NFL Week 15 Preview (Hour 2)

It is!

The JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast from the Infinity Sports Network. Happy Friday to you, I hope you're safe, I hope you're well, I hope you're amazing. We got a lot to- oh damn it, almost choked on the air.

Hickey almost died, almost choked! I'm okay, I'm fine. Okay, good. Yeah, I'm fine, oh my god. Ah! You came about quitting the show earlier and I was a little worried, oh boy.

Oh man. And then apparently we got the idea of quitting right here. Yeah man, I would have been on- you would have heard a loud thump and the show would be over. But we're still here! For the next three hours. The show gets started every weekday at 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific. That's the first time I think in- I've been doing radio in 2018, that's the first time I almost choked and died on the air.

Anyway, I'm still here Friday the 13th. Speaking of choking, Devondrae Campbell, he's choking away his career. Quit on the 49ers last night. Odell Beckham Jr. Injuries might have already taken away his career. Odell doesn't want to be on the Dolphins, the Dolphins don't want him. He's going to look for a new team, if Odell's body allows him. We talked about Bill Belichick, the likelihood that he quits on the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Man, it's small, but slim to none. And as we continue on with the show, we have so much to do. And about 20 minutes from now, we're going to have a chat with Eric Edholm, a senior writer for NFL.com. I want to talk about some of these big games over the weekend. We got some good matchups. How about this potential Super Bowl preview between Buffalo and Detroit? We got Pittsburgh and the Eagles, a battle of Pennsylvania. We'll get into some teams that are still jockeying for position in the postseason. A team like the Broncos, they're getting ready to host the Colts. There's just so much to get into. We'll talk more about Deebo Samuel, who did all that whining and complaining about not getting the ball ultimately to drop it twice yesterday.

So sometimes you should just let your play do the talking. And so if you missed the first hour of the show, you can hit rewind on the free Odyssey app, A-U-D-A-C-Y. Thank you to everybody listening live on their local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. If you got Sirius XM, it's 158.

And if you have a smart speaker, ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. If you want to call me, you can. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. You can also find me online.

I am everywhere at JR Sport Brief. And today, this is very special, very important. I'm looking forward to this next hour. We're going to debut the first, I guess, official version of the Friday Funny.

I got to get it right. The Friday Funny. You know, we always get callers who say these crazy things on Fridays. People are done with the work week. You start cracking open more than one beer, maybe two or three.

Hopefully you're doing it safely, not behind the wheel of a vehicle. But we wanted to actually dedicate a segment where you can call up and just, I don't know, tell a joke, you know, bring some levity to the weekend, get us all set. We had some interesting jokes last week.

Interesting is the proper adverb. And so we're going to encourage more of these jokes. Matter of fact, we'll do that. We'll do that next hour. So pay attention. Because if you're looking for some, some showtime, if you're looking for some airtime, you're trying to get yourself out there. I don't know, maybe you're an aspiring, aspiring comedian.

You can call up 855-212-4227. A few seconds from now, a few minutes, a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you about the Heisman. We just talked about Quinn Ewers. I'm thrilled that he is going to the NFL draft, get him the hell up on out of Texas, because I'm ready for arch manning. I've had my fill of Quinn Ewers, who at the next level is likely going to be a backup or a third string QB.

God bless him. Quinn Ewers, healthy enough to play in their upcoming bowl game. Sark, his head coach, he was on a Rich Osborne show. And he said, man, Quinn Ewers, he's good, man. He can handle the NFL because he can handle Texas. He's got to do his part too. And so in the end, I think like anything, you know, the quarterback of the University of Texas, you probably get a little more credit than, than, than we deserve when we play well. And you probably get too much blame when, when you lose a ball game and over time against a Georgia who arguably is the best defense in the country. So all in all that comes with the territory, but I credit Quinn a ton for how he's handled everything and managed it and stayed focused on the task at hand.

And that's playing really good football and being a great teammate and a great leader. Oh, okay. All that, whatever. Sure. Hickey, who's he going to lead on the bench holding the clipboard?

The third string, the guy behind him. Oh my God. I'm such a jerk.

Oh man. I'm bad. Oh, sometimes I say things that, you know, I'm like, that's not nice.

