December 20, 2024 • 23 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses why he felt so vindicated to hear Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick basically echo his sentiment that all the negative discourse coming from the Inside the NBA crew is bad for the League and hits us with a full recap of the Los Angeles Chargers’ critical Thursday Night Football win over the Denver Broncos, particularly as it relates to the AFC playoff race. Finally, J-Mac closes the show with his Best Bets for the upcoming NFL Week 16 weekend slate.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntire, Straight
Fire for Friday eighty Somber twenty, at the final weekend
before Christmas is upon us, folks. It's going to be
a chaotic weekend for everybody, whether you're traveling, whether you're hosting.
(00:31):
Either way, this is one of the crazy weekends. And oh,
by the way, we have an unbelievable football lineup, college
and pro. We'll get to all of that. We will
get to Thursday night football with a comeback by that Chargers.
Oh making me some money. It was spectacular. But I
actually want to start the podcast quickly talking about something
(00:53):
I've been avoiding for the last couple of days, and
that was my incendiary take, or as I guess one
podcast called the quick Take that inside the NBA is
doing damage to the NBA, and by damage, I mean
more damage than others. And you know, I said it
on the Herd, I don't know, Monday, Tuesday, whatever day
it was, and oh boy, a lot of folks were
(01:17):
coming after me. It was one of those days where, like,
you don't bother open social media much simply because it's
just a bunch of you're an idiot while you are
who is the skuy blah blah blah. They do usual nonsense,
not to really read a lot of it. But I
let things settle, and then I started to engage with
some people. And it's interesting when you have one of
(01:38):
these takes that is kind of aggressive. Everybody loves inside
the NBA. It's an institution. They fought to keep the
show after the NBA writes what to another network like
it was one of those moments. Everybody loves inside the NBA,
and for anybody to go after a sacred cow, it
is like, oh, what what are you doing? That's not allowed?
(01:59):
And slowly but surely, the tide starts turning and you're
seeing you start seeing some people, you know, I kind
of agree with this take, and some media people coming
around and then wait for it. On Thursday, Rob g
texts me a story in The New York Times slash
athletic JJ Reddick dishes, undeclining NBA ratings, this game should
(02:22):
be celebrated. What does JJ reddick know about hoops? You know,
a legendary high school player in Virginia goes to duke.
Everybody disliked him, but he was one of the greatest
scores the ACC's ever seen. He gets drafted in the NBA,
has a long, storied career, one of the best shooters
I played in the league forever. Now he is coaching
the Lakers, kind of high profile. Retick's done it all.
(02:43):
He knows more about basketball than I ever will, and
I love basketball, and I swear to you, if there
was like a Jeopardy where it was every category was
somehow related to basketball, college, pro whatever, I guarantee you
that I could hang with a lot of people. But
obviously JJ Reddick. Listen, this guy's a student of the game.
You know he knows a lot. So here people are
(03:06):
starting to ask around the league. Now, hey, what's what's
up with the declining NBA ratings? You know, TV ratings,
And frankly, the long and the short of it is,
nobody should really care about the ratings, honestly, unless you're
a broadcast partner of the NBA. But guess what, they
just got a new deal. So do you think the
NBA really cares? Not really, everybody got paid, everybody wins.
(03:28):
It's the TV networks that are like, oh, not great.
But I do want to preface this before you go
off on your tangents, and nineties NBA was better and
remember Jordan got huge ratings and all that nonsense. Like
the world has changed so much, guys in the last
thirty thirty five years. Okay, when I was a young
(03:48):
guy watching NBA, you basically had to hope there was
a game on the weekend. And there was no DVR,
there was no streaming, there was no I'll catch up
with the highlights on YouTube like that stuff did not existing.
That's tough for a lot of people to wrap their
head around. The NBA was scarce. It was like, oh
my gosh, I got it, there's a game on. I
gotta watch Magic Johnson. I can actually watch him. And
(04:09):
this was a guy growing up in Virginia. And so
fast forward to the nineties and it's still pretty damn scarce.
Then the Internet comes along and slowly starts to change things.
Quick sidebar, Do you know who the most popular franchise
in sports was in America right as the Internet comes about,
and that would be the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL.
(04:29):
And people still love the Cowboys. Why because when they
were emerging, you could go in chat rooms on AOL
and go online and you get all the information you
want about your team and chat with other people and
everybody like the Cowboys and they were on top. And
you know who was on top in the NBA because
Magic left and retired, and Larry Bird got hurt and left,
and Isaiah Thomas left and Michael Jordan ascended, and Michael
(04:51):
Jordan was on top. Just as the internet's popping. Just
file that stuff away. Anyways. I am a huge NBA guy.
You guys know that. I bet not as much this
year or last year in the regular season, but I
follow it closely. Loved the spord, playing multiple men's leagues.
I'm a huge NBA guy. I love college basketball as well.
But anytime I turn on inside the NBA, I see
(05:15):
negativity and it's like, hey, KD, he's a bus driver
because he's just switching teams all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Hahaha.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
This guy, oh yeah, he's just so weak and feeble. Remember,
you guys probably weren't around for this. Charles Barkley, you
can go look up the stories in the nineties, was
on the Sixers. They were never going anywhere. Demands a
trade to a contender, demands a trade to the Phoenix Suns.
