but growing up,
you know in academies, the pro development and the all
around development that you find in Europe that you don't
necessarily find here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
I don't know that that's necessarily that big of a deal. Look,
I think we have in the United States. We've got
a skill development culture of late and more of an
AAU culture. So look, we're going to find something to
complain about. I mean, when we were in college, the
coaches complained that we played too much pickup ball and
(14:17):
we didn't do enough skill work. And now they're complaining
that they do too much skill work, they don't play
enough pickup nobody plays pickup anymore, and they don't know
how to play five on five.
Speaker 7 (14:26):
We're always going to.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
Complain about something, But I think what we wind up
missing in this Dan and I'm not saying you, but
you know, we tend to still have this narrative that
foreign players are doing things substantially different than we are
instead of looking at it like since the ninety two
Olympics and the Dream Team, basketball has exploded worldwide. We
(14:50):
still have most of the best players in the world,
but we're not going to have them all anymore. And
the idea like, right now, the top five candidates for
MVP are all foreign born players. Shake Guild Justice. Alexander
won it last year. He's Canadian. We're not going to
have all the best players anymore. That's just not going
to happen. The world's too big and basketball is the
(15:11):
second most popular sport in the world behind soccer.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
But if I put a non US five against a
US five, who would you take.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
A non US five against the US five? Yeah, so
you're asking me the international team. I mean, I would
take Jokic, Wueban Yama, Doncic, Shake Guild, just Alexander.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
That crew, and they'd be really hard to beat. But
we'd be competitive.
Speaker 6 (15:42):
It's not like we wouldn't win, Like we're still winning
gold medals now. But the problem is, like the it's
kind of like the Ryder Cup. You can't have just
one country against the United States. We're still going to
win that. But if you take the rest of the
world combined, of course, of course.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
That's going to be a problem.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
But like if you know, if we were just playing
if the Ryder Cup, if the US Ryder Cup team
was just playing great Britain and Ireland, now we dominate.
That's why they went to Europe. That's why I say
we still have most of the best players in the world,
the overwhelming majority we still have, but we don't have
them all.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I get Also Yanis on that non y, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Yeah, Yanis, that's the time, thank you. That's the top
five I was talking about for MVP, And the first
American you're going to mention American born player is probably
going to be Anthony Edwards of Minnesota, and he's further
down the list for MVP.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Right now talking to Jay Billis, he's got Duke in
Texas on November fourth and Kansas North Carolina November seventh.
What did you make a Cooper flag and his performance
against the Spurs good, not great.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
But I think you kind of expect that a little bit,
Like he had a couple of things if you want
to say working against him. He was, at eighteen, asked
to play the point guard position in his first NBA game,
which certainly isn't an easy transition to make. He didn't
play point at Duke. He's got point guard skills, obviously,
(17:10):
and he was being guarded by Stefan Castle, who's one
of the handful of the best defenders in the league
in my view, And that's a little bit of.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
A challenge for a player.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
And then once if you do get by your initial defender,
you're running into Wembenyama, So that's a challenge. He's had
some really good games and really good moments, and like
most rookies, I think he's going to have his up
and downs throughout the year. But he's the real deal.
And what is he averaging thirteen points, seven rebounds, whatever?
(17:43):
And he's made some great plays and he's made some
that haven't been as great. But I think as he
gets adjusted and that won't take too long to happen,
he's going to establish himself as one of the best
players in the league.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Anything stand out from Austin Reeves when you saw him
in college.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Yeah, So Austin Reeds started his career at Wichita State
and the first time I really saw him play. I
saw him before that, but when I really saw him
play was at Maui when he was witch Don. He
had a shoulder injury and played through it, and my
thought was, man, this guy can really shoot it and
he's tough. But did I think, Okay, he's going to
be a great NBA player at that time?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
No.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
And then when he transferred to Oklahoma, You're going, man,
this guy can really play.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
But still you weren't thinking like I wasn't.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
I wasn't like jumping banging my fist on the table
when he didn't get drafted, going what are these guys doing?
You know, this is idiotic? How can you not draft
this guy? That's happening more and more now where players
tend to blossom a little bit later, and you see
more undrafted players having success in the NBA because it's
not all about being a superstar. You know, you got
(18:53):
the superstars that are in a small category in the lottery.
And then I think I heard one of my colleagues
last night, I think it was last night, talking about
you know, how did how did these guys go undrafted?
How did nicolea Jokic go in the second round. Well,
I don't remember any of those guys saying why why
wasn't it happening at the time.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
You know, scouting's not easy.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
And uh, and you're gonna you're gonna miss, Like all
thirty teams missed on Jokic in the first round. So
it's not like it's not like somebody's got a magic
formula of spotting this stuff in advance. You know, you do,
you do the best you can. But Austin Reeves is
a he's a stud, he's a he's a tough guy.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Who's the guy the player that you thought he was
going to be great and didn't turn out to be.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Thought was going to be great. God, there have been
a whole bunch of them.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
I don't have one off the top of my head
Dan that I was like, oh my god, I thought
this guy was going to be unbelievable. I mean there's
been there been a bunch that. You know, we scratched
our heads the year Anthony Bennett from YOLV was taken
number one by Cleveland, Like, I didn't see that coming,
But I also didn't see him him uh, being being out.
Speaker 7 (20:02):
Of the mix as quickly as he was.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
I didn't see the Markel Foldstein coming, Like who could
have Who could have imagined that he have sort of
issues that weren't related to his talent that would be
uh so debilitating for him. But there have been a
lot of guys that that we've over like that. The
players are so young when you're evaluating them, it's hard
(20:27):
not to over project him at times because you've seen
other similar players, similar comps that did extraordinarily well, and
you go, man, he fits the suit of this guy,
so that that happens too. And that's why I think
the longer I've done this, uh, the more I've come
to come to realize for myself that you know, like
(20:49):
we're kind of guessing here, you do the best you can,
but you don't know you believe, like I believe this,
Like when Lebron came out, I felt like I knew
like I But but I've gone more to I really
believe this.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Who's the best player in college basketball this year?
