The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

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Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: College Basketball Front and Center not in a good way. Yesterday seventeen former college basketball players listed as defendants in an indictment. Fifteen of the players participated in the twenty twenty three, twenty four or twenty twenty four to twenty five seasons. And if you have actually played this season and you start to look at the numbers being thrown around of the amount of money bet on some of these games, betting amounts four hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars for North Carolina A and T to lose against thousand, four hundred and twenty four thousand on Ken State to cover the first half spread against Buffalo, two hundred seventy five thousand for Southern miss to not cover a first half spread against South Alabama. Two hundred and fifty six thousand dollars for Robert Morris to flop in the first half of a game against Northern Kentucky. Now, there's a couple things to think about here. These are smaller schools. You're gonna get nil, but not as much as you think a lot of these schools still they do pay nil. But also you're going to do this with a first half cover. It's easier to pull something off like this of not playing well in the first half and then you play hard in the second half. You've already covered the bet, you're going to get paid. But the fact that you had this amount of money, I'm surprised that these games weren't flagged. Our good buddy, Matt Norlander, CBS Sports has been covering this. These are big numbers, Matt. How did somebody not notice this when they were actually happening.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: Well, this has been investigated for more than a year. I actually expected this story. I was told that the FEDS wanted to try and get the story out before Christmas, but they had the processes. We finally got this lot out of the bag in a public forum on Thursday.

00:01:56
Speaker 4: And if you notice the games.

00:01:57
Speaker 3: That are affected, and you can go to cbsports dot com at bottom of that story, I've got every game that was affected.

00:02:02
Speaker 4: It started.

00:02:02
Speaker 3: The whole thing starts in twenty twenty two with Antonio Blakeney, a former five star prospect, played at LSU, had a cup of coffee with the Bulls, and now he's playing in China, averaging more than thirty points a game, and then a couple of central bad actors there got involved with him to throw some games. They purportedly allegedly got away with that for a little while, and then they thought, let's head back to the States and see if we can get some low level college players who aren't making huge anil deals to toss some first half lines or affect some game outcomes. And the list of those games it begins February seventeenth with twenty twenty four and then the most recent one in this specific case is January eleven, twenty twenty five. So I think, Dan, to your question, I think that they had a line on this. The NSUBA has also a number of players that were charged in this. They've already been found out, named in banned from the NSUBAA for life. But it's the grand scope of this. Now it's twenty nine games that were affected in the scheme of things. It's a very very low number among all divisional games that are played. And we're talking New Orleans versus Lamar, Robert Morris, Northern Kentucky, Fordham, Ducaine. But there are I know what the shirt Polly's gone on right now, there are a few DePaul former DePaul players that were caught with this. That's the only Power Conference program that's affiliated with this. But still twenty nine is twenty nine way too many. This is a huge, huge deal. It's a huge story. And for anyone that sees the story and thinks, all right, I never watched tu Lane play East Carolina, Like, what do I care about a compin state South Carolina state game?

00:03:26
Speaker 4: Remember?

00:03:27
Speaker 3: Major League Baseball had this issue with its pictures. We saw what happened with the huge case Jhontay Porter, the separate case Terry Rogier, Chauncey Billips, with the illegal gambling ring. So this is pervasive throughout sports. This one right here though, as it pertains to all of the games affected DAN, this really stands to be the most widespread game fixing scandal in the history of college sports.

00:03:48
Speaker 2: And yeah, they caught this or this was brought to light, but you wonder the number of games that have not been flagged and people got away with this. But once are they betting it? Are these bets legal?

00:04:02
Speaker 5: Like?

00:04:02
Speaker 2: Are they offshore account? Because if I see four twenty four four fifty eight North Carolina A and T to lose against thousand, Yeah, so I am.

00:04:12
Speaker 4: Not someone who is logging onto the phone and logging bets. That's just not what I do.

00:04:16
Speaker 3: But my understanding obviously is that if you have an individual game with an individual better that is going to bet that amount, and almost every single legal online sportsback, they're going to flag that immediately and take it off the board. What they were trying to do here was have a network, literally a criminal conspiracy to log these bets. Hope they didn't get flagged, they obviously did. There's not just the sports books that did this, there's third party watchdogs that work with the sportsbooks, that work with the NCAA that we're tracking this. My understanding also is that you know this was a criminal investigation, they don't want to tip it off too early. They want to get all the evidence they can get so that they can bring charges against twenty six people that came down, many of them former players in general. But yes, this was all done or mostly done in person, at sportsbooks online, at a variety of different sports books, and this is just what we have here. There are still talking to some sources both this week and back in the fall. There are still believed to be some other former players that could still be up for some real trouble here, but this was this was the big story out of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. And now, you know, we wait to see how it advances and if all the twenty six charged wind up going to prison. The potential prison times vary by person. But every you mentioned this before, four players in college basketball, or I should say we're in college basketball played within the past week, Simeon Coddle at Kennesaw State.