Right. I like though that you say them first and then feel bad afterwards. No, but if Quinn Ewers was sitting right here in front of me, I wouldn't say this to him. I'd be like, Hey man, you know, how you feeling?

You feeling good about the draft? Like I wouldn't say this, but I'd be thinking it, you know, I think there's, I don't, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I mean, you're not trying to, you know, ruin the interview. You still want to get something out of you. I'm trying to ruin his life per se.

No, no, no. So you can conduct an interview differently than you would right now, talking about him with him, not in the room. Right. It's not like he's asking me, right. That's a different, uh huh.

Yeah. If I'm having, if I'm interviewing him and I'm asking him, man, what are you doing? What are you thinking? This and that. Like, that's not my time to just impart my opinion all over the place. But if he asked me, I go, yeah man, second string, third string. You asking me?

I'm just, I'm being honest. You can lead whoever he wants at Texas as the starter, but man, on the next level, good luck. Good luck.

Look up Chase Daniel. Uh oh. Maybe Quinn get familiar with his name. Oh, you're worse than me. Oh, yeah. I'm just, you're, you're, the energy's out there. I'm just trying to feed off of it. It's contagious.

I mean, we could go through a long list of QBs all over the place. Look, by the way, not a look. Maybe that's the way to do it. Don't get hit.

You collect the check. Make money, make money. Right.

I mean, Chase Daniel did it perfectly. Yeah. Make money every year. Maybe just constant, constant jobs.

Constant jobs, minimal hits. Win, win. Good life. Good life. 855-212-4227.

Hey, we're going to talk about some guys that are actually going to play in the NFL in a second, but let's do this. 855-212-4227. Uh, Ann is here from Arkansas and you're on the JR sport reshow. What's on your mind? Hello, Ann. Oh no. Where did Ann go? That's terrible. It's sad. Hey, I was looking forward to talking to Ann.

That's bad. What'd I tell you about? Uh, I'm not saying Ann was a cheater, but what'd I tell you about?

Nevermind. Just leave, leave Ann out of that. And I assume Ann from Arkansas is a sweet woman.

Hey Ann, if you're listening, a call back 855-212-4227. Hey, let's actually talk about some guys that are going to play in the NFL. Not, not Quinn Ewers because tomorrow in New York city, it's Heisman time. Then we know who and what is not who and what these are. These guys are people.

They're not what's. We know who's going to end up with the Heisman. We know the candidates. We know the realistic candidates.

That's why Hickey was in that awful, terrible place, Tom square earlier today. It was to, you know, for the media availability of the four Heisman candidates. Sorry, let's get the other two guys out the way.

No disrespect. Uh, Dylan Gabriel, not, not winning the Heisman could win a national championship with the ducks, but not winning the Heisman cam ward. This man won the Dave Eubriant national quarterback of the year. Good for him.

Congratulations. He won something. He ain't winning the Heisman.

I know something else. He ain't winning. He ain't winning no championship either because his team is not even in the playoff.

Sorry. No disrespect to the Miami fans and listeners out there. We know this award is going to come down to Travis Hunter and Ashton gente Colorado.

They not no playoff. Now look at them in a bowl in Boise state with Ashton gente. Well, he got to buy and we know Ashton gente has been lightened up all college football season on that ugly blue grass and Boise auto love Boise love the state.

Don't like that grass. That's me. Ashton gente, almost 2,500 yards on the ground rushing. He led the next second guy by over 800 yards. Where'd he do that at? This man also led the country with 29 rushing touchdowns.

Where do they do that at? He already won the Maxwell award football's top player joke Walker award nation's top running back. The last running back to win a Heisman.

You got to go back to this beast. Derek Henry did it in 2015 with Alabama Ashton gente. He was just chatting it up with Michael Parsons the other day and the other voice is Michael Parsons and Ashton's explaining why he deserves to win the Heisman. Listen to this by week four, I wasn't seeing anything less than eight man box. So that means the whole defense every single week is geared towards stopping me and they still couldn't. I've been rooting for you to be Heisman since I've been watching you play. What do you say for the people who kind of disagree with that?

People want to talk about the conferences. Okay, whatever. But you know, when I played in ranked games against ranked teams, put a big numbers against them and prove that it doesn't matter who that I'm playing against. And then just for us to win the conference, not only that, but you know, make history and bring Boise state to their first ever playoff appearance. I mean, I feel like there you go.