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (21:07):
The best play?
Speaker 6 (21:08):
Well, we've got an unbelievable group of freshmen that are
going to dominate the top of the draft. So BYU
has got aj Debanza and Duke's got Cameron Boozer, Kansas
has uh has Darren Peterson. So all these guys are
going to compete for the number one pick. If I
had one player I could have for a team, I
(21:30):
would want Braden Smith to Purdue the point guard. He's
the best point guard in the country. And I don't
think it's close.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
And while a lot of people around the college space
are are ringing their hands and predicting doomsday about you
know that there are no rules and it's the wild
world West and all that stuff, which it's not. Purdue
is keeping their players and they're not they're not getting
McDonald's All Americans.
Speaker 7 (21:56):
Every year, and they're winning at a really high level.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
So the idea, you can't do it in this transactional world,
I love that word that work. Transactional can't have relations
to the put anymore. It's all transactional, as if as
if a scholarship wasn't a transaction.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Those were transactions.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
But you can you can do it and quote unquote
do it the right way like Matt Painter does. You
don't have to you don't have to you know, sell
out and all that stuff.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
It's possible.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Good to talk to you. Always good to talk to you.
Thanks Dan, Thanks body. That's Jay Billis. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and
within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live Ross
Tucker Football podcast. You can follow him on social media
at Ross Tucker and he has the Army Air Force
(22:48):
game on Saturday. Then he will be in Tennessee. It'll
be the Titans and the Chargers kicking off at one Eastern.
Busy man, let me start with tonight, Ross Raven's favored
by seven and a half. That number surprised you at all.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
A little bit? A little bit it does. I'll tell
you why a couple different reasons. Number One, the Dolphins
looked really good on Sunday. I don't know if that
had more to do with the Dolphins or the Falcons
just laying an egg, but you still had a team
on the road against a decent opponent, and the Falcons
and the Dolphins took him to the woodshed. Now they're
(23:26):
playing at home on a Thursday night, and think about
what we've seen in recent weeks from some of these
road teams on Thursday nights. It hasn't been pretty. You know,
the Steelers defense a couple of weeks ago against the Bengals,
they weren't able to hold up.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
You know, we've seen a lot of weeks now where
the road.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
Team on these short weeks has not been up to
the vikings. Last week against the Chargers, I called that
game for Western one that was a disaster. And then
the Lamar Jackson factor. Dan, I know he's playing. I
know that's why the Ravens are big favorites. But he
wasn't healthy enough to play four days ago. They didn't
play him four days ago in a game they desperately needed.
(24:10):
So you just wonder, you know, is he one hundred percent?
Can he be full throttle with that hamstring? So it
does surprise me a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, Can Mike McDaniel win his way out of this
mess and save his job?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
I doubt it. I mean he can.
Speaker 8 (24:27):
You know if they went out the rest of the season, sure,
do I think that's gonna happen? No, I think it's
surprising that they were able to play as well as
they did against the Falcons. I gotta be honest with you, Dan,
I kind of thought, I don't want to say that
those guys had packed it in, but I kind of
thought the Dolphins number one were going to be sellers
(24:48):
at the trade deadline, and they still might be with
edge rushers like Jalen Phillips or Bradley Chubb.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
But also it felt like everybody.
Speaker 8 (24:57):
Knew that Mike meet daniel was getting fired and that
Steven Ross just wasn't doing it because he didn't want
to take the chance that the interim head coach would
have a lot of success. Yeah, and that they would
feel compelled to hire him. But it kind of felt
like Mike McDaniel was a dead man walking. He probably
still is. So kudos to the Dolphins players and leaders
(25:20):
for the way they played on Sunday. I mean, they
fought for him, if that's why they were playing, and
I guess you know that they still are keeping this
thing alive if they can get some momentum.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
I doubt it, but we'll find out.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
The Falcons, and I've used this comparison and maybe it's unfair,
but they're kind of the Chargers of the East Coast
or the South where we every year we go. Man,
they got weapons. Man, they're going to be good now,
I know the Chargers have had injuries, but I don't.
I mean, how do you explain the Falcons.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
I can't.
Speaker 8 (25:52):
I can't mean they lost thirty to nothing to the
kill and the Panthers earlier in the year. You know, Dan,
I have a betting podcast, the Even Money Betting Podcasts.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
The Falcons are banned that they're on my band list now, Okay.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Every time I'm like, oh, I start to believe in
the Falcons and I place a bet on them on
the show, they end up totally laying an egg out
of nowhere that you're not expecting. So they're on the
band list. You know what, I really don't understand if
you ask the running backs around the NFL, and look,
(26:26):
Jonathan Taylor is have an amazing year, but you talk
with like Saquon and some of these guys, they are
blown away by jon Robinson.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
That should be.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
The focal point of the Falcons offense every week. They
should do with Bijon what Kyle Shanahan does with Christian McCaffrey.
And yet there will be these games like this past Sunday,
where did Bijon have get the ball seven times in
the game?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
I mean, that should just.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
Never ever happen, and I don't know how the Falcons
allow it to.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You got the Chiefs against the Bills, and I know
we want to make this a rivalry. It was kind
of like the Red Sox and Yankees many many years ago,
when the Yankees kept beating the Red Sox, and I said,
it's not a rivalry until the Red Sox win. Buffalo
can win the regular season, but this is an a
rivalry until you win in the postseason, in my opinion,
(27:21):
you agree, I do agree.
Speaker 8 (27:23):
You know, it reminds me of when I was playing
This is Peyton Manning and the Colts against Tom Brady
and the Patriots. They could not get over the hump.
