The Truth Network Radio
September 28, 2019 12:41 pm

The Rundown with Desmond Johnson - Panthers vs Texas Preview - Sept 28th 2019

The Drive with Josh Graham / Josh Graham

00:00 / 00:00
On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 642 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


September 28, 2019 12:41 pm

The Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton revealed he was hiding his left foot sprain from the coaching staff, and the team's defense is ranked number four overall in total defense and yards allowed. The Houston Texans' offense is struggling, and the Panthers' offense is looking to exploit the Texans' youth and inexperience in the back seven. The college football season is heating up, with Clemson, Alabama, LSU, and Georgia all vying for the top spot. The NBA season is also underway, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James leading their teams. The Minnesota Twins are looking to make a deep run in the American League, and the Dallas Cowboys are looking to make a statement in the NFL.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Everything you know will change. Like to have everybody's attention for a moment. You the man. What's that mean? You the man.

Uh And now, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, now all of a sudden you're stepping up to the next level of competition. All right, all right, all right, all right, listen up, listen up. Welcome to The Rundown. Here's Desmond Johnson.

Well triad, the Kyle Allen era has begun. Maybe. How long will Superman be out for? Who is the best team in the NFL right now and more? Welcome to the rundown.

I am your host, Desmond Johnson. I am joined by Johnny O, John Ovesewski, Rod Funderberg, Sawyer Dylan is our producer. Aaron Gabriel's in the house band in our social media. 336-777-1600 is the number to call to chime in on any of our topics today. Fellas, let's go ahead and get started.

Aaron, what is the Twitter poll question for today? Because I couldn't think of anything, so I just turned it over to you for the morning. I got you. No worries, my man. Good morning, Triad.

Your Twitter poll question for today. Who wins the big time World to Weight Championship unification battle tonight? Will it be IBF champion? Errol Spence Jr. or WBC champion Sean Porter.

Like that. A little boxing in there. Hey, man, somebody got to keep y'all honest. Yeah, I like that a lot. Hit us up on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad or at Sports Carolina One.

We can answer your questions there throughout the day too. Aaron Man and our social media, if you ask a question on Twitter, he'll get it, bring it to the air for us, and we'll do our best to try to answer whatever question you guys throw at us. But got to start off today. I know normally we start off with high school football. We will get you updated on area scores from around the triad from last night.

Luckily, a lot of games got in before some apparently some inclement weather came through here. Right at the tail end of a lot of high school football last night. A lot of interesting outcomes last night that are going to set up some really interesting games for next week. And we've got a big one here on Sports Hub Triad this upcoming Friday. We'll talk about that in a little bit too.

But first, the biggest news, headline news here on ESPN.com, last night, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton released a video blog on his YouTube channel and basically revealed that he was hiding just how much of his left foot sprain was, how much of it was hurting before the season to coaches and players and that he won't return to the field until he's 100% healed. For those that aren't in the loop, Newton had a mild Liz Frank sprain in the third preseason game against the New England Patriots. Kind of a non-contact injury. And then he aggravated it in a loss to the Tampa Bay Bucks in week two. The Panthers have called the injury a mid-foot sprain, which is technically a Liz Frank sprain.

Fellas, I bring in my panel now with Rod and John. I had read originally that a Liz Frank sprain could take up to six to eight weeks to heal.

So the Panthers haven't put a timetable on this. Cam hasn't put a timetable on this. But in terms of this video, just initial thoughts on where Cam is right now mentally and how do you see the situation ultimately playing out? Because he didn't sound like a guy that was thinking about retirement at all in the video. He sounded like a guy that was just trying to get healthy because he recognized.

The talent and stuff that's on this team this year, and he feels like if he can get back 100%, he can really help the team. But initial thoughts when you first heard this that Cam was. uh hiding, so to speak, this injury from the coaching staff.

Well, good morning, Diz, Johnny, Triad. Hope everybody's doing well. I my initial thought is it's not surprising. Number one, you hear it all the time: athletes, especially football players, have to be protected from themselves. You know, an athlete will go out and he will play injured.

As a matter of fact, with this new concussion rule, an athlete will get a concussion, know he has a concussion. You can tell he has a concussion, but he'll swear up and down to you it's his shoulder that's hurting. Or it's his neck that's hurting, or it's his left arm that's hurting, and will never conform to the concussion.

So, with Cam Newton doing that, you know, I think. Regardless of whether the team was great, has an excellent team or not, he was wanting to be on the field because he's an athlete. That's what he does. He plays football.

So I think, regardless, he was going to try and come back to the team. He wasn't going to tell the coaches because he was hoping he could play through it. And a lot of times you feel like you can play through it. You don't know exactly what it is, if it's a sprain or if it's just something that's tightening up. As an athlete, a lot of times you say, hey, I need to play through it so my muscles don't tighten up.

And I think that's what he was doing. I was going to ask, because I thought actually thought about you, Rock, because I know you've played football at multiple levels. When I first saw this, what's the... Uh How many players do this over the course of a of a given season where They may be banged up or hurting more than they're letting on, but they don't want to either give up a spot or. Um maybe they feel like the team is going to be worse without them.

So they they they push through it and play, but in the end, maybe it actually hurts the team that the injure guys out there. It's the players that love the game of football that do that for sure. Because there's a lot of a lot of on the opposite end of it. That won't, you know, they'll play with a, or they won't play with a little bit of an injury, you know what I mean? But the majority of them.

The ones that love the game of football, I mean, they're all playing through injuries. They really are. I agree with you. I don't mean all, but I mean a high percentage of them are all injured. Johnny, I almost bet that it's closer to all of them than not.

You know, I'd say it's over 95% of all the starters are going to do that. And I'll bet you dollars to donuts on that. I mean, it's just an athlete mentality because. There's a lot of testosterone in the locker room. You know, believe it or not, you guys don't see things that happen in the locker room.

There are fights in the locker room. There's name calling. Oh, you're a punk. You didn't even play today. What's wrong with you?

Shut up. You know, that can't go on as another guy with testosterone in the locker room.

So the last thing that you want to do is come off as if you have some kind of weakness or you're weak. And athletes, especially football players, you know, they're going to fight through that. And Rodney, especially when you're a leader like Cam Newton, you know, that's why he plays through the injuries. I give him all the credit in the world. I'm serious because he's been playing through injuries for probably a few years now, but.

You know, on the flip side, and I'll go against you guys a little bit because I know you guys well, I know Dez like the YouTube thing, but you know what? He's injured. You know, he is the leader of the team, but just lead the team. You know, what kind of Child, do his thing right now. Step back.

Get healthy. Let the team play through what they have right now on the field. Um Try to get out of the limelight a little bit is what I'm saying.

Well, see, I kind of look at it differently. And 336-777-1600, the number to call, if you want to chime in on Cam Newton right now, here on the rundown. I kind of look at it like I'm glad he did it because if he hadn't did it, Kyle Allen would be asked questions about Cam Newton every single week. And by him doing it on his YouTube channel, he actually controls the narrative as opposed to doing an interview with a reporter or doing a press conference where he throws out a couple of quips that can be misconstrued or misunderstood. By him controlling the actual channel that he put the message out on, he can control what's the narrative in terms of what happened.

And he's taking full responsibility for it. I shouldn't have played. It was done with me to do so. I'm realizing that I can't do that kind of thing. And I'm stepping back and.

You'll see me when I get healthy.

So, now, technically, I don't really expect to see Cam until he's ready to go by putting this out. If it looks like he put some thought into it, Um 'cause he could have just found a reporter, pulled him over in the hallway and be like, Hey. I was hurt. I shouldn't have been hurt. I mean, I shouldn't have been playing.

I didn't tell the coaching staff. But it is what it is. But he did this. But the thing that was jarring to me was it kind of confirmed. thoughts that we had the first two weeks of the season because we were all thinking, Cam looks like he's hurt, but they all are saying he's fine, but we have eyes, we can see him, he looks hurt.

And then he was like the thing in the video that Was the most jarring thing to me when he came out for week one against Tampa Bay, or no, week two against Tampa Bay and week one against the Rams. He does this thing when he's at home where he runs around the ring of the stadium in pregame warm-ups. Like he'll do the stretching thing around the entire ring. And he said he took a couple of steps coming out of the tunnel and he realized he couldn't run, period. Like he couldn't run at all on his foot.

and that he started doing things in the game 'cause you start thinking about when you're hurt, you start thinking about that body part and protecting it. I don't want anybody near my foot. I don't want anybody touching my foot.

So his game started acting because of that. If you go back and look at that Tampa game, He was throwing a lot off of his right foot. His left foot would be in the air a lot. He was doing a lot of jump passes, throwing his upper body, stuff like that. Total reverse of mechanics of what we've seen from Cam the past two seasons.

So that should have been a telltale. And then the McCaffrey play, the fourth-down play at the end versus Tampa, where they basically rolled Cam out of the play entirely as a decoy. That. That doesn't normally happen with Cam. And he said, you know, normally, if it's a yard, he's always felt no matter what level, he can get a yard.

He'll jump over you, he'll jump through you, he'll run around you.

Now, but he knew he couldn't get that yard. Let me stop you there, Diz. Camp said it was his fault he didn't tell the coaches.

Well, Cam didn't call that play on the goal line, did he? Was that the coach's call? I mean, they should have known something at that time and point. My understanding, if the sequence was. They had the play called, it was like fourth and Four or something like that, and they had to play called, they liked it, and Tampa had a delay a game.

They called two times in a row or whatnot.

So they had to delay a game. It pushed it half to the goal line, and the Panthers didn't change the call. They stayed with the call they had because they liked it the first time they called it and went with it anyway. But instead of it being fourth and four, it was fourth and inches, basically. And they could have just.

They could have just ran McCaffrey up the gut, probably, and got it, or ran Cam up the gut. But Cam is sitting here saying he could not run that play. because his foot was so messed up. And that's the new thing that we didn't know that Even if they had done the play, we had been blaming the play caller. even if they had done the play thinking Cam was healthy.

he probably wouldn't have made it according to him.

So That's pretty jarring to hear that from Cam Newton. Aaron. A lot of this, I'm not willing to give anybody credit for this. Because number one, It's dramatic. The video is dramatic.

He looks like he's about to request ransom for somebody he's holding hostage.

Well, Aaron, he's sipping a $100 glass of wine and smoking a $150 stogan. You know, meanwhile, if he did not disclose, if he did withhold his injury information from the coaching staff.

Okay. Bottom line is you're hurting the team, which is not a good thing. And I don't believe it personally that you could withhold such an injury from a coaching staff. Because if the guy can't run, how you as a coach of staff don't know your guy isn't right is beyond me.

Well, I mean, for the past year or so, Cam hasn't really been practicing. Like, he last year he was practicing one day a week, and even then, it was over on the sideline. And my understanding, they didn't let him really practice the first week at all. He was on the sidelines throwing, and the second week, They kind of did the same thing where he didn't practice like Wednesday. Because he twisted the foot.

And he still rehabbed the shoulder.

So he wasn't out there doing the normal stuff that Kyle Allen probably went through this week. Cam hasn't really been on a regular practice schedule for two years. They had him on a pitch count. Yeah, obviously, Norv Turner knew he was hurting, or else he would have called more run plays. I mean, Norv knew this.

They did call the one run play in the first quarter of the Tampa game that Cam tried to reach out for, and due to them only having two cameras available because of the weather at the time. They called, he didn't get it on the field. They only had two cameras to review it on, and the call stood. But looking at it on TV, it looked like he got it. But he did run for that play.

But even on that play, it looked like he didn't have the extra oomph that he normally would. He didn't look for contact, and the guy caught him like two yards out. This whole thing stinks to me of mismanagement. From The team level. Down to the trainers and to Cam Newton.

