The Big Lead with Jason McIntyre: 01/13/2018

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to sports radio. Ah, Happy weekend, everybody. I'm
your host, Jason McIntyre coming to you live from the
Geico Box Sports Radio studios. Fifteen minutes could save you
fift or more on car insurance. Visit Geico dot com
for a free rate quote. Ladies and gentlemen, I was

(00:24):
up late last night, oh birthday celebration. Only got one
sip of coffee this morning before jumping on the radio.
Got a good show ahead. Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback stopping
by my guy Chris brussor do I destroy on his
podcast every week? We are going to chop it up
because you know he's salty. He is salty about those

(00:46):
Cleveland Cavaliers. We'll get to them in a minute, but
we've got to start here. Ladies and gentlemen, they called
this the best football weekend of the year. I don't
know that I buy that. You know, give me a
meaningful week with seven straight hours of red zone any
day of the week over Island games. I mean, seriously,
like last weekend's games were not awesome. I mean, you

(01:09):
had some clunkers in there, but you know there are
some decent storylines this weekend. You know you got Viking
Saints the game of the week on Fox Sunday. That's
gonna be tremendous. But we're kind of no Dallas Cowboys
this week. No Aaron Rodgers in the postseason. The Titans

(01:29):
and Jaguars have first time playoff quarterbacks and nobody's too
excited to see those guys. But I do have one
storyline that intrigues me heading into this NFL weekend. Everybody,
I am worried about the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you've been
following this show all season, you know that I believe

(01:52):
the Steelers are the best team in the a f C. Yes,
better than the Patriots. If the Steelers had beaten the
page rates at home, they would be headed to the
super Bowl, no questions asked. But the rest stole it
from them. Yes they did. Don't yell at me through
the radio. When they took that touchdown off the board.
They ruined the a f C playoffs. That man, the

(02:13):
Patriots are getting home field advantage and nobody with a
brain thinks the Steelers can take down the Patriots at Foxborough.
But I'm worried about Pittsburgh this weekend. Let me count
the ways. Number one. Why on earth is Levy on
Bell talking about sitting out next season if he gets

(02:33):
franchise tagged again. Levan Bell, you got a big playoff
game ahead. What are you talking about next season? Why
are you overlooking the Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm glad Levy on
Bell that you're focused on the defense that held you
to forty seven yards rushing the last time you met.
And I'd like to remind Steelers fans as good as

(02:55):
Levy on Bell is, and he's an awesome running back.
I love watching him. He's played exactly two playoff games
in his career. He's always hurt. I'm not going to
count the a f C title game against the Patriots
last year because he got hurt, like right out the
gate and like didn't return. He at like twenty yards
on five or six carries. So I'm worried about the Steelers.

(03:15):
Levian Bell just overlooking Jacksonville, and I've got a scary
stature fans for a number of reason. Number two, I'm
worried about Pittsburgh. We know Mike Tomlin runs kind of
a loosey goosey organization when they have a bye week.
In recent years, they've come out flat. Two thousand fourteen

(03:37):
out of the bye week. In the regular season, they
lost at home to the Saints. Two thousand fifteen after
the bye week, lost on the road in Seattle. Two
thousand sixteen out of the bye week, lost on the
road again. Now this year, everybody saw what happened after
their bye week, right, you got idle time. Players could

(03:58):
go their own way, do their thing, and they almost
lost to the Colts. They needed to win by a
field goal late in the fourth quarter. This has been
a theme. Mike Tomlin is a player's coach, maybe too
much of a player's coach. These guys lose focus, easily,
come out sluggish, and folks as a big favorite, they

(04:19):
have not performed well. This is the number that's gonna
alarm you. Okay, Steelers, you you can't just show up
and hammer the Jaguars. The Pittsburgh Steelers are two and
five against the spread this year as favorites of seven
or more. One of those wins was against t J. Yates.
So again, I'm worried that Levi on Bell is not

(04:41):
taking Jacksonville. Seriously, I'm worried that off of bye week,
Mike Tomlin in the last three years has not had
his team focused and dialed in. And reason number three,
My gosh, what is with the Patriots obsession? On some level,
I I understand why they keep talking about the Patriots.

(05:03):
Tom Brady owns them seven and two against Pittsburgh, three
and oh against Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Obviously that is
a big hurdle in their mind. But the team in
front of is pretty darn good. Jacksonville smoked him, beat
him to a pulp in Pittsburgh in October thirty nine.
One of the most memorable games of the regular season,

(05:27):
Big Bend five interceptions. One of the supreme highlights was
that trash talker Mike Mitchell in the Steeler secondary. Leonard
Fournett comes around the end. I know you've seen this
clip on social media and Leonard four Nett and Mike
Mitchell make eye contact and Leonard Fournett basically signals come on,

(05:47):
come on, and just lowers his shoulder and runs over
Mike Mitchell. It is an iconic moment of the Jag
season and probably will be one of four Nett's career
um which I'll get to in a little bit. But
why are we overlooking the Jags? And talking about the Patriots.
Mike Tomlin comes out and says, you know, it's it's

(06:09):
really unfair that the Patriots get an extra day of
practice heading into the a f C title game. What
are you talking about, Mike Tomlin? Where is the focus?
Mike Mitchell, who I just talked about getting trucked by
Leonard Fournette is out here guaranteeing a win over Tom Brady. Uh, folksy,
this all adds up. I know if you're sitting there, like,

(06:30):
what is Pittsburgh doing? I didn't understand the mindset this week.
It's possible they watched Jacksonville struggle against Buffalo, and again,
that was Jacksonville's first playoff game in years. Blake Bortles, Actually,
I don't think I can use the phrase I want
to use here. Uh Blake Border Let's just say, uh
had his first playoff game. He had to get that

(06:50):
out of the way. And and Sam's looking at me like, oh,
I know where you were going. Don't go there, Um,
But his first time is behind him. Okay. So with
Blake Bortles, Doug Morone got his first playoff game there
as a coach. Everything is behind them. Don't read anything
into that Buffalo game. The strategy for Jacksonville was easy, Hey, Blake,

(07:13):
don't beat us, and I got the stat here for
you that you're gonna love Jacksonville eight and oh. In
the regular season, when Blake Bortles does not throw an interception,
they're now nine or no. After the Buffalo win, when
he does there two and six. But all that I
believe is behind Jacksonville. Their focus is a laser focus

(07:34):
on Pittsburgh and beating them again. Pittsburgh is only thinking
about offseason contracts, about Tom Brady, about Bill Belichick. I
I if I'm Pittsburgh, I am worried. I am really worried.
And and folks, I took the Jaguars plus seven. I

(07:54):
don't give out the picks usually this early, but I
need to get out of the way. I like the
Jags plus seven. I took the Jaguar is on the
money line. And if I'm in, if I'm a Pittsburgh
Steelers fan right now, I am straight up nervous about
this team since Ryan Shazier went down. That defense has
not played well and and don't give me the game
against the Houston Texans and t J. Yates is evidence

(08:17):
that the defense can show up. Okay, this is going
to be a challenging game. The temperature is gonna be
somewhere in the low teens, maybe single digits on Sunday.
I'm worried about the Pittsburgh Steelers. And before we go
to break here, I gotta say I wanted to come
into its positive Jason is Rosie Jason, Mr uh sunshine. Oh,

(08:43):
positive thoughts and good vibes and and what we're seeing
with the Cleveland Cavaliers. If you think I'm worried about
the Steelers, my concerned level for Lebron's Cleveland Cavaliers is
like def Con one. It's right now, def Con one. Sam.

(09:04):
Do we have the exploding Yeah? Yeah, there we go.
There we go. H listen, there we That's what I
was looking for saying. I'm telling you guys, I don't
care what you want to tell me. Oh, the Calves
do this every year. This ain't every year. If you're
watching these Cleveland Cavaliers get pistol whipped by the Minnesota
Timberwolves beaten down in Toronto. How about this? The Toronto

(09:27):
Raptors had a guy playing a G League game Thursday morning,
and then he showed up and played against the Calves
like twenty minutes Thursday night a G leaguer and the
Calves lost by thirty four. And then last night, you think, Okay,
they're gonna hunker down, Uh, Isaiah and Wade sit out.
We're gonna focus on defense and lock it down. And

(09:49):
the Calves go up thirty four twelve in the first
quarter and lose. They blew a twenty two point lead
on the road against vic Oladipo in the Pacers. Folk,
I'm worried about Pittsburgh. I'm extremely worried about the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They are now seven games behind the Celtics in the East.

(10:10):
They're still got half a season left. That's fine. They've
lost seven of nine and and I don't want to
tease it, but my gosh, this is fun to tease.
Christmas Day, the Calves lose to Steph Curry in the Warriors.
They've lost seven of nine since that game. I firmly
believe the Warriors are in Lebron's head. Lebron is scared

(10:33):
of this team, scared of what the Warriors are gonna
do to his legacy, And just like the Pittsburgh Steelers
are looking ahead to the New England Patriots. There's an
obstacle in front of you, guys. I believe the Calves
think in their head, oh, we're gonna get to the
finals and face the Warriors. I don't think they think
they're gonna get any resistance from the Bucks, from the

(10:55):
seventies sixers, from the Celtics. Guys. I'm I've seen enough.
They've got thirty five, forty games to figure it out.
Isaiah Thomas looks terrible. Lebron's thinking about his next destination,
thinking about Los Angeles. We are seeing an implosion and

(11:19):
if you can tie in the implosion in Cleveland currently
to what you're seeing with Pittsburgh. Now, listen, Jacksonville is
not not a lock obviously to beat them. I just
believe when one team is focused on dialed in and
the other's not, it's trouble. And and again I want
to apologize. I promised up beat Jason, positive, good vibes, Jason,

(11:41):
and now I start what was the second show of
the year with some negativity. Don't worry. Don't worry, Uh,
there is plenty of positive coming your way today, and
thank you for joining us. Coming up next, it's Lebron
verse Tom Brady in a showdown like you've never seen
four that's next best justin Timberlake song ever, maybe the

(12:04):
only one. I'm not a JT fan, Sam, I got
that sunshine, and thank you for the sunshine. I'm getting
up beat again. No more bashing the Steelers, no more
bashing the Calves for maybe another hour, for maybe another hour,
but no, that song does put me in the moods

(12:24):
there and not that that that kind of mood. Everybody,
get your mind out of the gutter. It's Saturday morning.
What does it mean when Geiko says just fifteen minutes
could save you fift or more on car insurance? Means
you probably should have gone to geiko dot com fifteen
minutes ago. Our erstwhile producer Rob mentioned to me of

(12:46):
a thirty minutes ago, Hey, should I bring up your
Alabama Dynasty dead comments? And I was like, Oh, I
forgot about those. Yes, we are going to talk about that.
I need ten minutes. Please keep locked here. Um. I
wasn't wrong, but I was kind of wrong. We'll talk
about Alabama in a minute. But I had a buddy

(13:07):
asked me a great question this week. Who has been
more impressive this season, forty year old Tom Brady or
thirty three year old Lebron James, Now, let that one
marinate for a minute. Okay, forty year old Tom Brady
is maybe going to be the m v P of
the NFL. They have home field advantage. Thirty three year

(13:31):
old Lebron is maybe going to be the m v
P of the NBA. Rob is it safe to say
Lebron is the m v P leader. I don't have
him as one. I have him in the top three, actually,
James Harden, I would have Durant one, maybe Lebron to, Yeah,
probably Lebron to. So you got a forty year old

(13:54):
quarterback m VP maybe and a thirty three year old
NBA player possible m v so who right now is
more impressive, tom Brady or Lebron. I'll open the phone
lines just for fun. Eight seven seven, six six nine,
and it's interesting. Let me give you my quick breakdown

(14:15):
Tom Brady versus Lebron this season, taking age into account. Okay,
a big point for Lebron. His coach is Tylu Tom
Brady's coaches Bill Belichick, So obviously Lebron a little hurdle
to clear there. And I do want to add this
about where everybody's marveling over forty year old Tom Brady.

(14:36):
I just want to say, in two thousand nine, Brett
Farve was forty with the Vikings twelve and four thirty
three touchdowns, four thousand yards, highest quarterback rating of his career.
So we just saw somebody at forty be a leading
quarterback in the NFL. Okay, Lebron at thirty three. Here's

(15:00):
where his is interesting and just destroys Michael Jordan's. If
you count Lebron's fifteenth season, this is his fifteenth, and
you count fifteen seasons from Michael Jordan's. Michael Jordan's fifteenth
year was his last in the NBA and it was
in Washington. He was thirty nine, because remember he went

(15:24):
to North Carolina for a few years. He took a
year and a half off to play baseball, then he
retired after his second So Michael Jordan's fifteenth year only
average twenty points, six boards, three assist shot. Okay, that
was his fifteen year. Lebron is destroying what he did

(15:45):
in his fifteenth year. But the question is Lebron versus
Tom Brady this year? And here's why I'm leaning Lebron
and Sam and Rob. I want you guys to weigh
in here in a second. Eileen, Lebron this year over
Tom Brady this year because with Brady and don't take
this the wrong way, whatever you do. Tom Brady's system

(16:07):
is set up so that he is going to dominate.
It is a great system. Bill Belichick has it, so
whatever quarterback you slide in, they're going to perform. Well,
that's not saying Tom Brady's a system quarterback. He's in
a great system. We know he's great at reading things
at the line of scrimmage, going through his progressions. He's
a gamer. Tom Brady's excellent, the best quarterback in NFL history.

