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It is. The J.R. Sport Brief Show. on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.
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The Infinity Sports Network. We've discussed a lot, of course, the college football playoff. We got the bracket released yesterday, the final rankings, a lot of words from Notre Dame. And thank you so much to our guest, Brian Fisher, for joining us from Sports Illustrated as we had a conversation about the college football playoff. We talked about the coaching.
What could we expect? It was a great conversation. Thank you so much to Brian. Fisher.
Okay? We talked about, well, how about this? I can't believe it. Philip Rivers might be back. The Indianapolis Colts said Daniel Jones is out, Okay.
Let's bring in a forty four year old quarterback who might be able to help us out. Let's see if Philip Rivers sticks with the Indianapolis Colts. Shador Sanders is in. We talked about the Steelers. We'll get into the Chiefs.
The Chiefs look done. We talked about the Ravens. Ravens look done after losing to the Steelers. Congratulations to the Texans on beating the Chiefs. We got so much more to get into.
A matter of fact to talk all things NFL. We're going to be joined by Luke Easterling. From Athlon Sports. He talks all things NFL. He'll be here with us in about 20 minutes.
In about 15 minutes, the conclusion of week 14 of the NFL season is upon us. As the Eagles get ready to take on the Los Angeles Chargers NLA, Both teams stand at eight and four. The Eagles are your defending Super Bowl champs. Got the Chargers, they're still trying to roll out here. I mean there's a lot to get into.
And of course, as we continue with the show, there's more for us to get into. Talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. And if you want to be a part of the show. You can call up. 888-710 for ISN.
That's 888-710-48. four I S N You can find me online. I exist everywhere. I am at JR Sport brief. Not hard to find.
Man, we waiting on this. Monday Night Football Game. I feel like the story of the Eagles all season long. It's been misery. I mean, for a team, now they're on a two-game losing streak.
They started 8-2.
Now they're 8-4. Damn it, if they lose tonight, they'll be 8-5. People in Philadelphia will be ready to just kind of crucify them and send them straight to hell. But it feels like all season long. The Eagles story has been their offense.
What is their identity? Who are they? What can they do? You got A.J. Brown complaining about his touches and his catches.
You got Saquon Barkley, who ultimately, for a dude who went past 2,000 yards rushing last season, he seems like more of an afterthought right now. And after losing to the Chicago Bears on Black Friday and just a couple of days before that, losing to the Dallas Cowboys, people are looking at Philadelphia going, well, how much more losing? Are you all gonna do? And it was a legitimate point throughout the course of the season that The Eagles are just gonna Turn things on and not necessarily flip the switch, but that they had enough time to figure things out.
Well, damn it, now they've played. twelve games. They're running out of time. Tonight will be their 13th game. You want people to get on a streak.
As they enter into the postseason, and you want them to go on a roll. Jalen Hurts criticized for the amount of yards that he goes down the field. Saquon Barkley criticised for the offensive line and how many yards he's producing. AJ Brown criticized for his social media usage as he complains about when and where he gets the ball. It's tough.
You know, when you win, you have so many expectations to just Keep it rolling. Maybe for the Philadelphia Eagles last year was was too much. Loo too tough. Saquon Barkley says Look, you're going to have your ups, you're going to have your downs in the NFL. That's just the nature of the beast.
Listen to Saquon tell you. It's part of the game, part of the football at the NFL. You're going to have wins and losses, but it's how you bounce back. And I think we're doing a really good job of that. We're excited.
We're excited to go out there and put on performance that people can be proud of, and especially us in this building, we can be proud of. Yeah, well everything that they they want to be proud of. I mean, I told you about Saquon Barkley last year rushing for two thousand yards. He only has seven hundred and forty yards rushing this year to two touchdowns. And Okay, that's much less than what we got last year.
And then you got Jail and Hurt, too. If you just look at the numbers, you go a touchdown to turnover ratio or INT ratio of 19 to 2. It's what you would want from any QB. But people look at Jalen Hurts and it's just like, well, bro, when are y'all gonna air the ball out? When are we gonna see some opportunities for some of the other guys?
And Jalen Hurts, he looks at the entire team. He looks at the offense, he looks at the injuries to their line, he looks at the changes, and he says, It's not too late. We can change things. We can get things fixed. We've got ways that we can improve, obviously.
I'm seeing how we, you know, seeing our efficiency and seeing some of the things that we pride ourselves in, and we're just not. doing as well. And so I think this bi week was this time off. Was a great time for everybody to reflect and hold and keep their eyes on the prize and what we want to do. Keep their eyes on the prize and what they want to do.
I don't know. There just seem to be too many issues, too many changes on the offense to the defense and who's in and who's out. It just seems like some of the infighting as well hasn't helped the case of these Philadelphia Eagles. And their head coach Nick Siriani. Man, listening to this guy talk is like asking your toddler.
If they stole cookies out of the cookie jar. Like every second is a thought as to how they can escape the question or the situation. Nick Siriani was asked about the Eagles' current situation. about all the distractions, even though a lot of them have been created internally. Listen to Nixiriani.
If you let anything steal your focus, um Or your joy, or anything away from your attention of what you need to do that week. Every little thing that takes your attention away is one little less thing that you have. um to give towards the game that you're playing. Bacha, what the heck did that man just say? What did he say?
Did he say anything worth a damn? No, he never says anything that's worth anything. That's the point. If you actually get an answer from Nick Siriani, something's wrong. There's a lot of ums, uhs, the process, uh, uh, um, uh, uh, we try to show up and play, and uh, you gotta.
I don't know what he's saying. Ugh. The day he is coherent. Is he coherent? No, I'm saying the day he is coherent.
That's either two things. He's on the way out, Or he's getting a huge promotion. And it's it's a scripted response. You know what? Hold on a second.
Yeah, it sounds very scripted in well, it doesn't sound scripted in his brain because he can never put it all together. As they're getting ready to kick off here in Los Angeles, the Chargers and the Eagles. Botcher, I you're for people who are not aware, you are in New York, I am in Atlanta. Did you see Billy Crystal helping a pretty much siren and start the game off? Did you see that?
I didn't? Is that was that on TV somewhere? It was yes, it's on ABC. Oh, what? I had ESPN on, that's why.
Would it be the same broadcast, the same thing, right? No, ABC. Wait, it might be. It might be. But I don't know.
Maybe Jeopardy was on. I wasn't looking. I don't know. But either way. Does Billy Crystal just gravitate to towards like the other LA teams when he does this stuff?
Probably. Uh maybe they just wanted a person who could actually represent the Chargers. Bruh. Billy Crystal is a fan of the Clippers and the Chargers. Yeah.
He maybe he was growing up and he's like, I don't like the main teams here.
So he decided to be a fan of the other teams. But also, what other Charger fans do you know that are in the the celebrity media? Nobody, which is like, why is Billy Crystal out of all people? I know, see, I only, he is the only celebrity Clippers fan that I know. Like who else wakes up and they're like ah, you know Like Denzel Washington is Denzel rushing to see the Clippers.
Yeah, no. I think I looked it up that day when we talked about it. I think Adam Devine was probably the second name I knew. Adam Devine. Who the heck is that?
He's the guy that's always in those comedy movies. Nope. I would say like Pitch Perfect. Probably we haven't seen it. Nope.
Don't know what that is. Heard of it. Don't know what it is. Mike and Dave need wedding dates. He's in.
Nope. Yeah, he's in. He's like one of those actors who are like, oh. He's in this comedy.
So these are who the Clippers are. These are their fans. They're celebrity fans. Basically. B-list.
Okay. B, are you sure it's B and not C, D, X, Y, or Z? I would call Adam Devine B-list.
Okay. And now we got Billy Crystal, who is a Chargers fan. What a world. This is where the Chargers are. But God bless 'em.
As it stands right now, the Chargers have won, what, like four to their last five games. The larger issue, unfortunately, is that Justin Herbert He had surgery just a couple days ago on his non-throwing hand. We got all these images of him warming up prior to the game. He's doing stretches. He's getting his hand together.
And he had surgery.
Now, how that's going to affect him tonight is to be seen. Keep in mind, there is no Jalen Carter.
Okay, he's not going to be up the middle for the Philadelphia Eagles trying to destroy Justin Herbert. Jalen Carter has been dealing with an issue with his shoulders. He is not going to be on the football field. Justin Herbert was asked about his surgery on his non-throwing hand, and this is what he said. I heard it went well.
You know, it's I I think it's uh Been only a couple of days, so it's you know, not much of an update. And as long as they said it went well and you know, it was stabilized and everything that uh You know, the doctors were happy with how he performed, so you know, I guess that's always a good thing. It's just the next couple days to see how the swelling handles and what goes on from there. Man, this sucks because it seems like we got another excuse for Justin Herbert. I like Justin Herbert as a QB.
He can get out there, he can go, he can run, he can throw the ball with the best of 'em. But it seems that I don't know, maybe it's it's being cursed playing for the Chargers. They they never get over that hump. They can never take that next leap or step into being into that upper echelon and the AFC. And one of the key reasons that they brought Harbaugh on was to go ahead.
And and do so. And granted, it's going to take some time. This is only his second year, but we know, and I know the Chiefs aren't where they typically are, but there's a pecking order. the Chiefs, the Bills. Think about the Ravens.
the Chargers haven't necessarily been in that club. They're trying to elevate to that space. And now that Justin Herbert is playing with a busted-up hand that was surgically repaired, If they don't find or have success this season, which I don't think so, I think they'll go to the playoffs and be eliminated. What else is new? It'll be another thing.
Herbert hand his Herb his Herbert's hand was broken. Let's just give him a mulligan. stinks. His head coach Harbaugh, you said, Yeah, I feel good about Herbert. I think it'd be okay.
The really good thing. is I've been asking them every day, you know, better today than yesterday. And Thursday, much better on Thursday than it was Wednesday. Friday today, better than it was. Thursday.
And uh and we're hopeful that Tomorrow will be better than today. Thank you. Bacha, did you get that? That there's like uh it's like one of those questions they ask you when they wanna know if you can understand logic. Yeah, it's just.
I don't know. He's also up there with Siriani, and it's just. What he says, if it's coherent, something's up. Oh, Harbaugh's on a he's on a world and uh a planet. all by himself.
But well what's the deal with Herbert?
So I know he broke his hand. And they they put a They they put some hardware in there? Like what are we talking about? What did they do with a metal plate and screws? Oh boy.
Like you know how to like so If you break something, sometimes you have to like protect it and put screws in it.
So I'm assuming the plate is there like cover I guess the back of his hand if he hits something or gets hit in the hand. But yeah.
Well, this isn't necessarily an ankle or an Achilles. Um They're going to take it out eventually, I guess, right? I'd hope so. I'd assume it's not going to be more than two-month, three-month injury. Oh, man.
You know, oof, what a world. They gotta put a plate and screws in your bi in your hand. And then they gotta cut it out a couple months later. I don't know. That's rough.
And he's playing. That's the issue. What? And the fact that he's playing with the metal and the screws in your hand and he's not bothered by it. He's got to catch the football.
He's got to take tackles. You think he's not going to be bothered by it? One. Bothered into the point where he's not playing, I think that's where you should be. But he is crazy.
And then you can't even numb the hand out too much because he has to receive the snaps. He has to Feel the football. Granted, this is non-throwing hand, but you still gotta feel it. I I just This is tough. This is what he had to say about this new hardware that he has in his hand.
Yeah, I think it was a plate and a and a few screws, so um Yeah, I I don't know the exact medical terminology or what exactly went on, but he said it went well and got it stabilized and he was happy with how it went. Oh. Listen, if they put a plate and screws in my hand, I would know exactly what the hell is going on in my hand. Like, I would imagine that you can feel it. I'm looking at the top of my head right now.
I feel bone and. I don't know, veins and and and whatever else is in there, but if you put a a plate and screws, I think I would have an idea. Good luck to him we're going to find out. The charges are rolling. They are eight and four.
They've won four out of their last five games. I can't believe this. Congratulations to them. They also get Amari and Hampton back to try to help out on the rushing side of things. And then the Philadelphia Eagles.
They are on a two-game losing streak, losing to the Dallas Cowboys, going out there losing to the Chicago Bears on Black Friday. We have to see. What they can do. The Eagles are reeling right now. And then they don't even have Jalen Carter, their best defensive player, on the interior as he's dealing with shoulder issues.
It's not looking good for the Eagles. I do think they're going to figure out a way to come out on top tonight. it just seems like the law of averages. I'm going to go with Philadelphia to walk away with the victory. And I'm going to look at the the Chargers to fall to eight and five.
That seems a little bit more reasonable, but I do think it's going to be a good game. I do think that.
Okay, we'll keep you up to date as they get ready for kickoff in a matter of minutes. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break and when we come back on the other side, let's have a conversation with Luke Easterling, covers all things NFL for Athlon Sports. Let's get his thoughts on tonight's matchup: Monday Night Football between the Eagles and the Chargers. We'll talk more about NFL.
We'll get into this whole rumor about Phillip Rivers coming on to the Indianapolis Colts. We got a lot to get into, a lot to discuss. You're locked in, you're listening. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Listen up, football fans.
You won't want to miss this. Right now, new Bet365 customers bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets, win or lose.
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Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season, starting with the true crimes that inspired Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. Listen to and follow Crimes of available now wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Yeah, we just got underway in Los Angeles.
We got the Chargers hosting the Eagles, two teams.
Well, eight and four records, one defending Super Bowl champs. There's nothing perfect in the NFL, and we're going to see how tonight. Um Kind of bears fruit, or what bears fruit out of tonight? And also, we've had plenty of action. Yesterday Tonight is the conclusion of week 14 of the NFL season.
Things aren't looking good for the Kansas City Chiefs. Things aren't looking good for the Ravens. The Steelers stay alive, and the Houston Texans look like they got some life to talk about everything going on in the league. Joining us back on the show is someone who covers all things NFL for Athlon Sports. Welcome back, Luke Easterling.
Luke, how are you, man? Hey, I'm doing great, JR. Good to be back, my man. Absolutely appreciate you.
Well I mean to talk about the game that that just kicked off. We know the Eagles have been kind of a I'm not going to say a disaster, but there's always been stories all season long, especially as it relates to A.J. Brown and their offense. And then we have the Chargers here.
Well, they're dealing with injuries. Justin Herbert has a plate and screws in his non-throwing hand. What are you expecting from the game tonight? Yeah, I don't know what I'm expecting as much as what I'm hoping to see if I'm an Eagles fan, right? Which I'm not.
But let's be honest, that offense has been excruciating to watch for so much of this season. And it's just, if you look at them on paper, you're like, you've got Jalen Hurts, you've got Saquon Barkley, you've got Devontae Smith, you've got A.J. Brown, you've got a strong offensive line. I know Lane Johnson's been banged up. He's not going to play tonight, but the rest of that unit's still been solid.
You've got such a great defense. Why is this team struggling with that much talent on the offensive side of the ball? And I think it just comes back to the scheme. Kevin Pasulo as the first-year play caller, replacing Kellen Moore, who went to take the head coaching job in New Orleans. It's just felt so dysfunctional.
It's felt so bland and so uninspired in terms of what they're doing with the scheme. It shouldn't be that hard to get that much talent to score points and to create yardage consistently. And they just haven't done it.
So tonight, I'm interested to see. Particularly, and I wrote about this at athlonsports.com this morning. I'm interested to see if this is the night that Saquon Barkley breaks out. Last year, he had 11 games where he went for over 100 yards. He's done that once this year.
At this point in the season, he's facing a Chargers defense that, in totality, has been one of the better teams in the league in terms of allowing total rushing yards. But they're in the bottom third in terms of giving up yards per carry and in terms of giving up rushing touchdowns tonight.
So I think they've got an opportunity to let him loose a little bit if they can do what they've done this season that's been the best and most effective for him, which is run out of the shotgun, do some of the gap scheme stuff that's worked really well for them and just stick to what works, not trying to overcomplicate it. But scheme is what's holding this team back on offense. Oh, we we certainly heard that from AJ Brown. On the other side, as uh the Chargers have the football as it stands right now, we've gotten plenty of images tonight so far of uh Justin Herbert in that heavily wrapped hand It's non-throwing a hand. The Chargers seemingly are always in the mix but never realistically contenders every single season.
Where y what are your thoughts on the Chargers as it stands tonight? Yeah, obviously Justin Herbert's health is going to be huge, but they're going to have to lean on the running game. I know I just talked about it with Philly, but the big thing that I'm wanting to see from the Chargers tonight is they just brought back a Marion Hampton from injured reserve, the first-round pick out of North Carolina, their top pick in this year's draft. And how much does that stabilize the offense, how much does that take pressure off of Justin Herbert to not have to play hero ball, to not have to throw the ball 35, 40 times a game? How much can they lean on that ground game?
And honestly, even in Hampton's absence, Kamani Vidal, the fifth round pick a couple years ago out of Troy, has kind of held things together pretty well for not being the starter. But Hampton as a talent is just on a completely different level. He's a three-down guy that can catch the ball out of the backfield.
So I'm wanting to see, can they be effective enough on the ground against that really tough Philly front? to be able to not force Justin Herbert to have to take all the pressure on himself, not put him in a ton of third and longs where he's having to sit back there against that pass rush and put himself in danger. They're going to have to run the ball effectively on those early downs to keep them out of those long downs and distances if they want to chance the night. Luke Easterling is here with us. Covers all things NFL for Athlon Sports.
This is the Monday night football game. We saw what took place last night. We know Houston has the best defense in the NFL when it comes to points, and we know the Kansas City Chiefs have certainly been scuffling. These are two teams right now going in opposite directions. Is this?
Can we just kind of chalk this year up for the Chiefs not getting to the postseason? I know they're still alive, but can we just go out? This ain't their year. I mean, I think we can already say it's not their year. I'll count them out when it's all over and the clocks hit zero, right?
When you got Andy Reid, you got Steve Spagnolo on defense coordinating the defense, and you got 15 back there catching the snaps. It's not over until it's over. But they're two games back in that last wildcard spot. They got four weeks to go, and they just have so many problems, man. Those issues aren't going to get fixed in a couple of weeks.
Like, that's an entire couple of offseasons of work they have to do to kind of retool and rebuild that. They're looking at something much akin to what New England had to do a couple of years ago over these last couple of years with the quarterback situation, the coaching situation. They still have a lot of work to do. It's impressive what Rabel's done in New England. But for the Chiefs, yeah, I mean, we're about to, I mean, if the season ended today, we would have an AFC playoff bracket that would not have Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, or Joe Burrow in it.
Like, we're looking at the very, very possible reality that that's what we're looking at, that Josh Allen is the only one of those big four that makes for the playoffs. And Josh Allen's team is a wild card team right now. It's very likely going to stay that way. It's just going to be it's been a wild season. It's the same thing on the NFC side where the team at the top and the team at the bottom of the of the playoff bracket from one to seven.
There's not a ton separating those teams, I don't think. And I think it's going to be interesting if you're one of those two, three, or four seeds, you're going to be really happy you won your division. But if you're in the AFC, how happy are you going to be when that means you get to welcome Josh Allen and the Bills to your stadium for a playoff game? The parody of this season has been great to watch just as a general fan of the game. And in terms of to your question about Houston, defense always travels and defense always takes you deep into the season.
And if you can hang your hat on a dominant defense, the key for Houston is going to be, can they run the ball effectively enough? Can they move the ball effectively enough? Can they protect C.J. Stroud enough, just like they did last night? 13 points was enough to do it against the dynasty of a couple years ago.
They're not the same team. But to go into Kansas City and win that game, only scoring 13 points is huge. If that team can score 17, 20 points a game in the playoffs, they're always going to have a chance no matter the opponent because that defense under D'Amico Ryans has just been so, so good. Luke, you talk about who's in and who's out. We know Daniel Jones is now out for the season with the Indianapolis Colts.
And now we've gotten the reports this evening, this afternoon. That Philip Rivers, who turned 44 years old today, might be in. Last ditch, if you gotta call up a 44-year-old guy to save the season, huh? Yeah, within a couple minutes, we saw that the Bucks are going to sign Jason Pierre Paul to their practice squad and bring him back after a couple years out at 36 years old. And then I guess Philip Rivers had to be like, okay, I'll one-up you and I'll come back at 44.
Listen, if that doesn't tell you how desperate the Colts are right now, I don't know what does. No offense to Phillip Rivers, who will be a Hall of Famer when he actually finally stops playing. It will reset the clock for him.
So I don't know if that they're going to have to make it worth his while, I think, to reset that clock. But man. It just speaks to the road they have ahead because after that loss to the Jaguars on Sunday, they face a really tough road to make the playoffs at all. And this is a team that we were I mean, they were the number one seed just a few weeks ago. And now you're looking at a team that's just they're in trouble, man.
It's not just that injury. It's the Sauce Gardner injury after trading two first-round picks to bring him in and shore up the corner spot.
Now you know he's dealing with the calf injury, and we know the pipeline of calf strain to torn Achilles is obvious in all sports. And so they're going to have to be very, very careful with Sauce Gardner, especially after what happened to Daniel Jones.
So I don't know, man, there's so many things going on with the Colts, and that division is so tight with the way the Jags and the Texans are playing right now. I just don't see a path forward to them with their quarterback situation and the injury situation the way it is. As impressive as Jonathan Taylor has been this season, it's not enough. I can't see them rebounding from this.
Well, I mean, we we talk about all these teams and who's in and who's out. There's not one set dominant team. There's not a team that you look at. The Super Bowl champs aren't scaring the living daylights out of anybody right now. Is there a team or are there teams that you look at and go, Oh, I could see them going on a run.
We know there's a lot of parity in the league right now. Yeah, I think honestly it's hard to bet against Buffalo just because I think they bring the Trump card to the table with Josh Allen and what he's able to do. We saw him flip the script so quickly on Sunday. They were down two scores against Cincinnati and were able to make plays on defense, bounce back and make plays on offense as a result off of those takeaways. And I think anytime you got number 17 in your corner, you're going to have a shot.
I'm interested to see what happens at the top of the AFC because while we haven't had one dominant team, we do have a fun race at the top between the Patriots and the Broncos. It's like one of those, like, what year is it? It feels like we're back in 15, 20 years ago when these teams were at the top. But in the NFC, it's really the NFC West that encourages me. It really gets me excited that the race that we're going to have down the stretch, we get to see Seattle and the Rams play again in a couple of weeks here.
Both of those two teams have been so complete, so balanced in terms of offense, defense, running the ball, throwing the ball. I'm excited to see how the race finishes at the top, who's going to get that one seed and be able to get that by. But no matter who does it, man, every team that makes the field, it feels like this year is going to have a legitimate path. If they bring it for those 60 minutes, I think everybody's got a shot. And I just don't know how often we get to say that.
Luke Easterling is joining us, covers all things NFL for Athlon Sports. I want to talk to you about a team that, well, two teams, they ain't got no shot. We learned that Shadore Sanders, he's going to get the opportunity to start the rest of the season for the Cleveland Browns. We know Cam Ward, he's definitely going to get his chance and his opportunity next year. What are your thoughts on how things stand, more specifically for Shadore?
And what can Tennessee do moving forward to not screw this opportunity up with Cam? Yeah, I think first with Shador, I think we all have to be honest with ourselves and say that if you watch the tape and you know me as a draft-centric guy, that's really my bread and butter. I spent a ton of time watching Shador's tape at Colorado, and he was a first-round player for me, like just as a quarterback. I had a late first round grade on him. And I think if you just look at the tape and what he brought to the table as a quarterback, the fact that he fell to the fifth round is just absolutely preposterous.
Like it's absolutely ridiculous. It never should have happened. If there are genuinely 32 teams out there that were so afraid of whatever they thought he brought off the field in terms of his personality or Dion's involvement or all that, if all of y'all were that scared of that side of things to not bring him into your locker room until the fifth round, that says way more about you and your organization than it does about him. And I think that that is obvious over these last few weeks. That he is I said it at the time, I wrote it at the time at athlonsports.com that Shador Sanders immediately, when they drafted him in the fifth round, two rounds after drafting Dylan Gabriel out of Oregon, he immediately became the most talented quarterback in that room that still had Kenny Pickett, still had Joe Flacco in it, had Dylan Gabriel, still has Deshaun Watson because they can't afford to cut him still two years later.
So, like to see these things from Shador on the field now that he's the starter, it's like, yeah, yeah, this was who he was at Colorado, but all y'all spent too much time arguing about the other stuff to actually talk about the football side of it.
So, listen, does he have areas in which he needs to grow? Absolutely. He's still learning not to drift backwards and to step up in the pocket when he wants to extend plays. And there's plenty of room for him to grow there. But what we saw was a quarterback who.
is just again should have been taken at day two at worst And now we're going to hopefully get to see him develop over the next few years that Browns are armed with a couple of first-round picks. They do not need to take another quarterback. They need to take an offensive tackle and a receiver and build around him and give him the tools it takes to succeed and to use that as a jumping off point to talk about Tennessee. That's the goal ahead for them is, okay, now we have the guy we think we can build around in Cam Ward, the number one pick. And now we need just about everything else.
We need impact players on both sides of the ball. We need to ensure. I talked to my friend Lewis Riddick from ESPN in the offseason about how. teams fail young quarterbacks way more often than quarterbacks fail their teams. And it's all about development and the supporting cast.
There's so many variables that go into it. It's why it's the best team sport around, in my opinion. But I'm anxious to see, does Tennessee have the organizational health. To be able to build around that young man and give him what he needs to succeed. Because if you look at his track record, Tim Ward has always brought it.
Cam Ward has brought it from the time he was a no-star recruit coming out of high school, going to Incarnate Word, and then he put up video game numbers, and they're like, oh, who is this kid? He goes to Washington State, and they're like, oh, let's see him do it in the Pac-12. He does it. He transfers to Miami. They're like, oh, well, let's see him do it in a Power 4 conference.
He does it again. Every time that young man raises to another level of competition, he raises his game to match it. And he goes from a no-star recruit to the number one pick in the NFL draft.
So I'm confident that his track record shows that he's about that, he's about the work, and he's going to bring it. I'm interested to see if the Titans can meet him there, can raise their game to match his level of excellence because he's always been there.
Well, I mean, they've certainly made some questionable decisions over the past few years, so let's see if things work out for Cam with this organization. Hey, Luke, we appreciate the time. We always appreciate your expertise. Tell everybody where they can follow you and all your work with Athlon. Absolutely, man.
Always a good time. You can find me on Twitter at LukeEasterling. Again, you can find all my work at athlonsports.com. I'm already starting work on our NFL draft preview magazine that comes out every year.
So I'll be writing all the scouting reports and mock drafts and rankings for that as well. But we have updated content on the website every day. Every Tuesday, I have a mock draft that's fresh out every week. I change the order based on the standings. And so every Tuesday morning, you can look forward to that.
Right now, I'm doing two rounds instead of one. Eventually, that'll grow to three. I'd like to go a little bit deeper to make sure the teams that maybe not have a first-round pick still get to participate, still get to see who their team could end up with in the second and third rounds.
So definitely look out for that every Tuesday. Yeah, gonna be interesting to see uh how the New York Jets screw up all the picks they have uh this upcoming season next uh. Always always a a a a favorite pastime of everybody outside Florin Park, right? Oh, what, what, to beat up one of Jets will tell the truth I love it. I love it.
Four first round picks in 99 or 2000, I think it was. We got the Chad Pennington and Anthony Becht and Sean Ellis and John Abraham all in one class. Four picks. That's hard to do.
Well, let's see if they get somebody who can move the ball more than ten yards next time.
So we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Dante Moore from Oregon, Ty Simpson from Alabama.
They're going to have some options there. I'm interested to see who goes back to school and who ends up declaring. And run away from the Jets. Run away. Hey, Luke, we'll catch you soon, okay?
Hey, anytime, man. Thanks so much. No doubt about it. Shout outs to Luke Easterling, covers all things NFL for Athlon Sports. It's the JR Sport Re-Show here with you, Coast to Coastal, the Infinity Sports Network.
I'm sorry, the Jets write the jokes themselves. We got the Eagles going after it in Los Angeles right now with the Chargers. You know what? Speaking of Philly, we'll talk about LeBron James. He was in Philly last night.
I'll get to your calls on the other side of the break. But right now, it's time to run, rush to a news flash. What's going on in this Monday night football matchup and more? Here he is, Rich Ackerman. That 365 is paying out before the final whistle.
Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer. When you bet on a team to win and they take a 17-point lead, you get paid no matter the final score. Forget the final whistle and start counting that cash. Hold up, you get early payout on parlays too! Download the app and see why it's never ordinary at Fet365.
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Listen to and follow Crimes Of, available now wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, thank you so much to Luke Easterling for joining us, Talking All Things NFL from Athlon Sports. You missed that conversation with Luke?
Go ahead and hit Rewind on the free Odyssey app. We always appreciate him for coming through and sharing his expertise. You just heard from Rich Ackerman as well as it stands right now, Monday Night Football. the Chargers lead the Eagles, seven to three.
Okay, even though Justin Herbert is running around with that. Pad on his left hand, his non-throwing hand, even though he has a plate and screws in there, he was able to connect with Omarion Hampton for a four-yard touchdown pass to open up the scoring for Los Angeles. And meanwhile, the Eagles were able to answer back with a field goal of their own from Jake Elliott. The Los Angeles Chargers lead the Eagles 7-3. There's about a minute to go here.
In the first quarter, I need you to think, use your brain, think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs, get guaranteed low prices, and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Speaking of Philadelphia, LeBron James went nuts in Philadelphia last night. He turned back the clock. I don't even know if that's appropriate to say for somebody like LeBron, but we'll get into that in a second. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Lee is calling up from Cincinnati. You're on the JR Sport Brief. Show us up, Lee. Hey, thanks, JR, for taking my call.
And I've got to say real quick, I appreciate you because you seem like the most unbiased talk show host that there is. And of course, you know who my favorite team is. I've told you many, many times. Exactly. I've got it tattooed.
But d I mean, what I've always wondered is is is what makes you so good? Do you have a te any teams that you would live and die for like I do for the Gators? Or do you just like all sports and everybody? No. I kind of like all sports and everybody.
I have people and players and teams that I like, but You know, when you talk about it for a living and you get to meet some of the people, I don't care, bro. I don't care. It don't matter to me. I grew up in New York. I love the New York Knicks.
I love the Yankees. That'll never change. I'm here in Atlanta. You know, my relationship with the teams here are awesome. Last night or yesterday, I saw the Falcons lose.
I like the Hawks. And obviously, a lot of the teams in New York and Atlanta, they're rivals. And so it's just, it changes. Like, I love the Knicks, but I'm not personally a fan of James Dolan, the owner.
So I'm pretty sure they're never going to roll out a red carpet for me. You know, so it's different when you talk about it all the time, you know?
Well, no, it totally makes sense, but I have to say, that's what I appreciate you so much for. The fact that you don't have any bias. And I'll be honest with you, you eviscerate every fan base that there is, which is great. And I love it, man.
So thank you very much for being here and for being the most unbiased guy that there is.
Well, thanks, Lee. I'm sure that everybody has an opinion. There are people who probably feel opposite, but I don't think it's from an educated standpoint.
So thank you, Lee. I appreciate you. No, no, no, not as much as I appreciate your unbiased opinion, brother. Trust me. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Lee. Shout out to Lee for Cole from Cincinnati. Look, for me, I love sports. I will sit down and watch anything if it's good. If a team is good, they're good.
If they're bad, they're bad. I do not care. Ain't no team cutting me a check.
Okay, ain't no players cutting me a check. Ain't no fan bases cutting me. Why do I care? And it's not that complicated for me. You good, you good, or you bad, you bad.
There's no in-between. It's it's really that that cut and dry.
So thank you, Lee, for calling uh from Cincinnati. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. I know we got the Philadelphia Eagles playing right now. Last night in Philadelphia.
But we had the Lakers in town. Of course, people want to show up to see.
Well, LeBron James, we don't know what LeBron is going to call it a wrap. And LeBron James, he threw it back last night. The Los Angeles Lakers, they beat Philadelphia 112 to 108. Luka Doncic returned. He was out overseas.
His wife had a baby. Congratulations to him. And he came back and he said he has thirty-one points for you. But then LeBron James, he was the guy who held it down at the end of the game. You know, game tying three, go ahead, shot to win the game, ice the game.
LeBron James, 29 points. Seven rebounds, six assists in 34 minutes. This is his best game that he's had since he has returned. LeBron is 40. You know, we talked about Phillip Rivers getting a look from the Indianapolis Colts.
Phillip Rivers is 44 years old. LeBron James showed up and showed out last night. And now he's, what, I think, second all time in wins behind Robert Parrish. It is just. Nuts for LeBron James.
Every day he steps out onto a basketball court, there's some new record that is just being broken. LeBron was asked about Bacha, he's not number two. He passed Robert Parrish. I'm pretty sure he'd pass, became the most winning player. Let me double check.
Wow.
Well, let's listen to what LeBron had to say about this record. He's just continuing to climb the winds. Let's listen to this. Listen, it's just super humbling for sure, bro. Like, to be able to be In this position to play the game that I love and still be able to do it at a high level, and you always get like mentioned, but like.
Obviously, I didn't get an opportunity to see Robert Parrish because they were, you know, in the height of his game. He was in the 80s. I did see late when he was with the Bulls, but. I mean, you know what he meant to the game in that era, especially. Auto championship that they were winning going against the Lakers, Boston, and stuff like that.
Being a historian of the game and and uh Being able to appreciate, you know, that's what's most important for me. Appreciating the ones that came before me because they laid down the stones, they laid down the path, and I'm trying to do the thing, I'm trying to do the same thing for the next generation. Wow.
And Bacha, what's the deal with these wins? How's the list going now? Yeah, so it's Kareem, LeBron, Robert Parrish. And LeBron's about, I think it's 60 wins away, so I don't know if he's playing another year or two. Oh, from Passing Kareem?
Yeah, he's currently. Math, math, math. He's 59 wins away from passing Kareem. Wow.
Or 60 exactly. Wow, that's nuts. It's crazy. Shout outs to, well, Kareem. Kareem is sitting around going, This guy's going to take something else from me.
Damn it, this damn LeBron James guy. But it's good. Every time you see LeBron James have a great game, that just. Kind of makes you feel that, oh, he still has it in him. We know that these games are, I don't want to say few and far in between.
But they are. You know, I mean, he missed last week against, I think, Toronto, and not just the Sciatica. They were like, he's out of the game with left foot. arthritis. I'm like, yeah, sure, yeah, old guy injury.
Charles Barkley was making jokes about this in the offseason. He's like, nah, he ain't no sciatica, he's just old. But it's good to see LeBron go out there and have some great games. I mean, Luka Doncic is just like, yeah, LeBron is back. Thank you, God, for carrying us.
I mean that was amazing, that was Vintage Bruns, so you know we're happy he was there to save us. He had an amazing game, obviously amazing fourth quarter. That was I think it was two or three baskets was insanely important for us.
So he just decided the game. Yeah, listen to J. J. Redick, we know he has the job partially because of LeBron James. One of the things that he did extremely well tonight with screen.
And using his gravity to Create an advantage either for the handler. or getting behind, roller behind. Um and then plan out of that.
So Yeah, He certainly scored the basketball and made some huge shots, huge shots down the stretch. Yeah, well, look, LeBron is here. Hopefully, he's healthy, relatively speaking, for the rest of the season. The next time the Lakers are in action are against the San Antonio Spurs this Wednesday. In this NBA tournament.
There's no Wembinyama. Come back soon, Wembanyama. Please, we need you. It's the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. When we come back, you know what?
We'll give you an update on Monday Night Football. We'll get into a few things that took place this day's sports history, so much more. It's the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. Don't move. That 365 is paying out before the final whistle.
Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer. When you bet on a team to win and they take a 17-point lead, you get paid no matter the final score. Forget the final whistle and start counting that cash. Pull up. You can early pay out on parlays too!
Download the app and see why it's never ordinary at SET365. Gambling problem? Call 1-877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC's applied.
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The scariest stories you've ever heard in your life. All told by real people. And off we go. This wasn't a human being that I saw. There's something here in this house, something not of this world.
There was a woman moving through the hall. I stepped back and I was completely alone. Radio Rental is available now. Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. My new podcast, Crimes Of, explores the forces behind some of the most unforgettable crimes in history.
Listen to and follow Crimes Of, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Mm-hmm.