They had a shot, they got to the finals. He
was the MVP of the league. That Peter's out. I
want to go to a contender. I want to go
(05:43):
to one of these teams and demands and forces his
way to. The Houston Rockets never won a title. Most
players force their way out and go wherever they want
and want to compete. That's just how it works. I'm
telling you Steph Curry could be next. I don't know
if you guys saw they lost by fifty last night. Anyways,
anytime I turn on, it's like we're making fun of
Kevin Durant. We're making fun of Anthony Davis because he's
(06:04):
called street clothes. And listen, I joke about Anthony Davis
that he's ad always down. Ha ha ha, folks, I'm
not a league partner. I'm not a league partner. TNT
those guys. That's a league partner when you're a partner
of a team and all you're doing is bashing. Oh,
all these guys shoot threes. The modern game stinks. They're soft.
(06:25):
There's no hand checking. It was so back in my date.
That's all they do. Yes, is it entertaining? Certainly? Is
it funny sometimes, sure, but it's relentless. And here goes
to the JJ Reddick quote, I don't think we have
done a good job of storytelling of celebrating the game.
(06:47):
If I'm a casual fan and you tell me every
time I turn on the television that the product sucks,
well I'm not gonna watch the product. And that's really
what has happened over the last ten to fifteen years.
I don't know why. It's not funny to me. And
the article says, but as the former NBA player and
ESPN analyst sees it, it's the negative discourse about the
game among national partners that is largely to blame. Reddick
(07:10):
did not specifically refer to inside the NBA, but and
the article doesn't mention me, But that's where they're going.
This game should be celebrated. The league is more talented
and skilled than it was eighteen years ago when I
was drafted. That's a fact. There are more players that
are excellent, there are more teams that are excellent. And
he goes Reddick goes on to say, listen, I'm not
expecting ball washing here, right. He doesn't say that I'm
(07:32):
saying it. I'm not expecting it all the time. But
I also don't expect negativity all the time. Like a
healthy medium, a healthy balance is good. And you know
you don't you turn on any of the NFL pregame shows, guys,
any of the NFL postgame shows. Go for it. Sunday Football.
Check out Sunday Night Football before who's played Packer Saints?
(07:53):
Go just check it out. If you are up for it,
check out any of the pregame shows CBS, NFL, ESPN.
Check them out on Sunday. I just do it. And
if you're also up for it, checkout College Game Day.
I don't know where they are this weekend. I would
assume there's somewhere. Maybe they're not, but go watch Game
Day sometime or big noon kickoff. Just check them out.
Those are all league partners. They cover the sport, the ups,
(08:14):
the downs. You do that. That's but you're not totally
completely blasting everybody into sport the way inside the NBA is.
And I just wanted to start by saying, hey, it's
nice that JJ Reddick has my back. Obviously he had
a podcast. I have a podcast, and now I'm done.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
All right, let's get to the NFL and the LA Chargers,
who look totally completely dead in the first half. I'm
just gonna quickly remind you in case you weren't watching,
you know, maybe checking out Yellowstone. By the way, I'm
almost finished Yellowstone. How good is his final season? Holy Hell?
Chargers go three and out Broncos ten plays, seventy two yards. Tuddy.
(09:05):
Chargers respond with a touchdown. Broncos next second possession, twelve plays,
seventy yards, Tuddy Chargers field goal. Broncos get the ball
back six plays, seventy yards, touchdown, twenty one to ten.
At this point, it's midway through the second quarter. Broncos
are on pace for five hundred yards offense. You're like,
oh my gosh, Chargers just gave up five hundred to
the Bucks. Jeez, Denver's gonna body bag them. And then
(09:27):
Burrow throws a brutal interception right around the goal line.
It was kind of a deep pass, but it was underthrown,
and you're like, oh man, this is not good. And
the Bronc. This is where the Broncos started to lose
the game. End of the half. You got forty one
seconds left and they decide, hey, um, let's try to
(09:49):
run this clock out. And bo Nicks goes backwards for
three yards uh, incomplete pass, and then Javonte Williams goes
nowhere and it's like boom, oh they didn't run the
clock out. Then it gets even worse. There's a punt.
The guy calls for a fair catch and the guy
on the Broncos drills him fifteen yard penalty all of
(10:11):
a sudden. Now I didn't even know this. I don't
think I've ever seen it. Maybe I had, like fifteen
years ago. But because there was a penalty, as time
expired and they were in field goal arranged, they could
do what's called a free let me see the exact terminology.
It's not called the field goal. It was like a
free kick, so nobody was on the field. You got
(10:31):
to have a holder, I mean, folks, it was like, wait, wait,
it might have been on a t shoot. I probably
should have checked that. I thought it was a holder.
Maybe it was on a tee. Either way, Dick or
the kicker blasts from fifty seven yards and all of
a sudden, a rotten first half twenty one to thirteen,
and you got some momentum. Like nobody in the stadium.
My buddy was there and he's like, nobody knew what
was going on. I did not know it. It was
(10:52):
a good catch by the broadcast crew. And you know,
a Broncos come out in the second half. A scripted
drive is a field goal twenty fourth team. And from
that point on, the Chargers dominated the football game. And
I've been looking into what may or may not have happened.
A lot of it has to do with the momentum
at the end of the first half. Yes, but justin
(11:14):
Herbert second half, eleven of sixteen for a buck forty four,
two touchdowns, he was on a mission. I don't know
if you saw some of his scrambles, his throat, his
touchdown throw on the run to Davis was spectacular. I
mean again, one of my buddies joke joked to me
on text, justin Herbert's throwing to Amazon Prime delivery guys,
I mean on these are the guys who scored touchdowns
(11:36):
for the Chargers. Gus the bust one yard touchdown run
and then it was field goal, field goal, gusts touchdown run,
and then Darius Davis the nineteen yard tuddy from Herbert
for the lead in the fourth quarter, which was spectacular pass.