You have to manage these things accordingly to put your team in the best situation. That's actually my question because should any blame be placed on Ron Rivera for allowing Cam to play when Cam is telling him to his face that he's fine, but he clearly wasn't? Because how much, I mean, a coach can only go off of what a player's telling him, right? I mean, you can't just assume that a player's hurt if he's telling you he's fine. I agree.

And if he's your best player, why would you sit him thinking he's hurt if he's telling you he's fine? And those two have such a great, they must have a very relationship. Yeah. And then there's politics involved in this thing. How do you go to the owner, David Tepper, and say, well, Cam's telling me he's fine, but I just got a feeling something's wrong.

So I'm sitting your $100 million quarterback down. David Tepper's going to look at you like, have you lost your mind? Get out of my own. He told you that he was fine. Put him in the doggone game.

So there's a certain level of politics there, too. Right. See, so that's the issue now because. People were blaming North Turner for the play calling. People were blaming Ron Rivera just because it's cool to blame Ron Rivera for things.

And people were blaming Cam Newton. But now it's like Cam has stepped to the forefront and said, this was all me. I should have said I was hurt. I did not. I intentionally told them I was not hurt.

And it caught up to him by the end of the tampon game where he was noticeably limping. The play, I think, he re-aggravated it on. For starters, the offensive line exploded on this play. Like, Daryl Williams, he looks like he's boxing out for a rebound at a certain point. He's facing Cam at a certain point with the guy behind him, and he's like trying to box him out.

The other side, I don't know what happens to the left tackle. I'm at the right tackle, he just falls down, and that part of the line caves in. The center gets pushed all the way back into Cam.

So Cam is starting to run for his life two seconds into the play. He jumps over a guy. Starts to run towards the sideline and they run him out of bounds. And I remember watching that game, the camera hat, it was on Cam's face out of bounds, and he was grimacing as he turned around. And I was like, oh, I think he might have re-entered his foot.

Because nobody really touched him. It was another non-contact play. And from that moment on, They didn't really run him anymore. He didn't really. They don't they didn't really run any RPO.

They haven't really ran any all year, really.

So, to me, I'm thinking Norv might have known something was up. He had to have. He had to, just watching him do reps and stuff, he had to think. Hmm. Because last year, remember the narrative was we're going to run Cam less, and Cam was like, You got to let a lion roar and all that stuff.

And then the first thing they do, the first few plays of the season against Dallas, they run Cam on bootlegs out for 40 yards or 30 yards or whatever. They haven't let him really do that at all this year. And now it looks like maybe. Maybe some of that was by choice. Maybe it was from what they saw.

Well, the narrative now is next man up, and it's Kyle Allen, and uh. That was very encouraging what we saw last Sunday. Almost match what he did last Sunday against Houston because that's going to be a tough football game. We're going to get into Kyle in this matchup. The Cardinals have a pretty good defense, but I think it's not as good as the Texans.

Yeah, well, actually, the Cardinals do not have a good defense.

Well, I was trying to be politically correct here. They have the worst passing defense in the entire league. Houston, if I'm not mistaken, I'm going to look up some stuff now. Yeah, I was trying to get us some help here for the Panthers, guys. Yeah, Arizona is not top-notch.

I'm looking at the rankings right now. Of course, total defense, the New England Patriots are only allowing 199 yards a game. What in the world?

Now, granted, I know they played Miami. I know they played, I think the Jets. And I forgot who the third was the first. Oh, Pittsburgh was the first one. Yeah, and they still had Big Ben.

So 199 yards a game. The people they've played, their combined record is like one and nine. That's all right.

So give me a break. They're in the MC East. Everybody's acting surprised. This happens every year. But that is different.

They're probably a good defense. But combined one and nine. They're allowing five points a game. I'm not sold yet. You'll be sold, don't y'all.

Kansas City sees them this year. We'll see what's going on with that because I'm sold. I don't know about y'all, but these new Tom Brady videos he puts out every week are becoming my new favorite thing. What's going on with Brady? He's always like.

All right, guys, we got a good win on to Buffalo. And there's like some rap music in the back, like with a highlight, and it's the best thing. It's just him being like the most positive, happy guy. And then it says 49 to nothing, and it's like on to the next one. It's like, oh, it's just too easy for him at this point.

No, it's a tester. Buffalo is going to be a tester. I was going to say, we're going to get in the NFL later on today, too. Buffalo ain't no joke, man. They've got like a top defense.

They're number five, actually, in total defense in the league right now. Number four is your Carolina Panthers. The Panthers have the fourth-ranked defense in the entire league right now, only average, only allowing $2.95 on the. and yardage per game. An offense.

The Baltimore Ravens are number one. They're averaging 511 yards a game. Number one? They're ahead of number two in Kansas City. I told you guys about my quarterback pick Lamar Jackson.

There was a reason for that. I was watching that guy. He did well. And they had an interesting game against Kansas City last Sunday. But yeah, we'll definitely get into it.

Yeah, they just ran out of time. Yeah. So you know, luckily there's only 15 minutes and a quarter.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I think Baltimore would have gotten it. I think that one was for Aaron. Maybe he wasn't.

I'm looking at him right now. He doesn't look happy. Oh, man. But you should. I mean, his Chiefs are undefeated still.

They're cruising right along. But yeah, I mean, I was just looking to see where. I'm looking to find Houstons. That's why I was over here to see where Houstons rank defensively because usually they're a top 10 defense. And actually, looking through this, I don't see them.

They're number 21, actually.

So there's an opportunity here. They're allowing almost 400 yards a game. They're allowing 21 points a game. Um so yeah, there's definitely a opportunity here for something to happen and then Carolina schedule kind of lightens up a little bit. They got this game.

It's granted, it's in Houston, and Deshaun Watson is a pretty good football player. Then they got Jacksonville after that. And then they're going to. The Sun and I have won that game. Oh, the Jacksonville.

I'm excited. It should be a good one. Is that the one in London? No. No, no, London's the week after that against Tampa again.

But we're definitely going to talk about Kyle Allen. We've got from the four-man rush, Kevin Avery. He's going to join us in the 11 o'clock hour to actually break down the Carolina Panthers versus the Houston Texans game film-wise and just what type of things we should be looking for for that. But coming up, loaded Saturday of college football. This season, the SEC has five teams ranked in the top 10 currently.

Three are in the top five. Is this the year Alabama doesn't make the college football playoff? And if so, who is the team most likely to beat them in the SEC? Plus, another interesting game in Chapel Hill. Rod's going to be heading out there as soon as the show is over.

We'll get you ready for a weekend of football action, ACC, and top 25. We break it all down next in the rundown. Yeah. Okay, Let's go. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson.

Okay. The Nest with East Coast, East Coast, with East Forsyth football head coach Todd Willard. A new weekly podcast following the Eastforside football team during the 2019 season. We are on the week. Five that'll be coming out here this upcoming week.

We were on a buy along with East for Scythe this past week. That's why there was not a new episode. It's available across all major podcast formats, sponsored by East Coast Wings Kernersville, Cindy Swain, BH Home Services, Haveline Express Loop Kernersville, Kevin Bug, State Farm Insurance, and the Collegiate Shop. Stream on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple, and more. That is the Nest with head coach Todd Willard.

They've got a huge matchup coming up this upcoming Friday, and we're going to talk about that here in a little bit. But first, college football today, fellas, we got some interesting matchups here. Wanted to talk about first, let's get into the ACC scoreboard and some games that are going to be going down today. We'll get you ready for your Saturday. Johnny O's Orange, the Syracuse Orangeman taking on Holy Cross.

That's a noon game on ACC Network. That is a carrier dome. One that we can maybe count in the books. And we'll go to three and two, and then really getting into the ACC schedule this week. Big one in Chapel Hill today on ABC, 3:30 p.m.

Number one, Clemson goes into Chapel Hill to take on a game, North Carolina team. I don't think they need to wait until the fourth quarter to start scoring today. I think they probably need to get that going a little early. Actually, man, do you know that Clemson played 110 players against Charlotte? Wow.

Yeah. He does that, man. I love that. Rodney isn't even at the game yet and the score is already 17 to nothing. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves seeing such a thing.

Do you give Carolina a chance at all in this contest? I mean, they're going to learn a lot about themselves, I think, today. I mean, good answer. That's great. I really do.

I think they're going to learn a lot about themselves. I mean, I think they're going to learn if they can rise to a challenge or if they're the type that's going to fold when the challenge is too heavy. I think that's what it's going to come down to. They're going to find out whether or not they have heart for the game, if they have fight within themselves. And if I see them fighting and not.

Giving up, you know, I think we'll have a pretty decent rest of the season. And, you know, you just can't fold. Let's just face it, Clemson has the best talent. They have the best coaching. And that's why they're number one.

Yeah, they're got it rolling right now. And Trevor Lawrence isn't even playing really well right now. He's actually not even the top-ranked quarterback in the ACC. If I'm not mistaken, it's Jamie Newman for Wake Forest. It's been falling out.

By the way, if I can just back up to next week, I think both of you were laughing at me when I said App State was going to beat North Carolina.

Well, I didn't laugh. No, I don't remember laughing. Maybe a scoff was in there. Yeah, something like that. Carolina's more talented, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Well, Carolina should have won the game. Why? They were because they had 489 yards. App State was the better football team. No, App State gave up.

If you look at the stat, App State gave up 489 yards. App State was the better football team. They had 279 yards for the whole game. That was the score. 34, 31.

No, I mean, App won. No doubt about it. But I mean, I'm just saying, Carolina was a talented team. They lost a game. That's what it came down to.

They lost a game. They gave credit for the pick of the week for Crane. Out loud.

Well, I didn't know it was a pick of the week. I don't remember Johnny saying it. I don't even remember that pick of the week. I was like, that lunch. Yeah, we're going to do lunch.

You know, I'm looking forward to doing it. Yeah, that's the pick of the week. Yeah, I'm looking forward to lunch. No, I mean, they were at Chapel Hill. Yes.

App had not beaten a Power Five school in 11 tries, and it took a blocked field goal at the end to prevent overtime. Like, App let UNC go down the field for a field goal with like 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Like, yeah, App won the game. And UNC should have been motivated after coming off the loss that they had to Wake Forest. Right.

What was going on with UNC? I cannot tell you. I don't know. And I did put this disclaimer out there, Johnny. Last week I did say I believe Carolina will win, but Mac Brown is still working with Larry Fedora's old players.

Yeah, and it feels like a lot of its offensive side. Like, they're very young. Like, I don't expect Carolina to be. Good, good for another year or two because he's Mac is getting some recruiting classes coming in. We follow high school football here in the Carolinas, especially.

He's circling the wagons and getting some guys in here. But yeah, this is the first win that over a Power 5 school that App has had since the Michigan win in 07. You call us a Power Five school, but we only won two games last year. Exactly. One was against Western Carolina.

Right. So it was like, I mean, people are saying, wasn't it upset? No. Great job, App State. All you mountaineers out there, excellent job, great work.

I don't think anybody thought that App could not defeat Carolina. No one went to that game thinking. They rooted App when they're not playing North Carolina. Yes. I have friends who went to App.

Oh, yeah. I just talked about App. You know what I mean? I mean, being in North Carolina, and I think everybody kind of. I root for App Stummy.

I root for Wake. I root for. Carolina. I root for INT? Mm-hmm.

Went to Salem State. They are a good game fan. But I mean, and I'll have to, you know, and I had to give it up and say I don't root for Duke and I don't root for NC State. I just don't. How about what Duke did to Von Tech last night?

