Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thursday afternoon, seven minutes past the hour of two o'clock.
How do you like seventy two degrees in sunny here
in beautiful downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, right outside of
our Broadway Media studios.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We'll be chilly over the weekend. There's an eighty three
percent chance of.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Rain on Saturday night at about eight eight fifteen, which
you know is the time where Utah football will kick
off against Arizona State.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
So plan accordingly.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Bring the ponchos, bring the jackets, bring the umbrellas. It's
gonna be a rainy, cold Saturday night here in Salt
Lake City. But on a Thursday afternoon, feels like we
should be on a golf course, beautiful outside, sunny and clear.
I love these fall October days, and as it is
every single day, it's good to have you along for
the rides. Met's check, it's beyond the mic, Porter Larsen
(00:50):
Beyond the Glass today producing the program. We've got a
really good guest list to talk about the weekend ahead.
I know it's only Thursday, but we like to reward
you with weekends on this show starting on Thursday.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's what we did in college.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I felt like college weekend's always started on Thursday and
went through at least Monday night, depending on how dialed
in you were with.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Your school work.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Your boy over here was a disinterested student to say
the least. But anyway, happy Thursday and you made it
to the start.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Of Pro football.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Week six in the NFL starts with a divisional battle tonight.
Our game that we have on this little old radio station,
the Eagles and the Giants from Medlife Stadium in East Rutherford,
New Jersey. Eagles a seven point five point favorite. Takuon
Barkley has not had a one hundred yard rushing game
yet this year. The Giants are rolling with local boy
(01:45):
Jackson Dart under center, and we will bring you coverage
of that game when we say good night just after
six o'clock on the program.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Big Weekend ahead of the NFL.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's been a really fun start to the season in
Pro football. Unfortunately, a lot of injuries continue to pile up.
We still don't know who the starting quarterback will be
for the San Francisco forty nine ers coming up this weekend.
Rock Perty did not practice yesterday, Mac Jones was limited,
so nothing official.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's a big game.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
The Nighters are in Tampa to take on the Bucks.
Both teams are four and one. Sunday Night football Lions
Chief should be a good one. The Lions are now
the favorite to win the Super Bowl, still the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
The Bills play on Monday Night against the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Bears Commanders Monday Night too, one of those weird Monday
night doubleheaders. The Lions are now second in the Vegas
odds to win the Super Bowl this year. So get
to some NFL storylines on the show today. Major League
Baseball postseason yesterday was chaotic and fun, depending on which team.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
You cheer for.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
As a Yankee fan, I just I'm tipping my cap.
You're on YouTube, Well, I'm wearing my hat on backwards,
but I'm tipping my cap to the Toronto Blue Jays
deserving winners. Those guys are raking right now. Vlad Guerrero
Junior is hitting every thing that's in front of him,
and a lineup that has been potent all year long,
and they advance. Yankees have not won a World Series
in sixteen years. I think it's the third longest draft
(03:10):
for a baseball team that's won a third of the
al pennants all time and a quarter of all World
series historically, it's a different time. A lot of people
over the past twenty four hours drawing a parallel to
the death of George Steinbrenner and the death of the
Death Star Yankee feared organization that outspent everybody for a
(03:32):
number of years, and.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That's not the case anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Aaron Judge changing the narrative around his postseason performances, a
lot of people believing he was just kind of cosplaying
as a modern day A Rod a regular season powerhouse
and disappeared in the postseason.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
He had a really good postseason this year, which is
a good sign.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Tigers beat the Mariners, which means we have an elimination
game in the Alds. The Cubbies held on to beat
the Brewers for three. Phillies took care of the Dodgers.
That series is two to one, so we have a
couple of potential elimination games today starting in about two hours.
It's Phillies Dodgers from Dodgers Stadium, and then the late
(04:09):
night game tonight is Brewers Cobies from Wrigley. Milwaukee leads
the series two one. The Dodgers lead the series to one,
so Phillies and cobbies trying to stay.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Alive tonight or today.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
How about young as Bailey Guys, huh who watched some
Jazz preseason basketball last night? Raise your hand if you
watched the Utah Jazz last night. I certainly did, and
I feel like last night is probably gonna be how
this season is actually going to go. You don't learn
a ton in the preseason, and a lot of players
were held out on both sides, really, but we did
(04:43):
see a little Kevin Durant action for Houston. Houston is
a good team. They're probably one of the top four
teams in the West. Some people think higher. The annual
GM survey was released today, picking the Oklahoma City Thunder
to repeat and nicolea. Jokic to w ain MVP, Cooper
Flag to win Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
But I thought Ace was really good. He started two.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Of six, then made his last seven shots. He had
twenty five points, six boards, three, three assists, two steals,
And the young man got into a little back and
forth with Kevin Durant. Now KD sat him down pretty good.
I mean, calm down as be come.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
With the king. You best not miss k D.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
A legend probably the second best player of this generation
if we're honest. Now, it's been weird to watch his
career kind of turn into him being a mercenary, right.
I think this is his fifth team. A dude that
good should not play for five teams in his career.
But he's now a Houston Rocket, and he and Ace
had a fun little back and forth. He basically told
as to take a seat. But I'll tell you what, man,
(05:43):
there's a lot to like about Ace. There is maybe
the most exciting piece the Jazz have acquired. Since deciding
to tear down the group four years ago. With you know,
obviously Mitchell and Cobert and Quinn as the coach, there
has not been a lot to be excited about. But
last night a few things early on on manifested themselves
as things that maybe we could dig into and get
(06:03):
excited about for the future.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So we'll do some NBA on the show today, we'll
talk some jazz.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
They're off tonight, back in action against Victor wemban Yama
and the San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Tomorrow. Eric Spolster will take over for.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Steve Kerr as you your new coach of Team USA.
Steve Kerr taking over for Greg Popovich and now Eric
Spolster taking over for Steve Kerr. So a little bit
of NBA news and I don't know if this is
the off season NBA news cycle trying to stay relevant.
Apparently the Knicks try to trade for Giannis okay sweet,
(06:36):
I have no idea what that framework of a deal
would look like, you know, but Brian Windhorst in a
high school gym breaking news earlier today, So there's that.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Obviously, top of mine is.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Saturday night, as Arizona State will be in Salt Lake
City for a massive game against the University of Utah.
Kenny Dillingham was filmed spraying Sam Levitt's football with water
out of a water bottle preparing for rain. Wet ball
drill is not all that rare, and so, you know,
as we talked about all week, will continue to talk
(07:07):
about today and throughout the course of the rest of
the week, this feels a little.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Bit like an elimination game for the Utes.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Not entirely, but kind of right the line has really
remained steady. At one point yesterday, DraftKings moved it up
to six. That's that's now down to five and a half.
Utah opened as a slight favorite. Then most of the
money went towards the you to It is settled at
five and a half and I have five sports books
in front of me, and every single sports book favors
(07:37):
Utah by five and a half. BYU opened as a
three point favorite over Arizona. As they travel down to
two song, that line has moved twice towards Arizona and
BYU right now is a one point five point favorite
as Berghamyanga has stayed cleaned so far and passed all
the tests that have been put to them, and the
question continues to be how difficult have those tests been?
(07:59):
And that is He's a dynamic that's not exclusive to BYU.
We can even include Utah, who so far has beat
four teams that they should beat and lost to one
team that looks to be pretty good in Texas Tech.
So we'll do some college football. It's a really fun
college football slate. There's some good rivalries. We got the
Red River rivalry. Say that ten times fast. Oklahoma and
(08:20):
Texas Texas fighting for their lives. John Mattier questionable. We
have the first ever SEC injury report. It was released
today and Oklahoma's quarterback who had surgery on his throwing
hand like weeks ago, is questionable for the Red River
Rivalry Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas, Oklahoma one point five point
favorite in that game in Indiana and Francisco Mendoza make
(08:44):
it interesting up at Austin against Oregon. Every time I
see Dan Lanning interviewed, two things come to mind. What
an awesome coach and he is a psychopath. He was
doing some hits around media earlier today to preview this
game Michigan USC.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
We've got Georgia Auburn Man. We've got a.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Lot of good games on the college football slate and
of course a lot of big big twelve action two
as we you know, inching closer and closer the halfway
through the season. And now we have to move from
observation to conclusion.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Our first guest.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Today Kyle Bondagura, one of our favorites who covers college
football for ESPN also covers soccer. Diego Luna called up
once again for the US men's national team. RSL will
be with the without Diego up at Lumen Field on
a rainy Saturday night in Seattle, Washington. Dramatic scenes man
fall soccer, very few things in sports more dramatic than that,
(09:41):
So RSL is gonna have to be on.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
The front foot soccer term. Kids don't get.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Too confused to go get three a Luhman before they
finish off the season with an easier task. But on
the road against Saint Louis. Saint Louis not very good
this year, so we'll get to some soccer with Kyle.
Sam Bruckhouse stops by for his weekly hit from summer
Sports Talk More football. Andy Larson saw Late Tribune maybe
live in studio. Andy's very famous, He's a very big deal.
(10:05):
He might be pulled in a bunch of different directions.
Andy covers the Jazz for the trip. He's been helping
out on some football coverage, and potentially he could be
covering the Mammoth as our friend Bell Frasier has moved
back east. Our loss and the game of the Boston Bruins.
Bell was great on the Mammoth beat, speaking the Mammoth, goodness, gracious,
everything is happening. It's all happening, right for fans of
(10:29):
almost Famous, it's all happening.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
It's all happening.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Mammoth open up their season tonight against the Avalanche.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And then four o'clock we're a little fluid, might do
some more utes, might do some rsl Andy, might hang
out in the studio, will do sports Court today as
we all want to do on Thursdays with Handy and Handy.
So a busy Thursday show with Kyle Bonne, Guerrow, with
Sam Brocause, Andy Larson, a couple of potential guests for
four o'clock hour sports Court with our guys over at
Handy and Handy, me spence check.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It's all of you, the great listeners. Man, what a
day outside.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Good to have you along for the ride, Porter Larson,
Thursday afternoon. Of everything that's on the table right now,
what intrigues you the most? Is it simply Saturday night
or rice ecles.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, And you know, in addition to that, b yu
Is is a ranked team. It's it just feels real
Big Twelvey right now in the market. And that expands, yes,
of course to Salt Lake and the youths who I
think probably should be ranked. If not, they're right there
(11:31):
on the outside. And then of course BYU still unbeaten
in the Big twelve. As you mentioned, you know how
tough have those tests been? Well, we're we're gonna find
out they've got a pretty decent Arizona team. And I'm
really excited to learn more about the Big twelve than
we have in quite a few weekends past, because there's
(11:52):
there's been some interesting scenarios where we get down into
a month and more in the season and we still
don't know a lot about some of these teams, which
is which is kind of an interesting dynamic.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yep, you're not wrong there, and so it is time
to get familiar as the competition now stiffens for most
of the teams that have been able to kind of
ease our way through a week beginning schedule to the season.
I'll due respect, you beat the teams in front of you,
and you handle the business that you're supposed to handle,
and things will.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Work out all right.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
We'll break college football storylines down with Kyle Bonneger right out.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Of the gates.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
But before we catch up with Kyle on a Thursday afternoon,
courtesy of our good friends and you're good friends too
at Prize Picks, it's time now for your opening tip.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Welcome to the Drive with Spence check its on Utah's
number one sports talk Now into the studios of ESPN
seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The
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Speaker 2 (13:37):
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is good to be right, all right? Eighty three percent
(14:07):
chance of rain Saturday night at around eight o'clock eight fifteen.
Why do you need that information, Well, that's right around
the time you tires on a state kickoff at rice
Eco Stadium. Don't forget our pregame coverage with that guy
Porter Larson and friend of the program Trevor Riley will
begin just after four o'clock on Saturday, so make sure
to set your alarm and keep your radios dialed in
(14:30):
to ESPN seven hundred or ninety two one FM, whichever
you use. You can also use our app, ESPN seven
hundred app and then kickoff Bill Riley, Scott, Mitchell Stevenson,
Sylvester SLA's going to have to wear his his rain clothes,
bring your bring your umbrella, bring your jackets, make sure
you're dressed for some cold, rainy weather.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Giving away some ponchows this week at Arup Blood Services.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Hopefully you came by and grabbed one of those, because
it is going to be cold, and it is going
to be raining, and it going to be wet, leading
to social media posts and videos of Kenny Dillingham spraying
Sam Levitt with water bottles, wet ball drills all around
down in Tempe for Arizona State, who comes in as
still one of the Vegas favorites to win the conference.
(15:16):
Now the Vegas favorite right now is Texas Tech. But
when you look at the line, Arizona State still has
a puncher's chance, so does Utah, so does BYU. A
lot of people on the Cincinnati train now, a lot
of people jumping off the Iowa State train after their loss.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
But those teams right there feel.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Like the group that we've kind of landed on, and
I still put Utah in there even with one conference loss.
Now a loss on Saturday Night I think will change
the narrative that everybody has about this team right now,
which is even though they got got by Tech, there's
still a team that will have something to say about
this in the end. Now, it's going to be interesting
on Saturday Night because Arizona State, at least so far,
(15:55):
they have been pretty stout against the run, but they
have been able to get God through the air. So
can Devin Dampier do against Arizona State what he's done
against inferior opponents so far? And yes, Devin is dynamic,
he can run it. We saw it last year in
New Mexico. We've seen it so far here with the utes.