00:05:40
Speaker 4: I know most of your audience isn't gonna know who that is.

00:05:42
Speaker 5: He was.

00:05:42
Speaker 3: He's one of the best mid major players in America. So there is a little bit of a shock value there that you even had guys who had allegedly participated in this in the previous seasons still playing as recently as early this week. Obviously, all of those players.

00:05:54
Speaker 4: Now have been suspended.

00:05:55
Speaker 3: Has he been arrested, he has been charged. There is no been a release that he has specifically been arrested. There have been some arrests made, but the charges come down, the indictment has come down, is not specifically been revealed. If Coddle and some of the other current players have been arrested and we're done with prop bets in college, correct, you would hope. So I'm so glad you brought that up, Dan, because that is the other part of this. So Charlie Baker has been pushing to end prop.

00:06:20
Speaker 2: Bets much the president of the NA.

00:06:23
Speaker 4: I've heard you talk about this on your show as well.

00:06:26
Speaker 3: He wants to get rid of it, not just so that players can't be tempted to affect their own prop bet lines and be induced to do game manipulation. As you well know, also college basketball players, college football players, they are the subject of severe, severe online harassment out in public in their dms. And eliminating prop bets at the collegiate level, which needs to be done by Congress. The NCAA is waiting on Congress to basically fix all of its issues timeline, and that very much remains to be seen. But that is the hope and that is the goal. But as you well know, even if we do get to that point in twenty six, in twenty seven and twenty eight, and prop bets are no longer a thing in the legal gambling laps that are out there, it still isn't going to prevent the idea of someone you know, getting compromised and someone going to someone and say, hey, because these players well paid ten thousand, twenty thousand, one thousand, sometimes thirty thousand dollars just to say, hey, make sure that your team doesn't cover that first half eleven and a half points spread so that prop bets can't solve. But it's kind of a six and one half dozen. And the other Dan, the fact that gambling and all these ads and all these apps out there, it's just everywhere. So the fact that it is it makes the watchdogging and the flagging of it easier to catch. But you can also make the argument that it makes it that much more likely that it is just since it is so pervasive in the culture, that it is that much easier to find a player or two or in this case, dozens to participate in a scheme like this, because it's becoming more and more just an accepted part of the culture. And it's why that Supreme Court case that got basically flipped seven eight years ago was such a massive one as it pertains to our industry.

00:08:03
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on short notice, Matt, have a great weekend.

00:08:06
Speaker 4: Appreciate you, Dan, Thank you.

00:08:07
Speaker 2: Matt Noorlander, CBS Senior Writer, Analysts podcast host.

00:08:12
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube and you can be a part of it. Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio, hit that subscribe button and smash that notification bell and catch all the videos from your favorite shows.

00:08:35
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00:08:36
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00:08:47
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00:08:52
Speaker 2: He's Christopher mad Dog Russo you can listen to him on Serious XM channel eighty two. You also see him usually on Wednesdays on First Take with Steven A. Smith. Let me start with the Dodgers Dog. Good morning, Dan, Good morning, Good morning Dog. Dodgers decide they need another big ticket item here, Kyle Tucker going there to the Dodgers. Your reaction is.

00:09:18
Speaker 6: Well, it's terrible for baseball. I'll start there.

00:09:20
Speaker 7: I mean, how many guys, you're gonna have them signed Diaz, And I'm not saying for the Dodgers, it's it makes some sense. They probably needed in an outfielder. They had some issues as a closer last year, so there comes Daz. But this is this is ridiculous. Their payroll last year with insurance was over five hundred million dollars and now they had two guys in one's making what eighty million or seventy million and Daz and he's making sixty million and an average salary in Ducker. I mean, the Dodgers theoretically aren't doing anything wrong. They're playing by the rules, but the rules have to change. I mean, this is getting to be a joke. I mean, and I this is going to in a lot of ways. You can make an argument this helps Manford with the lockout discussions and the contract.

00:10:02
Speaker 6: With the CBA for next year, which.

