It is! The JR Sportbreef Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and listening all over North America. I hope you had a tremendous Monday.
I hope you had a great weekend. We got so much to get into. The show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. How can you listen?
In a variety of ways. Thank you to everybody tuned in on their local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. You can tune in on the free Odyssey app, A-U-D-A-C-Y. If you got Sirius XM, it's channel 158. And if you have a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, you got YouTube. You can watch the show. Shout outs to everybody watching the show on YouTube.
Just search the Infinity Sports Network on YouTube and the live stream will pop right on up. Man, we've talked about a lot last hour. People are calling about Mike Tomlin. He needs to get the boot from the Steelers. We talked about Mike Vrabel being introduced as the new head coach of the New England Patriots. We talked about Mike McCarthy, no longer the head coach of the Dallas of the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones gets to hire a new victim. Yeah, that's what we call Cowboys coaches. They're victims. Yeah, high priced victims.
That's what they are. Anyway, we have so much more to get into. How about this? Since everybody wants to have an opinion on Mike Tomlin getting fired in 20 minutes, we'll go to the Steel City. Let's talk to Mike DeFabo, who covers the Steelers for the athletic. He'll be here in 20 minutes.
We'll ask him what needs to change in the Steel City. In a few minutes, I want to talk to you about some of the young quarterbacks that are emerging in the NFL. Jayden Daniels advancing past the Buccaneers. Now you got the Lions.
Good luck with that. We talked about the Ravens and the Bills. We have so much to get into as the show continues on. And then we have the final wild card matchup kicking off in about an hour from now. We have the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams in Glendale, Arizona. They are, keep in mind, in Arizona because of the fires that have been raging out in California dating back to last week.
So we have a lot to do, a lot to get into. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. I'm being joined by super producer and host Ryan Hickey. Ryan, Mike is here in 20 minutes or an hour from now? An hour from now, sorry. I meant to apologize for the miscommunication there.
No, that ain't no- 820 Eastern. Okay, we'll be chatting up with Mike. So we have more time to talk about Mike Tomlin getting the boot before Mike joins us, right? A lot more time to break it all down. A lot more time.
Speaking of breaking it, Sam Donald is out here practicing. Hickey, I'm real interested to see what this game looks like from a, I guess proximity. It's going to lean towards the Rams.
I don't really think anybody's going to have too much of an advantage here. Yeah, this will kind of feel like a Super Bowl, right? A little bit where it is pretty neutral. There's no overwhelming fan, one fan base. I would probably assume, I don't, I feel like maybe there'd be more Vikings fans. Yeah, vacation, right?
Right. And if you're going to the game anyway, like, you know, if you bought tickets to go to LA and I have to change it to Arizona, I mean, I know airlines sometimes can be a pain and hotels as well. I'm assuming it's relatively easy, right? To change your plans versus if you're a Rams fan going, then obviously you have to change your plans of just going down the street or whatever, driving to the stadium.
Now you have to go to a different state. It's a lot easier, I think, for the Vikings fans to change the Rams fans. It says the Rams sold 52,000 tickets in one day.
Okay. I mean, is this game, is this game even going to be sold out? Is that, is that accurate? I don't know, man. That's.
If they get like 70% falling, that's a win, right? Like a sellout on what was it? Four days notice, right?
It came out on Thursday. Yeah. But even, even then I'm thinking if you're a Rams fan and you're in Los Angeles and I don't even know how many Rams we got Rams fans in LA from what the eighties. And then they went to St. Louis. I don't, they had jokes about how many visiting fans fill up so far stadium. And I don't know if, if I'm a Rams fan, the aren't you, aren't you more concerned with what's going on in Los Angeles, as opposed to, I need to just, you know, take a trip to Phoenix, to Glendale, to, to follow the team.
I would just sit down and watch at home. And so not an ideal situation when you play a home game, not in your home stadium, but we know there's just been a massive disaster. As we heard last hour from rich Ackerman of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Clippers who they're going to have a game or two to make up throughout the course of the year. They're both back in action playing in Los Angeles tonight. So we'll talk more about the actual football game between Minnesota and the Rams later on this hour before they get going. Hickey, look at that.