They would you know, the Colts would win the regular
season matchups sometimes, but then in the playoffs when it mattered,
New England would just always find a way to get
it done. And it looked like that was going to
(27:44):
be the case in the two thousand and six AFC
Championship Game, and then the Colts said enough was enough
and they made enough plays to win that game and
then go on to win the Super Bowl. I thought
maybe that would be the case with the Bills in
the postseason last year.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
I thought it was a great opportunity. They weren't able to.
Speaker 8 (28:02):
Do it, you know, and on some token, you know,
do you know the Bills have beaten the Chiefs in
the regular season every year but one, and then the
Chiefs beat the Bills in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
So on the one hand, Dan, I think some Bills
fans probably.
Speaker 8 (28:15):
Look at it and say, you know what, I'd rather
lose to him in the regular season, give us the
better chance in the playoffs. The problem with that is
the Bills now have competition in their own division. They
haven't had it in a while, and now they're going
to be fighting, you know, tooth and nail to the
death now against the New England Patriots. So they can't
(28:39):
afford to lose this game and say we'll beat him
in the playoffs. You lose this game, now you're looking
up even further at the Patriots in the standings.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
We're talking to Ross Tucker the Ross Tucker Football Podcast
and you can follow him at Ross Tucker NFL. You've
got an air force, an army on noon at noon
Eastern on Saturday, and you get on a flight and
you go to Tennessee for the Titans and the Chargers,
I've said this, I'm kind of on the warpath with this.
(29:09):
If cam Ward had a better social following, you know,
like if he was more popular, I think people would
be talking more about how bad he's played, sort of
like they did with Caleb Williams, because Caleb Williams had
a you know, he got clicks. Cam Ward doesn't get clicks.
But he's the number one overall pick in the draft.
And I find that interesting that if Caleb Williams was
(29:33):
in Tennessee and was having these numbers, we'd be crushing
Caleb Williams. We don't even talk about cam Ward of
the Titans.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
Why, you know, I don't know the answer to that,
but I wonder that myself.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
I think a big part of it.
Speaker 8 (29:49):
He was really only on the college football scene for
one year. You know, what he did at Incarnate Word,
Nobody even knew about what he did it Washington State.
You know, people really weren't paying attention. Most people didn't
know who cam Ward was until he was playing last
(30:10):
year for the Miami Hurricanes. Whereas Caleb Williams was the
number one high school player in the country. He made
a bunch of plays as a true freshman in Oklahoma,
including in the game against Texas. Then he goes to USC,
wins the Heisman his second year, is the presumptive number
one pick. Even Shador Sanders got a lot more attention
(30:32):
and a lot more clicks than cam Ward.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
He's just kind of been under the radar. And then
he didn't go to a big market team.
Speaker 8 (30:40):
He didn't go to the Bears or an LA team,
or the Giants or the Jets.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
He went to the Titans.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
This combination of a guy that's been overshadowed in college
by the Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels and even Shador Sanders,
and then he goes to a team that's not good
at all in one of the smallest markets in the NFL,
you know, and people don't talk about him much.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
And I think that's why it's going under the radar.
Speaker 8 (31:06):
What I don't know and I'm curious about, is if
we had flipped Caleb.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Williams and Cam Wood, so cam wod's.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
In a major market like Chicago, Caleb Williams is in Tennessee,
certainly it would they would be a little bit closer.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
But I still don't know how much.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
The Lions got that blueprint of that, you know, they're
they're signing up people before it's time for you know,
that bill to be paid. They've done that with golf,
they did that with Penny Sewell, they do that with
Aidan Hutchinson.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
Here.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's a big number for Aiden Hutchinson. That catch your attention.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
It's a huge number. Two things caught my attention. Number One,
this is very rare in the NFL. He benefited from
getting hurt. He did because if if Hutchinson doesn't get hurt,
Dan they signed him shortly after the season because he's
after his third year, so they can give him an extension.
(32:08):
And that's what they've been doing with these core guys
that they really like, and rightfully so.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
But because he got hurt, I think they wanted to
see how he came back from injury. They wanted to
wait a little bit.
Speaker 8 (32:20):
Well, in the meantime, Crosby got a new deal, Miles
Garrett got a new deal, TJ. Watt got a new deal,
and then Micah Parson set the bar really high. So
Hutchinson is one of the only guys I've ever seen
that benefited from a really bad injury. As in terms
of the way the Lions are going about it. They're
(32:41):
getting a lot of credit for it. Dan, it's the
Eagles model that the Eagles basically invented this, which is,
as soon as you know one of the guys you
drafted is a core guy that you went around for
the long term, you sign him as soon as possible
because then you spread the cap pain over the entire
(33:03):
length of deal.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
So let's talk about Hutchinson.
Speaker 8 (33:05):
Right, he has half a year left on the fourth
year of his rookie deal. They had already picked up
his fifth year option, so then you tag on those
four years. He just signed to year six, seven, eight,
and nine, right, So it's a big number, but the
cap pain will be spread out over five and a
(33:28):
half years, including the big signing bonus now, as opposed
to just the four year extension. It makes it a
lot easier to have a lot of talented guys on
your roster.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
It's why the Bengals and the.
Speaker 8 (33:42):
Cowboys keep screwing up and have all these type of
cap issues, and why teams like the Eagles and the
Lions they get way ahead of it.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
Now. The negative is if.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
Those guys start to get hurt or those guys start
to play poorly. You're stuck because you pro rated so
much of that money out over future years.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You cover college football. Leave you with this. The Louisiana
Governor Jeff Landry cold reporters yesterday that LSU athletic director
Scott Woodward would not be involved in the coaching search
and saying that he would let President Donald Trump do
it before the athletic director. What could go wrong in
this situation? Ross?
Speaker 8 (34:25):
I mean, this is why college football, especially in the South,
is so amazing, because.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
I do think it is the case. I don't know
exactly the inner workings, Dan, but I do think it
is the case at a state.
Speaker 8 (34:40):
University that ultimately the governor oversees it. I know, like
in Pennsylvania where I reside, the governor is able to
allocate three or five spots.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
To the board at penn State.