00:10:04
Speaker 7: Obviously concludes I think on December first, it's right after the season, and this is now going to be a major sticking point these owners. Is a hundred Now, how am I supposed to compete when the Dodgers And again, the Dodgers don't do anything wrong with the rules, stick and you know, they gave Otany all that money, but it's all deferred, so he's making basically ten million dollars a year, so they can defer it, which it gives them the best player in baseball at an incredibly low price, which means they can do anything they want. And everybody else did the same exact thing. Play in LA winning team, great organization, good weather have a chance to be in the World Series every year. Who wouldn't defer all the money? The problem is it doesn't work as far as the basis of the sport is concerned, because half these teams can't compete. Why would anybody think they can win the NL West next year with the Dodgers? And who cares what the Dodgers do between April first and October first? You know, once the postseason starts, at the team to beat. Last year, they had a bad year for them. They won nineties something games? Were they when ninety five games? And they still won the World Series. So it makes the regular season obsolete for LA because they're gonna make the playoffs. Then they have the best players. So once they get into the playoffs, despite the impredictability of baseball postseason, they got a hell of a chance to win. You can't tell me it's good for the sport that the Dodgers, who have won two championships, been in the playoffs, what fifteen sixteen years in a row in the last five years, gave Feenland twenty five million of Yamamoto, gave Sasaki two hundred million dollars, gave Otani a fortune, and now they give Tucker a fortune and Diaz a fortune. That's not good for the sport, and the overall riding theme of it good for la bad from baseball.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: If you include deferred payments, the guaranteed salary for the Dodgers this upcoming season is two point one billion dollars.

00:11:49
Speaker 6: Wow, that's amazing. Good job, Dane. I don't even know that. I mean, how are the Pirates supposed to compete with that?

00:11:54
Speaker 7: I mean, how are the Coils and the Guardians and the Reds and the White Socks.

00:12:01
Speaker 6: I mean, how are they supposed to compete with that?

00:12:02
Speaker 2: Baseball Once then well you got Tampa Bay.

00:12:05
Speaker 6: They solved the problem. How they solved the problem is gonna be hard.

00:12:08
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay's seventy million, yeah, Miami seventy six million. The White Sox one hundred and two, Saint Louis one O two, Washington won twenty, Cleveland won thirty one, Minnesota one hundred and fifty four million. So these include deferred payments, guaranteed salaries. But I don't know how you could get everybody on the same page with this. Chris Players Association's gonna fight it. They want these contracts. I mean, I don't know if these owners, I don't know what you can do.

00:12:37
Speaker 6: I agree with you.

00:12:37
Speaker 7: I mean, ever, let's also say this the guy who what was the Players Association of Scott Boris. It's not Tony Clark, it's not Bruce Weber. Weber might negotiate it. It's it's Boris. They were doing anything without Boris's approval. And Boris is an unbelievable good agent who last time I had this major fight, everybody on the executive board were Boris clients.

00:12:57
Speaker 6: I think they had five or six and they were all boards.

00:13:00
Speaker 7: He got Matt Shurz, who on the phone callin Boris to see if he agrees with what they're doing.

00:13:05
Speaker 6: In March.

00:13:06
Speaker 7: The whole thing is that, listen, baseball. This is what Hill kills baseball. It's great in the postseason, because you never know, the best team doesn't always win. But as far as the regular season is concerned, it's gotten to a situation where it becomes obsolete because you know, certain teams are just going to be in a postseason barring it's a catastrophe in one of those teams. Now you know the Yankees and you know teams like that, and one of those teams definitely now is LA And it's bad for the sport. You know, a lot of fans are gonna be annoyed, and I don't know what you do to solve it.

00:13:34
Speaker 6: You're right.

00:13:35
Speaker 7: You know, Manford's done a great job because he's been a commission that has not lost a regular season game since he was involved with negotiating these contracts in the mid nineties.

00:13:45
Speaker 6: So he has that on his legacy. So you know, he's not.

00:13:48
Speaker 7: Gonna want to lose games next year. But he's also in a situation where he's gotta do something. So we shall see.

00:13:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, because with the NFL, you can go from worse to first. We've seen those success stories and do that.

00:14:00
Speaker 6: You can't do that here.

00:14:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the NBA, we've seen success stories.

00:14:03
Speaker 6: They had to pick Look at the Spurs.

00:14:06
Speaker 2: Different champion what the last five or six years. So you go into a season, you give the NFL gives you hope. Absolutely, it gives you. Carolina Panthers fans at the beginning of the year, you're probably thinking, Okay, we're in a bad division. Can can we win this division? And the answer is yes. You look at the Bears. You know where they were where they are. I mean you could have the rise and the fall Detroit up then down. So to say to these teams, you're going to have an opportunity to at least compete for a playoff berth, I mean, that's what you want as a fan. You want hope. Now there's certain franchises where you go, no, we expect to be in in the NBA, want you want hope. You want to go, Hey, I believe in the team and I'll continue to go out and support it. You know, if you're a Pittsburgh Pirate fan, you go out one day, you go to see your pitcher, that's probably it. It's a great ballpark, but you know how many times are you going to see those games? But if you're playing in big games, now, all of a sudden, you're buying it. You know, the Reds make the playoffs. Now you're you're going out to watch a season, not just a couple of games.