(16:31):
Lebron is the system in Cleveland. Tom Brady's in a system.
Lebron is the system. Wherever he goes, you're going to
the finals. He leaves Cleveland from Miami, gets Wade in Love,
Sorry Wade and Bosh. They go to four straight finals.
He leaves Miami for Cleveland, gets Kevin Love and Kyrie.

(16:52):
They inherited. They go to the finals. Like he is
the system and I'm gonna ask you this. Lebron in
the finals versus the Warriors lost Kyrie lost Kevin Love,
and I believe they were up to one with Matthew Delavadova.
They definitely stole one in Golden State, and I believe

(17:15):
they won Game three, so they were up to one.
What is Tom Brady without Gronk and Edelman, Well, he
didn't have him against Miami earlier this year and they lost.
Now with Edelman, without Gronk, they won the Super Bowl
last year. Without Gronk. They've struggled in the past. They
have Gronk no Edelman. Now again, I'm not putting down
Tom Brady, but please don't take that the wrong way.

(17:39):
This guy has had Randy Moss and they went sixteen
and o undefeated regular season. Tom Brady turned Dion branch
Okay into a Super Bowl MVB, made West Welker undrafted
into you know, potential Hall of Famer. So Brady has
a lot in his case, especially doing what he's doing
at forty. I just say at thirty three, Lebron having

(18:03):
arguably the best season of his career. Lebron this year
has been more impressive than Tom Brady this year. Sam
and Roblets here, you're because they weren't prepared for this
don't you like it? Guys when I spring this on you,
they didn't think it was coming to him. But I
like to make you think. I want to challenge you.
Guys out there, you're sitting in your car, you're saying
this is interesting. There's there's points on both sides. Sam,

(18:25):
you your first, Yeah, I definitely agree. I mean, Lebron
is the um. He is the the butter that keeps
on churning. He's he keeps on turning and and uh,
success follows him wherever he goes, and and the teams
that he goes to. So, uh yeah, I definitely agree
that Lebron definitely like it's it's boom or bust with him.

(18:45):
I mean, if you if you don't have Lebron, you're
gonna be You're gonna bust and you're gonna boom with him.
So and when they when they didn't have Brady last year,
Jimmy Garoppolo, I believe too, and Oh, Jacoby Brissette one
and oh and lost Game four. No, they definitely the
system is is set up around Brady. He's a part
of the system. He's not the system. And Sam, if
Lebron James goes down with an injury. It would be

(19:08):
are there is it catastrophic? And the Cats making the playoffs?
It would be a complete everything would be in complete chaos.
You wouldn't know how to re reshape your offense. So
obviously Rob's gonna say Tom Brady because he's a contrarian.
So Rob Lebron this season or Tom Brady this season,
I'm not a contrary. I don't know what you're talking about. Now.

(19:31):
Before you were laying out this topic, I was kind of,
you know, I don't know how I would feel comparing
two different sports because they're in two different positions. So
what I try to do to make my decision was
to just look at the their contemporaries in their field.
So Tom Brady, the other old quarterback is Drew Brees,
and Drew Brees having himself a hell of a season two,
so you know, that was my comparison with But I

(19:52):
don't think anybody thinks Drew Brees is on Brady's level.
I mean there's some people, I mean not all time,
but as far as what he's doing on the field. Okay.
So then I went over to the n b A
and I looked at the active leaders for for games
played now, this is the top ten right now in
the n b A. And let me tell you. Just

(20:14):
listen to the names. Tell me which one doesn't belong. Okay,
you got Dirk, Jason, Terry, Vince Carter, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford,
Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Lebron, James, Zach Randolph. I mean,
there's one guy on there who seems to be actually
doing something this late in his career. So doing my

(20:35):
own deductive reasoning, I hate to admit it, but I
agree with you. I love how people are like. I
hate to agree with I get that, you know, I
get that on social media a lot. I hate to
agree with you, man, I I usually disagree with you. Um,
I particularly don't think it's that close. Listen, my vote
this year for the m v P, if I had

(20:55):
one in the in the NFL, would be Carson Wentz.
I don't care that he missed three games. Listen, Todd Girl,
he set out the final game, so basically he only
played two fewer games than Carson Wentz. And Carson Wentz
was amazing, exceeded all expectations. Yes, Brady was impressive, but
Carson Wentz got the Eagles the number one seed in
the they didn't make the playoffs last year. All right,

(21:17):
we'll speak in uh well to two quick calls here,
Tony and Vancouver. Tony, a avid listener, loves to argue
with me. He wants to go Tom Brady versus Lebron.
Tony got thirty seconds fired, Lebron lovers need to get
off their high horse man. Tom Brady does nothing but win,
and he doesn't matter who he has on his team.
He wins the Super Bowls. He's won on them. I

(21:38):
don't like Tom Brady. I hate Tom Brady, but the
guy wins. Lebron James is upside down. It's going to
get worse. He ain't gonna beat the Golden Stay worries
in the next five years. You know, Lebron Lebron is God. No,
he's not. I don't think anybody's going there. Tony and Vancouver,
thank you, Hey, should we take Let's just take this

(21:58):
other guy, Damien. He's waited for a wow. Damien, you
you you were so into my open on the Jags
being more focused than the Steelers. You're fired? What's going on?
I thought you had some great points, man. I love
the show. By the way, I just wanted to mention
it's no mistake. Why the Jaguars where they're at right now,
it's all Tom Cofflin. And I saw him up there
in the in the in the sky box, hanging out

(22:19):
with the top brass. He's the reason why I think
they've turned around in a second. Stand by the way
with the Jaguars. Thank you very much. I love you guys,
Tom Coughlin, Thank you, Damien. So Tom Coughlin, seventy one
year old. What's his technical title? He's not the GM
he is. He's like, yes, the old dude in the box,
he's the oracle. He's the one getting all the credit
for I love that. Why couldn't it just be uh Damien?

(22:42):
And it made fair point. Why couldn't it just be
that the Jags have been building to this for years,
adding defensive pieces boardles is getting to see a little more,
and they finally got the running back they needed Leonard
four nette to put them over the top. Oh, before
we go to the next one, I have a great
Leonard for net information for you when we get back
to Jag stealers. You're gonna love this because I hear

(23:04):
people bashing Leonard four Nette, and they're missing a huge
portion of the argument. But we'll get to that later
in the show coming up next year on the Big
Lead Fox Sports Radio. Ah. Yes, Jason was wrong about
the Alabama dynasty, but I'm tying it into bigger picture. Folks.
There's one thing that separates guys like Belichick and Nick

(23:24):
Saban from the rest of the pack. You've got to
hear this. But first let's go to Isaac Loewen Cron
for the latest in sports. Good morning, Jason. Multiple outlets
reporting this morning to the Houston Texans have signed head
coach Bill O'Brien to a four year extension through the
twenty two season, and new general manager at Brian Gaine
to a five year deal, also through the twenty two season.

(23:47):
San Francisco, Fornia Niners linebacker Ruben Foster was arrested Friday
and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and charged with second degree possession of marijuana.
Today's playoff action kicks off at four thirty five Eastern
with the Eagles host the Falcons. That at eight fifteen Eastern,
the Tennessee Titans invade the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots.
This report presented by Geico Grade News. There's a quick

(24:08):
way you could save money. Switched to Geico. Go to
Geico comment in fifteen minutes, you could save fifteen percent
or more on car insurance. In the NBA Friday Night,
the Indiana Pacers rallies from a twenty two point first
half deficit for a ninety seven nine five win over
the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have now lost three straight. Finally, Jason,
the Golden State Warriors were without Steph Curry again but

(24:30):
still one at Milwaukee by fourteen points for their eleventh
consecutive road victory. Back to you, Jason, Thank you, Isaac. Oh,
we'll get to those calves. Isaac. I think that's one
of the most fun stories in sports right now. I
know people aren't fully into the NBA yet, they're still
doing the NFL playoffs and NFL playoffs, but watching a

(24:52):
lebron teams slipping slide right before he heads into free
agencies very good for everybody. All right, ladies and gentlemen,
we're back. I'm your host, Jason McIntyre, coming to you
live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios. And uh
we we don't really have a lot of time to
dig into what happened Monday night, uh in In in

(25:14):
the College Football National Championship the Natty, as as the
kids like to say on social media. But to me,
that game was awful. For a half, like unwatchable. Alabama
could not move the football. They were down thirteen nothing
at the half. Then Nick Saban. Nick Saban does the
unthinkable and replaces his superstar quarterback. And yes, Jalen Hurts

(25:37):
is a superstar. I think he was what and two
in his first two years. That's obscene. He was the
sec player of the years of freshman didn't fit well
in this game. But Saban did the unthinkable, putting in
a true freshman to save the day. Here's what. And
again I heard some commentary the day after that was
a late night, but I didn't hear anybody go here. Okay,

(25:59):
So they were on thirteen nothing and then twenty in
the third Eleven months ago, Bill Belichick was down twenty
eight to three in the third quarter of the Super Bowl.
You see where I'm going here, Nick Saban and Bill
Belichick teams are just mentally tougher than opponents in big spots.

(26:23):
That's really the truth. Saban and Belichick, who once coached together,
in Cleveland, and I'll get to that in a minute.
They have conditioned their players in a way that we've
never seen before. These two teams, historically, when it matters
most Nick Saban and Bill Belichick coach teams are mentally

(26:43):
tougher than their opponents. And I know there's no way
to quantify that, but time and time again we see
who the best halftime adjusted coaches are. And at halftime,
you always should be betting Bill bell a chick, you
always should be backing Nick Saban. I don't. I wish

(27:06):
I could get into their head, and I tried to
because I found some interest. If you spend enough time
on YouTube, you can look up the Nick Saban Bill
Belichick years in Cleveland. That's it' that's an amazing story
in itself. From nine Nick Saban and Bill Belichick were
on the same coaching staff. I mean, that's unfathomable. Belichick

(27:29):
was the head coach of the Browns. Saban was the
defensive coordinator. Dude, can you stop for a minute and
think these are probably the two most successful coaches in
their respective sports history. I know we can quibble with
Bear Bryant in college football, and I'm sure you want
to put up some other names in the NFL, but

(27:51):
in the modern era, at least these guys are unmatched.
Nick Saban now is five titles in nine years, and
there is something and if it's unfortunate they didn't bottle
something up in a time capsule and and save it
for everybody else, because holy cow, the mindset, the mental

(28:15):
toughness unbelievable. That coaching staff, by the way, and and
I did so much reading on this last night. There
there's gotta be a documentary made on those Browns. They
didn't win Jack Squad, they went to one the playoffs
once um and then of course, in what is the
typical Brown's quintessential moment, they fired Bill Belichick and they
fired Nick Saban, Like, I mean, that's so Brown's, isn't it.

(28:39):
But there is a video where Nick Saban is talking
about that team, that staff, that culture, and listen closely.
Nick Saban said, we wanted a tough, hard nosed, blue
collar football team. That's what Cleveland is. That's what we
wanted our football team to be. And that's that's an ethos.

(29:03):
I don't think you can just develop overnight. You have
to have that chip on your shoulder. You have to
want to out fight, out scrap, outwork your opponent, and
Nick Saban has instilled that in the Tide. Remember they're
down thirteen nothing, looking like garbage, and he says, let's

(29:24):
just throw in all the freshman and they come back
and win. Hell it was and to Ah the freshman
sensation gets intercepted on a path that he should have
never thrown and Georgia takes over and you're like, all right,
well a score here and it's ball game, and then
you you start. I started having this flashback to the
Super Bowl. I'm like, holy cow, Belichick was down twenty

(29:47):
three and the third and I was like, all right,
well this is a this has got to be a rap.
And they just didn't quit. They just make adjustments. And
I went back to that Brown's team where Saban and
Belichick were together, and Nick Saban called it the worst
years of his life. Now, obviously that's probably an exaggeration.
I believe his father was like worked at like a

(30:07):
convenience store. It was like a coal miner, but without
the bidder, the sweet ain't as sweet. The reason that
Nick Saban and Bill Belichick are enjoying right now is
because of the bitterness and the losses that harden them
and tough of them. Imagine this for a second, Bill

(30:30):
Belichick coaching in Cleveland. Head finally gets a head coaching gig.
You've been an assistant for years, and he gets fired
in Cleveland. He has to go back to the to
to be an assist or to be a coordinator. To
be assistant for like four years. Imagine that you work
every day in your life to get a head coaching
gig and then you kind of flop after four years

(30:51):
and they did good to the playoffs once and you
gotta go back to being a coordinator. We'll imagine Nick Saban.
Nick Saban wins the title and college says, you know what,
I'm going to the NFL. My guy Belichick's in the NFL.
I'm going to the NFL. He goes to the Miami
Dolphins and was a disaster in two years. And I
think we talked about this last week. Nick Saban had

(31:11):
the choice Drew Brees Dante coul Pepper, and Nick Saban
picked Dante coul Pepper. Now Nick Saban has you know,
if you ask him about this, he gets very defensive
and he says, well, is the medical team who said
Breezes shoulder was in and um, they made me go
with Culpepper. And you know what, we may never know.