And then Hassan Haskins from Michigan I believe, thirty four
yard little dump off from Herbert with excellent cuts to
(11:58):
put the game out of reach and give give everybody
the cover. That was pretty spectacular. But I gotta be honest,
I don't even know how the Chargers score thirty four
points when you're a lot as you lad. McConkie is excellent.
Josh Palmer had an amazing two point conversion catch. But
you tell me Stone Smart, are you familiar with that guy?
(12:20):
Tucker Fisk, Scott Matt Locke. If any of these guys
delivered a pizza to your house, you'd be like, thanks, dude,
all I have a good night. You would have no
idea if he's an NFL player. Hayden Hurst, who's back?
But I'm counting here three six That ten different guys
caught passes for the Chargers. I don't hurt. Harball really
is a freaking magician. And this is where it gets scary.
(12:42):
All of a sudden the Chargers, who were looking to
be in the seventh spot or even in danger of
missing the playoffs, now sweep Denver and own the tiebreaker
with the Broncos. The Chargers have an easier schedule the
rest of the way at New England and at Vegas.
Now that's definitely not easy. That'll be a cool weather
game and on the road against the Raiders, who will
(13:02):
probably be tanking, but you never know. Raiders are fighting
with Antonio Pierce. I would expect week eighteen they'll be
tanking for the number one pick. However, this is where
it gets scary. And let's turn to Denver. Denver's in
real jeopardy of missing the playoffs. And you know why,
the Cincinnati Bengals they have to visit the Jungle. I
don't know if they call it that anymore. It wasn't
(13:23):
like Ikey Woods. Time to look that guy up. Denver
at Cincinnati. Next uh, the next Sunday, I guess yeah,
next Sunday in a massive seismic game, folks, that is,
oh no, next Saturday. I apology Saturday, the twenty eighth
(13:43):
seismic game, because the guess what if the Bengals win
and the Broncos lose, then Denver faces must win against
wait for it, Kansas City in week eighteen. Now what's
interesting is will KSE have locked up the number one
seed where they start Carson once in week eighteen? A
lot to be determined, but I'll tell you right now,
(14:05):
Denver's gonna be a dog in Cincinnati, and it could
be a considerable one. If you're a Bengals fan, you
are all of a sudden fired up. Now you might
be asking, well, how does Denver go from touchdown, touchdown,
touchdown on the first three drives to nothing after that?
And I looked at the and I put this on
social media, the passing chart, next gen stats. It was
(14:27):
all free the passing chart of bo Nicks. So he
had one completion over fifteen yards and that was a
fifteen or sixteen yard completion in the air, Okay. And
then you start looking and you're like, oh, okay, there's
an oh we well, everything's behind the line of scrimmage.
Let me count them up. One two thirteen pass completions
at or behind the line of scrimmage. Thirteen. That's almost
(14:50):
half of his twenty nine passes. We're at or behind
the line of scrimmage. Is that football? Seriously? Thirteen? So
what the Chargers did was they adapted. They're like, oh,
this guy I want to throw downfield. He doesn't have confidence,
especially not against man. If you play zone, he'll cook
you up. So just Minter went with the too high
safety press coverage and oh, by the way, yeah, let's
(15:11):
start setting the blitz. And you know, I listen. Bo
Nix is a young guy. He's got a lot to learn.
He was under duress. It felt like the entire second half.
Now they only sacked him twice, but it felt like
the pressures were many. You look up quarterback hits, I
only see four two by Twoy Poloto, who I liked
(15:32):
that guy. Man, he's good. Bud Dupre had an awesome sack.
Bosa had one, but the duress that bo Nicks was
facing forced him to just dump off, get the ball out.
I got to get rid of it. And they could
not move the football at all in the second half.
They're very limited. I'm doing a mock draft for Fox Sports.
I sent it in tomorrow, actually today, I'll send it in.
(15:54):
And I don't really know if you can go defense
with the Broncos because that it's that kind of performance
that we just saw last night, where we're like, oh man,
these guys need some help. Bo Nicks need some help
on the outside. I just don't know if Sean Payton thinks, hey,
we can find a Marvin Mims. We can find at
Troy Franklin. We don't need to go wide receiver in
the first round. We need value. We need pass rush.
(16:16):
And in a division with Herbert probably Shador Sanders and
Patrick Mahomes, I think you want a pass rush. So
pretty disappointing result for the Broncos. I haven't seen percentage
chances of them missing the playoffs. But man, if the
Bengals beat up on the Browns this weekend and we'll
do best bets here shortly, and I think the Bengals
are my number one play or were I don't know
(16:36):
what that line's going to get up to it. But
then all of a sudden, I think Denver Cincinnati becomes
the best game on next week. I mean that is huge.
And remember last week Denver was in one of those
massive games where they kind of eliminated the Colts and
they got lucky, and I tried to tell you, guys,
I don't think Denver's great. They look good at times,
but man, they are very, very limited. So congrats to
(16:59):
Herbert and Harball. And I'll say this, the Chargers may
not scare anybody now, but if this team gets JK.
Dobbins back for that playoff game and he's ninety, that's
gonna be a tough out because Dobbins really changes this
offense because he can catch passes and he's just quick. Gus,
(17:19):
the bus guys are rumbling, bumbling, stumble. He just doesn't
look fast. And yeah, Chargers could be a tough out.
And uh, I'm excited for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
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. The only thing better than sitting on your
couch watching the games. He's making money while you do it.