But if Arizona State's running defense is what the data
(16:17):
says it is, Devon's gonna have to throw the football
And what does that mean as far as the ability
to win this game? And you know, we keep talking
about Sam Levitt's tunnel vision on the Jordan Tyson kid. Well,
Dallan Bentley does have twenty two catches, but Ryan Davis,
as far as wide outs go, Ryan has thirty six catches,
and the next wide receiver as far as number of
(16:38):
catches would be Tobias Merriweather, who has six. Okay, so again,
Dallan has twenty two, and obviously it's nice that Devin
and Dallen have kind of this synergy.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
They throw it out of the backfield. Unfortunately Hunter got hurt.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
He was already in double digit smith Stone does have
thirteen catches. I should point that out, But I wonder
what we will see with the dynamic of the defensive
players playing on offense now. Against West Virginia, we saw
Lander get a good handful of snaps. They didn't throw
it to him. All we know about the injuries is
that none of them are season ending. But will Jackson
(17:11):
Benny go coming up on Saturday. I don't think we're
seeing Nate Ritchie anytime soon. We've already lost the rabbit
Evans kid. And yes, most of these injuries are to
the safeties, but if your defensive backfield is compromised, it
makes it all that more paramount to keep Smith upright right,
to keep him healthy. I was a little bit taken
back and quite frankly stunned. Well, I'm taken back and
(17:34):
stunned every time Trevor is in studio, no matter what,
every time Trevor Riley is here because he tells me
a story of some road rage incident where a guy
in California tries to fight him and he knocks him
out and drives away, or he drives a truck down
to Mexico and gets gas and takes it back up
to California and sells it. Like I, he might just
be in Hawaii now, he might just have flown out
today just to hang out for a month.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I'm blown away every time he's in studio for a
bunch of different reasons.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
But Trevor being so adamant about the lack of depth
for Utah football this year honestly struck me and resonated
pretty in an interesting way. Now, I probably should have
been more on top of this based off of what
we've witnessed around all of college football. And if you
missed the Lane Kiffen interview last week with the ESPN,
he alluded to this dynamic and he was talking about
(18:22):
the biggest and best programs in the SEC down south right.
So this isn't a problem that only the University of
Utah is running into. And you know, I think a
lot of people believe that Nick Saban essentially bounced because
the Saban model was no longer possible. And the Saban
model is pretty simple. It's like, oh, I lost my
defensive end. Okay, well my backup is a five star
(18:45):
two and then the third stringer is a four star
who's a freshman that we'd like to develop, but hey,
we can play him as well. So whether you're Oregon, Ohio, State, Michigan,
you know, or any of the powerful you know, the SEC,
I don't know that has any elite team this year.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Maybe it's Old miss maybe it's A and M.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But Bama, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee or Utah. All of
these programs are running into the same issue. And that
is back in the day when these kids did not
have the ability to get paid, which was always a crime,
and I was loud about it for years.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Let's say you're a five excuse me.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Let's say you're a five star recruit and you're at
Alabama and you're a d ND, and you're going to
camp and you're competing against two other five star recruits
and you don't get the opportunity to start well, back
in the day when you couldn't transfer, or if you did,
you had to sit out a year, or money wasn't
a thing. You simply had to stay there and compete
(19:42):
for your job. And a lot of people believe that's
a good lesson that an eighteen year olds learned, and
that's not necessarily wrong. But now what happens is if
you're a defensive end at Bama and you're a five
star and you're not starting, then Lane Kiffen calls you,
or Kirby Smart calls you, or another or Dan Lanning
calls you're Shron Moore or whoever and says, hey, hey, son,
(20:04):
how about coming to my school and you'll you're going
to start right away. And by the way, I'm going
to pay you a one point five mil or whatever
the number is, and no one's going to say no
to that, right. So that's why the depth issue has
kind of permeated throughout college football, even the top end programs,
and of course the University of Utah too. So that
has to be one of the reasons why coach went
(20:26):
didn't necessarily go live during camp to make sure you
stay as healthy as possible. And I wonder if that's
going to motivate the coaching staff to kind of kill
this whole. You know, we're going to play some of
our defensive players on offense, and I know you want
your best playmakers making plays, period. But if this depth
thing is as real as Trevor claims it is, it
makes it even more important that you have to keep
(20:48):
your most important players at their position healthy. So I'm
interested to see if we see Smith specifically on the
offensive side of the football on Saturday night. Eighty two
percent chance of rain Saturday night about eight fifteen.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That is pertinent information for you.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Because that's kickoff time for Utah and Arizona State. Utah
five point five point favorite. Arizona State is the number
twenty one team in the country according to the AP
four and one overall, two and oh in the Big twelve.
So a big one Saturday night here in Salt Lake City.
Our next guest joins us every week to top college football.
Maybe we'll sneak in a little soccer with our.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Buddy, Kyle Bonna Gera Kyle, Happy Thursday, buddy. How are
we doing doing good?
Speaker 5 (21:28):
Spence?
Speaker 6 (21:29):
Looking forward to looking forward to the weekend.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yes, sir, and this is a big one, you know, Kyle.
It just comes down to this.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Utah has beat the teams in front of them, that
the talent gap is there, and Utah has been superior
in those games. And then the one really good team
they've played, they did not pass the test. Now, it
was about a three to three and a half quarter
rock fight against Tech.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Unfortunately it got loose at the end.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
So if you didn't watch the game, and do you
see the score, or you think Tech came in here
and smoked them, and yes, the scorer is the score.
I'm not trying to, you know, run away from that.
But here's where I want to start. I don't think
two losses is a death sentence or will completely eliminate
you from a Big Twelve championship potential, but two losses
against two teams that you will be jockeying with at
(22:14):
the end might be enough to kill a season. Just
how big do you think this game is Saturday Night
for Utah?
Speaker 7 (22:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (22:23):
I mean, I mean I think you end it pretty well.
I mean you just have to look back to last year, right,
I think there were four teams that finished the season
the regular season in the Big Twelve with two losses.
And you know, I think you're you know, I think
Texas Tech is probably for me a tier above right now.
Speaker 7 (22:38):
But like, look, if.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
You if you lose two games, you kind of take
it out of your hands, right there's tie breakers that
come into play, and you kind of get get lucky
with you know, what your schedule looks like, who you
lost to, and all of those things. So it certainly
puts you behind the eight ball. And look, I think
if you have two losses this early in the season,
that also it kind of takes to win out of
(23:00):
your sales too, right, because then you're not going into
the next game really believing that that's what you're playing for.
And it's it's more of like a hope and a
prayer that you can kind of, you know, muscle it
out and hope for other results to go your way
as the season progresses. So, yeah, this is a big one.
You know, Arizona State tame of the year with a
lot of hype, and you know, the Mississippi State loss
(23:22):
took took some some of the buzz away, but they've
they've bounced back pretty well the last few weeks, and
so yeah, I mean it's a it's a clear you know,
turning point game for either program. It isn't a state
that you know, it doesn't have a loss and conference
play yet, so maybe it's not as big for them,
but it's certainly one of the biggest games that the
Big Twelve has on the schedule this year.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
So where I've kind of landed with as U and
you know, we're all cosplaying as experts because the bottom
line has none of us no week to week. But
I think they're really good. I think they're very well coached.
I just don't I don't think they're as good as
they were a year ago. And it's not just the
scataboy thing, but part of it is that because both
b y U and Utah fans got scatter booed hard
last year. Now, really Brown, former five star recruit and
(24:05):
you know, former USC trojan is having a good year
and he's a good back. I'm not trying to take
anything away from him.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Levitt.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Last year, Kyle was second in the Big Twelve and QBR.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
He's eleventh this year.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Now he has Jordan Tyson as his main option, but
he hasn't landed on like a preferred second option. There's
some tunnel vision there so just kind of big picture
where are you at with this ASU team as far
as what you fans should know about their opponent on
Saturday night.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Yeah, I mean Brown's good. I mean he's going to
finish the year with you know, probably well over a
thousand yards. He doesn't catch the ball as well as
as Scotta because he's you know, he is, you know,
up there in targets for eleven, I think just as
a product of the design of the offense, but he's
not as impactful catching the ball that way. I kind
of like him in open space, he's not. He's a
(24:52):
different just a different type of back right, And so
you know, a lot of love for kind of him
as a talent. But look, I think it's it's gotta
be was special and he was so important to what
they did. I mean, the entire game plan revolved around
getting him the ball in various ways. And so without him,
you know, that was always I think we knew there
(25:14):
was going to be in an adjustment there. It was
just like the all numbers were so big that it
was like, well, you just can't replace that and expect
to function at the same level. But but without him,
it just doesn't seem like Levet is as confident, you know,
without gotta be around and I mean you point it out.
Tyson he's a good player, but he's really the only one.
I mean, I think there really isn't another receiver on
(25:36):
the team. I think, you know, Mitteler, I'm gonna sure
definitely pronounce his name correct with the tight end is
kind of been a reliable option at times. But you know,
Tyson is the only receiver with a touchdown reception on
the roster, and that you know that that says a lot,
right he is. He has focused so much on him
and I think, look at there was more more options
that makes Tyson more effective, right, Like, he was so
(25:59):
good last year, you're in part because the defenses were
so key than on Skataboo. And now like he's still
putting up numbers and that's with him being the focal
part of the offense.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So I know data is in everything.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And because at some point, I think this problem will
rectify itself because I still believe that you know, we
are moving into a world where the non con schedules
will be a little bit more difficult for teams and
therefore a little bit easier for us. To ascertain who
these teams are. But the data indicates Arizona State has
(26:32):
been stout against the run, but they're vulnerable in the air,
So I think Devon's gonna have to throw it. And
when you look at what we've seen so far, Devin's
been accurate and good against lesser competition, and the reports
where he was dealing with an ankle against Texas Tech,
I don't know if that's, you know, after the fact
autopsy excuse or real Who knows. But have you seen
(26:53):
enough from Devon Dampier as far as the throw game
and with his arm to believe that he can do
against Arizona State what he's been able to do when
the competition hasn't been a stiff.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
And that's a good question, I think, Like for me
the Texas State and maybe the injury was part of it,
it almost surely was. But like for me, the lasting
kind of image I have from that game, the Texas
Tech Utah game was everything was just so off schedule
because of the defensive line for Texas Tech and like
because it just changed. The players were just not being
(27:28):
run as designed because of the pressure. And that's and
that really is just a credit to Texas Tech upfront.
We know Utah has one of the best offensive lines
they've had, and to get kind of manhandled the way
they did was just so surprised and it's hard to
forget about it. And I just don't think that's going
to be an issue against Arizona State. Like again, like
they've been good upfront as well, but they're they're not
as good as Texas Tech is upfront. And I think
(27:50):
the Utah offensive line should you know, have more control
than they did when he didn't when when Devin didn't
look at right. So I think he'll be able to
throw it. I think he'll be able to run. I
do think that Utah is going to be able to
move the ball well in this game. I don't have
the same I don't have any concerns that they're they're
they're going to kind of be slowed down by Arizona State.
I think it's you know, kind of goes to the
(28:11):
opposite way, like is this a game where Arizona stake
and kind of get roll. And they've they've shown some
progress last few days, you know, a few games, I
should say, you know, offensive way, I thought after looking
really mediocre against Mississippi State. So for me, it's it's
it's how does the defense stack up this game and
doesn't do enough to complement the offense?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
So vinal thing here, And you know, I like you
don't necessarily make predictions and then you know, track them
and lean on them because I'm wrong all the time.
But my gut tells me Utah it will win the game.
It's a home game, it's a Saturday night where it's
going to be rainy and cold. Night games at Rise Cycles,
it's like a different level of passion and noise and intensity.
(28:52):
Levitt's a veteran kid. He's not going to be rattled
by it. Utah is a five point five point favorite.
That feels right. I think Utah probably wins a clip one.
You gotta lean on this at all, Kyle, what's you
gotta tell you?
Speaker 6 (29:05):
Yeah? I mean, I'm actually I thought the line would
be a little bit closer, just because I feel like
sometimes like there's like a Utah is unranked, right and
Arizona State is ranked. So anything we have like an
unranked team as a favorite against ranked team, like, I
think it's deserved that I think Utah is the better
team and like should be ranked in Arizona s they shouldn't,
but like at the end of the day, like that
(29:26):
stuff does influence betting matter. People will see the number
next for the name and and and put value on that.
So yeah, I think it's I would lean close to Utah,
but but certainly I feel strongly that you can win
this game.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
B YU is uh so far clean and they've passed
every test that has been put to them. And the
only question is how difficult are the tests that they've
passed to sound can get weird as you know, this
road trip when they're gonna take on Arizona coming up
on Saturday, They're gonna kick off let's see about six
o'clock mountain time on ESPN two. Byu' is a one
(30:03):
point five point favorite, and I thought the line would
be a little bit bigger than that. BYU the number
eighteen team in the country. Arizona is coming off of
shlacking of a Mike Gundy list Oklahoma State team after
they got trounced.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Against Iowa State. They did win against k State. How
good is that?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I mean, Noah Fida veteran quarterback home, it feels like
a little bit of a sneaky, tough test for BYU.