And they got Roger Goodell sitting on TV. You know, he looks very casual and relaxed. He's wearing his, I just showed up the work shirt. I'm here because it's a disaster. I wonder what he's saying, right? He's, he's probably bigging himself up for the NFL and its contingency and a good job that they did.
I'm sure he is. And probably the donation that they made as well. Highlighting all the good the NFL is doing.
I would probably agree. America. What is it? A red cross?
Red cross. Yes, sir. Yeah. NFL does good all the time. Thank you. Right.
All the time. They don't do any bad. No, you're right about that.
Except for when they wanted to give the players healthcare and nevermind. I was going to say that list could go kind of long if you want to dive into it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That list, the bad things, the small bad things that the NFL has done. Oh yeah. Very short, very short list.
Sarcasm people. I 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. You know, before we went to break, you know, we talked about the Ravens, the Bills. We got into Mike Tomlin and I just saw this story.
If you wanted to know how tough NFL players are and you were pretty much already knew that we got a rookie quarterback, the one who lost yesterday, not the one who won Jayden Daniels. Bone Nicks revealed today that this man was playing with fractures in his back for the better part of a month. Why? Huh?
Huh? He had three fractures in his back. Now I'm not a, I'm not, I'm not an expert on anatomy, but I just want to say, I don't want any part of my body to be broken.
Let alone. You're the quarterback and people are aiming and trying to knock the living hell out of you. Like Bone Nicks is he's tough. And God bless him and Sean Payton, even though Sean Payton is seems like he's always miserable. He got himself a quarterback that he can work with into the future. And then you talk about tough and I get it.
It was just a cut on the face. Jayden Daniels is awesome. You know, watching that game last night and in beating a more seasoned team and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baker Mayfield and Todd Bowles. I know people are sick of Todd Bowles as well.
23 to 20. We had a field goal to win the game. Picky does the kicker. Gonzalez does the kicker. Gonzalez, is he a, does he, it was a nervous tick. Why was he fixing his head the whole time? I think that's exactly right. A little bit of a nervous tick. Apparently it's OCD. I think that's what led to the, like, that's one of the, I guess movements for like a better term is fixing the hair.
Okay. I was just like, okay, for all his hair fixing, he wants to look good. I'm like, man, he better make the kick. And then he barely made the kick and they just pulled this guy. This guy wasn't even in the league for like three years.
He wasn't on a roster for three years. This guy's over here kicking field goals to move this team ahead. And Jayden Daniels is just awesome. The first rookie to win a playoff game since Russell Wilson did it.
This is, this guy's good. Washington has a quarterback. Washington has a good coach that people actually like in Dan Quinn, the Washington commanders, even, even past that they have an owner that we don't know him well enough yet, but people don't hate his guts. Daniel Snyder had about 25 years, almost 30 years when people were hating his guts. Jayden Daniels talked about his emotions after the win.
He's going to be offensive rookie of the year. Listen to this. I don't know.
I can't really explain it. Um, obviously I'm grateful to have the opportunity. Um, I'm happy for, you know, the fan base, the franchise, everything has been through, um, to get to this point. So I'll just say, I mean, I'm just grateful and happy for everybody, including myself too. That's hilarious. He's like, yeah, I know before I got here, things were garbage.
I know the owners sucked. I know the fans had to suffer for a very long time, but now I'm here and somebody else who's here, Dan Quinn, Dan Quinn loves his quarterback. He loves him. Jayden certainly is a big factor in that.
I think if he had his heart rate monitor on in mind, they would not be the same in the game. And, uh, his stays pretty consistently good. And, um, sometimes I'm like the duck, if you just saw the feet going under the water, um, it's good, but he really is into that space.
Um, exceptional. Man, Hickey Dan, Dan Quinn is too nice to be a coach. Ain't he too nice. He just, he seems warm and kind and friendly. And even when he was here in Atlanta, it was just, he was a nice guy. He's too nice. He needs to be like Rabel, be a jackass. There is something though.