00:15:19
Speaker 6: Watch the Dodgers get Schooble too.

00:15:21
Speaker 2: I brought that up this morning. I go, that's who I thought that they were going to be getting somehow, Someway and he's gonna.

00:15:28
Speaker 7: Leave and you know this arbitration issue with him. Yeah, it's a major problem. I mean, last year the Bears didn't make the playoffs. This year they're in a divisional round. You made a good point of our Carolina. They won the division, they get a home playoff camp. You know, Denver last year barely made the playoffs. Now the under the one seed Seattle last year didn't make the playoffs. Now to the one seed, you have so many advantages from that standpoint. Was it normally six in and six out in the NFL, six teams every year, and you know that they you know, have a short schedule. Now you need the quarterback. Without the quarterback, you're not gonna win. But you ways to get the quarterback. You can draft one. You can be bad at the right time. You know, perty was the last pick in the draft they found in right. I mean, you can get the QBAM Josh Allen wasn't the first pick you can get Knicks wasn't the first pick. You can get the quarterback by Little Lucky somehow, a free agent, a trade, well you know Donald, I mean he was a trade Seattle they won.

00:16:21
Speaker 6: You can get the quarterback.

00:16:23
Speaker 7: In the NBA, you got to get the great player, you know when Byama, you know, David Robinson, Duncan. You got to get that great player, the transformational player. There are ways to do it, but you got to get that player. But it doesn't have anything to do with money. I mean, you know, it might have something to do with the markets. But Sacramento was good for a long time. This Furst won some championships, so the small market can win. And in baseball, it's really about three or four teams and that's the and that's the Unfortunately, think about baseball.

00:16:52
Speaker 6: It's got a great playoff system. The playoff system last three weeks. It's done.

00:16:56
Speaker 7: It's not a slugout four month process where they played best the sevens where you know who's gonna win beforehand, like the NBA might have. You know, it's the games are unpredictable because there's no guarantee the best team's gonna win, So that makes it fun too. You know, the Great Baseball game, As you know, Dan, you're a great baseball fan, Game seven Toronto on Dodgers.

00:17:17
Speaker 6: How great a game was that? You know, it gives you incredible trauma.

00:17:21
Speaker 7: But the problem is is baseball has become over the long period of time too much dominated by the big market teams. And I don't know how you solve that problem. I really don't.

00:17:31
Speaker 6: Without a strike, without a strike.

00:17:32
Speaker 2: He's Christopher mad Dog Russo, host of mad Dog Unleashed on Serious XM Channel eighty two and also you'll see him on First Take. What's holding up John Harbaugh and the Giants.

00:17:44
Speaker 6: Hasn't an officially signed it yet? Yeah, I don't know.

00:17:46
Speaker 7: I don't have the answer for you on that. Maybe the money for the assistant coaches. This is the move the Giants had to make. This is gonna happen.

00:17:52
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, I don't think it's gonna fall apart. Harbor and Mara, I guess really had a great sit down. They had a great dinner a couple of nights ago. And the Giants need him.

00:18:01
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, they've gone the assistant route, whether it's you know Dable Judge, you know Ben McAdoo. It just it's been a disaster. They have to bring an established coach. Harball is a good coach. I mean, he's not a great coach yet got a chance to be, you know, hall of fame. I wouldn't say Harball is a Hall of Fame coach by my standards, I wouldn't say he's a Hall.

00:18:24
Speaker 6: Of Fame coach.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: Is Tomlin?

00:18:27
Speaker 6: You know he's gonna be in the Hall of Fame. They're gonna make it.

00:18:30
Speaker 7: But by you and I standards, do I consider Tomlin right.

00:18:34
Speaker 6: This second a Hall of Fame coach? I don't, now that's me.

00:18:40
Speaker 7: Now, he's gonna make it because they vote, you know, they vote six candidates a year, and you know they Coriel made it. He never won a championship, kwras anyone won Super Bowl, so he's he's gonna get in. But obviously Marve Levey he's made it. He's got one hundred and forty three wins and four Super Bowl losses.

00:19:00
Speaker 6: You know, George Allen's in. He never won a thing. So they're gonna make it.

00:19:03
Speaker 7: But do I consider it Tom and her Harbor myself, as a football fan, a great all time coach.

00:19:09
Speaker 5: No, I don't know.