What do you make of what we could see as
Bergan Young travels down to take on Arizona.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
So this is I really like Fafita. I mean I
was really high on him going into last year and
they just didn't live up to expectations. But it seems
like they found some of what was missing last year.
They changed coordinators on both sides of the ball. It
seems to be working. I mean, they lit in an
aggainst Iowa State, but I was taking you know, is
a pretty good team that game with the names. This
(30:53):
is for me, clearly the hardest game that BYU will
have played to this to this point, I do think
by you should expect to win this one. The one
feels real love for me. I would have put this
around you know, maybe six or seven, maybe to Felix
five or six. But yeah, it's it's I think we're
still learning what Yu is going to be offensively, and
(31:14):
I think we talked about it before. Side is like
they were able to kind of ease into this season
with a with such a light early season schedule and
for Bachmeier that you know that couldn't have spen scripted
any better. As a true freshman getting to build some confidence,
and you know you should. I guess. My theory is that,
like they should be able to improve significantly on offense
with a true freshman over the course of the year.
(31:35):
Like if you have a if your Arizona State, I guess,
and you and you're a veteran guy back there, levit,
you kind of you know, you kind of know what.
Speaker 7 (31:42):
He is to a degree.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
Right, It's the jump from week one to week seven
shouldn't be as significant as as it is for a
true freshman playing the first college ball. So yeah, like
BYU hasn't necessarily looked explosive on offense throughout the year,
although they did show some signs against West Virginia, I think,
but this is this is this is the first real
test on the road against a team that has their
(32:05):
own aspirations for the conference title.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So Trevor Reiley, who played college ball here for Utah
then went on to play in the NFL for five
six years, was in studio yesterday and he brought up
something that maybe I just should have been a little
bit more aware of and the way he kind of
expressed it was pretty interesting to me about what he
perceives to be a serious lack of depth for Utah. Now,
(32:32):
you know, over the past couple of years, and Lane
Kiffin interview I think you guys did it at least
I saw it on ESPN dot Com, talked about this
dynamic among some of the best teams in the SEC
and some of the best teams in college football, because
once upon a time, Nick Saban could lose a defensive
end and just be like, Okay, I've got another five
star right here to plug in. And now if you're
(32:56):
a five star recruit and you're not starting, and you know,
back in the day, if you wanted to transfer, you
had to sit out a year, and back in the day,
there wasn't a paycheck to chase.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Well, if you're not starting.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
To Bama, Kirby Smart call you, or Steve's Arkisian will
call you or whoever and say I'm going to pay
you a million bucks to come play for me. And
you leave and you go get the money, you go get,
you go get the time. Is this an issue that
you feel is permeating throughout college football, the inability to
have the depth that you once did, because these kids
can now go get paid and just transfer and go
(33:29):
play where they.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Want to play.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
Yeah, it's an interesting concept, right because it really levels
out the depth charts everywhere because if the guy's leaving
Alabama to go to you know wherever go to Texas, well,
that means someone's leaving Texas to go to Texas Tech,
and someone's leaving Texas Tech to go to North Texas, right, So,
like it just funnels it down. So you have a
bunch of guys like in the past, like you signed
with your group of five school right because you didn't
(33:54):
have the offers to go to the bigger places that
you're probably not as good as some of those guys
running bench elsewhere. But now those guys get shuffled around
the money like the reasons you pointed out, And so
maybe there's more of a depth issue for like the
better teams, But I kind of feel like it's still
the same pool of players, right, So it's maybe like
(34:17):
the teams on the on the lower end are are
better up front, they still have depth issues. I haven't
really given that much time. I'm gonna worried it out
in my head as we go over It's it's it's
an interesting concept actually, Like might want to look into
that further because there's you know, you kind of open
one door. Where where does that leave you?
Speaker 8 (34:33):
Right?
Speaker 6 (34:33):
It just it's a balance and act with where the
kind of the talent's move it around in college football?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Kyle, is U c l A good now?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Like, uh, you know, watching Utah dismantle them, My takeaway was, yes,
I think Utah is a really good football team, but
U c l A might stink. And Nico Iamaliava, you
know against Penn State, looked like the kid that we
saw oftentimes at Tennessee. And when he transferred, like there's
a reason that was such a big story. If your
(35:02):
backup cornerback transfers, nobody gives a rip, nobody writes about it.
If a really good quarterback from a really good football
team decides to go find a new place to play,
one fan base will be upset.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
The other fan base will be very excited.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
But I'm telling you, I was traveling last weekend and
when I got the alert on my phone for the
Penn State UCLA score, I thought that they messed it up.
I thought they got it backward. So I had to
go like check in other places if it was real.
But it was real.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
How Stune.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Were you to see a UCLA team that had not
won a football game this year beat Penn State last week?
Speaker 6 (35:37):
Yeah, I mean not only had they not won a
football game, they hadn't had a lead in any game
all year. They had their own four and then never
held a lead, and that included games against UNLV in
New Mexico. Right, they weren't just losing, it was they
were completely they were not competitive in any way. So
(35:58):
it's an interesting case study because like I think, like
when Utah beat UCLA, like I think we even talked
about it then, like is UCLA a good team? No,
that they're clearly not a good team, but they do
have guys, right, Like they had individual talent at UCLA.
It's not like you're playing San Jose State or someone
that is just completely in a different tier from a
(36:18):
talent standpoint. It always felt like this was a team
that was just poorly coached and just that was the difference.
They've they've got good players, They've got guys on this
roster are going to play in the NFL. Nico obviously
was a sought after recruit coming out of high school,
did some good stuff at Tennessee last last season, and
so it it. I guess what this shows is not
(36:41):
it just shows how much coaching matters in football and
just buying and all those things. And this wasn't a
fluky win against Penn State either. Sometimes you see an
upset where it's like okay, they just like a bunch
of unusual things happened in the game too allowed to happen,
like LA moved the ball game like it was like
walk a completely different team. And you know, you gotta
(37:02):
give credit to Jerry Newheisl Collin plays. I mean, I
remember when he was at UCLA and he came on
and kind of off the bench, had it like the
I forget who it was LFA my head. He had
a big I mean it was Texas. We had a
big game and kind of saved them. And I remember
Jim Morris saying like one day Jerry new Heisl will
be the head coach at UCLA. That stuck with me then,
(37:24):
because I was like, no, that's an interesting, you know
comment to make about a player who is who is
on your roster. Now you're already pointing to like you know,
he's going to be a coach. And I think what
he was saying is that like, look, this guy gets football.
He's obviously the son of a guy who had a
lot of success as a college football coach, was kind
of groomed into this life. He you know, went to UCLA.
He kind of feels like he was destined for that,
you know, he he he anything, everything he accomplished as
(37:47):
a player was because of his like understanding of the game.
And you know, here we are ten years later or
whatever it was, and it kind of looks like one
step closer for that that becoming a possibility. He's not
gonna be back in the next head coach, but you
can kind of see a world we're down the line
that can eventually happ.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
ENIM So, as a lifelong, long suffering fan of the
New York Jets, I'm no fan of Bill Belichick. However,
as we move over to this cluster with Carolina, now,
you know the thing about the Patriots run with Belichick
is there, Well, I mean there was some drama like Spygate,
(38:24):
deflate Gate, all the gates, all the cheating that the
Patriots did during their great run, but they were kind
of known as an organization and it's the same way
that the Utah Jazz have always operated it's really hard
to get information out of an organization the way that
it was run in New England. And again there was
some drama here there, but this is like next level.
And I don't know what to make of the report
(38:46):
that surfaced yesterday that apparently Belichick was willing to pay
a million dollars to get out of his contract signed
a five year deal in December. Lombardi sends out a
letter to the donors saying, hey, this is a rebuild.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Be patient.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
The reports are now that over the the past twenty
four hours, Lombardy and Belichick have been on the phone
to recruits like, hey, none of this is true, but
when there's this much smoke, there has to be a
little fire, and obviously it's not going well. I don't
want to make the blanket statement that NFL guys can't
do the college thing or vice versa, because plenty of
examples would be going in the other direction. But what's
(39:24):
the Kyle bondigera take on what seems to be utter
chaos with North Carolina football right now?
Speaker 6 (39:31):
Yeah, for me, it kind of feels like, look, this
is a guy who was he's the most successful coach
in NFL history, right I think that's like by the numbers,
it's hard to dispute that. I think he kind of
just assumes to come in and be Bills Belichick and
that would be enough to win football games. It look
I look like accomplished in the NFL, and now I'm
going to be going up against you know, Wake Forest
(39:52):
or whoever. Like this shouldn't be hard. In his head,
it's probably like I can just it's kind of probably
just imagine it more than anything. Lombardy hire was an
absolute joke. He has no business running a roster in
college football, right, He's just not. He's just not at
that point in his career where that makes any sort
of logical sense. It's almost like Belichick hired his hired
(40:13):
his buddy to do the job he wasn't qualified for
and kind of overestimated his own ability to coach college football.
Like it just maybe the assumption that, hey, look, I'll
be able to coach in a way that you know,
people will adapt to quickly. You know what I've kind
of heard other people speculate about people around that program
that understand it is that you know it just he
doesn't really communicate well with the college players.
Speaker 8 (40:36):
There's jokes that he.
Speaker 6 (40:37):
Made about, you know, relating to people in that age
group with his own dating history. Right now that I'll
that I'll stay away from beyond that. But it is
it isn't It is entertaining to watch like a like
kind of like a like a car crash would be right.
I mean, I'm gonna be going to the game at
Cal in a couple of weeks that's on a Friday,
excited to see that one up close, because I was
(40:58):
really interested to see how with playout, just because he's
the name and that that makes it interesting from the jump.
But now that it's like gone this direction, it's almost
more interesting to see how he copes with it because
he's just so arrogant as a coach, and you know,
it's hard to be arrogant when you're you know, you're
losing games to you know, UCF and PCU and you're
(41:19):
kind of barely getting by Charlotte. So a lot of
fun for people to read against.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
I guess another just massive college football storyline, and you
know there's a lot here when it comes to having
the name Manning and playing quarterback. Period is what has
happened with Texas and you know I've heard from more
than a few people that don't necessarily believe the hype
around Steve Sarkisian has earned, and when you look at results,
(41:48):
maybe there's something there. Sark obviously played his college ball
here for b YU. Now, to be fair, I don't
feel like the offensive line has been great for Texas.
The wide receivers just don't appear to have breakaway speed.
They can't run the football. So there have been moments
when Arch has not been protected, but the moments that
he is there's something going on as well where he's
simply missing throws. Yes, he's a first year starting quarterback,
(42:13):
but he was in the program last year and we
saw a couple of snapshots that actually looked pretty promising.
We already talked Penn State the preseason ap one in
two teams were Texas and Penn State, who are now
out of the top twenty five all together. Red River
Rivalry where Oklahoma is a slight favorite. That line might
move based off the availability or lack thereof of John Nttier,
But this feels like it must win for Texas or
(42:35):
their season is done. What do you make of what
we've seen so far from Arch in Texas? As a whole.
Speaker 6 (42:41):
I Armercoon end the year again, Manny, like the name
makes it interesting, kind of like Belichick, but like I
also remember thinking, like the Heisman stuff just feels a
little absurd for sure, like to be the Heisman favorite
without ever having started, you know, can see. I guess
he had a couple starts last year, but being a
full fledged starting quarterback, it was not earned in any way.
(43:05):
And I remember writing at the start of the year,
like we like he has to end down comment as
like the like preseason player rank stuff, and like Manning
was I don't know he wasn't, Like I forget where
he was at, and maybe the top twenty five somewhere.
But even like then, I remember writing something to the
effect of like are we sure this is like are
we sure he's earned this yet? Like we're saying this
(43:25):
guy is the twenty fifth whatever the number was, best
player in the country, but we've actually never seen him
play an extended amount of football at the college level.
It it is one product of the name, and he
came in as a big time recruit, but now you
kind of wonder what was the a big time recruit
because of the name as well, Like he looked. He looked,
(43:48):
you know, he put up in numbers and all that
in high school, looks the part like you know, seven
on sevens and all that. But but now it's like, yeah,
it's it's hard to argue with the idea that this
is a lot of hype for nothing. And you know,
losing to Florida was bad. I think Texas is in
trouble this week against Oklahoma and even if they win
this game, but I don't see a world where they're
able to get to the finish line, you know, with
(44:11):
uh fewer than four losses. He just doesn't seem positive.
They get George on the schedule, they get Texas A
and M on the schedule. Even Vanderbilt probably a better
team than Texas right now. So yeah, for me, they're
not a legitimate playoff threat anymore. But of course, like
what do we know you since these teams change week
to week as we've seen. So that's that's obviously must
(44:33):
watch game this weekend.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
All right, before I say you loose, we'll sneak in
a little soccer And no, I will not ask you
about oursl Seattle alomin this weekend, but I will ask
you about the US men's national team. I think they
have a friendly tomorrow against Ecuador, so we have some
October friendlies. Diego Luna are midfielder here has been called
up and he appears to be a favorite of Poachatino
(44:56):
and feels like he's locked in that slot for the
World Cup that's like eight month away. My question is
what are we hoping to see in these friendlies? Your
thoughts on the most recent call ups which will feature
more of the big name players. And finally, I'm gonna
ask you three questions and one who's our best nine
who's our best striker?