He, when he wears the backwards hat, it does give, give kind of a tough guy, macho Mike Vrabel esque feel. No, no, no, no, no. Okay.
I think that's also a friendly. I tried. Right. It's almost like a kid wearing like a little kid wearing a backwards hat, like all that cute versus like a tough guy backwards hat look. Yeah. I don't know why he's bald. Maybe.
I don't know. No, no, no. Good for him.
And good for Washington, but here's the deal. They going to get smashed on Saturday. Sorry. They got the lions coming up. This is you can't.
How do I say this? If you're a Washington commanders fan last year, before Jayden Daniels was even on the team, there were high expectations for Washington to go to the post season. Y'all needed the suck and bring in a new coach and a new quarterback, a new owner to pretty much turn things around. Things are going to get better. Things are going to get better. But for right now, I would just be happy with what we've seen.
I'd be along for the ride. I would expect them to get smashed by the lines. The Washington team has been winning these games by the skin of their teeth. They're giving up leads and bouncing back and winning. And it's taken Baker Mayfield fumbles and kicks that bounce off the uprights and through.
It's taken everything for Washington to win. The lions are going to run them off of the field on Saturday night. I mean, yeah, everybody has a chance to win any given Sunday, even though the game is on Saturday. Everybody has a chance. I'm not, I'm not giving them a great one.
Hickey, we can cut to the chase. Do you see the lines losing to Washington on Saturday? I'm picking Detroit. I do think they can keep it close.
So that is Washington. Well, I think we got a good game here, like within one touchdown. All right.
Okay. I don't think I'm expecting blow out city like halftime over over. I don't know.
Halftime third quarter. Jayden Daniels has to do too much. Like he's there.
He was there leading Russia in the regular season. They got Austin Ekla out there. I think there comes a point in time and that'll be the next step in his development, even though he's already awesome.
Yeah. You got McLaurin, you got Ekler and this guy, Jayden Daniels, you talk about Bo Nix playing with fractures in his back. Jayden Daniels is tough as nails for, for being a quarterback.
Who's not the biggest dude in the world. That guy, he he's a baller. I just don't, I don't expect a lot right now. And it's kind of crazy as he's being elevated, man, Justin Herbert, man, he sucked over the weekend for interceptions. What a complete waste of time that was losing a Houston 32 to 12 for interceptions. They're paying Justin Herbert $52 million. And I know this is an adjustment year. You're bringing in Harbaugh.
They're going to run the ball more. You didn't pass it as often. He only threw three interceptions in the entire regular season. He threw four in one game. What the hell was Justin Herbert thinking about? He said, he, he said he screwed over the team with his own play.
Listen to this. Yeah, it's tough. You know, I let the team down and you can't turn over the ball like that and expect to win and put the team into a tough position there with four turnovers like that. So, you know, the defense hung tough. They, they got some turnovers. They, they gave us opportunities, but I just have to be better. Oh yeah.
Well, there is no more. We got to wait until next year and they got to get him some help to throw the ball. I mean, Ladd McConkie almost had 200 yards receiving and everybody else is just nothing. Jim Harbaugh. Hey, how does your quarterback play?
Tell me. He's got to be able to finish a throwing motion. You know, quarterbacks got to be able to do that. And, uh, and we, um, we didn't put him in the position to do that enough. Now he's blaming the offensive line.
Well, that's your bread and butter, right? Harbaugh, the offense, the offensive lineman, you drafted one, you got a quarterback, fix it. Nobody was expecting them to win the super bowl this year.
And this is an accomplishment for them to even get this far to even make the post season. That's what they brought Harbaugh in for. That's what they brought Harbaugh in for. I mean, we've seen enough disasters, pre Harbaugh, Herbert blowing that big old lead in Jacksonville. That wasn't all his damn fault. Justin Herbert's going to have to start earning his money and we know it's going to be tough.
You plan a division with the Kansas city chiefs, but when you making that type of money between him and Trevor Lawrence, there's, there's, there's no more excuses. Now you got to step up. 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27.
That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. Jay is calling from Ohio. You're on the JR sport reshow. What's up, Jay.
