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Well, Fox Sports Radio is gonna have one more couple of voices, one more set of voices that will actually ring in the new year for some of you across this country, but for us, this is it. We're gonna say Swan Song twenty twenty three with a whole lot of NFL landscape things to discuss. We'll get into all of it, Mark Willard, Kyle Rudolph. We're broadcasting live from the tire reg dot com studios. Tyrek dot com will help you get there on that selection, fast free shipping, free road has a protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tyrek dot com the way tire buying should be. But I just want to start it off. This has been a first for us this season, and so I'm thankful for you and Kyle. We were both off on Christmas Eve last week. I hope you had an unbelievable holiday with you and yours, your family, your kids, and a happy New Year.

Well, Fox Sports Radio is gonna have one more couple of voices, one more set of voices that will actually ring in the new year for some of you across this country, but for us, this is it. We're gonna say Swan Song twenty twenty three with a whole lot of NFL landscape things to discuss. We'll get into all of it, Mark Willard, Kyle Rudolph. We're broadcasting live from the tire reg dot com studios. Tyrek dot com will help you get there on that selection, fast free shipping, free road has a protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tyrek dot com the way tire buying should be. But I just want to start it off. This has been a first for us this season, and so I'm thankful for you and Kyle. We were both off on Christmas Eve last week. I hope you had an unbelievable holiday with you and yours, your family, your kids, and a happy New Year.

To you brother.

To you brother.

Likewise, Yeah, definitely a great holiday over here. Kids really enjoyed Christmas in our house. Having seven, seven, five and two year olds Christmas is huge, obviously. Santa Claus is big in our house. So it was a good and happy holidays and happy New Year to you as well.

Likewise, Yeah, definitely a great holiday over here. Kids really enjoyed Christmas in our house. Having seven, seven, five and two year olds Christmas is huge, obviously. Santa Claus is big in our house. So it was a good and happy holidays and happy New Year to you as well.

And I say that to everybody listening, except for the NFL refs. That's it. Happy New Year to everybody except for referees. I'm kidding a little bit. Obviously, it's a tough job, and obviously I don't mean this about all of them, but it's now being acknowledged Kyle, that the NFL has a quote officiating problem. It does seem like it's becoming a bigger issue. And I acknowledge that some of these things are really out of the hands of human beings, right like there's going to be human error. The more technology we have, the more cameras, the more video, the more information we have, the harder it is on these men and women. And so this is not to you know, ostracize or bring them down, but I think of any workplace where there are a group of employees who can see that there are a set of rules in place and they have to follow them, except for certain employees they don't have to follow them. That is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for all kinds of animosity. And that's my only issue here in looking at what happened with the Lions and Cowboys last night. The crew mess this up. There's no two ways about it, no if sands or butts. I don't care what they say they heard or what they think happened. They messed this whole thing up. The Cowboys won a game they shouldn't have won. The Lion are dealing with that. It'll affect playoff seating. It's all over the place, the trickle down effect of what happened yesterday. And Kyle, what I think really bothers people is that there is this invisible wall around the referees to where something like this happens, and the players and coaches are the ones worried about getting fined for speaking the truth, and the referees barely have to speak at all.

And I say that to everybody listening, except for the NFL refs. That's it. Happy New Year to everybody except for referees. I'm kidding a little bit. Obviously, it's a tough job, and obviously I don't mean this about all of them, but it's now being acknowledged Kyle, that the NFL has a quote officiating problem. It does seem like it's becoming a bigger issue. And I acknowledge that some of these things are really out of the hands of human beings, right like there's going to be human error. The more technology we have, the more cameras, the more video, the more information we have, the harder it is on these men and women. And so this is not to you know, ostracize or bring them down, but I think of any workplace where there are a group of employees who can see that there are a set of rules in place and they have to follow them, except for certain employees they don't have to follow them. That is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for all kinds of animosity. And that's my only issue here in looking at what happened with the Lions and Cowboys last night. The crew mess this up. There's no two ways about it, no if sands or butts. I don't care what they say they heard or what they think happened. They messed this whole thing up. The Cowboys won a game they shouldn't have won. The Lion are dealing with that. It'll affect playoff seating. It's all over the place, the trickle down effect of what happened yesterday. And Kyle, what I think really bothers people is that there is this invisible wall around the referees to where something like this happens, and the players and coaches are the ones worried about getting fined for speaking the truth, and the referees barely have to speak at all.

Yeah, I mean, I think we might be on this for a couple of segments. You know, I have zero I have zero interest rooting interest in either the Dallas Cowboys or the Detroit Lions. You know, I played in the NFC North for a long time, played against Detroit many a Time's absolute respect for the way that Dan Campbell and everybody in that building has, you know, kind of built that from the ground up. So certainly for teams that do things the right way. You root for teams that play the game the right way, and I think they do.

Yeah, I mean, I think we might be on this for a couple of segments. You know, I have zero I have zero interest rooting interest in either the Dallas Cowboys or the Detroit Lions. You know, I played in the NFC North for a long time, played against Detroit many a Time's absolute respect for the way that Dan Campbell and everybody in that building has, you know, kind of built that from the ground up. So certainly for teams that do things the right way. You root for teams that play the game the right way, and I think they do.

You know.

You know.