(17:50):
Here's your best bet.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
All right, let's get your best bets. We'll start with
college obviously, Indiana at Notre Dame. Listen. We did the
Brad Powers podcast yesterday. Numbers haven't really moved for the
college football playoff. I think I told you guys. My
big college football bet is a teaser and Brad Powers
was a little surprised at three teamer, but I got
Notre Dame down to one and a half, Penn State
(18:14):
to two, in Ohio State to one and a half.
You know, I may just add another one, removing Ohio State.
Just the two teamer. I like getting one or nothing,
but college a little bit different because I don't think
the kickers are nearly as reliable right, so I'd like
to get one or zero. But I may not need
(18:36):
to worry much because there is money coming in on Indiana.
There is money coming in on Tennessee. Penn State's numbers
going the other way. Texas obviously, straight up I had
them minus twelve. I think they cover easily. That to
me looks like a forty to seventeen type Texas beat down.
I'm not as high on Clemson as others, but I
don't know if they're going to offer many props in
college football, but I will. I'll certainly be looking excited
(18:58):
for Notre Dame tonight. I really need the Irish here.
Indiana had a great season. Sorry to the Indiana Hoosiers
fans out there, but like I want to see Notre Dame,
you know, in second weekend, and if you listen to
the Brad Power stuff, Notre Dame Georgia is could be
a good one. All right, NFL best bets. Oh boy,
here we go under forty five and a half Eagles Washington.
(19:22):
You guys know the drill in that one, pretty pretty obvious.
AJ Brown will see the Eagles injury report. Oh my gosh,
it is now that a lot of the guys are
saying rest. But they had I believe the early buy.
I'd have to double check that. But if you just
look at their guys, like Wednesday, Saquon did not practice,
(19:44):
AJ Brown, did not practice, Landed Dickerson on the offensive line,
Lane Johnson, Cam Jurgens, Jordan Mailatto, Devonte Smith. That's like
almost the entire offense did not practice. Now fast forward
to yesterday and you got a lot of guys back
with the full practice. AJ Brown, I'm still banged up,
only a light practice, and he's the guy to watch.
You guys know this. The offense without AJ Brown is
(20:06):
not the same. DeVonta Smith is very good, but they
don't have Goddard. He's on ir I'm on Washington here.
I don't totally love it, but under forty five in
Eagles Washington over forty seven in the Arizona Carolina And
how about this one. I haven't done this in a while,
not only over for the full game, but over twenty
three and a half first half Arizona Carolina. Here's the
(20:30):
problem betting this for me? I'm facing Kyler Murray or no,
is my son facing Yeah, my son is facing Kyler Murray.
Well we're a team, but in the Fantasy Football Championship,
And you know he's very excited. A lot of money
on the line. If you heard last week, you know
again it's eighth graders. But I don't want Kyler to
have success. So that's why I'm just doing the over.
(20:52):
This could be like a James Conner one hundred and
ninety five yard game. Kyler Murray is on record this
week saying I don't know if you guys saw the clip.
He was like, they asked about cold weather in Carolina.
He's like, well, I've played in cold weather before. How
cold is it supposed to be? And they go thirty
five degrees and he's like, oh shit, and everybody starts laughing. Listen, man,
I don't think he's gonna want to be running around
in that cold weather. So hopefully, you know, we got
(21:16):
a Carolina team that's gonna be frisky, and I think
a lot of points happen. So over forty seven full
game over twenty three and a half first half, final
total is Jets Rams over forty six and a half.
I think there will be points. I'll just go on record.
I don't want the Jets to win, but I think
they will put up a fight and possibly upset the
Rams in this one outdoors games straight up. Cincinnati minus
(21:38):
seven and a half, minus eight. Love the Bengals. I've
got them be in like four teasers. I don't think
they're gonna lose to Dorian Thompson Robinson. If they do,
I will get my clock cleaned and it will be
a cold in the stocking kind of Christmas. Houston plus
three against Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes is going to start. Okay,
he's gotta start. Remember, guys, you know it looked bad.
(21:59):
He was carted out after the locker room. You know
the Chiefs opened up. Is I think three point dogs.
They're now favored. Just give me Houston. I can't deal
with this. I took Washington plus three against Philly. For
the aj Brown reasons. A little concerned about Washington just
getting three, but we'll see. Keep an eye on that one.
(22:23):
I do like Green Bay minus fourteen on Monday Night
football against the Saints and Spencer Rattler, although that fourteen
is down fourteen and a half. Not great, but I
don't mind landing the lumber. I think the Packers take
care of business in inclement weather. I don't know if
Spencer Ratler is going to be able to handle it
against this Packer this This should be an easy smash spot.
(22:44):
I actually picked up the Packers defense for fantasy this week.
Tampa Bay minus four at Dallas. I really like Tampa
Bay here. That Dallas team man at home. You guys
know this at home against good running games and fast players,
they just keep getting embarrassed. I would not be shocked
(23:05):
if Bucky Irving and Rashad White went nuts in this one.
So I like Tampa minus four. The teasers I have
are Sincey Baltimore's That would be my number one teaser
because it sounds like no pickens. He's been ruled out,
but TJ. Watt will play, which is obviously huge for
Baltimore against the Steelers and then I have a sincey
Atlanta Tampa teaser, and then a Kansas City No, no,
(23:29):
I'm sorry, not Kansas, Houston, Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore. So you guys,
I'm loaded up on the Bengals here. Obviously that could
be risky, but it should be a good weekend, a
fun when Next week we'll have podcasts on Monday, and
I'm not sure after that, we'll definitely have one later
in the week, probably a Monday a Monday podcast for sure,
(23:51):
and then I'm not sure what else. We'll figure it
out on the fly. All Right, have a great one,
talk to you then,
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntire, Straight
Fire for Friday eighty Somber twenty, at the final weekend
before Christmas is upon us, folks. It's going to be
a chaotic weekend for everybody, whether you're traveling, whether you're hosting.
