This Week on Fox Football Sunday
Mike Harmon, Bucky Brooks, and Andy Furman bring you in-depth analysis of NFL Conference Championship Sunday! The trio breaks down the NFL coaching carousel and examines the Cowboys' decision to move forward with Brian Schottenheimer after parting ways with Mike McCarthy.
Next, they dive into the NFL Conference Championship matchups, featuring the Bills vs. the Chiefs and the Eagles vs. the Commanders.
Don’t miss all this and more on this week’s episode of Fox Football Sunday!
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio RADO.
Oh it is a championship Sunday beyond jacked up. Yes, it's way early on the West Coast. My throat feels like someone is running me through gravel right now. But you know what they tell me. That's sexy. They tell me that's the way you want to wake up on a Sunday morning. So for two hours, just sit back and luxuriate in the way that I speak and articulate. We've got a special guest star that's gonna join us on the show momentarily. But I can't do it alone. I'm Mike Carmen alongside me, a legend in broadcasting, a man who's cv runs a long way, a man with opinions, a man who's run many a promotion. You want him on your side, it's Andy Furman.
Well, thank you, thank you very much.
Over there, we got Bucky Brooks. He wins bottom barrel betting with some regularity. I mean, I gotta say what I hear. He writes for Fox Sports dot Com NFL dot Com. You see his face. He's a coach, a mentor, prognosticator, does a podcast. His partner just released a mock draft. So I was like a little kid and I got that squeal going. But we've got to start with a special guests because you know, as I'm flying up the four h five freeway, I heard you guys. You know it's football and you're fired up trying to find the diamond in the rough, which we'll do again here a little bit new audience, new participant in me for these championship games. But I heard a little bit of Baseball Hall of Fame chatter and standing for one Carlos Beltran. Yeah, so America, welcome our special guest star. That people is a trash can. It kept him from getting a job with the Mets. He was the only guy named and called out for the cheating scandal that played baseball. Oh wait, it didn't because Rob Manford said, there's a giant rug over there, sweep it under there. Nobody goes in that quarter of the office. So to be consistent, Carlos Beltran should be buying a ticket with the rest of the guys labeled as cheater, as there's far more evidence, hard evidence that he cheated the game of baseball than a lot of guys that had been left out.
Well that's the reason why he's not in the Hall of Fame.
Well, but he's got seventy percent of the vote. He shouldn't be anywhere near that.
Because the Johnny cum lately voters don't remember that that was twenty seventeen to twenty ninety. Well, the old guys are gone, the new guys are coming in now.
Rob Parker's still putting in his vote. I told him, let next year. He's screwed because he only voted for CC in ECHI row next year. There's not a single guy that should be a first time time Hall of Famer. So if suddenly he votes Beltran and he gets over, I will never let him hear the end of it. In these hallways, I'll be wearing a Beltron mask every day, jeez, as well as I'll be sending Beltron masks to all the other voters.
The gas mask.
That's it. Got to give him the gas face. Go back to third base back in the day. You like that. There's a random reference from rap Royalty back in the day. But fellas, it's so good to be with you here. We've already got some Women's English Premier League up on the TV. We've got all sorts of highlights and breakdowns of Bills and Chiefs, and we're so lucky to get another one of these. And it started well, and I don't know how many people watched, right, ratings are down and miserable. I split screen it with Saturday Night's main event, because well, I'm a wrestling nerd. But we got the twenty fifth regular season game between Lebron and Steph Curry yesterday, and we're getting towards the end of him right right now, Lebron after yesterday's win, ten point win, he's up thirteen to twelve. How about that? Are we seeing him in the finals again?
No?
I mean Steph Curry with four and a half minutes left in the first half, actually missed a free throw. Guys, that's one of those. I'll remember where I was. I was sitting on my couch having a beautiful cup of coffee and eating some salted caramel pudding from the PhD weight loss thing I'm working with, and it was glorious and my kid looked at me like I was nuts, because then Steph Curry went oh for eight in the second half as they lose by ten. But we don't get many of these anymore so as much as there's a lot of hate watching that may go on today. You know, we got bad Blood, which was a great song from Taylor Swift that had an all star cast including Bill's quarterback Josh Allen's fiance Hailey Steinfeld. Oh yeah, we're getting it on later on today. See, I got backstories. I wove it, I wove rich tapestry this morning on one, I.
Got a backstory for you, all right? Can I go back?
Because I'm not a tremendous fan of Carlos Beltrent, but I think if you guys got the numbers, I think you should be in there for those aren't familiar with that. Only five players in history of four hundred home runs of three hundred steals.
Hey, hey, hey, I did not take.
Oh okay, However, here's the addendum to this story.
Gaylord Perry threw spitballs after the pitch was outlud. Why do Ford scuff baseballs with his wedding ring to gain advantage of the batters?
Haink Greenberg, my guy.
Haink Greenberg even admitted by participating in a sophisticated sign stealing operation that helped the Tigers win the pennant back in nineteen forty.
Take them all out. Andy, I'm just saying, ay more more sophisticated, and we take it maybe more seriously, and we go back to the origins right where you had a dozen people not vote for Babe Ruth because they hated him. The guys that didn't like Ty Cobb didn't vote for him. We know about Jackie and Hank Aaron and all of those things.
I mean, but it doesn't bode well for Pete rose Was. I think Pete should get into the Hall of Fame. But if Belcha's not getting in because did a garbage can deal, Pete will naviget it.
Now sign the piece of paper that, unfortunately is wasn't able to be rescinded before Paul Giamatti's dad passed away.
But let me leave you with this. You know, we talked about baseball.
We just brought it up because I thought it was buried with beneath the football news that was.
Really we did probably two hours on it that day.
Well, Well, I thought I told this that the buck. I said, I think Major League Baseball should announce the new inductees of the Hall of Fame at this ceremony in July because to have the announcement come out in the middle of January. Doing NFL playoffs is ridiculous. You always gonna get pushed back.
Oh, but you're trying to find something on the calendar, right, You're trying to pop your head up, and unfortunately every year you're not going to have a bunch of stars. The euro thing got a lot of run because you had the you know, the witch hent to find out who that one guy was, right, and everybody that wanted to fight exactly everybody that wanted to fight about Billy Wagner, Right, is he shoulding to get in? Should he not? Right? He gets in on the tenth tenth ballot? And you know, that's a whole other kettle of fish for another time. We'll do that over drinks cigars in chaos at a eight shrack to be named in podcasts the hell out of it. But it's just the idea of, yeah, you're trying to find a way, right. That was the college football playoffs Bucky Man Monday night, January twentieth, Martin Luther King Junior Day, full day of NBA action to commemorate it, Inauguration Day, and there's the college football playoffs that end basically like an NHL or NBA playoffs three months later.
I know, I mean, so which is the bigger events? A lot the inauguration?
You know what I mean?
Well, I mean depends on how invested you are. Right. For some folks, they've they've run and hid from politics in any way, shape and form. Certainly in California, everybody wants to hear what folks have to say coming out of the fires. And we got rain over the last couple of days, which adds some other element of danger and surprise to it. All right, because now we're talking about you know, the landslide, obligatory Fleetwood Mac reference, I'll bring you down. So you got all of that going. So all of that to say, we are we have made it tochampionship Sunday. And I'm very invested in this because I picked the Bills and Eagles before the season, and I need to be right. I didn't believe in the Lions. Now I have to because well the Bears have their wonder boy, or at least that's what I'm told fellas, that's where we have to go. But as we get to this game, right, the appreciation slash hate watching of Patrick Mahomes. I know you guys touched on this a little bit, you know, And I think it's the globe as a whole. It's not just confined to sports, because we certainly do it with Hollywood. Oh here's this guy again. Just go away, will you? Why is this guy in another movie? Why you know all of this? Or a woman that has four or five releases, not to say that they hadn't been filmed over five years. Someone was now bankable. So it gets pushed to the front. But it happens in all of the things that we watch voyeuristically that at some point you become that villain, right stealing from Batman in the dark Knight, Right, you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. And Patrick Mahomes playing games Look, it's great gamesmanship. I thought we liked the villains. I thought we were all anti hero I just celebrated seventeen years of breaking bad guys, aren't we in the anti heroes movies?
Still are?
We move it on, Andy, I like a good villain.