Yeah, well, hold on. We'll get to those here in just a sec. 3:30 today actually is a top 25 matchup here in the ACC. Number 18, Virginia, taking on number 10, Notre Dame. That's on NBC this afternoon at 3:30.

Where's that game? That game is at Notre Dame. It's in South Bend.

So that's a, yeah, it's in South Bend. Also at 3:30, Wake Forest, 4-0, trying to go to 5-0, taking on a 3-1 Boston College team. That's on ACC Network. That is on the road. That is at Boston College.

Diz, would you back up one. Notre Dame last week. Although they lost to Georgia. You remember a lot of people said Notre Dame was going to get blown outright, Georgia. And they did not.

No. You know, because we even just said, hey, if Notre Dame gets blown out, does that catapult Georgia? Above Alabama. And I tell you what, maybe Notre Dame's a little bit better than I expected. That was a football game.

Yeah, it was. It was a good game. They may not lose again the rest of this year and just be in prime position as these SEC schools start to knock themselves out. And we're going to get to the top of the game. Not even led at halftime.

Yeah. NC State taking on Florida State at 7:30 p.m. on the ACC network. NC State 3-1. That's down at Doke Campbell and Tallahassee.

Now, last night, Duke, and I'm going to admit, I picked Virginia Tech to win this game. It was in Blacksburg. Duke, 3-1 now in the season, 45-10 winners over Virginia Tech on a Friday night ACC game from last night. Virginia Tech falls to 2-2 in the season, 0-2 in the ACC. Duke looked pretty good.

They ran a double pass for a touchdown last night. I saw it look pretty nifty from an old touchdown. And they went 95 yards, I think, on one drive. That just looked like a demoralized Virginia Tech. As I was getting text messages, my buddy Jack over at Kickback Jacks.

You guys still doing the show over there. Jack is a great guy over there. He's the partner. Or whatever you want to call him, the GM of the place. Him and I got to be pretty good buddies, and he's a big VOTECH guy.

But, you know, I was getting text messages because I wished him luck. And then he said, oh, he goes, it doesn't look good. You know, they were getting beat like 35 to 10 at the time. And you know what? A Virginia Tech guy texts me in the second half.

I can't wait for basketball. I thought that was the first time I've ever heard a VOD Tech say that. That was kind of funny. I mean, I don't know what Virginia Tech's football team is going to do, but they got a decent basketball team for sure.

Now, I'm looking through the AP top 25, and I didn't realize. I said three of the top five schools in the country are. SEC schools, I didn't realize they're ranked number two, three, and four. Clemson's number one right now, of course. Alabama's two, Georgia's three, LSU, four.

Strong. That and that's your top. Where's Auburn? Auburn is seven. Oh my gosh.

Florida's nine.

So, yeah. And then if you scroll a little bit further down, we'll see if there's any other ones. And Texas A ⁇ M's 23.

So that's. But yeah, it's all towards the top here. And today... Maybe might help with some separation. Texas Tech visits Oklahoma.

I think Oklahoma's a dark horse to win the whole thing this year with Jalen Hurts. They're 3-0 in the Big 12. That game is in Norman. That's a. Noon game on Fox today.

Number eight, Wisconsin, who nobody's really talking about. And they had a huge win last week against Michigan. Huge. I saw this thing. It was showing.

Who's the running back, man? He's like the highest. Yeah, he looked great. Yeah. It was like a chart that showed like the top teams in the country, how many four and five-star kids are on their rosters.

And like, I think Clemson was number one with like 69, and Alabama had like 58, and Florida had like 40. Wisconsin has like nine. Like they're the only ones that have single-digit four or five-star kids in their entire roster, and they're 3-0 and number 8 in the country 1-0 in the big team. You know, I thought about old John Harbaugh during that game. What a.

That's actually a good segue. I meant Jim, excuse me, Jim Harbaugh. Hold on, hold that thought a second. Let me get through the scoreboard because I want to come back around to Jim Harbaugh. Michigan, number 20, Michigan, taking on Rutgers today at noon.

That's an Ann Arbor. That should be a game to get them on the right track, although their offenses look like doo-doo, so I'm not sure. How that's going to play out. Number 23, Texas AM taking on Arkansas. Texas AM already has two losses.

They're two and two. Still in the top 25, though. That's a noon game. Yeah, but they lost to Clemson. Clemson and was the other one t uh L S U?

It wasn't L S U was it? It was somebody that's highly ranked. Yeah, you're right. I can't remember who it was, but I know they lost to Clemson the first week or two of the season, if I'm not mistaken. Old Miss taking on number two, Alabama.

That's at Tuscaloosa. And that's probably going to be an L. 3:30 p.m. That's a CBS game. Number 21, USC, 3-1 on the season on their third string quarterback, if I'm not mistaken, taking on number 17, Washington.

That's a 330 game on Fox. Yeah, and it's not a 10 p.m. game, so that might be one to check out. Number nine, Florida, taking on Townsend at 4 p.m. on the SEC network.

Number seven, Auburn, taking on Mississippi State at seven p.m. And we got uh We got number five, Ohio State, taking on Nebraska at 7:30 p.m. You okay with it, Rod? What's going on? Give me a little music back.

What's happening over there? He starts dancing here. And then back on this past Friday yesterday, number 12, Penn State demolishes Maryland 59-0. What? Don't know what happened there, but actually, I mean, Maryland was scoring millions basketball scores on teams, and now they get crushed.

First two games, man, 63 to 20, and then all of a sudden, the last two games, they've been. I got a text from Coach Willard over at East for Scythe last night. I didn't know what was going on, and I was out of the drive yesterday. I was off, and I guess Josh picked Maryland as a good bet because I don't remember what the line was. Do you remember what the line was, Aaron, for that game?

No, I don't remember, but I do remember Josh saying uh vividly. I actually tweeted him about it. Oh, no. Yeah, vividly. I think he picked uh Marilyn outright too, just like might just beat him.

Well, uh, he was only 59. Coach Willard texted me late last night. He was like, Um, somebody picked Marilyn James Franklin kicking that ass. Marilyn disrespected him so bad. I just had to laugh at that.

Look out for Penn State. 59-0. Yeah, Penn State's 4-0. They're ranked number 12. Watch out for them.

Penn State and Wisconsin might be on a collision course in the big ten because I do not trust Michigan. Love Coach Franklin.

So let's let's get back to Mich I mean Michigan and Jim Harbaugh here. Do you think Jim Harbaugh is going to stay at Michigan or do you think somebody like the, hmm. Where has he not been? That would make sense. I always thought he would go back to the Bears eventually, but they seem like they're all right.

Colts, they seem like they're all right too with Frank Wright. I'm fine with that. Would you? Here's a question. Would you want Jim Harbaugh as coach of the Carolina Panthers?

Yeah. And I I don't I don't think he's uh I think this is going to be his last year at Michigan because he is going to get beat by Ohio State again. And after losing last week, like he did, that was horrible. Yeah. I mean, what, 35, 14 or whatever?

Oh, yeah. It looked like Michigan wasn't even like in the game. Like, they just didn't look good. And. I think he ends his career at Michigan is over this year, and then he takes a year off.

He'll probably be on TV or whatever. Where would be a good landing place for him? Like another college team? Because I don't think college works for a city. I'm still not understanding why he left the 49ers.

He had issues with upper management. They weren't letting him, I guess he wanted to have more. Morse and they went to two NFC championships in a row in a Super Bowl. They wouldn't extend him. Like, he wanted an extension, and the 49ers upper management was like, Well, get to a Super Bowl and win one, and we'll extend you.

And he's like, Well, why should I have to do that to get extended? And it went back and forth. It just got worse and worse. And he got him to a Super Bowl, two NFC championships in a row with Alex Smith. Oh, and I mean, fast, too, because the 49ers, they flat out sucked for a decade.

He came in there within a year, they were winning 12 games a year. I remember the Panthers with a young Cam Newton in 2012, 13, 14, had to get through either Seattle or the 49ers just to do anything, and those 49ers teams were tough. They were really good. They put like three tackles out there on the offensive line and just run jumbo, like at the 50-yard line, and just run it down your throat.

Now, he's trying to do some of that stuff at Michigan, but. If you're a Michigan fan, I would imagine, and our boy Haskell Shelton, he's one of the biggest Michigan fans I know. I hope he's out there listening right now. I feel for you, brother, because I don't know what you guys can do. With the situation.

Actually, if you're out there and you can call, call us because I want to know if you're interested in keeping Jim Harbaugh as your coach for Michigan. 336-777-1600 is the number to dial. It's unacceptable. But I think he stays if he beats Ohio State. If he beats him, yeah.

I don't think this team can beat this Ohio State team. Like, I don't think offensively they can run. I mean, Justin Fields might be a Heisman candidate. Look out for Ohio. I mean, they're all these same teams every day.

Ohio State is loaded with talent. And I don't know, man. I think Michigan's going to definitely lose Ohio State. They might lose another Big Ten game before they even get to Ohio State. You think so?

Penn State? Yeah, they probably have to do it. Did they have Penn State? Let me see. They got.

I mean, after Rutgers, they got Iowa. Iowa was ranked number 14th in the country.

Next week, they got number 12, Penn State, two weeks after that. They got number 10, Notre Dame, the week after Penn State at Maryland. They got number 25, Michigan State. Not any easier. And then they finished the season with number five, Ohio State.

Like, I mean, Honestly, they could lose four or five games for real. Like the way their offense is playing, I do not trust Michigan one bit. And I know they were a pick to get to the college football playoff this year with Urban Meyer retiring and everything. I don't know. I don't see it.

They've been saying Urban Meyer to Michigan. Can you imagine that? He said no to another day, but yes. He can't even say Michigan. Hello.

He couldn't do that. He can't go to November doesn't work.

Now I've heard Urban Meyer to uh USC. which would be interesting. But how are we going to keep letting Urban Meyer get away with this? He comes into a program. Gets a bunch of talent and and criminals.

And then he leaves based off of health reasons. And then a year later, he pops up at a bigger school and does the whole thing over again. I know. And then leaves because of health reasons. But he does it well.

He does it extremely well. And I'm just like, how are we letting Urban Meyer keep getting away with this? How many times can you be like, you know, leaving the game because I'm hurt, I'm having headaches? My health's in question. He's gone for a year, and then all of a sudden he pops up at a like one, not even like a regular, like Rutgers or something.

He's popping up at like the big schools, Ohio State, Florida. Oh, USC is the rumor now. It is. He can't go anyplace else but Alabama. I mean, like, this is crazy to me.

Well, this time around, he's got a job doing analyst work. I know. I saw him describing the spread offense online, and if you don't know how to run a spread offense, he describes it because he kind of invented it at Utah and he was describing what you do on run-play options and stuff like that. And he had all the analysts, like Reggie Bush and Matt Liner and them all out there acting the roles out. And he described it: if you don't understand it so simply.

Go look it up online. It's really good stuff. But Aaron, that's what he does. You know, after he gets or leaves the school, he does that one year of television and then he gets another big-time school. Happy to be the head coach of the.

Trojans of Southern California. I don't know. Maybe he just doesn't like spending his weekends at Bed Bath and Beyond or something. I don't know. A wild weekend with the miss.

I mean, maybe that's how he keeps his marriage intact. I mean, she's not saying there. Hey, I'll allow you to go and coach, but you got to spend a year with me in between. And by the end of that year, she's ready for him to get the head out of there and go back. See you on Sunday.

Get out of there. Because when he left Florida, that was the whole thing. He wanted more time with the family. He wasn't. Yeah, he was hurt.

He was sick or something. He was sick. He wasn't. He passed out or something, but he just couldn't get past that. You know, I stayed with the migraines and stuff like that.