Speaker 6 (45:15):
Yeah, so there's a lot there. The the roster is like,
this is an interesting window for the first time in
a while because so many of the of the call
ups under Pochattino have been legious kind of mix match
groups where you didn't have a lot of the a
guys in camp together. It was like you would get
Poolistic here, you would get Adams there, you would get
(45:36):
you know, whoever may be Death here, Antony Robinson hasn't
been around the team much over the last year, and
so to have those guys, actually I don't think death
is in right now, but like to have a lot
of the big names here in this window makes these
games more interesting to watch because they become more of
a reflection about what to expect, you know, come the
World Cup. Right, So that's that's kind of that's why
(45:57):
these windows, that's what this window was interesting. You have
Equital and I got Australia on Tuesday, two teams that
are you know, should be should be good competition, right, Luna. Yeah,
it's the fact that he has more appearances than anyone
else in the last year with the national team is
for me a clear indicator that he's on the plane
(46:19):
right now. The Pachatina likes him and wants him to
you know, expects him to be some sort of contributor
whether she's the field and in the World Cup. I
think that's more the question at this point. And then
you know, going to the the nine equations, I still
believe in Ricardo Peppy. I think that you know, when
he's healthy, he is really dangerous. He's he's been consistent
(46:42):
with PSB when he's been healthy. It's either him or Baligan.
You know, Baligan within the US shirt hasn't produced kind
of to the level that I think a lot of
people were hoping and maybe even expecting he would. I mean,
he was scoring at a prolific rate in France when
he play udged his pledged his allegiance to the US
(47:03):
instead of going to England, and I think, like at
the time, I remember talking with the president of US
Soccer and he was really excited about it. You know,
kind of the pitch was, Look, you can come in
here and you can be the guy from day one.
The World Cup's going to be in the United States.
You have a chance to like be this big international
star here and take advantage of all the limelight that's
going to come with being the like the Star nine
(47:25):
for the host nation. And it really hasn't played out
like that yet, but like from a talent standpoint, he
certainly can turn that on. And it's it's the disappointing
about the Puchettino era so far, as like we just
haven't seen those guys play together with with with Polisic,
we haven't seen him play with kim leya up front
like the guys you would expect to be the difference
makers haven't had a lot of reps together. But for
(47:47):
a lot of reasons, injuries and personnel decisions like wear
and tear their their own decisions to sit out in
the case of Pulisic, and you know, the Club World
Cup last summer kept some guys out. So there's a
lot going on to be interested in with the US
national team. So you know, I'm particularly looking forward to
the Tuesday game against Australia for sure.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
Kyle, good stuff man, Enjoy the weekend ahead, and we'll
get you back on next week.
Speaker 6 (48:10):
All right, sounds good?
Speaker 8 (48:12):
All right? See all right?
Speaker 1 (48:13):
Kyle Bonnager covers college football and does a little soccer
for ESPN. At Bonnager at ESPN is where you find
him on social media. Kyle stops by today courtesy of
our good friends at IFA Country Stores. With IFA Step
four Fall and Winter Long Food, You'll get stronger roots
now and in early green up next spring. It's the
ultimate law and owner power move. More can be found
(48:34):
at your local IFA Week six at the NFL starts
tonight Thursday night football Divisional battle between the Eagles and
the Giants. Eagles is seven point five point favorite at
last check. That game can be heard on this radio
station right after we say Tonight Talks and Pro Football
Now with our guys, Sam Bruckhouse Suomer Sports on a
(48:55):
Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 2 (48:56):
Sam, Happy Thursday, buddy. How are we doing?
Speaker 7 (48:59):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
Appreciate the time. Let's talk about the game tonight. So
Jackson Dark played his high school ball not too far
from here, as you and I have talked about. The
Philly storyline is interesting because of all the conversation about
their lack of offense a week ago. They allow a
fourteen point lead to evaporate in the fourth quarter when
they actually did try to throw the ball against the Broncos.
(49:20):
But Philly is still a healthy favorite. What are you looking?
What are you looking for tonight? How do you think
this one goes down?
Speaker 7 (49:25):
The thing that I'm looking for is how this defensive
front of the Giants can really shape up. They have
a lot of talent and performing at a pretty high level.
They've been the main bright spot of this Giants team.
Amidst quarterback changes, amidst a rookie quarterback having a pretty
turnover laden game last week. The defensive front has been
(49:47):
quite consistent with Lawrence and with Brian Burns and Kebon
Thibodeau and I'm Dual Carter. They just have a lot
of talent all the way to Bobby okuer Rique the linebacker,
and frankly, the Eagles front has been banged up and inconsistent. Currently,
they are sitting in terms of pressure and sacrates in
the lower quarter of the league. This is the first
(50:09):
time that they've sat there by Week five in several years,
and I want to see if the Eagles front can
really start to get it together right now. As you mentioned,
the Eagles offense is basically solely based around Jalen Hurt scrambling.
I don't think this is a game where he can
really scramble to much success because of those edge rushers.
There's that deep room of edg rushers that they have,
(50:31):
and so it's really up to the offensive line to
get in shape and really turn the leaf on this
season and get that offense going this week.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Tell me what you've seen from Jackson Dart so far.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
I mean, the numbers don't jump out at you, and
I understand why the move was made.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
You know, I'm from that.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
Northeast footprint and I've got brothers that are Giants fans,
and it seems like every single week their speculation about
Brian Dables's job and they were owned three. So you
make the switch win against the Chargers, bad loss against
a bad Saints team. But what have you seen specifically
Sam from Jackson.
Speaker 7 (51:04):
Dark Yeah, I think its ability to truly create with
his legs just gives them a leg up over what
they were seeing with Russell Wilson. The question is is
can he ever reach the heights that that Week two
game against Cowboys that Russell Wilson hit. There's going to
be inconsistencies, but right now he's been able to produce
positive expect to points added in the running game. He's
(51:28):
working at about a thirteen percent scramble rate, which is
very high, and so I want to see if he
can settle down. That was the pre draft kind of
skit on him was that he was one read and
then scramble. And now that his first read, his go
to wide receiver elite Neighbors has gone down with injury.
It's going to be interesting to see how that evolves.
(51:49):
Something kind of picked up on though they were performing
pretty well with two tight ends on the field, and
just because of the game script, they had to go
to a little bit more pass heavy sets. I think,
especially given to facing a terrorizing Eagles defense basically has
been the best in the league for about eighteen to
nineteen games. Now, going back to last year, I wonder
(52:10):
if they don't lock in on those heavy sets, those
twelve personnel sets, if that chemistry with THEO Johnson continues
to build and they hand the ball off a little
bit to Scataboo, use some play action, and we start
to see some effectiveness from heavy personnel rather than just
letting him go out there in some past happy personnel
and kind of run around a little bit. That's what
I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
Was watching Thursday Night Football last week on Amazon Prime
and the Niners in the Rams. It was a really
fun game, kind of a surprising result. The Rams were
actually a pretty healthy favorite, and Al Michaels asked Herb
Street a question about whether or not mac Jones was
a better fit with Kyle Shanahan than Brock Purty was.
It still feels a little early in premature to maybe
(52:52):
make that statement. Of course, the Niners paid Brock this offseason,
so like it or not, he's around for a while.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
Matt Jones Man has been really impressive.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
It looks like he's going to get another start this
week against Tampa. Is there a world sam that exists
if you're Kyle Shanahan, where you feel like maybe Mac
is a better fit than Brock perty.
Speaker 7 (53:15):
I don't know if there's a world right now. We've
seen Rock Perdy be able to take Kyle Shanahan's offense
to places that we have really only seen guys like
Matt Ryan Kake Kyle Shanahan's offense. What mac Jones was
able to do last week was take advantage of what
the Rams gave them. The Rams trotted out basically six
(53:35):
six defensive backs and forced mac Jones to make accurate
and quick throws. Underneath the assumption was that he wasn't
going to be able to do that. They were matching
Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Huschek and the tight ends tongues
with small defensive backs, and it was actually pretty effective
against the run as well. It was a very interesting
game plan from Trulia, the defensive coordinator of the Rams.
(53:56):
They said, mac Jones, you're going to have to beat us.
You're going to have to throw four times, you're going
to have to complete thirty five of those, and he
was able to do it. The question is when you
start facing more aggressive fronts, which basically started to happen
in the second half when they were lining Jared Vers
up all over the field and they ended up shutting
them down to six points. I don't think that you'll
(54:18):
see those dry spells that you saw in the second
half as the Rams came back with Brock Purty. But
more generally, this question of the ability seemingly of any quarterback,
except for a brief moment with Trey Lance, but who's
to say that he couldn't have figured it out.
Speaker 8 (54:34):
Basically, it seems.
Speaker 7 (54:35):
Like any quarterback can succeed in this Kyle Shanahan offense.
This was something going all the way back to mid
season last year. I was riding about them suomer sports
dot Com in that if you thought that you could
get a backup, it was Sam Darnold two years ago,
and now it's Mac Jones who can really keep the
chains moving. Doesn't really make sense to play Brock Purdy.
(54:55):
At the time, what we were discussing was over Dak
Prescott's contract, with the contract ended being I thought was
very reasonable in the correct lane of the Jared Golf's
and the two attack of blows of the world, and
so I think at cost it's brought party's team still
but Mac Jones has surprised me this year.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
So a lot of very shocking results. A week ago,
I don't know how shocking. And the Jags win was
over the Chiefs, I mean Kansas City I think was
a three point five point favorite.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
Our guy Devin Lloyd.
Speaker 1 (55:24):
Who played his college ball up just about a mile
from here up the hill. With another interception, this time
at pick six, Chiefs jump out to that fourteen zero elite.
Speaker 2 (55:33):
You felt like they were going to kind of run
away with it.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
But now Jacksonvilles four and one, what are you willing
to say about the Jags? And then where you at
with the two and three Kansas City Chiefs right now?
Speaker 7 (55:44):
You know they say golf is a game of luck.
If you practice real hard, you get real lucky. I'm
starting to wonder if that's not the case with the
Jacksonville Jaguars defense. Here's a team who plays an immense
amount of zone covers. They're sitting at about six in
the league right now, but they just have been able
to generate turnovers. And who better than Devin Lloyd the
(56:04):
U taught native to have a basically one hundred and
two yard pick six to turn that game around. It
basically ends up being the major difference in the game.
In the analytics community, you typically get a little hesitant
to load a ton of trust into defenses that are
have very good EPA per play. They're generating lots of
(56:25):
turnovers and explosive plays, as Devin Lloyd did on the
defensive side of the ball, but they're allowing a success
rate that's very high. In that game, Kim City was
able to move the ball down the field, and really
the only time that the Jacksonville Jaguars really stopped them
was that pick six, and I think that's why I'm
a little skeptical of that Jaguars defense. However, if Trevor
Lawrence can continue to play well and Liam Cohen can
(56:48):
continue to orchestrate an effective run game, this is a
team with a lot of talent. You have Brian Thomas Junior,
who looked better last week as someone who has been
a wide receiver one on its team last year and
I still expect to break out this year. You have
Travis dat Chance, someone who has been a high level
Pro Bowl caliber running back who is performing as such
(57:09):
right now. And you have Josh Finz Allen as a
defensive end. When you have key players at those premium positions,
it makes for a pretty good mix. And that's not
even including Travon Walker, who's on the other side as
a defensive end. There's a lot of premium talent on
that team. I think it's just about getting it in the
right place right now, getting.
Speaker 2 (57:27):
Late early for the Ravens, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (57:29):
You know, when you looked at the preseason Super Bowl lines,
Baltimore was right there along with Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (57:35):
We'll get to Buffalo in a moment.
Speaker 1 (57:36):
And I do want to ask you about the Patriots
and Drake May because that was impressive. We'll see what
happens this weekend with the health stuff, but they have
the Rams and obviously a very good talented team, very
well coached. You followed the one in five and that
might be curtains, but of course, you know, when it
comes to a team that is that talented and when
fully healthy, it's probably not smart to completely write them off.
(57:59):
But what do you make of this one in four
team right now? And do you have faith? And maybe
they can find their way back.
Speaker 7 (58:06):
So if you recall, we were in a very similar
spot last year. The difference was was Lamar Jackson was
healthy number one and number two was playing extremely well.
Is he still playing pretty well, yes, not quite up
to the MVP calendar caliber that we've seen. What I
thought was interesting as I was watching film today is
he's been struggling a lot when people are putting spies
(58:27):
right over the center and having him mirror and having
that linebacker mirror Lamar Jackson across the line of scrimmage.
He's been struggling with that a bit, and that's something
we haven't really seen. I think it may be a
little bit of an answer that was unveiled by the
Chiefs kind of two years ago that teams have really
caught on too, and I'm going to be interested in
(58:48):
how that shows up against the team, like you said,
that likes to line people up right over that center,
and so when it really comes down to it, I
think it's truly the defense that has to get it together.
They are dealing with a metric ton of injuries across
that defense, but they're just not going to be able
to get it done. With a twenty eighth twenty ninth
ranked defense last year, this defense was struggling at the
(59:10):
beginning of the year, made some personnel changes moved Marlon
Humphrey inside, Muve Stevens, who is now with the Jets
out to the outside. I think some personnel changes or
at least some strategy changes are needed on the defensive
side of the ball, because they simply can't play Ravens
football the way they want to without a strong defense, I.
