It is! The JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey in New York City. Wherever you are, thank you for listening. I am thankful. And not just because it's the holidays, I'm thankful 365 days.
And if there's an extra day in a year, I'm thankful for that day too, okay? I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours. I've been here for an hour already.
I get started 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We have talked about the Atlanta Falcons. Kirk Cousins spoke today. He says he has no physical limitations.
It's just all decision making. Okay, Kirk. We heard from Michael Pennix today. He's ready to start. Raheem Morris, the head coach of the Falcons.
He's just like, yeah, time to make a change. We talked about Patrick Mahomes. Looks like he's going to be ready to play on Saturday against the Texans despite a high ankle sprain. Trevor Lawrence is having shoulder surgery. We'll see him next year, likely with a new head coach.
And then Nick Chubb. This man came back from tearing everything in his knee last year. He's out the rest of the season, all three games. He now has a broken foot. And he's going to be a free agent.
He's already taken a pay cut. Well, uh, good luck to all the injured folks. Man, NFL NFL players are tough. Man, these guys are what I just described.
Shoulder surgery and high ankle sprains and a broken foot. Oh man. I don't, I don't want to get up and do nothing. Oh, these guys are tough. God bless them.
This is why they make the big bucks. And I just sit here and talk about them. Hey, if you want to talk to me, you can do that too. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. You can find me online.
I am at JR Sport Brief. We did have good news last hour. Congratulations to Mike Vick, the new head coach of Norfolk State up in Virginia.
So good for him. That's, that's nice. Uh, as we continue on with the show, we got plenty more to do. How about this? In about 20 minutes, we're going to have a conversation with Matt Verteram, NFL writer for Sports Illustrated.
Always a pleasure to chat it up with Matt. And then of course, in an hour from now, it is Wednesday. This is the last Wednesday that I will be here in the year 2024. I want to share with you my top six list of the top six athletes in the year 2024. Which athletes have had the most success?
Which athletes have had the biggest impact? I'll give you that top six list in an hour from now. You can also find me online. I'm on the internet. I am at JR Sport Brief.
I want to deviate for a second before we get back to the NFL with Matt coming our way in about 20 minutes. I do have to acknowledge that last night, as I left the studio, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City Thunder, they were balling out. It was halftime of the NBA Cup, the second edition of the NBA Cup, the second year that we've had this gimmick that the NBA is trying to utilize to elevate the game and draw interest to the game in the early portion of the season. They were close. They were like 51, 52, 52, 53, whatever the hell it was. By the time I got in my house, the Milwaukee Bucks were whooping that ass.
The final score, 97 to 81. Oklahoma City in Las Vegas only had 31 points in the second half. Pathetic. Oklahoma City was five of 32 from three. Pitiful. And the Milwaukee Bucks, you would think that Giannis was playing for a championship.
I guess he is. The Milwaukee Bucks have been able to turn things around. And by the way, this game doesn't count, doesn't. You win the NBA championship and you get, oh, excuse me. You win the NBA Cup, you win nothing except for $500,000.
Good. Every player gets $500,000. This game doesn't count in the standings. This is an exhibition except for you win a championship. Giannis, 26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists. Damian Lillard had 23 points.
And this game is meaningless, right? I mean, the Bucks after the game, they did not even pop champagne. Darvin Ham is an assistant. Remember, Darvin Ham coached the Lakers before he got the boot. The Lakers won the NBA Cup last year.
They were popping champagne and then they proceeded to suck the rest of the way. Doc Rivers, he talked about what it means to win this brand new award. Yeah, I just think it reminds us that we can beat anybody. And we don't care if it tells everybody else that. Like, we only care about us. It's what I said in the first day of camp. Also said we'd lose anybody if we don't play right. Right. And I thought we learned that lesson early.
It's amazing. He still has a voice. Doc Rivers has been yelling at people for like 40 years, not just in coaching, but dating back to his time as a point guard. This man has been yelling his whole life. Hickey, with all this modern technology, we can't like give him a voice box or something. We can't put something in his throat.