What's going on? Jr. How are you? I'm doing good. How about yourself? I'm good.
What's up? So what do you think Pittsburgh should do? Do they bring in like a established, um, defensive coordinator and kind of like, um, take the control away from Tomlin? No, I don't, I don't think that's, I don't think that's an issue at all.
I think it's, it's rat on wheel. It's not about coordinator, offense, defense. It's about the talent. It's about having a quarterback.
They don't have one. I mean, they went into, I gotta be honest. I didn't expect them to even make the playoffs. I thought that this was going to be the season where the Steelers, I thought they, I thought they would stink and they still made the playoffs with Russell Wilson and fields.
And so this is what it boils down to every team. I mean, damn it, the teams that we just talked about this, there's been a theme here, whether it's Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or Jayden Daniels or Bo Nix. I just told you about a team that faltered because their quarterback threw the ball away to the wrong team four times. If you don't have a quarterback, you don't got nothing. There's no fixing that for the Steelers, unless they stink for a year. And then we even got Russell Wilson who says he wants to be back.
I'd be shocked if fields is back. Why does he want to compete to be a, you know, second banana? It's not, it's the players on the field, man. It's the quarterback, Jay.
I got you. I got a court, a weird take, but you know how, how weird Jim Harbaugh is. And I was thinking in my head, I'm like, okay, what if, you know, he loses, you know, he loses over the weekend and he wants his boy McCarthy. Let's just say Darnell resigns in Minnesota. He trades for McCarthy. I mean, if you're Pittsburgh and Justin Herbert becomes available, would you throw him, you know, two first round picks and get a solidified quarterback? Jay, are you, are you talking about trading Herbert?
Who's making 52 mil. I'm I'm just, yeah, exactly. That's what I'm talking about. No, no, Jay. That's not, not happening, Jay. So I'm just saying, you know, you know how weird Harbaugh gets, he wants his guys, you know what I mean?
Growing up in Ohio. No, no, no, no, Jay, we got to, no, he, that guy's on a rookie contract. You tell me how that math adds up. Okay. Hey, I like, and I like Wilson. You know what I mean? Russell Wilson? Yes, I'm telling you.
Okay. I was, I was on the Tomlin train. I was calling for Wilson as soon as the season started. Hey, God bless Fields for coming in and did what he, you know, winning some games. We saw how it, how it ended Jay.
So I assume that they're going to be reunited on a second go round, Well, you know what happened? You've seen the defense given up 300 yards at halftime. That's my point.
And Tomlin six, you know, last six playoff losses. I mean, his defense is getting torched. Yeah.
I think it's, it's more of an overall, think about this. When Ben Roethlisberger was on his way out the door, they were throwing that rock around the new England Patriot, excuse me, the new England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers can only operate in rock fights, but for so long, we see how the NFL operates. You got to throw the rock. And so, yeah, the defense can get torched, but they need somebody who can actually go out there and generate offense. The quarterback, I'm not worried about the defense.
And I know you're wide to the world every year. They get a year older, Minka Fitzpatrick, they get a year older quarterback QB. It's not easy to get 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27.
That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. Matter of fact, we're going to take a break. When we come back, there are a lot of people who don't agree with me like the Steelers, a former head coach, he thinks that there needs to be some changes in Pittsburgh.
Yeah. Bill Cower has spoken. We'll hear what he has to say on the other side of the break. We're going to talk about the Vikings and Rams getting ready to kick off in about an hour from now or 45 minutes.
We've got a lot to do. It's the JR Sport Brief Show Coast to Coast 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. Yeah, black and yellow. Yeah, Pittsburgh. Yeah, Steelers.
Yeah, Mike Tomlin is not taking off that that black and yellow then no damn time soon. Here's a better question. Hickey, what whatever happened to Wiz Khalifa? Where the hell is he at? The guy who did that song? Whatever happened to him?
Great question. I don't know. It's been a while since he's had a good song out or a banger out, if you will.
I know he does. He was doing I saw videos for the past few years. He's doing like MMA, but I don't hear no new music from him.
I don't know. We got to the fighting realm. Oh, you never saw him doing like the MMA stuff.