(31:33):
Maybe Saban's right bottom line is what might have been
the Browns don't fire Belichick and Saban. Saban picks Drew
Brees over Dante Coper like what might have been. And
I just love the fact that these two together have
been able to get where they are and have their

(31:53):
teams mentally tougher than opponents in the biggest spots. To me,
that's I just find that supremely fascinating. That was my
big takeaway from the college football National Championship. Tying it
into that that Patriots come back in the Super Bowl
just really interesting big picture stuff. Um. And and then

(32:14):
now let me say, yes, I was wrong about the
Alabama dynasty. I had no idea to h I'm not
gonna try to say his last name. Do you want
to try Sam Tago Lahova or so whatever. He's Hawaiian.
I've got to learn his last name because we're gonna
say it every week next year. Here's the worst thing
about that. What happened in that game? So not only
did to a save the National Championship, game, because that

(32:36):
was a you want to try to say it, yeah,
I had to because it's actually when you read the name,
it doesn't pronounced the way it looks. It's actually tongua
voloa tongua yeah, and it's it's um. It's like starting
I can't remember how spelled, but it's not like a
sound like tagovolo tongue of to a tongue voloa. We

(32:59):
should call him la called ta okay. So when I
watched that game, number one to A saved the championship
game from being boring and terrible, save the ratings, saved everybody.
Number two TUA has saved next year's SEC because I'm
telling you that this Alabama team was not very good

(33:21):
and they were boring and unwatchable. You're gonna want to
watch two every week next year. And their freshman running
back came in and at like sixty seventy yards rushing
freshman caught the game winning TV pass. This team is
gonna be like, oh, I've got to watch Alabama. They're
exciting again. Nick Saban has a mobile quarterback who could
actually throw the football. So this is kind of awful news,

(33:45):
uh for college football, because we know Georgia's got a
budding dynasty. Jake from ain't going nowhere. They have the
number one recruiting class in the country. So now you've
got Alabama stacked for the least the next two years.
You've got Georgia loaded, You've got Sam Donald out. You
do have Chip Kelly at u c l A. But uh, actually,
I'm gonna give I don't know when we're doing what

(34:07):
are we doing this that next hour. I have looked
at college football futures and I'm gonna give you some
money winners for next year. Now, Alabama is the overwhelming favorite.
I ain't given that out. Maybe they lose, maybe you know,
they probably won't, but I'm gonna give you value. That's
in the next hour. But coming up next here on
the big lead Fox Sports Radio. Forget Jordan's, forget Lebron,

(34:31):
this one belongs to Kevin Durant. I'll explain next. Are
you gonna listen to me? Are you gonna listen to
these guys? Dang it, we got some crumbing news. Everybody.
College football fans and football fans will will be disappointed
to hear this. Keith Jackson, the legendary announcer, has passed away.

(34:57):
You may know him from saying such as oh nell
a and hello Heisman. Not a good Keith Jackson impersonation.
I don't do impersonations, folks, But if you watched college
football in the eighties or the nineties or the early
two thousand's, he was everything. He had the gravitas that

(35:18):
you knew. You changed the channel you heard Keith Jackson. Oh,
there's a big game, and Keith Jackson has passed away.
I don't have any other details at this point. I mean, listen,
he was an old gentleman. Um, the guy announced college football,
He did some NFL for a while. It looks like
he was eighty nine years old, and he passed away

(35:40):
last night. Um, So rest in peace, Keith Jackson. I'm
sure plenty of you will go down the rabbit hole
of YouTube today listening to the great Keith Jackson making
announcing calls. Where it is you got any more? That's it?
That was. That was the Desimon hour. So if you
go look up Desmond Howard punt returned Michigan. I believe

(36:04):
it was ninety or ninety one. Desmond Howard takes his
punt return and Keith Jackson is on the call and
it builds to a crescendo and Desmond Howard gets into
the end zone. Yeah yeah, ho hold on. And then
Desmond gets into the end zone, strikes the Heisman post
like he's got it locked up, and just the timing

(36:24):
was impeccable. Keith Jackson just says, hello, Heisman. It's just
it's just one of those moments from your childhood that
you remember watching. Because listen, there weren't forty seven games
on every Saturday. When Keith Jackson was announcing in the
early nineties, it was like the game of the week.
Maybe Notre Dame was on NBC and there maybe was
another game on. Okay, there weren't a million games on,

(36:46):
so you watched the big games, and um, Keith Jackson
just had it all right. Let's hear Keith Jackson. This
is the Vince Young touchdown against USC in one of
the greatest Rose Bowl games ever played. Four US in five,
the national championship on the line, right wall, He's going

(37:08):
for the card. He's got it. That's Young star. See
that's a great announcing call. So you he gets in
the end zone, you quickly announced it and then you
you go quiet. Let the crowd carry the moment for

(37:30):
several seconds, maybe five ten seconds, let everybody soak it
and let the goose bumps start to pop, and then
you get you get back into it, and it's just
an amazing call. I will say this. Al Michael's another guy.
You know. I gotta give al Michaels on the show,
Rob We we have a pretty good relationship. Um, very
nice guy. One of his best calls ever. I don't

(37:53):
know if you guys remember this. Darren Sprawls takes a
pitch in a wild card game against Peyton Manning. This
was before the overtime rule, so it was like you
win the coin, Touls, you win the game, and the
Chargers pitch it to Sprawls at like the twenty and
he takes it around the end for the touchdown and
it's one of the best al Michael's calls ever. You
know why. I also remember that because I had a
lot of money on the Chargers in that game and

(38:14):
I want it and overtime. I was just going crazy,
all right, all right, real quick. I don't want to
I don't want to shed you know, make light of
the situation with Keith Jackson. I gets unfortunate I said
here in the producer's studios in man, you know, it
sucks like Keith Jackson died, and I was actually, He's like, no,
that was dick Emberg like, no, no, no no, Keith Jackson
died too. He broke the news to me and then

(38:34):
he looked. He was like confused for a minute, and
then I'm like, oh, no, he's Jackson. He says, it's why.
She's like, oh no, it was dick Enberg. I'm like, no, No,
Jackson died last night. Dick Enberg was last week. Huh
dick Enberg weeks ago. Maybe what a rough start to
But just to see the shock of Iowa Sam's face,
well college, he got his all sportscasters mixed up there.

(38:56):
I was not privy to that information. So I mean Edinburgh,
al Michaels, Keach, these guys are icons, legends. All right,
do we have time? Should I dive into Kevin Durant here,
I've got to talked about Kevin Durant. So um, Paul Pierce,
former Celtic. By the way, Paul Pierce is he not
one of the most overrated players ever. Paul Pierce was
just a good NBA player, having a nice twenty point

(39:18):
of game and an over a career, and then he
gets a super team and now Paul Pierce is like
elevated to this amazing basketball player. Whatever. Paul Pierce comes
out and says, Kevin Durant is, you know, maybe the
best scorer of all time. And I will I'll take
it a step further because it's not crazy what he said.
Kevin Durant is the most versatile scorer in NBA history.

(39:40):
Yes above Michael Jordan's, Yes above Kevin above Kobe Bryant.
Here's a couple of numbers for you. So I know
it was different eras and trying to compare eras as
a fool's errand but Kevin Durant's a seven footer who
shot you cannot block. Okay, He'll kill you on the outside,
take you off the bounce, post you up, fade away.
Every He's unguardable. He has been. His career has been unlocked.

(40:04):
In Golden State, that offense they ran, whatever it was
in Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook, that was getting him nowhere.
He wanted an m v P, but he wasn't gonna
become an all time legend. Kevin Durant right now is
on pace to finish his career as a top ten
all time NBA player. He could go higher. Steph Curry's
gonna get in the top ten. But Kevin Durant shot

(40:25):
thirty eight percenter better seven times Kobe did it once, Folks,
Kevin Durant the most versatile scorer in NBA history. Alright,
Coming up next, Cordell Stewart, former Steelers quarter Welcome back,
ladies and gentlemen. I am your host, Jason McIntyre coming
to you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.

(40:48):
Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen pent or more on
car insurance. Visit Geico dot com for a free rate quote.
One hour in the books, we're gonna talk to a
former Pittsburgh steel Ler's quarterback. Shortly, we got Chris Brussard
coming up in the final hour to talk about the
Cleveland Cavaliers struggles. Oh boy, it's getting ugly in Cleveland.

(41:11):
And we will also talk NFL gambling picks in about
an hour. But first I've got open with the U
Probably the biggest story of NFL wild Card weekend, and that,
of course, is the struggles of the Pittsburgh Steelers struggling
to focus on the Jacksonville Jaguars. They're obsessed with the Patriots.
They cannot stop talking about. Oh, we're gonna get Tom Brady,

(41:35):
says Mike Mitchell. We're gonna beat Tom Brady, says Mike Mitchell.
We're going to finally keep get over the hump and
get Tom Brady. He's got us three times in the playoffs.
He's seven and two against us. We're gonna get Tom. Guys,
there is a task at hand this weekend. Why is
Mike Tomlin talking about this the Patriots getting an extra

(41:58):
day of rest heading it to conference championship weekend? Uh?
Mike tom On are you there? Mike? You got the Jags.
They just pistol whipped you in October on your home
field thirty to nine. Why is Levy on Bell talking
about a franchise tag in the off season? Folks? You

(42:18):
know I love the Steelers team. I had them going
to the super Bowl. I had them beating the Patriots.
They had the Patriots beat until that awful call at
the gold line. What is wrong with this team? And
to try to make sense of this, these Pittsburgh problems,
let's just call them that. Joining us now former Pittsburgh

(42:38):
Steelers quarterback Cordell Stewart. Cordell, good morning, How are you doing, Jason?
That was that was a heck of the introduction. I
mean to give me the Hill Mary pass, and you
talk about the Steeler. I'm right on point with you
with that one man. You you're you're you're hitting me
right on the heads. You can't you can't jump over
a hurdle that you're not near yet, you know, And
and I think you know when it gets to the

(42:59):
point where you jump over a team that you're actually
having to play that really beat you the last time.
And I think the thing is that most people I've
probably saying it's no way possible they can beat this
team again by being throwing five interceptions in in Blake Borders,
throwing for under a hundred yards, It's no way possible
that it could happen again, So they figure it's all aberration.

(43:19):
And and I gotta be honest with you, that's why
you played the game. And you have to play for
sixty minutes because if you don't, you get caught. And
I think the Steelers the last time they get caught,
but they'll have a chance to do it again. But
as you mentioned, they can't look over this football team
thinking about the million of Patris because they still have
the task at hand of taking care of business, basically
playing against one of the best, if not the best,
overall defense International Football League with Jacksonville, were talking with

(43:43):
Cordell Stewart, former Steelers quarterback, and Cordell, maybe you know
you've been in plenty of big games. I I never
played the game. I'm just being an outsider offering perspective.
But when you watch Jacksonville last week against Buffalo in
an ugly game, Okay, what you know, I saw some
some numbers saying that was one of the games in
wild Card history. You know, Jacksonville could not move the football.

(44:03):
They did not want Blake Bortles to screw it up.
Do you think that plays into some of this mindset
with Mike Mitchell and le Nobody's talking about the Jaguars
because they saw what happened last week and they're like,
these guys can't beat us again. Well, well, the thing
is is for those who just saw the Jaguars play
crazy football, they haven't been watching the entire season. Because

(44:24):
if you go back to that Steeler game, you got
ninety five yards passing out of the quarterback and he
didn't throw an interception. You watch him against the Chargers
when the Chargers came on the road into Jacksonville. In
the last two possessions of that game, You've got Blake
Borders throwing two interceptions. Because of their defense being able
to get the interceptions and create great, great silk positions,

(44:45):
you end up getting a field goal that helped them
win the football game. And then you end up, obviously
seeing the game this past week where he only threw
for eight seven yards, going twelve or twenty four through
a touchdown, and and they won. They won ten to three.
So this is the way this team has been has
been playing all year. This This is not an accident
that they've been playing this way in there in the
position they're end I said this on our show on

(45:06):
the Huddle to myself and Brian we we we're on
Monday through Friday with tune in. Is you know those
ugly types of wins, And I say it again, those
ugly types of wins, and they're doing it to the
point where they're believing in how they do it. They
become the scariest team in the national Football League, Because

(45:27):
if the quarterback is the reason why they could lose games, well,
let me tell you they're winning spite of him. And
when he doesn't turn the football over, Jason, this is
this is the key. This is the key to it all.
When he does not turn the football over, the team
still wins regardless of their stacks. You know. So you
know what I'm saying, Jason said, I'm like, you know,

(45:48):
I get people saying that it's boring, but to me,
this is the scariest team in the postseason. Whether we
want to believe it or not. It's scary because they
run the football great, which is a great thing to
do in the month of this Nimber in January because
it's cold or whatever the case may be. It travels
anywhere in the world. You played great run, stop defense
and pass defense, and you can get to the quarterback.

(46:08):
He creates sacks and all you're asking your quarterback to
do is it not screwed up. And what has he done?
He screwed up multiple times and they still won. Yeah.
When Cordell Stewart, host of the NFL No Huddle podcast
on tune in and Cordell, I'm gonna back you up here.
When Blake Bortles does not throw an interception this season,
the Jaguars are nine and oh, I know, he only

(46:31):
had as you said, eight completions in the win over Pittsburgh,
and folks, you know the I know what Pittsburgh fans
are gonna say. Well, it's a different game in in
January versus October. And I believe the temperature was like
seventy three degrees and it's gonna be like eleven uh
this weekend, So big change there. But I gotta I
want to go back to Levian Bell. Cordell, You've you've

(46:51):
been around players who had major contract disputes. Okay, Levian
Bell has played in two playoff games in his career.
I'm discounting the Patriots where he got injured earlier this year.
He had forty seven rushing yards against these Jaguars. Why
on earth is he talking about I'm gonna sit out
if I get franchise, Tach. What's wrong with Levy on belt?