There's no magic magic lozenge created yet? A Ricola? Times like 10? Nah.
20? Ricola is not saving that, man. Ricola. Yeah, he needs surgical intervention, Doc Rivers does. It works. He can still talk and communicate, so. Hey, he did tell us he has a throat doctor, so at least he's not ignorant to the problem.
Are you serious? Doc Rivers says he has a throat doctor? Oh, yeah. Oh, this went viral. I think it was like last week.
He goes like, yeah, my throat guy called me. OK. Yeah, it's interesting. It was an interesting quote, to say the least.
All right. I hope there was more. I hope there's more context to that quote.
I'm sure there was. But yeah, I mean, what does he tell him? Drink tea? Like, what can he do? Shut up. He got to heal his voice.
Does he not talk in the off season? Yeah, sorry, I was getting the quote here. Quote, my throat guy called me and said, it's time for an evaluation.
I'm too juvenile for this stuff. Anyway, Doc Rivers continued on and he said, my team, I listen to my throat doctor and they listen to me. That's what he said.
That's what he did say. This group allows you to coach them. They really do. They let you coach them hard.
Nobody takes anything personal. You know, I even said it last year, you know, it's like coaching grown ups, if you know what I mean. Like, they really get that.
They get that you have to tell them the truth and they handle it. And that's been great. Oh, OK. Last I mean, last I looked, they were all grown ups. I mean, I guess.
Right. I know Giannis is a grown up. That dude played like a grown ass man. Nobody could stop him. He is literally like a I don't want to call him graceful, because he's not. He just goes to the basket and nobody could do a damn thing about it.
He just does what he wants. And Giannis getting his young guys, like there's a guy, there's guys on the end of the bench. They're making half a million dollars for the season.
He just got them another half million dollars. Giannis says he's proud of the team for winning the cup. We had this goal as a team and we accomplished it.
Accomplished. I'm very proud of everybody. I'm so happy for Dame that he got we got our first trophy together. And this is just the beginning. We've got to keep on improving and keep on getting better. And we will be better.
Oh, they got their first trophy, which means the one that will matter is the I guess the I guess the Larry O'Brien trophy. Damian Lillard no slouch himself last night. Twenty three points in the victory.
And he was paying close attention. I know these Bucks, they started the season two and eight. I know last night's game doesn't count.
But in real real life basketball, they've won 13 out of their last 15 games like the Milwaukee Bucks are rolling. Chris Middleton didn't even play yesterday because he was sick. He said non covid illness.
You have to specify now if it's a you know, you got a regular cold or it's covid that non covid illness. I was paying close attention to how Damian Lillard reacts and reacted. And in my head, I'm going, OK, they're getting ready to give away the trophy. We all understand this is Giannis's team. He was there. He led them to the championship in twenty twenty one. Damian Lillard was out there languishing in Portland. We all get that.
Hickey, I think and maybe it's me, maybe it don't mean nothing. Giannis is so front and center about everything. Like I'm saying to myself, this is the NBA like let like let Damian Lillard lift it up first. I know Giannis won the MVP, but Damian Lillard is just standing around like, yeah, I know this is Giannis's team. Yeah, I'm just here to hit the big shots at the end.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He just I don't I wonder how he really feels about all of this. Yes, yeah, I mean, he had to know last year what he was signing up for, right, and he wanted to go to the Heat, you know, reportedly, and that's Jimmy Butler's team. And so I think you could I don't I think he's OK with taking a back seat or sharing, you know, the star role, if you will.
I think it's also easier to take a back seat or maybe I should say it's harder to be upset. Probably a better way to say it when you're talking about a guy who's getting all the attention and Giannis for last night, at least he had a triple double. He was dominant with how he's able to grab rebounds, block shots, his teammates. Like if Giannis sucked, I think it's harder to be like, oh, look at this price for Giannis, but like Dame dropped 40 and that's why they won. Yeah, but I'm talking about everything outside of the game.