Also on the other side in Dallas, like you know, I've I've been very vocal of my support and you know, backing of Dak Prescott on this show throughout the course of the year, and you know, seeing him and Ceedee Lamb do their thing, like just as a player, that's what I love to see. I love to see the players, the coaches going out doing their thing every you know, it's one of the things I'm rooting for everybody to have success and just see exciting football. And you know, that's what we pretty much had for a majority of that game there. And quite honestly, we should have had the Dallas Cowboys down one with all three timeouts and a kicker that's not missed a kick all year. That's how the game should have been decided, not decided by Brad Allen's lack of focus at a crunch point in time of the game. When here's here's my issue. My issue is not only did you blatantly blow the call in that situation, offensive lineman's been running in the game the entire time, and number seventy is reporting. So you just look up and see number seventy running in the game, but the left tackle's not coming over to wish you a happy New Year. He's coming over to tell you something important. And people I've been reading on Twitter over the last you know, almost twenty four hours, call it twenty hours since the game ended late last night, and people are like, oh, well, if number seventy wasn't reporting, why did he run up to Brad Allen? Why did Why was Penny Seuel over there? You know all this stuff, and it's like, I know exactly what Detroit was doing. It's late in the game, there's one hundred thousand fans in at and T Stadium, it's low. Detroit was trying to create confusion for the Cowboys defense. They see the offensive linement run in, Penny Sewell walks over. He's standing next to Brad Allen, the official. Yeah, Brad Allen walks over and says, hey, number seventy is eligible. I guarantee you half the guys in the huddle didn't hear that. Nobody probably heard it when he announced it over the PA system in the stadium because the crowd's going crazy with Detroit on the field on offense. And so Dan Campbell comes on after and says I even told them before the game because in that situation, that is a clear gadget play. I guarantee you all week they practiced. Hey, Taylor Decker, you need to go over and you have to report to the official. But when you report to the official, penny, you're gonna go over there and stand there too. And Stan Skipper when you run on, you're going to run on. Do not wipe your jersey, which is the international signal for reporting, which he did not do. And I won't say a word to the official, No report, nothing, just run and then get in the huddle. And they could not have executed it any better. And because of technology and all the camera angles we have, we get to see the bird's eye view of everything they practiced all week, executed to perfection, only to have Brad Allen completely blow the call by seeing Dan Skipper run on the field and ultimately just assume, Okay, this guy's been reporting all games, so he must be eligible now. So that's that's number one for me. Brad Allen completely screws it up in you know, a crunch point in time of the game. Number two for me is then following the game. You know, we talk about you know, employees in a workplace and everybody being held accountable and everyone having a set of rules that they have to follow. Here's the problem. NFL officials are not full time NFL employees. So not only do you have a set of employees that don't have the same rules, they're not even technically full time employees, and they have a separate set of rules. But one other thing that they do have to do is you have the pool report after the game where the official, in this case Brad Allen has to speak to a reporter and answer questions after the game. And last night Calvin Watkins interviewed referee Brad Allen and he doubled down on his mistake. He said number seventy reported number sixty eight did not. Therefore there was an infraction allegal touching and a legal formation because number seventy was covered up. And when I read that, it almost made me more furious. You know, I was watching SVP late Sports Center after the game, and you know, Ryan Clark is explaining it perfectly on the screen, just as as I did here on the radio, and a SVP goes, well, we got the pull report, let's hear from Brad Allen, And part of me thought, like every NFL head coach or player who gets a microphone put in their face after the game and they realize that they screwed up, they made a mistake, it's their fault. What do they do? They own it? And Brad Allen doubled down on the fact that Nope, number seventy reported even though Dan Skipper had just spoke to the media and Taylor Decker had just spoke to the media and they both said completely opposite things, which again we confirmed with the tape. So in this case, I give officials the benefit of the doubt when it's the speed of the game and the size of the players and the physicality and look, it's twenty twenty three for four more hours on the East Coast, but you know it's our game. The players are big and fast, and it's a physical game, and there are bang bang plays. Is that human error doesn't allow you to have the thirty four camera angles that we get to have when we watch replays. And I've always said it's like, that's why I feel bad for officials, because they're reading their keys, they're trying to do the best they can. This had absolutely nothing to do with the speed of the game. This was purely Brad Allen's laziness and not focus at a critical moment during the game. And I'm gonna go what step Further, So, now we're at a point in sports across all sports where sports betting is massive and the amount of money, so we're not just talking about the Lions playoffs here. Now we're talking about NFL fans and their money and the amount of money that was lost on a potential Lions money line bet. Again, two point conversion completed, the game was not over. Dallas still had three timeouts and twenty something seconds. Understand that, but certainly there was a lot more than just the chance at the one seed for the Detroit Lions taken away by Brad Allen's lack of focus in this critical situation. Also the millions of dollars that were placed across betting platforms on a Detroit Lions money line. So you know, for me, those are the big the three big things that just it didn't sit well with me. And you know, again, we get the stories today the crew got downgraded for their performance. Yes, okay, great, they got downgraded. If I see Brad Allen officiating a playoff game, we have a problem. You know. It's like, yeah, he gets downgraded for one game. But what if you know, and we know this crew has been bad in the past, but the crew doesn't matter. So whoever the back judge was that blew the DPI call in Green Bay, he got downgraded for that call. You know again, these are like one calls in one call in one game. It's not their body of work throughout seventeen games. But we you know again, I cannot see Brad Allen officiating a playoff game or I will lose my mind.

Also on the other side in Dallas, like you know, I've I've been very vocal of my support and you know, backing of Dak Prescott on this show throughout the course of the year, and you know, seeing him and Ceedee Lamb do their thing, like just as a player, that's what I love to see. I love to see the players, the coaches going out doing their thing every you know, it's one of the things I'm rooting for everybody to have success and just see exciting football. And you know, that's what we pretty much had for a majority of that game there. And quite honestly, we should have had the Dallas Cowboys down one with all three timeouts and a kicker that's not missed a kick all year. That's how the game should have been decided, not decided by Brad Allen's lack of focus at a crunch point in time of the game. When here's here's my issue. My issue is not only did you blatantly blow the call in that situation, offensive lineman's been running in the game the entire time, and number seventy is reporting. So you just look up and see number seventy running in the game, but the left tackle's not coming over to wish you a happy New Year. He's coming over to tell you something important. And people I've been reading on Twitter over the last you know, almost twenty four hours, call it twenty hours since the game ended late last night, and people are like, oh, well, if number seventy wasn't reporting, why did he run up to Brad Allen? Why did Why was Penny Seuel over there? You know all this stuff, and it's like, I know exactly what Detroit was doing. It's late in the game, there's one hundred thousand fans in at and T Stadium, it's low. Detroit was trying to create confusion for the Cowboys defense. They see the offensive linement run in, Penny Sewell walks over. He's standing next to Brad Allen, the official. Yeah, Brad Allen walks over and says, hey, number seventy is eligible. I guarantee you half the guys in the huddle didn't hear that. Nobody probably heard it when he announced it over the PA system in the stadium because the crowd's going crazy with Detroit on the field on offense. And so Dan Campbell comes on after and says I even told them before the game because in that situation, that is a clear gadget play. I guarantee you all week they practiced. Hey, Taylor Decker, you need to go over and you have to report to the official. But when you report to the official, penny, you're gonna go over there and stand there too. And Stan Skipper when you run on, you're going to run on. Do not wipe your jersey, which is the international signal for reporting, which he did not do. And I won't say a word to the official, No report, nothing, just run and then get in the huddle. And they could not have executed it any better. And because of technology and all the camera angles we have, we get to see the bird's eye view of everything they practiced all week, executed to perfection, only to have Brad Allen completely blow the call by seeing Dan Skipper run on the field and ultimately just assume, Okay, this guy's been reporting all games, so he must be eligible now. So that's that's number one for me. Brad Allen completely screws it up in you know, a crunch point in time of the game. Number two for me is then following the game. You know, we talk about you know, employees in a workplace and everybody being held accountable and everyone having a set of rules that they have to follow. Here's the problem. NFL officials are not full time NFL employees. So not only do you have a set of employees that don't have the same rules, they're not even technically full time employees, and they have a separate set of rules. But one other thing that they do have to do is you have the pool report after the game where the official, in this case Brad Allen has to speak to a reporter and answer questions after the game. And last night Calvin Watkins interviewed referee Brad Allen and he doubled down on his mistake. He said number seventy reported number sixty eight did not. Therefore there was an infraction allegal touching and a legal formation because number seventy was covered up. And when I read that, it almost made me more furious. You know, I was watching SVP late Sports Center after the game, and you know, Ryan Clark is explaining it perfectly on the screen, just as as I did here on the radio, and a SVP goes, well, we got the pull report, let's hear from Brad Allen, And part of me thought, like every NFL head coach or player who gets a microphone put in their face after the game and they realize that they screwed up, they made a mistake, it's their fault. What do they do? They own it? And Brad Allen doubled down on the fact that Nope, number seventy reported even though Dan Skipper had just spoke to the media and Taylor Decker had just spoke to the media and they both said completely opposite things, which again we confirmed with the tape. So in this case, I give officials the benefit of the doubt when it's the speed of the game and the size of the players and the physicality and look, it's twenty twenty three for four more hours on the East Coast, but you know it's our game. The players are big and fast, and it's a physical game, and there are bang bang plays. Is that human error doesn't allow you to have the thirty four camera angles that we get to have when we watch replays. And I've always said it's like, that's why I feel bad for officials, because they're reading their keys, they're trying to do the best they can. This had absolutely nothing to do with the speed of the game. This was purely Brad Allen's laziness and not focus at a critical moment during the game. And I'm gonna go what step Further, So, now we're at a point in sports across all sports where sports betting is massive and the amount of money, so we're not just talking about the Lions playoffs here. Now we're talking about NFL fans and their money and the amount of money that was lost on a potential Lions money line bet. Again, two point conversion completed, the game was not over. Dallas still had three timeouts and twenty something seconds. Understand that, but certainly there was a lot more than just the chance at the one seed for the Detroit Lions taken away by Brad Allen's lack of focus in this critical situation. Also the millions of dollars that were placed across betting platforms on a Detroit Lions money line. So you know, for me, those are the big the three big things that just it didn't sit well with me. And you know, again, we get the stories today the crew got downgraded for their performance. Yes, okay, great, they got downgraded. If I see Brad Allen officiating a playoff game, we have a problem. You know. It's like, yeah, he gets downgraded for one game. But what if you know, and we know this crew has been bad in the past, but the crew doesn't matter. So whoever the back judge was that blew the DPI call in Green Bay, he got downgraded for that call. You know again, these are like one calls in one call in one game. It's not their body of work throughout seventeen games. But we you know again, I cannot see Brad Allen officiating a playoff game or I will lose my mind.