(47:11):
Remember we had Antonio Brown with the whole Facebook Live
garbage last year in the Puts postseason. Is this a
Mike Tomlin thing? Just not getting the locker room on board,
because you don't see this happened with Bill Belichick and
the Patriots. You never you you don't see it off
you you don't, Jason, I agree with you. And and
here's my thing, And you know, it's not just Leavy
on Bell. It's been Roethlisberger going back to last year

(47:33):
and and making the statements about practice and maybe they're
practicing too hard this black guys that get injured, uh,
and and and making it seem as if, you know,
maybe the decision to go full pad last year was
one thing. And then of course, you know, the the
statement after the a f C Championship game of losing
saying he don't know if he's gonna come back, and
then go back goes back to practice in in O
t A s and he he says things to the thing,

(47:56):
I don't know for sure if I'm coming back, And
then all of a sudden you have Antonio Brown own,
you know, and and how he's frustrated because he felt
like he should have gotten the ball on the play
against Baltimore this year. He takes the gatorade jug and
and throws on the side. And then Ben Roethlisberger come
back and he says something about it you know, and
and so all of a sudden you have to play
against New England where uh it comes down to him

(48:18):
wanting to spike the ball and and he he comes
back and says, well, I want to spike the ball,
but the coaches told me to do something different. So
it's like it's a combination of not just Levy on Bell,
you know, not just an Tonio Brown, It's not just
Markqavis Bryant. It's a locker room. It's a culture. And
I think we're in a society today. And you no,
way back when Jason we're playing, it was loose lips

(48:40):
sing ships because coach Kyra wasn't dealing with that bro.
And now social media, you know, guys having access to
telling stories that the trainers should be telling. But they're
telling the story. Contract conversations are coming up as opposed
to the agent talking about it. You know, it's now
the player mentioning and and and and to me. And
this is what I've said, if these guys can just

(49:02):
focus on and as much as I love them, and
that knowl a few of them, but but I love
them all because once you're stealer, always a stealer. But
I'm a stickler of the game of football itself, and
I'm not playing favorite to him because I was a
part of the Rooney's organization. I'm gonna call it what
it is. If these guys don't focus on what's most important,
they're gonna end up losing an opportunity that I think

(49:24):
right now offensively that they've never had before, which is
having probably the most explosive offense since Ben Roethlisberger has
been there, with Levian Bell. Okay, with Stephen Ridley who's
coming from Stephen Ridley who's coming from New England, to
Roosevelt Nicks, who's a quality fullback that's been productive. You
have a receiving cord that's arguably with ju Jue Schuster,

(49:46):
Martavius Bryant, and also Antonio Brown when he's back, with
Jesse James being able to get the football down the middle,
and then all these guys are healthy. Now you know,
this may be the opportunity for his diversity on this team,
for his plays that could be called and what they
can do. This may be as that first as it
gets for the capabilities of what they're able to do.

(50:06):
And if the attention goes away from that to me,
that will be a distraction to where Now you have
a team that heard a quarterback in Bron Roethlisberger who
was egg gone to to respond to the statement of
you don't want to play against Jacksonville after throwing five
in exceptions? So what has been say? Of course I
want Jacksonville again. So guess what Jacksonville said? Be careful
what you have for this team is frustrated. Man, Hey,

(50:29):
let me ask you about Antonio Brown. Talcling Cordell Stewart
hosted the NFL No Huddle podcast on tune in. Uh.
Antonio Brown in the first Jacks meeting ten catches buck
fifty seven. A lot of that was against Jalen Ramsey,
arguably the best cornerback in the league. What have you
heard about Antonio Brown's status for this game and could they,
since they're so overconfident, hold out Antonio Brown and save

(50:53):
him to be for the Patriots game assuming they get
they get to win. Well, well, I see him going uh,
because I'm Luke gonna got to move everything on the line.
I think right now, it's it's a it's paramount that
they do that because you mentioned those stats and one
thing I'll say about those stats. Uh one that was
sticking out more than anything because he didn't get a touchdown,

(51:13):
So that meant it wasn't as impactful because they have
the number one overall defense. You know, when it comes
down to what they're capable of doing when it comes
to you know, points they're giving up to sacks to
stop in the run. You know it didn't it didn't
mount too much because the running game only gave forty
seven yards in total. It gave seventy yards. So it

(51:34):
goes to show you if you don't establish the line
of scrimmage. I think what ends up happening is regardless
of what they do, is don't they allow As long
as they don't allowed it in the end zone, you
know you're gonna get what maybe a few more interceptions,
maybe a couple taken back to the house. I don't know.
I'm just saying, I just remember what I saw last time,
and in order for it to change for me and
my psyche, they could throw for a lot of yards
all they want to and also throw an inceptions, but

(51:56):
if they don't run the football and the estaff of
starting scrimmage, it's gonna be a tough game. I would say,
for the Pittsburg still is on the offense scot of football.
All right, let me get you out of here with
this one, Cordell uh And this is just a theory.
I've kind of got it. It's not totally refined, but
it's a positive one for Pittsburgh. So there seems to
be something about the makeup of their roster that fits
with the cold weather. They've got a lot of guys

(52:16):
who played college football or grew up in the Midwest.
They've got that blue collar mentality. Big Ben miamive Ohio,
Levian bell Is from Ohio went to Michigan State, Antonio
Brown went to Central Michigan, Jesse James the tight end
from Pennsylvania. And then you look at the defense. You've
got a bunch of guys that went to Ohio State, Wisconsin.

(52:36):
You know, there's a couple outliers. But is there something
to being a regional fit for some of these tough
guys that Pittsburgh has from Mike Mitchell to t J. Watt,
Casey Heyward on down the line. That's a great point.
And in not being able to see it to that
to that depth, that's a great point because you you
have to be able to hopefully, especially going into Pittsburgh,

(53:00):
psychologically dealt with that passion, that emotion, and that understanding
that come the month of October, things change and it change,
you know, different than what happens in the Midwest to
the west coast media. That if you get an opportunity
to run the football, which has always been a stable
for the Pittsburgh Steelers organizations since its existence, if you

(53:22):
can run the football and put yourself in position to
have to play for winning the division or even playing
to get into the postseason, you have a great opportunity
to do that if you play in the city to
Pittsburgh because of how they take care of their business.
So now if we're going through the scouting process, we
have to make sure we have these guys that understand.
Now Juju Schuster maybe wants to get out like store Thumb,

(53:44):
but he's cool as all outdoors because he's still playing
great football regardless. Um, I just think that they do
a phenomenal job of having a great mixture of bringing
in players that understand that there has to be a
certain mentality. Because if we go back to last year
and you watch the Miami Dolphins come up to Pittsburgh
where Matt Moore as a quarterback, saw everyone at Turtle

(54:04):
NXT and Long Sleep. You know, you didn't know for
sure they was going out to the club up or
to the lounge that maybe have a few beverage, Shirley Temple,
you know, something like that. But it's it's it's tough.
We listen. Cordel Stewart. Uh, he's from Florida. Blake Bortles
went to u c F. You know, is how's this

(54:26):
guy gonna handle eleven degree temperatures tomorrow in Pittsburgh. So,
Cordel Stewart, I want to thank you very much. He's
the host of the NFL Huddle, No Huddle NFL No
Huddle podcast on tune in. Longtime Steelers great Cordell, thanks
for the time this morning, A good man. I appreciate
so much. You just yards. That's the line of hundred

(54:47):
yards all right, coming up next here on the Big
Lead on Fox Sports Radio. Lakers fans, listen, I know
you've been waiting for this for a long time. I've
been talking about LaVar ball for months. I went to
a Laker game this week. I'm going to another one
coming up here, and the story is slowly drifting from
LaVar Ball to Magic Johnson. There's a problem. I'll explain next.

(55:16):
Uh jeez, you guys know Nick is on the mic.
When you hear the Lonzo Ball rap coming out of
a commercial break, we gotta step up our bumper music here.
Uh oh my gosh, was that Iowa Sam dancing in
the hall? Dude? Did you guys see that? That was scary?

(55:41):
Back here on the Big League Fox Sports Radio, coming
to you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.
It's easy to save more on car insurance with Geico.
Go to Geico dot com call seven otto. The only
hard part figuring out which way is easy. So that

(56:01):
was good stuff from Cordell Stewart, former Steelers quarterback. We're
gonna pivot now to the NBA. Let me just get
in a quick word and and this is I don't
want to go off the rails here. But so during
the commercial break, I you know, I'm down the rabbit hole.
I'm watching Keith Jackson YouTube videos and I cannot get in.
By the way, if you're just joining the show. Keith Jackson,

(56:23):
the legendary college football announcer. Primarily he called other sports.
I'm sure but I think of him as college football,
the voice of college football for the eighties and nineties,
early two thousands. He passed away at the age of
eighty nine. And and I hear Keith Jackson on these
YouTube games and I'm like, man, that's taking me straight

(56:43):
back to like fourth grade, fifth grade. I'm watching college football,
and and the the era was just so different. There
was no Internet, there's no social media. A buffoon like
LaVar Ball would have been a total non factor in
the ninety eighties or nineties. Keith Jackson starts calling a game,

(57:04):
and that's the game you're watching. You're not flipping around
a fifty channels watching seventeen different games. It was Keith Jackson.
It was a big game, a lot of Michigan games,
and it just it was a totally different time. Meanwhile,
this is only like twenty years ago, and it feels

(57:24):
like an entirely different era because of where we are now.
And listen to the topic I'm about to dive into. Uh,
LaVar Ball versus Magic Johnson is one that you know,
I get why a lot of people are angry and
upset and like, who cares about this guy? Ignore him?
And and my strategy. Initially ignore forget it, and then

(57:45):
I thought about it. I'm like, you cannot ignore it.
The Lakers can't let their coach twist in the wind
while a Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma are on the
front lines taking bullets from the media. Magic Johnson has
screwed this up royally. Magic Johnson is the one to
blame for this LaVar Ball nonsense spinning out of control. Now,

(58:07):
I'm not killing Magic all the way because obviously I'm
a large Magic Johnson fan. He's done a great job
in the last what six to eight months, maybe a
little long. Maybe I will give me the last year.
Since he's taken over kind of remaking the Lakers. They're
now a destination. Free agents are going to talk to
Magic Johnson. They want to be there. They drafted Alonzo

(58:31):
savvy pick with Kyle Kuzuma. He's gonna be first team
all rookie like they got D'Angelo Russell Otto Town. Things
are looking good, but then came the latest LaVar Ball controversy. Now,
remember LaVar Ball. I'm gonna start here. LaVar Ball is
a liar. If you're listening to this in l A
and you got a line to LaVar Ball, tell him

(58:52):
to turn on Fox Sports Radio now, because LaVar Ball
is a liar, straight up fraud. LaVar Ball faced the
Lakers before the draft and said, and I quote, he
will not upstage the Lakers or their staff if they
draft his son. That is an on the record quote
from that liar LaVar Ball. As far as training my boy,

(59:17):
this is as far as I could take him. I'll
leave it up to you to take him further. You
could get him better with film time and coaching. You
can take him to a novel another level. I trust
you with my boy. And then of course he's gone
back on that multiple times. So he's a liar, he's
a phony, he's a fraud. That's all LaVar Ball is.
And the latest incident where he's over from Lithuania lobbying

(59:41):
grenades at the Lakers organization saying they don't want to
play for Luke Walton and and Magic Johnson. I don't
know what he's thinking. The only thing he could be
thinking is I just want to ignore this and hope
it goes away. But I think Magic, you know that
was my thought, ignore it. But then a day happened
and Lonzo has got to answer it, and then another

(01:00:03):
day Kyle Kuzma has gotta answer it, and it's just
out there. It's out there. Why didn't Magic step up
and say anything? Well, maybe he knew that the calves
would start falling apart and they would knock LaVar and Luke.
And but then Brian win Horse goes on the radio,
He's been a guest on this show. Brian win Horse says, hey,
LaVar Ball maybe onto something. Why haven't the Lakers defended

(01:00:26):
Luke Walton? Maybe because they don't like Luke Walton. Maybe
they want to bring in David Fizzdale, the fire Grizzlies
coach who Lebron has defended. So then it's like, oh
my gosh, what the hell are we doing here? They're
not defending their coach because maybe they want Fizdale. So
what is the alternative? Then? Do they have to come
out and give Luke Walton an extension? I don't know.

(01:00:49):
Listen Fizdale and it gets better, Nick, Nick, I see
you getting a little nervous over there. He's a big
time Laker fan. No Lakers had today. David Fizdale's with
Lebron in Miami on the staff with who's the Miami
coach what's his name? Come on, guys, Eric Spoelstra. Spoelstra
and Fizdale were on the staff in Miami with Lebron.