And. I mean, I think of all the talent that Urban Meyer has recruited, like, to these programs, like Florida and Ohio State and wherever he ends up next. Look up Urban Meyer's overall record as a head coach. It's mind-boggling. Do that right now.

I mean, I think he's only got. Like less than 20 losses his whole career. That's cool. I'm looking at an Urban Meyer overall record. He is in 17 seasons.

He is ugh. He is 187 and 32. 187. Just at Ohio State in seven years, he was 83 and 9. That's a 90% win clip.

Wow. Uh it looks like just looking at While he was at Ohio State. And you guys thought they were going to fire him. Over at assistant coach getting in probable. No, I never thought that he was gonna go fire.

I was like, he's gonna leave when he wants to leave. Ohio State ain't stupid. They'll figure out a way to d to explain all of this. The fans didn't want to leave either, but He's the only modern day coach to win national championships in two different conferences. And he's one of only two coaches to win national titles at two schools.

uh Nick Sabin being the other. Myers, the only coach in major college history to have four different winning streaks of at least 20 games. Holy crap. He had 20 with Utah and Florida, then he had 22 at Florida. Yeah.

How's that possible? And and well, Florida at Noah State and then 23 at Ohio State. Those are those numbers are just they just he just wins.

So yeah, I can see somebody backing up a Brink's truck and trying to lure him out of uh quote unquote retirement. But uh but back to the Michigan thing. Yeah, Michigan. I don't trust Michigan at all. I think they're So um right now though for the college football playoff Of course, um Clemson.

I don't see a lost Clemson schedule going forward, but the original question of the segment was: Alabama not getting into the playoff. Which one of those. schools would you say that Alabama has a chance of losing to? And just looking at their schedule real quick here. They've got Old Miss today.

They got Texas A ⁇ M next week.

Well, actually, next week is the 12th, so they got a bye, and then they have Texas AM. Do they play LSU? They do. It's November the 9th. LSU with a quarterback is absolutely frightening.

It's in Tuscaloosa. That team. From what I've seen.

Well, I don't want to say it's the best. I mean, because I still think Clemson is the best team. LSU is right there. They could win it all. There's no doubt about it.

They finally have a quarterback that can actually throw the ball, and usually they can't throw it, so they can't. When they run across Alabama, it's like a 9-6 game or something, and they can't throw the ball down the field. He threw for six touchdowns last week. That's unheard of. What's all his name?

Joe Burrow? Yeah, they're doing great. Yeah, Joe Burrow. He's completing at an 80% clip. Um Man, he uh 17 touchdowns to two interceptions.

Well, he uh yeah. I think LSU is doing great. I think LSU would be the closest to beating Alabama. I just don't think they'll be able to do it. It's at Alabama.

They'll have to prove it to me in a big game like that, knowing that if they lose, they could potentially be out of the playoffs. I think that might be a little bit too much pressure for that team, as well as the LSU coaching staff. You know, you have to be a heck of a coaching staff in order to coach in those pressurous situations like that. And I think Alabama will put some pressure on them.

Now, they got Auburn the last game in the Iron Bowl. It's at Auburn. Auburn might have one of the best defenses in the country. Yeah. They.

Are only allowing 15 points per game. Granted, Alabama's only allowing 10, but Alabama has been playing. Lesser competition up to this point. Um They're only allowing Albern's only allowing eighty nine yards per game on the ground.

Now they've got Some uh, I'm looking at Auburn's schedule here too. Because this only works if Auburn's still undefeated when they get there, because then they might be able to leapfrog them. Because we've seen Alabama lose a game and still get consideration as if they did not lose a game. Is Auburn play OSU? Auburn does play as October 26th.

Okay. So. Actually, so LSU's got Auburn and Alabama back to back.

So if LSU can go through that gauntlet. They probably will. And then actually Auburn has Georgia November 16th. We didn't even talk about Georgia. Yeah.

'Cause they won't see Alabama until the SEC Championship if they see them at all. 'Cause they're in the same division. Right. Or they're yeah, they're in separate sides, yeah.

So we're talking about the Notre Dame Georgia game, but don't forget about Georgia. I mean, even though Notre Dame gave them a heck of a game. Notre Dame's pretty damn good. Georgia's like the most quiet number three ranked team ever because, I mean, they're just beating people. A senior quarterback.

Senior quarterback. They've beaten, well, they've played Notre Dame, so that's a good key game, a good win. Looking at their schedule, it's actually pretty soft until they get to Florida November the 2nd. I don't trust Florida, but they're they're ranked number nine right now. They got Auburn two weeks after that.

Texas AM behind Auburn.

So Georgia can make a claim too here, they get through their schedule. Then that might be something to look forward to as well. But I don't trust his Alabama team for some reason. I think maybe watching Clemson beat the brakes off of him kind of exposed him a little bit to me.

So I'm like. There's some teams out there that are better than Alabama. I'm not going to just prop them up as this the squad that can just run through anybody. There's some teams that aren't scared of them. No, I mean, I agree with you on that aspect, Des.

But if you know, Alabama is the program who I think that they are. You know, I see them in Clemson doing it again. I mean, you're going to have kids there who lost last year, and that's on their mind. It's going to stay on their mind. And they're fighting and they're running and waiting to get back at Clemson.

Kind of like when the quarterback of the Texas Longhorns was waiting for USC Reggie Bush and Matt Liner, you know, and they stayed quiet in the background, and that's who they were waiting on. We've been hearing about that with some high school teams here in the area, some high school teams that can't wait to see some of these other teams that are coming out.

So coming up, First, though, ESPN put out their list for the top NBA players for the upcoming season. We take a look at the top 20 and we're going to nitpick it a little bit. Like Zion Williamson is ranked ahead of Clay Thompson on this list, and he has not played a single minute of the NBA.

So we're going to talk about that. But first, when we come back, we're in week six of the high school football season here in the triad. We got some teams that are really, really good. The top five, when we come back, next in the rundown. What's up, dog?

Think about it. Think about it. A party? Are we having a party? Yeah.

Yeah. Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson.

Well, I'm supposed to read a Dixie Classic Fairliner here and I don't have it in front of me. If anybody in the studio has the Dixie Classic Fair thing in there, I'd greatly appreciate you running it into the studio. It's not on, it's like a separate thing. I gave it to Josh earlier in the week and I don't know where he took it. It might be over on the table.

Anyway, but the Dixie Classic Fairy Fairy Faith is great radio, by the way. The Dixie Classic Fair does start when, next week?

Well, I'd be able to tell you if I had October 4th through the 13th. There you go. October the 4th through the 15th. It's a lot of fun. Everyone go and just make good remarks about the fair.

Get you some cotton candy. Get your friends in the family. Go in there. Get your kids. Bring your wife, your girlfriend.

Yep, bring both of them. Bring them both. Bring them both. What are they going to fry this year? Don't they fry something different?

Oreos. Yeah, one time there was like a hamburger, and the buns were replaced by Krispy Kreme donuts. Delicious. And they deep-fry them or something. Yeah.

That sounds nuts. Leave your diet at home. Come on out to the Dixie Cafe. No vegan eaters here. I promise the Dixie Classic Fair folks, I will have that for the second hour because I'm supposed to do it twice an hour.

This is great radio, by the way. These are conversations supposed to happen off the radio. And I realized that the music was coming back. Oh, I'm like, oh, snap, I don't have it in front of me. All right, so let's move on to high school football.

Each week we do our top five countdown, powered by SportsCarolinaMonthly.com. We had some interesting outcomes last night that set up some interesting matchups for this upcoming week.

So, Sawyer, if you don't mind, hit me with my top five. The number of the day scheduled to arrive, the number of the day is. Top 5! Top five! Top five!

Number five! Five top five countdown powered by sportscarolina monthly.com. We had some movement, a lot of movement in the countdown this week. We basically kind of had the same five schools in and out of there the first four weeks of the season. That is no more because of a couple of upsets that happened last night.

Let's go ahead and start the countdown with five. And that would be the Dudley Panthers. They defeated South Iredale last night 40-7 to move to 5-1 overall in the season. Dudley, ever since they got curb stomped by West Versailles first week of the season, they've been out here, you know, doing what we thought Dudley was going to do. I thought Dudley was going to be the best Guilford County school at the beginning of the year, and I think they're starting to prove that to be correct.

Although there is another Guilford County school out there that's ahead of them in the poll, so we'll see how they do going forward. Four. Number four, first appearance in the top five, the Reagan Raiders out of Poptown. They are 6-0. They defeated Parkland last night, 28-6.

We had that game as our game of the week here on Sports Hub Triad last night. Dave Pulaski and Drew Brackett on the call. Reagan 6-0, led by quarterback Gabriel Hollingsworth. Watched him since freshman year, like three years ago. We called a Reagan East for Scythe game three years ago out there when he was just starting as their quarterback.

He's like 6'5, 6'6, big, tall, sturdy quarterback. Yeah, he's really good. Reagan's really good. They're 6'0, and they are actually in the same conference as East for Scythe.

So that's a showdown that's going to be a little bit later on in the year. Three. Number three is West for Scythe. They're still holding tight at number three, primarily because they were on a buy this week. They are 5-0.

They are going to take on Paige next week. Paige is having a down year. I think they're 1-5, if I'm not mistaken. They were on a buy last night, also.

So, West for Scythe holding down the number 3 spot. Two. Uh It was Reidsville. And every week we talk about what did Reidsville do this week.

Well, this week Reidsville lost. Reidsville actually lost to East Surrey. Say that again. 55 to 49 and a thriller. I watched some of these highlights last night on a Friday football friendly over at Fox 8.

And East Surrey, they're undefeated too. And they might stake a claim to be in this countdown themselves. But. That dropped Reesbull out of the top five. And in their place, number two this week is Grimsley, the Whirly, 6-0.

They went way out to the east side of, I think, Wake County last night to play Knightdale and won 47-33 winners. Grimsley is out here. Uh, six and oh in the season, I think for the first time in forever. Um That sets up a really huge matchup against our number one this Friday. One.

That's the East for Scythe Eagles. They were on a bye this week. Also, they're 5-0. They're starting to catch their groove. Last week, Tyle.

Well, yeah, last week, Ty Lyles threw for over 300 plus yards and four touchdowns as East for Scythe. Defeated, I forgot who they beat down. Who did they play last week, Rod? They play Paige. Paige, that's right.

Yeah, so they beat Paige down. It was bad, but you know, it wasn't. It was homecoming. It was supposed to. It was homecoming for sure.

So that sets up next week in our top five pole, number one versus number two. East for Scythe, defending 4-A state champion, taking on Grimsley. It's the conference opener for both. They're both undefeated. East is on the road for this.

They're going to Grimsley. We will have this game for you on Sports Hub. Try it on WSJS and streaming through the app and the website. Rod, if I'm not mistaken, you're going to be out that week. Brandon Blakeney is going to be doing the color commentatating with me on that contest.

I can't pick the game because I'm calling it, but. I expect a really good game. Grimsley has uh How's the environment at Grimsley? Is it hostile? Oh, it'll be good.

Oh, they're expecting a Paige versus Grimsley homecoming type of crowd over there for this game. Wow. I can't imagine. It's going to be huge. What do you think?

I think it holds. It holds a lot. They usually run Paige Grimsley there if it's if both teams are good because it can hold enough people. And East for Scythe fans to travel. They will go out there.

So I expect. The visiting side to have a lot of East for Scythe fans over there. Grimsley's going to turn out with their fans. It's going to be like a playoff atmosphere over there, and it'll be a measuring stick for Grimsley to see where they are, to see if they're legit. And honestly, it'll be a measuring stick for East for Scythe, too, because they.