Like after the game, Giannis is dancing around and then Giannis is the first one to grab the trophy. We get it. He's the best player. He's the most important player.
It's his team. We get that. I don't know. Just I'm like, hey, let Damian Lillard get some shine. Like we get it. You're going to get the MVP.
I don't know. Anyway, Damian Lillard is not a dummy. He's just like, I'm getting paid. I'm along for the ride. I'll hit the shots when I need to.
Y'all kiss my ass later. Damian Lillard, he just talked about Giannis, how bad ass he is. Just the background that he comes from, you know, his, his journey to becoming the superstar that he is, it was a tough one, you know? So when you get to this point, you don't, you don't want to stop, you know, you got to keep fighting for, for your position and where you've come. And I think that's just, that's who he is.
And that's why he goes about things the way he does. Good luck. Good luck. Yeah. They won the NBA cup. Be this competitive in April, May and June, please. Like we want competition. Nobody wants to see the Boston Celtics just run through everybody.
Be good. No, it doesn't look like the Sixers. Are you going to trust the Sixers to be healthy enough? That McCain who's now out and Joe Lembide is always out. He got a broken face today. In three weeks, it'll be a broken hand.
Then it'll be his knee. He's just like a walking game of operation Joe Lembide. Come on. I want to see Milwaukee do well. I want some competition. The Knicks haven't looked all that, that good in pockets and spaces yet.
And people here in Atlanta are real high on the Hawks. I'm just like, okay, enjoy it now. I don't know how long it's going to last. I'd love to see some competition.
I'd love to. Congratulations on the Bucks for winning the NBA cup. They, it was so important. They didn't pop champagne. They left the champagne on the table in the corner. Hickey, what do you think they did with that champagne? Did the workers take it?
I hope so. They deserve it and put it to good use. Probably the most expensive champagne.
I'll take it and sell it. How did they get him silver feels? He has to go, okay, all right. They got to switch things up.
I heard that they may not even keep it in Vegas because you know, you don't have as much juice in a neutral, you know, playing location. I don't know. You think he drank the champagne by himself? He was miserable after?
Maybe, maybe things are not great right now. So maybe kind of, you know, drink your sorrows away. I'd be selling that champagne on Las Vegas Boulevard. Okay. I'd be selling it.
How much? I don't know. You know what? I throw a party and I'd sell the bottles at a table because for whatever reason, a bottle that costs you, I don't know, 50 bucks at the, uh, the alcohol store or the package store or whatever you hell you call it, where you live, why they sell that bottle for like $400 at the club? Why they do that? Cause people will buy it.
I have no idea. I mean, guess you're a captive audience. Hey, you want a table? Okay, fine.
Minimum is a thousand dollars and here are two bottles of Jack Daniels and there that's a thousand dollars. Boom. Take it. I don't know. I guess they figure everybody at the booth is going to put in 20 bucks for a drink. Ah, bro.
I will buy a drink from the liquor store and have a party outside. Well, that's illegal. So I guess I don't. Well, legal in some places. Yeah.
In Louisiana I do it. Yeah. Go right down there.
No problem. Yeah. I get, I get the bottle in most places.
You can't do that. Just have myself a party outside. Uh, well people do that too now. Okay.
They, they, uh, buy bottles inside the liquor store and they have a party right outside. Let me see that all over the place. Yeah.
I don't know if you want to be that crowd, but. Oh yeah. Yeah. I don't think so, but I do want to sell bottles for $400 a pop. That is just mind boggling to me. Is that ever really worth it?
Two bottles, a 300 bottle. Oh man, that's stupid. Anyway, the NBA is going to go ahead and figure it out. Congratulations to the bucks. We know what they're playing for a championship. Good for Adam.