(00:31):
Either way, this is one of the crazy weekends. And oh,
by the way, we have an unbelievable football lineup, college
and pro. We'll get to all of that. We will
get to Thursday night football with a comeback by that Chargers.
Oh making me some money. It was spectacular. But I
actually want to start the podcast quickly talking about something
(00:53):
I've been avoiding for the last couple of days, and
that was my incendiary take, or as I guess one
podcast called the quick Take that inside the NBA is
doing damage to the NBA, and by damage, I mean
more damage than others. And you know, I said it
on the Herd, I don't know, Monday, Tuesday, whatever day
it was, and oh boy, a lot of folks were
(01:17):
coming after me. It was one of those days where, like,
you don't bother open social media much simply because it's
just a bunch of you're an idiot while you are
who is the skuy blah blah blah. They do usual nonsense,
not to really read a lot of it. But I
let things settle, and then I started to engage with
some people. And it's interesting when you have one of
(01:38):
these takes that is kind of aggressive. Everybody loves inside
the NBA. It's an institution. They fought to keep the
show after the NBA writes what to another network like
it was one of those moments. Everybody loves inside the NBA,
and for anybody to go after a sacred cow, it
is like, oh, what what are you doing? That's not allowed?
(01:59):
And slowly but surely, the tide starts turning and you're
seeing you start seeing some people, you know, I kind
of agree with this take, and some media people coming
around and then wait for it. On Thursday, Rob g
texts me a story in The New York Times slash
athletic JJ Reddick dishes, undeclining NBA ratings, this game should
(02:22):
be celebrated. What does JJ reddick know about hoops? You know,
a legendary high school player in Virginia goes to duke.
Everybody disliked him, but he was one of the greatest
scores the ACC's ever seen. He gets drafted in the NBA,
has a long, storied career, one of the best shooters
I played in the league forever. Now he is coaching
the Lakers, kind of high profile. Retick's done it all.
(02:43):
He knows more about basketball than I ever will, and
I love basketball, and I swear to you, if there
was like a Jeopardy where it was every category was
somehow related to basketball, college, pro whatever, I guarantee you
that I could hang with a lot of people. But
obviously JJ Reddick. Listen, this guy's a student of the game.
You know he knows a lot. So here people are
(03:06):
starting to ask around the league. Now, hey, what's what's
up with the declining NBA ratings? You know, TV ratings,
And frankly, the long and the short of it is,
nobody should really care about the ratings, honestly, unless you're
a broadcast partner of the NBA. But guess what, they
just got a new deal. So do you think the
NBA really cares? Not really, everybody got paid, everybody wins.
(03:28):
It's the TV networks that are like, oh, not great.
But I do want to preface this before you go
off on your tangents, and nineties NBA was better and
remember Jordan got huge ratings and all that nonsense. Like
the world has changed so much, guys in the last
thirty thirty five years. Okay, when I was a young
(03:48):
guy watching NBA, you basically had to hope there was
a game on the weekend. And there was no DVR,
there was no streaming, there was no I'll catch up
with the highlights on YouTube like that stuff did not existing.
That's tough for a lot of people to wrap their
head around. The NBA was scarce. It was like, oh
my gosh, I got it, there's a game on. I
gotta watch Magic Johnson. I can actually watch him. And
(04:09):
this was a guy growing up in Virginia. And so
fast forward to the nineties and it's still pretty damn scarce.
Then the Internet comes along and slowly starts to change things.
Quick sidebar, Do you know who the most popular franchise
in sports was in America right as the Internet comes about,
and that would be the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL.
(04:29):
And people still love the Cowboys. Why because when they
were emerging, you could go in chat rooms on AOL
and go online and you get all the information you
want about your team and chat with other people and
everybody like the Cowboys and they were on top. And
you know who was on top in the NBA because
Magic left and retired, and Larry Bird got hurt and left,
and Isaiah Thomas left and Michael Jordan ascended, and Michael
(04:51):
Jordan was on top. Just as the internet's popping. Just
file that stuff away. Anyways. I am a huge NBA guy.
You guys know that. I bet not as much this
year or last year in the regular season, but I
follow it closely. Loved the spord, playing multiple men's leagues.
I'm a huge NBA guy. I love college basketball as well.
But anytime I turn on inside the NBA, I see
(05:15):
negativity and it's like, hey, KD, he's a bus driver
because he's just switching teams all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Hahaha.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
This guy, oh yeah, he's just so weak and feeble. Remember,
you guys probably weren't around for this. Charles Barkley, you
can go look up the stories in the nineties, was
on the Sixers. They were never going anywhere. Demands a
trade to a contender, demands a trade to the Phoenix Suns.
They had a shot, they got to the finals. He
was the MVP of the league. That Peter's out. I
want to go to a contender. I want to go
(05:43):
to one of these teams and demands and forces his
way to. The Houston Rockets never won a title. Most
players force their way out and go wherever they want
and want to compete. That's just how it works. I'm
telling you Steph Curry could be next. I don't know
if you guys saw they lost by fifty last night. Anyways,
anytime I turn on, it's like we're making fun of
Kevin Durant. We're making fun of Anthony Davis because he's
(06:04):
called street clothes. And listen, I joke about Anthony Davis
that he's ad always down. Ha ha ha, folks, I'm
not a league partner. I'm not a league partner. TNT
those guys. That's a league partner when you're a partner
of a team and all you're doing is bashing. Oh,
all these guys shoot threes. The modern game stinks. They're soft.