Speaker 8 (34:52):
So I don't know exactly the dynamic between the president
university and the governor of a state, but that is
a I mean, if you're publicly saying that the ad
is not going to pick the football coach, that reminds
me of like the movie office Space, like the like the.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Consulting to come in talk to the A D. What
what is it would you say.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
That you do here?
Speaker 8 (35:15):
Like if you don't pick the if you don't pick
the football coach, you might as well just fire the
a D. I don't even know what he's doing anymore
if he's not the guy picking the football coach.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Safe travels, Rachel Talk. Do you have a good weekend?
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Always?
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Thank you so much, Dan h Rush Tucker
John Smoltz working on three hours of rest. He was
on the call last night with Joe Davis and the
World Series game and tomorrow night eight Eastern on Fox
as the series shifts back to Toronto. John, thanks for
joining us. Game five the fifth time in the last
eleven postseason games, the Dodgers managed just two runs or less.
(00:23):
And you're going against the Blue Jay team that was
known for its hitting, not its pitching. What is the
big problem with the Dodgers' bats.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, you can't get in a funk seven out of
nine guys collectively and keep asking your starting pitching to
cover your lack of offense. That's what they did this
whole postseason. They dominated, you know, subconsciously, when you had a.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Team but four right, great starters, there's a it's not
literally this way, but you feel really good when you
get to the park that three runs is going to win.
This offense last year for the Dodgers was much better. Obviously,
they had to win a different way. They won with bullpens.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
And look, I mean it's not an excuse, but the
statistics and things that have been thrown out there, which
is mind boggling that a team that sweeps their series,
facing a team that played a seven game series has
never won the World Series. It still blows my mind.
(01:25):
I know it's just a stat but then you start
reading into maybe the layoffs do do harm to hitters,
you know, and then your timing is all thrown out
a whack and it's hard. I've said this about a
starting pitcher that pitches twice in a series, much easier
for him to make the adjustment in a series than
a hitter who's struggling. The next day, he's got to
(01:48):
make the adjustment, then he's struggling, and the next day
he's got to do it again. So it's definitely the
worst time of the year for that to happen. But
the Dodgers are going to have to figure out a
way on the next two two games to not solely
rely on their starting pitching for the only way for
them to win.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
What made Trey you Savage unhittable He got.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Back to the mechanics in the field of that split.
I felt like he would make the necessary adjustments. I
watched too much tape, even though he hasn't thrown a
ton of games that I'd never seen two games in
a row where he didn't have a split. He did
not have it. In the first game against the Dodgers,
he abandoned it went to thirty two sliders, I think,
which you know, it's a good pitch. It's not his
great pitch. The great pitch is his split. But I
(02:32):
thought he was so mechanically sound and his fastball command
was much better. I thought the last game he was
short with it, cutting it off, maybe trying to generate velocity.
And look, it's a unique release point, and when he's
able to throw enough strikes, they don't really have a
chance on seeing too much evidence of somebody who throws
(02:55):
like this that they can throw as a comp.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
What I like last night as you talked about gut
everything's about analytics, but you leave you savage in and
you talked about this is a gut feeling by John Schneider.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And he learned the hard way. He even talked to
it openly about you know, I've learned. I had to
sleep all off season. I'm making a decision taking out
my starter burrels against Minnesota, and there were other situations
that didn't work out well. And you know, I've always
felt like if you don't give a player a moment
(03:32):
in the postseason, you'll never know because in the one
sixty two they live and die by the numbers. And
that's fine, but I think you've got to when a
guy's having a moment, you don't let the other team
breathe and take them out and feel better about you know,
any decision that you make, especially this time of the year,
(03:53):
that makes the other team go thank you, is not
a great decision.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Blake Snell gave up the home runs two of the
first three pitches, but he did settle down, which is
remarkable when I can't imagine that feeling John when you
give up a home run to somebody to lead off,
and you know, a playoff game, now a World Series game.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's a shock. I really thought that he was going
to establish his fastball because he didn't have a great
fastball last time. And I'll tell you what, when they
take that away from you, immediately you got to go
into a mode where you're like, oh man, that game plan,
like a scripted game plan, is great. But then they
(04:37):
took it away from him. So I did think he
settled down and made necessary adjustments. And the one thing
about Blake Snell is normally that outing would be good
enough to win a game, but the offense was not
good enough to win the game.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
In a show, is there any chance let's just throw
out hypotheticals the Dodger win. Could Lad Guerrero Junior somehow
be the MVP in a losing effort.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I'll tell you what, Blad Guerrero Junior has single handedly
showed the world what it's like to be a complete
player and how The World Series has absolutely been his
time here to show that for everybody, and I think
for the Toronto Blue Jays, for this country, for everything
(05:29):
that he signed on for. I said and asked the question,
did Glad need the World Series more than anybody else?
And I think the answer is yes, because of everything
that this year, this contract, who's been emotional about it.
I think it's been an awesome display of what a
(05:52):
great player he is, because obviously, focusing on Otani is
the easiest thing to do, because he's the greatest player
of our universe.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I talked to Kevin Malar this week and I said
that Yamamoto reminds me of Pedro Martinez. Do you see similarities?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I do, in the sense of the nastiness and his
ability to pitch in strike so and then to get
guys to chase the one thing that Yamamoto, which now
I'm like blown away when he went to the full
pen and what was going to be beginning nineteen, that's
all I needed to see. He instantly became for me
(06:31):
one of the guys. I'll never forget that moment. If
it were to go to the nineteenth after pitching a
nine inning complete game in today's game and then say
I want to go pitch in the bullpen, that was awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Would you rather pitch to Otani or Vlad Guerrero.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
It's gonna sound crazy, but o'canni mainly because of the
left handed at bat versus the right handed at I
would normally say right handers, but Vlad Gray Junior is
a cross breed between Miguel Cabrera and the ability to
(07:10):
hit the power and average and his ability to not
come off certain pitches is swing wild. I mean, Poohols
did the same thing to it, and like facing either
of those two right handers, but the one thing you
got to know facing o'tani is you're going to be embarrassed.