Speaker 1 (59:28):
Really thought, and this is based off of what we
had seen. Of course, of course Joe Burrow goes down,
but you could do worse as a backup if you
know with Jake Browning what he's done in the past,
with Joe's injury history.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
And just threw a ton of picks.
Speaker 1 (59:42):
So they make a move and they bring in Joe
Flacco and he's going to be under center on Sunday.
With your knowledge of that system and the type of
quarterback Flacco is, do you think he'll be able just
to step in and understand the assignment he's tasked with.
Speaker 7 (59:57):
Yeah, it's going to be very unique. I mean when
Burrow is in that system, it is a RPO heavy offense,
it is shotgun level passing, and it's it's almost resembles
more of a college system that we've become accustomed to.
Then it resembles some of these under center play action
style style plays. I think the main difference between Jake
(01:00:18):
Browning and Joe Flacco or the question is is can
Joe Flacco get the ball more literally just more number
count of times to Jamar Chase and T Higgins. That's
the name of the game with that team. If they're
able to get the ball in the hands of those playmakers,
it ends up going well. We saw Jamar Chase have
good games with Jake Browning in the past. They just
(01:00:39):
haven't been able to get him the ball for whatever reason.
They've tried most everything, and so I wouldn't be surprised
if we start to see an offense trot it out
there with Flaco that is more Jamar and T. You
run beat down the field and we're going to try
to get the ball to you and see what happens.
I think that's the strategy change that we're going to
see this week.
Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Reference.
Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
I wanted to get to that that Bills Patriots game.
I think it was fourteen straight trips to High Mark
where the Patriots lost to the Bills, and Buffalo is
still I think the Vegas favorite to win the Super Bowl,
and certainly one game does not get you off a
team that is quarterback by that guy, and is that good?
Wildly impressed with Drake May, Sam and his ability to
(01:01:21):
make plays. Must have been a really good night for
Stefan Diggs. Stunned that the result went that way. What
were your takeaways?
Speaker 7 (01:01:28):
Yeah, the numbers back that up. Drake May right now
is a top player and expected points added per play.
He's doing well in the passing game, he's doing well
in the running game. And this Patriots offense has played
really well. But I do want to highlight one things.
They've been really successful as a result of their offensive line,
what was once looked at last year as a weakness,
(01:01:50):
added players like Will Campbell at the left tackle position
who's performed very well, Morgan Moses at the right tackle
position who has performed very well. And that allowed Mike
on win You normally, who was playing tackle for the Patriots,
to move to his natural position at guard, where he
has been plat pass blocking very well. The ability of
that offensive line to control the game has allowed Drake
(01:02:10):
May to be Drake May and kind of create outside
of the pocket and take a little bit more time
to make downfield throws to guys like Stefan Diggs. I
think the real question in last week's game was if
they don't get those three turnovers against the Bills, some
of which were pretty catastrophic, are they able to win
that game. It's very difficult to win games with turnovers.
(01:02:32):
As a result, I'm not as worried about the Bills
more than as I'm surprised and excited to continue watching
the Patriots.
Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
At what point do we start to believe a little
bit in the Colts, Sam, You know.
Speaker 7 (01:02:45):
They have what it takes to win, which is a
good offensive line and a good defensive line. I will
believe it when I start I start getting I stopped
getting some of these games from Daniel Jones where it
just seems to go completely haywire. We saw one a
couple of weeks go, and I guess you can kind
of expect that every third game or every fourth game
(01:03:06):
is going to look a little bit weird from Daniel Jones.
They are in a competitive division now. I think in
the early season, when the Jaguars were still trying to
get it together and had some shaky games and the
Texans weren't looking all that great, that it seemed like
they were just going to roll over with their excellent
defensive line, the Forrest Buckner, Grover Stewart, and their excellent
offensive line as well. And I also want to give
(01:03:28):
a shout out to Shavari's Ward, the cornerback who came
over from San Francisco, and it's performing at an all
pro level once again. So they have a bunch of
guys who are playing extremely well. But I do think
regression is nigh and I would expect him to settle
in around the eight, nine to ten win team that
they've been in the past couple of years.
Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
I referenced the Niners in the Bucks, but I probably
need to ask you about Tampa because I just I
love this story.
Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Now, I was.
Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Never one that believed Baker should have been the number
one overall pick, but I always just I always liked him,
always liked his you know, his competitive nature.
Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
I know there were some things that turn some people off.
Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
I don't give a rip, just you know, what do
you look like when you're on the field, leading a
team and trying to win. And it felt like he
was just treated very unfairly by a certain portion of
the American media that covers this sport.
Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
So they're four and one and he's.
Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
In the mix for MVP, And like I said, I
just think it's a really cool story.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
How real is this four and one? Starting your thoughts
on Baker.
Speaker 7 (01:04:26):
Mayfield, Now, if you want analytical Sam talking to you,
the start is not that real. We've had extremely close
games that have been won by an extremely small margin.
Now Baker has led game winning drives in basically every
single one of those games. And so when you really
look at how efficient they are as an offense and
(01:04:48):
what they're doing on a play by play basis as well,
are really really good. And you have to give it
to Jason light the general manager, and Todd Bowles for
putting Baker in a position to win. They have Tristan
Wurf's probably the best left tackle in the league. They
have an excellent quiver of wide receivers. They invested into
Mecca Agbuka in the first round. Many people were surprised.
(01:05:08):
Now he looks like a certified wide receiver one in
this league. And that's even missing Mike Evans, who is
probably the true wide receiver one on this team, and
not even discussing Bucky Irving or Rashad White or Chris Godwin,
all of which are who very good contributors on that
offense as well. They have a lot of weapons to
play with on the offense, and so I think the
(01:05:29):
reality of this team is getting the defense in a
spot where it can really compete. Right now, they're sitting
at twenty first in EPA for play. The back end
has been kind of a struggle over the past two years,
even though we've seen Antoine Winfield play really, really well,
and so it's just a question of can they get
consistent pressure, can they really back up that offense that's
(01:05:51):
going to produce points? At this point, we've seen him
do it for the better part of two three years.
At this point, I think that offense is real. I
think Baker Mayfield is real. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers as
a team, though, I'm a little bit more questionable about.
Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
Before I say, you louse, I keep referencing the Vegas ods,
But you're a guy that understands the data and the numbers.
So I'll just ask you at this point, AFC NFC,
the team you have the most confidence in in both conferences.
Speaker 7 (01:06:17):
I really have the most confidence in the Lions. Again,
in the early season, what you're really looking for is
teams that are blowing out other teams, and the Lions
for the second or third straight year, are just absolutely
mauling teams who are unprepared to face them. And they're
doing that regardless of if Jared Goff has a good game,
regardless of if the offensive line has a bad game.
(01:06:39):
In the left tackle Decker goes down, they bring in
young player Giovanni Manuh he does not play well, they
still absolutely mal a team. I'm so happy I can
say that I'm back on the Lions train of them
just being the best team in the league. And I
think big kudos in fact, is to Aiden Hutchinson on
the other side of the ball, who has really stabilized
that defense. They're starting to look really good with new
(01:07:02):
defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard. They're having a little bit of
issues at the cornerback position. Some injuries to Terry and
Arnold who seems to it was an indefinite injury. It
looks like he's going to be able to come back
dj Reid as well. The acquisition at the other cornerback position,
They're going to have to get that lockdown. But we've
seen this team overcome that before and so if hutch
(01:07:23):
is in the Honolulu Blue, I think that defense is
going to be good. And as long as Jared Goff
is slinging it behind a talented offensive line to talented
skill players, I have the most trust that in any
given game they can go out and win.
Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
Sam before you said you lose, tell our listeners about
suomer Brain where they can find it and can I
use it to win a million dollars on DraftKings so.
Speaker 7 (01:07:44):
Soomersports dot com slash suomer brain spence if you want
detailed data that you can't get anywhere else. A lot
of these that that zone stat that I threw out
about the Jacksonville Jaguars, I went in and asked suomer
Brain what the Jacksonville Jaguars between man and zone was.
When Tyson Campbell, who was recently traded, was on the field,
(01:08:05):
I quickly learned that he's going to a very man
heavy scheme with the Cleveland Browns. Perhaps explains a little
bit why of why the Cleveland Browns valued him over
Greg Newsom. So sumer Brain, it's just like a chatbot,
just like chat GPT, but you have access to the best,
highest quality data available to you and you know, Svince,
(01:08:26):
you can go in and and maybe learn a little
bit about your jets. They have very high success rates
right now. They're trending in the right direction there, so
ask a couple questions. Let me know what you think.
Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
Oh Man, I didn't want to bring the jets up
at all this hit, but thank you for bringing it up.
As you exit, Sam, thanks for the time, Buddy, enjoyed.
Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
The games, Okay, well, pleasure all right. Sam brockcast Suomer Sports.
Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Check out their new feature called sumer Brain for advice
on fantasy football, or if you just want to dig
in and learn more about the numbers and what the
data says about your favorite team. Sam stops by today
courtesy of our friends at IFA Country Stores with Phase
Step four Fall and Winter Long Food. You'll get stronger
roots now in an early green up next spring. It's
the ultimate lawn owner power move more at your local
(01:09:07):
IFA or at IFA dot co Op will switch gears,
Andy Larson will stop by. A really impressive pro basketball
debut from Ace Bailey last night, some hot shooting from
Bryce Senseiba, some good, some bad, but the Jazz lose.
Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
That's probably how it's going to be all year long.
Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
We will bring in Pops today Pablo Mashjoornni to preview
RSL Seattle and talk a little soccer Thursday night. Football
comes your way tonight from the Meadowlands. It is the
Giants and the Eagles divisional battle. When we say good night,
just after six o'clock, Pablo Mashjoorinni will be our guest
to start the four o'clock hour dramatic scenes at Loomin
(01:09:44):
Field in Seattle on a rainy, cold Saturday night expected
RSL needs a result, see if the lads can get
it done without Diego Luna, Brian o'hada, zavierr Goozo, who
actually got the start today for the U twenty twos.
But the Utah Jazz played a basketball game last night
and they lost. But Ace Bailey looked awesome, which is
(01:10:04):
probably something to expect all your long as far as
the losses, and then getting excited about some performances from
some of the younger players.
Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Our next guest covers the Jazz. You know him, you
love him? He's Andy Larson. Hello, Andy, how are you?
Speaker 7 (01:10:16):
I'm good?
Speaker 5 (01:10:17):
Spence are you I'm good?
Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
I've got to say man, I was really impressed by Ace.
And you know, I think I asked you about three
four weeks ago, give Jazz fans one reason to be
excited about the season, and you said, Ace, So look,
it's preseason. It's one game. I'm not anointing. You never
anoint or dismiss based off of preseason ever. But what
did you see from young Ace Bailey last night?
Speaker 5 (01:10:39):
Yeah, you know, like he's not going to shoot seventy
percent every game, but I gotta say, like I was
impressed at how he got into his shots and just
generally how how he played, how comfortable he looked right
like I was. You know, the worry with Ace Bailey
was that he made the ballmate stick a little bit,
and you may take tough shots, and then you know,
(01:11:00):
the defensive end of the floor. I thought he competed
on defense, and then I thought offensively, I thought the
way he fit into the Jazz's offense still taking a
lot of shots, but in the flow of things, right
like they had him running off ball screens, coming down
off of pin downs, coming off of the base line,
coming up top and taking shots and getting opportunities that way.
(01:11:21):
And so it wasn't that like they were running a
daily pick and rolls. It was that he was getting
the ball in the flow of the offense and then
had the opportunity to then use his prodigious gifts in
athleticism and ability to shoot and finish to get open
shots and make them. You know, so could not have
been more impressed. You know, twenty five points, six rebounds,
three assists. I thought he had one time to use
(01:11:45):
a nurkics that was really good.
Speaker 7 (01:11:48):
Was just great to see all the way around, you know.
Speaker 5 (01:11:51):
Yeah, like say, it's preseason. Defenses will get better, you know,
may struggle more against teams with more rim protection than
what Uston had, but like, you know, it's exactly what
everything you wanted to see as a Jazz fan with
Ash Bailey last night.
Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Well, and it's a fan base that is looking for
something to hold on to. Is it hyperbolic to say
that this is the most exciting prospect since Donovan?
Speaker 8 (01:12:19):
No, I don't.
Speaker 5 (01:12:19):
I absolutely think it's the most exciting prospects on Sonovan.
And you know, it's the first top five picks in
Dante exam and you know maybe the first hopefully the
first top five pick. That's good. Then Darren Williams, right, like, so, yeah,
this is you know, it's been a long time coming,
and it's been a probably too long of a rebuild
(01:12:40):
process given that Donovan and Rudy were traded.
Speaker 7 (01:12:43):
Three years ago.
Speaker 5 (01:12:44):
But it does feel like this may be a piece.
This may be different because they just does have more talent,
more potential than anyone the Jazz have drafted in the
last three years.
Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
I agree, based off of your opinion, based off of
your knowledge and understanding when it comes to conversations with
the front office or will Hardy himself outline, you know,
a time frame, a plan. I mean thirty one minutes
last night right in preseason hoops. Like NBA players don't
play in regular season games, let alone preseason. Do you
(01:13:15):
think we're going to see thirty to thirty five minutes
most every night As far as the playing time phrase.