Part of the problem is not the villain as much as just we're tired of seeing the same faces. And I'll tell you something, I think a lot of the problem is also they're tired of seeing Taylor Swift every time they watch these games with the Kansas City Chiefs. They could take a shot up to the private box where she's sitting.
It doesn't bother me, I promise you.
But there are people that's, oh Taylor Swift again, you know, the football junkies.
They didn't want to see that. That's the deal.
Can I walk door to door and give him all hugs, Bucky? Because she accounts for about thirty seconds of a three and a half hour presentation.
I mean it, it's so rediculo all the it, right, so all of it when it comes to that, like people are wanting, like, here's the thing, like we talked about in the country, right, we say we appreciate greatness and excellence in those things, but as soon as we encounter that, we hate on it. We hate Tom Brady, we hate the Patriots when they were good.
We now hate the kan City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes and everyone arounds him, annoys.
Us, Travis Kelce and his girlfriend, Like we don't like the Swifties.
And all of that.
And we claim that we love an underdog, but guess what underdog stories don't do well for us because we say we like it and then we see him on the big stage and then it's never what we want it to be. It is rare that the Rocky ball Boys story comes to life.
It just doesn't happen.
And so to me, I respect that the Kancity Chiefs have been able to consistently win and win and win because it's so hard to do. It's so hard to dominate time after time after time, and they've been able to do it.
So hats off to them. Hope they continue.
Well, you appreciate the winning buck we do, but you know why we don't. Don't do but not for a long time. You win, that's good, move on, move on. We don't want to see They don't want dynasties.
That's the problem, is it, because like everything else we do, watching winners all right, term limits.
I like that, Well, turn limits on winning. Can't win too much because then it's not fair to everybody.
You're right now, This year, I would have to say the Detroit Lions were almost like America's team. Everybody's pulling for the Detroit Lions.
They lost.
They would have loved it if they would have won. This year, they would have went to the Super Bowl and won, and next year they'd be kind of threatened to win again. Then it's like, oh, okay, you've been there, done that. Let's look at somebody else.
Football guys, got the man.
What we're saying, Listen to what we're saying. In a way, we're saying we.
Want we wanted to be nice and equitable that everyone has an opportunity to win the trophy.
That's how you have to set up.
No, but we're not talking about what the league wants. We're talking about what the people want with.
The people on that, which is crazy, like, no, we should respect winners and uh, if guys and teams are able to win and win consistently, we should respect and applot that tell your team to do better.
I get tweets regularly whenever we get down the Chiefs Highway Smith and I and certainly on this show at Swollen Dome, at Andy Furman FSR, at Bucky Brooks. You want to get in at Fox Sports Radio all along the way, it's the you hate us because you ain't us right, It's the go figure out how to play within the margins. Because the one thing that the Chiefs don't do just like the Bills all year long. Right, I heard you, Bucky. You brought up the turnover differential. It's something we've highlighted on the show a lot because that is winning football. Win the trenches, don't turn the ball over. That's it, that is winning football. I'll take my consultant fee and I literally had to do two minutes of work before grabbing a sandwich, a coke and walking out the door. That's it. And so many teams. How often do we come on this show on Sundays or we're on during the week and we're talking about bad coaching decisions, clock management, stupid penalties, bad just bad coaching decisions, personnel or whatever the case may be. Play calls, fourth down, aggressiveness, whatever. Chiefs don't do that. They're buttoned up and they play within the margins. So it's like those old Patriots, and we've made this comparison before that you got to go and take it from them because if it's late, if it's late, they're gonna come and steal your girlfriend. That's it.
It's done, and you have to say that the Bills are going to take it from them. Today.
You picked Buffalo, right, Yeah, I did before the year, and I want to know why you would pick that. Was it because you just hated Kansas City winning so much? No hat to No, No, not at all, not at all, because Diggs. I thought I thought they were finished. Really there was a big loss for them. Well, obviously they didn't work out, though.
Some of it goes down to an age old rule in our show of We Don't Really Stand on chalk right. Coming into the year, a lot of questions on Philly we love the roster right, and that they'd get back to form. And this is where I get into my Saquon Barkley, Eric Henry, and Josh Jacob's arguments for folks, they were already really good playoff teams. I'll drop my microphone and walk off there. But it's the idea that we got to come off the pack and everybody jumped on board the Jets, so that was overweighted. I didn't believe that that was gonna work. So in division, man, the Dolphins are what they are. Didn't expect that Tua would get through his season, and once again he didn't, And then the Patriots were in complete rebuild mode. Like the quarterback, A couple of good component parts, but overall a disaster. And you know, then we get into the argument of did you get done wrong with a one and done scenario and now podcasters claiming that Vrabel had the job as early as the first week of December, So a little bit of dirty pool and then you know, stuff swirling behind the scenes that we'll see if it fleshes itself out. But looking at Josh Allen and what he's been figuring Cook would be better. They drafted keon Coleman. Should they have drafted Worthy and not done that? T sure, but Coleman's come up a couple times big. You got the tight ends. And defensively, I think Bucky you called them the blue collar lunch pail guys, and that's what they do. They get after it. They remind me, in some ways, without the big personalities and a Super Bowl shuffle, of the way the Bears played all those years ago, or more specifically maybe the year that they went with Rex Grossman. And obviously they have a much better quarterback than Rex Grossman, but just that idea that your defense is opportunistic, you don't give up things in the margins. So yeah, and I went off the pace and I took them.
You know, it's funny because in a way, these teams are very similar.
We don't want to acknowledge it, but the Kansaity Chiefs are Floyd maywork Weather.
Right, everyone wanted Floyd Mayweather to go and knock people out. But the version of the Chiefs that we're seeing is the one that wins on points, and we grow frustrated in seeing them win because it's not the pizazz the sizzle that we once saw them exhibit when they had Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelcey was younger and those things. Much like pretty boy Floyd before it became money made Weather. That's what Kansas City is, whereas the Buffalo Bills are a.
Fighter that they gonna win on points. They're gonna win with the jaff.
They really don't have knockout power, so they just wait for you to falter and then they're the ultimate counterpuncture. Well, today we get a chance to see these teams and the biggest fight that we'll see. And the first go round, Kansas City was still doing their regular season things since that game though, they were going very conservative on offense. They don't turn it over. They wait for the other team to implode and then they win a variety of ways, block field goal, pump return, whatever it takes, they win. I just wonder do the Buffalo Bills have enough offense to be able to score points to force Kansas City out of that shell game that they're playing. And I just don't know if they can get it done because talent normally matters in the postseason. And when you look at their offense, is Josh Allen and the who? Because I don't know who else is going to tell and do it, but that's what it is.
He's going to have to be Superman for them to win.
I disagree a little bit what you're saying. I tell you why.
Yeah, I think that the general public would like to see Kansas City lose, not because they're dominating, not because they've had.
Some sort of a mini streak going on the third straight Super Bowl. Perhaps.
I think they want them to lose, but they think they're getting aided by the officials. That's why this whole story never would have come up. Yeah, we don't root for the villain, and I think every sport needs a villain. Every sport needs an individual villain and a team villain. The Yankees for years with villains, Okay, the Montreal Canadians, the Boston Celtics, people came to see them lose because they dominated, but they always respected the fact that they were that good. That's why they rooted against them. They want the home team to beat that team. But with the Kansas City Chiefs, they think everybody thinks to have a crutch, and the crutch of the officiating, and honestly, it's almost gotten out of control, it really has.
With the officiating garbage.
Well, that narrative certainly took off. And look it goes back to you again. We'd all love our teams to be able to play within those margins. A little bit of jealousy, a little bit of consistency. How you spend the money. Right out here in Los Angeles, we've been calling even before showhand Tani showed up in the Los Angeles, we were already calling them the new evil Empire Smith and I. And look what they've done since you know what you don't like it tell your team to spend some money, you know, putting up a big graft about how you're gonna reduce your concessions price. That's not it. That's it. That's not it. It's you know what we call math, It's math. Hey, the under is hit ten and ten and three to the under with Cleayton Blakeman and his refereeing crew in playoff games all time. But I think you'll enjoy this one, fellas, since the refereeing has been the hot topic on the side and what are we gonna get? They were tied for the most penalty flags thrown in twenty twenty four with two hundred and fifty two. Craig Rollstad and their crew, Blakeman and their crew two hundred and fifty two. Next tour Bird at two thirty five. Then you got a couple of two thirty one, and then it starts to drop off precipitously.