(06:25):
There's no hand checking. It was so back in my date.
That's all they do. Yes, is it entertaining? Certainly? Is
it funny sometimes, sure, but it's relentless. And here goes
to the JJ Reddick quote, I don't think we have
done a good job of storytelling of celebrating the game.
(06:47):
If I'm a casual fan and you tell me every
time I turn on the television that the product sucks,
well I'm not gonna watch the product. And that's really
what has happened over the last ten to fifteen years.
I don't know why. It's not funny to me. And
the article says, but as the former NBA player and
ESPN analyst sees it, it's the negative discourse about the
game among national partners that is largely to blame. Reddick
(07:10):
did not specifically refer to inside the NBA, but and
the article doesn't mention me, But that's where they're going.
This game should be celebrated. The league is more talented
and skilled than it was eighteen years ago when I
was drafted. That's a fact. There are more players that
are excellent, there are more teams that are excellent. And
he goes Reddick goes on to say, listen, I'm not
expecting ball washing here, right. He doesn't say that I'm
(07:32):
saying it. I'm not expecting it all the time. But
I also don't expect negativity all the time. Like a
healthy medium, a healthy balance is good. And you know
you don't you turn on any of the NFL pregame shows, guys,
any of the NFL postgame shows. Go for it. Sunday Football.
Check out Sunday Night Football before who's played Packer Saints?
(07:53):
Go just check it out. If you are up for it,
check out any of the pregame shows CBS, NFL, ESPN.
Check them out on Sunday. I just do it. And
if you're also up for it, checkout College Game Day.
I don't know where they are this weekend. I would
assume there's somewhere. Maybe they're not, but go watch Game
Day sometime or big noon kickoff. Just check them out.
Those are all league partners. They cover the sport, the ups,
(08:14):
the downs. You do that. That's but you're not totally
completely blasting everybody into sport the way inside the NBA is.
And I just wanted to start by saying, hey, it's
nice that JJ Reddick has my back. Obviously he had
a podcast. I have a podcast, and now I'm done.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
All right, let's get to the NFL and the LA Chargers,
who look totally completely dead in the first half. I'm
just gonna quickly remind you in case you weren't watching,
you know, maybe checking out Yellowstone. By the way, I'm
almost finished Yellowstone. How good is his final season? Holy Hell?
Chargers go three and out Broncos ten plays, seventy two yards. Tuddy.
(09:05):
Chargers respond with a touchdown. Broncos next second possession, twelve plays,
seventy yards, Tuddy Chargers field goal. Broncos get the ball
back six plays, seventy yards, touchdown, twenty one to ten.
At this point, it's midway through the second quarter. Broncos
are on pace for five hundred yards offense. You're like,
oh my gosh, Chargers just gave up five hundred to
the Bucks. Jeez, Denver's gonna body bag them. And then
(09:27):
Burrow throws a brutal interception right around the goal line.
It was kind of a deep pass, but it was underthrown,
and you're like, oh man, this is not good. And
the Bronc. This is where the Broncos started to lose
the game. End of the half. You got forty one
seconds left and they decide, hey, um, let's try to
(09:49):
run this clock out. And bo Nicks goes backwards for
three yards uh, incomplete pass, and then Javonte Williams goes
nowhere and it's like boom, oh they didn't run the
clock out. Then it gets even worse. There's a punt.
The guy calls for a fair catch and the guy
on the Broncos drills him fifteen yard penalty all of
(10:11):
a sudden. Now I didn't even know this. I don't
think I've ever seen it. Maybe I had, like fifteen
years ago. But because there was a penalty, as time
expired and they were in field goal arranged, they could
do what's called a free let me see the exact terminology.
It's not called the field goal. It was like a
free kick, so nobody was on the field. You got
(10:31):
to have a holder, I mean, folks, it was like, wait, wait,
it might have been on a t shoot. I probably
should have checked that. I thought it was a holder.
Maybe it was on a tee. Either way, Dick or
the kicker blasts from fifty seven yards and all of
a sudden, a rotten first half twenty one to thirteen,
and you got some momentum. Like nobody in the stadium.
My buddy was there and he's like, nobody knew what
was going on. I did not know it. It was
(10:52):
a good catch by the broadcast crew. And you know,
a Broncos come out in the second half. A scripted
drive is a field goal twenty fourth team. And from
that point on, the Chargers dominated the football game. And
I've been looking into what may or may not have happened.
A lot of it has to do with the momentum
at the end of the first half. Yes, but justin
(11:14):
Herbert second half, eleven of sixteen for a buck forty four,
two touchdowns, he was on a mission. I don't know
if you saw some of his scrambles, his throat, his
touchdown throw on the run to Davis was spectacular. I
mean again, one of my buddies joke joked to me
on text, justin Herbert's throwing to Amazon Prime delivery guys,
I mean on these are the guys who scored touchdowns
(11:36):
for the Chargers. Gus the bust one yard touchdown run
and then it was field goal, field goal, gusts touchdown run,
and then Darius Davis the nineteen yard tuddy from Herbert
for the lead in the fourth quarter, which was spectacular pass.