Speaker 5 (01:13:21):
Yeah, I think so. I mean, like you look at
the true spot and kind of he can play the
tour or the three. I think I think there's a
real chance, and I think there's a bit likely that
they start him and then yeah, you're in lines with that.
Those kind of minutes. I mean, look like they got
to play a Collier, they got to play Lowry, they
got to play Walker, and so the minutes are definitely
going to be adjusted. But everyone knows what the deal
(01:13:44):
is here, right Like that Ace is is that guy
is a guy that's going to be most likely part
of the next good Jets team. And so I don't
think they are going to short his development now. Like
what may happen is if he starts developing habits or
isn't playing defense or whatever. Like I could see Will
making an adjustment there, you know, like bending him for
(01:14:06):
a period of time. But I think they're going to
give him those opportunities. I don't, you know, this is
not one guy in a situation that I think you
should be sorry about, so long as he's doing the right.
Speaker 7 (01:14:17):
Things on the floor.
Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
I don't love comparisons, as you know, we've talked about
it over the years. I just think it puts ideas
into the heads of fans. And then when Derek Favors
isn't Carl Malone, we're like, we'll wait a second, what happened.
But you know, last night postgame, there was some conversation
involving Will Hardy when there was a little bit of
Jason Tatum, there was a little bit of Kevin Durant.
(01:14:40):
I mean, look, Danny and so many other NBA executives. Certainly,
the way Danny built Boston, you want big, long, athletic
wings and aces built in a very unique way with
a skill set in that combination, when fully baked, could
breed something really exciting. Is there a best case scenario
in your mind that you've heard that you think makes
(01:15:02):
sense as far as the com goes.
Speaker 5 (01:15:05):
That's a good question, because you know, I think what
he can be and what he is and what he
was at Rutgers are like kind of three different things,
if that makes sense, you know. So the one he's gotten,
you know, throughout his high school career was Kevin Durant, right,
and so that he got to play him against him,
and they were matched up against each other for most
of that game when they were on floor together.
Speaker 7 (01:15:27):
Like, it's extremely cool.
Speaker 5 (01:15:31):
I don't think he's Kevin Durant, right, because it's just
really hard to be Kevin Durant. And he's also four
or five inches shorter than Kevin Durant at this point,
so you know, I think that that is unlikely. But
he does have some of that, like nailing tough shots
thanks to a high release over defenders that Kevin Durant has.
You know, I think you look at kind of the
(01:15:52):
other pieces. I'm just trying to think of some of
the more athletic wings in the NBA. Like, you know,
I think Jason Tatum is like reasonable idea, you know,
but I also think that there are kind of worst
case scenarios too that you know, we should allow one
game to kind of allow us to forget either, right Like,
there are athletic wings in this league that haven't been
(01:16:13):
able to hang as well because because of shot colection
and defense, and so that is still something to be
concerned about. But yeah, like think of you know, he's
not quite as athletic bouncy wise as Trasa McGrady, but
something like that. You know, you were kind of talking
about some of the best wings in the NBA though,
(01:16:35):
right like, just because he is so fluid with it
in a way that again, we just haven't seen in
a Jazz uniform in a very long time.
Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
So no market In, no Philipowski, no Walker Kessler.
Speaker 1 (01:16:50):
So you know, no Isaiah Calier as you referenced early
earlier on based off of the players that weren't available
and the guys that will decided to start, and the
guy that the guys that will's just decided to play.
What were your takeaways based off of just that decision
making process with all all of that kind of baked
into the question.
Speaker 5 (01:17:12):
Yeah, so you know you figure that like they're not
going to start use of Nurkic, right, They're going to
be starting Walker Kessler. You probably don't start see michaela
instead start Larer marketing. Taylor Hendrick got the start at
the four. I think it's probably more likely he comes
off the bench, but there is kind of that spot
at the two guard to start ace if you want to,
(01:17:33):
and then you know who starts a point guard. I
think is a real question between Kiante and Isaiah Collier.
Obviously the Jazz because Isaiah Collier at the end of
last year and so long as I think he has
a relatively reasonable training camp, I would expect that to
be kind of a default. But they also are pretty
happy with how Kante has kicking on more of a
(01:17:54):
leadership role in this summer, and maybe that and maybe
just a desire to get some more shooting out on
the floor leads them.
Speaker 7 (01:18:01):
To go that direction.
Speaker 5 (01:18:02):
So we'll we'll see on that but you know, Lowry's
a starter. Walker's a starter. I think we've seen and
they believe in the ACE can be a start and
maybe sooner than people expected. And then, yeah, you're looking
for kind of connecting pieces. I think Taylor Hendrickson Kyle
Lapowski kind of both makes sense in different ways. And
(01:18:22):
then yeah, it's kind of a point guard battle at
the one spot.
Speaker 2 (01:18:25):
So when it comes to.
Speaker 1 (01:18:27):
The minutes that the veteran players are going to get,
and you and I have joked in the past, like,
as soon as Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson are playing
twenty twenty five minutes and the young players minutes are
being cut into, you know that there's going to be
a faction of the fan base that's going to be disappointed.
But twenty minutes for Kevin Love last night, seventeen for
Kyle Anderson. What are your thoughts on the way that
(01:18:48):
you anticipate Will using the vets and balancing out needing
to give minutes to the younger players so they can
learn how to play in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (01:18:56):
Yeah, I think you know, just looking at that injury report,
you have three front court players who you expect to
play significant time, who weren't available, right Lowry Walker and
Kyle Philipowski, So you know, I don't anticipate Kevin Love
necessarily even being part of the rotation on opening day.
If those three guys are healthy. I think you said
Nurkich is probably your backup center, but you can also
(01:19:19):
play Kyle Philipowski as a backup four slash five and
we'll see what they do with that. You know, I
think Lowry is a three slash four slash five right like,
you can kind of play him wherever. So I I
kind of learned more from the backcourt rotation yesterday than
the front court rotation. And then you know, Kyle Anderson
(01:19:40):
is is a wing, so you know, I think kind
of if Bryce sent the ball plays as well as
he did last night, he's gonna get more minutes then
Kyle Anderson or spemachaalor just because you want the better, younger,
more interesting.
Speaker 7 (01:19:54):
Players out on the floor.
Speaker 5 (01:19:55):
So yeah, you know, I don't really anticipate Kyle Anderson
playing twenty minut at the night during the regular season,
so long as you know, these guys get healthy, which
I don't think that these are major injuries, by the way,
I think that these are I expect those guys to
be ready for openning night.
Speaker 1 (01:20:11):
So you reference Kiante and a lot of conversation about
his growth during the off season, which typically I roll
my eyes at, because every coach and every front office
after an off season will kind of spin the narrative
they want the fans to hear about. I thought he
looked pretty good last night. The defensive stuff just continues
to be something you leave shaking your head. There are
(01:20:33):
just so many moments where there's just like an airheaded decision,
like he just loses focus. He had nine assists, he
had sixteen points, He was seven of eleven. Your thoughts
on what you saw last night, your understanding of this
narrative that he'd had an awesome offseason, and your expectations
for Kiante George this year.
Speaker 5 (01:20:52):
Yeah, Like, I mean, I'm with you. I don't necessarily
buy a lot of that. You know, it's a believe
it one I'll see it kind of being I did
think he played well offensively last night. I do think
he tried defensively and there were a couple moments in
the first quarter where he made an impact, you know,
like he stopped at men Thompson on one play, But
(01:21:15):
I do think he was part of the overall problem
that you know, allowed the Rockets to score one hundred
and forty points to the end. Right, So in the end,
I don't think that was that different than the Kante
George that I'm familiar with last year. And you know, honestly,
so much for him depends on him getting five percent
better from an efficiency point of view, right, like taking
(01:21:36):
the five percent worse shots out of his game, making
more of the threes, getting to the free throw line
more often, making the right pass rather than looking for
his own shot quite as often. And you know that's
that stuff is so hard to tell from one game.
You just need like the big numbers over the course
of weeks and months and years to kind of figure
(01:21:58):
that out. So yeah, I mean I wouldn't say that
like last night, Hey, I thought turned a corner, but
I thought it was a good performance And we shall
see if if that continues or over the course of time.
You know, the the plus minus worries and the defense
worries kind of kind of bear out.
Speaker 2 (01:22:16):
Who do you think the best perimeter defender is on
this team?
Speaker 1 (01:22:20):
That like the dude when Durant is going Off or
Tatum or Devin Book or whatever it is, Who's who's
the best matchup defensively for the better offensive perimeter players
as far as big wings go in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (01:22:35):
I think it's Taylor Hendrick. I agree, And I don't
think like he's He told us on me to day
he wants to be the best defensive player in the NBA.
He wants to own a Defensive Player of the Year award,
which like is he has a long way to go
for that. But I think like he moves his feet
at a really high level, not just for the Jazz,
but for the NBA in general. I think, I, you know,
(01:22:56):
I can imagine him getting there. It's not I wouldn't
bet on it, but I think it is.
Speaker 7 (01:23:02):
I think it's possible.
Speaker 5 (01:23:03):
And the way he's changed his body, the way he's
at it strength, the way he moves. It was really
great to see him play so well yesterday. If the
athleticism is clearly there, like he's the one guy that
has the opportunity to be a really really plus defender,
And so I liked the idea of giving him those
tough opportunities whenever the Jazz can right, Like you know,
(01:23:27):
Ace was matched up against Kevin Durant last night, and
that makes sense, and I'd like giving him those chances too.
But Taylor's right there with him as another long wing
who can stay in front and is excited about getting
that work in on the defensive end. Yeah, I'm excited
for his defensive potential.
Speaker 2 (01:23:45):
So sence Abat.
Speaker 1 (01:23:46):
You know, there was a little early on and I
remember thinking about this with Jabari Jabari Parker, who coming
out of college, he just loved his skill set.
Speaker 2 (01:23:54):
But you're like, kid, the dude ever get into shape?
And the answer was no, he just never did.
Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
Bryce looks better he does, and man's that's a pretty
pretty jumper, man. I mean it's a very esthetically pleasing
jump shot six of ten from three last night he
had twenty four Overall. There are a couple of things
I've seen that anticipate maybe him getting a starting job
with this team. I don't know that I anticipate that.
(01:24:19):
But what do you think we'll see from Bryce this year?
Speaker 5 (01:24:23):
Yeah? You know, I think he could if there's kind
of you know, you just look at you've probably got
eight ahead of him lowry marketing, and then you know,
if maybe he can play at the two or the
three starting there, but there may just be too many
other guys. But like he also just does make sense
as the sixth man because of his ability to score
(01:24:43):
at all three levels. I think, you know, he is
he's an extremely good shooter in a way that no
one else on the roster is, and I think that
is the thing that will carry him in the NBA.
And I love that he has realized that, you know,
talking to him at the end of last year, you know,
realize that, hey, three point volume is is really important
(01:25:04):
to me, and it sees himself maybe more as a
specialist than he was at like Ohio State, where he
was just kind of an all around scorer. But he
does have the ability to, Hey, if you close out
on me, I will go past to and score in
the mid range at the room, which is great.
Speaker 8 (01:25:21):
You know.
Speaker 5 (01:25:21):
The question is defense. I do think his body looks
a lot better than it did last year.
Speaker 7 (01:25:25):
I don't think his.
Speaker 5 (01:25:26):
Defensive fundamentals are awesome, but I think they might be
good enough, you know, certainly to play on the jazz
and maybe to stick in a better situation as well.
And ultimately kind of of the young guys, you know,
other than this rookie class. I buy his offensive potential
as something that can stick in a role player capacity,
(01:25:46):
maybe as much as anybody else's. So Yeah, like I
think the Brice is a legitimate kind of NBA prospect.
I don't think he's like an All Star prospect, but
I think he's a He's a guy who can stick
and again kind of be part of that next We're
all trying to figure out, you know, of these like
eight young players they've drafted over the last three years,
(01:26:08):
which of them are part of the next good jazz team.
And I feel like Bryce has a pretty good ability
and good potential to be a role player on that
next good jazz team.
Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:26:19):
I tend to agree with that as well. All Right,
a lot of good but some not so good. And look,
I know he's still young. It does look like he's
put on some weight and he's been lifting. But Cody
Williams last night in thirteen minutes look lost and didn't
do anything.
Speaker 7 (01:26:35):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:26:36):
It's a top ten pick, man, And look, the data
in the history indicates that plenty of top ten picks
don't pan out. So and by the way, I'm not
saying that that's the case. I'm just saying it just
continues to not look great.
Speaker 5 (01:26:48):
Fair to say, yeah, I mean, look, he had one
of the worst rookie seasons for picking NBA history last year.
This year, you know, yes, for good things, and he
had in the Summer League, right, like he had a
third quarter here, I think it was a fourth quarter, different.
Speaker 7 (01:27:05):
Game like that, he.
Speaker 5 (01:27:08):
Did actually make an impact on the game, right like,
drove to the basket, did some things, stole the ball,
got rebounds, And it's just like the thing is in
so many other games and so many of his minutes,
he's Tony Smell out there, right like the zero point,
zero rebound, zero sis, zero steals, zero blocks, just doesn't
do anything productive. And that can be okay, Hey, at
(01:27:31):
least you're not getting in the way so long as
you can make three point shots. And that's what really
really worries me about him right now. Is not a
good three point shooter that he is even in practice,
even in like you know, at the East High School
scrimmage last week, was barely hitting rim. He checked you know,
the chucked one off the backboard that didn't hit rim
(01:27:53):
in that scrimmage. Just like it looks, it doesn't look great.