You're going to be embarrassed, but you have a chance
to strike him out, and this year he had more
strikeouts than ever understandably, so just doing the role and
(07:33):
doing what he did. So either way it's not a
great result, but I feel like the ability to pitch
away and splits give you more chance of strikeouts with
Otani than you do with the Guerrero. And depending on
your circumstances, you may need that strikeout more than you
need the ability to pitch around somebody, because you may
not be able to do that. Given the circumstances.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
What do you expect to happen Friday night?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
First? And for most it's the lowdest place, it's the
most insane atmosphere. I expect that to be off the chart.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
In all the baseball's that's the loudest by.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Far, right now by far, not even close. I mean
they're the hungriest, right they haven't been in a while. Yeah,
and it's a whole country. It's not a city, it's
a whole country rooting from the team. I wouldn't be
surprised they had twenty five thousand sitting there waiting for
it to see if they'll workout on today. I mean
they got a watch party. It's pretty cool. I mean
(08:32):
all the hats came back out. You know, it usually
happens that way, Like in nineteen ninety one, all the
Braves hats came out. It's been thirty two years. I
expect the Dodgers to be relentless in their quest because
much like the Jays, and they're relentless, the Dodgers have
a quiet, calm confidence. I say this before ever since
(08:54):
they were down two games to one last year to
San Diego Padres, something clicked, something changed and turned only
for the Dodgers from a player's only standpoint, and the
noises an't going to Literally the noise isn't going to
bother them, but the narratives that are following this club
won't bother them. Now, it doesn't guarantee they're going to win,
but that's a great recipe for a chance to defend,
(09:17):
which we haven't seen in a long time.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Quite as ballpark he ever pitched.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
In Montreal, that's when that's when they used to have
not the technology that we have today. And but Montreal,
actually the pridest ballpark ever pitched in was when I
got my first year in Atlanta because we didn't have
(09:41):
any When you can hear the lights buzzing and the
vendors yelling you're in trouble man. That is not I'll
never forget the first time I went to a comedy
club in Atlanta and every single punchline was about the
Atlanta Braves. Like this would be a good year to
paint the seats, you know, like the it's it's just
amazing how it turned and how the chop and everything. So,
(10:06):
cities that haven't one in a while, you're gonna have
this incredible roar and excitement.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Safe travels, John, Thanks for getting up with us, and
we'll be watching on Friday night, My pleasure.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
That's John Smoltz on the call with Joe Davis for
a World Series Game five last night. Be sure to
catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays
at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Hey is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio Now.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
In addition to hearing us live weekdays from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,
we're excited to announce a brand new YouTube channel for
the show.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yup, that's right.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Every day all you gotta do.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Search Covino and rich FSR on YouTube again. Go to
YouTube search Covino and Richt. That's are Check us out
on YouTube. Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon coming away.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Jay billis he ESPN college basketball anlust? All of a sudden,
I'm watching the Spurs game. There's Jay and he is
raving about Victor winban Yama. When's the last time you
raved about somebody like you did Victor winban Yama.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Probably Zion Williamson in college, something like that, or Lebron
Kevin Durant, you know, when they were in college and
coming into the draft. You know, it's rare that you
have a guy that you're you're looking at him going,
I've never seen this before, and you know you're old enough.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
I'm not sure how much your audience is.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
But the only guy I could kind of compare wemban
Yama too was Ralph Sampson.
Speaker 7 (11:51):
Like, I really believe this.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
If Ralph Sampson were born twenty one years ago, he'd
probably be in the wimban Yama atmosphere, because you know
he was. Samson graduated college in eighty three and he
was MVP the All Star Game in eighty five and
averaged over twenty and ten with the Rockets before he
got injured, and at seven four, really graceful, athletic, very
(12:16):
very skilled, but he was put down the post. If
he were allowed to play today's game, yeah, I think
he could be in that atmosphere. But there's never been
anything like Webin Yama at seven six or whatever he
is now. He was standing next to Derek Lively the
second of seven to one, and he made him look
like it made it look like Derek Clivey was standing
next to you.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
How would you describe his game?
Speaker 4 (12:39):
He is.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
He's like a seven foot six praying mantis that has
the skills of a six to one guard, and he's
he's become more physical to the point where last year
I think he was shooting about eight almost nine threes
per game and half the amount of free throws, and
this year he's not taking near as many threes. I
(13:04):
mean he might be taking two a game, and he's
shooting a ton of free throws. I mean he's playing
his game more in the paint and making his presence
known from fifteen feet an end rather than outside of
that area, and his effectiveness has gone way up. But
I just think he's learning how to be more dominant
(13:26):
in every aspect of the game. And he's only going
to get better as long as he stays healthy. I mean,
he's twenty one years old and he's only going to
get better. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
How much of his development do you lean on where
he played that he didn't go to college, but growing up,
you know in academies, the pro development and the all
around development that you find in Europe that you don't
necessarily find here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (13:55):
I don't know that that's necessarily that big of a deal. Look,
I think we have in the United States. We've got
a skill development culture of late and more of an
AAU culture. So look, we're going to find something to
complain about. I mean, when we were in college, the
coaches complained that we played too much pickup ball and
(14:17):
we didn't do enough skill work. And now they're complaining
that they do too much skill work, they don't play
enough pickup nobody plays pickup anymore, and they don't know
how to play five on five.