And then jeeves the league offensive holding penalties.
Yeah.
See, everyone thinks that the fix is in, like the league is orchestrating this this stuff.
It's not.
It's everyone is emotional. Everyone's in their feelings because they can't beat them. Look, the only way that I can equate being a Carolina fan, Carolina basketball fan, the Chiefs are like Duke. Right when Duke is really good in their heyday, there's this sense that Duke going all the way back, like JJ Reddick, they always got the calls right whenever it was tight. It just appears that the officials like will give a call and it would be something different. But what really happens is they're good and we're just sitting there hanging on to this notion that the referees are cheating for them, as opposed to really acknowledging their greatness and not being able to appreciate how good they are or whatever it is they're doing to win.
How foolish does it even think the referees would be cheating for them? You know, I've heard stories this week saying that, well, the league is dictating to the officials to make sure Kansas City gets in the finals in the Super Bowl. Come on, really get a life, please, because it all goes back to gambling. I'm telling you a lot of it goes back to the gambling.
Right now. It's out of control.
Well, but that's just it, right. You get a bunch of cacophony of voices when a guy runs out of the back of the end zone in the final seconds of a game for a safety. You get because depending on where you got in on the line, plenty of people still won right that button. You know you look at the land.
Happened last night University of sits down.
He was playing Brigham Young in basketball, okay, and they lost by thirty. Guy and Brigham Young at the b puts up a three pointer. All right, he made it. The coach apologized to the Cincinnati coach why he did it. The good news is for the fans, they got, like Jimmy Johns free his sandwiches after the game because they got a certain amount of points. Maybe that's why he's in it. I don't know why he did it, but maybe there was a point spurre on the guy. I don't look, I didn't see the spread between Brigham Young and you.
See last night now, But now you got me interested.
Okay, But why would a guy take a three at the buzzer and he made it?
Was he a guy that normally doesn't play then he wants to show up in a box?
Could be right.
It's like running your fifth, fifth string running back. You can walk off the field. You don't walk off the field before the buzzer sounds. I'm scoring on your ass.
All that happened years ago when when Cincinnati I went to the game with May he rest in peace. Joe Paterna when Penn State played Cincinnatian football way back when and they beat him sixty two nothing, and there was like a lot of complaints that why did you run up the score? And Joe p said, look, I didn't run up the score. I had my third third stringers in there, and they want to show me what they could do because they have a play wow rings in there in the second quarter.
Right nowadays, I mean, there's a lot of money on the line, right, you get to be seen. Maybe you can enter the n I L sweepstake something. We're talking about a lot Ohio State. How many guys might suddenly jump in the portal because there's a giant check waiting for him. Jeremiah Smith, Right, I mean Ryan Day and is painted beard already complaining, Hey, they're coming from my guys. What do you do? Of course they're coming for your guys.
We don't we don't think. We don't think the beard is is natural.
We don't think that.
I think it's the old commercial with Walt Frasier and Keith Nanz looks, so we think it was it was that Greece.
Is that what it was? What was that that old commercial. Is that what it is?
They still do it? Still see doing that?
Oh no, I'm sure he does.
Yeah, I mean, let's see what a commercial?
What's that commercial? Just for men?
Just for men?
I mean, Brian her Lockham. You go to Chicago, There's there's billboards everywhere with his new had a hair guy played bald for years and then all of a sudden, there he is with a muppet on his head. What a good for him?
Keep warm?
Well, you look at Chicago you want to? I mean, it got down really cold the last few days. As we continue coaching Carousel and one Hall of Famer, you would expected to be out spoken. Our guys shape put in some overtime to bleep him out. We'll talk about his frustrations as we continue. We're broadcasting live from the tyrack dot Com studios, tire rack dot Com. Well up you get there, an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road has a protection over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirac dot Com. The way tire buying should be. I'm Mike Carmen. Those are the legends, Andy Furman, Bucky Brooks. Get him on the Twitter verse. As we continue with the conversation, more than me, just nodding in approval like a like a little kid looking up to his heroes. We'll do that next on Fox.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Rado, Hey.
Welcome back in Fox Sports radios. Fox Football's only a couple more. Fox Football Sundays, three games remaining. As a tear runs down my face, Hey. Shortly after the show, the podcast goes up. If you miss Danny it Today's show, Shay's gonna get it up. Search Fox Sports a Radio, Fox Sports Weekends, Fox Football Sunday with Furman Brooks Harmon. If you miss any of it. Wherever you get your podcast, be sure to follow, rate, review it, evangelize, send it to friends and neighbors. So people are always celebrating National Pie Day or something else. So it's just a gift alongside with you know, a peace. By search Fox Sports Radio where you get the podcasts, you'll see this show posted right after we get off the air. Gentlemen, A wild woolye week in the coaching carousel. Some of the hires seem like they were done three months ago. That national title game between Ohio State and Notre Dame seems like it was done a month ago. There's just been so much information and weaving all the way through, whether it's the Hall of Fame, whether it's you know, the nil talk, and then obviously leading up to these champmionship games, but the coaching carousel ran am uck, and on Friday we got what you would call in the business a news dump. Yes it was expected, but there's one Hall of Fame receiver that certainly was not happy about it.
Two NFC East teams in NFC Championship Game being played tomorrow, our eyes on the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders, our enemies on all fronts, and a hole in a position that we haven't held in thirty years.
Yeah, the longest drought by any NFC East team, any NFC team period, thirty years.
We're losing ground on this NFC right Well, don't we know who's going to be in the NFC Championship game. We haven't been there in thirty years.
Let me just break down what.
That means to be, because when people said he said, O hum ohum o hum, but no ohumd that that's thirty damn years.
Forty years is a generation.
We got thirty years right here right now. It was critical mass.
It was time to bring somebody in that to shape things up and.
Grab this last leg off Cowboy's nature.
Now the question becomes who would be that coach? Obviously Brian Schottenheimer gets the job. They fixed the glitch, whatever you believe about the end days of Mike McCarthy. They played hard, down the stretch, won some games, did some things. You got continuity. He was an analyst before he became the offensive coordinator. So some of that makes sense for Shottenheimer, But we get these old narratives for Jerry Jones that pop up once again. Fellas. I was curious for our nationwide audience that may have missed your conversations on this a little bit earlier. Andy, what do you think should they have made a bigger splash or should Jerry Jones have hired Michael That was his voice.
Well, I don't think you can make a bigger slash.
I don't know what Marty Miles, Marty Shott, what Brian Schott namerged one in the NFL to create a bigger splash. What has he done. I don't think it's a major difference or anything. I don't think you're bettering yourself without Mike McCarthy. I like Mike McCarthy. He's got a better track record. I think he'd get the job done. He had injuries, he had Dak Prescott on the shelf. I think it was a foolish move and I don't know why it was done. I know he was internal because he was on the offensive side of the football. But still, in all I don't see any change. I don't think he's going to elevate that team to another level.
I just don't. He's not a Kyle Shanahan offensive guy.
Well, I don't know about all of that in terms of like the play calling those things, because being a head coach has a little to do it being a play caller.
But I will say he said it to any of his.
Dad, who was one of only eight coaches with two hundred wins, if he learned anything from Marty Schottenheimer in terms of playing Marty ball, which is we've talked about the two teams that are remaining in the AFC, how they take care of the ball, they don't turn it over, they are opportunistic on the defensive side of the ball, and it's led to wins. If he does the same thing in Dallas, he's going to win. Really, it's not about making these sizzle plays.
In those things.
It's doing the ordinary things exceptionally well and it's making the fewest mistakes to win games. That's what his dad preached, and I'm sure Brian understands that. And just because then, I'll use Mike Rabel as an example. Mike Rabel was a middle of the road defensive coordinator for Houston Texans when he got the job the head job for the Tennessee Titans, and at the time it was kind of crazy, like, man, he wasn't even great as a coordinator, but he ended up becoming a really good head coach. I think Brian Schottenheimer has the potential to be able to do that.
He understands what it's supposed to look like.