And then Hassan Haskins from Michigan I believe, thirty four
yard little dump off from Herbert with excellent cuts to
(11:58):
put the game out of reach and give give everybody
the cover. That was pretty spectacular. But I gotta be honest,
I don't even know how the Chargers score thirty four
points when you're a lot as you lad. McConkie is excellent.
Josh Palmer had an amazing two point conversion catch. But
you tell me Stone Smart, are you familiar with that guy?
(12:20):
Tucker Fisk, Scott Matt Locke. If any of these guys
delivered a pizza to your house, you'd be like, thanks, dude,
all I have a good night. You would have no
idea if he's an NFL player. Hayden Hurst, who's back?
But I'm counting here three six That ten different guys
caught passes for the Chargers. I don't hurt. Harball really
is a freaking magician. And this is where it gets scary.
(12:42):
All of a sudden the Chargers, who were looking to
be in the seventh spot or even in danger of
missing the playoffs, now sweep Denver and own the tiebreaker
with the Broncos. The Chargers have an easier schedule the
rest of the way at New England and at Vegas.
Now that's definitely not easy. That'll be a cool weather
game and on the road against the Raiders, who will
(13:02):
probably be tanking, but you never know. Raiders are fighting
with Antonio Pierce. I would expect week eighteen they'll be
tanking for the number one pick. However, this is where
it gets scary. And let's turn to Denver. Denver's in
real jeopardy of missing the playoffs. And you know why,
the Cincinnati Bengals they have to visit the Jungle. I
don't know if they call it that anymore. It wasn't
(13:23):
like Ikey Woods. Time to look that guy up. Denver
at Cincinnati. Next uh, the next Sunday, I guess yeah,
next Sunday in a massive seismic game, folks, that is,
oh no, next Saturday. I apology Saturday, the twenty eighth
(13:43):
seismic game, because the guess what if the Bengals win
and the Broncos lose, then Denver faces must win against
wait for it, Kansas City in week eighteen. Now what's
interesting is will KSE have locked up the number one
seed where they start Carson once in week eighteen? A
lot to be determined, but I'll tell you right now,
(14:05):
Denver's gonna be a dog in Cincinnati, and it could
be a considerable one. If you're a Bengals fan, you
are all of a sudden fired up. Now you might
be asking, well, how does Denver go from touchdown, touchdown,
touchdown on the first three drives to nothing after that?
And I looked at the and I put this on
social media, the passing chart, next gen stats. It was
(14:27):
all free the passing chart of bo Nicks. So he
had one completion over fifteen yards and that was a
fifteen or sixteen yard completion in the air, Okay. And
then you start looking and you're like, oh, okay, there's
an oh we well, everything's behind the line of scrimmage.
Let me count them up. One two thirteen pass completions
at or behind the line of scrimmage. Thirteen. That's almost
(14:50):
half of his twenty nine passes. We're at or behind
the line of scrimmage. Is that football? Seriously? Thirteen? So
what the Chargers did was they adapted. They're like, oh,
this guy I want to throw downfield. He doesn't have confidence,
especially not against man. If you play zone, he'll cook
you up. So just Minter went with the too high
safety press coverage and oh, by the way, yeah, let's
(15:11):
start setting the blitz. And you know, I listen. Bo
Nix is a young guy. He's got a lot to learn.
He was under duress. It felt like the entire second half.
Now they only sacked him twice, but it felt like
the pressures were many. You look up quarterback hits, I
only see four two by Twoy Poloto, who I liked
(15:32):
that guy. Man, he's good. Bud Dupre had an awesome sack.
Bosa had one, but the duress that bo Nicks was
facing forced him to just dump off, get the ball out.
I got to get rid of it. And they could
not move the football at all in the second half.
They're very limited. I'm doing a mock draft for Fox Sports.
I sent it in tomorrow, actually today, I'll send it in.
(15:54):
And I don't really know if you can go defense
with the Broncos because that it's that kind of performance
that we just saw last night, where we're like, oh man,
these guys need some help. Bo Nicks need some help
on the outside. I just don't know if Sean Payton thinks, hey,
we can find a Marvin Mims. We can find at
Troy Franklin. We don't need to go wide receiver in
the first round. We need value. We need pass rush.
(16:16):
And in a division with Herbert probably Shador Sanders and
Patrick Mahomes, I think you want a pass rush. So
pretty disappointing result for the Broncos. I haven't seen percentage
chances of them missing the playoffs. But man, if the
Bengals beat up on the Browns this weekend and we'll
do best bets here shortly, and I think the Bengals
are my number one play or were I don't know
(16:36):
what that line's going to get up to it. But
then all of a sudden, I think Denver Cincinnati becomes
the best game on next week. I mean that is huge.
And remember last week Denver was in one of those
massive games where they kind of eliminated the Colts and
they got lucky, and I tried to tell you, guys,
I don't think Denver's great. They look good at times,
but man, they are very, very limited. So congrats to
(16:59):
Herbert and Harball. And I'll say this, the Chargers may
not scare anybody now, but if this team gets JK.
Dobbins back for that playoff game and he's ninety, that's
gonna be a tough out because Dobbins really changes this
offense because he can catch passes and he's just quick. Gus,
(17:19):
the bus guys are rumbling, bumbling, stumble. He just doesn't
look fast. And yeah, Chargers could be a tough out.
And uh, I'm excited for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
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. The only thing better than sitting on your
couch watching the games. He's making money while you do it.