(01:01:13):
So it's like, oh shucks, they don't they're not defending
Luke j because they don't want them. They want Fizzdale.
Fizdale's type with Lebron. Oh no, So my head's kind
of exploding this week. It's just and now LaVar Ball
is gonna look like he's right, and every it's like,
oh my gosh. And now because it looks like LaVar

(01:01:35):
Ball's right, people are gonna take more of what he
says and be like, well a Lonzo must be feeding
him information. This is the worst case scenario. Nick, this
is awful for the Lakers. I'm sitting over here like, shucks.
If I could, if I could pull out some explotives,
you know I would. Okay, I gotta relax. Um. First

(01:01:55):
of all, I don't expect Lonzo to trash his dad.
Chris Boussar's joining the show later. He's gonna say, well,
Lonzo has gotta do it. Chris Alonzo cannot separate himself
from his family. Okay, his mom had major health issues.
Last year, his dad pulled his younger brother out of
high school, then he pulled his then his brother brother
the middle one, Lie Angelo, gets busted stealing in China,

(01:02:19):
get thrown in you know whatever they want to call it,
like hotel lock up right, and then his dad yanks
him out of U c l A. Now the brothers
are in Lithuania. The mom's got health issues, and the dad,
what are you gonna just say, dad, stop, you gotta stop?
And then what if the brothers agree with the dad?
And then he this is a twenty year old kid

(01:02:40):
on his own. He remember U c l A. His
parents and the brothers were aut like every game there's
This is the first time a Lonzo has really been
separated from his parents and his brothers. And you can't
tell him to discount his dad and tell write him
you can't do that. This is embarrassing for Magic and
it's gonna look freaking awful if they get rid of

(01:03:03):
Luke Walton and bringing David Fizdale and listen, that may
be the right thing to do. And and frankly, I
will say this if it means you're gonna get Lebron,
I get it. But holy hell, this is gonna look
awful because LaVar Ball is gonna look right, and that
makes me sick to my stomach. Ah, Nick, you want,
you got any thoughts? If it means okay, if the

(01:03:25):
dominoes are falling in place, that means we're gonna get Lebron, Okay,
you're But if not, I just it's it just feels
too soon for me to give up on Luke Walton.
I know he's had a lot of problems with transitions
and subbing in which players have put it on the horse,
and still they're still figuring it out right. They got
two rookies. It's Josh Hart, it's January. It's way too

(01:03:46):
soon all of a sudden be looking at firing him already,
Rob Producer, Rob, you're I've seen your head down for this.
I can't tell if you're rolling your eyes or if
you're as sick to your stomach as I am. But
the LaVar Ball looking like he's right is probably a
worst case scenario for the Lakers. Well, you know, when
I've told you months ago, I'm not a big fan
of Luke Walden. I don't think you hate him. I

(01:04:06):
don't think he's that good of a coach, but I
wouldn't fire him either. I mean, you haven't given him
a long enough time to to see exactly what you have,
because I don't think he's as good as the twenty
nine and four bad I don't think he's as bad
as even wherever the Okay, you've got five months to
figure it out because then the free agents are available,

(01:04:29):
Paul George and Lebron and you sure hell better get
one of those or both because they're not getting their
draft pick. And I do agree with you though a
lot of this is really falls on the shoulders though
of Magic. John in Magic, it comes back to magic.
Magic gonna step up. You're gonna keep Luke, You're gonna
lose him. And he didn't do him any favors before
the season when he said, Hey, we're gonna have to
max lots. So that's how's you right off the bat

(01:04:52):
to everybody on the team right now, You're not gonna
be here next year, So how are you going to
get a guy like Jordan Clark extended Julius Randall, uh KCP.
I'm so sick of how do you get him to
buy into a team concept and sacrifice for the team
to win? When you know I'm gonna be gone anyways.
Let I'm just looking to get paid at this. The

(01:05:13):
next five months on this show are gonna be so
Lakers centric because it's all building to July one, and
I know we're on in l A on Saturday mornings
and listen, this Laker story is only going to get bigger.
Hopefully magic has helped. If the Warriors go on an
unbelievable terror or the Calves fall apart, and you know

(01:05:35):
that will help the Lakers, but otherwise it ain't looking good.
Um all right, Coming up next, while we went a
little along there, there's a lot more meat on that bone.
But coming up next heavy is the head that wears
the crown and it looks looks like King James is
about to crumble. That's next, but first let's go to

(01:05:57):
Isaac Lowen Crown for the latest sports Jason. Legendary college
football broadcaster Keith Jackson passed away late Friday night at
the age of eighty nine. Jackson was the soundtrack for
countless iconic moments. But I'm gonna spend the remainder of
this report playing a non play by play moment. This

(01:06:17):
is Keith Jackson's introduction of the one hundred Michigan Ohio
State Game in two thousand three, and it will give
you goose bumps. Listen when the last globe drifts away
from the Big House at Michigan, it's a good time
to have a secret and listen here Ghost Kip Kid Questioner,
and in your mind's eyes see the lads who hold

(01:06:39):
the colors harmony, who played both plays all the way
to a Heisman trophy and got a standing ovation once
at the Horseshoe. And Archie Griffin, the double Heisman man
from Ohio State, who had his moments so many if
you remember players and coachings. But there are two coaches
who had a special place in the history. Woody en Boat,

(01:07:02):
a Salt and Pepper of the series giants in their profession,
their Histanics legendary, and they could win. This is a
remarkable festival annually, whether here or at the Horseshoe. There
are the great fans spiked that team across the field,
shore them Ohios. Here, Hail to the picture's value, Hail

(01:07:26):
to the conquering hero. Today another party of memory stuncording
a hundred years of Buckas and Wolverines. Jason Back to you.
That was good stuff, Isaac. Part of that you're you're

(01:07:47):
a historian of sports, right, Isaac. Part of me wonders
Keith Jackson if he were driving to a game this
morning and heard me, is you know, going about seven
or eight minutes on LaVar ball? Would he just change
the state? Would he be like, where the hell are
we going as a society in his own folksys world?

(01:08:08):
Or would he be like or would he have a
strong opinion on a on a father with a megaphone?
I just don't. I would love to know. I never
got to meet Keith Jackson. He was a very imposing presence.
In person. He was a lot taller and bigger than
you might think. He was like six three or six four,
and in person he was a very imposing almost John

(01:08:31):
Wayne asked, figure, absolutely, wow, So I gather you got
you know him? Well? Er. I was going to, but
then I saw how imposing he was, and I decided
not to tell myself. Awtson stadium press box many years ago.
Good stuff, all right, thank you, Isaac. Back here on
the Big Lead, Fox Sports Radio, coming to you live
from the guy Go Fox Sports Radio Studios. Uh so,

(01:08:53):
I blame magic Johnson. I'm worried about the Steelers, but frankly,
the story we're about to do is my most fun
right now. I believe. I think it's the best story
in sports. I think it's kind of better than all
these uh NFL games this weekend. I think the only
one that kind of tops it is the Belichick Brady

(01:09:15):
Alex Guerrero uh debacle that's happening in New England. But
that's not going to be a story until they lose,
and I don't think they're gonna lose to the Titans.
We'll get picks here in about thirty minutes. But if
you've watched the Cavaliers at all, they I mean, this
is not the mid season dulgrums. This is not last

(01:09:38):
year's you know, second half funk of boredom. This started
with that Christmas Day loss to the Warriors. Now, if
you'll remember, in like I believe, in late November early December,
they were hot. They want eighteen of nineteen. Remember the

(01:09:58):
Celtics had started the season with that hot tear after
they lost Gordon Hayward and then everyone's like, oh, there
are come to Celtics, and then the Calves are like, okay,
we're here eighteen and nineteen. Everybody says the Calves are fine,
They're gonna go to the finals. Maybe they everybody's all geeked.
So then they go into that Christmas Day showdown with
the Steph Curry less Warriors, and what happened. Kevin Love

(01:10:21):
played an amazing game, Lebron was very good, a lot
of turnovers, but then down the stretch Lebron got shut
down by Kevin Durant, And after the game, Lebron chirped
about the referees and the calls. And then two days
later in Sacramento when the Calves lost, Lebron was still
chirping about the refs. Then they go to Utah and lose.

(01:10:44):
Lebron mouthie with the media. They lose again and this
starts to snowball, and then they get their butts kicked
in Boston National TV game didn't another no show, and
then they go to Minnesota and get curb stomped, and

(01:11:06):
then they go to Toronto another NATIONALS Are you seeing
what's happening here? Christmas Day loss to the Warriors didn't
have Curry and Lebron, oh my gosh, he was so
angry after that Toronto beat down. A member of the
media asked about the defensive issues and Lebron goes, well,
it would have been worse if we had you on

(01:11:27):
the court. You can't stop anybody. What that's so out
of character for Mr red Wine drinking good vibes on Instagram.
Lebron and I keep coming back to that Christmas Day
choke where Kevin Durant locked him up, and it meant

(01:11:47):
that the Warriors had beaten Lebron six of seven, and
it's like, wait a minute, Lebron has seen the Warriors
full strength of Andrea. They got no shot. Now, they
don't have Curry and we can't beat them. I believe,
and I said this, don't speak for yourself on FS
one this week that Lebron is scared of the Warriors.

(01:12:11):
I believe they're in his head completely. And the Calves
are in trouble, and the main reason is they've got
about thirty nine games to figure this out. And have
you watched Isaiah Thomas. He's jack and looking for that
max deal two for fifteen against the Raptors. Tyler asked

(01:12:34):
about agendas. Oh, now, who's got the agenda? Nick? I
see you nodding, Nick, and rob My thought was initially
that Tyler was talking about Isaiah Thomas an agenda to
get a max deal, but the guys on FS one,
I thought it was about Lebron defense and and that
coach Handy who he was kind of yelling at in

(01:12:56):
the video and going back and forth with on the
sideline against the Raptors. Who did you think Tyler was
talking about? At first? I thought it was about Isaiah
cause I thought about, you know, the whole his dull
contract coming up in him. Yeah, this last two games,
oh my god, he's been awful. But then you know,
you hear about the report about the grumblings in the
locker room. You know, maybe there is about Lebron and
maybe him and Tyler just don't have a good connection.

(01:13:17):
I mean, Lebron didn't get along with David Blatten, he
got him out of town. Well is there, uh Kevin
Love angle to this? Because Kevin Love was having a
great season. Isaiah comes back. Kevin Love has looked a
little lost, a little disinterested, not getting the shots. Could
be who are the j R. Smith? Doesn't he looks
like he doesn't know what to do with it. He

(01:13:38):
didn't drop a goose ag the other night. He is
the whole And I said this in the freaking preseason.
There is gonna be a cloud hovering over this calvs. Team.
What is Lebron gonna do? Because they're all tied to Lebron?
But really quick, Jason, isn't it? It's like we hear
this year. No, no, yeah, that's true, but I play
Ben January there are dull okay, See's played bad. The

(01:14:01):
Lakers had just lost like nine straight. Uh, teams go
through tough spots in January. There's no Kyrie Irving to
bail him out this time, Nick, He's not here. He
has been the offensive bailout when the defense sucked. Kyrie
can take anybody off the dubble and score it, whill
Isaiah just came back. Let's give him a little bit
of time to kind of blend in with this. I
cannot believe people are putting Isaiah Thomas in the same

(01:14:25):
breath as Kyrie Irving. They're close to the same place better,
But at least we got just give him a little
bit of time to get some kind of chemistry with Lebron.
Oh my gosh, Rob, please tell Nick that Isaiah Thomas
will never ever be on Kyrie Irving's level. Never said
that like a close. He'll never ever be on Kyrie's level.

(01:14:46):
I mean, I Kyrie Irving, he could go for twenty
five and a quarter in a hartbeat. Now you're gonna
say Isaiah has done that before. He did it in
Boston with Brad Stevens. When he was in Sacramento and Phoenix,
he was just a good player. Eight game great. I
love it is that gonna win in Cleveland with Thompson.
I mean he's doing that. Those are losing teams. He

(01:15:07):
was putting up twenty a night. Well, I'll tell you
about Jason. You know at the beginning season, I had Celtics.
You know Celtics, you know, Cleveland pipety in the Eastern
Comments Finals. Adam had Calves in five. I'll tell you
what I'm going up to six now, Oh wow, I
still have it as a toss up. Russard is gonna
get it. Oh he's gonna be so heated with now
real quick, Jason, know we gotta head to break. But
I want to send this parting shot out. Now, what

(01:15:28):
you just said about Isaiah Thomas will never be as
good as Kyrie Irving. That's not a hot take. I
know it's not, but Isaiah Thomas is already a better
Celtic than Paul Pierce. Sorry, Paul, we hat to get
you on the way out. He's a bet had a
better career with the Celtics than Paul year. Should stop it,
but his worst year in Boston was better than Paul

(01:15:50):
Pierce's best year. Look it up. Stop looking up, hold up,
hold up, wait, wait two and a half years. Look
at that grid on your fad. I think you're just
going no where. I'm not a Paul Pierce. Okay, I'm
looking it up here. It is Paul Pierce stats in Boston.
First of all, he was there forever. He was there
for what like thirteen years? He averaged Dude, he has

(01:16:15):
four or five seasons averaging twenty five or more. Isaiah
did it once and you want to go down on him.
Basketball is more about than just scoring, Jason M. Paul
Pierce did not win anything. Look at the pr I
don't have that on my screet. I'm not gonna bore
our readers if your dumb advanced, I'm kidding. They had

(01:16:36):
one good year. That's it. He's living up one good
year and in sympathy and I like Isaiah Thomas and
he I don't want him coming after me because he's
got a strong I G game. And I'm just a
new guy on Instagram. I'm i gotta get my followers up,
people coming up next year. On the Big Lead, Fox
Sports Radio, We're gonna go back to football and an

(01:16:56):
a f C team in the last couple of hours
just made a colossal mistake. It's gonna set them back years.
I'll tell you who don't don't don't don't back here
on the Big Lead, Fox Sports Radio. Great news. There's
a quick way you could save money. Switch to Geico.

