Who Is The NBA MVP? (Hour 3)

It is the JR Sport Brief show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

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Hello to Mark in Nova Scotia. We got a lot to get into. We've already had a busy show. Thank you to former Pittsburgh Steeler and two-time Super Bowl champ, NFL analyst on the radio, TV. He's everywhere. Max Starks came through and joined us.

How about this? We're going to have another former NFL player turned broadcaster. In 20 minutes, we're going to talk about what's going on. In Minnesota, with Pete Bursich. Yeah, they've done some things today to fortify the offensive line, the defensive line. What are the Vikings going to do at the quarterback position? Can you trust J.J. McCarthy? We have never seen J.J. McCarthy throw one pass in the NFL. We'll have a great conversation with Pete Bursich about those Vikings.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson traded to Houston for some offensive line help. People in Philadelphia are worried about them. People are worried about the 49ers. And people are going to worry about everything. I mean, even the champions.

People found something to complain about with the defending champs. I mean, it would take something major. It would take a catastrophe for somebody to take a look at the Philadelphia Eagles and not feel that they are well equipped to go ahead and repeat next year. And man, we have to hit the draft and go through training camp and unfortunately deal with injuries. If I was an Eagles fan, I think I would be a-okay with everything that I've seen here. 49ers, a different case, different situation. I'd be less concerned. 855-212-4227 is the number.

It's 855-212-4227. Talked about Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson. And then for some reason, right before we went to break, we're talking about miserable people. Of course, you talk about miserable people. Sean Payton has to top the list. He's just seemingly always miserable.

Oh, I know how we got here. We were discussing who the Vikings should add in the quarterback room. Jameis Winston was brought up.

And then we talked about how Sean Payton had to coach Jameis Winston. Sean Payton's always miserable. He was miserable on TV. He's miserable in Denver. And then he's just miserable. Now he's miserable. Probably the only thing that makes him happy is Drake May. And Denver's a nice place.

Why be miserable up there? And then naturally, speaking of Denver, it made my brain think about one of the most ridiculous performances on a basketball court that I've seen over the past just forever. Nikola Jokic, a couple of nights ago, playing against the Phoenix Suns in overtime.

I do want to say the game is in overtime. Nikola Jokic had a game. He had a triple double that just made absolutely no sense. The man had the first 30-20-20 game in NBA history. Like, these are numbers that you have only heard about. You go, hey, Wilt Chamberlain had a 50-40-30 game.

It's just like, OK, yeah, sure, fine. That makes sense. But these are numbers that you haven't seen. Nikola Jokic, on Friday night, as his team, the Nuggets beat the Suns 149-141. The man had a mind boggling 31 points, 22 assists and 22 rebounds.

Who does that? Nikola Jokic, right now in the NBA, is averaging a triple double. You heard me correctly, he is averaging a triple double. 29 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists a game. Nikola Jokic is third in the league in scoring. He's third in the league in rebounds. He is second in assists.

Like, the man is just a walking basketball team all by himself. The Denver Nuggets are currently 42-23. They just split a home series or an away series for them, I guess you could say, down in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. And it's basically a foregone conclusion right now that Shay Gilgus-Alexander is going to be MVP. It's just what it is. Oklahoma City has won 53 games, the Denver Nuggets have won 42.

Shay Gilgus is leading the league in scoring right now, 33 points a game, five rebounds, six assists. Nothing to shake your head at. Absolutely amazing. But damn it, I guess three MVPs, a finals MVP, that's enough for Nikola Jokic. You know, Scott Van Pelt asked him on Friday about this historic game that he had. He's just like, whatever.

Like, one day in retirement, I'll sit on my couch and think about it. It's like, man, you just you had the game of all games. Sometimes you look at Jokic and wonder, man, OK, you're getting paid for this, but do you like it or are you just good at it? He is a basketball freak. And so last night, after Denver beat Oklahoma City 140 to 127, Jokic had a less spectacular game, only 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists. And his head coach, Mike Malone, who is never shy to share what's on his mind, Michael Malone, went ahead and tried to tell everybody that this man is the MVP.