Yeah, I am with you across the board. And there's a lot, there's a lot to go through. You're right, We're going to spend a little time on this because there's the question of what to do, not just in a small sample of Brad Allen, but the larger issue of something like this and the doubling down, I think is what gets everybody. Because there's a name I want to bring up to you next that I think will bring about memories for a lot of people in how Brad Allen could have handled this and why it would be a completely different story today. How'd he done that? So we'll get to that coming up next. We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection in one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot com. It's a Happy New Year edition. It's Week seventeen in the NFL. That's Kyle Rudolph on Mark Willard and this is Fox Sports Radio.

Yeah, I am with you across the board. And there's a lot, there's a lot to go through. You're right, We're going to spend a little time on this because there's the question of what to do, not just in a small sample of Brad Allen, but the larger issue of something like this and the doubling down, I think is what gets everybody. Because there's a name I want to bring up to you next that I think will bring about memories for a lot of people in how Brad Allen could have handled this and why it would be a completely different story today. How'd he done that? So we'll get to that coming up next. We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, ATV and more all your protection in one place. Bundle and save at Progressive dot com. It's a Happy New Year edition. It's Week seventeen in the NFL. That's Kyle Rudolph on Mark Willard and this is Fox Sports Radio.

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.

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.

Hi, this is Jay Glazer.

Hi, this is Jay Glazer.

And you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like hbos Ballers.

And you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like hbos Ballers.

Who you don't know is for my entire life.

Who you don't know is for my entire life.

I have lived in something I refer to as the Great Depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glaser where each week, while we talk about mental health, I hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I have lived in something I refer to as the Great Depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glaser where each week, while we talk about mental health, I hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

So we're in the tirerac dot com studios. We are ringing in twenty twenty four right here on Foxsports Video, Mark Wheeler and Kyle Rudolph. We're also ringing in the end of Sunday Night Football. There'll be another next week. I don't know if it's been announced yet. I'm sure it's gonna be the Bills Dolphins game as they set the schedule for next week, because that one has the whole AFC East on the line. We'll talk a little bit later about the team like the Niners and the Ravens and the Browns whose situation is all wrapped up with a whole week to go, but particularly those Niners and Ravens who also now have a first round by do you rest your players and take basically three weeks off till they play a football game again? How do you handle it? We'll get to all of that, But Kyle, I bet you remember this name. I don't even know how big of a baseball fan you ad, but do you remember the name Jim Joyce.

So we're in the tirerac dot com studios. We are ringing in twenty twenty four right here on Foxsports Video, Mark Wheeler and Kyle Rudolph. We're also ringing in the end of Sunday Night Football. There'll be another next week. I don't know if it's been announced yet. I'm sure it's gonna be the Bills Dolphins game as they set the schedule for next week, because that one has the whole AFC East on the line. We'll talk a little bit later about the team like the Niners and the Ravens and the Browns whose situation is all wrapped up with a whole week to go, but particularly those Niners and Ravens who also now have a first round by do you rest your players and take basically three weeks off till they play a football game again? How do you handle it? We'll get to all of that, But Kyle, I bet you remember this name. I don't even know how big of a baseball fan you ad, but do you remember the name Jim Joyce.

Do you remember that name?

Do you remember that name?

Okay, Jim Joyce is the umpire famously, and this affected Detroit negatively as well. This city seems to get kicked in the face by officials and umpires a lot. Jim Joyce the umpire in a game involving the Detroit Tigers and a near near perfect game years ago that came down to the absolute last out, the last out, and there was a close play at first bang bang, but the player was out. He was out by a good half step and there was no replay at the time, and Jim called him safe and that was it.

Okay, Jim Joyce is the umpire famously, and this affected Detroit negatively as well. This city seems to get kicked in the face by officials and umpires a lot. Jim Joyce the umpire in a game involving the Detroit Tigers and a near near perfect game years ago that came down to the absolute last out, the last out, and there was a close play at first bang bang, but the player was out. He was out by a good half step and there was no replay at the time, and Jim called him safe and that was it.

That was the end of the call back.

That was the end of the call back.

In those days, you didn't have review and so off we went into the history books with Armando Galarraga not getting a perfect game, even though we all know that he threw a perfect game, and the world ended up feeling bad for Jim Joyce. Because if there's one thing that every single one of us understand, it's that we grew up. It's what we do, it's the definition.

In those days, you didn't have review and so off we went into the history books with Armando Galarraga not getting a perfect game, even though we all know that he threw a perfect game, and the world ended up feeling bad for Jim Joyce. Because if there's one thing that every single one of us understand, it's that we grew up. It's what we do, it's the definition.

Of who we are.

Of who we are.

We all mess up, especially in a physical situation. Now, you did a great job of detailing what happened last night was not.

We all mess up, especially in a physical situation. Now, you did a great job of detailing what happened last night was not.

A physical error.

A physical error.

It was not an error of Brad Allen's eyes. Maybe it was an error of his ears. It was really an error of concentration. To be honest with you, but this situation with Jim Joyce years ago and Armando Galarraga was simply a mistake.

It was not an error of Brad Allen's eyes. Maybe it was an error of his ears. It was really an error of concentration. To be honest with you, but this situation with Jim Joyce years ago and Armando Galarraga was simply a mistake.

And by the time.

And by the time.

He got to the pool report in Baseball if you will, by the time he saw video of what had happened, the man was in tears.

He got to the pool report in Baseball if you will, by the time he saw video of what had happened, the man was in tears.

He was in complete tears.

He was in complete tears.

He was in shambles and forever he has felt horrible about this, and he expressed that, and pretty quickly the world's like, yeah, man, look, we're just gonna have to go on with the history books being wrong and our minds being right, but totally accepting Jim Joyce.

He was in shambles and forever he has felt horrible about this, and he expressed that, and pretty quickly the world's like, yeah, man, look, we're just gonna have to go on with the history books being wrong and our minds being right, but totally accepting Jim Joyce.

As a human being. It's so easy. I had this.

As a human being. It's so easy. I had this.

Conversation with my nine year old this morning. I'm like, buddy, when I catch you in a situation, don't make up a story, Like just look me in the eye and be like, I messed that one up. I'm gonna do better next time. I'm your biggest fan and I'll have your back every time. If Brad Allen last night, Kyle had just come out and been like, whoops, I totally messed this up. Don't you think this is a completely different story?

Conversation with my nine year old this morning. I'm like, buddy, when I catch you in a situation, don't make up a story, Like just look me in the eye and be like, I messed that one up. I'm gonna do better next time. I'm your biggest fan and I'll have your back every time. If Brad Allen last night, Kyle had just come out and been like, whoops, I totally messed this up. Don't you think this is a completely different story?