(01:17:18):
Go to Geico dot com and in fifteen minutes you
could save fift or more on car insurance. Could have
NFL picks for you here shortly, Gonna get you paid. Yes,
your boy went oh three and one against the spread
last week, took a couple of else However, teasers have
been really good to me, really good. Hit two of

(01:17:42):
those last week, tied in Alabama. But I need to
bounce back weekend. We'll have those picks for you shortly.
So I don't know if you saw the news here
in the last few hours. According to is it Schefter,
According to Adam Schefter, Bill Brian is on the verge
of signing a massive extension, five year extension in Houston

(01:18:08):
for Bill O'Brien. You know they're why why they're doing this, right,
You don't extend a coach off a four and twelve
year for five years. They're doing it for one reason
because the Houston Texans know that Bill Belichick is gone
in New England. And if Belichick leaves, who are the

(01:18:29):
Patriots gonna go after? Well, it would be the most successful,
the only successful you could argue coach from the Bill
Belichick coaching tree, and that would be Bill O'Brien. And yes,
I'm being serious. The Bill Belichick coaching tree has been
so bad in the NFL. Now, in college Sabans have
been successful, Kirk for Rends has been successful, but in

(01:18:53):
the NFL, none of them. I mean, Romeo Cornell terrible,
al Grown did nothing in one year with the Jets.
You go on down the list. Josh McDaniels flopped in Denver.
Eric Vanini buddy of mine. He's over at FS one,
very knowledgeable, smart dude. You kind of got a raw
deal with the Jets, and um, then you know he

(01:19:14):
was in Cleveland, didn't win there, and Jim Schwartz with
Detroit like Nick Saban in Miami. In the NFL, the
Bill Belichick coaching tree has been at debacle. Now you
look at Bill O'Brien, he's the one guy who's been
to the playoffs three times and he's done it with
the following quarterbacks Fitzpatrick, Hoyer, Osweiler. Pretty pretty motley trio

(01:19:39):
right there. So the reason the Houston Texans want to
extend Bill O'Brien for five years. Again, I don't like
this move at all is simply because they think Belichick
is leaving New England and they want to lock him up.
Now you say, okay, Jason coming in hot with Belichick leaving,
where's he going? Okay, Produce to Rob just handed me

(01:20:01):
the sheet Newsday dated January twelve, last night, Friday night,
seven fifty pm. So you might have missed this Friday night.
You go out drinking, you go on a date, you
sleep in. Newsday reports Giants have sleeper fourth head coaching

(01:20:21):
candidate Matt Patricia and Josh McDaniels both have interviewed for
the Giants. Is that going to get awkward? By the way,
in the locker room, the defensive coordinator and the offensive
coordinator are looking at the Giants. The Giants have a
backup plan. A sleeper is how it was described by

(01:20:45):
one source to Newsday. It's unclear who that potential fourth
emergency candidate might be. Well, I can offer you in
an easy name, a guy who coached under Bill Parcels
in New York going on to some success in New England.
His name is Bill Belichick. That's your sleeper candidate for

(01:21:07):
the Giants. Do you hear that? That's your candidate? So
you put it all together, folks, this is what I do.
I challenge you to read between the lines. I challenge
you to think differently. Here's how you need to look
at it. Bill O'Brien's getting an extension because they didn't
want to lose Bill O'Brien to New England. When Bill

(01:21:27):
Belichick goes to the Giants or whomever got it good.
Coming up next here on the Big Lead Fox Sports Radio,
NFL Divisional Round picks, three favorites and a dog make money. Next,
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, our number three Here on

(01:21:48):
the Big Lead Fox Sports Radio. I am your host,
Jason McIntyre. Coming to you live from the Geico Fox
Sports Radio studios. It's easy to save or more on
car insurance with Geico. Go to Geico dot com and
in fifteen minutes you could save fift or more on

(01:22:13):
car insurance. I had a fun, fun, fun two hours.
Thank you for joining us wherever you are in the
United States of America. We may be on in Canada
for all I know. I have no idea, but it's
time to do NFL picks because we save those for

(01:22:34):
the final hour college basketball games getting underway. We know
nobody really pays that much attention to college hoops until
usually after the Super Bowl right February you get conference
plays winding down, and then you get the conference tournaments
and March Madness, of course, which I love and talk
about extensively. It's still primo NFL time. They say this

(01:22:57):
is the best weekend of the NFL season. I don't
know that I buy that. I mean, I don't see
how you can have the best weekend in the NFL
without Aaron Rodgers, without the Dallas Cowboys, um and and listen,
there are some some quarterbacks with very little experience playing
this weekend, chiefly case keenum Nick Foles in Philadelphia, Marcus Mariotta,

(01:23:20):
who got lucky last weekend with the Titans to come
back and beat the Chiefs. Let me get started before
we get to our picks here with uh t A.
If you followed us all football season, you know he
did well in the Super Contest. He finished in the money.
We're gonna ask him shortly how he's spending his winnings.
I believe his winnings were over five figures. I don't

(01:23:40):
know if he got to six um, but he did well.
And and I go on to quickly just go back
to that Tennessee game last week. So Tennessee's down twenty
one three, Travis Kelsey gets hurt and the game changes completely.
It's like that Chiefs had no backup plan for Oh,
we can't throw it to Kelsey, our money man over

(01:24:01):
the middle. And remember, tight ends killed killed the Titans,
and that's obviously bad news. When gronk Is is next up.
But Travis Kelsey, great tight end, one of the best
in the league. He goes down in the offense. Just
they had nothing. They had absolutely nothing in the Titans.
Derrick Henry, you know they got a little lucky there.
They're the biggest underdog thirteen and a half. I'm seeing

(01:24:24):
a little bit of line movement this morning. Uh, not
a ton. I think there's gonna be some money coming
in on the Eagles, it looks like. And to answer
all these questions, my man t A joining us from
parts unknown. Hopefully TA wasn't listening to the Lebron segment
of the show. Um, he is a die hardcast fan,
t A, How are you good man? Yeah? We uh,

(01:24:46):
I'm says seeing your tweets about my Calves and Lebron
and we go back and forth on that a lot
on Twitter. Anyways, let let me get started with the Calves. Actually,
did did you watch the Indiana collapse last night? Did
you watch the Raptors game? What are your thoughts? There's
just much a about nothing or are you actually concerned? Well?
I did watch the Raptors game. I watched the first
half of the Pacers game, and then uh had some

(01:25:07):
things going on, So I didn't watch the collapse, unfortunately,
But look, I get it, and you know people are concerned. Um,
you know, I just look at it as eight straight
finals for Lebron. We've seen this every year where they struggle.
Now this could be different. I think fundamentally, Um, their
defense is a combination of a lack of effort and
just they're old and slow in a lot of positions.

(01:25:28):
So I'm not sure it's gonna fix itself. Are they
good enough to get back to the finals? I absolutely
think so. You know, I think they don't really have
a shot at beating Golden State, but I'm not sure
anybody else does. UM. So that's what when people ask me,
and I know you asked me this week, you know,
would you trade the Nets pick Um? I wouldn't. I mean,
unless it's for a legit top twenty star who has

(01:25:51):
got multiple years left on their deal. I just don't
think it's worth it because I don't think anyone player
wins a title for the Calves. And I'm not sure
that you know that helps keep Lebron here, So I
might as well hold on to that for leverage in
the off season. And you know, if you get lucky
and get a top five pick um in a loaded draft,
I mean you've got something to build on with or without,

(01:26:11):
looking well as as Windhorse like your boy wind Horse
likes to say, Paul George and Lebron can opt in
for one more year, So technically, if they trade for
Paul George, both could stay next year in Cleveland as well. Yeah,
he's a one guy that has not signed long term
that I would at least consider. I had considered a
guy like Marcus All as well, but you know, he's

(01:26:32):
getting a little bit older and declining a little bit.
But I think Paul George is, you know, obviously the
ideal fit. When I talked to you, I said, you know,
Jimmy Butler would have been the bullseye, right if if
because he's got multiple years left. But you know, obviously
that deal didn't you know, that fell through. But yeah,
if they had to do one of those deals, Paul
George would be the guy. And you know, if you
can get an extra year out of it, then then

(01:26:53):
I would definitely consider it. But until someone signs for
past this season, it's it's tough to give up that pick.
All right, t let's get to NFL picks. You were
money this season. You finished what thirty second or something
like that in the Super Contest. You've got a lot
of money. How are you spending your your winnings? What entry?

(01:27:14):
It was tied for thirtieth. I was as part of
a group entry we also finished. Yeah, so so I
did did pretty well. Not spending it, you know, not
not being frivolous, No, no ferrari And I'm an investment guy,
so I like to put some of it away and
uh and see what over. But I'll take some vacations.

(01:27:39):
I'm sure I'll be in Vegas in the next couple
But oh yeah, okay, it sounds like a plan. Now,
can you get everybody paid this weekend? And I know
the lines are strange. Is there a game that jumps
out that you absolutely love? I do. It's and it's
a game that's contrarianto what the public likes? And I
like the Eagles getting free what um? So a couple

(01:28:02):
of things here. Obviously, you know, the public's all over
Atlanta and for good reason. I get it. You know,
they look good last week. Although when you dig a
little bit deeper in the numbers, the Rams did out gain.
UM did outgain Atlanta five point nine to four point
six yards per play. I mean, they really benefited from
two turnovers, but they got completely outgained. There's a bunch
of chunk plays that the Rams put on them. But

(01:28:25):
you know, a couple of those turnovers by Farrell Cooper
really swung the game. Um. Look, the Eagles are a
really good defensive team, especially at home. They played really
well at home. Um, they can run the ball on Atlanta.
I think a giant is gonna have a big day. Actually,
that's I would I would look at his rushing yards
as a prop over sixty five and a half. I
think he's gonna get a lot of carries. I think

(01:28:45):
they're they don't want Folds to really get the ball
in his hands a lot. So I think they're really
gonna rely on the run game. But look, Atlanta, the
Dome team is supposed to be in the thirties. It's
gonna be cold, it's gonna be windy, it's on grass,
and they don't farewell on grass anyway. Um, you know.
And here's here's a here's a trend for you home
dogs in the postseason lifetime or twenty eight and fifteen
six against the spread. But this is a t A

(01:29:09):
hold on, let me counter and ask you this. So
a lot of those stats defensively were accumulated thanks to
Carson Wentz. They were number one in the league in
time of possession with Wentz. They're not number one in
the last four weeks since Folds took over. And and
did you see these third down numbers? Were there like
oh for fifteen and their third downs and one for
their last nineteen With Nick Foles, they can't control the ball,

(01:29:32):
which puts pressure on the d Does that concern you
at all? Yeah? I look, that's not the same team
without without Wentz. I mean, if they had Wentz in there,
they're probably a you know, four or five point favorite.
So I get the swing, But let's put it another way. Um,
you know, plus three at home, that would mean that
the line would be minus nine in Atlanta. Do you
think minus nine is appropriate? Idol? I think it's I
think it's honestly thought this line would have been a

(01:29:54):
pick them when it came out. So I think it's
off by three points. And look, I think it's gonna
be with cold weather and to you know, two pretty
good defenses. I think this is a lower scoring game,
so those three points will be valuable. Not saying they
definitely will win, but I just think it's a little
bit of overreaction. Look, Nick Foles isn't he isn't Tom Savage,
isn't Nathan Peterman. I mean he isn't established all right, ta,

(01:30:16):
so you gave out the Eagles, what would be your
next best play? Uh? If you the money is burning
a hole in your pocket, you know. And unfortunately I
hate to say this, but the Vikings actually like the
Vikings and the over I think both. And this is
unfortunate because I have you know, if anyone follows me
on Twitter, I have I tweeted out I took the
Saints the one to win the Super Bowl in October. Um,

(01:30:40):
I tweeted out to to everybody, so hopefully a few
people took it. But this is the worst possible matchup form. Um.
You know, the Vikings are number one defending running backs
out of the backfield through the air, So we know
how much Breeze loves to go to Kamara and and
Ingram out of the backfield. So that's going to really
nigate things there. The Vikings are number five in the
NFL an explosive pass plays. Uh, they really pushed the

(01:31:03):
ball down the field and they and the Saints are
fourth worst. They've allowed the fourth most explosive past plays. Um.
So I think you know if laddim assuming Lattimer is
gonna be on feeling I think Diggs will have a
big game. I just think it's a really tough matchup.
Um the Vikings are so good at home, and it
all comes down to whether uh playoff case keenum is

(01:31:23):
the same as regular season keenum, and that's you know,
you just don't know. It's a wild card. If if
he reverts back to his old journey him self, Saints
obviously have to have a good chance here. But if
he plays it like he did in the regular season,
I think it's a higher scoring game and I think
the Vikings cover the five. Any concerns about the Saints
defense and the Saints running game, they could only I

(01:31:45):
believe they was for like forty three yards against the Panthers,
and the Vikings have a better run defense. And then
when you look at the Saints defensive they have not
been great the last few weeks. I believe they had
a couple of injuries a safety, a linebacker and a
pass rusher all out for the season. In any concerns,
because I listen, I love the full year's stats on
the Stains. But as as I said, with like the