Listen to him. This whole MVP thing is really going to pick up. And you understand that that's a part of it. Obviously, Shea Gilders Alexander is a great player. And if he wins his first MVP, you know, he's deserving of that.

My thing is this. You know, if you didn't know that Nikola won three MVPs and I put player A and player B on paper, and you had no idea that the guy was averaging a triple double, the guy who was top three in the three major statistical categories, things that no one's ever done, he wins the MVP 10 times out of 10. And if you don't think so, I think you guys are all full of shit. Oh, he's full of what? What do you say? I heard a bleep that I couldn't really tell what he was saying. You know, could you tell? No, no, I don't know what he said. That's why I asked you.

Do you know any words that start with an S that are? Sugar. Ah, yeah. Those sports riders are full of sugar.

Have you seen them in the media room? What they eat? Well, you then drink a lot of soda consumption and a lot of Pepsi and ice cream and all of that.

Pre-game meal, halftime meal. Yeah. Yeah.

Walking walking diabetes for the sports riders. That is correct. They are absolutely full of sugar. He's not he's not lying, though. Let's let's be real. This and this is nothing new, like there's always some type of I don't want to call it manipulation, but when it comes to handing out MVP awards that are voted on by by writers and guys who have guys and girls, women who have, you know, a vote.

There's there's always a reason like there's always there's always something and somebody always has some dumb ass idea. But this is as much about storytelling, handing out the MVP award as anything else. Michael Malone brought up an excellent point. He has three yet. Jokic has three MVP. He also has a finals MVP. They are not handing this guy out any more hardware. You know, they will take the approach. They being the riders and people who have votes for MVP, they will take the approach of, well, he has three.

Shay Gill has never had one. He's been playing good for the past couple of seasons. OKC is damn good.

They're awesome. They're the best team in the West. They have a winning record.

So let's give it to him. Forget what Jokic is doing. If you took Nicola Jokic off the Denver Nuggets, they'd be I don't know, the Wizards. They'd be that team in Charlotte. They'd be the Hornets. Jokic is moving the needle here.

Yeah. And if you took SGA off of Oklahoma City, they'd be an average team. But damn it, Denver would be worse. It's pretty bad watching him, watching him play. Well, it would be bad watching him play if he wasn't there.

It's not to say Shay Gill isn't having an amazing season. He is going to be the MVP. And it sucks because I don't care who the MVP is. Nicola Jokic is the best player in the NBA. Period.

That's it. And this is not the first time we've seen a guy get screwed over, you know, just because he's it's not the not the best player in the league award. It's the most valuable player. He is the most valuable player.

But this is just so many storylines and so many different opinions that come with handing out the award. Like if I had a vote, I would give it to Jokic. He is the most valuable player. He is the most valuable.

He's the best. But it's going to go to SGA. And you think about a couple of seasons ago when Joel Embiid won the award and Jokic basically didn't even give a damn about it because he was facing so much stupid criticism by former players who are idiots online. The Gilbert Arenas is talking about euros and all this.

It's just nonsense. You want to win a game? You want to win a singular game today?

You want to have a guy? Jokic is the best man in the league. Michael Malone continued on and he talked about how Jokic is just he's a machine.

You know, I hit him up yesterday after the game, you know, trying to bring up a conversation about maybe we take tomorrow's game off. You know, you've been and I gave him the minutes, 45 minutes, 41 minutes, 39 minutes, 38 minutes with a really bad ankle and an elbow. So, you know, this is not a rest game. This is this guy is beat up with 18 games to go.

And what I love about Nicola, he was like, hell, no, I come on, man. Coach, I'm playing. That's not even a conversation. Am I tired? Sure. Everybody's tired. Am I a little beat up?

Sure. Everybody's a little beat up, but I want to play. And I think part of that was also we lost and he wanted to lead this team and find a way to come in here and get a win today.

And then they won. He scored 35 points, 18 rebounds, eight assists. He's only I say only he's already played 59 games this year.

He's only missed six games this season. You think about a six foot, 11, seven foot guy. Dude got away almost 300 pounds to 80 to 85. He's listed at we know Nicola Jokic is not the the model of what you would say an athlete is, but his endurance and his fitness is crazy. Since coming into the league.