And you can again you when I explained the conception or when I explained you know, kind of Detroit and the way that they set it up, and they practice again like I'm telling you all week long. Decker said it in his interview after the game, like I did exactly what I did all week in practice and you think, what, like, what do you mean? You literally walked over? I guarantee you during practice last week there was the element of hey, there's here's the official official Penny walk over, Eric Taylor Decker walk over Dan Skipper, You're gonna run on? They like they practiced. How are we going to you know, make this look like to the defense? Who again everybody, Yeah, all eleven guys are not standing there listening to Brad Allen come over and say, hey, number seventy is eligible. So yes, they're trying to confuse the Dallas defense, and ultimately they confused Brad Allen because he sees Skipper running on and just goes, okay, I assume he's reporting, but but he didn't report, and he never said report. He never brushed the jersey, He never did anything. So if Brad Allen would have said in the pool report, look, I blew it. You know, they they did exactly what they were supposed to do. They came, you know, three offensive linement came over to me. I kind of just took it for granted because number seventy had reported multiple times earlier in the game, and when he was running on, my eyes immediately shifted over to the Dallas defense and I told them number seventy was eligible. I screwed it up. And it's on me, like, you know, I messed it up. I blew the call. Instead, he again like he doubles down on saying number seventy reported, number sixty eight did not. And I was furious reading you know, Twitter and again watching SVP on Sports Center reading this report and because I was just like, I just like own it, like you screwed it up. We everyone like in today's world, you can't get away with it. The only thing that would have been worse is if like Decker had a mic on or uh, you know, Skipper's knocking the backup the swing tackle is not going to be miked up for a game. But you know, Decker probably would have been the only one that would have caught it if he had a mic on and he went over and said report. And you know, I saw a few different different opinions and points of view that wanted to blame it more on the players, And well, why, you know, why would Skipper run over there? Why didn't he just run right in the huddle. It's because that's the whole element of confusion that they were trying to create. That's the deception that they were trying to create by all three linemen going over. But Brad Allen needs to be paying attention and realize that the left tackle again is not coming over to wish me a happy holidays in a happy new Year. He's coming over to report or tell me something, you know. And it's a captain at that matter too, So it's a captain coming over. I should probably acknowledge a conversation if he's going to have it with me. And when you double down and say, nope, number seventy reported number sixty eight did not, you know, YadA, YadA, YadA. That's why the infraction was called a penalty on Detroit illegal touching, I just lose all respect for you immediately to whereas you said, Jim Joyce, and I immediately pulled him up on my computer, and who could forget him with that incredible handlebar mustache, like I immediately remembered as soon as I saw the picture. But yeah, and I immediately as soon as you said it. I went to his interview, and I remember how emotional he was that, you know, he blew that call and he felt terrible about it, but he owned it, and all of America then sided with him that, hey, anyone that tells you they've never made a mistake and like they're lying, like we've all made mistakes. But then when when you doubled down on it and ultimately put the blame on two players, and you know, like a team, the Detroit Lions for not executing this play of deception perfectly. That's right, I got the problem, like it's completely wrong, wrong, all right?

And you can again you when I explained the conception or when I explained you know, kind of Detroit and the way that they set it up, and they practice again like I'm telling you all week long. Decker said it in his interview after the game, like I did exactly what I did all week in practice and you think, what, like, what do you mean? You literally walked over? I guarantee you during practice last week there was the element of hey, there's here's the official official Penny walk over, Eric Taylor Decker walk over Dan Skipper, You're gonna run on? They like they practiced. How are we going to you know, make this look like to the defense? Who again everybody, Yeah, all eleven guys are not standing there listening to Brad Allen come over and say, hey, number seventy is eligible. So yes, they're trying to confuse the Dallas defense, and ultimately they confused Brad Allen because he sees Skipper running on and just goes, okay, I assume he's reporting, but but he didn't report, and he never said report. He never brushed the jersey, He never did anything. So if Brad Allen would have said in the pool report, look, I blew it. You know, they they did exactly what they were supposed to do. They came, you know, three offensive linement came over to me. I kind of just took it for granted because number seventy had reported multiple times earlier in the game, and when he was running on, my eyes immediately shifted over to the Dallas defense and I told them number seventy was eligible. I screwed it up. And it's on me, like, you know, I messed it up. I blew the call. Instead, he again like he doubles down on saying number seventy reported, number sixty eight did not. And I was furious reading you know, Twitter and again watching SVP on Sports Center reading this report and because I was just like, I just like own it, like you screwed it up. We everyone like in today's world, you can't get away with it. The only thing that would have been worse is if like Decker had a mic on or uh, you know, Skipper's knocking the backup the swing tackle is not going to be miked up for a game. But you know, Decker probably would have been the only one that would have caught it if he had a mic on and he went over and said report. And you know, I saw a few different different opinions and points of view that wanted to blame it more on the players, And well, why, you know, why would Skipper run over there? Why didn't he just run right in the huddle. It's because that's the whole element of confusion that they were trying to create. That's the deception that they were trying to create by all three linemen going over. But Brad Allen needs to be paying attention and realize that the left tackle again is not coming over to wish me a happy holidays in a happy new Year. He's coming over to report or tell me something, you know. And it's a captain at that matter too, So it's a captain coming over. I should probably acknowledge a conversation if he's going to have it with me. And when you double down and say, nope, number seventy reported number sixty eight did not, you know, YadA, YadA, YadA. That's why the infraction was called a penalty on Detroit illegal touching, I just lose all respect for you immediately to whereas you said, Jim Joyce, and I immediately pulled him up on my computer, and who could forget him with that incredible handlebar mustache, like I immediately remembered as soon as I saw the picture. But yeah, and I immediately as soon as you said it. I went to his interview, and I remember how emotional he was that, you know, he blew that call and he felt terrible about it, but he owned it, and all of America then sided with him that, hey, anyone that tells you they've never made a mistake and like they're lying, like we've all made mistakes. But then when when you doubled down on it and ultimately put the blame on two players, and you know, like a team, the Detroit Lions for not executing this play of deception perfectly. That's right, I got the problem, like it's completely wrong, wrong, all right?

So so what do we do about it? Let's hop into that coming up next. But I know what we do with your cruising around tonight.

So so what do we do about it? Let's hop into that coming up next. But I know what we do with your cruising around tonight.

And you're like, what happened today?

And you're like, what happened today?

I got the perfect thing for you is name Steve de Seger, and let's find out what's trending and get you all up to date on everything. Happy to your brother.

I got the perfect thing for you is name Steve de Seger, and let's find out what's trending and get you all up to date on everything. Happy to your brother.

To you as well.

To you as well.

Hello guys, and by the way, what you're talking about last night's controversy you could have massive implications for the NFC playoff picture. We know there are two spots left in the NFC and seven teams going for it at this point, but after the controversial Dallas win last night, that decision may be the difference of Dallas getting the two seed.

Hello guys, and by the way, what you're talking about last night's controversy you could have massive implications for the NFC playoff picture. We know there are two spots left in the NFC and seven teams going for it at this point, but after the controversial Dallas win last night, that decision may be the difference of Dallas getting the two seed.

Over Detroit both as division winners.

Over Detroit both as division winners.

Again, everybody still has one more game to play next weekend. But if that's the case, then ladies and gentlemen, we still could have a first round NFC playoff matchup next month of Rams at Detroit Jared Goff against Sean McVay Matthew Stafford in Detroit three versus six seed.

Again, everybody still has one more game to play next weekend. But if that's the case, then ladies and gentlemen, we still could have a first round NFC playoff matchup next month of Rams at Detroit Jared Goff against Sean McVay Matthew Stafford in Detroit three versus six seed.