Like that was the final check box. I have put a lot of work in and I have helped lead this team, you know, to the success that we have right now. A big part of that was on me. Like since the beginning of the year, the pressure was on me to, you know, lead the team and help us get to where we need to be.

Yeah. He look, he is the team. He is Boise state.

It's him. If that man was not there, they wouldn't be in no damn playoff. He is the team period.

And on the other hand, we got Travis Hunter. I don't even know where to start with this guy's numbers. He's playing offense. He's playing defense. He's wide receiver. He's defensive bag.

He's not stepping off of the field. The guy was sixth in college football with more than 1100 receiving yards. He was second with 14 receiving touchdowns. He had 31 tackles on defense, four interceptions, 11 pass breakups. They did not throw the ball in his direction to even dive a little deeper. He had 92 receptions on offense and only gave up 22 catches.

Think about that. He hauled in 14 receiving touchdowns and only gave up one. He was responsible for 53 first downs. He only gave up six. This is crazy.

The numbers are nuts. He pretty much told you, I'm playing offense. I'm playing defense. I'm the complete package. I'm like Shohei Ohtani out here, but on a football field. Travis Hunter was on the pivot and he said, man, I do it all. You need to get me an award.

I definitely believe I was the winner. You know, what player, you know, could play receiver, get double team, still get a thousand yards and the game plan is about you on the offensive side of the ball. And then you go to the defense side of the ball.

The game plan is still, you know, about you. And I still ended up with four interceptions, 11 pass breakups, I think, and 30 some tackles, which I shouldn't be tackling. But you know, I gave up one touchdown, which was all my fault, you know, sleeping out there again to relax.

But guess what? I bounced back, you know, mark up my side of the field. I should have had at least, I think, seven interceptions. But, you know, defense is way harder on then catching the ball.

You know, offense had butterfingers on defense last couple of games, but still was able to come back with one more before the season. But I definitely think I should win. You never seen a player like me.

He's right. I mean, we can look at Charles Woodson, Deion Sanders, Chad Bailey. Those might be the closest players to Travis Hunter of what we've seen. He already won a crap ton of awards last night.

A.P. Player of the Year, Walter Camp Award, Chuck Bagnarik, top defensive player, Balitnikov, best wide receiver. He's already racking up the hardware.

And Hickey and I discussed this already. He's probably going to win the award, but we would both give it to Ashton Gente. I get it. Travis Hunter's he's basically playing two positions. It's like I'm that. But I feel like if you took him off the team and you replaced him with two players, average players, you still do something, right? And I get it.

We don't live in a what if world. But I just feel like Ashton Gente is the entire team for Boise State. I see them in this playoff because of him. Travis Hunter has an impact on Colorado on offense and defense, but it's not enough of an impact to have them here in the playoff. I just they're going to give it to Travis Hunter because he's he's dynamic offense and defense.

It is something that we haven't seen. But Gente, the running backs is just another case of them not getting no respect. And so I fully expect Ashton Gente to sit there with just a sour look on his face as they give the award to Travis Hunter, who will be full of tears and smiles and I don't know, happiness. You haven't changed them on on that, right?

Travis Hunter will win. You still like Gente, though, huh? Correct. Yes. Yeah.

I feel the same feel the same damn way. You know what? On the other side of the break, we're going to have a chat with Eric at home and he covers all things NFL for NFL dot com. And he specifically covers the draft. So we're going to get his thoughts on both Ashton Gente and Travis Hunter.

In addition to a lot of what's going on currently in the league, the Heisman will be announced tomorrow night in New York City. Before we talk to Eric, it appears that and is back eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. I think and might have a little bit of a a Friday funny joke before we get there next hour.

And you're on the JR sport bisho coast to coast. What's up? I don't have a joke, but I have two Christmas riddles. Close enough.

I'm bad at them. Go ahead. OK. Number one, what does Santa Claus eat for breakfast?

OK. What my answer is not appropriate for the radio. I was going to say cookies, but go ahead. Ice Krispies. Ice Krispies? Yes.

OK. That's cleaner than what I was thinking. What's the next riddle? Who is Frosty the snowman's favorite relative? Who is Frosty the snowman's favorite relative of the abominable snowman? Oh, good guess. It was that right?