Listen, this is a seven footer. And maybe it's it has something to do with him not relying on his ridiculously athletic gifts or at least what you would consider to be athleticism. 80 games, 73, 75, 80, 73, 72, 74, 69, 79. And he's he's on track this year unless they start sitting him down. He's on track to play another 70 plus games. If he doesn't miss another game, the guy can finish in the mid 70s.

This is a seven footer. He's 30 years old. He's been doing this now for for more than just about a decade.

He's been doing this. He's the most valuable player. He's the best player in the league. But just because of how they hand out these awards, he's not going to get it. The same way Kobe proudly deserve more MVPs and he got Shaq deserve more MVPs and he got the same reason that Michael Jordan didn't just go ahead and win it every year. You know, in the 90s, like this, there's always the storyline and it's always the guy who comes up next. I'd give Jokic the MVP as Shaq Gilgas deserving.

Yeah. And the reason why they'll give it to him is because his team is leading in wins. But without a shadow of a doubt, Jokic is is the better player. He's the best player and good on Michael Malone for hyping up his guy.

Let's see if it turns a tide here. He's averaging a triple double and isn't just averaging a triple double. He's one of the most efficient players in the league from a shooting perspective. He's just he's a cheat code in a video game. He'd be the he'd be the boss. In the game. Hickey, what do you think?

It's so tough. I feel like this should go right down to the anchors. Both are playing well. And the more like you watch this and think about it, I would agree. I would for me make Jokic the MVP. I think he adds the value or puts the value in MVP. But is this basically identical to the Lamar Josh Allen MVP race? Lamar had multiple MVPs. Also had the best year of his career. Yeah.

And then right next to him, Josh Allen, who did not win, but is putting up these prodigious stats. Right. Like it's it feels to be identical. Yeah.

The different. But there's so there's so many outside factors when it comes to Jokic. Hickey, if he embraced who and what he is and he was the jovial, happy go lucky. And he was gregarious. I think it'd be different. I think he would get those MVP votes and off all this dumb stuff about face of the league, this and face the league. It would be him. He's just he's just not it now, whether it's the fact that he's European or he doesn't care or whatever it is. His personality doesn't do him any favors.

And quite frankly, I do not think he cares. And I think that's actually admirable. The guy just wants to go out there and play, shows up and plays and plays at a level that has literally put him in space of being one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

Period. Which is crazy to think because they know by this guy was drafted during like a Taco Bell commercial. So it's amazing what he's done. I just think that there's that there's differences in Lamar.

External factors. And I think he's I think he's head and shoulders above what Jay Gilgas has done. He is just a freak. We'll talk more about what Nicola Jokic is doing.

I just don't think there's any way in hell he's going to win the MVP, but we'll talk more about it. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break when we come back. We're going to get back to the NFL. We're going to have a chat with Pete Bursich, who used to play for the Minnesota Vikings and now is a broadcaster for the Vikings.

We're going to get his thoughts on who needs to show up and play QB. It's the J.R. sport re-show, the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief.

It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. So much movement in the NFL world, a free agency. The league year doesn't even start until tomorrow. But we've seen so many players and just be traded, be cut. The Minnesota Vikings, they saw their starting quarterback end up in Seattle. Sam Donald is gone. They have a quarterback on the roster who's yet to throw a pass in the NFL and J.J. McCarthy to talk about what's next for the Minnesota Vikings.

What we can expect and to get his thoughts on everything is someone who played for the Vikings, someone who helped coach for the Vikings, and someone who's a color analyst right now for the Minnesota Vikings. Joining us right now is Pete Bursage. Pete, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you? Excellent.

I appreciate the time. I guess the biggest question is, well, before we get there, what are your thoughts on Sam Donald moving on and taking the job opportunity in Seattle? I think he's earned it. Obviously, he gave us a great year. If you rewind the clock to prior to the season starting, I think everybody or most people picked the Vikings to finish dead last in the division.