00:19:10
Speaker 7: When I think of the great all time coaches, I'm thinking Paul Brown, Belichick, Lombardi, Gibbs, Welsh, A Walsh, Parcels. You know, I'm thinking along nose lines of you know, that establishment group, Shoe Lit Landry, those kind of guys. And I don't think that myself, that Tom and her Harbor are on that level myself. But I'm a small room guy. You're a small room guy. A lot of people put all these coaches in. I mean, Bill Coward to me is not a Hall of Fame coach, very good coach. Do I consider him a Hall of Fame coach?

00:19:45
Speaker 6: Two Super Bowls?

00:19:46
Speaker 7: He's one and one Hall of Fame where Wow, he's a great coach.

00:19:50
Speaker 6: I don't consider him that. But he's in the Hall of Fame.

00:19:53
Speaker 7: So they put a lot of guys in who I wouldn't put in, and Tom and Harbor are sort of on a very good category right now, uh and Halbar and Tom will have a chance to get to that next level. I mean, you think Dungee's a great coach, very good? Is he great in your eyes?

00:20:10
Speaker 2: Then?

00:20:10
Speaker 6: Is Tony Dungee a Hall of Fame coach?

00:20:12
Speaker 2: Well, he was also a great defensive coordinator as well. That Tampa team that he had that Gruden came in, you know, Tony Tony was helped in building that.

00:20:23
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think he's an interesting case. Do you think you think George Allen's Hall of Fame coach? No, he's in the Hall of Fame.

00:20:30
Speaker 2: I know.

00:20:31
Speaker 6: You think Pete Carroll's going to make the Hall of Fame?

00:20:33
Speaker 2: Yes, you do? Yeah?

00:20:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, wow, I'm not sure especially answer now.

00:20:41
Speaker 2: It is the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so they're not factoring in USC Yeah, I do forget us, but I'm guessing. See, I think the thing is is you're trying to compare today's coaches with yesteryear, and that's it's hard to do that and come up with a Hall of Fame coach. Because these guys were established, they didn't have to worry, you know, about all these other things that today's coach has to deal with, getting to two Super Bowls? Like Sean Payton. Is Sean Payton a Hall of Fame coach?

00:21:11
Speaker 6: He's been in one Super Bowl?

00:21:12
Speaker 2: Not yet, He's probably going in. Is Mike McCarthy Hall of Fame coach. No, he's got the same resume as Sean Payton.

00:21:22
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't put Peyton in though.

00:21:26
Speaker 7: Again I'm a small room guy. I want greatness. I don't do I think Sean Payton's.

00:21:31
Speaker 6: A great coach. He's very good. Great Parcels is a great coach. Jibs is a great coach. Three super Bowls, three different quarterbacks. Phil Walsh, that's a great football coach.

00:21:44
Speaker 2: Brown.

00:21:45
Speaker 6: Those are the sort of guys who.

00:21:46
Speaker 2: Has more pressure, either player or team the most pressure this weekend in the NFL.

00:21:53
Speaker 7: Uh not San Francisco, Seattle, Buffalo so banged up. And I heard your thought with Josh Allen. He's great anyway, I probably you know it's weird. I might say Stafford with the Rams. You can't say there's any pressure on Houston. You can't say there's any pressure on the Patriots. The Bears are a young team. You can't use them. San Francisco. Somehow we're in this spots Seattle, you know, maybe Sam Donald, Maybe Donald because he needs to go out there and you know, sort of undue last year, or he didn't play very well in the postseason. I don't look at Denver young quarterback Alan. I think he's accomplished plenty anyway. I know people bring Alan up because there's no MA homes in Burrow and Jackson. I still think Alan's got plenty of time to win a Super Bowl. I think this is an important you know, the Rams had a great year and then they kind of stole. They were not great last weekend. I think there's some pressure on End and I think there's a lot. I think there's some pressure on Sam Donald.

00:22:55
Speaker 6: You know, in a weird way.

00:22:56
Speaker 7: You brought up an interesting question because I don't know if there's a clear cut wow, he's got a win.

00:23:01
Speaker 6: You know, I don't know if the you know, if.

00:23:03
Speaker 7: For Moore was in this spot, i'd say three to five in the postseason, maybe i'd put him in that category. I don't know if I have anybody right now in the last eighth in that category where they know that they have to win.

00:23:16
Speaker 6: I don't know if I have that right now.

00:23:18
Speaker 2: Good to chat with you, go the best. Glad you're feeling better.

00:23:22
Speaker 6: Thank you, Pat. You had a rough week. Hickups, nickups, never get them, never get them.