So they got to figure out a lot of things. One of the players is going to stop taking stupid threes. And then, you know what? Later in the show, I'll give you an update on how the NBA is going to try and change the all star game. Oh, just whatever, whatever gets the people going, I guess, if it ever gets the people going, it's the JR sport show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. We're going to take a break.
We come back on the other side since we're talking about championships, the bucks hope to win a real one. Come June, we're going to have a chat with Matt Verteram. He's the NFL staff writer for Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated now. And I'm going to ask him about a couple of teams trying to win a championship in the NFL.
What the hell is going on with my homes? Should he play? What's the deal with Josh Allen?
Is he going to win this MVP? What are some of these coaches or who are some of these coaches that are likely to get the boot? What does he think happens or what will happen with Kirk Cousins?
Is he going to be traded? We got a lot to discuss and we'll do it with Matt Verteram from Sports Illustrated on the other side of the break. You are locked into the JR sport brief show on the infinity sports network. 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. I need you to 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 man we're in the stretch run of the NFL season everybody's down to about three games we got players who are out for the year we got other players who are getting benched we got coaches who are likely coaching their last games to talk about it all the good the bad the ugly and everything in between is someone who covers the NFL writes about it for si si now it is matt verteram matt how are you i'm good how are you i'm very well thank you again for the time i know you are are very uh closed to everything going on with the kansas city chiefs also i produce content surrounding them as well is patrick mahomes does he have like wolverine regenerative powers this guy is a full participant in practice what's going on with patrick he's gonna play on saturday of course right yeah he's gonna play on saturday i think i think it kind of got overblown in the sense that i was watching that game we got hurt against cleveland and you know they recaped his ankle and they they spat it on the on the sideline there and if they weren't up by an amount that the browns is clearly we're not going to overcome uh he would come back in the game i mean they even talked about that afterward that he was good enough to go that he would come right back out there so i think you know once he left and didn't come back i think a lot of people either have made it see the game or thought it was a different circumstance felt like well you know he he had to leave the game he was hurt they couldn't finish with him um i i would have been shocked if he didn't play this weekend i just he he played through a lot worse and so you know with the one seed on the line yes they don't have to win this game they got to win two of their last three but this is a game that was mahal you figure that they should win this game um i would i would have been very surprised if he hadn't played well matt knowing that the the chiefs have gotten by a lot of these games by dinks dunks doinks the skin of their teeth what is your confidence level in the kansas city chiefs as they move on into the playoffs especially with the surge that the bills have been on um i mean look if i'm high because they this is what they live for they look for these games you know i i i've been saying all year long they deserve criticism they have not played to their standard and yet they're 13 and one uh they are getting a little healthier you know they recently got throws a man who back he's very good they're getting back hollywood brown looks like this this weekend saturday um those guys will help the men who's already helped i imagine brown will help javier worthy's played a lot better than last month they're really starting to use him in the same way they used to see rice last year where rice was kind of a big player early and then the second half of the year really came on worthy it's the same deal right now the bills are the better football team they're not better defensively but they're better overall that being said if they've got to go to kansas city in the ace championship game i am picking kansas a to win that game because i've seen that movement movie and i know how it ends and my big concern with buffalo is the coach you just get into those games with them where you watch that rams game you know they blow a timeout that they desperately needed a late in the game they have nine guys on the field for a punt return like the chiefs for all their faults they don't do stuff like that and they never do stuff like that in the playoffs and that's where i think those two teams it's going to be tight it's going to be close somebody's going to make a big mistake in that game and it's usually the bills and those two teams get together matt verduram is joining us from sports illustrated having said that yeah we we've seen that story how it goes for the bills in the postseason against the kansas city chiefs do you think that josh allen is going to walk away with the mvp this year or is that something that's going to be earmarked for lamar jackson a third time no i think it's going to be allen i think