There are a lot of reasons for that and a lot of good ones. We had a lot of question marks with free agents that we signed and Jonathan Grenard and Andrew VanGinkle and Blake Cashman and what we were going to do a cornerback. And then the big one was a quarterback situation with Sam Donald and J.J. McCarthy.

I think because of all those question marks, people didn't expect much. And J.J. ends up hurting his knee in training camp and then it becomes Sam's team and he took control of it. It's a true team effort.

It's Donald doing what he needs to do. Coach Kevin O'Connell, there's a guy who's played the position in the NFL, coached the position, was an offensive coordinator, now a head coach. He can get that position right and it's the most important position in the NFL. As a quarterback, if you don't have that one spot figured out, it's going to be problems. I think the franchise is lucky, which is another big reason why they extended Coach O'Connell because of what he's been able to do. But for Sam, he had all the tools.

He just had to put it all together and be in a good system. The result was over 4,000 yards of passing. The last two games of the year stick out in your head. The one in Detroit and then the playoff game.

But we can discuss those. Who is he really? I think the Seattle fans are going to be pleasantly surprised. They're paying him a lot of money, so they better not be surprised.

I think they're right to have high expectations because Quid's strong arm is very accurate. He's a good quarterback. Pete Bursich is here with us on the JR Sport Brief Show. You talk about J.J. McCarthy. We know he had the surgery in the summer and had another surgery. What's the latest that you've heard when it comes to J.J., his physical condition? How's that going?

Everything I've heard is he's got the green light and he's ready to start OTAs when they begin. I know the year before I retired, I had an ACL and the same injury where you tear away the disc of the meniscus in your knee. Then I've got to go in and reattach it and do that.

It's a tricky bit. I had to go back and get scoped to get it repaired. My point is, personally, I expected there to be some follow-up and some other things as far as that goes. They didn't remove the cartilage, so you're not going to have a bone-on-bone situation there. Degeneration isn't going to be as much of a worry. From a health standpoint, I think everybody's fired up and he's good to go from everything I've heard. Well, Pete, we know with a lot of the quarterbacks off of the board, they've got to plug the hole for someone to work with him or at least back him up. From a veteran's quarterback standpoint, what are your thoughts on the Vikings filling out that quarterback room?

Yeah, they're going to need to. I know that Daniel Jones was a big want going into the offseason as a backup. I think they know that Daniel Jones, if he was going to be 100% a backup, that Minnesota would be a place that he'd like to be.

But he also sees the writing on the wall. He knows that it's McCarthy's team and that even if he does come in and play well, he's just one year away from going somewhere else. I think he took an opportunity in Indianapolis where they have some questions about the current quarterback situation. So, yeah, we have to find ourselves a good backup, no question about it. We've seen two seasons ago when we lost Kirk Cousins and really what that did to us for the year. They'll figure, it's like with Kevin O'Connell, that's the one thing that's really great. You're like, they'll figure it out. We'll find somebody.

We'll figure out someone to get in there. Nick Mullins, our other backup, he left to go to Jacksonville, so, yeah, the covers are there. Well, when you talk about Kevin O'Connell, he has been known to be a quarterback whisperer. For his time in Minnesota, you talk about the extension that he got. What separates him from a lot of these, I get it, he played, he was a backup, but what separates him in the locker room and the messaging that he gets across to the players?

He wants guys that want to be in Minnesota. He gives the players, I wouldn't want to say gives a lot of power to the players, but he lets them, it's their locker room. He lets them take care of a lot of things. He puts that in their hands, I think, and gives them ownership.

So, if you get the wrong guy in there, a bad guy or a guy that doesn't fit can abuse a system like that. So, that's why they're very careful about who they're bringing in and someone that shares the same kind of vision that Kevin O'Connell has. I think his ability to be the head coach and the play caller, to be the one that's calling in the plays and talking to the quarterback, talking them through. You listen to some of the video or some of the NFL films of him being on with the quarterbacks and telling them all these little things. He's really managing the game and trying to manage the emotions of the quarterback as well. So, I think that's where he's done such a good job and that's, I think, what makes him different. Pete Bursich is here with us on the JR Sport Reshow.