Speaker 7 (14:26):
We're always going to.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
Complain about something, But I think what we wind up
missing in this Dan and I'm not saying you, but
you know, we tend to still have this narrative that
foreign players are doing things substantially different than we are
instead of looking at it like since the ninety two
Olympics and the Dream Team, basketball has exploded worldwide. We
(14:50):
still have most of the best players in the world,
but we're not going to have them all anymore. And
the idea like, right now, the top five candidates for
MVP are all foreign born players. Shake Guild Justice. Alexander
won it last year. He's Canadian. We're not going to
have all the best players anymore. That's just not going
to happen. The world's too big and basketball is the
(15:11):
second most popular sport in the world behind soccer.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
But if I put a non US five against a
US five, who would you take.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
A non US five against the US five? Yeah, so
you're asking me the international team. I mean, I would
take Jokic, Wueban Yama, Doncic, Shake Guild, just Alexander.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
That crew, and they'd be really hard to beat. But
we'd be competitive.
Speaker 6 (15:42):
It's not like we wouldn't win, Like we're still winning
gold medals now. But the problem is, like the it's
kind of like the Ryder Cup. You can't have just
one country against the United States. We're still going to
win that. But if you take the rest of the
world combined, of course, of course.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
That's going to be a problem.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
But like if you know, if we were just playing
if the Ryder Cup, if the US Ryder Cup team
was just playing great Britain and Ireland, now we dominate.
That's why they went to Europe. That's why I say
we still have most of the best players in the world,
the overwhelming majority we still have, but we don't have
them all.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I get Also Yanis on that non y, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Yeah, Yanis, that's the time, thank you. That's the top
five I was talking about for MVP, And the first
American you're going to mention American born player is probably
going to be Anthony Edwards of Minnesota, and he's further
down the list for MVP.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Right now talking to Jay Billis, he's got Duke in
Texas on November fourth and Kansas North Carolina November seventh.
What did you make a Cooper flag and his performance
against the Spurs good, not great.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
But I think you kind of expect that a little bit,
Like he had a couple of things if you want
to say working against him. He was, at eighteen, asked
to play the point guard position in his first NBA game,
which certainly isn't an easy transition to make. He didn't
play point at Duke. He's got point guard skills, obviously,
(17:10):
and he was being guarded by Stefan Castle, who's one
of the handful of the best defenders in the league
in my view, And that's a little bit of.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
A challenge for a player.
Speaker 6 (17:21):
And then once if you do get by your initial defender,
you're running into Wembenyama, So that's a challenge. He's had
some really good games and really good moments, and like
most rookies, I think he's going to have his up
and downs throughout the year. But he's the real deal.
And what is he averaging thirteen points, seven rebounds, whatever?
(17:43):
And he's made some great plays and he's made some
that haven't been as great. But I think as he
gets adjusted and that won't take too long to happen,
he's going to establish himself as one of the best
players in the league.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Anything stand out from Austin Reeves when you saw him
in college.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Yeah, So Austin Reeds started his career at Wichita State
and the first time I really saw him play. I
saw him before that, but when I really saw him
play was at Maui when he was witch Don. He
had a shoulder injury and played through it, and my
thought was, man, this guy can really shoot it and
he's tough. But did I think, Okay, he's going to
be a great NBA player at that time?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
No.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
And then when he transferred to Oklahoma, You're going, man,
this guy can really play.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
But still you weren't thinking like I wasn't.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
I wasn't like jumping banging my fist on the table
when he didn't get drafted, going what are these guys doing?
You know, this is idiotic? How can you not draft
this guy? That's happening more and more now where players
tend to blossom a little bit later, and you see
more undrafted players having success in the NBA because it's
not all about being a superstar. You know, you got
(18:53):
the superstars that are in a small category in the lottery.
And then I think I heard one of my colleagues
last night, I think it was last night, talking about
you know, how did how did these guys go undrafted?
How did nicolea Jokic go in the second round. Well,
I don't remember any of those guys saying why why
wasn't it happening at the time.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
You know, scouting's not easy.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
And uh, and you're gonna you're gonna miss, Like all
thirty teams missed on Jokic in the first round. So
it's not like it's not like somebody's got a magic
formula of spotting this stuff in advance. You know, you do,
you do the best you can. But Austin Reeves is
a he's a stud, he's a he's a tough guy.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Who's the guy the player that you thought he was
going to be great and didn't turn out to be.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
Thought was going to be great. God, there have been
a whole bunch of them.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
I don't have one off the top of my head
Dan that I was like, oh my god, I thought
this guy was going to be unbelievable. I mean there's
been there been a bunch that. You know, we scratched
our heads the year Anthony Bennett from YOLV was taken
number one by Cleveland, Like, I didn't see that coming,
But I also didn't see him him uh, being being out.
Speaker 7 (20:02):
Of the mix as quickly as he was.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
I didn't see the Markel Foldstein coming, Like who could
have Who could have imagined that he have sort of
issues that weren't related to his talent that would be
uh so debilitating for him. But there have been a
lot of guys that that we've over like that. The
players are so young when you're evaluating them, it's hard
(20:27):
not to over project him at times because you've seen
other similar players, similar comps that did extraordinarily well, and
you go, man, he fits the suit of this guy,
so that that happens too. And that's why I think
the longer I've done this, uh, the more I've come
to come to realize for myself that you know, like
(20:49):
we're kind of guessing here, you do the best you can,
but you don't know you believe, like I believe this,
Like when Lebron came out, I felt like I knew
like I But but I've gone more to I really
believe this.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Who's the best player in college basketball this year?
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (21:07):
The best play?
Speaker 6 (21:08):
Well, we've got an unbelievable group of freshmen that are
going to dominate the top of the draft. So BYU
has got aj Debanza and Duke's got Cameron Boozer, Kansas
has uh has Darren Peterson. So all these guys are
going to compete for the number one pick. If I
had one player I could have for a team, I
(21:30):
would want Braden Smith to Purdue the point guard. He's
the best point guard in the country. And I don't
think it's close.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
And while a lot of people around the college space
are are ringing their hands and predicting doomsday about you
know that there are no rules and it's the wild
world West and all that stuff, which it's not. Purdue
is keeping their players and they're not they're not getting
McDonald's All Americans.