He's been around great coaches throughout his time as a NFL assistant. He has plenty of experience twenty four years on the sideline at the NFL level, fourteen of those coordinator, I think he understands how to get it, and more importantly, his relationship with the higher ups, their collaboration, their chemistry, their ability to work together, gives him an opportunity to be successful. So I wouldn't dismiss the idea of him being successful, even though it's not the sexy pick that bren Downson was with the Chicago Bears.
I hear what you say, but is it a better move than getting rid of Mike McCarthy. Would it be better off keeping McCarthy.
I mean, it's fine, but like, let's be real, and I love Mike McCarthy. I think you did a really good job winning twelve games three straight years, but people are judged on your playoff success, right, So there's all this future all that goes to Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, not because he hasn't had a losing season, but because they haven't won a playoff game.
It's happened with the Caliboy now.
Yeah, and so for the Cowboys, they haven't won playoff games. And so if you're Brian Schottenheimer and if you're able to just win a playoff game in advance to the next round, you're better than your predecessor. Can he do that? Dak Prescott to come there. They have a good relationship. He was in Seattle with Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll.
He saw how it's done there.
I wouldn't dismiss it. And just because you don't win the sizzle of the press conference doesn't mean that you won't be a good coach. Look at Dan Cambell and how we laughed and stick it when he talked about kneecaps and ankles and biting and all that other crazy stuff.
He spewed out his first.
Press Well, look at one of the guys up there today, Coach Bucky, I mean Dan Quinn. The last time before he became a head coach for Washington, he got run off the field by the Green Bay Packers that gave up a one fifty eight point three rating. And now he's a head coach. They've gotten a culture together. How about you guys enjoying the stories about Dan Snyder being you know, really kicked off.
I love it, Oh, I love it.
And there's a couple of guys. Former executive Jason Wright go Katz. He was at a bar last week. He immediately posted avocate we were building and to see this like tears in his eyes, like there's just that pride. I was hearing from my friends who had been Washington fans for as long as I've known him and been in this business, you know, showing me pictures of them when they were six years old, wearing their old monk jerseys and all of those things.
But who doesn't want to Who doesn't want an operation to fail? Once you get fired, it's normal. Look, I'm not a fan of Dance Snightder. I didn't like the fact that he was hesitant about changing the name of the Redskins. I think it was the wrong thing to do. They eventually did it. But the point is that he was honest in the sense that, hey, look you got rid of me. That the heck would I to see the team go down the tubes? That's the way it is. And I mentioned this to Bucky Doug Peterson was fired as Koja Jacksonville. You don't think he wants to see that team lose? Now, of course he does. He don't never say it. That's why credit Dance Snyder. He went public and said it.
I mean, I appreciate it. I appreciate him saying it. Like we all are kind of bitter, Like you never want to feel like you were a disposable part.
Of the operation.
We all like to have enough self esteem to think that we're very valuable commodities and Dan Snyder is sitting here looking like, Man, I cannot believe after all these years, they decide now that they're going to be a winning team.
Right and after.
Penny pinching and doing all the other stuff that he did, and they're notorious for being huge penny pinchers, the Commanders are good.
And it's sad.
One of the researchers that I work with at NFL Network, I guess he was born in ninety three. He said, I've never seen my team be a good team. This is the first time in my lifetime. And I'm looking at him, like, what are you talking about? Like the Redskins used to dominate, but I forgot they haven't been a dominant team since the nineties. The Cowboys there, yeah, yeah, so it's more of a Folsey the only And I'm gonna say this, and I know, like when we talk about the previous logo and nickname of the Commanders is politically incorrect, but to me, there is something about them being good and watching I would say the Cousin uniforms, right, because they're trying to wear the gold pant, the gold pant, the yellow pants and all that. But I'm just like, there's a part of me just like, can we just go back? Like, can we just go back to the old UNI. We can change the logo so the headdress and stuff is not there, but instead of dancing with it, can we just go all the way back to what it used to look like? Because to me, that's that's the part of Washington that I miss. I missed him singing the chance httr, I miss all of it.
Good John.
I know we can't wax weet it or whatever, and I know that we've evolved in those things, but there's a part of me that wishes they connect with the old fan base because those things, to me, are so nostalgic and traditionish.
Yeah, let me go back to the country situation today, because you talk about like a bucket board of the fact that Mike Tomin's getting some heat right now on a playoff game. You know that's great when the fan base is so demanding. I live in the Cincinnati area. They haven't made the playoffs in two years, and it's ho hum. No one cares. No one cares, the fans care. All right, what did the ownership do? They fired Louis Anarumo, the defensive coordinator, and the press cover.
Yeah, Travis Kelcey on his podcast had a lot of big four letter words and Jeron's that he wanted to get on that because that's kind of where I want to go as we go. Did we find a savior for a team? My team in this? And I also want to since you brought up the Bengals, Andy, I want to talk about the worst term in sports hashtag bad words at Swollen Dome, at Andy Furman FSR, at Bucky Brooks. We'll tell you what that's all about next here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, welcome back in Fox Sports Radio, Fox Football Sunday, Andy Furman, Bucky Brooks and me Mike Carmon. As we continue, guys, very excited right in Chicago. And they might as well have a ticker tape parade for Ben Johnson. Already ain't all the right things in the media. You got Caleb Williams dressing like he's an neo in the matrix, all of these things. It's now too big to fail in Chicago. They tell me, Andy, tell me why this is the change.
I think they think he's an offensive genius and they got the quarterback of the future.
So let's see what happens over there.
But look, I think it's great when they have a coach or they make a hire that gets the community and the fan base excited.
That's important. It really is.
To some extent that may be more important than actually winning when the season starts, because you want people with to buy tickets and get all excited, to get hyped up. The media gets hyped up. So I think that's the name of the game right there. That's what they did.
Yeah, I mean they certainly went out to win. The presser right, sure, this is a date and those things and all of that stuff.
And he came in and look, he was a.
Rousing success, right, energized the building immediately.
He talked about coach and what we got to do to serve the players.
Even took a jab at the Green Bay Packers, which I would say is not a wise one, because now you've given them fodder, so there'd be a lot of energy. And we'll hear the press or the introductory press conference quotes again when they play the Packers. But look, on the surface, it looks great. But I'll say this and I'll say this about it every time. We never know how good a head coach is. Going to be until he is a head coach. Yeah, there's no indicator, So we'll see how he handles it. And with the quarterback, I'll say the same thing Caleb Williams and those things. But what I can tell you about Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson coach is hard and so the feel good unless coach kayleb Williams with a feather, that's not what he's getting. He's getting a hard nosed coach when it comes to the quarterback, and we will see how he responds to that. We'll see in significant if he can get the best performance out of the number one overall pick.
Still, some all those comparisons to Jaden Daniels pushed aside because they got their guy all right now, Bears fans and pundits, you can't complain. This is the guy you stumped for and you used every metric to do. They make the big splash that in thirteen million.
Don't you don't sound really excited about it?
Well, it's infrastructure time, right, It's like and I like the way he talked about it. But you know, as my buddy Todd Furman, who the Bet the Board podcast, joins Jason and I every every week, and he's on with Arnie and playing on Sunday nights wrapping stuff up. He goes he doesn't get to bring on on Ross Saint Brown. He doesn't have a quarterback who's really good at the timing stuff right now like Jared Goff became, and that offensive line doesn't come. So that's that's kind of where I'm at. A lot lot of build you, and I'll continue chopping this up because you've got to make me feel better. That needs a Cubs fan. But we'll move on from that. And yes we are hearing the tire rag dot com studios. I mentioned the term I hate more than anything else in our sporting universe is quote unquote house money. There is no such thing. And Andy Brown up the Cincinnati Bengals as the greatest example. And I've told this story on Fox Sports Radio and in parties and dinners a million times. I remember everybody leaving that Super Bowl against the Rams. It's the era of good times. We're gonna keep running back there every year. House money. No no, no, no, no, you got them fabulous run.
Now.
Ask Dan Marino about house money. Oh, he was only in a second year. Ask Jim Kelly about house money. If we want to go to the Bills or Thurman, Thomas, Andre Reid and all those other guys, even Aaron Rodgers. Right, you got one, yeah, right, Mike Tomlin, Mike McCarthy, John Harbaugh, all these guys, you got one. And that's a long time ago. So the term house money to me is just foolhardy trying to convince yourself that everything going forward you will have no obstacles and you're following down the yellow brick road to Oz where the wizard will actually be your friend.
There's another turn that goes hand in hand with house money. It's culture. And I can't stay in the big list bucket, you know as well as I do. You know they say culture can change the cold. No, get the personnel. I don't care if they don't talk to one another. You've got great players.
That's a hot take. In the final minutes, we need we want to stay on for another fifteen minutes.
We are family in Pittsburgh. Remember that, you know. I don't think cold is that big of a deal.
Start at the field.
They got the job, do your job, Go out there and go your own way.
I don't care.
Wow, that's spicy. Wow. I should have let the show.
Than trash with you guys.
Wow, you're the best. Hey, Andy, who'd you pick for today?
Oh?
It's easy, got the Eagles and the Chiefs.
There you go, rematch and Bucky. We'll talk about it a little more next hour. But for those who may have a change of programming or need to go walk the dog. What do you got?
Oh?
I mean, look, it's gonna be Eagles and Chiefs.
I got the Eagles and the Bills. That's Andy Furman and Andy Firman FSR bug in Bucky and I continue next on. Get those fours up, four teams remaining three games so we crown a champion, and then we'll begin in earnest the road to WrestleMania in Las Vegas. Wait or is that just me? We're broadcasting live from the tirac dot com studios. Ti rack dot com will help you get there on unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, over ten thousand recommended installers. Tyrack dot com The way tire buying should be welcome. In another hour, Fox Football Sunday, Mike Harmon alongside Bucky Brooks with you you read him NFL dot com, Foxsports dot Com you see him his face. Ah, yes, you read him, you hear him on his podcast, all of these things, all the goodness, he's a coach. We were talking at the end of last hour, Bucky. You disagreed very strongly with our guy Andy Furman because he'd threw up culture as a four letter word and dropped his microphone and right out out the door like night.
Yeah.
I think you and everyone else who have been around teams that have not been good would like dispute that at the end of the season. I found it interesting because in a player's league where everyone thinks that the players coach is the one that gets along with the players as opposed to the one that holds them accountable. At the end of the year, I heard Cole Comet and I heard several Bears players talk about we got to fix the culture in the locker room. We got to hold people accountable. We can't have people come in late. We can't have people not practicing to the level that they need to practice so we can play at a higher level.
That's environment.
And so when people talk about culture, it's a group of people who have shared values.
When it comes to their belief system.
And if you don't have that, then how can you ever achieve what you need to achieve because you have to have guys who hold people accountable to a certain standard that has been set. That standard can be set in the established by the coaches or whatever, but it's uphill by the players.
So despite the talent that Andy.
Was alluding to, we can have a great team, we can be superbly, supremely talented, but if everyone isn't operating with the same standard in mind, will never achieve what we could achieve because everyone is not capable of being trusted that they're going to perform at their best when their best is required.
Oh this is where we get teams and we get the surprise like we have today with the Commanders and what dan Quinn was able to install again, you know. And Jason laughs at me all the time, my partner, Jason Smith during the week because remember he was coming out of getting bounced out of Dallas because of what happened with Jordan Love. But immediately it's like, all right, here's the vision, let's go and the Bears. You mentioned Cole Comet, you can go find audio before eber Flues got fired of him. Jalen Johnson and several other team leaders who were already barking up that tree. And then you go and promote Thamas Brown and he did work some wonders right as coordinator with Caleb Williams, they got rid of some of the stuff. Look, I hate that everybody wanted to pin on the Hey, look, he hasn't thrown an interception in forever. It's like, yeah, that also tells me you're not trying to push the ball right, You're not being aggressive in your play calling in structure. But that's for Ben Johnson to now figure out. But all of that to say, you had that, you had that in Miami right with Mike McDaniel, and now you my god, now you get the Tyreek Hill thing where he's like, well, you know, I've always been a winner. I've always been great. I'm paraphrasing quite obviously and giving you the full camera effect here in Hollywood, and you're like, wow, I mean so for me, I mean, I was just frustrated because I'm just so used to being so great, which okay, and that's all find and good, but Mike McDaniel really just calling out the entire locker room. It's like, look in the mirror. You had eighteen weeks to fix that.
I can't. I can't.
I mean, look, I can only find him. I can It's only so much I can do. If they keep being late. What if everyone is late, there's nothing that you can do. I mean, guys are gonna be late. So it's only so much you can do. I can only take so much money out of their pocket or whatever. Well, then if they are perpetually late, at some point you got to let them go. You got to sit them down. That's the only thing that I know that resonates at every level. If you put someone on the bench and take their playing time, that quickly gets their attention. No matter how much money you make, these guys are all the same. If they're not doing what you want them to do, sit them down, the behavior changes. There's a great clip out there Bobby Knight talking about how there is something that the bench does through osmosis to get people to play better. And so if you find that clip, it explains it all. But Bobby Knight says it, and I agree with it. If you don't like what you're getting, you don't like their behavior, sit them down to make the behavior change.
Guys on the edge of their seats, hoping to get their five minutes, steal a little bit of time where maybe they wouldn't in a normal matchup. Same thing, right times, you got to send the strong match message right with Andy, you know, he brings up the Bengals and what they were doing, and obviously I brought up the Super Bowl of the expectations of running back. Well, Zach Taylor's failed them every September, and obviously Joe Burrows had some injury issues. But if you don't play football in September, you can't expect to be able to charge down the field like like a thoroughbread at the Kentucky Derby in December, because then you need a lot of stuff to go your way. Right, horse gets tired, jockey gets you know, frustrated, can't close out, starts to go a little wide because it's tired, all of those things. Like you're banking on everything to go perfectly for you if you give away those games early. So I always get up frustrated. I was like, Ah, it's an early September game. It's like that's finding college football, right, as long as you're within the parameters of a twelve team playoff High Alabama that you're going to get a chance to go play for a title. But in Bros, that's not the way it works.
It doesn't work that way. And you have to continue to work on them when it comes to that part of it, like they need to continue to work on making sure that everyone is on the same page.
You got to hold them accountable.
You got to get that part right before you can even think about the x's and o's. And it's funny because we have seen lesser teams go to the Super Bowl that you being a Bears fan, the team that with Devin Hester and those guys, they were talented, but that was not the most talented team that you've seen come through Chicago.
Oh, everything had to go right, go back to turnovers and the ball bouncing your way, defensive turnovers, Devin Hester setting records. The offense had its moments, right, Thomas Jones and those guys they had, they had their moments. But certainly it wasn't the wizardry around Rex Grossman that got that to work. Sometimes you win lucky, you win ugly.
Yeah, And it was the vibe and the energy right, Like the vibe was right, the players are right, that defense I just remember going to Washington practice early in the year and how Lovey Smith had them running to the ball like mad men, how Pena Tillman was knocking the ball out, and how it was contagious when it came to their defense. Their defense was their best offense, and how they would pick up everything and the expectation wasn't that they were going to turn the ball over.
They talked about scoring every time they got a turnover. It was like a.
Coordinated return team when you receive that Bears team go offensively. They weren't great, right, they did enough, but they that team went to a Super Bowl. There have been teams that are better, more talented than that group that Chicago can't even get to a winning record. And part of that is the culture and the environment, you know, I mean, that's what it is.
And you have to fix that.
And so we'll see if Ben Johnson is able to implement and install a culture that allows those guys to play better. But every athlete, every player that's worth assault, they want structure, discipline, and consistency. They want to know that every day they come in it's going to be the same kind of structure and environment, so they can settle in and do what they need to do to be ready.
Their kids, their kids going to school. Here's my structure, one three, five day, here's the classes I gotta go. Here's when lunch is. And that's what Billy's gonna call me a jerk. I'm gonna, you know, you know, do the little hand gestures like I'm from a mob movie. We're gonna nod our heads and move on with our day. I mean, it's it's structure, it's it's continuity, right, whenever you have something that comes out of the weeds. Right, I can plan to get here early to record a podcast or whatever, but guess what, I'm in Los Angeles. What was a forty minute drive becomes two hours. Sorry, we'll have to do it after the show or tomorrow. I you know, best laid plans and all of those things. But you're trying to have a structure, a continuity, post consistently all of those best practices kind of things that you go through. So I have to ask you out of these hires. We're still waiting on New Orleans to figure out what they're doing. Uh, And I figure you're gonna just give me a thread of like nine thousand things of what really happened with Liam Cohen and everything there in Jacksonville. Who's your favorite higher out of the six?
You know? My favorite high is Pete Carroll going to the Las Vegas Raiders.
And the reason why is I want to see if Pete Carroll is able to do what he did at USC and Seattle, where he being the ultimate culture builder, jumps in there like the pie Piper, sings all this positive songs, you know, throws the ball around while chewing that bubblelicious bubblegum and just trying to get the Raiders going. Because there's some decent players with the Las Vegas Raiders, but what they've missed is what we talked about, the consistency, the structure, the discipline, and even the detail.
And even though Pete Carroll is a little.
Loosey goosey if you compare him to like the Nick Saban and Bill Belichick types, he has had a lot of success doing it his own way. So I want to see if he can get the Raiders to play like the Raiders while having fun and doing all that other stuff that he.
Does within a very structured environment.
So I'm excited about that and I'm also excited about, Like, look, all of these coaching hires can't work.
So if you have six coaching hires, one is going to hit in a major.
Way, Maybe another one or two more may be okay, and then three are gonna feel miserably.
I want to see what Aaron Lynn does.
Going back to New York, going back to where he played, where he was reared and developed under Bill Parcelles and Bill Belichick being there, and I want to see how much of that hard knows stuff he's able to implement there, because knowing Ag personally, I have seen him in an environment where high school kids completely tear them the streds when they did not meet the standard. So I can only imagine when Aaron Rodgers is over there doing his thing, his witchcraft and all this other stuff and his.
Philosophizing on the sideline. Only imagine how long.
That's gonna go over Will before he blows a gasket and tries to get him in line.
Yeah, because I think I think we assume, yeah, as your word's there, I've got to assume that Rogers comes back and they get a placeholder, build the foundation. Kind of year we had Jason Cole on the other day he writes for the thirty third Team and Hall of Fame Voter, a bunch of books, the Lway Books, fantastic. He just raised his hand as Smith was trying to take a victory lap Jets guy, of course, for those unaware. Right after the Bears and Ben Johnson, the next day we get Aaron Glenn. But he just asked, rhetorically, how much different is this other than maybe he's more fiery than Robert Salah in terms of what you're bringing in the CV the history obviously Glenn played, but in terms of temperament and what he's bringing to the table, you know, major differences. That's suddenly gonna make the Jets a contender.
I mean, that is a really good point. I don't know.
I mean I wonder what does change? What does change with all of it? Do they can't? Can can he get him? Can he get him better? Who's gonna be the offensive coach? You know how they're going to do it when it comes to defensively?
Is you gonna call it? Or is you gonna be the CEO type?
All of those things are really interesting to me, really fascinating when it comes to it.
But Jason Cole brings up a good thing.
How is he different than Robert Salad because the gest is some unusual. Normally you go from defensive coach to offensive coach, back to defensive coach, et.
Cetera, et cetera, because you always want the opposite of what you had.
Not that they're the same, but they are the same, two defensive guys that are like fire and brimstone types.
What changes, right, new head men, right, new new territory for them to traverse. Aaron Wilson reporting that the passing game coordinator tight ends coach Nick k of the Rams is the leading candidate to be their offensive coordinator. So if you do bring back Rogers, right, it's well, you're gonna have to shuffle out some of his friends. So get through the moodiness there, and then how much do you take him at his word that the back half of the season was happy because he played some pretty good football at times. Right, They collapsed in the fourth quarter of games, So still some question marks there, but the numbers look good. Top ten in a bunch of categories touchdown to interception ratio. Is there a little bit more mobility? Did he need more time post injury to get back to more of Aaron Rodgers. You have to go and figure out how to Playkate Garrett Wilson, who clearly hated everybody and everything in the final weeks of that season. So that DeVante Adams does he come back, I mean, you've got some personnel questions, you got a new GM that comes in from Denver. All of that to say, you know, last year they won the offseason, everybody got excited, and it was an absolute train wreck. And now we look to the next Pete Carroll higher to me, Bucky is is fun for a million reais because as long as these guys are wandering the sideline him there and Belichick, you know down in North Carolina, you're Alma mater, and you'll go and you know you're gonna get me a bunch of sign pictures and stuff. Thank you. And then the or lebron and Staph that we talked about in now ur one. So long as they're playing, I don't feel so old.
M hm.
I mean, yes, I'm with that, you know what I mean.
And then Andy Reid sixty eight doesn't seem sixty eight. But the question is, now does he color his mustache like Ryan Day?
The Ryan Day thing is fascinating. It's funny like it it is, it is, it is funny.
Well, I mean the guy can coach, right, We established that, and everybody called it the lunatic fringe of potentially getting fired and whatever. It's always the conversation that we have of who are you gonna find that's better. But we've watched with a number of coaches where those the cacophony of voices starts to rise up. Like I said, I do a weekly spot in Baltimore. They didn't lead with the Andrews drop. They led with Harbaugh and then got to Lamar Jackson and eventually got to Mark Andrews. You knew the meat was there for Mark Andrews quite obviously, because as I said during the week, and everyone's like, wow, it's still ninety seconds Josh Allen and blah blah blah, And I'm like, they gave up six points in the second half. Did the Baltimore defense They gave up twenty one in the first half. Seven of them off of the Lamar Jackson gaff gift right defense have played really well. So yeah, would you rather have the two point conversion and fight Josh Allen or say, we don't get it, but you know what, we got a sliver of a chance to collect an on side kick. Oh and then we have to trust Justin Tucker if we can't get a touchdown in those final minutes.
Come on, you're okay with that?
Bad arguments bad?
Yeah, I mean you're okay with what that is going on to be. So it's look, man, it's a tough situation for the poor ravens Lamar Jackson. I actually felt like Lamar Jackson's reaction after the game was almost as if a weight was lifted off his back because it was the first time he really played well in that round. We can talk about the turnovers and those things that he had.
He played really well the second.
Half and in fact, that last drive was everything that you wanted to see that people that talked about can lead him back and whatever.
And so he is.
A drop two point conversion away from I would say a legacy performance.
At least anything to push it over. Yeah.
Yeah, If anything, I think he comes walks away from that with more confidence that, Okay, if I can just settle in, I can do this at a high level in these big games.
You know, it's fun stuff at Bucky Brooks where you find them, read them, NFL, Foxsports dot Com Podcast, everything else. Daniel Jeremiah your partner on the pod. He put up his first first round mock draft. You want to dive into that a little bit, Let's do that as we continue. It's Fox Football Sunday, heading into championship games. Yes, you're with us, Get the uh barbecues and smokers started. If you haven't already, you're behind the eight ball. Let's go. It's Fox Sports Radio. Hey, welcome back in Fox Sports Radio. It's Fox Football Sunday, counting down the hours to kick off. We'll get an update from Isaac Lohencron. We got any injury updates that might affect your wagering or game enjoyment. We'll get into that in a few Mike Carman, Bucky Brooks with you. Hey, football fans in about thirty five minutes from now, Crank it up if you haven't already, because we're here and we're getting you through. Championship Sunday. Fox Sports Radio. Every Sunday morning, ten am Eastern, seven o'clock Pacific, It's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM, Brian no Jeff Schwartz Professional better Bill Krackenberger. They've got you covered. Three hours before kickoff every Sunday morning, listen to Countdown to Kickoff, presided by Bet MGM. Right here, it's Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Thanks to all of our affiliates nationwide, numbering in the hundreds. As you're out and about on a Sunday, we appreciate you being part of the extended family to and from services, watch walking the dog, having a cup of coffee, maybe hitting the snooze button and listening to us a little bit more, whatever the case is. Thank you. We love trying to entertain, inform, sometimes in rage and enrage each other as we go at Bucky Brooks where you find them on Twitter, at Big Play Football Instagram find me over at Swollen Dome in both places. Now I mentioned mock draft season has begun. We've got the Shrine game coming up. Shador Sanders with one of the great quotes of all times, like don't we try to get parents to be involved in their kids' lives and help them along. As people were asking about Dion and the Invisible Hand and whether it's a detriment to him, it's like it's narratives, goes. But isn't that what we always strive for? Isn't that the talking point? I really like the answer for him, as he smiled at the reporter the entire time.
Yeah, I like that, And I would say, like, yeah, Dion is involved. He's very active and as much as he can influence and impact his kids career between the lines, he's done that and it's no different than what every parent would like to do.
That's why we have a bunch of plumbers out there called.
Johnson or Smith and Sons. Yeah, that's what you do. I mean, that's what we do. And people don't like nepotism until they don't like nepotism, I.
Mean, yeah, unless it's helping you.
Yeah, But like we all are tasked with trying to help and elevate our kids to put them in.
A position now.
We want to equip them though with the work ethic that they're competent and that they're able to do the job and do the job exceptionally well. But I feel like the job of the parent is to set the kid up for success, and I think that's.
What Diana is certainly trying to do with both of his kids should do and shoot. It is funny, and Shoulder had a great answer to that.
I am down in Dallas right now to look at East West Rim both practices call the game on Thursday, and I'm disappointed that he's not playing, but I certainly understand, and he came to do what is the important part of the gig now for him, the interviews, to make the people at the top of the board comfortable with him as a potential franchise quarterback. And there's a lot of conversation because he has become the polarizing figure. I've already seen the.
Conversation the father that's out there like, oh, I.
Wouldn't even take him with a first round pick. He's the second rounder. I don't even know if he's.
That Tell me you needed the clicks like a police police officer told to add some extra park tickets on the Thursday.
Yeah, let's calm down when it comes to that. Yeah, there's some flaws in his game and there's not.
A perfect prospect.
But remember everyone wasn't convinced that this year's class was good.
Do you remember the.
Outrage over bow Knicks considered the first round picks A checkdown guy shutting down char smart games. He's old, Michael Pennix. I mean, he's beat up. He's heard all of the conversation. We are now in what I call silly season, because it's about to get silly some of the narratives that we're going to hear about these things. There was a world in which people were already beginning to talk themselves, and they drew all their being maybe the best quarterback prospect of the ones that could be there, drew all of from Penn State who elected to come back.
Conversations. Yeah, those are the conversations.
That we're beginning to have where everyone is trying to one up the other to get more eyeballs on their stuff.
And so it's it's funny.
I'm glad my god, DJ took a swing at his first mock draft. I have you know, Mike, as we were sitting here doing the radio show, I am tentatively outlining my first mom here we go drop this week, and so I'm beginning to have some of those like Okay, here we go, Like let's make sure that we get the names right in the first round, but where can we maybe have some conversation starters.
That's what we'll call them, yeah, you.
Click bake, we will call them conversation starters, to be able to have a conversation.
Well, it's like we this player in those things.
It's like we were talking about with the Hall of Fame stuff, Right, do you start doing the blind resume stuff? Hey, why is this guy in? And this guy can't be considered? And then you put the N pullet back and you put the name up. It's like, oh, yeah, because he was a jerk, or because I didn't like his politics or this or that. I'm obviously the most prescient example is Kurt Shilling. But you go all the way down with all the guys that were suspected ped guys, a couple of guys who've already gotten in, They're like, wow, is the exact opposite of what happened with Sammy Sosa that year that he went away in the off season. These guys went away for three months. And these guys are forty five pounds lighter, are they? Okay? Oh yeah no, it's just a great diet, just great diet.
Yeah, disagreed, disagreed, Just a great diet.
They have terrific nutrition at these places, and so I yeah, I get it.
Hey, as a guy working through my PhD weight loss, Jason and I have been doing it. I'm I'm creeping past a weight I haven't seen in a long time. I'm plunging over the goal line this week, Bucky lean and mean for twenty twenty five.
Look at you lean, mean, fighting machine.
Now we're trying getting it down. Yeah, that way, then I can I can start running. Maybe I get back on a pitch somewhere and run around in these fifty before my knee flies into the fourth row. Of course.
Okay, A be easy with that, because I look, I started the year like that. Yeah, I started the year like you know what, man, I just missed running. I'm gonna go out there and look. Harmony was great until it wasn't. He was great for about two weeks and then my kniece started having the perpetual ache.
That I was like, and this is why I stopped running.
Yep, and swells are bad.
And this is why the achiness, the twenty four hour achingess is why.
Yeah, we're gonna have to go and do the old man walk thing. And we're walking, you know what?
Effective? And you make a lot of friends in your neighborhood although every once in a while they give me garbages I'm walking my dog around because when they see the big studio headphones out, they know I had no desire to talk to anybody. Right If I've got the earbuds in and they can't see, they'll approach if they, you know, think that I'm not wearing all. I think I'm running down the street. Hey how are you?
Men?
Women are everybody that's out and just kind of hanging around down there in Redondo? And then but the big headphone is like, oh serious, look on the face. He's got somewhere he's got to be. I'm yeah, sit in traffic for nearly two hours to go to work. We've had this conversation, all right, So Daniel Jeremiah right off the jump abdual Carter from Penn State, and I love this because that's the Brian Cranston doing the circuit and answering the question from the guy that got funny and said something about the dude's mom and then dropped the microphone. But Edge Rusher Titans, Chad Brinker and I think for a lot of us, and I'm sure you did too. And Daniel even writes it in his blurb saying, hey, we can't pass up on a generational guy. That led me to Carter in my thinking when he said that. But maybe I'm blinded by my big ten allegiance.
I mean, I don't know, I mean generational.
Well, we use that term very flippantly anymore.
We do.
And then we have to determine was he generational in September when we talked about it, Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I heard about him generational, But like now we're in micraft season. Yeah, generational. He's a generational past rusher. He's a great athlete. He certainly is Dad the double sticks that LeVar Arrington made famous, followed by Michael Parsons and others, and so, yeah, look, he's a talented player. He can come off the edge. He has a speed, the athleticism in quickness. You at the top of the board, what you're looking for is someone that you can squint your eyes and see all pro maybe Hall of Fame potential.
It makes sense in that regard.
But we at the top of the board, and we know everyone loves a quarterback, and so are we going to bypass an opportunity to get a quarterback?
And run it back.
With Will Levis, Mason Rudolph or Sam Darnod, we'll just throw that name out there.
Do we feel good about those things? If you're Brian Callahan and his year.
Two and we're seeing how quickly coaches are being dumped, are we okay with a quarterback being one.
Of those guys? Because if we are, then yeah, you can make that move. But we aren't.
And you bypass one of those quarterbacks and one of those quarterbacks turns out to be a Jaden Daniels type, do you survive? That?
Just something to think about.
Well, considering you had a lot of people in December wondering if Callahan was coming back, right, because it is enamor status with Will Levice, who can throw the ball the country mile. He will also throw it.
Yeah, he can do splits evidently based on the commercial he can do splits. And he's great with Mayo and Mayo and and all that.
Yeah.
Yeah, like eccentricity, right, I mean we're radio hosts and media guys.
Yeah, I mean it's great. I love it.
I love I love having that as a as a story to tell when we talk about But Will.
Right as you're looking at this and you're getting ready for the shrine game. Buck, you'll be on the broadcast Thursday. We'll make sure to tweet that out and promote as you get ready, because then we'll get to chop it up on what you saw next Sunday. But when we look at the top of the board, are any of those quarterbacks other than the fact that their quarterbacks and we're desperate that you really say, is a guy like if you had Chidor in the room, are Ward? What's the first question you're asking him?
I think for cam Ward is Kenny Hardest, Kenny Harness to gun slinging.
He is a talented player who has done it at three different.
Places incarnate Word first, Washington State, second, Miami third. The good part of that is you've seen him progress and you've seen him actually step up in competition with each change in location. So you feel good about his ability to adapt and adjust to the next level because he's shown that the more you give him, the more he can do. You can say the same about Shadr Sanders shadur Gorn from Jackson State HBCU two year starter goes to Colorado two year Starter turned around both programs. We can't dispute that as a quarterback, we can talk about he's non athletic and some of the things that you hear about him were the things that hung around c. J. Stroud in terms of the athleticism and those things hangs onto the ball a long time. There're being comparisons loosely made to Geno Smith in terms of Geno Smith the Pro.
Bowl caliber talent. Here's what I say. He's played in a bunch of big time games and.
He has had a lot of spotlight on him. And when we talk about the franchise quarterback and the amount of attention that comes with that, he has handled himself pretty well in the scorching eye of the storm that comes with being the son of Deion Sanders and all the stuff that they've done. So I think both guys are NFL starters. Both guys have the ability to be winning quarterbacks. I can say that they're transformational in terms of how they're going to change the game and those things. But I think both guys can be winning quarterbacks. And if you have an opportunity to get a winning quarterback, you jump at the notion. To me, people will then say, like I have Bolnicks graded above them. I think you can put them in bow Knicks all in the same category. When I look at bow Knicks and what he did his first year in the league, playoff appearance, played well, challenged Jayden Daniels as Offensive Rookie of.
The Year based on how he led the Broncos.
I think all of us would take that, which is why I'm hile cam Ward and Shuter.
Sanders impressive all around. We'll keep an eye out for Bucky and his first round mock at the end of the week and all of his coverage at Bucky Brooks at Big Play Football, what he's got going on with the Shrine game as he calls that on Thursday. I know the practices are going and all the interviews, all the fun stuff, the medicals and all of that that you can get to. And I applied for my virtual media access so I could sit around in my T shirt and shorts instead of getting out. Well, man, look man, it's expensive flying around at this point. I got kids to get around. But we got all of that, We've got prop bets, we've got our examination of the championship game ahead. Last point, off of what we talked about house money and everything, ask Bobby slow cow House money.
Goes see, Hey, I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that up, right. Bobby Slogan was the hottest guy right and everyone was like, hey, man, make sure you get the right job. You don't take the head job. Make sure it's to write one harmon. We've said this. When someone offers you an opportunity to run a team. Yeah, we can talk about fits and gotta have this an alignment or whatever, but they're only thirty two of them, and you got to get it when you're hot, and so we can debate about, hey, is it a perfect storm, and you can act like your ice and top gun and you're waiting for the perfect shot. But sometimes you got to operate light Maverick. Sometimes you just got to shoot and figure it out. And unfortunately for Bobby Slowick, he didn't do it. He didn't get a gig, and so now he almost has to start back at the bottom of the ladder to climb back up to be a viable head coaching candidate, which is nothing that any of us saw heading into the season.
And escalated quickly. Bad offensive line, a lot of injuries. It doesn't matter you win the division. They expected more just how fickle a business it all is. At Bucky Brooks is where you find and find me over at Swollen Dome. Now it's time to bring you on a man who's full of information. Notice how I didn't drag that out so you can connect the dots and fill in the blank with your own feelings of Isaac Lowlancron, because I think he's a man of great integrity and knowledge at Isaac Lolandkron on Twitter.
Well, well that's gonna be uh. I appreciate that very much. But with the content of this particular report, that's all going to be destroyed within the next two minutes. Thanks to you out there, the sports fans of America, particularly in cities involved in the conference championship games today that coming up just moments from now. But first we start with Saturday night's NBA Action break up. The Los Angeles Lakers. They won at Golden State. What eighteen to want to wait on Saturday night to improve to a season best seven games above five hundred and twenty five. At eighteen, they're on a three game winning street. They've won five of six. The Houston Rockets won in Cleveland, won thirty five to one thirty one. The Rockets a Men Thompson with a triple double, the Knicks Josh Harden with a triple double, and they're one forty three to one twenty triumph over the Sacramento Kings. Earlier Saturday, Dallas forward maxi but broke his right foot in a loss to the Boston Celtics. Conference Championship Sunday kicks off at three pm Eastern with the NFC Championship Game as the Philadelphia Eagles host the Washington Commanders. Now last night in Philadelphia, a large group of Commanders fans held a get together at the hard Rock Cafe in downtown Philly, leading one of them to post this clip of the get together with the caption quote taking over Philly.
Well.
Eagles fans were not amused at Donut Dan responding quote the hard Rock Cafe was Applebee's full or something. Jalen Carter muse posting tell me you ain't been to Philly without telling me you ain't been to Philly. And finally Julyissa posting hard Rock Cafe is a place where teenagers go for their birthday dinner. Is lmfao anyway? The encore of that at six point thirty eastern, the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game, and from the sublime to the ridiculous in social media conspiracy theory news. As many of you out there know, Buffalo Bills fans are known from, among other things, leaping into folding tables. Well, there is a rumor circulating on social media right now that Kansas City area retailers are refusing to sell folding tables to anyone without a Missouri driver's license. The rumor apparently originated in a Bills fans Facebook group, but sadly, there is no evidence out there.
That this rumor is true. Back to you guys at Isaac Lowancrown, and I'll say this, I support small businesses. I love small business. If you're refusing them from going and busting a table based on the team that they cheer for, you're a dope. Just you jack up the prices what you do, and you deserve to suffer some consequences, because I mean, that's just printing money here. I ordered extra eight foot tables, let's go. I even saw it a little bit into him, like I'm a Hollywood producer, so it can go through like you know, you'd break a guitar over a guy's head, like you're Jeff Jarrett. How do you like that? He's Isaac, that's Bucky. I'm Mike. As we continue here Fox Sports Radio, Fox Football Sunday, we'll talk all things championship games as we close up this hour. That's Sex on Fox. Hey, welcome back in It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Coming up in ten minutes, we got countdown to Kickoff presented by Bett MGM, Bill and Jeff and Brian. Getting you ready for a couple of championship games, the ends and the outs, the parlays, the live betting lines, and where maybe you lean in do some of the historical between these squads, cause it's setting up to be a fun day. You got the upstart Washington commanders. Nick sirianni Is he's still on a hot seat, Jalen Hurts, how big is that brace gonna be? And on the other side, now everybody hates the chiefs Bucky. Now they're talking about not only sky Judge kind of thing. But now we're gonna maybe expand reviews some more chefter reporting. Yesterday the replay assists is looking like it's going to expand this offseason to where you can get the red button and zap down to the officials. That'll start including quarterback slides, those out of bounds plays and all that other fun stuff.
Wow, that's I mean, that's big that it takes some of the conspiracy theorists. That's just satisfy them, you know, to be able to add another layer to it.
I wonder how many.
Well, if it's coming straight down from that, that's just an extension of what they're already doing, so it shouldn't change anything.
No, that's it right in theory. It's just a more transparency over what you're already supposed to be doing. Right, because they've expanded it a couple of times and putting in more language. I don't know if it's like a player contract where we just want everything enumerated. At this point of what they might look at. To me, it just sho just blinking say common sense as two controversies and making sure we get it right, particularly with the high definition televisions and giant seventy two inch ninety six inch screens. Everybody's watching this stuff on with innumerable replays. Got to get it right. It's a lot of money being transacted, both in the betting markets and just in general people going to games and the television revenue, et cetera. Schefter then pointed this out from just a little less than a half hour ago during the Chiefs eight game win streak in the playoffs, roughing the passer opponents six Chiefs zero, unnecessary roughness opponents four Chiefs one. Now, there was a stat during the National title game that just floored me that I couldn't believe it was right when they said that there had only been one holding penalty called against the Ohio State defense all year, like as their pass rushers are coming in like no opponent, like, there was literally one call of holding as they tried to suppress the pass rush that was coming from Ryan Day and his squad. So that's kind of interesting. But we love conspiracy theories, and certainly there'll be plenty of them. I think we'll see the twitter whale during the evening game. You think all that's gonna take is one play, Get those memes ready for those that want to hate Taylor Swift. You'll have that. Maybe Caitlyn Clark shows up again, because now she's getting a low back.
You are talking about absolutely blowing up the Twitter verse if you get Caitlyn Clark and let's get them side by side into booths like we saw the other day.
They just keep playing the bad Blood video. It's it. It's one of the greatest music videos ever made. It's got everybody, Selanna Gomez, Steinfeld, Taylor Swift. So why do I sound like Patrick Warburton in my own head? But as we go through we talked about the games, is who's the guy that you're looking for a breakthrough surprise performance to tip the scales for either of these for any of these squads.
I think Xavier.
Worthy has to be a big part of the thing for the Kancity Chiefs. But the guy who's a surprised how about DeAndre Hopkins maybe showing up and kind of being what they want him to be.
Zero catches last week first.
Zero catches non factor, but remember the experience matters, and then let's go to the commanders.
Somebody else has to do it. So how about Dianmi.
Brown catching some big passes to alleviate some own oppression on Terry mcvaran.
Let's see if we can get another John Cena. You can't see me handing his face and a dime from Jaden Daniels, He's Bucky Brooks. Following at Bucky Brooks, I'm over at Swollen Dome count down to kick off his next Enjoy the games,