Played for the Vikings, sub-coached on the Vikings, now an analyst for the Vikings. There's so much attention paid to the offense last year because of the surprise, even that you had mentioned, of the success that they had. The defense was pretty good itself, finishing fifth in points allowed, less than 20 points a game. And they've kind of readjusted things on the defensive line today, bringing in Javon Hargrave, also Jonathan Allen. Speak to the changes that we should expect in the trenches, also picking up someone like Will Fries.

Yeah, I mean, that's a big deal. And I've said it the last couple of years, where if you're a defensive lineman, Brian Flores is a great scheme to play in. Because he has the ability within his system to walk so many people up on the line of scrimmage that you're not going to get double-teamed a ton. This is not an old-school, true 3-4-2 gap where the D-lineman trying to take up two linemen or take up two gaps and let the linebackers kind of run free.

I mean, there's a lot of one-on-one blocking. And any D-lineman that can consistently win one-on-one, I would think, would love this system. But to get to Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, and you get them in there with Jonathan Granard and Andrew VanGinkle. Who, by the way, those two play the run very, very well on the outside.

They're not the biggest guys in the world, but man, they play the run as outside linebackers extremely well. And now you're going to get some help in the interior, which is going to help with the back end of that defense. I mean, it was great to get guys back.

We lost Cam Bynum, right? But it's good to keep someone like Byron Murphy around who's used to the system, some of the unique things that they do with corners dropping into the deep half. And nothing too complicated from a coverage standpoint, just moving the shell game around and guys being in different spots. Byron Murphy coming back is a big deal, but I think we've got some more bodies to put in the back end of the defense. Well, Pete, you think about what the team did as a whole last year. Surprising everybody in the NFC North with an opportunity to win it. We see with the Chicago Bears, you talk about offensive line, we've seen what they've done to fortify their line with their new head coach. I don't think the Lions are going anywhere. All things considered, it looks like JJ McCarthy is going to get some starts. We've never seen him throw a pass in the NFL. Is it not realistic to look at the Vikings and expect for them to take a step back in that packed NFC North? Yeah, I don't disagree with you on that.

I really don't. I mean, you have a rookie quarterback. Technically, he's a second year guy, but to take a step back from 14-3, I don't think is catastrophic.

I think walking into the season expecting 14-3, again, is going to be tough. The Bears have gotten a lot better and they've gotten a lot better in the middle of that offensive line where they needed to. Green Bay signed a guard and free agency from San Francisco. There's only eight guards in the entire NFC North and half of them have been replaced.

You get two new ones in Chicago, one new one in Green Bay, and then a new one in Minnesota. So, I think all the teams with J.R. Reid going to Detroit and JJ going against him twice a year, they all kind of made some moves to get better. So, I look at it that way and say being third in the NFC North again, it might get you into the playoffs.

It might get you a wildcard berth. With a young quarterback, you have to temper that unless our defense can absolutely take it to the next level. They led the league in turnovers a year ago. It's hard to ask much more of them than that, but a little better run game, a little better defense that helps a young quarterback. So, we'll see.

Well, Pete, final question. We talked about the health of JJ McCarthy. We haven't seen him throw a pass. And realistically, when he was winning a championship in Michigan, he wasn't asked to go out there and air the ball up. When you think about having Addison out there as well as Jefferson and Hockinson, you would think that he's going to be tasked with throwing that rock. What are your thoughts on his transition? We haven't seen him.

He's a great mystery. True. Trust me, Kevin O'Connell is going to throw the football. You're not going to be quarterback in Minnesota and not be throwing the football 30-some times a game.

Yeah, there are a lot of question marks. Again, I think that had they seen any issues or glaring issues with his game, the few weeks of training camp that they got to work with him, they would have had a different path this offseason. I think they would have done some different things to keep Sam Darnall around if they could have.

But I think they'd seen enough out of him. And yeah, he was not in a pass-heavy offense up in Michigan. But I think, again, with Kevin O'Connell, the main thing with him, he emphasizes the footwork and the fundamentals so much of the position and how important that is. And you get a young, talented quarterback to be able to work with that.