00:23:27
Speaker 7: Wait, you had the hiccups, which led to some issues and I was in bad shake for about fifteen hours. If I had a missed first take after Division Round, you know it was Have a good weekend. You're too peeky.

00:23:41
Speaker 2: Thank you. That's Christopher mad Dog Russo.

00:23:44
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.

00:23:56
Speaker 2: He's Christophe Simms, Pro Football Talk Live co host and you'll find him on Football Night in America. They got the Bears and the Rams. Festivities started six eastern on NBC and Peacon. Good to see you again. Give me the team or the player with the most pressure this weekend.

00:24:15
Speaker 5: Oh well, I think, you know, team wise, that's a good player. I still think we're probably on the Josh Allen conversation just because of the course. Yeah, I know, Burrow not being in there, Lamar, Patrick Mahomes. Everybody thinks that. As I've told you before, and we discussed I think the last time on we're looking at the modern day John Elway. He's one of the greatest quarterbacks we've ever seen play the sport. He's yet to get to a Super Bowl. I think he feels that pressure. I think you could see that on his face last weekend, right, So that would be one.

00:24:49
Speaker 2: Right.

00:24:49
Speaker 5: The other guy I would say is CJ Stroud. I mean CJ Stroud last week? How could there not be pressure? Everybody's gonna be looking at him. That's the Houston Texans defense is like the twenty thirteen seed Hawks or the twenty fifteen Broncos or the two thousand Ravens. They're the best unit left in this playoffs. And the way that he played, I mean I was yelling at the screen, going just kneel on the ball, Texan, kneel on it and you'll win fourteen to three. Just don't do anything again, right, So we're gonna be watching him for sure, And you know, I think after that, the team I probably look out to have the most pressure would be the Denver Broncos. Honestly, Denver just being at home expectations ooh, the first big time home playoff game and we're a number one seed in the Sean Payton era and bo Nick's first home playoff game, so this is unchartered territories for them. I would think that would be the team i'd probably pick under the most pressure.

00:25:42
Speaker 2: No Sam Darnold on the list.

00:25:43
Speaker 5: Huh, well, there's that for sure, Yes, everybody. I felt like that was almost too obvious. We know Sam Donald, He's gonna be the guy we look at. I'm a big believer in the Seattle Seahawks. I will be shocked if they lose the football game on Saturday night. I think they are in another class from this San Francisco forty nine ers. Their roster, their defense is just a tick below the Houston Texans. I think they're a team on the rise. I hope he's healthy, but yeah, we'll be watching him. That's an obvious one.

00:26:10
Speaker 2: Give me the game that could be a blowout of all the four games.

00:26:15
Speaker 5: You know what, if you had to make me choose one game that I think it could be a blowout, I think it would be the Seattle Seahawks forty nine er football game. That would be the one. You know, I'm amazed that the forty nine ers are there. You know, I'm friends with Shanahan and I just think this is maybe his greatest coaching job ever. When you just talk about everything that's happened, the injuries, right, all of that, the defense, they're just decimated. They got destroyed in that Week eighteen matchup. I mean, I don't need to say much. You saw Shanahan at halftime. He was like, I'm just glad we're down by ten points, right, because I think he was like we should be down twenty twenty four. So I do look at that and go Do I think Seattle can slow down the Shanahan offense? Yes, of course I do. And Seattle was so close on offense the kind of blowing them out of the water in Week eighteen. I think that if there's one that'll be the game.

00:27:04
Speaker 2: Help us understand what Kyle Shanahan does for his quarterback in the huddle and then well they cut that off with what fifteen seconds to go? But sure, what exactly is he saying to Brock Purdy and you know, as he gets ready to call the player go to the line of scrimmage?

00:27:21
Speaker 5: I don't think he says much to him, and that from my understanding, right, I think they've already been wired as a robat during the week to kind of know, hey, when I call this you, he makes it simple for them when I call this.

00:27:31
Speaker 2: Oh, so it's not in game as much as it is prior to that leading guyer too.

00:27:36
Speaker 5: Right, he's already come into the game plan. Go and listen, I'm gonna call this play with this play in the huddle too. So you got to figure out and just look at this guy. If he goes this way, check to the other play. If he goes to this way, you know, stay with the play we got called. But he's an ultimate what I always kind of the phrase I use as code cracker, Right, Shanahan is rare and rare in the history of NFL football, And I would say Bill Belichick could do this the other way around. Shanahan's dad could probably do it as well. He could be a defensive coordinator. He understands the defensive rules every bit as much as any defensive coach in the sport. And that's what he does. So when he gets in film, get into film during the week and starts to go, okay, what do they do when I play this formation in that formation? He tries to find something to go all right, all right, all right, I know they're going to kind of be in this one defense or maybe this other defense, and now I'm going to devise a few plays off of it that are if I can get him in this one defense. It's gonna challenge some rules of some of the guys in this coverage, right, And as long as he can figure out, okay, you're gonna be in this, he now can kind of teach his receivers and maybe a play action pass to go, Wait, this guy's got this rule, and if we do this to him, it kind of blows up his rules and now he's in trouble and they can't stop it. So I know that's a long way to say that. It's a deep conversation, but I hope that answered the question pretty well.