Speaker 7 (21:56):
Every year, and they're winning at a really high level.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
So the idea, you can't do it in this transactional world,
I love that word that work. Transactional can't have relations
to the put anymore. It's all transactional, as if as
if a scholarship wasn't a transaction.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Those were transactions.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
But you can you can do it and quote unquote
do it the right way like Matt Painter does. You
don't have to you don't have to you know, sell
out and all that stuff.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
It's possible.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Good to talk to you. Always good to talk to you.
Thanks Dan, Thanks body. That's Jay Billis. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and
within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live Ross
Tucker Football podcast. You can follow him on social media
at Ross Tucker and he has the Army Air Force
(22:48):
game on Saturday. Then he will be in Tennessee. It'll
be the Titans and the Chargers kicking off at one Eastern.
Busy man, let me start with tonight, Ross Raven's favored
by seven and a half. That number surprised you at all.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
A little bit? A little bit it does. I'll tell
you why a couple different reasons. Number One, the Dolphins
looked really good on Sunday. I don't know if that
had more to do with the Dolphins or the Falcons
just laying an egg, but you still had a team
on the road against a decent opponent, and the Falcons
and the Dolphins took him to the woodshed. Now they're
(23:26):
playing at home on a Thursday night, and think about
what we've seen in recent weeks from some of these
road teams on Thursday nights. It hasn't been pretty. You know,
the Steelers defense a couple of weeks ago against the Bengals,
they weren't able to hold up.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
You know, we've seen a lot of weeks now where
the road.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
Team on these short weeks has not been up to
the vikings. Last week against the Chargers, I called that
game for Western one that was a disaster. And then
the Lamar Jackson factor. Dan, I know he's playing. I
know that's why the Ravens are big favorites. But he
wasn't healthy enough to play four days ago. They didn't
play him four days ago in a game they desperately needed.
(24:10):
So you just wonder, you know, is he one hundred percent?
Can he be full throttle with that hamstring? So it
does surprise me a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, Can Mike McDaniel win his way out of this
mess and save his job?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
I doubt it. I mean he can.
Speaker 8 (24:27):
You know if they went out the rest of the season, sure,
do I think that's gonna happen? No, I think it's
surprising that they were able to play as well as
they did against the Falcons. I gotta be honest with you, Dan,
I kind of thought, I don't want to say that
those guys had packed it in, but I kind of
thought the Dolphins number one were going to be sellers
(24:48):
at the trade deadline, and they still might be with
edge rushers like Jalen Phillips or Bradley Chubb.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
But also it felt like everybody.
Speaker 8 (24:57):
Knew that Mike meet daniel was getting fired and that
Steven Ross just wasn't doing it because he didn't want
to take the chance that the interim head coach would
have a lot of success. Yeah, and that they would
feel compelled to hire him. But it kind of felt
like Mike McDaniel was a dead man walking. He probably
still is. So kudos to the Dolphins players and leaders
(25:20):
for the way they played on Sunday. I mean, they
fought for him, if that's why they were playing, and
I guess you know that they still are keeping this
thing alive if they can get some momentum.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
I doubt it, but we'll find out.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
The Falcons, and I've used this comparison and maybe it's unfair,
but they're kind of the Chargers of the East Coast
or the South where we every year we go. Man,
they got weapons. Man, they're going to be good now,
I know the Chargers have had injuries, but I don't.
I mean, how do you explain the Falcons.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
I can't.
Speaker 8 (25:52):
I can't mean they lost thirty to nothing to the
kill and the Panthers earlier in the year. You know, Dan,
I have a betting podcast, the Even Money Betting Podcasts.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
The Falcons are banned that they're on my band list now, Okay.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Every time I'm like, oh, I start to believe in
the Falcons and I place a bet on them on
the show, they end up totally laying an egg out
of nowhere that you're not expecting. So they're on the
band list. You know what, I really don't understand if
you ask the running backs around the NFL, and look,
(26:26):
Jonathan Taylor is have an amazing year, but you talk
with like Saquon and some of these guys, they are
blown away by jon Robinson.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
That should be.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
The focal point of the Falcons offense every week. They
should do with Bijon what Kyle Shanahan does with Christian McCaffrey.
And yet there will be these games like this past Sunday,
where did Bijon have get the ball seven times in
the game?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
I mean, that should just.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
Never ever happen, and I don't know how the Falcons
allow it to.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You got the Chiefs against the Bills, and I know
we want to make this a rivalry. It was kind
of like the Red Sox and Yankees many many years ago,
when the Yankees kept beating the Red Sox, and I said,
it's not a rivalry until the Red Sox win. Buffalo
can win the regular season, but this is an a
rivalry until you win in the postseason, in my opinion,
(27:21):
you agree, I do agree.
Speaker 8 (27:23):
You know, it reminds me of when I was playing
This is Peyton Manning and the Colts against Tom Brady
and the Patriots. They could not get over the hump.
They would you know, the Colts would win the regular
season matchups sometimes, but then in the playoffs when it mattered,
New England would just always find a way to get
it done. And it looked like that was going to
(27:44):
be the case in the two thousand and six AFC
Championship Game, and then the Colts said enough was enough
and they made enough plays to win that game and
then go on to win the Super Bowl. I thought
maybe that would be the case with the Bills in
the postseason last year.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
I thought it was a great opportunity. They weren't able to.
Speaker 8 (28:02):
Do it, you know, and on some token, you know,
do you know the Bills have beaten the Chiefs in
the regular season every year but one, and then the
Chiefs beat the Bills in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
So on the one hand, Dan, I think some Bills
fans probably.