So it's because, like, I think he's a smart kid,
and I think he understands like the x's and o's
of the NBA at a higher level than the other
young players do. I think he gets a lot of
it as his relationship with his brother in terms of
like understanding what he should be doing on but he
(01:28:16):
just doesn't actually.
Speaker 7 (01:28:17):
Do any of it.
Speaker 5 (01:28:18):
And I feel like until he turns on like the
hunger in his brain that in order to go after
those rebounds to try to make plays happen, there's not
a lot to recommend him being on the floor right now.
Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
All right, let's move to a couple of storylines just
involving the team. Chris Mannix, friend of the show, when
he gets back to us the latest report the Jazz
are very open to moving Larry.
Speaker 8 (01:28:44):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:28:44):
I know what Austin said, and I know what the
front office has said in the past, and there's part
of me that's like, dude, if you're gonna do it,
it's two years too late. But there's part of me
that believes it's still the right thing to do. Even
though I love Larri, he's awesome, he's fun to watch play.
What's your underst of this dynamic and do you have
a lean one way or the other.
Speaker 5 (01:29:04):
Yeah, look, I mean Danny and as name saying and
we'll just say often you know, saying that, Hey, you know,
it's not our intention to trade Lowry. I think it's true.
And yet, like, are they listening to offers and even
like to some extent reaching out for offers to try
(01:29:24):
to understand what his value is around the league? Like, yes,
absolutely they did that this offseason, and absolutely they will
continue to do that into the season and into the
trade deadline period. They don't feel like they have to
trade him though, because you know, they still think, you know,
he's not a problem for them. He's not demanding a trade.
He likes it here in Utah. He can conceivably be
(01:29:45):
part of that next good Jazz team. But everyone also
kind of knows, Hey, like the timeline doesn't work out,
and it is kind of well, it's a big bummer
that he is the NBA's longest tenured player who has
not made a playoff. It is not played in the playoffs,
and so like, basically to me, it all comes down
to whether or not the Jazz get a good offer
(01:30:05):
for him. And I would define a good offer as
multiple first round picks, hopefully a first round pick you
can have that has some potential to be a lottery pick.
And then you know a good young player of some sort.
You know, a lot of discussion was around like the
Detroit possibility there. Right, you've got Tobias Harris matching from
(01:30:27):
a contract point of view, You've got Jada and Ivy
or Asar Thompson as maybe an interesting young player. Jada
Ivys needs an extension soon, but anyway, and then you
know a pick or two, and I think that offer
does make sense. I don't know that the Jazz have
gotten that offer. I don't know that they've rejected that offer,
right like, but I think there are kind of situations
(01:30:50):
around the league where you can imagine it kind of
adding up for the Jazz. But until then, yeah, they're
just going to keep him and let him play and
let him be on this team because he is a
really good player that is happy here and again not
a problem.
Speaker 2 (01:31:06):
Finally, and I know we touched on this last week,
but let's just revisit it because technically the deadline to
extend Walker is still a less a little less than
two weeks away. It's something they still could do now.
Speaker 1 (01:31:19):
Based off of Walker's response to Sarah's question during media Day,
it appears that that's probably not going to happen, and
this is a rare thing. I'm not a fence sitter,
but I do understand both sides of it here. I
understand the desire to keep your financial flexibility. If you're
the Jazz, I understand maybe a hesitancy to allocate a
tremendous amount of money to a player who's very good
(01:31:40):
but maybe doesn't fit the modern day big you know,
offensively skilled type player that you want to pay a
lot of money to. And if I'm Walker Kessler, I'm
saying that I put three good years here and I'm
seeing some of my peers get the extensions that I
believe I deserve. I understand both sides of the situation, Andy,
But any update as far as the Jazz and Walker
care negotiations, Yeah, I.
Speaker 8 (01:32:02):
Mean, no update.
Speaker 5 (01:32:03):
I truly do not anticipate it. It will happen. I've
been told, in fact that it won't, and I think
for the reason to wait out there, I understand why
Walker is frustrated. Walker, frankly like is the guy in
the locker room who is most disappointed when the Jazz
lose games right now, right like, or I guess last
(01:32:23):
season was the guy like consistently like kind of set
up with, Hey, I can't believe we're losing. He's just
not used to losing to this degree and is the
most upset about it. And so you know when the
team then goes and trades the way veteran players like
John Collins and Colin Sexton, you know, after trading away
Mike Conley in his rookie year and a gazillion other
(01:32:46):
guys in the years in between, right Like, he's the
one that's most frustrated by that. You also have like
the Lakers, who are the team that is most interested
in Walker Kessler being the best situation possible for a
rolling big man, right that you get to play with
Lebron James and Luka Doncic, or you get to play
with Keante to organ Isaiah Collier. And it's just it's
(01:33:08):
a bummer for a Walker that he is. He's here
without the benefit and I think he likes Utah, I
don't think that's the question.
Speaker 8 (01:33:15):
Is just like.
Speaker 5 (01:33:17):
Without the benefit of any chance of contention, right and
without or the benefit of the long term money that
like a hundred million dollar extension would would give you.
So totally understand why he's frustrated. Also understand why the
Jazz aren't giving that extension right away. And so yeah,
anticipate this being him being a restricted tree agent next
(01:33:40):
year and going into that way. I just again, I've
been told it. I don't think it's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (01:33:47):
Before I say you loose.
Speaker 1 (01:33:48):
It's Seattle and Saint Louis and it'll be radiant cold
at Lumen in Seattle coming up on Saturday night for RSL,
and if they don't get it, they will have a chance,
I believe, to qualify if they beat St. Louis, who
isn't very good now, No diego, no Ojeda, no gozo.
(01:34:09):
Seattle's without a couple of pieces as well. It's a
tough place to play no matter what. So your thoughts
on the end of the regular season and your faith
that we will see playoffs soccer here in Salt Lake.
Speaker 5 (01:34:20):
Yeah, you know, I think it comes down to the
Saint Louis game, because you know, yeah, they said Seattle
is a tough place to play anyway, and then you know,
while RSL has gotten some random flookey results up there,
and maybe that happens again. I'm not sure I buy
this team being kind of defensively stout enough to keep
Seattle to a middle mil draw, right Like, I just
(01:34:41):
don't know that I see that happening. And then the
offense is still kind of stop start, depending on who
they're playing. If they're playing a really good MS team
that they find it hard to score, they're playing a
bad one, they can they can score a lot, and
so it yeah goes down to that Saint Lewis game,
where I do think they will be able to score
and they should be able to play well in that game,
(01:35:03):
and you just need to win on the road against
the bad team. It all comes under that. So that's
kind of what I'm looking for. I'll be watching that
the Ottle game for sure and seeing kind of what's
out there. But like the Saint Louis, it does feel
like this is going to come down to the final
game of the season, which is fun but also terrifying
as an RSEL fan.
Speaker 2 (01:35:22):
Yes it is Andy, Thanks for the time, Buddy, good
inside you well well chat soon sounds good, Thanks man.
Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
Andy Larson covers the Jazz for the trip brought to
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Speaker 1 (01:37:04):
Cutch that time for URSL coming up this weekend, Bluman Field, Seattle, Washington,
and breaking news that it will be cold and rainy
in Seattle in October. Our next guest knows that he
coaches rs sally played for a long long time Pablo Master.
Right now on a Thursday, Pop's Happy Thursday, Man, how
(01:37:25):
are we doing?
Speaker 8 (01:37:26):
Happy Thursday? SPAN's doing great? But yeah, packing the bags
ready for the cold.
Speaker 1 (01:37:31):
Had a guy, and you know I always say this
fall soccer is fun, dramatic scenes and so rainy and
cold in Seattle. As a guy who's played up there
when it's rainy and cold and coached up there when
it's rainy and cold, how did the conditions change the
game plan?
Speaker 7 (01:37:47):
Pablo Well, I.
Speaker 8 (01:37:49):
Think obviously with the artificial turf, playing in behind defense
is going to be difficult. I think, especially when the
balls in the air, because it's going to skip quite
a bit. So then you just have to find more
find ways to get behind the defense with balls on
the ground in between the lines, and I think that's
probably the biggest difference. And then obviously in and a
(01:38:11):
round goal deflections and reboundser will be critical, right, so
we want to put the ball in dangerous areas and
play for seconds because again the turf will add to
the craziness of balls bouncing around the gold box.
Speaker 2 (01:38:24):
So you know you're going to be without some pieces.
They're going to be without some pieces.
Speaker 1 (01:38:28):
When you look at Diego with the US men's national team,
the U twenty twos advanced, which means Gozo will also
not be with you, Oheita with his country in addition
to that, So how does that alter your plans when
it comes to the eleven and the players available?
Speaker 2 (01:38:43):
Give me some thoughts on that.
Speaker 8 (01:38:45):
Yeah, I think, yeah, it's a great question. You know,
I think we're at the money part of the business,
part of the season, and I think the most important
thing is putting your the players that are in the
best run of form, that have probably the most experience,
and in these moments on the field, you know, at
the expense of maybe the game model and really you know,
(01:39:06):
tweaking it to put again you'll you'll have a really
good understanding of the way we want to play. That
doesn't change, But as far as the specifics of of
what each position is meant to be doing, it's really
about putting guys on the field that have been there
and done that and are in a good run of
form and and that can and that can give us
the best chance to win. So, you know, we've looked
(01:39:28):
at a couple of different things this week. It's looked
really bright. The guys have been electric, full of confidence,
and I think that's a big part too. You know,
I think these games are there's high pressure, and so
when when I'm watching training and assessing the training session,
it's like, are they still playing with joy? You know?
And today was a great reflection of that. The guys.
(01:39:48):
The guys were buzzing and smiling, and the combinations and
the goals were really really bright, and it looked like
they were enjoying themselves. And I think that's really important
to go to have when you're going to high pressure
your situations in a difficult place to play, like Woomenfield.
Speaker 1 (01:40:03):
Well, when you're coming off the win against your rival,
the food probably tastes a little better, the sleep is
probably a little bit easier to find, right, So would
you like most about a gutty performance last week against Colorado?
Speaker 8 (01:40:15):
Yeah, you know, I think again, I think it says
a lot about our group where there's been times this
year we've we've given up leads and and that's something
that we've worked really hard on the last few months
is being stingy defensively. And you know, although they had
they had quite a few opportunities there at the end.
You know, I think the guys held on and defended
(01:40:36):
set piece as well, defended in and around our box. Well,
Rafa again came up huge, Jay Lad was excellent in
the waiting moments, and so you know, one of the
things that those were the positive things is the mentality
and the ability to stay in games and get the result.
I think one of the things that we want to
definitely take away from that game and improve upon was
the decisions that we made when we're when when teams
(01:40:57):
are throwing a lot of numbers forward and and there
ing a goal. Is when we win the ball, there's
always going to be a lot of space to really
attack our opponent's goal. But I think there's got to
be more a bit more experience in the way we
manage these moments, because even though there could be another
opportunity to get that second goal, it comes with the
opportunity to let our teams back into the game by
(01:41:18):
not getting that goal and having a transmission transition moment
that keeps us pinned in close to our goal. So
that's an area that we focus on this week, and
I think it's an area that would be critical heading
to Seattle as well.
Speaker 1 (01:41:29):
Before I ask the question, I feel the need to
put this context on the question. I think it's safe
to say that MLS Cup is probably more of a
priority than the Rocky Mountain Cup. Okay, so I just
wanted to get that out there, Pablo before I ask
you if there was any thought about being a little
bit more aggressive in the attack down the stretch to
(01:41:50):
get that second goal to win the Rocky Mountain Cup.
Speaker 8 (01:41:55):
Yes, again, I think the game if we can call timeouts,
we'd slipped this thing around and so we'd set it
up and unfortunately in soccer it doesn't work like the
other sports. We want to be aggressive at all times,
but we also want to manage games and we want
to be again, I don't want to try to go
to this for the second goal at the expensive conceding right.
And I think that's where we found ourselves because you know,
(01:42:18):
we had I think three really good opportunities in that
second half to put the game on ice, right. I
think Victor had two, one up the post, one where
he cut inside from like twelve yards out and hited over.
I think him and Willie had a couple of combinations.
So we had opportunities for the second goal. But what
happened was when we didn't capitalize on those opportunities, they
(01:42:38):
came back the other way and now we're threatening, and
so it's it's the game of soccer. And I'd love
to I'd love to just punish teams and do that,
but the problem is the reason for that, Why it's
not so easy, is because the players get caught in
this emotional this emotional game, which is we have the
goal right, and when we were attacking those transitions moments
(01:43:00):
to get that second goal, if you watch, we had
three or four guys attacking, and then we had the
rest of the group kind of lagging behind, not lagging
behind because that's the part of our tactic, lagging behind
just in case those guys up front lost it. And
when they did lose it, then we had forty yards
between our lines with then for six guys all the
way back, and it forced four guys to chase the
(01:43:20):
game from behind. And so one of the things that
I keep talking about is when we're in these moments
where we're getting we have the lead, the best way
to score another goal, well not the best way, but
the most I guess the best way to not lose
control of the game is to move together with the
ball right and have eleven guys attacking versus four. So yeah,
(01:43:41):
so to answer your question, like, of course we want
to go for the second We want to go for
the second goal, and we put ourselves in position to
score the second goal, we didn't score it. So and
that's football. But okay, so now because we didn't score it,
we must defend. So I don't want to absolve defending
at the expense of trying to go get a second
goal when we already have the ones ear.