00:28:58
Speaker 2: Weather is perhaps going to play a role in the Bears game. Right, Who is affected aside from the quarterback? Yeah, who's going to be affected the most with this weather?

00:29:10
Speaker 5: Well, I think it's you know, the ones I go to after that are running backs, right, running backs, I think just because it is so pulled the contact, the ball does become slick. So anybody carrying the football, I think is the next guy you look at. We know, you know, playing in the cold, it's a different ballgame, and when you get hit it hurts a little bit more and everything's a little older and drier and slicker and all that. But you know, I think that's what you look at after that. You know, it depends if the field gets frozen, then you can start to look at DB's and receivers and can they keep their feet. But as far as the quarterbacks, like you mentioned, I'm not worried about either one of those quarterbacks. I mean they are they can throw the ball through anything, right, those are these are two of the greatest arms in the sport, right up there with Josh Allen in that category right where you know, they can throw spirals, they can cut it right through the win and still throw it, make power throws, and I don't think it will be affected too much.

00:30:03
Speaker 2: On Sunday night, Sam Darnold with an oblique injury, explain to us how that would affect him.

00:30:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's just I've had it. It's an annoying injury for a quarterback.

00:30:13
Speaker 2: Think about it.

00:30:13
Speaker 5: When you're throwing a lot of like right, your golf swing, anything like that baseball swing, you're swinging and you're trying to create that torque between the lower and upper half of your body, right, And that's what great throwers do. You see Josh Allen, he's like this sometimes and then he lets it go. Well, that muscle there. Your oblique is what's letting you rope paid out of it. And when your arm is disconnected as well and you have a longer lever, it really can pull on there. And I'm telling you it's something that I had before, and it bothered me for weeks. And the first week had happened. I mean I couldn't throw a football for the first seven or ten days I had it. Hmm okay, yeah, So I'm going to be interested to see what he's got there, right, You know, the guy at LSU, nuss Meyer, he had it this year and it really affected his play. That is not an easy injury to deal with. And I'll certainly be looking at Donald early in that football game to see where he's at with that.

00:31:04
Speaker 2: Dante Moore going back to Oregon, Yeah, Boomersiasin said that the Jets benefited because they probably would have taken Dante Moore and Dante Moore is not ready to play, which is an interesting perspective on that. But who benefited the most of Dante Moore going back to Oregon, Dante Moore or Ty Simpson of Alabama?

00:31:28
Speaker 5: Oh well, I think ty Simpson here just in you know, as far as right now, because now he's automatically. I think Hugh Bee too. I haven't studied Trinidad Chambliss yet. I know he's damn good and he's exciting. But I think the NFL is little hesitant on the smaller quarterback between Kyler Tua Rice Young, right, So that's something that I'm interested to dive into. But I think Ty Simpson and I'll say this, Dan, I agree with Dante Moore. I think that was the right decision. He's got the talent to be the number one pick in the draft. He has all that, but you know, I'd like to see him let his body mature a little bit more. I think he can become a little bit of a better leader and show some better, you know, body language during the game as well. His talent jumps off the screen. But yeah, playing those reps, you know how important that is. I'm glad he's going back.

00:32:16
Speaker 2: You're a New York Giants family. What did the family think of John Harbaugh.

00:32:21
Speaker 5: Dodgy Man, I mean, we loved it. This is something I've been banging the table really since the end of November. I knew in the summer that Harbaugh and this could happen I had said it on my podcast with Florio All that it was very aware that this was a possibility with Harball and the Ravens knowing some people in the situation, so I was not surprised that happened when it did happen. And I've been kind of since the end of November, like man, Tomlin or Harball. We want Tomliner, Harbaugh. Of course it's Harbaugh. I think he fits the Giant way. I really do, right tough. He has a little bit of a demeanor like a Bill Parcell's a Tom Kofflin. He's going to know how to talk to the media. And I think his core beliefs are poor Giant beliefs, I said yesterday. Like when I was growing up or even playing in the NFL, the one thing about the Giants was always, oh my gosh, look at the Giants walk on the field.