I think, you know, you're going to be OK. And I think the one question that you don't have with JJ is his character, his ability to lead. And, you know, like Belichick said, the talent sets the floor and character sets the ceiling. I mean, he's a high character guy.

He's a leader. I mean, I've heard from a number of players that the kid just has that it factor. And hopefully that'll all, you know, that'll all translate.

And they were right about Darnold. You know, so, yeah, just go. You just, I guess, kind of go with it and say, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and let's roll with JJ. And we'll see how this bears out when he starts in September. It's going to be a it's going to be a fun adventure.

We got to see who's in the quarterback room with him first. So, yeah, that's very, very, very true. A couple more things to figure out with Minnesota. Well, Pete, thank you so much for the time. It's just a cool career. You played, you coached.

There's no chance that you go back out there and hit anybody again, right? Them days over with the way that I was a special teams most. Well, I played mostly special teams and the way they changed them. Now, I might actually have a few plays, few plays left to me. So I'm I'll give you I'm 50. I'll be I'm 53. This is going to be my 30th year already with the team.

Wow. You know, it's like it's crazy. More than half my life has been has been with the Vikings in one capacity or another. They keep firing me in one way and then I keep coming back. They know I got done playing. I coached.

And when they fired Mike Tyson, all of us and I came back to start doing the announcing. So, yeah, I don't like to say I've been around that long because then people start looking at you like, oh, you're the next one. You've been around. It has been around a little bit too long, hasn't it? You know, but yeah, it's it's been my God for NFC championships.

Lost them all played and to call to more. I mean, we you know, we're the winningest team without a Super Bowl championship in their respective sport. And it's been there's always that in the back of your head as a Vikings fan. And that's why I think the fan base is so excited to get new life in that quarterback position with J.J. McCarthy.

And, you know, he's got he's got his work cut out for him because the expectations, I think, are very, very high. Well, it's certainly a supportive fan base in the process, so that will certainly help. Hey, Pete, where can people follow you and all of your work, even when you put the headset down to crack a few skulls before you go back upstairs? Fill us in. Yeah, I got I I have a Twitter account. It's just at Pete Burcich on Twitter. B E R C I C H. So you can follow me there. Stick to the Vikings, mostly just, you know, pretty much football I'm working on. You can go to the you know, the Vikings, the Vikings website on the on the NFL network and find different videos, do coaches film and video, you know, video breakdowns of players and stuff. So you can find out through the Vikings app if you want.

Oh, absolutely. Well, Pete, thank you so much for the time. We'll catch you on down the line. Maybe when we find out who the QB is or maybe when J.J. is actually thrown. So we'll catch you soon. Or you can just call me when you need a segment to kill. Hey, well, listen, we're going to talk about the Vikings.

No, the Vikings will give us plenty to talk about. We'll talk to you soon, Pete. OK. All right, man. Take care. Thanks. Bye. No doubt about it.

There you have it. Pete Burcich. He's going to be the first NFL broadcaster to get some plays in on the field. NFL first. It's the J.R. Sportbree show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll get back to Morrison football on the other side of the break. You are listening to the J.R. Sportbree.

It is the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you to Pete Burcich, Minnesota Vikings player. And coach and analyst says he's been with the team now for 30 years.

He says, don't mention that too much to figure out a way to get rid of them. But anyway, I appreciate him for the great conversation. As the Minnesota Vikings are bolstering their defense, adding Jonathan Allen from Washington. Javon Hargrave from the 49ers as Bullard moves on. But then the big question still in Minnesota is who's going to play quarterback? Who's going to be in the room along with J.J. McCarthy?

So if you missed that conversation with Pete Burcich, go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. He certainly believes that the expectation should be lowered than what they won last year, which was 14 games, especially with which is likely going to be a rookie quarterback leading the way for the Minnesota Vikings. It's just now a matter of who is going to back him up. Is it going to be a Jamis Winston?

I have no idea. You know what we're looking at. Maybe Joe Flacco will get tired of looking at his wife and his kids.

And maybe Flacco will back him up, even though he wasn't all that good last year for the Indianapolis Colts. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Joe is calling from Pennsylvania. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Joe? JR, how are you doing, brother? I'm excellent. What's on your mind?