Speaker 8 (28:15):
Look at it and say, you know what, I'd rather
lose to him in the regular season, give us the
better chance in the playoffs. The problem with that is
the Bills now have competition in their own division. They
haven't had it in a while, and now they're going
to be fighting, you know, tooth and nail to the
death now against the New England Patriots. So they can't
(28:39):
afford to lose this game and say we'll beat him
in the playoffs. You lose this game, now you're looking
up even further at the Patriots in the standings.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
We're talking to Ross Tucker the Ross Tucker Football Podcast
and you can follow him at Ross Tucker NFL. You've
got an air force, an army on noon at noon
Eastern on Saturday, and you get on a flight and
you go to Tennessee for the Titans and the Chargers,
I've said this, I'm kind of on the warpath with this.
(29:09):
If cam Ward had a better social following, you know,
like if he was more popular, I think people would
be talking more about how bad he's played, sort of
like they did with Caleb Williams, because Caleb Williams had
a you know, he got clicks. Cam Ward doesn't get clicks.
But he's the number one overall pick in the draft.
And I find that interesting that if Caleb Williams was
(29:33):
in Tennessee and was having these numbers, we'd be crushing
Caleb Williams. We don't even talk about cam Ward of
the Titans.
Speaker 8 (29:41):
Why, you know, I don't know the answer to that,
but I wonder that myself.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
I think a big part of it.
Speaker 8 (29:49):
He was really only on the college football scene for
one year. You know, what he did at Incarnate Word,
Nobody even knew about what he did it Washington State.
You know, people really weren't paying attention. Most people didn't
know who cam Ward was until he was playing last
(30:10):
year for the Miami Hurricanes. Whereas Caleb Williams was the
number one high school player in the country. He made
a bunch of plays as a true freshman in Oklahoma,
including in the game against Texas. Then he goes to USC,
wins the Heisman his second year, is the presumptive number
one pick. Even Shador Sanders got a lot more attention
(30:32):
and a lot more clicks than cam Ward.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
He's just kind of been under the radar. And then
he didn't go to a big market team.
Speaker 8 (30:40):
He didn't go to the Bears or an LA team,
or the Giants or the Jets.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
He went to the Titans.
Speaker 8 (30:47):
This combination of a guy that's been overshadowed in college
by the Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels and even Shador Sanders,
and then he goes to a team that's not good
at all in one of the smallest markets in the NFL,
you know, and people don't talk about him much.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
And I think that's why it's going under the radar.
Speaker 8 (31:06):
What I don't know and I'm curious about, is if
we had flipped Caleb.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Williams and Cam Wood, so cam wod's.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
In a major market like Chicago, Caleb Williams is in Tennessee,
certainly it would they would be a little bit closer.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
But I still don't know how much.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
The Lions got that blueprint of that, you know, they're
they're signing up people before it's time for you know,
that bill to be paid. They've done that with golf,
they did that with Penny Sewell, they do that with
Aidan Hutchinson.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
Here.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
That's a big number for Aiden Hutchinson. That catch your attention.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
It's a huge number. Two things caught my attention. Number One,
this is very rare in the NFL. He benefited from
getting hurt. He did because if if Hutchinson doesn't get hurt,
Dan they signed him shortly after the season because he's
after his third year, so they can give him an extension.
(32:08):
And that's what they've been doing with these core guys
that they really like, and rightfully so.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
But because he got hurt, I think they wanted to
see how he came back from injury. They wanted to
wait a little bit.
Speaker 8 (32:20):
Well, in the meantime, Crosby got a new deal, Miles
Garrett got a new deal, TJ. Watt got a new deal,
and then Micah Parson set the bar really high. So
Hutchinson is one of the only guys I've ever seen
that benefited from a really bad injury. As in terms
of the way the Lions are going about it. They're
(32:41):
getting a lot of credit for it. Dan, it's the
Eagles model that the Eagles basically invented this, which is,
as soon as you know one of the guys you
drafted is a core guy that you went around for
the long term, you sign him as soon as possible
because then you spread the cap pain over the entire
(33:03):
length of deal.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
So let's talk about Hutchinson.
Speaker 8 (33:05):
Right, he has half a year left on the fourth
year of his rookie deal. They had already picked up
his fifth year option, so then you tag on those
four years. He just signed to year six, seven, eight,
and nine, right, So it's a big number, but the
cap pain will be spread out over five and a
(33:28):
half years, including the big signing bonus now, as opposed
to just the four year extension. It makes it a
lot easier to have a lot of talented guys on
your roster.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
It's why the Bengals and the.
Speaker 8 (33:42):
Cowboys keep screwing up and have all these type of
cap issues, and why teams like the Eagles and the
Lions they get way ahead of it.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
Now. The negative is if.
Speaker 8 (33:52):
Those guys start to get hurt or those guys start
to play poorly. You're stuck because you pro rated so
much of that money out over future years.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You cover college football. Leave you with this. The Louisiana
Governor Jeff Landry cold reporters yesterday that LSU athletic director
Scott Woodward would not be involved in the coaching search
and saying that he would let President Donald Trump do
it before the athletic director. What could go wrong in
this situation? Ross?
Speaker 8 (34:25):
I mean, this is why college football, especially in the South,
is so amazing, because.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
I do think it is the case. I don't know
exactly the inner workings, Dan, but I do think it
is the case at a state.
Speaker 8 (34:40):
University that ultimately the governor oversees it. I know, like
in Pennsylvania where I reside, the governor is able to
allocate three or five spots.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
To the board at penn State.
Speaker 8 (34:52):
So I don't know exactly the dynamic between the president
university and the governor of a state, but that is
a I mean, if you're publicly saying that the ad
is not going to pick the football coach, that reminds
me of like the movie office Space, like the like the.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Consulting to come in talk to the A D. What
what is it would you say.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
That you do here?
Speaker 8 (35:15):
Like if you don't pick the if you don't pick
the football coach, you might as well just fire the
a D. I don't even know what he's doing anymore
if he's not the guy picking the football coach.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Safe travels, Rachel Talk. Do you have a good weekend?
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Always?
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Thank you so much, Dan h Rush Tucker
Hosts And Creators
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Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
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