it's going to be allen um and that's not the gaining away from the year that lamar is having which is ridiculous i don't even think people realize he's going for 34 touchdowns and three picks he's completing 68 of his passes he's fit in the league and passing yardage and they don't throw the ball nearly as often as not everybody else he's out of it almost nine yards in the tenor he he's been spectacular so he certainly deserves to be in that conversation but this is an award that look it's part performance and right or wrong it's part narrative and i think people are looking at allen and saying know what he's never won it he's having a great year the bills are having a year that is outpacing a lot of people's expectations of them going into the season and so i think all those things are kind of conspiring to work around and allen's has been hot as heck down the stretch i mean he played even though they lost he was phenomenal against the rams he was great against the lions those games were not technically national games but they were i mean they're better than the country saw those games even though they're a late window and not prime time so those things matter you know jackson still had uh you know a shot at the one seed something like that i say okay maybe he does have two prime time games coming up so there's a world where he just goes nuts in those two games maybe he sways public opinion especially if the bills blow a tire against the wing runner the jets but i think as long as allen plays reasonably well in these last three games and the bills win these games i think he's gonna be good well man let's let's go to some teams that aren't in the the same type of position big news of course over the last 24 hours of the falcons switching over from kurt cousins to michael panics jr what are your thoughts on the the timeline the time that they did it and what this means for kurt cousins in the future well look i i get why atlanta did it you know watching cousins the last handful of weeks here physically physically he he can't play i mean he cannot drive the football outside the numbers to the point that the falcons basically if you watch the games against the chargers or watch the games against the raiders they were just not gonna throw the ball as fast as they had to uh you know the vikings game same deal where they they really just you know they were thrown out of the game by cousins and you know they beat the raiders it's an ugly game they won mostly because the raiders are completely inept uh i think if you're ringing morris you're going all right look we're seven and seven we're game back i might lose the room if i don't go to panics because everybody in this room's looking at me going okay come on man there's no way this guy's massaging his team right now now with that being said we don't know that panics might go out there and be awful and now you've got no quarterback now you've got nothing because you can't go back to cousins like what it's done now it's over you can't it's not like cousins got hurt so i think what happens going forward is panics no matter what he looks like he's going to play the last few games of the season here and then into the playoffs should they make it cousins if they post you and want them next year they they eat essentially what his cap hit is which is 40 million bucks and then they've got to split it you know and roll it over as well as the 2026 it is an enormous amount of money they um look they are going to lose the benefit of having a rookie quarterback or a rookie contract for a quarterback because they've got to pay cousins so it's a calamity i mean it's it's a really bad problem for atlanta i think if you're atlanta i think you cut him after the season i think you're supposed to want to move on because i you know jr i don't know how you how do you play panics next year with cousins making 40 million on the bench and you know that if you don't play well there's going to be all this talk about what's cousins going to come in is you're going to get the job back i just don't think you can develop a quarterback that way i think it's a really we we know the cousins is going to get the boot you don't think there's a possibility of a trade i think it's possible because when you look at the landscape right let's say let's just say for argument's sake here that the raiders and giants are picking the one and two and they take your chances they take damn work now we all know that we're sitting here in late december the big boards are going to look a lot different on april 25th but but this is not deemed to be a very strong quarterback class beyond those two there are going to be teams that need quarterbacks we don't know what the jets are going to do yet with aaron rogers tennessee it's hard to see them running that thing back with will leveson mason rudolph i cannot imagine that pry callahan is going to do that again so there are other teams out there right that are going to be looking for a quarterback i think bryce young is showing up that the panthers are going to roll him into year three um you know i i think you know the saints you probably just stick with car for one more year but there are going to be some teams you're the giants again i would if they could draft i'd be world's rapper otherwise they're certainly going to be the market but cousins you know his base salary i think next year's 27.5 just not a ton for a starting quarterback is a