Yeah, so I just want to talk a little bit. I called a long time ago about Aaron Rodgers Achilles, but I was just going to chime in a little bit about JR McCarthy. Now, what's his name? You don't know his name? J.J. McCarthy. This is going to go well.

Go ahead. No, no, no. So look, look, they said that they sit him down for a year with a meniscus. That's a big problem.

And it sounded to me like he either needed a meniscal transplant or he needed a like a bucket handle repair, which is worst case scenario. So. Well, go ahead. Are you are you a doctor or a football fan?

Which one is it? I'm not a doctor. OK, but I work with a lot of sports medicine surgeons. I remember you. OK. OK. You know, I'm talking about.

Yes. So if he if he needed a meniscal transplant, he's going to be toast. I'd count him out for a while. Well, I don't want to I don't want to take your opinion. You not being a doctor.

And then also you not having cut the guy open. So I will advise everybody to take what you say with a grain of salt. I actually want to go by by some of the words that have been shared from J.J. McCarthy and the team. Joe, I want to thank you for calling from P.A. Listen. Listen carefully here. J.J. McCarthy did undergo a second surgery on his meniscus back in November after tearing it in training camp.

All right. All things considered, there were no additional issues or concerns related to his recovery timetable, which means he was always going to be on track to return in the 2025 season. Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell back in November, he said, as his rehab has picked up, we noticed a little swelling in there. And just with the time that we do have, we just wanted to make sure that there was no cause for concern.

All reports were very positive. And he is on the original timetable and in good shape. Is it like what?

What else is there to judge on? I mean, if he goes out there in September and October and he's running around, my knee is blown up. If he turns into Joel Embiid, you know, after a couple of games and I think, yeah, let's go ahead and have a conversation. But when the thought happened was that he was going to miss the whole season, that was that was announced when he tore his meniscus.

Like, OK, fine. He's playing football. He's a rookie quarterback.

Like, what's what's the rush? I'm not a doctor. And Joe from Pennsylvania, not a doctor as well. Hickey, are you a doctor? Are you?

No, nowhere close to it. Oh, I think he's not a doctor. I can't I can't talk about the guy's knee. I'm not going to talk about the type of procedures he could have.

We just had Pete Bursa showing they cut his knee open. He felt fine about it. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. David is here from Los Angeles. David, you're on the J.R. sport ratio.

What's up? Hey, J.R., can you hear me? I got you loud and clear. Go ahead. Excellent.

Thank you so much for taking my call. I want to call in and weigh in on the surprising move today for me as an Eagles fan. And that is our team trading away C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

I want to preface this by saying that while I did expect to lose some of the key defensive free agents this offseason because they were just going to demand high contract, like Milton Williams has gone to the Patriots and Josh Sweat, who's gone to the Cardinals now. I didn't expect C.J. Gardner-Johnson to be traded. Now, I still have full faith in Howie Roseman because, you know, he is arguably the best GM in the entire league. But there's going to be a lot that needs to be replaced with the absence of C.J.

Gardner-Johnson. And it's not just his playmaking. I mean, it's not we can follow his playmaking. It's not a coincidence that he shows up in twenty twenty two and the Eagles are picking balls off left and right.

A lot of it is him. He leaves and our defense collapses and he comes back and our defense is top right. And we're up against a break, David.

So I want to respond to you and also allow you a chance to hear we're really up against a break. We talked about this earlier on in the show, you know, winning winning, as you know, definitely comes with a price. And you can talk about losing C.J. Gardner-Johnson that first time where he went out to to Detroit. But what you didn't have that you have this time are two blue chip not can't even call these guys prospects. They showed their worth. You know, this past season with the Philadelphia Eagles, Cooper to Jean helped them win a championship. You know, Quinn, Yount Mitchell helped them go out there and win a championship. And so, I mean, Keely Ringo, who came from right here down in Georgia, like they have weapons like you can't hold on to everybody. You think about these contracts that are going to the core players. I think the Eagles will be just fine. Thank you, David, for calling from L.A. It's the J.R. sport ratio coast to coast on the Infinity Sport Network.