No, it's actually Antarctica and all ants are. I like that one. Well, thank you.

And for calling from Arkansas. I like those jokes. Thank you, Ann. Oh, you're welcome. And thanks to find you too. Yeah, we like Ryan. We love them.

Thank you so much in Antarctica. I like that one. I'm curious to hear where your brain went on the first one. What do you think Santa Claus eats first thing in the morning? Hickey, I said cookies. I said what I said.

I heard all the way up here in New York, that brain of yours churning. So I can only imagine what was just running inside. I said cookies. Who baked who baked the cookies and where the cookies at? I leave for your imagination. Oh, all right. Who's cookies? I don't know.

Is it Mr. Squash cookies or it's the next door neighbors cookies? Everybody knows Santa Claus loves cookies. I know that. That he does.

He loves cookies anyway. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk more Heisman, more NFL. Eric at home is going to join us right for NFL dot com. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze show. Don't move.

I love cookies, too. You are listening to the J.R. Sportbreeze. It is the J.R. Sportbreeze show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Oh, so much is already taking place. NFL week 15. We got guys who are quitting, guys who are getting cut.

Got some. But we got a potential Super Bowl matchup coming up as a preview on on Sunday. We got lions and bills to talk about it all. Joining us right now is someone who covers the NFL, the draft process, all things league related rights for NFL dot com. It's Eric at home.

Eric, thank you for the time. Hey, what's up, man? How are you?

I'm very well. I want to take a look back before we look forward to last night. We all saw what happened with Devondre Campbell. It has dominated the NFL news cycle for the past 24 hours. We know we know he is not going to play for those Niners anymore. Are they going to punish him and hold that money in a suspension? They just go and tell him, hit the bricks. What are they going to do? Yeah, it sounds like they're going to move on from them. And they may have already done it by the time we've we've spoken here. But yeah, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. I think just from hearing the reaction in the locker room where now maybe they don't all have the full picture. Maybe there's something we don't know.

That's all possible, right? But hearing George Kittle talk about it, you know, hearing Kyle Shanahan talk about it, hearing other players as well, you know, they didn't appreciate it. They felt like they got walked out on, you know, and they felt like they got left behind by one of their guys. So, yeah, I can't move on with that, especially in this season. You know, we you know, the Eagles last week, a little strife with hurts and AJ Brown. I'm sure if they win Sunday week, we move on.

Right. But what is happening during a season like the Niners are having with the injuries and everything else and just, you know, essentially being out of the playoffs, then, yeah, that that's where we're at right now. It's going to be a bigger deal.

And like you said, dominate the headlines. Well, Eric, knowing that the 49ers are probably too deep into the hole with injuries and what have you to legitimately compete, forget about making the playoffs, even if they do just to legitimately compete. What should we look forward to for next year? Because Brock Purdy is going to get the bag. He's going to get a lot of money. We got a couple of stars coming off of major injuries.

Are the Niners, should they still be in that space of, oh, well, this return in the same group so they should be good? Yeah, that's that's going to be a huge question. The thoughts and what what direction do they head? Are there major changes at all? You know, you mentioned Purdy's extension and it's, you know, believed to be obviously something they've they've worked on and talked about. And, you know, I think it's something everybody expects to happen and probably will. But, you know, what if there's some kind of change in leadership?

I don't know. You know, there it feels like. It may not be as quiet and off season in San Francisco as you.

Right. Like you pointed out, you have a nucleus of talent. And if you assume the injuries are are going to be OK by the start of next season, you run it back once more. You work around your cap issues and you find a way to to get a legitimate chance that you missed out on this year.

Or do you are you forced to make big changes or are there other things coming? I mean, it just there's a potential for a lot of noise in San Francisco this offseason. Eric Edholm is joining us from NFL Dotcom. When you look at the NFC, we see that Detroit is is head and shoulders above everybody else, even though Minnesota is is not that far behind them. You had mentioned the Eagles. They're not too far behind them. Do they really have competition?

Who is their closest competition for these lines? In the NFC? Yes. Yes.

Yeah. I mean, we can't forget about the Vikings. I mean, I think people are kind of dismissing them all the Sam Darnold factor. You know, maybe they weren't that good. And, you know, their couple losses may have exposed them a little bit against better to, you know, whatever people were coming up with. You know, they're still hanging around.