team going to give up a pick for that deal maybe maybe you get a team that says look we'll give you a late round pick i don't think the falcons are going to get anything of note for them and i think if you're cousins you're probably saying look either trade me where i want to go or just cut me i don't want to go to some team where i don't want to be and that can make it a sticky situation i think this could play out a lot like the russell wilson thing did where he gets he gets cut and then eventually goes and signs for a bet minimum somewhere while that is paying the freight matt verderam is here from sports illustrated well let's talk about some teams that don't necessarily have that issue right now they're trying to compete for a championship they're not thinking about their their quarterback the eagles have been rolling uh the lions unfortunately been dealing with tons of injuries when the vikings now got a share of the nfc north when you take a look at the nfc what are your thoughts on on who has the best chances of emerging it's a great question by the way speaking of the vikings darnold is going to be the most fascinating quarterback situation this whole season because that is going to be i mean he's quite great like what do you do if you're minnesota what do you do i mean i gotta keep them for another day well we'll find we'll find out over the next couple of weeks and months but i mean if he continues a half of what he's done you gotta keep him i'm with you i'm totally with you i mean i but it's it's going to be fascinating what missouri does with that whole situation but not look in the nfc i think i think the nfc is a lot more open than the afc the sense that i look at the afc i don't everybody could disagree you know whatever i think buffalo kansas city i think one of those two teams is in the super bowl and it's going to be those two in the afc title game and they're going to battle for the death for three hours and we'll see who wins in the nfc your detroit had such a hammerlock on this thing but now of course because of the injuries you'll look at them and go man if they're going to get there they're going to have to outscore everybody they're going to have to score 38 42 points you know likely in some of these games to win pamper to me is a real live dog they're an interesting team you know you know what todd balls are well coached on the defensive side mayfield's having a terrific year if i if i had an mvp ballot and he would be in the top five he wouldn't win it but he'd be in the top five you know then you'll get like the rams get in i don't think the rams can get to the super bowl because of that that back seven defensively the boy i'll say i wouldn't want to see them come in like if i'm the eagles i don't want to see that team show it out to you they're just one of those teams they're going to have a day is for 40. um i think the eagles are the best team because of the injuries to detroit otherwise i would have said the lions but well the question is going to be for me too in the nfc can the eagles get to the one seed or does that go to whoever ends up winning the north and to that point that's where the vikings are interesting if minnesota could if minnesota wins out the number one seed in the conference they don't need any help because they played before in week 18 you know i think the packers kind of like the rams kind of like the bucks i don't think they can get this through blood maybe win a game or two i i think you're looking at philly detroit and if minnesota wherever to somehow not be the wildcard and win that division minnesota is really good i think minnesota a lot of people think they are just because it's like oh it's darnold it's the vikings that team has been very very consistent all year on beat a lot of good teams yeah man they got a they have a great head coach and kevin o'connell as as well if i hit the fast forward button just a little bit just last week and and just seems like a matter of time we saw bill bellacheck become the head coach of north carolina there have been small rumors about where mike vrabel might end up in the off season doug peterson doesn't look long for the jacksonville jaguars what openings should we expect and and who and what are some names that might plug them well look i think ravel's a real interesting name to watch i you know the bears are a team obviously they have an opening i think i think the bears are a team that you know mike ravel is he's going to be high on their list ben johnson is going to be high on everybody's list i think you wonder you wonder there's there's jacksonville where i agree peterson's not going to be along for that job do they pry ben johnson away yeah they're a team that they will spend money and they've got a quarterback in trevor lawrence a lot of people in the league look at and say he's a depressed asset he's going to be really good once he gets in the right system that's the right coach now that's a matter of opinion but i wonder if ben johnson looks at that job and really likes it you'll look at some other teams around the league i think the raiders are going to move off of pierce um and they're they're an interesting team for ravel because you got the connection to brady there now this is tom tom brady making a decisions like we know it's not all his money now but he's leading the ship am i safe to assume that let's put it this way jr he's got a prominent voice there and and mark