Speaker 2 (01:43:59):
League for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:44:00):
And you know, when I saw that there was a
little bit of criticism going around, my first thought was, Okay,
you push forward the counter and then boom, like your
playoff hopes might be shot. So I've been Ultimately, three
is what you wanted and three is what you got.
I think this is the third straight game that you've
had the same eleven, Is that right, Pablo, third straight game,
same eleven has.
Speaker 8 (01:44:21):
Started, I believe, so there might have been Yeah, I
think that was right.
Speaker 1 (01:44:27):
Okay, so is it fair to say that this is
as close to a first choice eleven that we've seen?
Speaker 4 (01:44:33):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (01:44:34):
Yes, and i'd say the one I guess the one
guy is probably Gozo who was who was away? But
but yeah, so it's been it's yeah, so it's it's
close to it. And then I think again, one or
two players. You know, you can flip flop a couple guys,
but I think the consistency has been a really important
thing and having you know, Diego and Diego underneath two
(01:44:55):
strikers up front with DeAndre barreling down the right side
and Alex on the left. Two of it's you know,
Jay glad Vera and Hafa. You know, I think it's
been our most cohesive group. So it'll be really important
to get again most of these guys that we can
on the field, and then adding, like I said earlier,
some experienced players and guys that are in good running
form and guys that can make plays and have proven
(01:45:17):
over the years to be able to make plays for
our team.
Speaker 1 (01:45:19):
If Gozo's present, just out of curiosity, where does he
fit in and who might go from eleven to the eighteen?
Speaker 8 (01:45:27):
Yeah, I think it's you know, and currently in the
way we're doing it, and I think that's the difference
of Gozo. Right if we keep it the same, then
I think he'd be buying for one of the one
of the forward positions. Gotch So maybe you know some
Cruse might know him, and Cruse might rotate just because
again I think what he's done and when he's done
really well is just threaten the back line and do
(01:45:48):
a good job. And obviously the last time he played
in nine for a really cameo spot role was against
Lac when he scored probably one of the best goals
of the season for us in that bicycle. So he's
just he's a poacher, he's an opportunist, but he does
a great job of getting in behind defenses with especially
when you have two tens behind him feeding them balls.
Speaker 1 (01:46:08):
It's pretty safe to say that central defensive midfield spot
has tremendous depth, with a lot of really good players
that you could rotate in and out. We talked last
week about a Mecca who started the season off with
the captain's armband, but you also have Paulo Luiz as
an option, of course, so Hayden and Kalluscan, who's certainly
(01:46:29):
a lot more versatile than I ever knew that he
would he was. So instead of asking you about your
thoughts on the rotation, I wonder if you could shed
light on whether or not you have been satisfied with
the response of the players that aren't starting, Like DoD
They like a Mecca last year was one of your
best players and now you know.
Speaker 2 (01:46:49):
He's not starting.
Speaker 1 (01:46:50):
So have you been pleased with the acceptance of the
role or do you think there's some hurt feelings.
Speaker 2 (01:46:56):
I guess.
Speaker 4 (01:46:58):
No.
Speaker 8 (01:46:58):
I think there's always the guys are these guys are professionals,
like they're so they're they're you know, they're so this
is their career, you know. So it's not like you know,
college sports or you know, high school sports where they're
like okay with it, you know. But but there is
this level of character and team that you expect to
see with with a certain level, there's got to be
(01:47:18):
a certain level of disappointment. If there's not, then you're
just thinking, well, is this really what you're meant to
be doing? You know. So I think both Pablo and
a Mecca and and Mecha, particularly because pabl has been
injured for for for a little bit and he's just
not joining us and getting up his speed. But you know,
I think he's been he's been a fantastic pro, you know,
and I think coming into games and and and you
(01:47:39):
can see that by the way he comes into games
right and effect, you know, comes in the last couple
of games and does a really good job, really focused,
understands what the role is, does a great job, and
you know, and we have dialogue and and the truth is,
you know, when you when you look at you know,
what Noel and Brian have been able to do in
these last few games, and even in the LAFC games
where they played extremely well. The other players see that,
(01:48:02):
you know, it's not like there they go, yeah, no,
this is there's no way that these guys are playing
well and they're getting results as well. So it's not
only about their form, but are we winning as a
team when the other guys are playing well? And then
what's the response for the guys that aren't playing, you know,
how are they training, what's their attitude like? And then
that Gon to Pablo have been top, you know, and
I think this weekend is a great opportunity for both
(01:48:24):
of them to see some time and to contribute the
meaningful way and then you know, we get a good
result here. Now it just changes everything for everyone else.
And now we've got to go back to, you know,
which players are in a great run of form, which
players are and then maybe in the monthst that we
see a different tweet to our system that we haven't
seen all year. So there's a lot of positives that
can come out of this situation. And the most important
(01:48:45):
thing is that the players that are getting the opportunity
to take take it the right way and express themselves
the right way and play some great football and we
get the result.
Speaker 1 (01:48:53):
Most every week, it feels like I ask you a
question about Rafa and I don't know that I have
one this week other than just you know, he just
continues to be as good as anyone that we've had
in that spot since Nicky was there.
Speaker 2 (01:49:06):
When when you have a keeper that is able to
keep you in games.
Speaker 1 (01:49:10):
With such miraculous saves, then the ability to distribute from
the back, does that allow you as a tactician and
a coach to change your approach in the way you
play And what does it?
Speaker 2 (01:49:20):
What does it do for the confidence of the group
in front of him?
Speaker 8 (01:49:24):
Yeah, no, he's been again. I think it does, you know.
And the other part too, is with his experience, he
understands moments right, and there's moments where you know, we
have to kind of abort the way we we kind
of plan because the emotion of the team requires something different.
Maybe we have to go along for a goalkicker too.
And I think him having his finger on the pulse
(01:49:46):
of the emotional state of the team is really really important.
And so you know, I think a player of his
capabilities that that is so good with his feet. Essentially,
there's there's no there's no tactical adjustment that he can't
adhere too, that he can't that he can't manipulate to
to favor our groups. So there's there's you know that
(01:50:06):
he's got the short passes, the mid range passes, you know,
he's got the you know he's got a longer pass
over the top, you know. And then as far as
defending for me, he's been the best goalkeeper in this
league and consistently keeps us. And it's not just he
makes saves. It's it's the timing of the saves. It's
that we're up on zero and Colorado have a shot
in injury time or two shots in injury time, and
(01:50:28):
he makes it, comes up with both of them right.
And So that is what I when I talk about it,
and I always talk about making plays, is what does
that That's what it looks like. And it's the same
thing as a striker finishing one of our chances in transition.
That's making a play right, that goes outside of the tactics.
It's outside of you know, what we drew up. It's
about making plays because you're a great player. And I
(01:50:50):
think Rafa has continuously put himself in a position to be,
uh you know, at his age, top goalkeeper for for
this year and probably uh you know, few other a
few more years with way he's currently playing.
Speaker 1 (01:51:03):
So I referenced the players you will be without, and
Seattle is also missing a good chunk of pieces based
off the international window. And also I'm just reading this
Albert rus Knock, who we know here, obviously picked up
a red card so he will not be playing. And
I'm looking at the standings, Pablo, and they really they
(01:51:25):
can't move up or down.
Speaker 2 (01:51:26):
Yeah, I think they're pretty much locked in.
Speaker 1 (01:51:28):
So I wonder just what's look as you reference, you
guys are all professionals, they're playing at home in front
of their fans.
Speaker 2 (01:51:35):
You want to win every match.
Speaker 1 (01:51:37):
But what sort of approach are you anticipating from Smetzler
based off of who they're missing and where they land
in the standings.
Speaker 8 (01:51:45):
Yeah, again, I think you know the most important thing.
The way I perceive the situation playing out is Brian
Smets is going to put his best group that he
has available to him on the field for the game
on Saturday, and there's no other way. There's really no way.
And I say that because Smester knows this better than
I do. Is you have to have you know, there's
(01:52:09):
nothing better than to be in a good run of
form heading into the playoffs, and so to play to
play cooy in this particular game, because this that it
just doesn't really make sense. Even if they're locked in
a certain position. You want momentum going in the playoffs.
And so the expectations I have is that they're going
to put the best group that they can field on
Saturday against a team that's, you know, fighting like hell
(01:52:31):
to get in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (01:52:33):
If you win, you are in.
Speaker 1 (01:52:36):
And that's the bottom line. Now, if you lose, you're
not eliminated. You'll have another chance against Saint Louis. But
does the magnitude of the moment, does the urgency to
lock in a playoff spot? Does it change that I
know you want to win every game. I know you
want to score every you know I want to you
want to win ten zero. I know all that, But
does the magnitude of the moment come into the way
you're preparing for the the you know this game and
(01:52:59):
you're preparing your team and from a player's standpoint, do
those things come in to play at all?
Speaker 8 (01:53:06):
Yeah, you know again, I think, uh, as you Rarey
pointed out, we want to win every game, but I think,
you know, I think when it's when it's a really
important game, it's it's really about speaking of the things
that we can control, right. I think when you get
caught this like, uh, this the the normity of the match,
because if we win, we're in. And you think about
(01:53:27):
how the players will digest all that stuff, right, So
it goes back to the process, and it goes back
to here are the things that we need to do.
Listen to players. They're they're they're bright, they they follow
the table, they know the standings, they have social media,
they know all that stuff. And so for me, it's
really about focusing on the on the things. Like I
said from our last game, our attacking transition, we have
(01:53:48):
got to make better decisions if we want to win
these games. Right, So that's an area that I'll be
looking for, and that's an area that we focused on
this week. Defending. Defending, we're going on the road. We've
got to be a good defensive team. That's an area
that we focused and then today we finished the week with,
you know, a combination playing in front of goals. We've
got to score goals. So to answer your question, sense
like my approach to all these things in life and
(01:54:11):
is not allowing the moment to emotionally hijack you. Right,
It's to get down in the especially high emotional moments,
high pressure moments. It's to dial it back, get back
to the things that are very controllable in the areas
that we need to improve upon to put ourselves in
the best position and to get three points.
Speaker 2 (01:54:30):
Last thing, I'll set you loose on this.
Speaker 1 (01:54:32):
And now that we have a pretty healthy sample size
with the summer window acquisitions, you know, I was I
think we were all hoping that the earlier window would
breed better results. Do respect to Willie and Johnny, but
I kind of felt bad for you that you were
going to have to try to get this thing done
really quickly, and when you guys were in a bit.
Speaker 2 (01:54:51):
Of a precarious spot.
Speaker 1 (01:54:52):
But Olatunji man, he's an athlete and he looks dangerous.
Rowan Cruz and then DeAndre Yedlin just give us a
little bit of a PROGRESSI on those three.
Speaker 2 (01:55:00):
Then I'll set you lose.
Speaker 8 (01:55:02):
Yeah, you know, I think I'll start in the back
with DeAndre. I think he's been a great leader. You know,
he comes with a lot of experience and has been
able to integrate into the group quickly. He's he's great
in the one d one duels, great defending, has a
good eye to play balls forward in the into the
attacking players. So really pleased with the way Deandre's coming
(01:55:23):
to the group. You know, Ron Cruz is a player
that I still think he's gaining his form. I think
it was great to see him contribute to the score
shoot last game where he went in great pass to
Diego for the goal. You know, we're constantly trying to
get him in front of gold. We know how important
that is for his confidence and for our team. But
he's making great movement, great runs off the ball. We
(01:55:43):
got to feed in the ball a little bit more,
but he's always in positions and I think he's just
you know, he's I think he's one game away from
scoring his first goal, so that's so he's been great.
And then Victor, like you said, I think he's he's
the guy that kind of sets the tone for us
defensively and offensively. You know, I think he's a guy
that moves back lines back. He can make plays on
his own, as he did in the second half where
he just you know, hit that ball over the net.
(01:56:05):
But he's scored a great goal at the game before
in transition a ball from Diego Luna. So like he's
he does a little bit of everything, and he does
what the team needs, and he plays really really hard
for the team. And you know, if we're going to
be successful that this victor is going to have to
be a feature of our attack and our defense. But
really pleased with three guys that we were able to
(01:56:27):
pick up, pick up, and hopefully we can keep this
thing going to where they can keep integrating in the
group and keep playing the way they're doing so we
can make a good run in these playoffs.
Speaker 1 (01:56:35):
Well, it will be dramatic, it will be fun, it
will be cold, So pack that poncho and go get three.
Speaker 8 (01:56:41):
Will you? So thatunds great spence? Are you going by
the way, No.
Speaker 2 (01:56:45):
I can make it this weekend, but I'll be watching.
I'll be tuned in.
Speaker 8 (01:56:48):
For sure, all right, Bud. That's great.
Speaker 1 (01:56:52):
Bablo mas Johny, head coach of oursel Fall Soccer. It's
a lot of fun. That is a tough place to play.
That is the thet em where RSL won MLS Cup
back in two thousand and nine. So hopefully some good
karma there get three in your in bottom line