(01:32:07):
previous game the Eagles, you know, the the last quarter
of the season seems to matter more. How do you
how do you differentiate those Yeah, I mean I think
full season matters, but yeah, whatever, wherever a team is trending,
you maybe put a little bit more weight onto it.
I will say, um, yeah, they definitely have had a
leaky running run defense. I think losing Kenny Vaccaro and

(01:32:27):
a safety is a big deal. That lost Trey Hendrickson,
who was a really good rookie at the defensive end.
I mean they've lost one or two other guys, so
they definitely have regressed a little bit on defense. I mean,
you still have you still have some really good young
secondary guys. Marcus Williams as a rookie who's playing well
at safety, and obviously Latimore is gonna be the defensive
rookie of the year, So you do have those guys
who rely on But I think, yeah, as you mentioned,

(01:32:49):
they've they've regressed here defensively the last few weeks. And uh,
I mean Tampa put up I think over four hundred
yards on him the last regular season game of the year.
So definitely concerned and that's why they the over and vikings.
I think if you parlay those two, I think you're
looking good there, all right, Any do the Steelers worry
you at all? I'm kind of bullish on Jacks this week,

(01:33:10):
although despite the cold temperatures. It's just if you read
any of the stuff online all the Patriots are doing,
they're talking about the Steelers are only talking about the Patriots.
Levian Bell is talking about the offseason, like, I just
don't know if the focus is there. And and you've
brought this up to me before, Mike toml on off
A bye week has been brutal the last four weeks

(01:33:31):
four seasons. Remember they only beat the Colts by three
out of the bye this year, lost the previous three.
I just worry about Tomlin, the Tomlin factor here. Yeah,
you know it's funny. I don't have a strong opinion
on either side in this game. I this might be
the one game that I just pulled off on, but
I will say I was leaning Jacksonville or sorry, leaning
Pittsburgh just because there are a couple of the playoff

(01:33:54):
trends are in their favor. Um, you know, you saw
how bad Bordles was last week. Um, I thought that,
you know they can They didn't run the ball the
first time they played Jacksonville, and that's you know, Jacksonville
has gotten better defending the run, but that stuff is
their weakness, so you'd hope that they would do more
of that. But yeah, the fact that Mike Mitchell's talking
about playing the Patriots and he can't wait to play them,
and you hear Levyan Bell talk about his contract and

(01:34:15):
potentially retiring. Those are things you don't want to see
in advance of of a of a game like this
against a great defense. So it's giving me pause. So
I don't have a strong feel either way in that game.
I will say, um, if you want to talk about
the Patriots Titans real quick, Um, Again, not a strong feel.
If I had to, I would take the Titans. But
I like a couple of props there. So if you look, um,

(01:34:36):
Tennessee is really bad defending running backs out of the
backfield their twenty nine in the NFL, UM and allowing
the yards for attempt that we know that Brady likes
to dink and dunk and go to his back, So
I think a Dion lewis receiving yards prop going over.
I think it is pretty solid. Um. And you know
the Titans don't have a good past defense, but they
don't allow a lot of big plays or number one

(01:34:57):
in the NFL allowing the least amount of big plays
on passing the ball. So I think the Patriots are
really gonna think and dunk down the field, and that's
that really plays in the Brady's hand. So over twenty
four completions is a prop that I love, I love,
I love the Brady looks. The Titans have have faced
guys like Alex Smith, golf Garoppolo, Big Bend, Deshaun Watson,

(01:35:20):
all but one have gone over twenty four completions. That's
a good nugget. All right, I'm a load up to you.
Let me leave you with my stat of the weekend.
Blake Bortles is nine and oh this year are the
Jags are nine and oh when Blake Bortles does not
throw an interception two and six when he does so
the second Bortles throws a pick, I'm live betting everything

(01:35:41):
I've got on the Steelers. Basically, you know what, you know,
it's interesting when I say I'm gonna lay off that game.
If people you know have in game, you know way
during or want to take a second half. You know,
the Jags are much better team when they're leading and
portals is way better, as you know ahead and compared
to trying to come back. So maybe see what's going
on at half time. If they're up, maybe you take

(01:36:01):
them second half. Um, if they're down, maybe you just
you back up Pittsburgh. It's in the top So that
would be a suggestion if you don't want to take
the side there. This is the man who makes money.
All right, t thanks a lot. We'll talk to you
next week. Good stuff. All right, man, Listen that I
said I'd like to challenge people on this show and

(01:36:22):
get you to think differently. This is a guy nobody
else is putting on the radio now. He've been coming
on this show for a couple of years. He's going
on Cleveland Radio a lot now, building up a nice
following in the gambling communities. He's he knows his stuff
and I'm jumping on this. Dion Lewis, prop and Tom
Brady over twenty four completions right now, all right, Next
up the Big Lead Fox Sports Radio pre snap reads,

(01:36:44):
we look back at wild Card weekend, yuck and Division
a Round. What do we like? What do we see
that's next on the Big Lead Fox Sports Radio. What
does it mean when Geico says, just fifteen minutes could
save you fift cent or more on car insurance. It
means you probably should have gone to guy go dot
com fifteen minutes ago. All right, we're gonna get the

(01:37:05):
pre staff reeds. I look, I just want to quickly
give you some college football long shots for next year,
futures place. We do not have a lot of time
to dig into them. We know Alabama is going to
be the overwhelming favorite. There's no value there. Jot these down,
get a pen pencil, put it in the notes section
of your phone. Jason McEntire futures college football. Are you ready?

(01:37:29):
Wisconsin to one. They returned ten of eleven starters on offense, quarterbacks, back,
running backs, back, offensive line is really good. Defense always good.
Wisconsin one. Georgia eight to one, number one recruiting class
from his back. The d does lose a ton, but
Georgia eight to one. And then two four long shots,

(01:37:49):
Missouri one to one. Drew Lock. They just remember I'm
saying this, Drew Locked. Their quarterback is staying in college.
He could be the number one overall pick in the
twenty nineteen NFL draft. I know that's way away, but
Drew lock in Missouri a hundred to one. Why the
hell not Virginia Tech forty two one, Josh Jackson. Their

(01:38:10):
quarterback is very good in the A C C is
gonna be winnable. Clemson loses a ton on defense, so
Virginia Tech forty one, and then to two other long
shots Perdue two hundred one. I just like Perdue Brahm
big ten stack next year. So it's a long shot
at two one Hey and West Virginia forty two one. Again,
I'm big on quarterbacks. They returned Will Greer. They're good

(01:38:31):
quarterback who's gonna be a Heispan contender. Will Greer nice
player of West Virginia forty two one. So if you
got those Perdue two hundred two one, Missouri a hundred
to one, West Virginia, Virginia Tech forty one, Wisconsin to one,
Georgia eight to one, go get some money. All right,
Let's do pre snap reads, the only NFL predictions you'll

(01:38:51):
need to turn off, and this is yours pre snap
read in the big league. I'll get it started. Minnesota
Vikings favored by five and a half. I think they
beat the Saints by double digits and Here's why I
know everybody is concerned with case Keenum as am. I.

(01:39:14):
We saw first time quarterbacks struggle mightily in the wild
card round. Case Keenum is not totally, not totally the
first time quarterback. This guy is a veteran who's been
around the block. He was in UH with the Rams,
and he's got two good receivers. And remember, the Saints
pass rush is not very good. They're not gonna be

(01:39:37):
able to blitz the way they blitz Cam Newton because
the Vikings have two very good receivers. McKinnon can kill
you out of the backfield, and they got a great
tight end. And Rudolph I like the Vikings by double
digits over the Saints double digits. All right, Sir Jason,
I'm going New England's here the Patriots Titans. Now my lock,

(01:39:58):
I'm going a little bit more of a Betty aspect.
Now the line is thirteen and a half, right, thirteen
and a half points. I think this game is gonna
be a lot closer. And people think I think it's
gonna be close game. Why because Titans have nothing to
play for. They're playing on house money. And this goes
me on XS and those there's something in that Patriots
locker room that I just think there's something more to
this Belichick Brady thing that I think it might show

(01:40:19):
on the field. So I think it's a mid close game.
Patriots take, go to Vegas, take the points. Okay, Nick
likes the thirteen and a half. I have a player
specific priest that breath this week for the divisional round
and it involves a game you guys have not mentioned yet,
the Falcons and the Eagles. Now, the Falcons should win

(01:40:42):
this game. Their favored to win this game by two
and a half. It's a road favorite. The Eagles look
terrible the last few times we've seen them on television.
But you know what, when you have a playoff situation,
you're playing in the bad weather, you have a team
coming off of bye, you have another team that came
off of very emotional win the Falcons against the Rams

(01:41:03):
last week. I think Matt Ryan's gonna have more turnovers
today than touchdowns against the Eagles. That Ryan more turnovers
than touchdowns than touchdowns. Yes, now, I do think the
Falcons are gonna win the games. Stump still picking the Falcons,
But I think the Eagles defense know that they're gonna

(01:41:24):
have to carry Nick Foles on their back in this one,
and the only way they're gonna do it. They're gonna
be very aggressive. They're gonna be going after the ball,
They're gonna be reaching for strip sacks, They're gonna be
jumping every Julio Jones out route. I think Matt Ryan's
gonna have a couple of turnovers today, but the Falcon's
a hold on to win, all right, Matt. So they're
gonna have So who's going to score their points? Freeman

(01:41:45):
or to run the ball in no agains the number
one or two rush defense. Interesting theory there, Jackson. I'm
going to Jacksonville. I'm double dipping. You know how I
had a good run of double dips and then a
terrible run later in the season. But I'm gonna go
double up h Levian Bell under one yards rushing, Antonio

(01:42:08):
Brown under one hundred yards receiving. How about that? You
didn't see that coming. I love this, Jackson, Phil Do
you know I've been on them all year and um,
I like, I mean, I'm just gonna double that up
under a hundred for Levian and Antonio Brown. Check to you, Nick,
I'm singing Foxboro. You know, it seems like every other
year the Patriots in the playoffs is always like that

(01:42:29):
one guy that you don't expect to just go off.
I think last year is Shane Vereen, who had a
couple of playoff games which just insane. You know, Rex
Burke Headsler has hurt Gillis Lee's her in Whitehead. So
I think Dion Lewis is gonna have himself a big
game against Tennessee plus yards, a few tds, the hundred
fifty Lewis Wow, I don't know if he was built

(01:42:50):
for that. But okay, well James White and the Super
Bowl was a based and he went bananas, all right.
Rob Britains Home. I love Nick's priest, Snap Breeves. Now
my second priest, Snap Breezier in the big league. Jason McIntyre,
Fox Sports Radio, going back over to the Steelers and
Jaguars game again. We've been covering all show today. Something

(01:43:12):
about Jacksonville's defense. I really really enjoy I really like
what they're doing. Give me Jacksonville for all you betting
people and the points they're getting. I believe they're getting
seven points right now. Jacksonville is gonna cover to the spread.
I want to pick him out right, but I don't
have the pockets for it. So give me Jacksonville. Got
the deep pockets. You're about to go on another vacation

(01:43:33):
by another car. It's called credit cards. But stop it,
stop it. I don't I don't have the McIntyre mansion
I'm renting. Give me Jacksonville plus seven. Boy, we're loving
I guess they love the underdogs, maybe because the dogs
covered last week. All right, coming up next, I know
you've been waiting all show for it. I know you

(01:43:54):
have my guy Chris, who's sorry, is coming up next.
I'm gonna we're gonna chop it up. I am gonna
destroy him. On Lebron. This is gonna get ugly. Okay,
he's gonna defend Lebron and his guy Isaiah Thomas. Oh,
it's on in popping. That's next. But first let's go
to Isaac Lowan Crown for the latest in sports. Jason.
Legendary sports broadcaster Keith Jackson passed away late Friday night

(01:44:17):
at the age of eighty nine. Let's go down memory
lane now for some of his many greatest hits, beginning
with Desmond Howard doing his thing for Michigan against Ohio
State on his way to the Heisman Trophy. Wind under it,
An Howard, little book at that oh one man, same stadium,

(01:44:48):
different outcome. Now in Colorado's Cordell Steward attempting a Hail
Mary against the Wolverines. Let's car, He's got three people
down there, the balls up in the touchdown cardscreen card,
touchdown credible. And finally, Keith Jackson's last call from the

(01:45:15):
two thousand six Rose Bowl National Championship game between Texas
and usc four from five, the national championship on the line.
Right here, he is caring for the corner. He's got it.