That is possible.

That is possible.

Last night, we talked, of course, about referee Brad Allen, a native of North Carolina. He was an ACC official for about a decade now an NFL official for about a decade. I mentioned that when he got a call to make his NFL debut in twenty fourteen, and the call from Dean Blandino, a Fox by the way, who was working for the NFL then. Originally Brad Allen was due to be an umpire, but when longtime ref Mike Carrey retired, Allen was named referee instead, straight to the top position out of college. This was the first time since nineteen sixty two that an NFL official in his very first year was given that slot. And the huge controversy who at the Detroit loss last night it was his crew a couple of years ago, back to back weeks, they failed to notice the clock had run down to zero and they let a play stand once it was the play clock, once it was the game clock.

Last night, we talked, of course, about referee Brad Allen, a native of North Carolina. He was an ACC official for about a decade now an NFL official for about a decade. I mentioned that when he got a call to make his NFL debut in twenty fourteen, and the call from Dean Blandino, a Fox by the way, who was working for the NFL then. Originally Brad Allen was due to be an umpire, but when longtime ref Mike Carrey retired, Allen was named referee instead, straight to the top position out of college. This was the first time since nineteen sixty two that an NFL official in his very first year was given that slot. And the huge controversy who at the Detroit loss last night it was his crew a couple of years ago, back to back weeks, they failed to notice the clock had run down to zero and they let a play stand once it was the play clock, once it was the game clock.

That had run out.

That had run out.

You had a Packers pass interference this year late that was not called.

You had a Packers pass interference this year late that was not called.

I mean, believe me.

I mean, believe me.

He's been in the thick of things before. Let's put it that way. Speaking of the Packers, they've lost two of three. They're seven and eight. They've started this Sunday night game indoors at Minnesota. Minnesota seven and eight as well, having lost four of five. The only win in that stretch the three nothing decision at Las Vegas. The Chiefs have won the AFC West yet again. In fact, in the Bay Area AP pointing out the Chiefs have won eight AFC West titles the last eight seasons. The Raiders have won eight division titles in the last forty eight seasons. Kansas City beat Cincinnati twenty five to seventeen, so yes, the clinch of the AFC West crown for the Chiefs and the Bengals are eliminated. Pittsburgh won thirty to twenty three at Seattle. The Seahawks loss clinched a playoff spot for the Rams, and Pittsburgh, at nine and seven with one game to go, has a chance at the final playoff spot in the AFC the seven seed next weekend. If there's a Pittsburgh win and a Buffalo loss, Steelers get the seven seed next weekend. If there's a Pittsburgh win and a Jacksonville loss, Steelers get the seven seed. And you mentioned, we'll find out perhaps tonight the entire schedule for next weekend. There's due to be a couple of Saturday games. We'll find out if indeed, next Sunday night it's Buffalo at Miami, it should be the winner takes the AFC East from that matchup. My goodness, did Miami lose badly at Baltimore today? Fifty six nineteen Ravens, who clinched the one seed in the AFC and a first round by and now Cleveland is locked into the number five seed. Denver beat the Chargers or what's left of them.

He's been in the thick of things before. Let's put it that way. Speaking of the Packers, they've lost two of three. They're seven and eight. They've started this Sunday night game indoors at Minnesota. Minnesota seven and eight as well, having lost four of five. The only win in that stretch the three nothing decision at Las Vegas. The Chiefs have won the AFC West yet again. In fact, in the Bay Area AP pointing out the Chiefs have won eight AFC West titles the last eight seasons. The Raiders have won eight division titles in the last forty eight seasons. Kansas City beat Cincinnati twenty five to seventeen, so yes, the clinch of the AFC West crown for the Chiefs and the Bengals are eliminated. Pittsburgh won thirty to twenty three at Seattle. The Seahawks loss clinched a playoff spot for the Rams, and Pittsburgh, at nine and seven with one game to go, has a chance at the final playoff spot in the AFC the seven seed next weekend. If there's a Pittsburgh win and a Buffalo loss, Steelers get the seven seed next weekend. If there's a Pittsburgh win and a Jacksonville loss, Steelers get the seven seed. And you mentioned, we'll find out perhaps tonight the entire schedule for next weekend. There's due to be a couple of Saturday games. We'll find out if indeed, next Sunday night it's Buffalo at Miami, it should be the winner takes the AFC East from that matchup. My goodness, did Miami lose badly at Baltimore today? Fifty six nineteen Ravens, who clinched the one seed in the AFC and a first round by and now Cleveland is locked into the number five seed. Denver beat the Chargers or what's left of them.

Sixteen to nine.

Sixteen to nine.

The Broncos are officially eliminated, though San Francisco clinched the one seed in the NFC and a first round by twenty seven to ten. Niners won at Washington. Running back Christian McCaffrey left with a calf injury. Maybe a strain, says his coach. As for the Arizona win, it was at Philadelphia thirty five thirty one James Conner one hundred and twenty eight yards rushing and a touchdown. The Philadelphia Eagles could be down to the five seed very realistically the way things have been playing out, and of course division winners get one of the top four seeds. We repeat, it could be Dallas over Detroit for the two seed because of what happened last night. What about Tampa Bay's division, Well, the Bucks lost at home to New Orleans twenty three to thirteen, but the Bucks will still win that division with a victory next week at Carolina. Yeah, Carolina, the team that should have the number one overall pick, but they don't own it. They're two and fourteen. They got shut out at Jacksonville twenty six. Nothing today but that result. Clinch is the number one overall draft pick for Chicago in April, So anyway, Bucks could be the four seed, maybe hosting the Eagles first round of the playoffs. By the way, at Tampa Bay loss next weekend would mean that the Atlanta at New Orleans winner would take the division. Buffalo held on to a win over New England twenty seven to twenty one, victories for Houston and Chicago for Indianapolis and the Rams who beat the Giants twenty six twenty five. College Football's national semifinals are tomorrow in the NBA. Atlanta got forty points from Trey Young and thirteen assists in a win at Washington one thirty to one, twenty six. And it's Pelicans over the Lakers mid third quarter eighty six seventy four. College hoops Stanford upset number four Arizona one hundred to eighty two.

The Broncos are officially eliminated, though San Francisco clinched the one seed in the NFC and a first round by twenty seven to ten. Niners won at Washington. Running back Christian McCaffrey left with a calf injury. Maybe a strain, says his coach. As for the Arizona win, it was at Philadelphia thirty five thirty one James Conner one hundred and twenty eight yards rushing and a touchdown. The Philadelphia Eagles could be down to the five seed very realistically the way things have been playing out, and of course division winners get one of the top four seeds. We repeat, it could be Dallas over Detroit for the two seed because of what happened last night. What about Tampa Bay's division, Well, the Bucks lost at home to New Orleans twenty three to thirteen, but the Bucks will still win that division with a victory next week at Carolina. Yeah, Carolina, the team that should have the number one overall pick, but they don't own it. They're two and fourteen. They got shut out at Jacksonville twenty six. Nothing today but that result. Clinch is the number one overall draft pick for Chicago in April, So anyway, Bucks could be the four seed, maybe hosting the Eagles first round of the playoffs. By the way, at Tampa Bay loss next weekend would mean that the Atlanta at New Orleans winner would take the division. Buffalo held on to a win over New England twenty seven to twenty one, victories for Houston and Chicago for Indianapolis and the Rams who beat the Giants twenty six twenty five. College Football's national semifinals are tomorrow in the NBA. Atlanta got forty points from Trey Young and thirteen assists in a win at Washington one thirty to one, twenty six. And it's Pelicans over the Lakers mid third quarter eighty six seventy four. College hoops Stanford upset number four Arizona one hundred to eighty two.