00:33:13
Speaker 2: Holy cow, how big are they?

00:33:15
Speaker 5: Right?

00:33:15
Speaker 2: They were always the look team.

00:33:17
Speaker 5: Well, they got a huge tight end, huge tackles, big defensive tackles, pass rushers, all of that. They've gotten away from that hardball as we know in Baltimore, they've made it a yearly acquisition of pillaging. The biggest, baddest mofos on the planet to get on their football team, and that's the Giant way. So I'm excited about that too. And the Giants got a good nucleus that's young that he can grow and really build something here in New York.

00:33:40
Speaker 2: He's Chris Sims Pro Football Talk Live co host his podcast Unbuttoned, and you can see him on Football Night in America. It'll be the Bears in the Rams on Sunday they started six Eastern. How much have you watched the Fernando Mendoza, Oh a lot I have.

00:33:54
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, being a Big ten team doing NBC Big Ten College Saturdays. Right that I saw him, I'm very impressed with Fernande and Doze.

00:34:03
Speaker 2: I really am.

00:34:03
Speaker 5: I mean his throwing is he's a machine throwing the football. When he talked about power, accuracy, right, all the different types of throws. He's a better athlete that he gets credit for, right, So all of that. Yeah, really impressed. Am I blown out away with him like I've been other guys. I'm not gonna lie to you and say yes, no, I mean, you know, is he like Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. When I saw them coming out, or even C. J. Stroud, who I really thought was special coming out as well. I don't know if I feel that way about him, but he's certainly worthy of being the number one pick and the first quarterback off the board.

00:34:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, as a source said to me, there's nothing he does great, But there's nothing that he does wrong that he he just he knows what he's doing. He does he does that to play. I don't know if that's the best description for the number one overall pick, but he we always look for flaws, you know, that guy's throwing motion, or he got away with you know, some bad habits in college. He doesn't anticipate, he doesn't you know, line of scrimmage, process, all of those things. It feels like he has all of those things exactly. But I said, would you take would you sign up if I said he's going to be Joe Flacco?

00:35:15
Speaker 5: I would sign up for that.

00:35:16
Speaker 2: Of course. Yes.

00:35:17
Speaker 5: I think Joe Flacco is one of the underrated quarterbacks of all time, right, haven't seen that in person and how big he is and how he throws the football. And then of course again I think like Mendoza, sneaky underrated athleticism to move in the pockets, scramble when something was there. Yeah, I've signed up for Joe Flacco right now if I were an NFL football team. But I know what you're saying, right, he is a slam dunk right machine throwing the football. But am I wowed buy him sometimes? Am I wowed buy his backyard ability to do stuff like that that we know is so important in the NFL. Now, No, I'm not, But NFL coaches are going to like him for all the reasons you explained, Dan. He knows how to read coverage, he knows how to make the appropriate, appropriate throws, he knows how to anticipate, he can in the pocket and do all that, And especially a coach that knows, hey, we got a good offensive coordinator and a good system, and we need a guy that can run this system.

00:36:09
Speaker 7: Right.

00:36:09
Speaker 5: That's where he's really gonna you know, benefit, and they're gonna like him a lot.

00:36:13
Speaker 2: What's the next best opening in the NFL?

00:36:16
Speaker 5: Oh, well, I think the Atlanta won Atlanta or Tennessee after the or and then the Ravens, of course, I mean the Ravens. You know, it's it's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. So you got that right there, and of course a lot of pieces. So I look at that and go, that's one of them. The Falcons are definitely one of them, right with that offensive line. You know, they got Drake London, they got some young defensive talent. And then the Tennessee Titans are the other one I look at because they do have an offensive line, they got one of the best defensive tackles in football, and you got the quarterback.

00:36:46
Speaker 2: To me, those are the top ones available right now. Yeah, but you got to give me at least three years in Tennessee probably, but you know, you know how it is.

00:36:54
Speaker 5: You know, you probably would have said maybe the Patriots need two years or the Bears need two years, right, all right, So you get the right coach in there, with that new coach bump of energy and then also having a new way of how they're coaching and playing, the team's going, Wait, I don't you know, we got to we need a year to figure out the schematics of what this guy does. And then they got money to spend on top of that, and could really I think they're gonna have the most money out of anybody in salary cap in this offseason. You know, they could certainly turn it around to where at least they're a pain in the butt in the AFC next year.

00:37:24
Speaker 2: Have a great weekend as always, thanks for joining us. Chris, Hey always man, you the man sell those jerks. I said Hi, all right, hey jerks, he says, Hi, Chris Sims Pro Football Talk Live co host, and he'll be there with the Bears and the Rams.