I guess Mount Tabor's the toughest team they've played so far this year. Parkland was kind of hyped as one when they saw him undefeated, but they didn't have Came and Schell, so it wasn't really. Exactly the same squad. What a huge opportunity for Grimsley. Yes, if Grimsley can pull this off and beat East for Scythe.

Then uh Now you're talking about a different thing here because East has to be careful because next week after Grimsley, they have West for Sythe. West for Sydney. And that's their big rival right now. And West Versaife is sitting there at 5-0-2. West for Scythe's playing Page, so both teams have to be careful not to look past who they're playing.

But if East for Scythe can get through this little gauntlet here, they got Grimsley this week on the road, then they got West for Scythe back in K Vegas, and then. A couple weeks later, down late October, they've got Reagan who's sitting out there in their conference, and they're undefeated.

So it's not like East has got an easy schedule. They've got a gauntlet of games coming up here, and it starts this Friday. And we will be bringing them all to you here at the Sports Hub. Let me get through some of the other area scores here real quick. Atkins lost to 4-Bush last night, 21-6.

Winston-Salem Prep victorious over Cummings, 22-12 is the final there. Carver, Norfolk Scythe, they were actually the game of the week over on I-48. Norfolk Scythe wins 18-14. Mount Tabor wins over Ragsdale, 30-18 was the final. Walkertown loses to North Surrey 27-20.

Bartlett Yancey Sr. defeats Bishop McGinnis 50-7. Ledford winners over Thomasville 27-12. Just scrolling, Ben Smith loses to Wakefield 43-0. We told you the Reidsville score.

East Surrey wins that shootout 55-49 over Reidsville. Oak Grove is still undefeated. I might need to start thinking about putting them in this top five. They are winners over Central Davidson 49-7. Shout out to Oak Grove.

This is only their third year of existence, if I'm not mistaken. Northern Guilford is continuing the win 49-0 over McMichael last night. Dudley defeated South Arredale, as I mentioned, forty to six.

South East Guildford, big winners over Ashborough, fifty one to twenty one was the final there. Eastern Alamance beats North East Guildford forty two to twenty eight. Yeah. High Point Christian beats Asheville School Independent 49-0. Is there a Western Guilford?

I think they were on a bye. I didn't see Highland Springs defeated Page 39-7. And Southwestern Randolph loses to Southern Animal at 63-7.

So those are your high school scores from last night. This past week, ESPN put out their top NBA players list for the 2019-2000 season. Giannis Antikupo ended up being the number one ranked player with. LeBron James being number three. You guys have a issue with the ESPN Top 100.

Yeah, I do a little bit. I got an issue with the whole list. Oh, that's all. I want all the smoke. This is why I put this in there.

Only issue I got. I got no issue with LeBron being three. But I do have an issue with Kawhi being two.

Okay. Hit me. Why? He's top two, but he ain't two. Kawhi Warner is number one in the league.

Over Giannis? Over Giannis. And then LeBron, number two, I think. I don't care where you put him after that, but Kawhi is the best player in the league right now. Rawhi.

I agree. I agree. Right now, he is. I don't know, man. I think without Giannis.

If Giannis can't shoot a jumper that well, Kawhi can literally do everything. He can defend. He blocked Giannis. He can shoot the three. He can do whatever.

He did shut Giannis down in the playoffs. That man won a championship in Toronto. He did do that. He dispelled this whole thing: you need three all-stars to win an NBA championship. It was Kawhi and a lot of really good pieces.

And, like Aaron said, he stopped in for one year in Toronto and won a championship. I mean, that's unbelievable.

Now, I thought somebody once said that to be the man, you got to beat the man. Yeah. Isn't that what somebody once said?

Well, LeBron wasn't available to be beat. That's not what I'm talking about. We're talking about Giannis Antonikupo, and we're talking about who we're talking about. Kawhi Leonard, right? Didn't Kawhi Leonard beat him?

Well, done that five. All right, then he should be number one. But none of them got a chance to really go against Omar. You know what I'm saying? No one had a chance to play LeBron this year.

LeBron is a good one. They'll play him next year. They'll play him next year. I think LeBron is going to come out and be like, oh, okay, so I'm number three. I'm number three now.

That's cool. All right. Let me go out here and just destroy everything real quick. You and I, being Laker fans, we kind of agree. We're going to like that.

And she gave us the top 10 of this.

So, where's Curry on that? Curry. Curry, six or seven, I think. He's in the top 10. Let me just run through the top 10 real quick.

So, number 10 was Paul George. Number nine is Damian Lillard. Number eight, Joelle and Bede. Number seven, Nikola Jokic. Jokic.

I tell you what, I like watching him play. Give him credit. That dude can play the game. Number six, Steph Curry. Number five, Anthony Davis.

Number four, James Harden. Number three, LeBron James. Number two, Kawhi Leonard. Number one, Giannis. Out of that top ten, I think just the top three are scrambled.

They should be in a different. I'm going to go with Kawhi, number one. You know what I mean? And I was never. A fan of his.

I'm going to put this out there. Steph Curry's ranked too low. I'm sick and tired of the disrespect to Steph Curry. And a lot of it is his own doing because he stepped to the side to let Kevin Durant come into Golden State, and they got two titles out of it. But.

People forget, man, Steph Curry is a bad dude. He's a bad dude. He's in his prime right now. Can you believe they got him at what you say, six or seven? Yeah, number six.

So he should be ranked ahead of James Harden. Yeah. Yeah, I think he absolutely should be ranked ahead of James Harden. At the number five spot, Anthony Davis. I think he should be ranked ahead of him, too.

What has Anthony Davis done as far as James Harden disappears in the playoffs? We've seen it now for the past three seasons in a row. He can score 35 points a game during the regular season. And as soon as the playoffs get here, he's missing everything. And I don't respect that.

Those whistles are different in the playoffs. It doesn't matter. He ain't getting touched in the game. He gets more whistles. He's taking a triple step back to shoot this three or whatever.

And he's not hitting it. He doesn't hit big shots. I've seen Steph Curry big shots. Always. For eight years, Steph Curry's been hitting shots in people's eye holes, like just everywhere.

Half court. Off the court. 40 feet away, like it's it's he has changed the range of what Three-point shooters shoot. Like, Damian Lillard would have never shot that three-pointer against Oklahoma City last year to end their series if Steph Curry had not made it vogue to shoot 40-foot three-pointers or whatever. Because you changed the game.

Because you've always said it. He has changed the game, and he's numbered, you know, he's in the top five at least. He should be where, he should be number four. He should be where James Harden is sitting. Yeah.

And then push everything down one. Like. Harden should be five. Davis should be six. I'm happy with that.

But Steph at six is a disrespect to me. I mean, he's the only unanimous MVP player in league history that's had Shaq and Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird and people in it. Steph's the only one that's won it. With all the votes. He's the only one.

Maybe they're just basing it off the performance, overall performance of everyone last year. And like you said, he took a step back for Kevin Durant. And that looks like it is the way it is. Being number one because he was the MVP of the league and all that. Golden State is still considered a playoff team after losing.

Kevin Durant because they have Steph Curry. Mm-hmm. Steph Curry and Draymond Green eventually when Clay Durant, well, when Clay Thompson comes back, that's still a top four team in the West to me. I think so, too. When Clay comes back.

And I am excited. The NBA is right around the corner.

Well, they're probably a top four team even without Clay, to be honest. They might be. They might be. I think Steph's going to have an MVP type year. Speaking of Clay, they had him ranked like what?

42, 49? Let me go find it. Because that was another thing. Because Zion Williamson was ranked ahead of him. That's my question, though.

It was based on this season. Was Kevin Durant on the list? I heard he was really high. Did they take him off? Because I went and looked at it.

I didn't see Kevin Durant. He's not on the list at all. They don't have him on the list. I did see him. I did hear he was on the list previously, but I guess he did get taken off.

Yeah, I think last year he was number two. LeBron, this is the first time LeBron hasn't been number one since the 2011-12 season. He wasn't the best player, man. That's okay. And that's crazy because if you look at his stats, they don't really like he was actually having a pretty good year.

He just only played three quarters of the season. He just didn't make it to the play. How they came up with this list? Is it they never explain these things? No, it kinda hasn't looked at it.

They leave it up to us to argue. There's this thing called RPM wins. I don't know exactly what it is, but they have it listed for each a real plus minus. And I guess they use that to kind of Figure out who's Paul George is number one in that category, actually. I'm not going to sit here and try to explain it to people because I don't know myself, like what it means, but I'm trying to figure out where uh Where was uh Zion ranked here.

Let me go into the I think it was 42. 42.

Okay, so Clay Thompson's ranked 49. Yeah, 49. I think Zyl's 42. He was ranked number 18 last year. Why is Cl why is Clay Well, he's hurt.

He's going to be out more than half the season. Oh, so it's kind of like the way the NFL is.

Okay, so it's projecting.

Okay, now it makes sense. It's like, how is that person going to on their team like impact their team? And I think. I mean, I I thought Kevin Durant, I had heard that he was like top twenty still, even with the injury. With the injury, like, I'm kind of okay with Clay being.

I don't know about 49, but. There's some names in here. Definitely higher. There's some names here. I totally forgot about it.

I forgot Kevin Love's still playing. Oh, my God. He's number 43. Who's Westbrook? I think Westbrook is like he's he's low like like 11, 12, 13.

Yeah, he just was the top six. Yeah, Kim Walker got 16, I think, something like that. Did you see D'Antonio is already making a statement that Westbrook and Harden are gonna Like, uh, what, rotate minutes until crunch time. Why would he say that right now? Because he's a moron.

That's what I mean he's a moron. I think he's that good. I don't think he's a good coach. No, he's failed upwards his entire career. I mean, he's literally, where was he?

He was the Suns, had a squad, a Mari. Uh, Steve Nash. They couldn't get past those Laker teams with Kobe. Then he went to the Lakers. Then he, well, before that, he went to the Knicks.

Remember, he was at the Knicks. Oh, yeah. And he had Carmelo Anthony. He had a playoff team in New York. Stodamire was there.

He had Carmelo Anthony and stuff. And then they started losing. He gets fired. He goes to LA He's there for a couple years. Kobe.

That was Kobe, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, those guys. He stayed as long as he did there because Kobe liked him. Yeah, and then he got fired.

Well, they claim he left, but he really got fired. He goes to Houston after that.

So it's like he's never really. He's never been in the NBA Finals. He's never. Had like that squad where he's like, Oh, yeah, they definitely should win. He just seems like he just gets by with not playing defense and just he throws the ball out and says, Go ahead, boy.

Yeah, just go ahead and score as much. Of course, Kobe's gonna like him. I want you all to score 130 points. You're gonna shoot 50 shots tonight, Kobe. How does that make you feel?

No problem. Give me the ball. I got this. I'm just looking through some of these other names here. Christophe Porzingis hasn't played in like two seasons, he's ranked number 34.

Boy, you know, I'm kind of anxious to see how he comes back with Dallas with Luca because that's going to be a nice one-two punch. Chris Thompson is looking big, too. I saw a picture from recently. He walked up big time. Yeah, he looks like he is a talent.

Interesting. He is like a talent. Chris Paul's ranked 32. I forgot he's kind of in purgatory. They shipped him to Oklahoma City and everybody forgot about him because he never got moved again.

So he's playing for the Thunder this year. No one. Wow. Nobody. How do you guys feel about it?

I think I saw like CJ McCollum. He's like 10 or 11. Like he's up there. Oh my gosh. Yeah, check the lower.

I think CJ definitely is above.

So CJ's above Clay Thompson. Right. Are you kidding me? That's what I'm saying. Like, Clay, I understand Kirk and everything, but Clay's not playing.