Back to you, all right, Steve, great stuff, real thorough there with everything that's that's going on, the matchups that are on the table, and you mentioned this a few weeks ago, as we're with you here in the tire RAQ dot Com Studios, Mark Willard and Kyle Rudolph that idea of Stafford going home in Round one of the playoffs. Steve mentions it's possible. I'd argue it's actually probable. I know the Rams will need to go win at San Francisco in a game that they technically don't need, but the forty nine ers, you would think, are going to be resting just about everybody. We'll get to that, like how they should play it and all of that stuff coming up, But that's probably what this is gonna mean. That loss on Saturday night, I think probably means Detroit is going to have to play the Rams. And while that's wonderful for US viewers and the storylines and whatnot, that's way different than having to take on the Vikings or the Packers or the Seahawks or something like that. Quite frankly, this changed history in all all kinds of negative ways.

Back to you, all right, Steve, great stuff, real thorough there with everything that's that's going on, the matchups that are on the table, and you mentioned this a few weeks ago, as we're with you here in the tire RAQ dot Com Studios, Mark Willard and Kyle Rudolph that idea of Stafford going home in Round one of the playoffs. Steve mentions it's possible. I'd argue it's actually probable. I know the Rams will need to go win at San Francisco in a game that they technically don't need, but the forty nine ers, you would think, are going to be resting just about everybody. We'll get to that, like how they should play it and all of that stuff coming up, But that's probably what this is gonna mean. That loss on Saturday night, I think probably means Detroit is going to have to play the Rams. And while that's wonderful for US viewers and the storylines and whatnot, that's way different than having to take on the Vikings or the Packers or the Seahawks or something like that. Quite frankly, this changed history in all all kinds of negative ways.

And and honestly, if if you're the Rams, yes you clinched your your playoff spot today with the win in New York, but your seed is not locked in. You can fall to the seventh seed if you if you don't win next week, and that means you go to Dallas where they've won fifteen straight. Like, you don't want to go to Dallas, you want to go to Detroit. And so I would assume that Sean McVay and the Rams will go up and you know, play a team in San Francisco who should one hundred percent treated as a bye week. And you know, we were in this situation when I was in Minnesota in twenty nineteen, and you know, we made as many starters as we possibly could inactive for the game, and then you know the guys who were dressed that didn't play. You know, starters dressed and didn't play, and some starters dressed started and then got their start streak or incentive or whatever they had to start that game. You know, guys that had contractual stuff in the last week of the year, first play of the game and stand on the sidelines and it turned into a preseason game. That's what I fully expect from a lot of these teams where their seed can't change, you know, particularly in a case like San Francisco, where we've talked about it since the Cleveland loss. You know, the only thing in my opinion that can derail this for the forty nine ers is health, and yeah, Christian McCaffrey gets a little banged up. Guess what, you've got two weeks until your next game, and guess what, you don't play that week, you get another week. You have three weeks until your game. So you know, I think the the Niners will have an opportunity to really get healthy. And all they got to do is win two games in San Francisco and you're headed to Vegas, So you know, do I do? I think they may play a little bit early in the game because they do have the bye week the following week as well, possibly, but you would you would just be sick if you're John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan and you know, uh McCaffrey or Debo or Trent Williams. You know, somebody falls on Trent Williams around the pile. You know, just absolutely sick to your stomach playing those guys in a game that you already have the first round by locked up. And I'd say the same thing for Baltimore and the AFC. But going back to the Rams, they need to go get a win in San Francisco so they can go to Detroit and not to Dallas.

And and honestly, if if you're the Rams, yes you clinched your your playoff spot today with the win in New York, but your seed is not locked in. You can fall to the seventh seed if you if you don't win next week, and that means you go to Dallas where they've won fifteen straight. Like, you don't want to go to Dallas, you want to go to Detroit. And so I would assume that Sean McVay and the Rams will go up and you know, play a team in San Francisco who should one hundred percent treated as a bye week. And you know, we were in this situation when I was in Minnesota in twenty nineteen, and you know, we made as many starters as we possibly could inactive for the game, and then you know the guys who were dressed that didn't play. You know, starters dressed and didn't play, and some starters dressed started and then got their start streak or incentive or whatever they had to start that game. You know, guys that had contractual stuff in the last week of the year, first play of the game and stand on the sidelines and it turned into a preseason game. That's what I fully expect from a lot of these teams where their seed can't change, you know, particularly in a case like San Francisco, where we've talked about it since the Cleveland loss. You know, the only thing in my opinion that can derail this for the forty nine ers is health, and yeah, Christian McCaffrey gets a little banged up. Guess what, you've got two weeks until your next game, and guess what, you don't play that week, you get another week. You have three weeks until your game. So you know, I think the the Niners will have an opportunity to really get healthy. And all they got to do is win two games in San Francisco and you're headed to Vegas, So you know, do I do? I think they may play a little bit early in the game because they do have the bye week the following week as well, possibly, but you would you would just be sick if you're John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan and you know, uh McCaffrey or Debo or Trent Williams. You know, somebody falls on Trent Williams around the pile. You know, just absolutely sick to your stomach playing those guys in a game that you already have the first round by locked up. And I'd say the same thing for Baltimore and the AFC. But going back to the Rams, they need to go get a win in San Francisco so they can go to Detroit and not to Dallas.

Before we get too deep into all those matchups and whatnot. I still want to throw that question at you with regard to the officiating situation, which is what what what do we do? Like the larger question, what do we do about the growing issue the officials are becoming? So we'll do that next and don't forget that. Shortly after the show is over, our podcast will go up. So if you missed any portion of the show be a show. To check out the podcast, all you have to do is search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast while you're there to be sure to follow rate.

Before we get too deep into all those matchups and whatnot. I still want to throw that question at you with regard to the officiating situation, which is what what what do we do? Like the larger question, what do we do about the growing issue the officials are becoming? So we'll do that next and don't forget that. Shortly after the show is over, our podcast will go up. So if you missed any portion of the show be a show. To check out the podcast, all you have to do is search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast while you're there to be sure to follow rate.

Review the podcast.

Review the podcast.

Again. The search is Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast, and you see the show post right after we get off the air. But that is nowhere close to now much more coming up alongside Kyle Rudolph on Mark Willard on Fox Sports Radio. All Right, Happy New Year, everybody. We're live in the tirag dot com studios with Kyle Rudolph, Mark Willard. So much to get to with all of the matchups and the seating and everything is starting to come into focus here as we wrap up Week seventeen in the NFL wrap up twenty twenty three at the same time, but not quite done yet with the conversation we've been having about last night, which was the Lions and Cowboys, not only the way it was officiated, the way it finished, the way the officials in the league handled it after the fact. Kyle, kind of a large, broad question, But I wonder how you'd answer it. What do we do about this?

Again. The search is Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast, and you see the show post right after we get off the air. But that is nowhere close to now much more coming up alongside Kyle Rudolph on Mark Willard on Fox Sports Radio. All Right, Happy New Year, everybody. We're live in the tirag dot com studios with Kyle Rudolph, Mark Willard. So much to get to with all of the matchups and the seating and everything is starting to come into focus here as we wrap up Week seventeen in the NFL wrap up twenty twenty three at the same time, but not quite done yet with the conversation we've been having about last night, which was the Lions and Cowboys, not only the way it was officiated, the way it finished, the way the officials in the league handled it after the fact. Kyle, kind of a large, broad question, But I wonder how you'd answer it. What do we do about this?

What? What can we do about this? Well?

What? What can we do about this? Well?