I honestly, JR, I tune a lot of those celebrity matches out just because it's for me such a long time. No, no, not not fight like he just trains. He's not beating anybody up. He's just training. Oh, oh, just oh, I thought it was like, like Nate Robinson, like celebrity boxing, celebrity MMA.
I don't I don't follow this. I see it, though. He's doing like Muay Thai kicks.
Oh, he's wearing pads and like beating up punching bags and sparring and stuff like that. No joke. Yeah. We got we got Jello Ball, Leanne, LeAngelo Ball, right? We got LeAngelo Ball putting out records before Wiz Khalifa, I guess.
That's welcome to twenty twenty five, I guess. Right. We'll talk about that later on. He got an eight million dollar deal from Def Jam. OK. All right.
Well, I guess they're going to make that money back before they kick him to the curb. I don't know. What do I know? Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.
That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Man, we got so many opinions on on Mike Tomlin and whether he needs to go, what they need to do with him. It's just it's crazy. I'm in favor of keeping Mike Tomlin because I think he has squeezed everything that you can out of this roster, especially not having like a star quarterback in his prime. Russell Wilson is kind of touch and go at this stage of his career. And Justin Fields is not someone who's consistently going to just drive the ball down the field in the air for you.
It's it's tricky. And now, well, first, before we hear from a former Steelers head coach, let's listen to the active Steelers head coach, because Mike Tomlin, after the loss to the Ravens, he pretty much said, well, we all knew we weren't good enough to win. We sucked. You know, we just weren't good enough to be quite honest with you. We, you know, a drop here and there and things of that nature, man, when you're playing good people, it really gets highlighted and we just weren't good enough. Yeah, well, playing Derek Henry, man, almost had 200 yards rushing in that game.
Kind of nuts now. This is the or that was or this is the active Steelers head coach. What about the Steelers old coach?
What about Bill Cower? He was on CBS yesterday and listen to what he said about what needs to happen with the Steelers. It's a manner with which they lost. And you talk about the physicality and the fact that the Ravens rushed for almost 300 yards. That's something they have to look at in this offseason. Probably some changes on that football team, players and coaches, because right now that's going to stick with them for a long time. It's not that they lost.
It's the manner with which they lost the football game. No. Well, I tell you what, coach ain't leaving. Not Mike Tomlin. He ain't going anywhere.
You throw that out the window. Kirk Herb Street. He was on Amazon Saturday night after the game. And he was just like, man, the Steelers, they just didn't care. Power Steelers fan. The thing that would concern me just watching this first half here in the postseason, you're getting dominated. I don't see any fight.
I don't see any any push back. It's one thing to lose XOs against a really talented offense, but where the hell is the fight? This is the Pittsburgh Steelers. There's nothing.
They're just going through the motion. Yeah. Listen, they were very careful not to call out Mike Tomlin. I'm just saying you don't know what you got till it's gone. Everybody has a solution.
What what do you do? Like the Steelers, actually, I want to I want to say they're smart for not just no jumping at the first thing and then just firing the dude. There's a lot of teams running around in the NFL right now. Dallas Cowboys, man, they don't have no coach.
The owner is a joke. They make these these last second decisions because people are screaming for him. OK, so Mike Tomlin is gone. Now, what you want to make Arthur Smith the head coach?
The Steelers are a model of stability. They're just going to now shuffle through head coaches like, you know, people change underwear every day. Like, what are we doing? Picky, suggestion.
You think Mike Tomlin deserves the boot? What do you do next? Tear it down. Oh, easier said than done. I think you trade Mike Tomlin, you trade T.J. Watt, you trade Cam Hayward. Oh, try to trade George Pickens.
You tear it down to build it back up. Wow. But this this this could be forever. I mean, you got to get it right to the Steelers credit. They got three head coaches, right? You know, so no reason to believe they can't get a fourth right here. You're right. There's no guarantee.
Jets, Browns, right? Like you sink into the abyss. Oh, yeah. But sometimes you better.
What is what is the phrase? And I get it. This is an NFL team. The goal is to win a championship, not to just be good.
Don't fix if it ain't broke. Like, it's tough, like the teams that you just named, even hearing them made me shudder. Like, if I'm a fan of the Steelers, even mentioning my my organization, my team in the same phrase as the the Jets or the Browns just gives me the chills. Like, that's not what anybody wants.
Nobody wants to be associated with those teams. Yuck. 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27.
And say 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. We got Connor. He's calling from Ohio. You on the JR Sportbree show. What's up, Connor? Hey, JR. JR, how are you doing this evening? Excellent. What's up?
I wanted to talk about my example too. I'm thinking I completely agree with you. And I'm I'm glad you're not a part of the bandwagon that is is rooting for Mike Tomlin to be kicked out of the the franchise and out of there. I don't think that's the right answer. I feel like I feel like Hickey's take on on rebuilding.
That's it. I don't feel like the Steelers are the right team to do that. That's that's the kind of team that should be rebuilding right now is are the Browns or are the Jets or the Panthers or the Giants.
Those are teams that need some serious rebuilding. That's not what the Steelers need right now. They just need a quarterback. And and that's their that's what they really need right now. And maybe they have to purposely, I don't know, do something, not try and win all the time, maybe have more of a losing season and get a better pick or something.
I'm not sure. And I could tell you what the Steelers have to do. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. And and they're they're insane, literally insane.
The definition of an insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting the same result. And that's what they're doing. They're expecting to get somewhere further than where they are now. And they keep doing the same thing. I don't think I don't think so as much, Connor.
Thank you so much for calling from Ohio. Like, I don't think they were let's be real with their championship expectations from this team this year. I was surprised that they made the postseason. I thought that they would finish close to 500. We saw how they stunk at the end of the year. I didn't have expectations for them to do nothing.
We talked about this all the way back to the summertime. If you're running around with two quarterbacks and you ain't got nothing. And that's basically what they did. Russell Wilson had that calf issue that took him into the regular season when he was ready to go. They put him out there. Now I'm supposed to believe that Russell Wilson, a year older, is going to be better. Well, they're going to be in the same damn position they were last year. And so what's the expectation for the Steelers next season? To be good enough to be a playoff team, but not win a championship?
I think so. Until they get their hands on a QB that they say, hey, we can roll with this guy for the next five to 10 years. For the next five to 10 years. We know that ain't Russell Wilson.
So I think people, you just got to be, you got to be realistic. He's not going anywhere. He being Mike Tomlin and the Steelers aren't either.
They just got to get a quarterback. It's not easy. And by the way, it's not easy winning championships. It's not. It's not eight, five, five, two, one, two, 42, 27.
That's eight, five, five, two, one, two, 42, 20, seven. We are 25 minutes away from kickoff Monday night football wild card edition, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams. We'll talk about that when we come back on the other side of the break.
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. We'll talk about the final wild card game of this round in a few minutes. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It is the JR sport re show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. We pause on Mike Tomlin to talk about two, two great head coaches like Mike Tomlin, by the way, who aren't going anywhere.
They're getting ready for kickoff Monday night football Rams Vikings. Somebody has to advance, right? Kevin O'Connell out here working miracles with Sam Donald, Sam Donald, I guess.
Is he going to be most improved player? Come back player? I don't know. Hickey. What would he be coming back from?
Nothing being a bum, being a Jetta Panther. Like what would he come back from? I think all the above, like you said, being drafted by a terrible franchise, going to another one in Carolina, being a bum, seeing ghosts. Although I'm confused because I've heard people say both ways. Didn't they change like the voting to where like he can't be considered comeback player of the year? I don't, I've, I've heard about, I think there's been more conversation, not, not formal. And so comeback would be come back from like a major injury, like Alex Smith had his, his leg ripped to shreds.
That was a, that was a comeback, right? Like I don't think they've changed it. I think they've just talked about it.
Okay. Cause I know obviously right last year was a lot of controversy with Joe Flacco winning comeback player of the year for coming up the couch and leading the Browns to the playoffs, getting it over DeMar Hamlin. And so I wasn't sure if like, that was, like you said, if it was just talk or if it was official of, Hey, we're changing the, the criteria. So now guys that basically just come back from a bad year or in this case, a bad career in Darnold that, you know, they will no longer be eligible. I don't know, but if he is eligible, I mean, well, who else is there right here? The, here are the odds. I'm looking at it right now. Joe burrow has the best odds to win comeback player of the year.
Hmm. Sam Donald and then JK Dobbins are the chargers. I know who ain't winning it. It's not going to be, it's not going to be JK Dobbins. We can go ahead and, uh, throw that out there and Joe burrow. I mean, like he's, if he's healthy, he's a perennial, you know, MVP candidate.
I'm not giving him comeback of nothing. It's Sam Donald, like Sam Donald was thrown. Like you said, he was thrown into a trash organization and had to kind of work his way up. I'm, I'm excited to see what he can do. I hope this man is playing for a contract. JJ McCarthy is the guy that the Minnesota Vikings ended up drafting.
He did not play due to injury all season long. I want to just see Sam Donald. I I'm rooting for the underdog. He's still an underdog because people are waiting on him to basically go out there and fail. And I want to see him succeed. I know that last game, it was not all that hot.
Minnesota Vikings losing a final game of the season getting smoked by the lions. But I want to see Sam Donald bounce back. He has a great coach and O'Connell. We know Sean McVay is a great coach. He has great players on offense and now also defense to two defenders verse and frisk coming out of FSU.
This is great. Like this is going to be a good matchup. And I actually think the fact that they're having it in Arizona, not because of the circumstances, I think it's going to be, this might be a good game.
I certainly hope it is. Sean McVay, all the tragedy and moving from Los Angeles and playing out in Arizona. He says, we're ready to go, man. We're ready. I've been really pleased with the prep that we've had.
Our guys have been locked in focused. We know we've still got a little bit of time until kickoff, but, uh, they've a lot of people brought a lot of people brought their families with them. And so that's good.
And, um, you know, we are, uh, we're looking forward to Monday night. Yeah. I told you about Kevin O'Connell quarterback, whisper former quarterback in the NFL. He talked about Sam Donald. He talked about Sam Donald bouncing back. This is what he said.
Sam. Donald is a huge reason why we won 14 games and, um, his teammates know that we know it. And that's the, you know, the, the mental toughness of it is also acknowledging the confidence he should have, um, to, to put together another great week of preparation and go play.
Man. This is crazy. You think about the quarterbacks in the league that are, have gotten second chances and opportunity, Sam Donald, uh, we saw Baker Mayfield unfortunately had that, that big fumble at the end of the game yesterday. Baker Mayfield had 40 plus touchdowns this year. Like we saw him play like this in college, but for the Browns, it was just like, Oh, do we want Baker to throw the ball? And, uh, we got to run the ball.
We got chub. Sometimes the change of scenery is, is what's best for folks. Hey, let's listen to Sam Donald who was just on the television stretching a few minutes ago. Uh, listen to what Sam Donald had to say about being ready to go. It's just a matter of, you know, for us just being prepared, um, you know, and, and being able to, you know, have a clear mind going into the football game. And that's really, uh, you know, um, we do everything we can throughout the week to, to prepare ourselves for, you know, the environment, um, for how loud it's going to be and all those different things.
So, you know, just to continue to prepare that way and, you know, we'll be good. Yeah, they'll be good. We'll see if he, look, there's no in-between for Sam Donald. This is either going to be a great game for him or he's going to stink. And it's going to really determine what his future looks like. JJ McCarthy, you would expect him, or he should be the starter next year, unless Sam Donald wows you. Cause these are the games that matter. You know, Sam, Don, we're going to get a contract from another team where he's making, you know, 30, 40, $45 million.
We're going to find out sooner than later. And meanwhile, you got the Rams eight. They'd just been hot.
They had an early buy in early October. And since then they won nine out of 11 games to get to this point, Puka Nakua is out there healthy and Cooper cup is healthy. And Stafford can just throw the ball around. This is Hickey. This is a pick them game, man. This is, I wouldn't be surprised if this literally goes down to a field goal.
Cause I could see the ball just getting aired out. You got Addison and Jefferson on the other side for Minnesota. They're, they're just going to add us out. This is going to be a shootout. I agree.
And this sucks. It's got like both teams. Like I was really excited and not, I thought both teams, especially like the Rams, one of those teams where they're playing hot, like you don't want to face them. You know, if you're the lions, if you're the Eagles, you get nervous about the Rams coming to your building. So it sucks that one of these two teams, their season ends right away. I'm with you.
I think we get a great back and forth game. Yeah. It's you know, I guess if you're the Rams, you're the Rams.
I don't know. Minnesota has expects. They got 14 wins.
They have more wins than any wildcard team that we've ever had in NFL history. You got Sam Donald, who's basically playing for his next job. More importantly, his next contract, whether it be in Minnesota or elsewhere. And then this, the story of, of the Rams just having to pick up and move from Los Angeles to play this game.
It's not at home. There's so many storylines here. Uh, let's listen to Sean McVeigh. He talked about how difficult this move is and how they've been focused. Incredible hospitality by Mr. Bidwell and the Cardinals organization. You know, a lot of people deserve a ton of credit for making this as seamless and as smooth as it's been.
Um, we were able to get here and, you know, I think it's a real credit to our organization as well. Man, if I had to, I don't want to say flip a coin. That's what I think this is going to boil down to. I think, I think we go for Minnesota. If you, if I absolutely had to pick a team, Nicky, I'd go with the Vikings on this one.
I'm with you. I think Sam Donald does bounce back. I think he has a very good game. And I trust that Brian floor has led defense a little bit more than I trust the Rams defense.
Yeah. I think like, uh, I kind of like a low, high, uh, sorry. I said low and high at the same time, a higher scoring game.
Like you said, like a 28, 24, something like that in that range. I think we will. I think we're going to see plenty of touchdowns. I think the wide outs are gonna, one of these wide outs is going to go for like one 50.
I don't know. Just, just a hunch. Not that a hunch matters too much, but somebody is about to have a big game and attract me in a, in a neutral field in Arizona, eight five five two one two 42 27. That's eight five five two one two 42 27.
And I think Minnesota, they got a little bit more juice when it comes to the offense. James is here from Pennsylvania. You own the JR sport re show. What's up, James. Hey, Jr. I really appreciate you having me on long time listener, long time fan. Love what you do.
So thank you so much for getting me on here. Sure. What's up?
Yeah. I wanted to talk about, I noticed that a lot of people have, uh, different opinions on, uh, coach Tomlin. I'm a long time Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I've been watching Pittsburgh Steelers football for a really, really long time. Um, Steelers have had only three coaches since 1969.
So that's crazy in itself. Um, with that being said, we can't just, I say we, uh, Pittsburgh organization can't just move on from coach Tomlin. It's just, that's just not in their pedigree.
That's just not in the recipe of how they do things. Um, going back to something you had mentioned earlier, forgive my voice, I'm a little under the weather. Okay. We got, you got, you got 30 seconds. We're hitting the end of the break, James.
Appreciate you. So what you had said earlier is, uh, there needs to be change all the way around, uh, defense, offense, really the special teams is really the only, uh, group of guys that actually played well the whole season. Um, you can't get rid of coach Tomlin at some, whether it's a new offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, uh, let coach T cook. Uh, it's not the same Pittsburgh Steelers that it was 20, 15 years ago. So we got to make a change. Appreciate you, JR blessings, happy new year.
So you as well, James, thank you for calling from PA. Yeah. I mean, well, Austin is pretty much the defensive coordinator and title. Mike Tomlin is the one who is the defensive coordinator and he's a head coach.
And then let's keep in mind, Arthur Smith, he's the offensive coordinator, but he can only work with what's in front of him. This is Russell Wilson and then an angry pickings. Oh my God. And he's never going to grow up.
I hope one day he grows up. It doesn't appear that that's going to be the case. It's the JR sport reshow. We're going to take a break when we come back. Speaking of problems, the Eagles won, but then they still got problems. We'll talk about that on the other side. It's the JR sport reshow. Don't move.
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