Well, no, he'll be back around March, April is what they're saying. But. Yeah, that was my thing. Like, even with that, I still would have put uh... I think I would have put him ahead of some of these other guys.

Clay has been disrespected his whole career. Kyrie Irving's number 11. Uh Westbrook's twelve. McCollum's 13. Yeah, he's up there.

I don't know if I agree with that. I don't know if I do either. I mean, he's a good player. Rudy Gobert is 14. Huh.

Ben Simmons fifteen, Donchich is sixteen. Ben Simmons has been working on his jump shot. Kimball Walker 17. Really, I'll believe that when I see it. I'm telling you, he has.

Carl Anthony Towns. He's got a pretty nice fadeaway jumper. I think Carl Anthony Towns is one of the singers on the Mass Singer. Oh, really?

Someone said Oli Depot's one. Everyone's saying it's Ola Depot. There's two guys that I think are basketball players. There's one called Thingamid. Have y'all watched this show before?

I watched it for the first time last week. You know, Ninja the Streamer? I literally turned it on. I was like, wait, this is so ironic because I know this guy. Yeah, that's the one that got revealed this past week.

It's a weirdly addictive show that ends with nothing. It's like a competition where stars and celebrities and athletes are wearing these outfits and they're singing basically karaoke. And the judges, who are the most worthless panel in the history of reality television, because they don't really do anything. They're like, well, it could be this person. It could be that person.

And they don't really have, they have a vote just like everybody else in the audience. And you pick who gets to stay. They have like a vote on costumed up. And you can't tell who it is. No.

And their voices are disguised. Really? Last year, the first person that got voted off was Antonio Brown. And they had filmed it in the summer. But when it came on the air, it was during the same week that Antonio Brown was having issues with the Steelers and Mike Tomlin.

So that's just timed up right the way it came on.

So we were, me and Josh started watching. We've been hooked ever since. And they came back for season two. There's a guy that's like 6'9, 6'10. He's called Thingamajig, and he's wearing this.

It looks like a Muppet. but he looks real tall. He looks like a basketball player. And he sang really, really well. And I was going through my head, I'm like, who was in the NBA that's 6'9, 6'10 that kinda sounds like that, that I wouldn't be thinking of?

And Carl Anthony Towns is the first name that popped into my head. But looking at this picture of Carl Anthony Towns, he looks a little bit thicker than the guy that was singing. He almost had a build like Kevin Garnett. Kind of skinny, but you could tell he's a ball player the way he walked or whatever. Maybe it's Kevin Garnett.

It might be Kevin Garnett. I've never heard Kevin Garnett sing before, and this guy could sing. I mean, now he's acting, so you saw that in the movie. Yeah, that's right. He's acting like so I don't know.

But definitely at the end, though, you win and you get nothing. Like if you're the winner. You don't get a trophy. You don't get like a necklace or like a t-shirt, nothing. It's just like it ends.

It's just over. And then, because T-Payne won last year. And we kind of picked him about three, four weeks in. And at the end, we're like, well, what does he get? And he gets nothing.

I do have a question, though. How does it work? Because I literally, I'm telling you, I watched the last 20 minutes. Does it work as if? Like, whoever's the best singer moves on.

Like, what if you kind of know who they are? Week one, it's like you have to wait for them to get all the way to the end. Right. So, like, we kind of, me and my wife picked T. Payne out, like.

Week two of last year was like, that sounds like T-Pang because we had heard him sing without auto-tune before, but a lot of people hadn't. Usually, what they do is they. They match up, there's 16 of them, and they match them up in these pairs, and they sing against each other, and then the audience picks which one's better. The loser goes to this shoot-off or showdown against the other losers, and then they pick... Whoever the loser is, and then they have to unmask, and whoever it is.

So last week it was some dude named Ninja that Sawyer knows, he's a streamer, and. I think it was a figure skater, somebody. Both guys, I didn't know who the hell they were. But sorry, I just hijacked my own segment. We're way past break, and I'm still talking about Mass Singer.

Sorry, we're taking phone calls, probably about the Mass Singer right now. Let's take a break, come back. We need to call Kevin Avery. He's from the Four Man Rush podcast because the Panthers have a 1 p.m. Sunday kickoff tomorrow against the Texans.

We'll go over keys to the game, look at premiere games around the NFL, and more. Avery from the Four Man Rush will talk about the Houston defense and Kyle Allen and the Panthers offense, too. Panthers talk next on the rundown. Shut up! Shut up!

Sit down! Are you ready? Stand by. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson.

Yeah. The Dixie Classic Fair at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds, October the 4th through the 13th, celebrating its 137th year. Are you a fair foodie? Turkey legs, candy apples, donuts, and more. Show us with hashtag.

Hashtag, how do you fare? And visit DCFair.com today, fireworks, rods, and food nightly. I'm sure my kiddos will be asking me to take them to the fair. Very soon. It's fair time.

It's fair time. My wife loves the corn joints and the apples and all that good stuff.

So we'll go and eat and. Have a good time there. The question is: Will the weather change? Has the fair? Because usually, when I think about the fair right now, I think about it getting cooler and you have to put on a little jacket at nighttime.

This is October 4th through the 13th.

So, yeah, it comes in next weekend. It is going to cool down into the 70s. There you go. Fair weather. Twitter poll update from Aaron, real quick here.

Aaron, what's our Twitter poll update? You had a boxing question up today. Yeah, Twitter poll question today is centered around tonight's. World-to-weight unification championship bout between one Errol Spence Jr. and Sean Porter.

And according to our listening public, Sixty percent. believe Errol Spence Jr. will leave the Uh, IBF and WBC Worldweight Champion of the World tonight. All right, and um. We have online with us now joining us on the rundown.

He is a member of the Four Man Rush podcast, a popular podcast dedicated to extensive coverage of the Carolina Panthers. You can find the brand on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and at theformanrush.com. That is the number four manrush.com. Kevin Avery now joins us on the rundown. Kevin, what's going on, brother?

How you doing this morning? What's going on, Dev? How you feeling today? Doing good, doing good. Panthers taking on the Houston Texans tomorrow, 1 p.m.

kickoff on Fox. First question out the gate. Can Kyle Allen duplicate the performance he had last week versus Arizona? As with any quarterback, I mean, the formula is true. I know it's redundant, but.

At the end of the day, a quarterback can be as effective as the blocking that's in front of him. And one of the things that I feel like with the changes on the offensive line, 'cause there are some due to injury. The Houston Texans defensive foot is their strength. They have about four or five players that's in their defensive front that are playing at an extremely high level. If you were to base it off the Uh Rating a pro football focus.

Of course, that's always subjective. We've had our ups and downs with that, but take it as it may. But yes, I definitely think that there is opportunities for Cal Island with sufficient blocking to take advantage of the youth and inexperience in the back seven of the Houston Texans. I definitely see tight end being an area that can really exploit the linebacker matchups um as well.

So anybody starting Greg Olsen on Fantasy might want to put them in. But definitely, there is opportunities uh to be made and I can see this being another balanced tat with strong rushing and uh passing been done with uh Carolina leading the way.

Now, got Kevin Avery on the line from the four-man rush. And I was actually really impressed with the Panthers' defense. really all season long, and we were just looking it up here. Carolina's actually ranked number four overall in total defense and yards allowed right now, with only with under 300 yards per contest. Do you think the Panthers defense can win this game for Carolina?

The Panthers defense is capable of winning this game. To be honest with you, the Houston Texans Offensive line really isn't that much better than what we saw at Arizona. I mean, the left half of it they traded from Miami. Uh, Turnso, he's battling not only ankle injury, but a toe injury as well.

So he seeks the strong dearths of uh Brian Spider Man Burns coming off the edge and putting ghost tricks on them to get to uh Sean Watson. But just to give you some insight into that fourth ranking, you have to dig deeper. We're twenty fourth and stopping the run. We're giving up about one hundred twenty nine yards rushing, which is highly uncharacteristic for a Ron River defense. Yes, it is.

So that is something that we can definitely address Houston only ran for 39 yards and 19 carries last week against the Los Angeles Charters.

So we got a chance to really. Improve our ranking. Versus letting them exploit that on their end.

So I definitely think the defense can. Uh I only apply pressure, stop the run, and Watching all day. Got Kevin Avery with us here from the four-man rush, chopping up the Panthers' upcoming contest against the Houston Texans tomorrow at 1 p.m. That kickoff will be on Fox. Um Did you get a chance to check out the Cam Newton video that you dropped uh last night, Kev?

Oh, yeah, definitely. I I got the notifications 'cause I subscribed, so I just happened to be on one of my breaks at work. I Put in a 13-hour day yesterday. Lord help me. My daughter, she's making A's and B's from spending money.

But she wanted them $200 pair of Jordan Retro 12s. I'm like, girl, all right, fine, whatever. Hey, Kevin, this is Rod Funderberg. You thinking about adopting any more kids? I got my hand up here, buddy.

I see what had happened was. But now, seriously, I mean, with the Cam Newton video, how surprised are you that Cam was so candid? Because he basically admitted that he was playing hurt and pretty much lying to the coaching staff. about the situation. What are your thoughts on that and how do you think the team Clearly, the teammates probably knew that something was off with Cam, but how do you think that's going to play?

play in the the Panther locker room.

Well, as far as the Cam Newton video itself, I applaud Cam Newton. How many NFL, not only just players, but superstars, can come out publicly and omit. not only that they were essentially lying, but they were putting themselves above the team for out of a competitive nature And to really put it out there like that. Of course, you know, people always want to talk about the fluff. Oh, he was drinking wine, I was smoking a cigar, all that other.

You know, feces that come out of people's mouths, but essentially, I mean, I like the fact that Cam was just being open and honest. We know Cam Newton has been an extremely competitive player from day one. I can understand him saying he needed to see if 80% of Cam Newton is enough to win, and he realized it wasn't.

Now, like the rest of the fans, I hate that we had to wait two regular season losses to Find that out, but Everything happens for a reason. I think the locker room probably noticed some things, but you know, everybody has pain, everybody plays with pain. Only you can determine what is effective. And when he said. He did not think he could get one yard against Tampa on that fourth down, and that's why they audible to that play to McCaffrey.

That's all I needed to know. I mean. The guy, you know, if he can't be who he is, then I applaud him for making him the video and and giving clarity because a lot of people is throwing Ron Rivera and the coaching staff and the front office under the bus, oh, they made him play and Blah, blah, blah. You know, that's that's just how the nature of the Social media world is now. I kind of feel that way too.

And I'm actually. I'm impressed that he put this out, and I'm happy that he stepped aside when he did, because we all know Cam Newton. Cam probably would have tried to play last week on the same foot and this week, too, until he just couldn't go out there anymore. But the fact that I think he's matured to the point where he realized that he was starting to hurt the team, the two losses this team has, they lost it by combining, what, like seven points, eight points, something crazy like that.

So it's not like this is a bottom-tier team. They just missed a couple of opportunities. I sound like Ron Rivera. They missed a couple of opportunities to actually win the first two games and let those two home games slip. But they have a chance to write the ship.

By winning their first two road games, going to Houston and taking on Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans.

Now, the Texans typically have a good defense, but right now they're actually ranked pretty low. They're in the 20s, if I'm not mistaken, in total defense. It looks like there's going to be some opportunities for. The Panthers to make some noise here. Kev, give us a player that might have a breakout game on Sunday for Carolina, either on the offensive side or the defensive side of the ball.

Okay, I could quickly give you one of each, you know, to provide a little parody here. As far as the offensive side, As far as a breakout goes, I really see this as an opportunity for Curtis and Samuel to have that Wow, boom game. I mean, literally, the first three games, when you go back and watch the all 22 film. It's it's crazy how quickly and how each is getting open running these routes. His route running has come a long way.