davis is going to listen to tom brady's thoughts on the coach and the quarterback and if he doesn't he's insane um you know but i think you're gonna have a job opening the jets she said the jets are a problem in the sense people are going to overvalue the jet shop because people are gonna say they got talent on that roster and they're in new york woody johnson is toxic for a lot of people they just don't want to go there and so the jets are going to have to really sell stability and you're bringing in a whole i mean that's a new front office all maybe the quarterback but the jets are going to have an opening obviously the raiders i think will have one you just saints of course have one the saints have the problem too of like you're just in capel in new orleans it's very difficult to sell that i think the most attractive jobs are going to be jacksonville chicago to an extent but you do worry about kevin warren being there and is he's really pulling the strings with poles um but there's gonna be a lot of i would say it's probably gonna be eight i mean it's probably gonna be a good solid eight the cowboys are another one you'll look at and you're probably an opening there so uh that's always an attractive job with dak and everybody else so look i think there's gonna be a lot of openings um and i think you're gonna get a decent amount of first-time head coaches as well hey matt final question for you we know well one of these guys we we won't see too much more of him you talked about the bears looking for a new head coach uh caleb williams a good first rookie year not turning the ball over but we know it's going to boil down to both nix and daniel so we will likely see both of them in a postseason who are you favoring for rookie of the year i'd give it to daniels what say you yeah i'd give it to daniels but i think nixon nixon his credit has massively surpassed most people's expectations but i think nix while he's played well i don't think any way from i think it's a little bit of hey look you know color inside the lines like do you know play the jump eight and offense don't make a big mistake like there's been a lot of games this year where nixon's done absolutely nothing and they've won because they play great defensive football and he's made like two throws daniel's to me is a driving force of that team they're winning games because of jade and dan like jane daniels could go into the playoffs and win them the game because he just goes berserk and he runs for 75 yards and throws for 275 and has four total touchdowns i don't know that there's a world where the broncos win a playoff game because of bonex whereas i think washington could win a playoff game and you'll look at it and go yeah they won the game because of jayden daniels yeah well we'll see what happens huh well we know bonex exactly what you just said nobody expected to see the broncos in the postseason and i guess sean payton has a feather in his cap he can stop insulting some of the other people across the league right now hey matt yeah thank thank you so much for the time where can people follow you and all of your work with si and then elsewhere especially with the chiefs yeah uh i mean national coverage i'm national press eyes over on si now and uh si.com and you can follow me on twitter at matt veram and uh yeah you're a chief fan uh i've made my bones kind of covering them coming up so you can go i have a podcast just the matt veram show on patreon and go check it out but yeah uh all things nfl uh you can find me all over the place always a pleasure chatting with you matt you take it easy okay hey you too happy holidays no doubt about it happy holidays to you matt verduram joining us from si now it's the jr sport show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network at the top of the hour i'm going to share with you a new top six list we're going to talk about the top six athletes my top six athletes in the year 2024 but before we do that i do want to talk a little bit more about the the rookies that we're seeing because we got a lot of change coming in the nfl in the off season uh caleb williams not going anywhere bonix not going anywhere jaden daniels not going anywhere 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 thank you so much to matt verduram from sports illustrated now for joining us in the last break as we took a look at everything going on in the nfl yeah this is this is kind of this is a crazy season because i feel like for the first time in a long time we have a lot of teams that have basically clinched uh playoff positioning and then we have a lot of teams that have already been eliminated they're thinking about next season they're thinking about the off season they're worried about who their next coach is going to be where they can get their next qb and it's it's not even christmas yet and yeah like like matt said you you take a look at the afc it's really hard to look at any team walking out of the afc barring injury not named the kansas city chiefs or the buffalo bills maybe the baltimore ravens get things together we know that that pass defense has been pretty pathetic all season long so we have to see there's just so much up in the air but one thing that's not up in the air that we discussed are some rookie quarterbacks because like we're going to see michael penix jr and what he can do against the new york giants for the falcons on sunday we'll see what happens there but we've