I think more has to be done than you know, what just came out today. You know, the crew was downgraded. What does that mean they? You know, okay, so they got a bad report card, Like, give me a break. You know, I understand that there are bonuses by officiating playoff games, and you know, it's a hefty amount of money that these guys get, and the reward to by being graded out highly during the season is that you ultimately get to be an individual who can call a playoff game. And it just it doesn't make sense to me that the repercussion for what happened last night is as simple as a downgrade. And again I don't know, these grades aren't public. We have no idea who the highest graded officials are in the NFL right now, who are going to ultimately have the playoffs Like I said, there there's seventeen other games that you know, judging by Brad Allen's history, we probably can assume that he hasn't been highly graded on all of them. But it's like, if that were the case, and you know, he completely blows this game, he could still be officiating a playoff game, even though his crew has been consistently in the forefront of controversy for calls that they either made or did not make, and so this whole like downgrade thing just it's always upset me because that's kind of always been their slap on the wrist. You know, Do I think officials talking to the media will make a difference. No, you know, clearly we saw it last night, like whether Brad Allen was doing a press conference like Dan Campbell had to after the game, or Brad Allen did the Pool report and simply said what he said and doubled down on his mistake. So like, again, I think talking to the media would really make a difference. No, I've kind of always had this this crazy idea. You know, the the NFL as a whole always talks about you know, life after football for players, and we have all of these different like boot camps that are made available for us, whether you're you know, a rookie coming in doing to the you know, rookie success meetings, whether you're you know, a first year guy or a fifteen year guy. You know, you can go to a broadcast boot camp and you know, get experience in a studio or in a booth. You know, we have business boot camps where you can go and you know, study at you know, Michigan and IU and all these other places, and they prepare us for life after football and all these different areas of life. Why do we not have something for former players to get into officiating. No one knows the game better than the guys that play it, and you know, you have a bunch of these. Everybody sees the statistics of you know, length of NFL career and quite honestly, you know, success post football. So why not create something amongst the NFL where it's like, hey, look, you know you played in the league. You know the game as well as anyone. Why don't you give officiating a try. Oh, by the way, we'll probably pay you more than any job you can go get right now, because you know, a most of you guys don't have any other work experience. It's not like you had a job while you were in college or you were working part time in the offseason during your one or two years that you were in the NFL, So you have no work experience. And yet, like I said, these officials get paid really, really well. So if you're some of these guys in the league who you know, maybe football doesn't work out for you as a player, but you have an opportunity to officiate, you know't why wouldn't they give it a shot? And now you have a bunch of younger individuals who know the game of football. They've been around the game of football. I guarantee you if someone that understood what Detroit was doing last night during that play, as Dan Campbell explained it to Brad Allen prior to the game, like he said he did, that doesn't get missed because every current player or former player that was watching it, just like Ryan Clark afterwards, and the way that you explain it and see it, everyone knows the deception that Detroit was trying to create and exactly why they did everything. So again, I don't know what the immediate fixes for you know, current officials and you know, accountability but I would love to see something like that added to all the different post football opportunities that we have as players.

I think more has to be done than you know, what just came out today. You know, the crew was downgraded. What does that mean they? You know, okay, so they got a bad report card, Like, give me a break. You know, I understand that there are bonuses by officiating playoff games, and you know, it's a hefty amount of money that these guys get, and the reward to by being graded out highly during the season is that you ultimately get to be an individual who can call a playoff game. And it just it doesn't make sense to me that the repercussion for what happened last night is as simple as a downgrade. And again I don't know, these grades aren't public. We have no idea who the highest graded officials are in the NFL right now, who are going to ultimately have the playoffs Like I said, there there's seventeen other games that you know, judging by Brad Allen's history, we probably can assume that he hasn't been highly graded on all of them. But it's like, if that were the case, and you know, he completely blows this game, he could still be officiating a playoff game, even though his crew has been consistently in the forefront of controversy for calls that they either made or did not make, and so this whole like downgrade thing just it's always upset me because that's kind of always been their slap on the wrist. You know, Do I think officials talking to the media will make a difference. No, you know, clearly we saw it last night, like whether Brad Allen was doing a press conference like Dan Campbell had to after the game, or Brad Allen did the Pool report and simply said what he said and doubled down on his mistake. So like, again, I think talking to the media would really make a difference. No, I've kind of always had this this crazy idea. You know, the the NFL as a whole always talks about you know, life after football for players, and we have all of these different like boot camps that are made available for us, whether you're you know, a rookie coming in doing to the you know, rookie success meetings, whether you're you know, a first year guy or a fifteen year guy. You know, you can go to a broadcast boot camp and you know, get experience in a studio or in a booth. You know, we have business boot camps where you can go and you know, study at you know, Michigan and IU and all these other places, and they prepare us for life after football and all these different areas of life. Why do we not have something for former players to get into officiating. No one knows the game better than the guys that play it, and you know, you have a bunch of these. Everybody sees the statistics of you know, length of NFL career and quite honestly, you know, success post football. So why not create something amongst the NFL where it's like, hey, look, you know you played in the league. You know the game as well as anyone. Why don't you give officiating a try. Oh, by the way, we'll probably pay you more than any job you can go get right now, because you know, a most of you guys don't have any other work experience. It's not like you had a job while you were in college or you were working part time in the offseason during your one or two years that you were in the NFL, So you have no work experience. And yet, like I said, these officials get paid really, really well. So if you're some of these guys in the league who you know, maybe football doesn't work out for you as a player, but you have an opportunity to officiate, you know't why wouldn't they give it a shot? And now you have a bunch of younger individuals who know the game of football. They've been around the game of football. I guarantee you if someone that understood what Detroit was doing last night during that play, as Dan Campbell explained it to Brad Allen prior to the game, like he said he did, that doesn't get missed because every current player or former player that was watching it, just like Ryan Clark afterwards, and the way that you explain it and see it, everyone knows the deception that Detroit was trying to create and exactly why they did everything. So again, I don't know what the immediate fixes for you know, current officials and you know, accountability but I would love to see something like that added to all the different post football opportunities that we have as players.

I think it's a fascinating idea, a really good idea. I also think this, and this is not to again I'm not trying to sell anybody out here, but sports fans are trained that this entertainment entity, this game that we all watch, sort of comes with this dynamic where we get to watch what you're doing, we get to know what your salaries are, and if we don't like what we're seeing in terms of performance and salary, if that doesn't all mask, we've got opinions about it. Now, maybe we shouldn't, maybe we should. We do. And what's hard for me is where do the officials or umpires fit into all that? And again I'm not trying to like take people's jobs from them, but I just get in situations like this, I think fans Kyle get really offended by this cocoon, this cocoon that surrounds referees and officials to the point where it's like we can't have an opinion, we're not allowed to speak freely about it, we have no access to them. It's completely against everything that we do in the rest of the professional sports process.

I think it's a fascinating idea, a really good idea. I also think this, and this is not to again I'm not trying to sell anybody out here, but sports fans are trained that this entertainment entity, this game that we all watch, sort of comes with this dynamic where we get to watch what you're doing, we get to know what your salaries are, and if we don't like what we're seeing in terms of performance and salary, if that doesn't all mask, we've got opinions about it. Now, maybe we shouldn't, maybe we should. We do. And what's hard for me is where do the officials or umpires fit into all that? And again I'm not trying to like take people's jobs from them, but I just get in situations like this, I think fans Kyle get really offended by this cocoon, this cocoon that surrounds referees and officials to the point where it's like we can't have an opinion, we're not allowed to speak freely about it, we have no access to them. It's completely against everything that we do in the rest of the professional sports process.