Philly obviously has been terrific. If Detroit's defensive injuries keep piling up, it's going to be really hard for them to keep plugging holes. You know, they only have so many thumbs and toes and whatnot. I mean, they really had to dig deep on that on that depth chart. It feels like they've lost a starter to every single week for about five, six weeks now. So some of them are coming back. You know, obviously this weekend is going to be a fascinating look, like you said, kind of a Super Bowl preview. But I still think they're built to last. They really do.

I mean, maybe I'm, you know, getting caught up in the whole thing. But I even if they get knocked down a peg or two, I don't think you can write the Lions off. But these Eagles are really tough.

Vikings aren't going away. It's Sam Darnold, Comeback Player of the Year. Eric? I completely lost what the definition of that that award is.

And I know they had to like clarify. Do we have to do we have to break his legs for a week or two for him to win? Right. Exactly. Is there like an injury clause in there somewhere where we can automatically qualify him? Yeah.

However, you define that award. I mean, he's obviously improved his stance in league circles, probably more than any player in the league, I would say, this year or one of the two or three. And, you know, it's gone from the point of, hey, they're going to make a lot of money in the off season to do the Vikings just let him walk or they franchise them or what do they do here? You know, do they are they so sure that J.J. McCarthy's going to be ready next year?

Yeah, I guess it depends on how the rest of the season plays out. But so far, he's doing himself a lot of favors and kind of having that that Geno Smith moment, essentially the second career in a different location. Eric Edholm is here with us from NFL.com. Hey, the former quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, who's now here in Atlanta. We saw what he did. Kirk Cousins went to Minnesota through a couple more I.N.C.'s.

We had to wait until Monday Night Football to see him take on the Raiders. At what point do you believe the Falcons will pull the plug? Yeah, I mean, obviously they've they've seen this this division slip away. You know, their chance to get in the playoffs. I mean, you know, obviously, Raheem kind of said that, you know, like we'll know or like when it's time, well, we'll make that switch. Well, people are getting pretty antsy, right? We see the results on the field. They've mirrored the team's success, which has been nil, you know, the last four games.

So, do you wait till you're out of it to make the switch? It doesn't seem very fruitful to me, but there's also the veteran factor, the trust factor. I mean, you spent all this money on Kirk to get it done and it for a while was looking OK. But too many of those Frisbee throws, DBs are squatting on that stuff and ready to pounce. And, you know, it just it's been too many in harm's way the last four games.

And I'm a little surprised they haven't done it yet. Well, one team that doesn't have that problem, the year to year, the Kansas City Chiefs did twelve and one. They win in every game by the skin of their teeth.

Field goals, missed field goals, doinks, dinks, blocks, you name it. They're winning it. What are your thoughts on these Chiefs as it relates to the AFC? Are they just going to luck their way and maybe get a little healthier into the postseason? What do you expect from them?

Yeah, I mean, it's so fascinating. Obviously, you know, we've watched them win back to back Super Bowl championships. And then and last year was sort of a I mean, I guess like a starter course for what we're going through now in the sense that, you know, they lost on Christmas to the Raiders and they were not looking great heading into the playoffs. They were not the favorites. Right.

The Ravens were. And they found a way. And I think that in the back of everyone's mind, you have to remember, like this this team is absolutely capable of that. So I think on one hand, they're kind of loving it in the sense that they have this built in motivational factor, like, oh, OK, just keep doubting this.

You know, we'll we'll we'll crank it up come January like we always do. But on the other hand, our eyes aren't lying either. We've seen that, like you said, there have been some pretty fortunate turns as clutch as they are in those, you know, those key moments. They win those moments nine times out of 10 and win those games every time this season, pretty much. So, yeah, it's been fascinating to watch.

And I will never doubt my home. But the fact that we're not even discussing them among the handful of favorites is still pretty wild. The Buffalo Bills, we saw that loss to the Rams this past Sunday. What do you expect from them? It seems like the same old, same old bills every year.

You have Josh Allen, who continues to become more efficient. What do you think about the bills? Is this the year to get over the hump or they're going to run into a buzzsaw with these lines on Sunday?

Yeah, right. I mean, that could be two straight weeks where their defense is exposed or humbled or whatever, you know, and then, you know, I think to this point or prior to last week, you'd say that they the defense kind of held its own and then really done a nice job given the the losses in the I would say the holes. I mean, personnel wise, I don't think they're blowing people away talent wise. I think it's been obviously the offense stressing a lot of people, the defense being timely and key in the in the red zone, turnovers, things like that.

But yeah, I mean, you can only live with that for so long. And this will be a really interesting test case. Are they dangerous? Absolutely. Can they win it all?

I think so. But, you know, Sunday was a reminder that on their worst day, you know, even a nuclear hot Josh Allen can be beat. And that's that's a little bit sobering for a team that's been oh so close and missed out.

Eric, you got to push everything to the table, right? Is what team would you go all in on? Who would it be for this Super Bowl? I mean, I kind of hit my hand earlier with the Lions and I do I do worry about the defense because Aaron Glenn had done such a really nice job, still has done a terrific job this season. And, you know, at the peak of their powers. You know, anything can happen in one game situation, but I don't know that they would have been beaten this year. Now they've been weakened a little bit. But I'm telling you, that seems to just be like the fuel for their fire, man. I mean, I I think they'll they'll throw the kitchen sink at everybody and may not be pretty every single week.

But if I had to pick one team, I would say Detroit's got a shot to win their first Super Bowl. Well, listen, Dan Campbell will certainly keep it interesting all the way through. Eric at home is here with us from NFL dot com. Eric, I know you do a lot of work as relates to the NFL draft as well. We know the Heisman is going to be given away tomorrow. We know guys like Travis Hunter. He's going to get drafted. Cam Ward, etc. Who do you think is going to walk away with the Heisman in Manhattan tomorrow?

I think it's going to be Travis Hunter. You know, I mean, he's been winning pretty much every other award. He's he's eligible for the bleeping cough as a receiver. And, you know, I mean, in in NFL circles, I think there's maybe a little bit more intrigue about him as a corner as a defensive back. But, you know, still could be viewed as an offensive player. But obviously, in the college football realm, to me, he's just been the best football player in the country this year. We we really haven't seen this kind of a two way player, you know, even with Charles Woodson doing what he did in 97. Look, it wasn't to the same degree.

Maybe it wasn't as good a team. But still, I think that carries a lot of weight. I think it's cool that we've had some non quarterbacks in the last decade or so going back to start with like Derrick Henry. And then obviously, you know, Devante Smith was a kind of an outlier too. And, you know, this is this is an outlier pick for sure.

And a generational one, I think, too, if that ends up happening. As we go through bowl season and the championship as well, the playoff, there are a lot of quarterbacks, some who are going to be playing in different games or to have you should door Kim Ward, you know, Dylan Gabriel. How do you think things are going to line up in regards to the quarterbacks taken? Yeah, I kind of wish that we had a little better playoff luck with the quarterbacks that would really have been, you know, had we gotten Kim Ward in or had we gotten sugar in because both teams were, you know, kind of right on the outskirts.

And so that's that's a disappointment, I think, from that standpoint. But, you know, obviously, it's we're still going to get Quinn Ewers, who is now declared for the for the draft. And he's a fascinating test case. I don't know that he's a first round pick, but, you know, there's something there. There's something to work with. And so his stock has some volatility to it, I would say.

Should there? I think we kind of know what we have with him. But again, I still want to see him against as many top competition teams as possible.

Same with Ward. I don't think I would normally say that they would be considered among the top quarterbacks in a draft class like last year, for instance. But this year, I think they're you know, they're they're going high. And we'll see. I mean, this is this is now kind of turning the corner in the draft season. There's always room for change. But that's where we are now. I would say, as Ward and Sanders are kind of the ones who are getting the most buzz at this point, especially Carson Beck's injury. That's another bad luck turn that we have.

Well, last question for you, Eric. And speaking of Carson Beck, we saw the Bulldogs get ETN back, get a little bit of a boost with the running back position. What do you think things look like for Gentsy when he turns pro? You know, people are talking about his size and yes, he's unlikely to win the Heisman.

He might win, but probably not tomorrow. How does he fit in the new NFL where they're airing the ball out? Yeah, I mean, there has been a gradual regression to the mean as far as the run game.

And I say that, air quotes, because I think includes quarterbacks to a lot of that yardage comes from QB scrambling. But there has been a a gentle backswing in the last couple of years towards the run game, which I appreciate, you know, as a run game guy. You know, and I think you've seen obviously you guys had to be John very high in the draft. That was a, you know, a controversial pick, I guess, there, you know, in terms of, you know, running back draft value and all that. And I think Gentsy has a chance to, you know, that might be the ceiling right about where, where did he go? I want to say something like that.

Seventh, eighth. Yeah. So, you know, early projections, that's sort of what I would think is that there's still a little bit of suspicion. You're not going to get a Saquon going number two, as great as Saquon has been.

He's amazing. But I think those days aren't quite here again yet. And that may have been a left field pick anyway at the time.

So I would say somewhere in the late, you know, top 10 to the mid team. Okay. Well, let's see.

Maybe we can get him in back to select the running back that high. Hey, Eric. I set myself up on that one. Yeah, you did. You did. Hey, Eric, where can we follow you and all your work as we get through the NFL stretch run, the playoffs, the Super Bowl, the draft, the combine?

Tell us, man. Yeah, NFL.com. And I run the Power Rankings. We've got the, Mike Yamm and I do the Power Rankings podcast and show. Check it out on the website, on the the Fats channel, YouTube, you got it.

So any of that works. And yeah, we'll be cranking up in the draft mode pretty soon here. And Tom, Tom Floz, let's not rush it too much, Eric. Thank you so much and enjoy the weekend. Okay.

We'll catch you down the line. You too. Thank you. No doubt about it. That Eric at home writer for NFL.com. Yeah.

He also believes that Travis Hunter is going to walk away with that Heisman tomorrow. And man, the way the Lions are playing, I just feel like they can bomb every and anybody out of the building. Yes, specifically they're building because they play inside at Ford Field. It's the JR sport. We show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network.

8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. We come back. We're going to talk about some more of the NFL action coming your way. Some of the big games is Sunday next hour. We're going to get into the Friday funny, get to the phone and just kind of ease things down, take things down a notch, have some fun on a Friday. You're listening to the JR sport brief.

It's the JR sport. We show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. Thank you so much to Eric at home from NFL.com for joining us in the last break, man, this guy, he writes, watches all the games, keeps up with college, gets us ready for the draft. Thank you, Eric, for coming through. Eric feels, uh, he feels good about the Detroit lions. He, if you got to pick one team in the NFL this year to go out there and win the super bowl, Eric at home, but not a bad bet. He picked the lions and we have some other great and good match-ups of this upcoming Sunday.

I can't wait for this. A matter of fact, let's get to this, this game at the top of the hour. Buffalo is going to take on Detroit. Detroit is going to host these Buffalo bills. The bills are hoping to not lose two in the row. And then we have another good game, the battle of Pennsylvania. We're going to have the Philadelphia Eagles. They're going to be out here taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers. And now Hickey at the end of that game, nobody, nobody plants a flag and nothing right there. We don't, we don't, we're not doing any of that crap.

Oh, I do hope so. Interstate rivalry. We should enter intra. I always get that confused. Interstate interstate, right? Cause the middle, I don't know. What's the difference?

Make both of sound dumb. I don't know. Intrastate. No, no, no.

Multiple States, right? Intra. Here we go. Now we've got to use Google.

Our brains don't work anymore. Intra versus enter. Here we go.

We're all going to learn something. Okay. Intra means within. Inter means between.

So it is interesting. Intra because it's within the state of Pennsylvania is no middle. They're not playing in a, not playing at your school. That would be the Harrisburg, right? They're not, not, not the middle, right? Yeah.

Even your school wouldn't even be the middle. That'd be close to the Pittsburgh. Yes. Yes it is.

Yeah. Harrisburg. You like Harrisburg. You've been there. I've been there one time very quickly to get a bus.

I can't say I've explored from what I've heard. There's not a lot to do in Harrisburg. It is the state Capitol.

So they got that going for them. But no disrespect to any listeners right now in Harrisburg PA. I just never got the opportunity to go. It's, it's an elevated city, right? You like, it's beautiful when you drive.

Have you driven through it on winter? It's beautiful. What is an elevated city?

What does that mean? You know, that whole, that whole center part is the north of Appalachia. It's all, it's all mountains.

Do you mean like, Oh, you're something literal elevation. Okay. Yes. You know it is. You're right. It's in the mountains. Yeah.