(01:45:37):
Then's Young scores. Just a few of the many great
moments from the life of Keith Jackson. Jason, back to you,
Thank you, Isaac. Back here on the Big Lead, Fox
Sports Radio. I'm your host, ladies and gentlemen, coming to
you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. Final

(01:45:59):
hour of the show, and I decided to bring on
a guy just because I feel bad for him. You know,
he hosts the show here on Fox Sports Radio with
uh my guy, Mark Willard from four to eight today
on Fox Sports Radio. And you know, if you listen
to his show later. Expect him to come in a
little bit down, a little morose. Okay. His Cleveland Cavaliers

(01:46:21):
took another one on the chin last night. It's been
a rough stretch from my guy, Chris Brussard, his boy
lebron Uh. We know he's out. He's going Lakers. Isaiah Thomas,
who Chris Brush loves. I mean, jeez, Isaiah Thomas is
the second coming of Isaiah, to of the Isaiah Thomas
great from Detroit. He's struggling, so I decided to bring

(01:46:43):
on Chris Brussar. We'll chop it up for a little. Chris,
good morning, you're out here in l A. Are you
doing okay after your Calves lost last night? My man,
I am in such a great move. It's a wonderful day.
The sun is shining. All is right in the NBA world.
Like man, it's awesome. You can hear that excitement. Brussard

(01:47:08):
has fired up because yesterday I we were speak for yourself,
and I said to him that since that Christmas Day lost,
the Calves have not been themselves. Isaiah Thomas has come back,
Kevin Love does not look like himself. They've lost seven
of nine. Chris, I mean, I texted you last night
and you're like, relax. I know they've had January issues

(01:47:29):
for several years, but come on, man, this feels different.
There is no energy there twenty nine in defensive efficiency,
Tyler's talking about agendas. What do you make of this?
I make of this that I feel like I'm in
Groundhog Day. I saw this worse than the David Black fiasco. Well,

(01:47:54):
they had Kyrie Irving. Is this worse than Kevin Love
fitting are fit out? Is this worse than playing horrendo
the horrendous defense they played last year and the fact
that they basically were a five hundred team for the
last three or four months of the season. Is it

(01:48:14):
worse than that? But the East is way better than
it's been in recent years, way better? Really mean, we
got us, We got your boy Joelo? Oh you got
Joel Emba? Do you have as the best center in
NBA history? I believe, even back to back, Cleveland is

(01:48:35):
not a great team by any stretch. Okay, if they
were in the West, I mean they might not even
get home court advantage in the first round. I mean, seriously,
like they would have no chance, no prayer of getting
out of the West. And I'm not even talking about
Golden State. Houston might beat them, San Antonio might beat them.

(01:48:55):
You know, Minnesota, heck might beat them. Minnesota they just
beat him. But like seventy. But here's the problem for you.
They're not in the West. They're in the least. And
I'm sorry, I am not on board with your Celtics
as being a championship team. How about the Toronto how

(01:49:17):
about the Toronto Raptors. They scare you if you're Lebron
at all or no no, no, no, okay, but Chris,
I'm gonna put you on the spots are good teams,
Don't get me wrong. Kyrie Irvy is having a phenomenal year.
So is Demard de Rosen. The Celtics play halaious defense.
I love them, but they are what they are. What
percentage chance do you give the Calves to win the East?

(01:49:41):
Are five eighty? What? Even though your boy Isaiah Thomas
looks like hot garbage and four games you expect him
to look? Guy, he's been out for eight months. Yeah,
but he was an All NBA player last year. Still,
he hasn't played basketball for seven eight months and he's

(01:50:04):
five during. I mean, he's not I was talking to
somebody in the league about this, and they said, look
a lot of times when the player comes back from
that long of a hiatus. The first couple of moments
out there, which his first two games, he looked great,
You're playing on adrenaline, your height, everything looks good. And
then reality sets in and the rust begins to show,

(01:50:28):
and you gotta work your way through it. And so
not only does he have to work his way through it,
but the team has to get used to playing with him.
Kevin Love with the three. The last couple of games
with Isaiah, he his shots were way he looked totally disinterested. Well,
and last night, even though they lost, he looked a

(01:50:51):
lot better. Twenty one and Tien back up the fourth
stag shot, no Isaiah. So remember I was making the
point that the reason Love was playing the best ball
of his career was that he was a definitive second option.
Now it's a coach doesn't say, Okay, you're the second option,
you're the third option, whatever, But in Isaiah's mine, he's

(01:51:15):
at least the second option. Okay, let's move on from
the boarding cads. Let's move on from the boring calves
who are not getting out of the East. Not a
lock to get out of East. Let's move on to Uh,
I think it's a boss up Celtics cast Celtics cast.
Let's move on to the Lakers. Everybody's uh favorite team? Uh?

(01:51:35):
Your your your buddy on I thought the Lakers could
make the playoffs that I had. Just don't, don't, don't.
I'm not running. It was a miss. It was a
rare hs by me. Um. Let's start here. It's Luke
Walton getting fired and David Fizdale coming in to be
the next Lakers coach. I mean you gotta think about it. No,

(01:52:00):
I mean look, I mean whenever you have looked, and
I'm not saying Luke isn't on the hot seat. What
I am saying is this, whenever you have a coach
who was not brought in by the new front office regime,
the front office regime is not as tied to that

(01:52:21):
coach as the previous regime. Now I believe Lucas fine,
right now, I believe Magic likes him and Rob Perlincol
like him. Okay, But all I'm saying is that, you know,
history tells us and everyone around the legal will tell you.
Usually when guys come in. If they they it's not

(01:52:44):
automatic they're gonna bring in their own guy, but it's
always a thought at least in the back of their mind.
Now Philadelphia, when Brian Colangelo went there, that was the
talk around the league. He's gonna want his own guy.
Bret Brett Brown proved to be okay and they kept him.
So right now, I think Lucas fine. But the thing,

(01:53:05):
the reason you're here, Fizdale, and the reason people around
the league are saying it is because one, he's a
very good coach to He obviously has a relationship with Lebron.
Remember he coached him in Miami, and um he's from
Los Angeles as well. So look, I don't want to
blow this up. It's fine. I'm saying Lucas fine, but

(01:53:28):
you know, just that those are just points that people
looking at the situation just need to keep in the
back of their mind that this wasn't a magic a
Plinka higher. That's all I'm saying. The scary thing, let
me just put a bowl on that is if they
do fire Luke Walton and bringing Fizdale, then it's like, oh,
LaVar Ball was right and all his stuff from you

(01:53:49):
and I don't think they will awful. That would be
I don't think they fire Lonzo Ball, who I like,
uh I believe according to Nick over here in the studio,
he's shooting from three in the last eleven games. Is
Alonzo slowly figuring it out. He's averaging more steals, I'm
told than John wat He's he's high on blocks. He's

(01:54:12):
averaging more rebounds than I think Draymond Green like. The
numbers outside of scoring are really good for Alonzo. I've
said it on the same show as you. I believe
um that if it wasn't for the bluster of his dad,
if LaVar Ball was an average dad and we had

(01:54:33):
no idea who he was, people will be looking even
before he went on this nice streak shooting well, people
would be looking at Linzo Bars that dude, he's gonna
be nice. You know, he's gonna be He got a
really bright future. He's a future star. That's what they
would be saying. But because of the bluster, there's over

(01:54:53):
scrutiny on him. He's playing better than a lot of rookies,
most rookies and guys that aren't. I mean, if Marquel
Faults had a dad like LaVar Ball. People would be
killing me. But right now, you don't hear anything about
Marquelle Faults. Don't hear anything about the dear Fox or

(01:55:14):
Josh Jackson, you know, because there's not the over screwtiny,
they're not under the spot like black lines. So I
like him. Look one, one coach of the Lakers told
me he might be their best defender. He's got He's
not a great you know, he's not like he's gonna
shut and lock people down. But he's long, he's got
great intuition, he's intelligent, and that's what reason is. You said,

(01:55:36):
he gets a lot of deals. Two more, uh, Number
one is Lebron and Paul George going to the Lakers
next next summer, six months from now in a package deal?
What about it? Is it a package deal? It happen?
Is it happening? Now? You know what's happening. I'll soft.

(01:55:57):
I'm not saying it's impossible, but come on, get the biggest,
the biggest. He's now he's rapping. Okay, so let's yeah,
I'm aware. Let's go back and wrap up on this.
The biggest threat to the Warriors in the West is

(01:56:17):
which team hot? Oh, come on, it's Minnesota. It ain't.
It ain't Houston. It ain't Minnesota. You don't win that
big and that be that young. Hey, Warriors are pretty young.
They are. Warriors are quite young. They want a title.

(01:56:38):
Wooden like step They're veterans. Their veterans, their veterans, Paul
Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins. They're not Jimmy Butler might be
a top ten player in the league. He's playing great. Now. Look,
they are a threat to you know, certainly get they
should be well, you know, get to the second round.

(01:57:00):
I mean maybe I don't. I don't know. I don't
see them in the conference finals, but you know I wouldn't.
It wouldn't be the end of the world if they
got there. But no, they're not spread to beat the Warriors,
all right, Bruce, Sorry, Hey, thank you for giving me
ten minutes out of your busy Saturday morning. I know
you and Mark Willard today, what four to eight Pacific
are just one to Pacific? Okay, So you guys will

(01:57:22):
obviously talk about the Lakers Mavericks game that's starting early,
and uh, I'm do come on, it's lots of dog
all right, have a good weekend, and by the way,
I gotta plug Bussard's podcast in the zone. It's doing
monster traffic numbers for Fox and it's all because I'm
debating him on there and I'm just destroying him on

(01:57:44):
his own. You're my heavy bag, You're my punching bag.
I got a new nickname for you, saying because you're
you're a punching bagh. Alright, sorry, I have a good
show today. Take it easy, alright, brother, alright, Chris bru sorry,
good good dude knows his NBA and he's fun, but
we love to chop it up, all right. Coming up next,
we're gonna close the show. More a Lonzo stats for

(01:58:07):
you from a Lonzo's Biggest Fan nick right. That's next
to you by Progressive Insurance, creators of the Name your
Price tool. Choose from a range of coverage options and
pick the price that works for you. Visit Progressive dot
com today. Back here on the Big Lead. Fox Sports Radio.
Always fun when you can rattle a cage of Cris Brussard,

(01:58:29):
number one CALVS fan out of Ohio. You got he's
covered the NBA for a long time. He's tight with
Maverick Carter and that whole gang of Lebron people, or
as Phil Jackson referred to them, as a posse. But
NBA's getting hot, it's getting fun. And I'm telling you, man,
these next six months leading into free agency, and that's

(01:58:51):
one thing the NFL doesn't totally have that the NFL
could use, is the the potential for movement in free agency. Now,
this of course is a potentially good offseason for the NFL.
Kirk Cousins could be on the move. My guy Kirka
like KRK Cousins a lot. Alex Smith likely going to

(01:59:12):
be on the move. Don't like him as much. By
the way, if you're wondering that the Alex Smith chatter
that I'm hearing is Arizona, not necessarily Cleveland. But again,
so it's gonna be a decent NFL offseason. Now the
NFL Draft. You know, I'm going heavy on the NFL Draft.
I don't know whether all the listeners out there, and
I got some tweets there are people in Vancouver and

(01:59:34):
England listening to the show. I don't know if everybody
likes the NFL Draft as much as I do, but
I know it clicks on the big lead a lot.
So I'm assuming fans are into it. It's gonna be
a good one. A lot of quarterbacks. Um, well, let
let me come back to NFL in a second. But
Nick has some pretty incredible Lonzo Ball stats. He would
like to hit you with, so Nick fire away. Yeah,

(01:59:55):
I don't know about you, Jason um all that Twitter
activity with Lonzo Ball as a bust but silent lately.
How about your timeline anyway? Everyone out there who thinks
he's gonna be a bust, it's over all right. He's
not going to be a bust. So check this out
right now, Alonzo Ball. He has more cists than Damian Lillard,
Kyle Lowry, Kemba Walker, more rebounds than Katie Porzingis, Carmelo

(02:00:17):
Anthony and Jimmy Butler who stop stop us up? More
rebounds per game or just for the season, for the
season so far, so, more blocks in Jokich, more steals
in Wall, Kyrie Draymond, Marcus Smart, and a higher pr
than Darren Fox. I mean, big shock. He stinks and
so far and right it is over his last eleven
games he shot shooting from three. It's coming from Jordan's
Schultz at short. Let me back, do you ever? Fox

(02:00:40):
does a stink. He's in Sacramento, Like you know, I mean,
if Alonzo were in Sacramento, he's sucked too. Um okay,
but Lilke is one of the worst shooting teams in
the league. Do you know how much higher his assists
would be right now if you had shooters. I feel
like the Lakers were quick fix magic. If you're listening,
call me. I know what the I know what you're
doing with k CP. I get the Julius Randall stuff.
I've got some ideas. I'm available. I'll float them on

(02:01:02):
the radio, or if you want to talk about them privately,
you know how to get at me. Um. But there
are some good fixes for this Lakers team in the
off season. Um yeah. Anyways, all right, so let's let's
quickly wrap up on NFL. So what what would you
guys say? Is the number one for the TV viewing experience?
The number one conference championship matchups? Well, no, I'm saying

(02:01:28):
for next weekend. So if I believe, I believe that
the TV networks want Vikings Eagles. Actually, because the Falcons
do not have a rabid fan base. Last year, the
lead into the Super Bowl was so boring. There was
no storylines. So I think Eagles Vikings or what one
TV network wants. I think the other one obviously, Steelers

(02:01:49):
Patriots part you know, part two this season. But um,
there's no doubt about it. If Jacksonville finds its way in,
that's gonna be brutal for the TV networks. It's just
that's a fact. Um. And if somehow the Titans get
in there, holy heck, that would be awful. Um. So
it's been a fun show, obviously. I will be back
next week here. Uh, we'll break down NFL. It's sad

(02:02:13):
that we won't talk anymore college football. I do like
that talking college football. But we will get into heavy NBA.
Maybe a dollarp of college basketball. Thank you, Isaac Nick,
rob Iowa, Sam, great show. The podcast will be up.
Hit me on Twitter, I G Facebook. I'm out.

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