seen some rookie qbs really ball out this year we know jayden daniels i think most people would say just based on his consistency throughout the course of the year he did have that lull in the middle of the season while he was busted up and hurt but he he's been amazing three thousand yards passing 17 touchdowns he has another 700 yards rushing to go along with six tds the commanders are nine and five with a rookie qb and it's one thing to win a heisman it's one thing to look great in college he's a little good for washington washington has their future quarterback and when you think about it jayden daniels is not going to get better you would assume that he would especially give an experience i mean this past sunday he says you know what me the team the offense we haven't even scratched the surface of what we can do this is what he said after beating the saints everybody on the office i gotta be better um because it starts with me um with the details getting the guys focused getting myself focused um and you know just just hammering the details of little things when maybe exhaustion or you know things aren't going away you go back to your technique your fundamentals now i don't know what things are going to look like the next couple of weeks for uh jayden daniels washington hosts the eagles on sunday then they have the falcons maybe uh panics will will show a thing or two on sunday against the giants to you know elicit some confidence in the fan base and then they end the season washington does against the rival they take on the dallas cowboys so unless jayden daniels just completely craps the bed over the next several weeks i don't think he's going to do that i think we're looking at the rookie of the year but that's not to take anything away from bow necks almost 3 000 yards passing 20 touchdowns 11 interceptions he ain't too bad on the ground himself where he found some room he's gonna go 327 yards fourth touchdowns more importantly you're looking at a denver team i still can't believe this they have a winning record they're on their way to the postseason they're right behind the kansas city chiefs in the afc west with a record of nine and five and they got a rookie qb sean paton couldn't do this last year with russell wilson who he seemingly complained about at every chance and every single opportunity matter of fact sean paton someone who's always finding something to complain about he was on the orange and blue today show and he said this guy bow nix the guy who played in college for about 20 years oh he's tough i like him i like him a lot when we needed it he didn't flinch um there's there's a maturity and a moxie about him which which i love and i think it's contagious to the team when you have that at the quarterback position your team knows you're in every game and when you don't have it um when you don't have it uh that it's pretty difficult because deep down in in their belly they know that that's not the case and that's something noticeably i mean you notice with him the spirit especially and with this team maybe it's the connection but damn it even when he's handing out compliments he just sounds uh he sounds miserable and speaking of miserable this guy knows a thing or two about being miserable oh man it's the the quarterback of the chicago bears god bless caleb williams for not turning the ball over no interceptions over the last eight games amazing but the bears stink people are talking about the playoffs they have a record of four and ten they just got blasted by minnesota this is what caleb had to say about his rookie year it's been frustrating and encouraging i would say the frustrating part is is is obviously we were on a um how many games now eight yeah eight game losing streak and that's not uh like i've said before it's new to me i haven't um experienced anything like this so that's the frustrating part um the encouraging part is how much we fight as a team um the encouraging part is us as a team being able to go through and myself included being able to um go through kind of all of what's happened this year um you know me not playing well in the beginning of the season and and and feeling like i was seeing it well and then i've been able to find ways to to you know keep growing keep progressing um you know through those times that i was frustrated then and then um you know uh coaches getting fired and you know all of this this this stuff is going on four and four and ten right now so uh been able to um wake up be consistent do that every day with you know how it's you know been going is is is is is encouraging for me i i like the part well not necessarily but i the part about coaching coaches getting fired that was real interesting you're gonna have another coach next year get used to it at least you still have a job welcome to life in the nfl welcome to life as the head well not the head coach but welcome to life as a quarterback of the chicago bears at least you'll be sticking around for a little bit longer hopefully a whole lot longer it's the jr sport reshow here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network we're gonna take a break and speaking of sticking around and having a better year i'm gonna give you a top six list it's wednesday i'm giving you a top six list my top athletes here in 2024 these folks they hope they can have a good year next year like they did this year don't move the jr sport reshow infinity sports network you