It's not elevated as in, I don't know, Aaron Rogers elevated, but you know, elevated as in the mountains. It's a beautiful drive into winter. I've done it. I've done it. Lucky you.

Maybe one day I'll get to experience that. Driving from where, where, where you go? I don't know, but I mean, it's about two hours or so roughly from Penn State's campus. So again, not many opportunities for me to go venture to see what Harrisburg has to offer. But yeah, well I know, I know you love your, you love your teams. You love Penn State. You also love the Colts. The Colts. Hey, they got a matchup coming up this weekend. They're going to take on the Broncos. You got two teams jockeying for playoff position. Now I think I've asked you this every week. You don't believe the Colts are going to do anything, right?

I don't. I don't like, like overall, are they going to contend for a Superbowl? Hell no.

Hell no. They know you going to the playoffs. They win this game.

Conversation changes. I said, if I'm not even, I didn't say I was predicting them to win. I'm just saying if they win this game now, I don't think they will. If they win, all of a sudden they are more likely than not to make the playoffs. You trust Anthony Richardson against Sean Payton in Denver, Colorado?

Um, no, which is part of the reason why I said I'm not picking them to win. I do like that what I've seen recently from the last, you know, two games, three games of Anthony Richardson since he was benched. He had that comeback against New England.

Um, come back against the jets. Oh, that's, is that really a comeback? It's for him. Yeah. Listen, any sort of positivity.

I don't want to hear any about who was against it all counts the same. This guy is from Miami, Florida. He going to be freezing his ass off up there in Denver. Uh, let's see what he does. Somebody else impressed with how he's turned things around as his own head coach, uh, Shane Stikin says, yeah, yeah, I've seen him get better slowly but surely. I've seen great growth, uh, in a lot of phases. Uh, his pocket presence has been really strong, um, the last couple of weeks, uh, delivering the ball where it needs to go. Uh, he's making a ton of a place, uh, with his legs, uh, which is great.

And we just got to continue that, uh, you know, these next, you know, four weeks for sure. I like how he just described his job. It basically he wasn't doing his job, which is why he got benched and he also quit on the team and then he came back. Um, at least hickey at least he came back, right? That's right. And he quit for a play.

Yeah. Devante Campbell quit for the entire game. And Anthony Richardson has redeemed himself and, and Hey, how about this? Sean Payton found someone that he doesn't want to disparage that he doesn't want to, uh, hate on.

He actually gave Anthony Richardson a compliment because of course you want to compliment your opposition before you destroy him. It brings a lot of challenges. Um, you know, you, you kind of get your 11th man back, you know, um, you know, there's, there's zone schemes, there are gap schemes.

There's a number of things that can stress you. Um, you know, we had the benefit of that a little bit with Taysom Hill the same way. Um, he's got great arm strength down the field. So, um, you know, sort of a big part of their run game is, you know, both he and the, in the halfback.

So, um, it presents, uh, you know, a completely different type challenge than weeks prior. Yeah, screw all of that, man. Come on now. He knows his quarterback is better. He knows Bo Nix knows how to deliver the football down the field and he doesn't have to worry about him running around like a nut.

This Sean Payton, he shows love to his own offense. I think we've been better on third down than earlier in the year. We've been better in the red zone. Um, those are two things that, um, stand out, done a pretty good job of taking care of the football.

But, um, but I think our third down, you know, in some of these wins, our third down in red zone numbers have been pretty good. Man. Even when he says taking care of the football, I can't in the back of my head, I'm going, he's thinking about Russell Wilson. He's just mad. He's just like, man, Russell Wilson's not here anymore. I can't take a dump on him. So I'm just going to say something. Can't help himself. Anyway, I got, I got the Broncos beating the Colts in Denver, Colorado, and I look forward to seeing what Anthony Richardson looks like as he freezes his ass off in a mile house city with 5,300, 280.

I don't know a lot of a mile above sea level. Good for them. Let's see what he does up there. Hopefully he doesn't quit. Uh, it's the JR sport. Brie show here with you on the infinity sports network. We're not going to quit when we come back. Oh yeah. Next hour is going to be the Friday funny.

And then we're going to talk about some teams that are actually good teams that could legitimately win a championship like Buffalo in Detroit. It's the JR sport. Brie show. Don't move.