So I see Curtis Samuel is having that big statement gain. Fortunately, I had just mentioned Greg Olson prior to that and the other question that you asked earlier, but Officially, I would say Curtis Samuel, and I'm from a defensive Our point of view even though Bruce Irving is coming back to finally play this week, I see this being a game that We see good safety play from Eric Reed. I'm about to say Eric Reed will be an impact player. On the defensive side of the ball. Of course, his brother, younger brother Justin, plays for Texans.

But I think Eric Reid is due for a statement game as well. And based on the Texans' offensive steam, he's going to have a chance to really make impact plays in both the running And the passing game.

So, those are my two guys. Carolina's 2-2 all-time against the Texans. The team, the Panthers, have played the fewest times in franchise history. The Panthers are 2-0 against the Texans in the Ron Rivera era, winning at home in 2015 and in Houston in 2011. Kev, do you have a pick for the game?

Yeah, I got a pick for the game. This is going to always sound biased because I'm a Panthers fan, but seriously, you know, when I look at you know, with the changes and Trey Turner has been ruled out, so Darrell Williams is likely going to be at a right guard with him being a right-handed player. I expect him to have a bounce back. With an offensive line that I think would do well enough to neutralize this front, I got the score being Carolina thirty one. Uh Houston twenty I feel like that the game will be a tight first half, something like seventeen, thirteen.

We're going to make them half time adjustments and we took this one away and bring it on back to Charlotte. All right, and Kev, like we always do, let the Panther fans know where they can get to the four-man rush online. You guys do an excellent job in terms of weekly podcasts, coaches, film breakdown analysis, and more.

So let the fine Panther folks out there know where they can get to your stuff online. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, as usual, go to our website, V T H E, the number four, man, M A N Rush R U S H dot com. You can also and from there you can like us on Facebook. YouTube, check it out.

Will Harris does great video breakdowns there. Instagram, also Twitter, and we recently been added to Spotterfly and iTunes, along with Pod Beam.

So you can check out our. our weekly podcast there that drops every Thursday. And shout out to my foreman, Russ. business partners and staff behind the scenes, they make it all possible. And that Foreman Rush apparel is getting ready to come out soon as well.

So we keep it posted. Yeah, yeah, definitely keep me posting that. I want a T-shirt or something.

So definitely we'll shop that up. That's Kevin Avery from the Foreman Rush. We appreciate you, brother. We'll talk to you again real soon. All right, Danz, have a good day.

Take care, fellas.

So, guys, real quick roundtable discussion on the Panthers and the Texans. I liked what I saw from Kyle Allen last week, although I've tried to temper it a bit because Arizona has the worst passing defense in the league. But I like the touch he had on some of his throws. Christian McCaffrey got off. The defense had a field day against Arizona.

Kyler Murray looked very uncomfortable the entire afternoon. Looked like a rookie. He did. And he was coached by a rookie coach in Cliff Kingsbury. You went about somebody failing upwards.

Kingsbury, he had a losing record at Texas Tech and then ended up getting a head coaching job in the NFL. How does that work? Yeah, how does that work? I mean, who start right there? Who does he have to do in the country we live in?

Who does he have dirt on? Right, of course.

Somebody knows somebody about something. And he knows where all the bodies are based. You know, he got it with his looks. I think he got it with his looks. He's supposed to be the best-looking man.

And Dane's a very attractive man, for sure. That's what they say.

Now, some facts about this game. Carolina's defense ranks fourth in the league, and that yard's allowed. The pass defense is second in the league with only 295 of the. In the air allowed per contest, which is a flip because normally Carolina's defense is run defense dominated and the secondary is an issue. I thought the secondary was gonna be a weakness, but right now they're actually really balling out.

I have not heard on Dante Jackson if he's actually going to be playing or not. He's listed as questionable with a groin injury, and that could be a big problem having to go up against DeAndre Hopkins and Houston. Um Either DeAndre Hopkins leads the Texans with 19 catches so far in the season. Houston has four players that held from Clemson and another two from South Carolina.

So very interesting here.

Well, with it only being game four. of the season. I think it's a turning point for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Because if they go into Houston and win that game. I mean, we're talking next Saturday with a whole different type of attitude towards the Panthers.

Yeah, yeah. And welcoming a Jacksonville squad in that's kind of crumbling apart a little bit.

So it is big. I can see them getting a four and two. They win this game Sunday. They have Jacksonville at home, and then they go to London to play Tampa Bay, which was a team that I felt like. They should have beat Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay let them go up and down the field. They just couldn't score touchdowns. And now, looking back on it, maybe some of that was because Cam Newton was out there, which is weird to say. Tampa Bay lost to Daniel Jones and the New York Giants. Exactly.

So that. We haven't talked about Daniel Jones yet. I mean, I was about to say, four touchdowns. That's pretty impressive. Daniel Jones is looking pretty good.

Is he the next Pat Mahomes? Daniel Jones? Is that what it is? Oh, my gosh. Daniel Jones, he's out there killing it, man.

He's doing his thing in the big apple. Yeah. But back to the Panthers. What do we have? Go ahead, Ron.

Look, tomorrow at one o'clock, down in Houston, Texas, which is a beautiful place to be, by the way. I love Houston, Texas. Yeah, oh, Texas is Houston's awesome. You'll love it. Trust me.

But. The Panthers will need to play Kyle Murray in the beginning. I mean, not Kyle Murray. Oh, Deshaun Watson. Allen.

Kyle Allen. Kyle Allen. I'm sorry. They will need to give him some easy passes. And I don't think they should run the ball in the beginning because I believe the Texans' defense is going to be keying in on McCaffrey.

Because I think their mindset is going to be: we're going to stop McCaffrey first and force Kyle Allen to beat us. But if they can get Kyle Allen some passes, some easy passes, maybe over to Olson, the other tight end, or some crossing routes that are easy, it'll back that defense up and allow McCaffrey to be able to get into the ballgame. And then I think if they can do that and rearrange some stuff, I think the Panthers have a great chance of going into Houston and stealing one out of there. They got to protect Kyle Allen. If he's protected, he'll be just fine because I've never seen, I watched that whole game, and he was just so relaxed out there.

He was. He really is. He really was. He looked very calm. I didn't realize in 2014, the top high school players in the country, Deshaun Watson was number one.

Kyle Allen was number two. Will Greer was number three.

So, in terms of quarterback rankings coming out of high school, so there's some talent that's going to be out there today. We got enough time to squeeze it in. We didn't do hot takes last week. Let's try to squeeze in rundown hot takes here. Hot takes?

Hot takes, which is now this is a little bit different than Let's Get Crazy if you're used to that on Mondays on the drive. What we do on Saturday is basically each person will give one hot take on something they saw this week or a prediction on what will happen going forward in sports. And this includes Sawyer and Aaron as well. Let's try to get this squeezed in here: rundown hot takes. Hold on now.

You're listening to the rundown. Take hot take hot hot hot hot drop it like it's hot Drop it like it's hot when the pigs try to get at you Park it like it's hot with Desmond Johnson Alright, let's uh Get this thing started. Anyone want to go first? I'll start it off. Go ahead, Johnny.

I'll start it off, and I'm going to go by the rules this time. Oh, Johnny's following rules. He says that every week. Let's hear them first. We'll see him.

It's a hot take, though. And I'm going to go the baseball route. Seeing that we're just baseball. Bring a little baseball route. The playoffs start next week, and it's going to be an exciting day.

Very exciting Major League Baseball season. Even though my Boston Red Sox are not in it this year, but we're still sitting as world champions until someone else is crowned. But here's my hot take. The Minnesota Twins will win the American League Championship and go to the World Series. The Minnesota Twins?

The Minnesota Twins. Absolutely. They have had a tremendous season. They're tied with the Yankees with the most home runs ever in the history of baseball, like over 300 home runs as a team. Halfway through the season, I said, oh no, Minnesota's going to falter, but they have not, and they are for real.

Look out for the twins. Wait, hold on, aren't they? Aren't the Astros in the American League? Yes, they are.

So you're saying they're gonna beat the Astros? It's a hot take. That's what he just said. It's a hot tape as well. That's why I asked him.

I said the Minnesota twins. That's pretty good. I like it.

So were the New York Yankees. Yeah, I was about to say, the Yankees are in the American League, too. Hot take you wanted.

Okay. He's coming here with some heat, some fire. Rod. I don't know if this is a hot take or what you call it. But Antonio Brown plays in the NFL before the month of October is up.

Really? Yeah. Who are you thinking? Is gonna pick him up. Honestly, yeah.

Dallas Cowboys. We said it last week, and I was like, I thought about it all week. I was like, yeah, I can still see that happening. And it's the first time the Cowboys have been mentioned this whole show. They've been playing so well.

Are you sure? Are you sure you want to do that to him? He would not disrupt them and Jerry Jones. Jerry Jones will pay you, but he'll let you go too. We said he wouldn't disrupt the Patriots.

He'll let you go too. That hot take would make Stephen A. Smith so happy because it would disrupt the Cowboys. I don't think it would rule him up. I don't think he really disrupted the Patriots, though.

Yeah, I don't think he disrupted the Patriots. He got a chance to have touchdown bounce and got out. Yeah, he disrupted himself. He came in for a week, mate. Did he even get paid for that week?

Yeah, he got $188,000.

Well, that's all gone already. He's already spent all that. Probably a Harris Teeter or something. I'm going to go with our Carolina Panthers here and Kyle Allen. I'm looking at their schedule.

Kyle Allen's going to be undefeated by the time Cam Newton is able to play. Yeah! And by that I mean he's gonna go 6-0.

So, what I just heard you say was Cam Newton is not coming back. That's what I just know. Cam will be back. I think Cam will be ready to play by week eight, week nine. Yeah, but what I just heard you say, if he's ready to play by week eight or week nine, and Kyle is six and oh.

There is no reason. Did you put Cam Newton in? Yeah, exactly. There is no reason to put Cam Newton in. That's what I heard.

Yeah, wait a minute, hold on. No, you're saying that's what I'm saying.

So that's what I heard.

So you're saying if this happens, you're saying that Cam Newton would lose his starting spot? If Kyle Allen is 6-0, I don't think that's that. But it would be a soft loss. What it would be is, we're just going to give Cam another week to rest again. Wait, wait, hold on.

And if he wins again, we're going to give another week to go. The control room is super bad at me right now because this was one of their questions for odds and ends. I have it written down right here. Oh, you ready? Yeah.

Well, if Kyle Allen performs greatly, what do you do when Cam is healthy?

Okay, so we're going to pin that. We're going to pause it. Yeah, we're going to pin it. We're going to save that for odds and ends. Because we've still got another segment before that to even get to.

Let's. Let's take a break when we come back. I got a question I was thinking about while I was sitting on the couch yesterday. After three weeks of action, what is the Super Bowl matchup that you would want to see this season today, right now, off of seeing only three weeks of football? We're going to talk about that real quick and hopefully not hit any more questions that are going to be in odds and ends next when we come back from the rundown.

Sorry. Clap your hands and stomp your feet. Yeah. It's going to be one big party. Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson.

A lot of stuff going on right now. College football is going to be kicking off here in about 15, 20 minutes or so. You are locked into the rundown. Desmond Johnson, John Oszewski, Rod Funderberg in the house. And just super quick, this thought crossed my mind yesterday while I was putting this show together.

We've had three weeks of action in NFL right now. Week four is about to take off here tomorrow. What is the Super Bowl matchup that you would want to see this season? Not the two best teams that you think after three weeks, but just two teams that would provide a really entertaining Super Bowl for you. Let's start with Rod.