Yeah, you know one of the things, Like I said, I was standing up last night watching all the press conferences, and you know, Jared Goff admirably stood at the mic and said, look, it's totally more than just that play. You know, we had other opportunities. I should have thrown a pick on the drive before the two minute drive and yahda YadA. All that stuff is one hundred percent true. And like I said, I'm very admirable of him to take that stance. But then he goes, I may get fine for this, but Decker reported and Skipper did not, like, why do you have to preface telling the truth with I may get fined for this? And again, that was just add it to the list of things that drove me crazy last night after the game.

Yeah, you know one of the things, Like I said, I was standing up last night watching all the press conferences, and you know, Jared Goff admirably stood at the mic and said, look, it's totally more than just that play. You know, we had other opportunities. I should have thrown a pick on the drive before the two minute drive and yahda YadA. All that stuff is one hundred percent true. And like I said, I'm very admirable of him to take that stance. But then he goes, I may get fine for this, but Decker reported and Skipper did not, like, why do you have to preface telling the truth with I may get fined for this? And again, that was just add it to the list of things that drove me crazy last night after the game.

I'm glad you brought that up. Jared was fantastic in that conference last night, no doubt about it.

I'm glad you brought that up. Jared was fantastic in that conference last night, no doubt about it.

All.

All.

Right, How this affects Detroit and the rest of these teams, the seedings, the matchups, We'll get to all of that coming up next. Mark will and Kyle Rudolph Fox Sports Radio.

Right, How this affects Detroit and the rest of these teams, the seedings, the matchups, We'll get to all of that coming up next. Mark will and Kyle Rudolph Fox Sports Radio.

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.

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.

Yeah, we're having a good time. And where Kyle is, there's three hours left this year. I got six hours left where I am. Wherever you are, Happy New Year, Thanks for being with us as we ring it in. And maybe it's been a minute, and maybe it's just me, Kyle, but it's been. It's been difficult the last few years to get to tonight and go that was a pretty good year. We certainly didn't feel that way in twenty twenty. We certainly didn't feel that way in twenty twenty one. Last year felt a little fuzzier. Maybe it's just because for comparison's sake, we're looking at the last few. But I sit here tonight and go, okay.

Yeah, we're having a good time. And where Kyle is, there's three hours left this year. I got six hours left where I am. Wherever you are, Happy New Year, Thanks for being with us as we ring it in. And maybe it's been a minute, and maybe it's just me, Kyle, but it's been. It's been difficult the last few years to get to tonight and go that was a pretty good year. We certainly didn't feel that way in twenty twenty. We certainly didn't feel that way in twenty twenty one. Last year felt a little fuzzier. Maybe it's just because for comparison's sake, we're looking at the last few. But I sit here tonight and go, okay.

All right, we're getting better.

All right, we're getting better.

That was you know, we still got our issues. But twenty twenty three, when compared to the last three before it, Hey, nice job, good job twenty twenty three.

That was you know, we still got our issues. But twenty twenty three, when compared to the last three before it, Hey, nice job, good job twenty twenty three.

Yeah, as they say, we're trending. We're trending, so big, big things coming in twenty twenty four, let's hope so man.

Yeah, as they say, we're trending. We're trending, so big, big things coming in twenty twenty four, let's hope so man.

But yeah, happy New Year. We're broadcasting live ty rack dot com Studios tyrac dot com will help you get there unmatched selection, past free shipping. Free road has a protection over ten thousand recommended installers tyrack dot com. The way tire buying should be maybe not the sexiest conversation ever, but I know there's a handful of NFL cities out there thinking about this right now, and I certainly wonder what your perspective and experience is on this. So you know forty nine ers in Ravens as the number one examples. You look at Christian McCaffrey massaging his calf on the sideline. You know that Trent Williams had issues a week ago. You know that brock Parties had a couple of stingers the last few weeks, and we could go on Eric Armstead's foot injury. Now the Ravens have had a handful of injuries or unfortunately those guys Mark Andrews, Keith Mitchell, No, they're not coming back anytime soon. But for both of these teams, you look at it and you go, wow, two full weekends off, that is just what the doctor ordered. It's true, that's what the doctor ordered, but is it what your football productivity ordered? The idea of sitting out to con sayative weeks and then being asked to bang turn it on potentially three weeks from today and play a battle tested playoff team in your building feels dangerous.

But yeah, happy New Year. We're broadcasting live ty rack dot com Studios tyrac dot com will help you get there unmatched selection, past free shipping. Free road has a protection over ten thousand recommended installers tyrack dot com. The way tire buying should be maybe not the sexiest conversation ever, but I know there's a handful of NFL cities out there thinking about this right now, and I certainly wonder what your perspective and experience is on this. So you know forty nine ers in Ravens as the number one examples. You look at Christian McCaffrey massaging his calf on the sideline. You know that Trent Williams had issues a week ago. You know that brock Parties had a couple of stingers the last few weeks, and we could go on Eric Armstead's foot injury. Now the Ravens have had a handful of injuries or unfortunately those guys Mark Andrews, Keith Mitchell, No, they're not coming back anytime soon. But for both of these teams, you look at it and you go, wow, two full weekends off, that is just what the doctor ordered. It's true, that's what the doctor ordered, but is it what your football productivity ordered? The idea of sitting out to con sayative weeks and then being asked to bang turn it on potentially three weeks from today and play a battle tested playoff team in your building feels dangerous.

How would you play it.

How would you play it.

For me? Personally? I mean, I think the way that you have to approach it is, you know, this week, you know we're heading into the game, whether you're Baltimore or San fram both of the teams that will have the bye week coming next week, regardless, treat it like a normal week. You know, go through the week. Guys that are banged up, you're getting your treatment. You know, if you can practice practice. If we're gonna go walk through on Wednesday, we walk through on Wednesday, then we go fast on Thursday and Friday. You know, most teams are not going to put the pads on at all this week anyways. So I'm treating Monday through Saturday as if you know, this is a game that we need to go play and win. And then on Sunday Eve the same thing. Even if you want your starters to go through warm ups and you know, be dressed out, so it's not a full week off, you're just not playing game reps. On Sunday. These guys just went at it for seventeen weeks. Like having the game off of week eighteen and then going into a bye week is not going to affect you know, any of these guys productivity coming back out of it the following week. Now, do I think there are certain guys that you can say, hey, look, Christian Calf's banged up. Your get treatment for the next week and a half, and then you know, let's fire this thing up and get ready to go. You know, I need you at your best for two weeks in mid January, so we get a chance to go play in Vegas in February. You know that there are certain guys that you can task with that and they know exactly how to approach every single day and be locked in and not lose focus. So in the divisional round, you have a red hot Cleveland Browns team or a Los Angeles Rams team that would go to San Francisco if they wanted detroud. You know, like that's your worst nightmare. You you play a team who you know is hot and they just want a road playoff game, and now they're coming to you after a couple weeks off. But you know, I am a again. I had success with it when we did it in Minnesota. So like, I'm very Cleveland Browns. You're the five seed. Guess what, it's a bye week. My guys are not practicing this week. If they want to get a workout in tomorrow, they can get a workout in tomorrow. They can do something, you know, maybe get a run in on Tuesday or Wednesday, and then look, it's a bye week, you're gonna we're gonna be fresh when we go play the AFC South champ on the road. And you know, as it looks right now, like I don't know if Jacksonville, Houston or Indy wants to see Cleveland come to town come the third week of January, because you know, that's a team that has a really good defense, a coach that knows how to coach quarterbacks like anyone I've ever been around and get the most out of them, and a team that'll be all those old guys there, they'll be rested and ready to go.