(17:50):
Here's your best bet.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
All right, let's get your best bets. We'll start with
college obviously, Indiana at Notre Dame. Listen. We did the
Brad Powers podcast yesterday. Numbers haven't really moved for the
college football playoff. I think I told you guys. My
big college football bet is a teaser and Brad Powers
was a little surprised at three teamer, but I got
Notre Dame down to one and a half, Penn State
(18:14):
to two, in Ohio State to one and a half.
You know, I may just add another one, removing Ohio State.
Just the two teamer. I like getting one or nothing,
but college a little bit different because I don't think
the kickers are nearly as reliable right, so I'd like
to get one or zero. But I may not need
(18:36):
to worry much because there is money coming in on Indiana.
There is money coming in on Tennessee. Penn State's numbers
going the other way. Texas obviously, straight up I had
them minus twelve. I think they cover easily. That to
me looks like a forty to seventeen type Texas beat down.
I'm not as high on Clemson as others, but I
don't know if they're going to offer many props in
college football, but I will. I'll certainly be looking excited
(18:58):
for Notre Dame tonight. I really need the Irish here.
Indiana had a great season. Sorry to the Indiana Hoosiers
fans out there, but like I want to see Notre Dame,
you know, in second weekend, and if you listen to
the Brad Power stuff, Notre Dame Georgia is could be
a good one. All right, NFL best bets. Oh boy,
here we go under forty five and a half Eagles Washington.
(19:22):
You guys know the drill in that one, pretty pretty obvious.
AJ Brown will see the Eagles injury report. Oh my gosh,
it is now that a lot of the guys are
saying rest. But they had I believe the early buy.
I'd have to double check that. But if you just
look at their guys, like Wednesday, Saquon did not practice,
(19:44):
AJ Brown, did not practice, Landed Dickerson on the offensive line,
Lane Johnson, Cam Jurgens, Jordan Mailatto, Devonte Smith. That's like
almost the entire offense did not practice. Now fast forward
to yesterday and you got a lot of guys back
with the full practice. AJ Brown, I'm still banged up,
only a light practice, and he's the guy to watch.
You guys know this. The offense without AJ Brown is
(20:06):
not the same. DeVonta Smith is very good, but they
don't have Goddard. He's on ir I'm on Washington here.
I don't totally love it, but under forty five in
Eagles Washington over forty seven in the Arizona Carolina And
how about this one. I haven't done this in a while,
not only over for the full game, but over twenty
three and a half first half Arizona Carolina. Here's the
(20:30):
problem betting this for me? I'm facing Kyler Murray or no,
is my son facing Yeah, my son is facing Kyler Murray.
Well we're a team, but in the Fantasy Football Championship,
And you know he's very excited. A lot of money
on the line. If you heard last week, you know
again it's eighth graders. But I don't want Kyler to
have success. So that's why I'm just doing the over.
(20:52):
This could be like a James Conner one hundred and
ninety five yard game. Kyler Murray is on record this
week saying I don't know if you guys saw the clip.
He was like, they asked about cold weather in Carolina.
He's like, well, I've played in cold weather before. How
cold is it supposed to be? And they go thirty
five degrees and he's like, oh shit, and everybody starts laughing. Listen, man,
I don't think he's gonna want to be running around
in that cold weather. So hopefully, you know, we got
(21:16):
a Carolina team that's gonna be frisky, and I think
a lot of points happen. So over forty seven full
game over twenty three and a half first half, final
total is Jets Rams over forty six and a half.
I think there will be points. I'll just go on record.
I don't want the Jets to win, but I think
they will put up a fight and possibly upset the
Rams in this one outdoors games straight up. Cincinnati minus
(21:38):
seven and a half, minus eight. Love the Bengals. I've
got them be in like four teasers. I don't think
they're gonna lose to Dorian Thompson Robinson. If they do,
I will get my clock cleaned and it will be
a cold in the stocking kind of Christmas. Houston plus
three against Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes is going to start. Okay,
he's gotta start. Remember, guys, you know it looked bad.
(21:59):
He was carted out after the locker room. You know
the Chiefs opened up. Is I think three point dogs.
They're now favored. Just give me Houston. I can't deal
with this. I took Washington plus three against Philly. For
the aj Brown reasons. A little concerned about Washington just
getting three, but we'll see. Keep an eye on that one.
(22:23):
I do like Green Bay minus fourteen on Monday Night
football against the Saints and Spencer Rattler, although that fourteen
is down fourteen and a half. Not great, but I
don't mind landing the lumber. I think the Packers take
care of business in inclement weather. I don't know if
Spencer Ratler is going to be able to handle it
against this Packer this This should be an easy smash spot.
(22:44):
I actually picked up the Packers defense for fantasy this week.
Tampa Bay minus four at Dallas. I really like Tampa
Bay here. That Dallas team man at home. You guys
know this at home against good running games and fast players,
they just keep getting embarrassed. I would not be shocked
(23:05):
if Bucky Irving and Rashad White went nuts in this one.
So I like Tampa minus four. The teasers I have
are Sincey Baltimore's That would be my number one teaser
because it sounds like no pickens. He's been ruled out,
but TJ. Watt will play, which is obviously huge for
Baltimore against the Steelers and then I have a sincey
Atlanta Tampa teaser, and then a Kansas City No, no,
(23:29):
I'm sorry, not Kansas, Houston, Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore. So you guys,
I'm loaded up on the Bengals here. Obviously that could
be risky, but it should be a good weekend, a
fun when Next week we'll have podcasts on Monday, and
I'm not sure after that, we'll definitely have one later
in the week, probably a Monday a Monday podcast for sure,
(23:51):
and then I'm not sure what else. We'll figure it
out on the fly. All Right, have a great one,
talk to you then,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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