What would be the Super Bowl matchup that you would want to see this year? The big-time matchup I would like to see would be Aaron Gabriel and Rod Funderberg in the ring together. The Kansas City Chiefs versus the Dallas Cowboys. It ain't bad. I like that one.

So a rematch of what, Super Bowl V, I think it was.

So it'd be pretty interesting. Mahomes versus Dak Prescott. Yeah. You got some names there. That's pretty good.

I tell you what, Aaron's going to be liking us over here in Sanskrit. Oh, man, you picked him too? I am picking the Kansas City Chiefs, who are very exciting to watch. Patrick Mahomes, I got to go with Aaron, man. This Mahomes is a stud.

He's the Michael Jordan of the NFL right now. He's spectacular against. The LA Rams. I like the LA Rams. There's no Super Bowl hangover by them.

They will be in there two offensive, very explosive teams. The Rams have a little better defense than KC, but I would love to see that game, and I'm thinking 38-31. I'm ashamed at both of you. Neither one of you put an opportunity to see the evil empire get pulled. put in their place.

Because we all know who's going to be in the Super Bowl. We all know who's going to be able to do that. Yeah, but that ain't what you asked us. Every year we wish this doesn't happen. Yeah, but that's not what you asked us.

Well, now I'm at a point where it's like I want to see them get beat in the Super Bowl.

So I've got Cowboys versus Patriots. That would be the biggest game the NFL could possibly ask for this year. You know, when Dallas is there, Patriots would be. You'd put America in a situation where they'd have to root for either the Patriots or the Cowboys. Think about that.

That'd be a lot of money generated, too. A lot of money generated off that game. And where's the Super Bowl? In Miami, it's in Miami. Oh, J-Lo, and Shakira, the halftime shot.

I might have to go down there. See what I'm saying? Maybe we put together a little rundown trip down there. Yeah, yeah. I'd have to run that past the wife.

I don't think she'd approve of that. Bring her along. Bring her along. Yeah. We'll talk about that.

We'll see what happens with that.

So, I got Cowboys Patriots as it stands right now. We'll do this throughout the season, like in three or four week chunks. We'll be like, okay, week eight, who do you think should be? Week 12, do you think it should be? And we'll just kind of see if it changes throughout.

We didn't get a chance to do this. No, we did do this last week.

So, the segment's taking the triad by storm. One minute with Aaron. I have no idea what he's going to talk about in this segment. We kind of like it that way, although it's probably the most frightening part of the show. Let's go ahead and get it started one minute with Aaron.

What's happening? What's happening? We'll get this thing cracking.

So this week. The NBA notified teams that they must certify and submit the precise height and age for every player within the first week of training camp.

So that got me to think: what are some of the most egregious discrepancies between height and age in NBA players? I got some facts right here for you. Ready for these facts? I'm ready. All right.

So Steph Curry is listed at 6'3. He's actually 5'2 ⁇. AD listed at 6'9. He's 7'. He's listed at age 30.

He's actually 40. Dremond Green, listed at 6'7 ⁇, age 29. He's actually just 6'1, age 45. Zion Williamson listed at 6'7. He's actually 6'4 ⁇, he's age 27.

Bo Bowl is actually 8 feet tall. He's only 17 years old. Alice Caruso of the Lakers listed at 6'9. He's only 6'5, actually. He's age 30.

Alex Caruso. Alex Caruso. Johnny's listed at 6'11. He's actually just 6'9. He's also 33 years old.

They all lying about their age. Scotty Pippin is not spelled S-C-O-T-T-I-E. It's actually spelled S-C-O-T-T-Y. Facts here, people. Lonzo Ball is listed as 6'6, but he had to take his Big Baller brand shoes off.

He's actually only six feet tall. I feel bad for him now, too, because remember he gave up Nike money to his big baller brand? He did. He probably thinks about that every day. Did y'all see that clip of Labar just going into him?

No, I heard about it. Damage goods, boy. Damage goods. You call your son damaged goods. I saw LaBello might be the number one ranked player.

Do you believe that? He's the number one ranked player. He might get drafted number one next year. Labello. Nuts to me.

Well, he's grown to 6'7. God, he sprouted up. Nice. And he's supposed to be a better shooter than Lonzo, too.

So I don't know.

So let's take the final break. Stay away from your daddy. I tell you. Yeah, stay away from Labar. Let's take our final break, come back, odds and ends, rapid fire around.

We'll get a minute to debate random topics. You do not want to miss this next on the rundown. Yeah. Okay, let's go. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson.

Oh. Download full episodes of the rundown at sportshubtriad.com. You can also find it on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and more. But simply search for the rundown with Desmond Johnson. Download and go.

Odds and ends, we end every. Rundown show on Saturday mornings with odds and ends. Sawyer and Aaron pull out five different topics from around the world of sports to ask us rapid fire style. Sawyer set a stop clock for one minute. At the end of one minute, we'll hear a buzzer sound.

Five topics, rapid fire. Let's go. All right, first question. Have defenses figured out Trevor Lawrence. What is your guys' opinion on is he overrated, underrated?

What do you guys think? Hmm. It's been kind of a story they haven't really talked about because Clemson's still rolling over people, but I don't know. I'll let you guys answer that. Do you think he's overrated, underrated?

Number one, that is a great question because, I mean, everyone's kind of thinking that. I mean, he's still putting up good numbers, but he's got, what, four interceptions? I think he had four interceptions all of last year.

So he's thrown seven touchdowns to five interceptions, 925. Five interceptions. Yeah, he's got 925 yards on the season in four games. I just think he will step up when it's really needed. I still think he's a superstar quarterback for sure.

He's only thrown at 62% completion rate right now. He's only completed 66% of his passes. I love that we're talking about this right now. Let's revisit this in about two or three weeks. I think it's part of the sophomore slump that you have.

I mean, he won a national championship as a freshman.

So now he's really the leader, and he's probably trying to make more plays than he needs to. And I think he's just trying to do a little too much. Instead of letting the game come to him, he's trying to force it a little bit. But I think he's still a great player. Crazy thing is, Clemson might still have a Heisman candidate in the backfield anyway and Travis Entienne.

That's fantastic. Clemson's not that bad. They're pretty good. All right, back to the question that we talked about a couple segments earlier. Kyle Island is performing greatly.

What do you do when Cam is healthy? You start him. You start who? Cam Newton, yeah. I don't believe.

I think Ryan Clark said this earlier this week on ESPN. Cam Newton should not lose his starting role because of injury. Like. He is the He is the leader of this team. He's the best player on this team.

If he's 100% healthy, I absolutely will want to pluck Cam Newton back into the offense instead of Kyle Allen.

Now, if Kyle Allen's playing well and you throw Cam out there and Cam's not playing well, now you have a situation where the fans are going to turn on you.

Well, the fans are going to turn when you throw Cam back out there either way. But if I go with your scenario and he went, let's say Kyle wins the next six games, which could happen. You stick with Cam or Kyle Allen for sure. They've got coming up. They got the Jags, Buccaneers, 49ers, Titans.

And then the Packers, November the 10th.

So, I mean, it's not like it's a motley crew of teams they got to play here. The Falcons are after that. They're not playing that well. Saints still might not have Drew Brees after that. Redskins are on the schedule.

It opens up.

So it'll be interesting to see what happens here, but hopefully they get a win tomorrow. All right, so LeBron came in at number three on the SVN rankings. Do you think LeBron has an M to win back his number one player status this next season? I hope so, but honestly, I don't know if LeBron is motivated by that kind of stuff anymore. Um.

I actually hope they play more through Anthony Davis than LeBron this year. They should. Anthony Davis is 25. Like, this should be an MVP-type year for Anthony Davis. Um,.

Who I think LeBron is motivated to be back the number one player. Playing, what is this year 18 that LeBron will be starting? Yeah. I don't. I don't think he can, do you think he can win it back?

Not trying to go for it, but do you think he can be the number one player next season? Oh, absolutely. I think so. I mean, he takes care of his body. He's a LeBron.

I mean, he's a special dude. He was having a great year last year. And he had the whole summer off. You know what I mean? He's had some reps.

He's been listening to all of them. Yeah, I think LeBron has just spoiled us. This guy's been to the finals, what, the last eight years before last year? And we're spoiled. We're like, okay, LeBron's the number one man.

So you don't make it to the finals this year. Oh, you must be number three.

So, you know, he's going to come back. He's going to roll. He's going to have a team. They're going to get back to the finals and we're going to say, hey, this guy's the greatest player. He averaged 27.4 points per game last year, 8.5 rebounds a game, 8.3 assists per game, and 1.3 steals.

And that's all he has to do this year. And that's in a down year for LeBron James. People make me sick. Real quick, I hate that Kuzma's injured. Yeah, I mean, the Lakers are going to be interesting this year.

Dwight Howard's back. All right, we've seen A.B. all over social media getting in fights with almost everyone. Who is the next person you want to see Antonio Brown get into a Twitter fight with? Ooh, that's a saucy one.

Hey, I would. Yeah. I would like to see Antonio Brown get into a Twitter fight with Donald Trump. Yes. There it is.

I was just thinking, I was like, who is the person on Twitter that goes around fighting people? And that's perfect.

Now, how could that even start? Because that sounds, Donald Trump and Antonio Brown seem like they'd be the best of friends, just randomly. Like, I don't know what they'd hang out together. They go shopping. I could see Donald Trump saying, Hey, Antonio, just shut up and go play football.

And then that would spark it.

Okay, I could also see that as well. I could see that also. I like to see AB getting the Twitter spat. With OJ Simpson. Oh, there you go.

Because OJ has been out here, man. He's been out here in these streets talking about how these players are messing up his fantasy team. Hello, Twitter World. That's how he starts off favoring. What's going on with Antonio Brown, man?

You're messing up a fantasy there. Hello, Twitter World. Sounds just like it, man. That's good stuff. I'm going to change my boat to OJ Simpson.

Now, Antonio Brown, though, would have to be careful, though, man. The juice is actually loose. I don't know if I want to upset the juice. Allegedly. Allegedly.

I don't know if that worked out well for Antonio in the end. He might have more than his feet all messed up. All right, so this was a big conversation yesterday on the drive. Josh Graham brought me and Aaron little tiny. Sugary airheads, and he called them a snack.

It's all over Twitter. Do you guys think that candy and other sugary treats are snacks, or should snacks be saved for other chips and? Aaron said chicken wings and hot dogs, but that's definitely not a snack. Hot dogs are snacks? What are you saying?

Oh, hot dogs. Could be a snack. To answer your question, Airheads is a snack? No. That's.

What is it? Just candy. A bag of sugar. There's candy a snack, yeah. With sugary, like.

Treats, beef snacks, or do you save those for things that actually fill you up? Which I think it's like chips and stuff like that. If I poured. A bag of Dixie Crystal sugar into a sandwich bag and handed it to you and said, Here, here's a snack. You'd look at me like I was crazy.

That's literally what Josh just did to y'all yesterday. He handed you a bag of sugar with different colors in it and said this is a snack. He really did. When I do Twizzlers, I'm thinking that's a snack for me. Really?

Yeah. See, I think of like a pack of nabs or something as a snack. You know what I mean? Like crackers, something that's a little heavier, I guess. Maybe it has to do with like salt or something because chips, you say chips, peanuts.

I get a little uncomfortable when Joshi calls the good-looking guys snacks. I get uncomfortable when you call them Joshi. App State versus Coastal Carolina today on the sports hub at 1:30. Rams taking on the Bucs in NFL action tomorrow at 3 p.m. Saints, Cowboys at 7:30 Sunday night on the sports hub.

We're out. We'll see you next week.
Whisper: parakeet / 2025-07-04 16:35:36 / 2025-07-04 16:38:10 / 3

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime