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September 14, 2019 12:47 pm

The Rundown with Desmond Johnson - Whatsup with Cam Newton? - Sept 14th 2019

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September 14, 2019 12:47 pm

The Carolina Panthers' struggles continue, with Cam Newton's performance raising concerns about his future in the league. The team's 0-2 start has led to speculation about a possible trade or retirement for the quarterback. Meanwhile, the NFL season is in full swing, with many teams vying for a spot in the playoffs. The Patriots' acquisition of Antonio Brown has sparked controversy, and the Cowboys' Dak Prescott is on track to become one of the highest-paid players in the league.

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

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. It's embarrassing.

It's embarrassing. You know, we hear, well, I hear fans, you know what I'm saying? you're not gonna deny the fact that, you know, walking off or coming off the field at times off third down. It's just unacceptable there. This system makes up.

Happy Saturday. I refuse to allow the Carolina Panthers performance on Thursday night. To ruin my weekend, welcome to the rundown. I am your host, Desmond Johnson. I'm joined by Rod Thunderberg.

John Oszewski is back. Welcome, brother, back to the rundown. Oh, thank you, gentlemen. Man, I just got the chills when you said that. I'm feeling good.

My producer, Sawyer Dillon, running our ones and twos. Aaron Gabriel in the house, man, in our social media. Brandon Blakeney will return next week. 336-777-1600. It's the number to call to chime in on any of our topics today.

Let's go ahead and get started. What is our Twitter poll question for the rundown for September the 14th, 2019, Aaron? Twitter poll question for today, Triad, who? At the most exciting NFL offense of all time, is it the 1999 St. Louis Rams?

AKA the greatest show on turf. Is it the 2007 New England Patriots? or the 1998 Minnesota Vikings. Or The 2018 Kansas City Chiefs. See how he slipped those Kansas City Chiefs in there?

They're right there. He slipped nothing in there. Which one of these doesn't belong here? How do you stick that 2018 Chiefs in there? What do you mean?

He only threw for 50 touchdowns at 5,000 yards. And. Don't get him started. He's top three scoring offense of all time. It's the truth.

Hit us up on Twitter, SportsOpTriade or Sports Carolina One, and we'll answer what we can. I wanted to open the phone lines at the very start of this show. If you didn't get a chance to vent on what you saw Thursday night, Thursday night football, Panthers and Bucks in Charlotte, 336-777-1600. If you want to call in and gripe about the Panthers, it's been two days out now. I've had two days to sit on this and kind of think about what I've seen, not just last, well, the other night, but really over the past.

Eight nine games the Panthers have played. I got to ask you guys to start off the show. What is up with Cam Newton? Do you think he's hurt? And are we seeing the end of Cam Newton that we have known for the past eight years, or is this just an overreaction?

I mean, I don't think we're seeing the end of Cam Newton. I think the coaches are being extra conservative. They don't want him to get hurt. They don't want him to injure that shoulder again. But the way he played.

You know, Des, you talked about it. He's not having fun. He doesn't seem to be a happy camper right now. And that's got to change, especially in this North Turner offense. Because what happened on Thursday night?

The Bucs stuck eight nine defenders in the box. They said, We're going to stop your big running back in McCaffrey, and we dare Cam Newton and the rest of your young receivers and the old tight end to beat us. Carolina couldn't do it. Yeah, it uh It was a hard game to watch. It felt weird from the beginning.

There was the weather delay with the lightning that kind of threw them off. Each team had like a possession before they sent them all back inside. I think we had almost 30 minutes of delay. Then they came back out, had to restart everything. And really, from that point on, it almost felt like Tampa Bay made adjustments because McCaffrey was helping them.

They couldn't stop McCaffrey that first drive. He was going all over the place. But after that, Didn't really hear much from McCaffrey at all. And it made me painfully realize that the way they've changed this offense for Carolina, if you can stop Christian McCaffrey, then you severely limit what else Carolina can do, especially if they're not going to have Cam running the ball anymore. And that's not all either.

You know, they had some 44-yard pass plays, 34-yard pass plays. But it was like once they got in the red zone. They got penalties. They started going backwards. They were killing themselves.

It was like the red zone, they couldn't do anything. They were actually explosive, but they couldn't sustain the drive. They just stalled. And, you know, back to Cam, they're not running him either. I don't understand that.

And McCaffrey. He didn't have a whole lot of touches either. I mean, he really didn't. I'm looking for his statistics now because he only had 53 total yards. This is after a week where he had over 200 total yards against the Rams, where they just had no answer for him.

And the fun part, you know, when you're 0-2 and you're losing, and I'm sure Cam's got some ailments going, but he plays through them and he doesn't look like he's having fun. But when you're losing, he's not going to be showing that he's having any fun. I mean, you know, things could turn around, but those two home opening losses are just devastating. I do have a silver lining for Panther fans, though. The last time the Panthers started 0-2 was 2013.

They actually started 1-3. Then they rattled off eight straight wins, ended up going 12-4, and they won NFC South.

So it's not the end of the season by any means, and anything can happen in the NFL, but they've got to start playing better immediately. They've got Arizona next Sunday coming up, but. I've had a lot of people talk to me about that last Carolina offensive possession, that last play. Thoughts on North Turner? Um I'm trying to figure out.

They did this play last week against the Rams and it worked. And when they did it, It was a direct snap to McCaffrey, but Cam didn't motion out wide. He kind of motioned off to he didn't even motion off. It was a direct snap to McCaffrey. McCaffrey ran in basically kind of up the gut, like through the line for a touchdown.

Thursday night. Which I still don't understand. It's really the only play that's sticking in my head that just bothers me. But the last play where they were trying to get this fourth down, or this first down, it was fourth and maybe half a yard. They're in shotgun formation.

Cam motions out to the right. Out of the play. It's a direct snap to McCaffrey. Samuel, who I thought was in motion, he didn't go in motion. He started going to the right after the ball was snapped.

I was thinking, as it was being explained to me, that he was in motion before the snap to try to draw a defender to the right. That's not what happened. The ball got snapped to McCaffrey. He fakes the handoff to Samuel, going jet sweep to the right. A couple of Tampa Bay defenders go that way, and then it's basically McCaffrey trying to beat a defender to the left edge.

My problem with that is: A, The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If you're trying to get a half a yard, just go straight up the gut. Like you could have literally just did a jumbo package and try to push it in. That's usually what the Panthers' identity is. Number two, and this is even more important: you have a six-foot, five, 240-pound quarterback who's the best short-yardage runner in the history of the NFL, and you motion him out of the play at the very beginning.

You automatically out of the play. You made it 10 on 11 right there because everybody knew they're not going to throw the ball to Cam, and Cam's not going to do a reverse to come get it back. You put him on the line of scrimmage. Like he's. He's out of the play.

So I understand the logic of putting the ball in your quote-unquote best offensive player's hands and McCaffrey, but not like that. If you're going to do that, Hike it told him to right, let him run up the gut. Or even better, just have Cam Newton jump the line like he's done for seven years.

So, really, me seeing that made me think Cam may not be all the way right. Or they're trying to change him. They're trying to convert him into a pocket passer. And Thursday night for me was a realization that Cam Newton will never be a pocket passer. And I'm fine with that.

Like, I love Cam Newton's play because he's unique. He's different than anything we've seen before, during, or since. And to try to change him into a Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or something, that's not him. It's never been him. It wasn't him in college.

It's not him in the pros. And he's 30. I don't know a lot of 30-year-old men that are able to change what they are at age 30. He is what he is. And I I think the problem is that unless they decide they have like a come to Jesus moment and they realize, well, we can't do this or we're gonna lose a bunch of games.

It's going to be like this. The defense is going to keep them close every week. The offense is not going to be able to get anything in rhythm because they're not running cam. And the Panthers are going to lose a bunch of games this way. I don't want to see that.

So. Really, I'm asking you guys, did the offense feel like it was okay to you guys on Thursday night? Or did it feel like, to me, it felt old-fashioned at times, like watching it? I mean, the offense was. Good, like I said, in explosive plays.

It's just when they got in the red zone, when we're used to seeing Cam Newton take over, it's obvious that the Panthers can't or either they won't run Newton for whatever reason. And he threw less than 50% of his passes. And to be honest with you, he looked like. A terrible version of Steve Burline. I don't know if you guys remember Steve Burlington movie.

He looked like a worse version of him, or an inaccurate version of him. It's like he has a fire hose for arm. Like, it's the zip is back. Like, I'm not worried about his shoulder, really. I'm worried about his accuracy because he wasn't accurate really to begin with.

He was just accurate enough to be dangerous. And it's now like. He was the first eight games of last year. Yeah, but a lot of that was Christian McCaffrey, really. When you go back and look at it, it was a lot of dump offs and check downs and things like that.

And that'll help your completion percentage. That's why Drew Brees and Tom Brady are always at the top of that category because they're constant to take the check down. But it's made Cam Newton's. I don't wanna say boring, but it's made him It's made him an average quarterback to me. It's made him one dimensional.

Yeah. You know, why. You know, I d what is he? He's 67 years old, which is fine. What has he done since the 91, 90, what, to 93?

He was with the Cowboys, won a couple Super Bowls as the offensive coordinator with Emmett Smith, Michael Irvin, and Troy Aikman. I mean, come on. And he only has to do it. He has done two things. And people still say he's a.

Are they still saying he's an offensive genius because he is not? Uh, I think his offense is have been revered. He runs an Air Core type of offense, but again, that's more of a down-the-field long-strike type offense. That's why he did pretty well when he was up in Minnesota. You know, he did an offensive coordinator there, he didn't do bad up there.

He was a head coach in Washington. That's what he left Dallas for. He became the head coach at DC. Yeah, he was a head coach for the Chargers. Rivera was his defensive coordinator.

He's been with a lot of teams. He's been with a couple teams. None of those teams, like, you know, actually, I will take that back. That Chargers team, I think, had the number one offense and defense and missed the playoffs. That's the main reason why I even remember that even happened.

But hey, real quick, back to that play.

Okay, they were going for the touchdown instead of just trying to get that first. I think so. I think they thought that they could trick Tampa Bay. And that's the thing that bothers me the most. They were trying to be cute with it.

And it's like the Panthers' identity has been: we're going to run it down your throat and we're going to stop the run. That's ever since Cam and Rivera got there. And now it feels like. They want to Move away from that identity a little bit, but they're still trying to do those things. They're trying to do it with McCaffrey instead of McCaffrey and Cam.

You have to have them both for it to work. And they're both studs. And McCaffrey's a stud, but you know, boy, I figure what, maybe a couple years ago, it would have been nice to see that play, but with Cam Newton leading the block, let McCaffrey go behind Cam to get that extra. And they would have done that in the backfield. He's out of the play.

Why was he even on the field? They just motioned him out of the play. Like, to me, it's like, why are you doing that? It worked against the Rams because Cam was still in the backfield. He was lined up beside McCaffrey, and the snap went to McCaffrey instead of Cam.

Yeah, it works. Yeah, in the past, Cam Newton takes that ball all day long. Absolutely. They line up real quick, and he just either jumps the line or they just bully through. It was a half a yard.

They were going to get it. Like, I have no doubt in my mind they would have got it if they just ran it with Cam up the gut. And that would have changed the game.

Well, does that mean that the Carolina Panthers are putting much more trust in Christian McCaffrey than they are Cam Newton? Is that what it's going to be? That's how it feels. Yeah. And that's what I don't understand because when you ask them, you know, is Cam hurt?

They get mad at you for asking. And it's like, well, you understand why we're asking because you're not doing things with Cam. that we normally would see like They tried the fourth and one earlier in the game. I think in the second quarter to run with Cam to get the first down. It looked like he got it, actually, but at the time they only had two cameras working due to the weather stuff, and I don't think they had a proper replay to really show it.

So the call on the field stood. But uh Other than that, they didn't really try to run him at all. There has been zero run play option in the first two games. It's like Norv just forgot to run it because he was running that in the first eight games last year. I think Norvol actually got negative yards.

I think so, too. I think it's like negative two yards or something on the season. We got Matt on the line from Greensboro. He wants to talk a little Carolina Panthers, see if you want to join our pity party here. Matt, what's going on?

You're on the rundown. Hey, good morning guys. Uh Matt Last play You guys can hear me okay? Yeah, we got you.

Okay. Yeah, that final play, uh, keep it simple, stupid. Right. Don't I mean, you don't get cues in that situation. You need half a yard, not even that.

And I mean, it was a m bad play call, but McCaffrey, even if that was Calling his number, just run straight forward. You look at the playback, I mean, they actually had somewhat of a push. Right there in the middle. Yeah. I don't even know what he was I I guess the maybe the design was hi for him to stretch it out, but he usually has such good vision.

He finds the yard somewhere. Matt, Matt, let me throw this at you. We were talking about this off the air. What if that play worked to perfection and McCaffrey went in the end zone, let's say, even untouched?

Okay, we would be talking about it right now. Like, oh my God, what a great play call. This and that. Obviously, it didn't happen, and it looks like a really bad play, but. You know, but to have Cam completely out of the play, still, I'm just mind-boggling.

It's mind-boggling, exactly. And For him not being that play, they cannot tell me. he is pelty. Yeah. You can't.

I mean, not have Cam even have the ball. It's just I I don't understand it. Uh Time is if they're changing philosophy I don't know if it's a work in progress, if Cam will get better. I think he's thinking too much. You know, he's out there.

And I think they've told Cam, don't run And even when he runs, it doesn't look like he's really committed to running. It's a mentality thing. Cam's just been so beat up and hit so many times. I think that's part of it. If you listen to the press conference, uh De during the week or after the Rams game.

He says something about, man, you know, I'm tired of being hurt. Yeah. Yeah, I heard that too. He's almost had that Andrew Luck mentality, but he's still out there trying to go. And Man, I hope it gets better because uh And if this is the camp we get it's going to be a really bad season.

And I would even say you just need to sit them down and see what you got. and the young guys. Hey, man, appreciate the call, man. it's funny he brought up Andrew Luck because we were talking about that, that, um, One of the thoughts I had at the end of that game. Normally, I go to a Panther primetime game is usually bad news in the first place.

It seems like they always lose in primetime with Cam and Rivera. But my thought going to bed Thursday night To be honest. It was that Cam is going to go the route of Andrew Luck. Like, he's going to eventually go that route. He's a year, he got drafted a year ahead of Luck.

He's been banged up. He's had two shoulder surgeries, surgery on his ankle. It's clear something's off with him right now. But for me, the two biggest things is that. A.

He's had kids. Uh he's got a couple of young kids now. He's got four kids total. Um And B, he's starting to talk about that kind of stuff. When you start saying that stuff out loud, like my body's hurting, because Andrew Luck was the same way.

Like, his body wasn't recuperating from the injuries he was having. He was tired of having to constantly rehab these things. What's Cam Newton doing right now? He's rehabbing a shoulder that he just had to rehab two years ago. He had ankle surgery two years before that, that he had to rehab.

It seems like every other offseason, he's had to rehab something. And for me, I don't want him to. And maybe this is an effort by the Panthers to prolong his career, but. I've been on record saying I'd rather have 10 years of Cam Newton trucking linebackers and being Cam Newton than 15 years of Cam Newton. And the last five years of Cam is just him as a shell of himself out there not being him.

I'd rather him have a hard 10 years and leave the game. And do it that way than to hang on for as long as possible and try to be Tom Brady and play 40 years in the NFL and never have to run more than two steps out of the pocket. I'm with you on that. But I tell you what, the telling story is going to be week three. When, I mean, are they going to go back to the old Cam, maybe running, you know, just six to eight times a game?

That's all he needs. I don't even need that many. Just three to five times a game for me, and I'll be fine. Just let the run play option to McCaffrey and just let him decide if he wants to run or not. And just, he needs to get lathered up.

You know, that gets him going.

Well, three to four running plays a game for Cam is what's going to loosen up the defense. I mean, they're going to back back. They're going to be thinking about, oh, is Cam coming? And it's going to open up alleys for Christian McCaffrey. It'll be great if they do it, but they got to go back to it and they got to stick with it.

They can't run away from it. It seems like they don't want to run it, like they want to be something else. But the Panthers have been built around that philosophy. You can't just switch it and expect results to happen, Aaron. They're not going to do it.

They're not going to start running with Cam. I think they're committed to trying to make him a pocket passer to who maybe, like you said, prolong his career. um and to keep his shoulder healthy for later in the year. Um, it won't matter because I don't think they're going to be playing late in the year this year, and I also think. You might as well go ahead and start getting ready to not see Cam in the Panthers uniform.

'Cause his contract is coming up. After this year, you know, you don't want to have your franchise quarterback in this last year of his contract, you know, with that kind of. that hanging over his head.

So I think after this year, You may possibly be seeing the last of Cam in the Panthers uniform. I honestly, if it got to that, I don't think Cam would play anyplace else. Like, I don't think he would want to start over someplace else because he really wouldn't have to. He has a chance to do something in media after his career's over. That A lot of pl other players don't have.

He could do a lot of things. He could produce things. He could be in things. And he's got 100-plus million in the bank.

So I think that. If it got to that point and the Panthers decided not to up uh redo its contract. or upgrade 'em, I should say. I feel like Cam would retire. I think he would step away from the game before he would go to another team.

Like, I really do. Like, I just think he would just, he would just be like, you know what? Why would I go to another team and go through all this just to have more dollars? Seriously. I mean, if the Panthers gave up on him and did not offer him enough and didn't want.

him to stay. You know, I can't even think of a team, you know, but I mean, you know, in the next year or so, there might be some team that would jump all over that, pay him ridiculous money. It's funny because I hope that he gets back to the old Cam Newton, just like a lot of these other athletes, you know, basketball players. You know, the new team thinks, okay, he'll be revitalized and we can make him that guy for the next two years. You know, the team that's always popped in my head his entire career that I thought would be the first team to try to go after him if he was on the open market?

Oakland Raiders. Who? Dallas Cowboys. I've always felt that way, that they would try to go after him because it would just fit the name recognition, his style of play, Jerry Jones, that whole thing. Like, they could just slide him right in there.

But now they don't have to worry about that because they got to pay Dak Million for $40 million a year. I mean, but you're right. If the Dallas Cowboys went after him, there's no way in the world Cam Newton would even think about saying no to the Cowboys. He would be in there. I mean, he would be the biggest star on the biggest quote-unquote team in the league in terms of notoriety.

And I've always thought that would be a marriage made in heaven for the NFL to have Cam Newton on the Cowboys. He'd be on every day, every Sunday at 4 o'clock. I mean, That was my thought. But now, like I said, after watching him play, I don't feel like, and now this could change with a win. It could just be he hasn't won a game in eight games that he started.

But it just feels like his press conferences are a little different. He's a little more. Stoic with what he's saying. Like, he seems wiser than he was, say, five years ago, but he just feels like he's not enjoying it. Like, he's not enjoying the game right now.

Yeah, but he dresses like somebody's aunt who's going out of style as far as clothes. Before we hit this break, we do got to address that, though. I do not care what Cam Newton wears. I never have. I think it's fun.

And I enjoy what he wears, except for the, I didn't understand the, what do you call that? A kerchief or a scarf? Scarf? Or something I will not wear. Yeah.

See, but I respect, I've always respected people that can wear things like that and be confident enough to wear them out in public. And if you, a lot of people did not watch the All or Nothing Amazon series because there's a segment in there where Cam is with his tailor and he's talking about how he picks these clothes and why he picks them. He doesn't pick them for me or you. He doesn't pick them to get attention. He picks them because he likes what he's wearing.

And that's what everybody in the country does every day when they go in their closet, put on clothes. You're putting on clothes because you like that outfit. That's what he likes. Yeah, Cam calls it. Yeah, he well, he calls it art.

Yeah, he does. He's expressing himself. But I think it's, I like it. I'm serious. I don't have anything against it.

He's had times where he comes out to a press conference in a three-piece suit. You know, like, I mean, he switches it up on people, but because of it, and it to me it's genius marketing, Cam Newton is the only quarterback that can play on a Sunday and still be talked about on social media on Wednesday because of what he wore at the podium, win or lose.

So, you're I mean, like, literally, I'm in a bunch of Facebook groups that slam Cam every week for what he wears, and I have to go on there on a Wednesday and be like, Y'all do understand you're still talking about Cam Newton, and it's Wednesday. Like, the game was four days ago, and y'all are still sitting here chopping up what Cam Newton wore at the podium. That means his plan worked. And it means it worked. Since we're still talking about the Panthers, I want to go back to your opening statement for today's show of the rundown.

And you said. That those two Panther losses will not ruin your weekend. I think you're lying. No. I think you're lying.

This is called bidding, Johnny O. This is me. This is me expressing myself to the triad. Because I had to hold it in for a couple of days. And I'm like, I'm just going to save it all for Saturday morning.

I'm going to put it in the very first segment.

So I just. Get it all out, and I'm done with them.

Well, for now, they play Arizona Sunday. Kyler Murray, I fully expect Ron Rivera to bring hell on the Arizona offense. Like, it's going to be a game the defense wins. That's how I feel. Like, they're going to torment this kid all day long.

Now, if Garrett. I'm still going to think. Cam goes back to the old Cam. I think they'll run some Cam plays right out the gate just to kind of get him going. Carolina Panthers lose to Arizona Cardinals.

That's a different conversation, Rod. To the rookie. I'm just saying. That's a next Saturday conversation, Rod. No, they just lost to Jameis Winston.

Jameis Winston. Jameis Winston is a five-year pro. Jameis Winston is garbage juice, and you know it. Famous Jameis Winston. He played all right.

He played all right. He didn't really win the game. Like, it just the crab leg guy. All right. Did he know what Chase and Charleston had some crab legs or what?

Arizona picked first in the NFL draft last year. It's a little bit different than Tampa. Not much. Little bit different. I'm not excusing them losing to Tampa.

That should not have happened. I feel like I heard this after they lost to the Rams. Like, okay, well, next week we play Tampa-based. I hate the people who are like, well, Tampa should be an easy game. There are no easy games in the NFL.

Like, there usually are no blowouts in the NFL. Every game is tight no matter who the teams are that are playing. On Jameis Winston, is Jameis Winston known as the Krablet guy or the Eat That W pregame speech? That was bad. That he went, I think, four and 16 after that game.

That was terrible. Fuck that dog. Let me throw you all a curveball. And this thing is a bender.

Okay. I've always kind of liked Jameis Winston. I like it. I liked him. I thought he was a pretty good leader at FSU.

When he was getting in trouble, I didn't like it. Nobody got in trouble. That was leadership.

Well, no, in the locker room. His speeches. He had that. He does have a thing about him. He called it an aura or something.

He's a swag. Players are drawn to him. Cam has a similar type of trait where Cam, but players are drawn to his. Ability to Like you said, I guess lead men. But then he does stupid stuff off the field where it hampers him.

I don't know if Tampa's going to up him or not. I mean, it really depends on what he does this season. Plus, he was on Thursday. Plus, he was a baseball player. Maybe I, you know, I remember going to the ACC tournament and saw him pitch for FSU too.

I thought that was impressive. Maybe he should go back to baseball. Or college. I hate who knows. He may.

Coming up, a whip around college football. Speaking of college football, we'll get you ready for a weekend of football action. ACC and Top 25 will break all that down. Plus, a look back at last night's Wake Forest versus UNC battle and what's next for both programs next on the rundown. Pap your hands and stomp your feet.

Yeah! It's going to be one big party. Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson. The Nest with East for Scythe football head coach Todd Willard, a new weekly podcast following the East for Scythe football team during the 2019 season. Week one is available across all major podcast formats, sponsored by East Coast Wings of Kernersville, Cindy Swain, BH Home Services, Haveline Express Lube, Kernersville, Kevin Bug, State Farm Insurance, and the Collegiate Shop.

Stream on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and more. That is the Nest with head coach Todd Willard that is hosted by our very own Rod Funderberg every single week. We record those on Tuesday nights. They drop usually on Thursdays. We'll talk a little bit about East for Scythe.

A little bit later on here. They had an undefeated battle against Parkland last night that me and Rod called, and we'll get into that shortly. First, let's get into some college football for today. I'm going to be honest, fellas, I don't really see a contest on the slate today that I'm that interested in checking out. I don't think there are any.

Uh top 25. Matchups in terms of against each other. We've got. Oh my God. I mean, what was I just talking about?

Oh, yeah, we do got the one. Yeah, the courier home this evening. Clemson and Syracuse. Just a quick little bit of a match. Oh, Syracuse isn't ranked anymore, but we've dropped out of that like probably deservedly so after the debacle against Maryland last week.

We won't even bring that up because we won't hurt John's feelings in here. Number three, Georgia, who many people claim is probably just as good as Clemson in Alabama. I don't believe that, but a lot of people do. They're taking on Arkansas State at noon. That is ESPN 2.

Georgia's favored by 33. Ohio State, number six, ranked Ohio State. They've looked pretty good the first two games. I have seen them a couple of times. They have a noon kickoff against Indiana.

That's on Fox. Pittsburgh taking on number 13, Penn State, at noon. That's an ABC game. That's at Beaver Stadium. That might be at Penn State.

Penn State favored by 17 in that contest. We'll see how that works. Maryland has jumped into the top 25 after what was the score in that game last week? 63 to 20. 63 to 20.

After winning the. The previous week, 79 to nothing. And you said Scotty Montgomery is the offensive coordinator for Maryland? Yes, Scotty Montgomery, the old ECU head coach. Where the hell was this when he was at East Carolina?

Like, this is what East Carolina fans had been hoping for. And Maryland's quarterback is a transfer from VATEC, I believe. Huh. Um oh really? Who's this who's his quarterback?

It's not Hennon Hooker, is it? I can't think of it. I really don't have the name right in front of me. See, is somebody fawn for me in the booth who the quarterback is for Maryland? Hendon Hooker played at Dudley.

A couple years ago and went to Virginia Tech. I'm wondering if it's him. I don't know. It's not. I don't think it is.

Okay, so number 21, Maryland's taking on Temple today. They're only favored by six and a half in that game. Notre Dame, number seven, Notre Dame taking on New Mexico at 230. That's on NBC. Here on Sports Hub tried, we've got number two, Alabama, taking on South Carolina, the Gamecocks.

That's a road game. Williams Bryce is Columbia, South Carolina. Our coverage starts at 3 p.m. today on the Sports Hub.

Some other games of note: number 24, USC taking on BYU. That's a 3:30 game on ABC. Uh I'm just scrolling through, scrolling through. Number eight, Auburn, taking on Kent State at 7 p.m. tonight.

That's ESPN 2. Auburn's favorite by 36. Florida, Kentucky. Yeah. Maybe 7 p.m.

ESPN. Kentucky's 2-0 to start off the season. Florida's a 9.5-point favorite. Number one, Clemson taking on Syracuse, 7:30 p.m. That's the night game on ABC.

That's the national game tonight. Clemson is favored by 27.5 points, and the over-under is 65.

So we'll see what happens with that. And then you got. Florida State, who I'm not really sure what to do with them. They're one and one. Willie Taggart's still employed.

It's an ACC network game taking on number 25, Virginia, at 7.30.

Okay, well that might be a good one. Virginia's only favored by 7. Florida State just got by. S what like Monroe or something last week, 45. Yeah, University of Louisiana Marvel.

Yeah, so I mean, they're like an FBS school, right?

So. I don't know what's up with Florida State. Like, Willie Taggard was not a good hire for them, and I'm just kind of waiting for them to. Dropped the other shoe on him. Jalen Hurts at number five, Oklahoma, taking on UCLA and Chip Kelly, APM on Fox in the Rose Bowl.

Jalen Hurts right now is my favorite for the Heisman after his opening week. I'm with you. I hope he wins it. I hope he wins it just so Lincoln Riley can come on to the NFL where he probably belongs. I wouldn't mind Lincoln Riley as offensive coordinator at Carolina, but I'm not going to even.

Did he just whisper that? I mean, he coached the DCU. He threw it out there, that's for sure. I wouldn't mind that at all. That'd be better open up your pockets, though.

Put Cam Newton in the Oklahoma offense and what happens.

Sounds like he's tired of voting Norv Turner over there. I'm just tired of the tomfoolery, Riley. I don't want this nonsense that I'm seeing with two wide receiver sets in 2019 and. And them basically waiting for one guy to get open down the field. Like it just bothers me.

Let's see. That was top 25 now in the ACC today. Uh As I mentioned before, Pittsburgh, Penn State. NC State taking on West Virginia up in Morgantown. State is favored by seven.

I would not take that action. But West Virginia is down this year, but it's at home for West Virginia. NC State is not a bad team. They're a good football. They're 2-0, Dave Doran doing their thing.

Virginia Tech's taking on Furman. That's at noon. Also, that's in Blacksburg. See, it's like all the slate to this week. Georgia Tech's taking on the Citadel.

There isn't a big one. The Syracuse-Clemson game was supposed to be a big one. Supposed to be, yeah. Duke is taking Middleton and Seon on the road. Miami's against Bethune-Cookman, Louisville, Western Kentucky.

So, yeah.

So, the big game really of the week was last night. Wake Forest and North Carolina going at it. 24-18. Wake Forest is victorious. They moved to 3-0 in the season.

North Carolina falls to 2-1. And from my understanding, because me and Rod were calling the East for Scythe Parkland game while this game was on. Carolina played horrible the first half. I watched it. 21-0 was the halftime score.

Wake Forrest completely. Dominated every part of that game in the first half. What's the ceiling for Wake Forest? Like, what do you think they can do here? Let me go look at their schedule because they're 3-0 right now.

You said they got Elon next week, so it'll be Elon Fourneau. Then they got at Boston College.

Well, you know what? B.C.'s got a pretty decent team, but they're at Boston College. That'll be a good game. But Wakeforce is good enough to win these games. Then they have three straight home games versus Louisville, Florida State, and NC State.

All winnable. Yeah, I think so. I think NC State. I think they win the first two, but you're right, Johnny. NC State will be the toughest one.

Then they're at Virginia Tech after that. At this point, we're in November. Then at number one, Clemson. Home versus Duke. How'd they get home games versus Carolina and Duke and NC State?

All three of them are coming to Wake Forest this year. And then the last game of the year is at Syracuse.

So, I mean, they're really ticking this down. They could get to 10 wins. I mean, they could come out as number two in their division. I think worst case scenario, eight and four. Because Louisville is probably a win, Florida State's probably a win.

NC State will leave it as a toss-up. At Virginia Tech, Clemson's a loss versus Duke. I think this Wake Forest team can. I really think they can maybe get the double-digit wins. You should have seen that first half yesterday.

They looked spectacular. They looked at the city. Surratt had a career day. He had 169 yards receiving. He had 152 in the first half.

Good Lord of mercy. And this Jamie Newman. Was just, I mean, he just is playing a perfect Wake Forest quarterback. He really is. And he's out of Graham High School.

I did not realize that. Oh, wow, that either. Yeah, sometimes Graham. I didn't realize, A, I didn't realize his size. He's 6'4, 230.

Yeah. B, I didn't realize that he was such a dual threat in terms of being able to run and pass. I saw some highlights last night after we got home. And it was the second touchdown he had. He just muscled his way through like eight guys or whatever.

And I will admit, Carolina was, they were missing a lot of tackles. Yeah, it looked like they were missing some tackles, but then also like. Carolina did what they've done all year, kind of wait till the second half to start storming back. And I gotta admit, Carolina's been fun. I watched their first game on ESPN.

When they came back to win, I didn't get a chance to watch them against Miami because it was on ACC network and I have not bit the bullet to buy it yet. But They feel like they're at least interesting. That's all we asked for last year. We just wanted a team that competed, that actually played a little bit of defense and could actually. Make us entertained and It's been a breath of fresh air to have Mac Brown back.

To be honest, I was skeptical at first. Playing good. Oh, I was never skeptical of Mac Brown. Not at all. I mean, oh, no.

I mean, his coaching philosophy, you know, the way he goes about his business. I mean, granted, he failed at Texas, but you're talking about coming back into the ACC to rejuvenate the ACC, just like. In Texas, Mac Brown was trying to win the state of Texas in recruiting. He's going to come back and try and win his state, which he's gradually doing. Right now, he's playing probably with 75, 80% of Fedora's players.

These are not even Mac Brown's players.

So wait until he does get his guys. He had a good freshman class come in, and he's got an even better one that I think is coming in after this one. And you're right, he kind of circles the wagons around the state of North Carolina. And there's some kids. Dudley's got two defensive tackles, I think, that are assigned to Carolina.

There's a defense tackle over at Grimsley that has Carolina on his list. It's like a high-rated prospect. They're looking at kids here in the triad now. Oh, yeah. High school football was, as they should, and Charlotte and the Raleigh area.

And I got to be honest with you, man. Even last year, when I went over to one of the Carolina games last year, I looked at the sideline with Larry Fedora and I looked at the kids on the sideline who were playing. And I was like, who in the world is on the sidelines? These kids look like a bunch of cupcakes. But I mean, as soon as Mac Brown comes in, implements his program, you look at those guys on the sidelines, they now look like football players.

Where Fedora had this weird. thing about him. Like just He just seemed wired differently than everybody else. I mean, it was fun at first. Mac is special.

You know, it was just really, it's really cool to see him on the sidelines, to be honest with you. And I'm not even a big Carolina guy, but he's just class plus. But the Carolina fans have to be kind of patient here. You know, I know they won their first two years. We're not expecting Mike.

But let me tell you a little something. Johnny, I am happy, brother. We have won the same amount of games this year so far that we won last year.

Well, let me tell you something. I'm watching the Wake Forest game, Wake Carolina game with my girlfriend Kim, and she is texting her son Carson and her ex-husband's at, they're big Carol, huge Carolina fans. And they're at the Wake Forest game, and they're ready to leave at halftime. Are you serious? I'm sorry, Carson.

I'm blowing you in here. Texan back his mother. Oh, we're leaving at halftime because it was a debacle. It was 31-0, complete domination. And I kept saying, oh, my God, you know, it could completely turn around.

And they did stay. I will give them credit because they made a hell of a game out of that. Right. And we watched the last page for the press box, really, just trying to see if, because we were like, well, Carolina's been a fourth quarter team. Oh, wait.

They're actually coming back to fourth quarter.

So we turned it on because our game was on a running clock at that point. And it was just, they just made it 18 to 21. Right. They just converted a two-point conversion to make it 21 to 18. And then Wake had the ball, got down and kicked a field goal, basically kind of sealed the whole thing.

Good game. Yeah, Wake's got a chance to go 8-9 wins here. I don't know what the ceiling is for Carolina, to be honest. I didn't really look at what they've got coming up, but. Coming up for them, they have, I think, whatever.

They got Appalachian State next game. Coming up next week.

So that'll be a huge in-state game. That's going to be a tough one. That'll be Keenan. Yeah, I mean, you know, Appalachian State, their old head coach is gone now.

So I don't know how tough, tough it's going to be. Their app is undefeated still. Louisville. Eli Drinkowitz is the coach now. But yeah, App is still undefeated as it stands right now.

I don't think they're playing a whole lot of defense so far because they let Charlotte score 40-some points on. 56-41 or something at Charlotte. I was the host for Charlotte for IMG two years ago when they went like 1-10.

So it's jarring to look at a score and see Charlotte's put up 40-some points on a team, nonetheless being at App State. But yeah, App State, Carolina, that should be a pretty good in-state game next week, and we'll definitely check that out as well. To update on Maryland's quarterback is Josh Jackson. Um, yeah, he did come from Virginia Tech. And that head coach is the former offensive coordinator from Alabama and Mike Loxley for Virginia Tech.

Okay, God, how many Maryland? Oh, from Maryland, yeah.

Well, where did Scotty Montgomery go? You know, I was saying Scotty Montgomery was the offensive coordinator. Oh, oh, yeah, he was saying the head coach. He came from Alabama. And that head coach, when he took over Maryland, when he remember at the press conference, when he, you know, he goes, I am taking over one hell of a football team.

And he's turning. Look out for Maryland. They look good. They really look good. They've crept into the top 25.

They're at number 21 this week in 2-0.

So, yeah, definitely keep an eye out for the Terrapins. In two weeks, they put up 142 points, 7.9 yards per play, and almost 1,300 yards of offense. In two weeks. In two weeks, believable. 71 a game, their average.

Wow. That's crazy. That's a basketball season. Their basketball team only averaged 63 last year. That's nuts.

Let's take another quick break. Huge high school football games last night around the triad. Who moved up and who moved down in our top five high school football poll? We'll chop that up, give you a rundown on scores, plus a segment that's taken the triad by storm. One minute with Aaron.

Next on the rundown.

Okay, let's go. Let's go. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. Listen to the best sports podcast on the go. Podcasts like Franchise Players, Tried Racing podcasts with Randy Pettit, A Stone's Throw with Rhyme Stone, Live with Brandon Blakeney, and much more now available in all major podcast formats, including SoundCloud, Spotify, Google, Apple, Stitcher, and more.

Simply search for the title of the podcast you're looking for, download, and enjoy exclusively from SportsCarolinamonthly.com. The newest Stone's Throw at Rhyme Stone dropped yesterday. Ryan giving tips on college football and NFL games to bet on, and talk about the Antonio Brown situation, which we will touch on before the show is over, of course. For those that missed it last time on the rundown with Desmond Johnson, we were in here talking about Antonio Brown and waiting for the Raiders to cut him. Uh, because we figured it'll happen during the show, we can give it to you guys live literally.

What, maybe 30 seconds after we signed off from the rundown last week? Sawyer comes around the corner. He's like, Yep, the Raiders just cut him. Like, literally, right as we went off the air, they cut him. And then.

He wasn't available to be signed until 4 o'clock that day. At like 4:45, the Patriots signed him.

So we'll talk about all of that and what all that possibly means, and if he's even going to be able to play tomorrow here a little bit later on in the show. But let's get into every week. SportsColonialMonthly.com has a top five high school prep countdown, the five best football teams in the triad. Let's go ahead and get that started. The number of the day scheduled to arrive, the number of the day is...

Top five! Top five! Top five number five! Five. Top five countdown powered by sportscar on monthly.com.

Week of September the 14th. 2019 and we start off with number That was Parkland. They were 3-0 going into the game last night against East for Scythe. Had kind of a bad day. 46-7.

East for Scythe was victorious last night in that contest. Um.

Something's going on with Cam Shell. We're not sure. We didn't get specifics, Rod, but apparently he had some sort of injury. He didn't even know he wasn't going to play until pregame warm-ups. He was over on the sideline in sweatpants.

They didn't even tell us exactly what the injury was. Coach Lamar Marshall was quoted by Jace Vive in the Winston Journal that. They just thought it was best to keep him out this week, given that he wasn't given the opportunity to practice this week based upon his situation.

So hopefully, Cam Shell's okay. Hopefully, you know, health-wise, he's all right, and I'll be back up there for Parkland.

Meanwhile, without him, Parkland had the worst night against East. East basically pushed them around all night long. And again, 49-7 winners over Parkland.

So, Parkland probably will not be in the top five next week. Four number four is Grimsley. Um, I don't know if you guys have been paying attention or not. Grimsley is undefeated, and they are stomping teams out. Um I did their game.

They beat Southeast Guilford, the 3-A runner-up, 3-double A runner-up from last year, 23-6 last night. Grimsley's for real. You know, Grimsley will be playing East for Scythe on October 4th. Yeah, that's one of our dislayed games that we'll have. I think I want to say, is that at Grimsley or is that East Sydney?

That is at Grimsley. That's at Grimsley.

So we'll be going over to Simeon Stadium to give you that contest. That'll be packed. And what a great stadium, the Westminster. That'll be huge. And East fans travel too.

So that should be a huge game. East is going to have a couple of teams on their schedule coming up that might be undefeated when they get to them. And we'll talk about those teams too because they're sitting here in our top five poll. But keep an eye on Grimsley in the metro. East for Scythe is right after that.

Yeah, and Western Scythe games right after that. Yeah. So East has a couple of games coming up that are going to be monster games. Grimsley's in the metro. Paige is apparently down.

I think they got their first win last night against Eastern Guilford.

So they're like one and three right now.

So we'll keep an eye on Grimsley as well. Three. Number three is West for Scythe. Uh West for Scythe To me, it is the mirror image of Eastforsythe. They're just on opposite sides of the county.

Eastercy won big again last night. I'm scrolling for their score here, and I should have been more prepared, but they beat down some other team. It was in the 60s, 60 to 0 or something along those lines. I can't find their score. This is great radio here.

I thought you said 61-0. 61-0. Yeah, it was 61-0. They beat High Point Central. That's right.

That's what it was. High Point Central. Thank you, fellas. At High Point Central, too. Yeah, on the road.

They run the ball. Jamoni Wilson is their senior running back. He's a four-star kid. And they stop the run. I mean, that's basically what Westercy is.

Kind of what they've been. Since Coach Snow has been there, they're number three in our poll this week. And the only reason why they're number three and not higher is because of two teams that are ahead of them. Two. Number two is Reidsville.

Reidsville, every week we come in here and we're like, well, what did Reidsville do last night? And it's always like, oh, they scored 60 points. Oh, they scored 70. They didn't score 70 last night. They scored 50.

50 to 6 winners over Rockingham County. They're defending two A State champs. I don't even know what winning streak they're on right now, but. They only scored 50. They only scored 50.

The coach is probably running hills this morning. Everybody out here. We're all practicing Saturday. No, Reidsville, man. They.

What can you say? Reidsville's doing really well. And when they get to their conference play, it's going to get even worse because their conference is so much. Like a level below where Reidsville is.

So I expect Reidsville to basically float through this season. And that leaves number one. One. Number one is the East for Scythe Eagles. They've been number one since the start of the season.

They moved to 4-0 with a win over previously undefeated Parkland. It was, it was billed as the biggest game in for Scythe County last night. It was two undefeated teams. Parkland was 11-2 last year. They had Cami and Schell, Chase Rory, their wide receiver.

None of that mattered last night. Came and Schell didn't even play. Chase Rory wasn't a factor until the second half when we had a running clock. And for Scythe County, there's a rule basically: if a team is up by 42 points at any time of the second half, that the clock becomes a running clock, meaning it won't stop for timeouts, it won't stop for injury, and it won't stop for touchdowns. And we went to the break, and I want to say East was up 40 43 to zero or something like that.

They'd just gotten over it like right at a half.

So we knew coming back from halftime was going to be a running clock. We were done by 9:30. Like literally, the second half was like, it was so fast we missed our third quarter. Like they just went straight to the fourth quarter. I didn't even know they started the fourth quarter.

We're still just talking and it just kept going and we didn't even realize it. And I was like, wait a minute, we missed our break. We had to check and make sure that they actually switched sides of the field. We were so confused because it was happening so fast. But the Eagles only had 268 total yards.

The Mustangs only had 118, though. Was it turnovers or something? No, it was just like East was getting the ball on short fields a lot. Easter Scythe did have two interceptions. They had two interceptions and I think two fumbles.

And they may have had a third interception, but we stopped counting. Yeah, it got to a point where we couldn't count them all that there was going on. I was trying to write them down. I was like, I'm not going to be able to do sixes, but yeah. Was it like passing?

Packed or what? It was actually packed. It was. It was packed on both sides. Even with Wake and Carolina playing over at BBNT Field, we were curious about what the crowd was going to be.

East fans always come out, so their side was packed. But we were actually talking on the broadcast that the Parkland fans that came out, even with being 43-0 at half, it didn't look like anybody left. They all stayed through the end of the games. I told Desmond they all must be related to the Parkland players. That's the only way you stay.

Because Parklands. Parkland had one first down in the first half. They didn't cross the 50 until like the second half. And that was when the third and fourth string evil guys were in there.

So, I mean. Eagles clean up a lot of stuff. They played a really dirty game against Mount Tabor the week before, had a bunch of penalties and turnovers and gutted that one out.

So it looked like they had a point to prove last night. They take on Paige, who is having a down year this year. They did win their game last night against Eastern Guilford, but they'll take on Paige next week.

Some of the other scores from around the area from last night, Moorhead defeated Atkins 40-0. Winston-Salem Prep and East Wilkes looks like they had a basketball game on a football field. 54-40 was the score. Winston-Salem Prep victorious. Mount Tabor gets into the win column with a win over RJ Winter Reynolds 13 to 9.

Kernersville Glenn defeats North Versaith 27 to 0. Walkertown's actually having a pretty good year. I think they're 3-1, if I'm not mistaken. They blanked Bishop McGinnis 47-0. Wes Davidson loses to Ledford 27-3.

What is going on at Oak Grove? I think Oak Grove is undefeated. They're 30, well, they won 30-24 over North Davidson. I remember two years ago, they were a brand new school, and we opened up our high school football coverage. It was Oak Grove versus Carver, the opening game.

And we only did it because it was their first game in school history. And they started off with like a trick play or something for a touchdown. And then I think they lost all the rest of their games that year. But if I'm correct, I think they're undefeated right now. And they've been beating some pretty good teams.

So they've built a little program the past couple of years at Oak Grove. Ragsdale defeated Southwest Guilford. That was our other Oxner-Permar High School Football Game of the Week last night with Dave Pulaski and Drew Brackett, 14-7. The Tigers were winners over the Cowboys. 53-0.

West Stokes winners over North Stokes. Salisbury defeated Thomasville 28-0. Northern Guilford defeated Northwest Guilford 42-10. Um Davey loses to West Rowan 24-21.

Southern Guilford winners over Ben L. Smith 33-20. Page defeated Eastern Guilford to get in the win column. 33-14 was the final there. Dudley defeated Durham Hillside.

Dudley, ever since they lost that big game against West to open the season. And got smacked around. They have been winning ever since. They are now 3-1, 35-14 winners over Hillside. Allegheny loses to Mount Airy 29 to 0, and High Point Christian loses to Charlotte Country Day 28 to 14.

What about a Western? Did you say a Western Guilford score or no? Western Guilford was winners last night. They defeated Wheatmore, whatever that is, 33-6. Western Guilford has been winning.

I think they're two and two or three and one or something like that.

So, yeah, they have been winning also.

So, shout out to them as well. Um, Thoughts on the East Farkland game from last night, Rod? Anything you want to add? I mean, like I said, it was pretty cut and dry. What happened?

They. Just went out and smacked people around. Yeah, I mean. It was a great game by the East Pacific Eagles. They did a great job.

And of course, I think the real reason they won is because I did wear my state championship ring. He was. Look, so Rod did walk into the booth. With his 92 state title ring on. And if you listen to the podcast, The Nest with Todd Willard, they had a conversation where during the Mount Tabor game the week prior, Rod forgot to wear his ring because he usually wears it during the game.

Coach Willard said to us that he usually wears his state title ring only on Fridays, and he had forgot to wear it for the Mount Tabor game also.

So both of them were like, well, maybe we jinxed it or something.

So they saw each other in the booth and they're giving each other dap or whatnot. And the first thing they said to each other was, I got my ring on. He's like, I got my ring on too. And like, they were like, yeah. And I was like, well, we should have a good game tonight, then, fellas.

And then literally, East takes the first possession, marches down, scores a touchdown, three plays. And it literally was like, I think East punted once the entire game. It was just touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.

So it's all in the ring. It's in the ring. Wear the rings, man. Where are the rings? Hey, Coach of the Rings, baby.

East has homecoming this upcoming Friday. We won't have that game on Sports Hub Triad, but me and Rod will be out there. We're going to go for homecoming and have some fun, maybe get some food and see some friends and whatnot. Not.

So we'll be out there. John, you're welcome.

So Easter Cypress playing page for Homecoming. Yeah. Oh, okay. That's this Friday.

So. We'll see. And Page is having a down year, so it might be a bad year to come in there. Johnny Page is your team, right?

Well, I mean, it's in Greensboro. No, Western Gilbert. Don't put that on me. That's not my team. Page is not with me.

They were my team when they were winning Aaron. Yeah. Just quick shouts out to those Mount Terra Spartans. That's all. Quick shout out to those Mount Tabor Spartans.

Are you Spartan alumni? Hey, man, we produce greatness. That's all. Except for except for last week. We produced greatness.

When East came up there and said, hey, we produce greatness. That's all I got to say about it. What did I say? Mount Tabor's won a state title in basketball, I believe. Early 2000s, if I'm not mistaken.

Have we got a poll update? A Twitter poll update. We'll get that here in a little bit. John hasn't been here in a little bit, so he's still trying to run. I was looking at Aaron, and I know he's all about those Kansas City Chiefs.

I cannot believe he's not wearing his suits. I'm hoping it's not going to be Kansas City Chief-related, but it might be because we're in the NFL season and everything. It is time.

So I'm going to step back for a second like we normally do. Each week, we give our buddy Aaron a chance to vent or to discuss something that's been bothering him all week. It's called One Minute with Aaron. And Aaron, the floor is yours. I have no idea where you're going with this this week.

I've kind of made it where I don't know what he's going to do to surprise myself. Hey, Denz, you don't know and you don't want to. I don't want to know. I want it to be new to me when it comes out.

So I'm like, what? Yeah, that makes sense.

So. One minute with Aaron.

Go. Only thing I'm really looking forward to this month. I'm so nervous, by the way. I don't know what's about to happen. It's September the 28th.

Don't be scared. September the 28th can't get here fast enough. That's the date World to Wait titlist Errol Spence Jr. takes on the other world to wait titlist Sean Porter. They've been ducking Errol Spence Jr.

for some years now, and it's finally time for some cats to step in the ring with this man and for y'all to find out exactly who Errol Spence Jr. is. This man is a monster. I don't know who he is. He is a monster.

He is cleaning out the World True Weight Division. Mark my words. Also, yesterday or two days ago, Canelo Alvarez signed on to fight lightweight titlist or light heavyweight titlist Sergei Kovalev. He's moving up two weight classes to take on Kovalev, looking to become a four-weight class titlist. Impressive stuff on the resume if he can get that done.

So, important news in boxing is all I'm excited about.

Okay. A little boxing. A little boxing action. Aaron is a big boxing guy. He's got a pretty cool tattoo.

Have you told the guys about the Ali tattoo that's on your arm, Aaron? I don't know if I told them or not, but I am sporting some Ali ink. Yeah, yeah. I wish that wait. I remember you telling me the story.

You got it when y'all went to Louisville. Yeah, I got it in Louisville. Yeah, so shout out to that. It's been a while since I've been like. I've always been a heavyweight fan.

So if there's not a lot of crop of heavyweights or like a real cool. Bye. generational heavyweight champion, then then it's not really in my peripheral. But I want someone to root for. I call that really in the UFC at all.

I call that the Mike Tyson effect. Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. After Mike Tyson came around and he was knocking people's heads off, you know, people kind of got spoiled. People kind of got spoiled in the boxing ranks. But World to Weight Division is where it's at right now.

And Errol Spence Jr. is the real deal, Holyfield. Dude, it wasn't nothing like watching Mike Tyson take somebody's head off in 90 seconds. Like, it was like. It was like watching Goldberg in WCW, like late 90s, where you knew the match was going to be like 40 seconds and you didn't care.

He's going to come in, spear somebody. You and your buddy's drinking beer. Like, yeah, spear him. But that's how Mike Tyson was. Literally, he'd come in and knock you out in like 90 seconds.

You're just like, oh, is that dude okay? Is he alive? Yeah, the fiercest upper man you've ever seen in your life, man. Mike, uh, last I heard, Mike is uh making money. He has like a marijuana farm or something.

Mike's doing good. Yeah, he's doing his thing at one of the states where it's legal. He's out there doing that. He says he um. Did I read the story right?

He said he goes through like 20 grand in pot in like a week, like by himself.

Sounds like it's calmed him down and made him more sociable. Oh, you mean like he made Mike 20 grand? Yeah, old man Mike is going to be old man Mike is awesome. I love old man Mike. He's got the gray beard going, he's all chill.

But he's still like, I saw a video he's working with some young boxers. He's still got things to teach. He's still really skilled. Old man Mike is like almost my favorite Mike.

Well, I tell you what, I don't know if he was old man Mike, but he was on one of the Good Morning America shows or somebody. And one of the interviewers asked him a question about the whole rape instance. Yeah. And it was like Mike Tyson turned into a lion. He was like, what are you asking me about that for?

It looked like he was getting ready to fight the guy. The guy was probably the interviewer was about to run out of his seat. It was funny. You know, that's funny. I always cringe whenever someone kind of like.

If you watch Sunday mornings on Fox before they get to the regular guys with Jimmy and Terry and them, they have another group that's before them. It's like Colin Coward and Michael Vick and somebody else. And I always cringe because I always feel like someone's going to ask Michael Vick dogfighting questions or phrase something with him on the stage, and they kind of look over and I'm like, But they and they kind of do. They tiptoe around certain things. Like if a player gets in trouble or something like that, they'll kind of ask Mike Vick, you know, your thoughts on it.

But they kind of tiptoe around the fact that we're sitting beside Mike Vick up here on the stage and we can't say what we want to say, like about Antonio Brown being on the exempt list or something like that. But I don't know. I just find it funny. But Mike Vick's actually doing pretty good. Back to Mike Tyson, his.

Part in the hangover is just, I love it. It's so perfect, man. I'm happy for Mike Tyson that he's doing good. Doing good. I can't believe he's still alive.

You know, he was like that kind of guy. Lord, he can't believe he's still alive. What? Dude, he's like, hey, he should be dead. He's got a point.

Mike Tyson was a hard driver, man. Absolutely. This dude was out here living with Tigers and stuff, man. The Tigers liked him. The Tigers liked him.

They don't like Pepper, remember? Hey, I'm just, you know, I'm back. I'm giving my two cents. Holy cow.

So, you know, we're going to talk a little bit of basketball here in the rundown. And this week, probably the worst thing that happened to professional basketball in America happened. The United States national men's basketball team, maybe the worst team the United States has ever sent to play in international play. We will react to this team, not even meddling at the FIBA World Cup this week. Plus round down rundown hot takes from the crew.

Next. Yeah. What's up, dog? Big about it. A party?

Are we having a party? Yeah. Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson. Check out the Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit each week on the Sports Carolina Monthly Podcast Network. Exclusive interviews with top racers from a past, present, and future.

Current episodes now available via Spotify, Google, Apple, Anchor, and much more. The Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit is now available for streaming or download for listening on the go. Recent episodes had. Burt and Gary Myers, and the last episode has the new owners of Ace Speedway out in Burlington that are listening to us right now on 9:20 a.m. or 104.5 FM in Burlington.

So, shout out to those fellas. Go and look that up and download those podcasts when you're done listening to us here. I want to make fun of the U.S. men's basketball team. That was my whole goal when I wrote this in here.

I want to make fun of them because they didn't win. And I've had people telling me that, oh, well, they don't have to win at all. Why do they have to dominate? Why do they have to blow people out? Because they're supposed to.

They're the United States wins basketball team. The president has been set. Like when they did Dream Team in 92. And they were beating Angola by 60 and all that stuff. That's what we became.

That's what I've grown up on to expect when I wear a USA men's basketball shirt. I want the best of the best. I don't care if it's the Olympics or the world championships or whatever. If we've got USA on our jersey, we should be trying to send our best. Not guys like Derek White, who was in the G-League last year, or.

Mason Plumley, who doesn't even start for his own NBA team, and he's on the national team for some reason. I don't understand this. He doesn't even start for the Nuggets. Joking starts with nuggets. They should have signed Carmelo Anthony.

Seriously. He wanted to go. Yeah. It would have upped their star power for sure. Joe Harris is on this team.

Joe Harris ain't a bad shooter, but why is he on the U.S. men's national team? Brooke Lopez is on this team. They should have put me on the team. Let me tell you.

Okay. But. Chris Middleton's on this team.

Well, Middleton's a hell of a player. You know, these are all NBA players.

Okay. And Derry. Even what's his name? White? Derek White.

Plays for the Spurs. Yeah, but he had a pretty good year for the Spurs last year. Look at enough to be one of the 13 to represent the country. No, well, everybody backed out. You knew that.

I mean, all the big players kept saying no, no, no, no. And a few of them got injured and backed out. And, you know. They got Jalen Brown on that team and all that, but they're all NBA players, okay? Spain and Serbia beat them, okay?

And Spain and Serbia have a couple three NBA players on their teams. They have caught up. These countries have caught up a little bit. But Like I said, two, three, maybe four NBA players on one of those teams. We got all NBA players and lose every one of them, and we're losing.

Okay, so what's that come down to? Great pop the coaching, you know. I mean, okay, you don't have the greatest players there. Yeah, Shyzewski had, you know, LeBron and Carmelo and Dwayne Wade and all these guys. I mean Finally, Popovich might, maybe if he did a little coaching with these guys and not have all that talent just given to him, we would at least meddled.

We came in seventh seventh. They beat Poland. They beat Poland on Saturday morning to finish seventh in the FIBA World Cup. The United States seventh in basketball. That's just obviously there wasn't an Oszewski on that Poland team, or else we would be.

Well, I saw the Patriots picked up. Gunnar Oshewski. I saw that. He's running back punts. He's doing a heck of a job.

We are pumping. And he is a relative, people. He is a relative. I guess the U.S. basketball team won't be visiting the White House then.

No, I guess not. Oh, well, you know. I don't think they invite you for anything, Trump will be like, we don't invite losers to play. No, yeah, seriously. He can serve a bunch of people.

Huck and Popovich could have, you know, figure something out. Because the roster is horrible. Like, it's not. They're NBA players. I agree.

We let you consider Slander Popovich's. Name like that. That man has been excellence in the NBA for more than a decade already. But he's a class one, you know what? He's looking at Anthony Davis, James Harden, Eric Gordon, C.J.

McCollum, Damian Lillard. Steph Curry's, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard. None of these guys wanted to play in the FIBA World Championship. Exactly. None of them.

That's the understanding, but he still had a roster of all NBA players. None of the other countries had all NBA players. Why did they take Derek White with him? That's his player from the Spurs. He came up through the G-League.

That's who wanted to play. You got to fill out the roster for somebody. That's my point. They had trouble putting up who wanted to go, not who was best for the country.

Well, Carmelo Anthony wanted to go. I wanted them to pick Mello up. He ain't doing nothing right now. And the other countries have played together for years on top of years. No, I agree.

So there's some chemistry there. Mellow's getting an AI black ball treatment right now. He is. I don't understand why. He's going to be.

I don't understand why. I think Brooklyn's going to pick him up. I actually think Brooklyn might pick him up too, although I'm surprised they haven't yet because that conversation was happening a couple of weeks ago. And Durant said, yeah, we want to pick up Mello. Nothing's happened.

So something is going on with these teams not signing Carmelo. I find it hard to believe he's not in the top 400. Players of the world. Yeah. But even with this team, What So they they lost, I mean they beat Poland.

They only play with non players. Kimball Walker missed the game with a neck injury. Uh Jason Tatum missed the game with an ankle injury. Marcus Smart missed the game with a leg injury. Tatum missed six of the eight games in the tournament.

Um A handful of them dropped out. No, it was big problems. I mean, like you're saying, Aaron, and don't get me wrong. I mean, you know, Popovich obviously is a good coach, but he just shows me nothing. You know, as he does not respect anybody in the media and and his press conferences just bugged the heck out of me and and it it you know they You know, Nick Sabin bugs me, but at least he's got a little bit of class.

Popovich just completely goes off on the media at all times. He looks at him like. Complete idiots. What about Bill Belichick? Yeah, he's got a little Belichick in there.

Oh, no, I'm sorry. He everyone tries to act like Belichick, but Belichick, at least you know you know what's coming, you know, but and Popovich is like a wannabe. I don't think I will say this. I expect the Boston Celtics to be in the NBA Finals this year because they had three or four Boston Celtics together on this roster.

So they've been playing together all summer. They had Jalen Brown on this roster. Um, Marcus Smart was on this roster. Jason Tatum and Kimball Walker.

So they got a chance to play with their new point guard for the past three months or whatever. And looking at the East, it's still pretty wide open. I mean, with Toronto losing Kawhi, people are kind of picking Philly as a favorite. I'm looking at Boston. I'm like.

These guys don't take for granted the time spent with these players with Tatum and Walker and Marcus Smart and Jalen Brown. That, I mean, that plus whatever center they picked up is probably going to be their starting five. And looking around the east, that's more than enough to get there.

So, who did they pick up? They picked up a lot. Who was it? I don't remember who the selfie picked up, but that's the number one thing that stands out to me. But I mean, this, no, no offense to Harrison Barnes, you know, shout out to Carolina and everything, but Harrison Barnes is starting on this team.

Donovan Mitchell, who's a great player. Great player.

Now, I've suggested something that would be interesting to do for USA basketball is to put an age limit on who goes, like 25 and under. That way, you're constantly cycling in the younger guys that might have just been in the league for two years, three years, four years, or. College juniors and seniors that are good enough to make the team, you kind of start implementing them back in. Um, because I would like to see a USA men's basketball team in Tokyo with Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett and Kobe White and these younger guys that just came in the league because these other guys that Kay had they're starting to age out of the cycle. Like LeBron's been three times.

I think he said he doesn't need to go anymore. Metal has been, what, four? Has Metal been the four of them? I think so. So, does he have four gold medals?

No, he got a bronze at 04.

So, but uh, In his canter. That's who the Celtics picked up in his cancer. Not a bad center. Yeah, that's not a bad center.

So, yeah, I mean, those guys that we mentioned that Kay had the luxury of having were the best of the best in the NBA, but they're all getting older and maybe not willing to go. I doubt Durant will play nationally again with the injury he just had. You got guys like Kyrie Irving. Steph Curry, James Harden, those guys. I'm assuming they're going to get some guys to go.

It's going to be just fine.

So, LeBron, I mean, at that point, LeBron's going to be, what, 36?

So, I don't know if he's going to be willing to go over there unless he wants one more international. Does anyone know? I mean, this FIBA thing, I mean, if to qu you know, is it a qualifying type thing? I mean, not that I'm aware of. It's just like a.

International World Cup tournament type thing.

So, well, they should have been better than seventh place. I don't care who. Yeah, they should have been better than everyone. Like, I mean, that's obvious. It should be better than everybody.

That team would have barely been a seventh seed in the playoffs. In the West, for sure. I'm looking at them in the West. I'm like, Ah Uh Who's starting? I mean, like they change the starting lineup every night.

Miles Turner's on this team. No, no problem with Miles Turner, but he's on the new US national team. It just feels weird. But when you say Plumley and Lopez on the team, it's like Mason Plumley doesn't even start for the Nuggets. How is he on this team?

He doesn't start for the Nuggets. I don't even, I don't understand this. By default, it was like they were picking teams, and he just happened to be the last guy standing there, and he had to be picked. Like, we'll take Mason Plumley and we'll just put him at the end of the bench or something.

Now, what do you think? You think if Shaszewski was at the helm that some of these players would have went? I was actually going to ask you guys that question. Do you think if Kay was still coaching the team that some of these guys would have came and played? Is it about Popovich or is it?

Is it the prestige of the tournament, maybe? I mean, because you're talking about this is not like the Olympics. Two years ago, I mean, some of them had like Kyrie Irving and Kevin. Maybe these guys don't want to play it. They prefer another summer.

Yeah. Well, I mean, keep in mind, too, I think it was like 40% of the NBA was free agents this past offseason. And so there was a lot of switching of teams and stuff. And that was the main reason people were dropping out. They're saying, no, I want to focus on, you know.

Getting acclimated to my team. I think that's what Kyrie Irving was saying. Uh, going to Brooklyn.

Well, we already know what Kyrie Irving's going to do. He's going to hog the ball and not pass it to anybody, shoot threes and take the last shot of the game. Yeah, that's probably what he's going to. Yeah. Let's go ahead and get in a rundown hot text real quick.

Sawyer. Give us a music bed. Each person in here is going to give one hot take on something they saw this week or a prediction of what will happen going forward in sports, including Sawyer and Aaron. And uh they'll be punctuated by Our Friday hotkey for each one.

So let's go ahead and get that. Underway. You're listening to the rundown. Drop it like it's hot. Drop it like it's hot.

The pigs try to get at you. Park it like it's hot. With Desmond Johnson. I'm going to let Johnny O go first because he's the new guy back in the studio. He's got to be back.

And I'm going to go against the rules. I'm going to go against the rules.

Now, that does not surprise us at all. That does not surprise us in the slightest.

Well, my hot take is kind of a. Wait, how can you go against the rules in this? All you have to do is just give a hot take. But it's a let's get crazy kind of hot take.

Okay, Johnny always breaks the rules. This one is good, and this is going to get under. This will really get a rise out of Desmond here.

Okay, so it's it's kind of a crazy hot take. Ann. Uh week six The Carolina Panthers will trade Cam Newton to the Miami Dolphins for Josh Rosen. And Rosen will come in and lead the Panthers to a wild card spot. That is just nasty.

That is just nasty. That's all kinds of stuff next in there. A bowl of crazy that John just brought in here. I don't even know what to do with any of that. Oh, Joshua traded.

Can you even trade in week six? I don't know. Yeah, the deadline is low week eight or nine. There you go. See that?

Thank you, Eric.

So they're going to.

So the. Cam Newton to the Miami Dolphins. He traded to the Dolphins for Josh Rosen. But chose the Miami to die. I'm going to faint if that happens.

Oh, Lord. And I'm going to pass out. Can you imagine if that happens in weeks? No, I can't imagine that. No, I can't imagine that at all.

But wow. I'm not going to pick at your hot take. Just to get things started. Go ahead. Oh, spicy.

I will give you that. Welcome back, John. Go ahead, Rod.

Well, my hot take: I'm going to the Baltimore Ravens. Quarterback Lamar Jackson. Will lead the Ravens to win the AFC North and become the number one quarterback in the AFC North. Yeah. Over Big Ben.

Over Big Ben. Over Baker Mayfield. Over Baker Mayfield. Whatever, since it's an actual case. Andy Dalton.

Yeah. And I agree with, I mean, I know they played the Miami Dolphins, but he looked great. He looked great, didn't he? Where was that last year? It feeled like they were kind of hot in that and maybe gave him an extra year to get acclimated.

But if he does that again, actually, that's a good game. Baltimore, Arizona is coming up here Sunday. Tyler Murray versus Lamar Jackson.

So I might check that out if it's going to be on locally.

So we. We will see about that. Control room, uh, Sawyer and Aaron, what y'all got? All right, so yesterday, famed actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to a staggering two weeks in jail. for her part in a college bribery scandal.

So her counterpart, Aunt Becky, who did not take a plea deal and reportedly has been smug. I love Aunt Becky, man. Has reportedly been very smug in proceedings. is soon to get her sentencing. She will catch At least two years behind bars.

A year so no. I'll tell you what. Becky in jail for two years? Can I add? I'd like to be in jail with her for two years.

Oh, my God. I'm back, baby. Sawyer. I'm going to try to come in on that. Last weekend, UFC fighter Khabib Nermagamedov, the one who fought Connor McGregor and had that huge brawl.

He moved to 28-0 in his professional career against Dustin Poirier, one of the hardest-hitting lightweights in the class. This guy, this is a weird hot take. He's never lost a round in his professional career. He's never lost a round against any fighter. 28-0, top of his game.

But no one really has him in the conversation as the goat, despite all these facts.

So I'm going to say that. I thought it was John Jones. You guys might know John Jones, the light heavyweight. I thought he was my favorite fighter and best of all time, but you know what? I'm going to have to go with Khabib after this.

He just keeps dominating everyone and there's no way around it. Yeah, you have to say you do it.

So is the take that he's the best UFC fighter of all time? Yeah. You know something that uh I had forgotten? How devastating Brock Lesnar was when he first came in. Like, that dude was like.

Extremely scary in the Octagon, his first three or four fights. And they showed he slowed down. Yeah, he slowed down. But his first couple that he came in there, like, he showed a thing on Facebook of highlights of his, I think it was his first match, where he literally came out. with like this Street Fighter II running knee type thing and he missed.

And then he punches the dude in the face, like the straight jab. And like the guy gets hit so hard, he rolls backwards into the cage fence. And I'm just like. My God, like what he never got injured with the vertiticlosis or whatever he had. Have you seen any of the Greg Hardy highlights yet?

Yeah. Yeah, he's a scary. Is he in UFC? Yeah, no, he's not. He's undefeated.

Is he a heavyweight?

Well, he actually had a disqualification because he'd need a guy while he was on the ground. Of course, Greg Hardy would get disqualified in a second fight. Great job, Greg Hardy. They don't really promote a lot of Greg Hardy's fights. No, they do.

They're starting to now. I mean, he in his first fight was co-maning an ESPN card.

So they're putting him, even though he's not a good fighter, they're throwing him on prime time. You take Khabib over Anderson Silva? Uh yeah, no f I mean not like Against each other at different weights, but all time. Cabi's never lost a round. And he's fought the best guys in the world and he's never even lost.

That's to do with what's smack Connor McGregor around, right? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I mean, no, what he does is he literally just wraps you up for five minutes you aren't getting up. And it's just like you can't you can't win against that.

Okay. All right. My uh my hot take has to do with the Carolina Panthers also, and we touched on a little bit in the first segment. I think Regardless of how the Panthers end this season. Cam Newton is going to retire at the end of the season.

Dee! I feel like He's not going to allow it to get to a lame duck situation contract-wise, because next year will be the last year of his contract. He's going to be constantly asked questions about it. Management's going to be asked constant questions about it. He has an average year this year.

It puts the Panthers in an awkward spot. What do we do with them? Do we re-sign them? Do we overpay him? And then have a Kobe Bryant situation the last four years or whatever.

He'd be here. Do we let him go for nothing? I don't think that either side benefits from that. I think Cam is in a similar situation that Andrew Luck was in six months ago, where he's grappling with trying to figure out what he wants to do. With his life going forward, and it's starting to leak into his play.

It's starting to leak into his decision making and what he's doing and the way he acts. Like, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but he's no longer, he's not animated on the sideline anymore. He's not, I haven't, I can't remember him motioning for a first down. Like, he hasn't had one. He hasn't gotten a first down on his feet this entire season.

He hasn't done that. He's ran the ball like four times in two games. Uh they say he's healthy. But it doesn't the it doesn't add up. The body language doesn't look right.

I'm not a doctor, so I can't sit and say, well, he's absolutely not healthy. It's something's wrong with him. But it might not be physical, but he's thinking, he is starting to think about life after football. And once you start thinking that, It's just a short slope to life after flip. I mean, you notice it like when you're watching the games.

When it like if he gets sacked or even throws a bad pass and the you know camera motions to his face, it's just this like straight stare of like, all right, on to the next play, and then he does the same thing and it's like. I don't know. It's not like he's trying to m like. That's a great because before he would get mad, like he could visibly see he's mad that they missed the coverage, or he's mad he missed the throw, or something like that. And he's pumping his fist, or he's looking at the sideline or something.

Week one, we when his helmet was malfunctioning in the first half. And they couldn't get a play in, so they had to call a timeout. And then I think they got a penalty or had to call a second timeout right behind it or something because something wasn't right with the ear set. Normally, Cam Newton would be yelling at the sideline, My helmet isn't working. It looked like it didn't even really bother him as he walked to the sideline.

He's like, My helmet's not working, man. What are we doing? He seems resigned to what's going on. And for me, just looking at it and reading the tea leaves, this is exactly what Aaron Andrew Luck went through basically over the past. four years.

He talked about it when he retired. He was in a cycle of. Uh get hurt. Rehab. Recovery.

Get hurt, rehab, recovery, and he was in that cycle for three or four years. Who's in that cycle right now? Cam Newton.

So, I mean, for people saying it can't happen, you said the same thing about Andrew Luck, and that's exactly what happened. And these guys aren't stupid. These young guys that are in the league right now, they don't have to play until 35 to be comfortable the rest of their lives. The money's better. Yeah, they don't have to do this.

They can walk away with their legs, they can walk away with their minds still. And obviously, what Andrew Luck did a couple weeks ago, and that was retire. I think it might open up the floodgates. I think so too. I mean, because we saw it before that.

I mean, people forget, people don't even talk about Patrick Willis anymore. And he retired early. He sure did. He saved his body. Barry Sanders did it.

Barry Sanders did it. I mean, people don't talk about these guys once they're gone like that, and they're so shocked when it happens. It's their body, not ours. We can't sit here and say they won't do it. Calvin Johnson.

Calvin Johnson. The 49ers had another player. That was their lead in tackle the year before. He retired. Yeah, he sure did.

He was about 26. Yeah, he retired early. Yeah, it was Chris. Moreland? Yeah, that's right.

So, I mean, this happens, but usually you don't see it on such a higher level of athlete. And I'm just starting to look at it like: if this season goes a certain way, Even if it even if they make the playoffs, even Gronk. Gronk. Even Gronk. There you go.

Just as passion. Gronk retiring. Think about that. Andrew Luck and Gronk. Gone out of the NFL.

That's that's same offseason. That's a hit to the NFL. I fully believe that Cam Newton, if not this year, at the end of this contract that he has by 2020, is going to step away from the game and say, I'm done. He's got three kids that are in the age of like six or seven or something. He can literally.

Live his life and be with his kids, his girlfriend. Charlotte's not an expensive place to live if he wants to choose to live there. He's got houses elsewhere. I mean, it's not such a far-fetched idea. That's what my thought is, my hot take for today.

He could be depressed about these jokes is getting on the internet. I don't even think he's got a few times, got a few moments to read some of these. They're playing a game called Cam Newton Looks Like on the internet. Cam Newton looks like the wolf disguised as the grandmother in Little Red Riding Hood. Cam Newton looks like a 44-year-old divorcee who just found out she lost custody of her kids.

Cam Newton looks like a woman who has lost several husbands under mysterious circumstances. A green jump. Cam Newton looks like he doesn't care about your company policy and wants to speak to your manager. Cam Newton looks like he's about to start a new narrative in Westworld. Cam Newton looks like the wicked witch of Hobby Lobby.

Cam Newton looks like my grandma and grandpa at the same time. Cam Newton looks like he's about to tell someone it's Ma'am Newton. That's not right. Cam Newton looks like Scooby-Doo trying to act like a person on the flight to Spooky Island. Horrible.

See? And that's what's talking about. People got too much time on their hands. Makes a man want to retire, man. See?

Just give it, man. I wouldn't be mad at Cam at all if he's like, you know what, man, I don't need any of this. Man, I hate all y'all. I'm out. And just walks off in his house coat or whatever he's wearing that day at the podium.

Drop the microphone. Coming up, more NFL. We didn't forget about the NFL. We're going to go around the league, pick our top games of the weekend. Plus, I got a question for our boy Rod.

Will Dak Prescott become the highest paid player in the NFL history? Good lord. Antonio Brown's active for Sunday, but will he even play? And Even more. We got to talk about the Patriots because I think they're going undefeated.

Next on the rundown.

Ouch. Shut up. Shut up. Sit down. Are you ready?

Stand by. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. For the latest news on prep, college, and pro sports in Central North Carolina, visit sportscarolinamonthly.com. Full coverage of ACC, Panthers, Hornets, Hurricanes, NASCAR, and much more. Weekly audio, podcast, analysis, and more.

That's sportscarolina monthly.com. Looking around the NFL, getting you ready for your Sunday.

Some games of note that I'm looking through here. Vikings and Packers on Fox. That's a one o'clock game. Both teams are 1-0 in the season. I picked Minnesota to win the NFC North.

So their offense looks really different with Dalvin Cook out there. He's. a very good running back.

So we'll see how the Packers handle him. Patriots going down to Miami to take on the Dolphins.

So let's go ahead and just get this out the way. Thoughts on the Antonio Brown lawsuit? I'll open it up to everybody here. I thought the timing was a little weird that it came out literally two days, three days after he signed with the Patriots. And this happened like two or three years ago.

We've kind of gotten some clarity on why it's a civil suit. There's no criminal suit out there. And the latest news is that. I was about to call him Commissioner Gordon. Commissioner for the NFL.

For Commissioner Cattell, for the NFL. I was about to slot it. Commissioner Gordon said he was going to play. They decided not to put him on the exempt list, which I'm in favor of because he's not. been accused of a crime in Criminal court or whatever.

And until he is or is proven guilty of some sort, you can't keep the man from working his job.

So right now it's kind of a he said, she said type situation. It's a sticky situation at that, but Does that sound like somebody wants money, or am I looking at this the wrong way? It kind of sounds like a money grab type thing. And they apparently knew each other. She was a trainer or something.

She was his personal trainer.

Now, look, guys, look, if I had a personal trainer now. And it was a young lady, and she was, you know, making sure that I was training. She was training me really good. You know, sometimes you get in some precarious stances when you're dealing with trainers. You know what I'm saying?

Oh, I don't know what you're saying.

Well, you know, like, for example. For example, if you're doing squats, right? Oh, my God. If you're doing squats, your trainer makes it a bit more dangerous. Your trainer can get behind you.

No, no. No. I don't think you can. Wait, I don't think this is supposed to be cool, but somebody drop this man.

Somebody turned his microphone off. Rob Funderberg is on the radio and trying to teach you how to catch a charge. I'm just building off the street. No, I'm just sweat. They got to walk out for a while.

I'm just saying. Your personal trainer. You can hire this man to be a personal trainer. The first thing he's going to do is be like, all right, baby, we need to do some squats. No, I'm just saying if a young lady is your trainer, that could potentially happen.

No. No, no, no, no. You fueled the fire now. No, sorry. No, that's not, that's not what I'm saying.

I mean, obviously something happened. We got a Dago lawsuit going on here. What's going on?

Now, the Brown side says they had consensual relationship with each other. And there's a lot of extra stuff out there. I don't know if y'all have seen the text messages now that Antonio Brown had sent to her. There's a video. There's some video of them out there.

So I don't know. We'll see how this goes. But meanwhile, he's a member of the New England Patriots as it stands right now. You know what would be so Bill Belichickian to do is to have him active and on the roster and he doesn't play a snap. This Sunday.

Because he's only been with them for a week. And they did the same thing to Chad Ochosinko when he signed. But Chad didn't learn any of the plays, though. No, he just couldn't grasp what they were doing. He wanted to go out there and ad lib.

Yeah. This is what we did in Cincinnati, and it worked. No, it didn't. That's why you're here. It didn't work in Cincinnati.

But Antonio Brown from all the counties sounds like he's a very hard worker. He's very smart when it comes to football.

So it might not take very long to get him acclimated. He's probably ready. Can you believe they're going to have Josh Gordon and Antonio Brown on each side? Like, what happened? The offense.

I mean, just the last year. And don't forget about Dorset running down the middle. They got Philip Dorset, too. Like, last year, they had a room of no-name guys, a wide receiver, basically. They had Chris Hogan, who's now a Panther.

I mean, he was playing lacrosse or something, right?

Now they've got probably, I mean, I can't name another wide receiver room in the league that's going to have more talent in it than this. Tom Brady's just got an abundance of riches. Yeah, I said it. There's no other wide receiver room in the league that can compete with what New England has. What does Kansas City have a wide receiver that's Five deep.

What? What does Kansas City have in wide receiver room that's four or five deep? Bro, dude. Just see what Sammy Watkins did week one. That's one.

That's one. It's about time, Sammy Datton. Third option. She's saying, Sammy Watkins. Tyreek Hill.

Who's hurt? Is injured. Is injured right now. We're going to count him half. He is injured right now, but he'll be back.

Travis Kelsey counts. He's a tight end. I'm not even counting. Claiming about wide all the time. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm not even counting tight ends for you. It's still. No, no, no, no. I'm talking about the wide receiver room. Just the wide receivers.

Edelman. Oh, my God. In fact, Julian Edelman was a Super Bowl MVP last year. He's like the third option now in this office. I'll give it to you.

I give it to you. We're going to see you. We're going to see him. I mean, Julian Edelman, they just traded Demaris Thomas out of the room. They sure did.

Like, what are we talking about? They're not comparing. There's no comparison. We're going to see. The Patriots.

They'll be back. Josh Gordon. Antonio Brown, would you say he's the top wide receiver in the league? Who, Antonio? Yeah.

Yes.

Okay, so would you say Josh Gordon's a top 10 wide receiver in the league? No. No? Only because I hadn't seen it. No, I would.

Let's not give him. No, I would. But the top 50. If you saw Sunday's game, I mean, he was just, I can't believe how big he is. Yeah, he's gotten bigger.

No, but I mean, he just needs to get back into his playing mode. But when he was at the Browns, that guy was ridiculous. He was clear. Like four years ago. If he was with the Browns, he was the best.

If he can stay clean, because the Patriots have gone all in on him, and Tom Brady has given him, you know, like he's my dude. He's a third chance or what? Second or third with the Patriots. Oh, at least third. Yeah, so hopefully he can stay clean because I like Josh Gordon.

I want to, before we got to take another break, I want to touch on the Cowboys because to me, they were one of the more impressive. games last week. Granted, it was the Giants. But Dak Prescott bowled out last week. They take on the Cowboys here on Sports Hub.

Try it tomorrow at 12:30. What did I say? That said, Redskins. You said they take on the Cowboys. Oh, I'm sorry.

The Cowboys take on the Redskins. I'm sorry. At 12:30 tomorrow here on the Sports Hub. Will Dak become the first $40 million man in NFL history? Per year.

He's on the road to doing it. The longer Jerry waits, like, Dak will have a pretty good argument to give me this money. Before Jerry Jr. over here takes over. It kind of makes me sick.

Okay. I mean, again, I think he's great. What makes you sick?

Well, I'm going to tell you, Dak. Dak is a hell of a quarterback. There's no doubt about it. But, you know, I. What is what is he doing?

Done to this point. He's winning, but is he? Has he been to an NFC championship? No. Okay, okay.

He's only played three years. They're going to pay him $40 million a year right off the bat. We got to wait on that. I mean, I don't think he should be. But why?

Philly paid Carson Wentz, and he hasn't even played a playoff game. What's Carson getting? 34? I think that's a good question. 33, yeah, 34.

33, 34. They pay Tony Rosa last year. They pay Tony Romo. They did. They paid Tony Romo.

He didn't go to a NFC championship. That's a very valid point. Exactly. So that's what we do. That's what Dale says.

Okay. Just give that money quarterback. You don't even get there. That was all a poison. Jerry Jones.

He just got the whole damn preseason. Yeah, he just didn't want to play. He talked about the Cowboys every day. Exactly. Well done.

I get what Jerry does. And Jersey sales went through the roof. But you want to know why he's going to get his money? I don't know if it'll be $40 million, but it's going to be up there. It's going to be way up.

He's either going to be the most in guaranteed money or the most per year. He's going to be most somewhere in one of those categories. I got to hold up now. Just for a short time.

So someone else will. Yeah, because then someone else will come along.

So Russell Wilson's number one right now at $35 million a year, $140 total value. He had $107 million guaranteed. No. Right. And golf has.

And golf has the most fully guaranteed, which is $110. Yes, and total guarantees. Yeah, Goff has the highest at $110 million. His fully guaranteed is only $57 million, though.

So, the way that contract's kind of structured, Aaron Rodgers has a. In terms of fully guaranteed money, That actually is Matt Ryan at 94 million, where he's going to get 94 million. I'm looking at some of these other quarterbacks on here. Russell Wilson's number one with the contract he signed the offseason. Ben Roffelsberger just signed an extension.

He's at $34 million per he's number two. Rogers at three at 33.5, then golf at 33.5, tied with him. Carson Wentz is making 32. Matt Ryan is at 30. Listen to those numbers, and we haven't even mentioned Tom Brady yet.

Nope, Kirk Cousins is right after that at 28.

Now, Kirk Cousins is the only one on here that has a fully guaranteed $84 million deal. I think it was like a three-year deal or something crazy like that. Jacoby Brissette is at 27. What in the world? No, he just signed a two-year 30 million deal.

Oh, that's what.

Okay, so with 20 million fully guaranteed. Jimmy Garoppolo, probably the biggest bank robbery of all time, I think, in the end. I told you last, two weeks ago, he needs to give half of his check to Bill Belichick. Yep. Then you got Derek Carr.

Drew Brees is down here, $25 million. Then finally, you get Tom Brady, $23 million. This is average for the year.

So really, right now, the high is Russell Wilson at 35. Could you see Dak Wilson? Dak Wilson. Could you see Dak Prescott get 36, 37 million per? Why jump right to 45?

Yeah, I can see 36, 37, and he shouldn't argue with that. But they're going to, and the reason being is they're going to put more on Dak's shoulders. And that's because of our new offensive coordinator who's come in, which is Kellen Moore. And Kellen Moore has done something that Jason Garrett has not done. And he's actually conformed to what Dak Prescott can do.

He's looked at Dak Prescott's film from college, and everything that they're doing now, if you notice when we played the Giants, it was an up-tempo game. It ran 62 plays. Cowboys have never ran 62 plays. It's always been hand the ball off the Zeke. We'll take our time.

We'll get back to the line of scrimmage. It was more of a hurry-up, hurry-up style, which is something that Dak used to do when he was in Mississippi.

So now that he is out, Kellen Moore is one of these new generational offensive coordinator. He understands what he has. He understands the talent of his quarterback, and he's using it that way, which is one of the reasons that Jerry Jones was not all that impressed about having to hurry up and get Zeke back in the lineup because we're gradually going to, we're still going to use Zeke, don't get me wrong, but we're going to gradually put more of the load on Dak's shoulders. And we showed that this past weekend against the Giants. Real quick, I got to take the last break here, but just some games that looked really good.

Seahawks taking on the Steelers. We'll see if the Steelers, that was an aberration against the Patriots on Sunday night football. That's a one o'clock kickoff on Fox. Cowboys, Redskins at one. Cardinals, Ravens is shaped into an interesting game there.

The drive, Josh Graham is actually going to be at that game Sunday. He's up in Baltimore. Kyler Murray versus Lamar Jackson.

So two Heisman Trophy winners going at it there. Chiefs at Raiders. 405 p.m. Uh on CBS. Patrick Mahomes against Derek Carr.

So that should be an interesting matchup there. Saints and Rams, 4:25 p.m. That should be the national game on Fox, and that'll be in LA.

So that'll be a good one, also. A rematch of the NFC Championship game. Eagles-Falcons is the Sunday night game. We'll have that here at Sports Hub Triad. And then Monday night, we have Browns versus Jets.

Let's take our games this weekend.

So let's take our last break. Come back. Odds and ends, rapid fire around. We get a minute to debate random topics that are brought to us by Sawyer and Aaron. You don't want to miss it.

Next on the rundown.

Pap your hands and stomp your feet. It's going to be one big party. Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson. Download full episodes of the rundown at sportshubtried.com, Spotify, Google, Apple, SoundCloud, and more. Just search for the rundown with Desmond Johnson, download it, and go.

We'll have this episode up for you shortly, probably about an hour.

So you'll have that to listen to over the weekend. Let's go ahead and get into our. Final segment of every episode of The Rundown, Odds and Ends.

Sorry, go ahead and set a stop clock for one minute. At the end of one minute, we'll hear a buzzer sound. Five topics put together by our production staff. We have no idea what they're gonna ask, so let's go ahead and get into it.

Alright, starting off. Last week we did Wake Forest over under seven and a half wins. This week is the Carolina Panthers over under seven and a half wins. Oh damn, Sawyer. Why don't you go put up some spotlights?

I'm gonna still go over. I had him as an 11-win team, and I'm not panicking yet. because they're not getting blown out. They're just having these mental errors and just not doing certain things. I like what I saw from the defense though, and I think the defense is gonna carry them there to stretch to get them right.

I'm still going over. I'm going to go under only because two home losses. That's a tough recovery. They got to go to London, too. When they see Tampa again in a couple weeks, that's a London game.

So that'll be at 9 in the morning. Yeah, I'm going over. They won't lose to Tampa again. They still have 14 more games left to play. You can't tell me that they're going to lose 65, 70% of those games.

I just don't believe it. I'm telling you, man, I expect them to come into Arizona next Sunday, and the defense in particular is going to have this particular. Umph about them. Like, they're all right. The offense ain't gonna win it for us.

We're gonna win the game with defense today. They almost did Thursday.

Sorry. If the losing streak continues, is Ron Rivera on the hot seat at all? Uh Yeah, his contract runs out in 2020 also. Him and Cam are attached at the hip. They came in together.

Their fortunes have been intertwined.

So. I think you got to say, if they're questioning whether or not Cam Newton's career or future is going to be in Carolina, I think you kind of attach Ron to that too, right? Although I hate it. Tepper did not buy that team to be losers. If this year, halfway through, if they go under seven and a half wins, I hate to say it, and I'm a Ron Rivera fan.

Me too. I love him, actually. I think it's all Carolina, but he would have to be relieved of his duties. Yeah, I mean, if they keep losing, then, yeah, Cam Newton and Ron Rivera are basically Willie Beaman and Al Pacino in any given Sunday. They may wind up at another team together, but they will be out of the Carolina organization.

I'm telling you. Oh, my God. I will say that. I think they'll let Rivera clean his coaching staff out before they fire him. Like, I think North Turner would be more in the hot seat than Rivera would be if it came to that.

Will winless Tennessee even beat one and one Chattanooga this week in college football? Oh, I'm gonna have well, where's that game? Any idea? It doesn't matter. I think they gotta win.

I mean, can Tennessee be that bad? I think they can. I'm gonna give them a W this week. Game is at Tennessee. It's in Knoxville.

Or Rocky Team. They better not lose that one. They better win that game. If they don't, it's gonna be those 110,000 fans. They lost the first one over there, didn't they?

Yeah. It's going to be some smoke in the city if they don't win that one. That's at Tennessee. How many people can come sit in that stage in a ton? 100,000.

Yeah, well the the coach might be fired then. If they don't win that day, he might exit early. They might have an interim head coach if they lose against Chattanooga. I tell you that. That'll be the story.

If Tennessee listens to Chattanooga t uh today, that'll be the the big story going into Monday.

Alright, next up, who is the best wide receiver in the NFL? As it is. I'm going to go, you know, there's something about this guy that I love. Julio Jones, I think, is the best receiver. He doesn't score touchdowns, though.

It feels like scored touchdowns. But, man, he's just got. He's got. He had some drops last year, too. They were real big.

I'm going to honestly. I think it's still Antonio Brown. Like, it's either him or DeAndre Hopkins. Like, I who else? Who else is out there that Yeah, it's either one.

I mean, Antonio Brown's had what? Michael Thomas, OBJ, Hopkins, Julio, Antonio is like my. My kind of picks. Out of all those players, Antonio Brown's the only one that's had, what, like, 6,000-yard seasons in a row or 100-yard catches in a row or something crazy like that? Yep.

I think, well, we'll find out here because Antonio Brown's about to get matched with Tom Brady, and he's going to probably get close to Randy Moss's 23 touchdown record and miss the game. Yeah. I like O Hopkins over there in Texas, Houston area. I mean, he is a great receiver. And even when his quarterback throws an interception, he picks a DB up and slams him on his hand.

That was a good season. Oh, yeah, man. He's great. And the reason why I said Julio, he keeps his mouth shut so far, man. Plus, he just re-signed with Atlanta.

I mean, he's just one of the good guys. I'll give a shout out to Amari Cooper, too. He doesn't give enough credit for what he's done for the Dallas team in general. He's flipped that offense into a dangerous unit just by arriving, and he's going to get paid too. I don't know when, but he's going to get some money too.

They're both out there playing for the bags right now. We got plenty of money. Ain't no problem. We're going to find out because they're going to take it. They're trying to take it right now.

All right. Can Le'Veon Bell lead the Jets to a winning season without Sam Darnold? Isn't he hurt? I thought I saw something about Bell being hurt. They took a MRI of his shoulder, but they said it was fine.

Oh, okay. Not without Sam Darnold. I hate to say, you know, not that Sam is, you know, this, but, you know, all of a sudden they got to go to their second man. And I hear Sam's out for at least four to six. Mono nucleosis.

He's been kissing on the wrong girl. We were talking about this earlier. How do you get mono in the NFL? Like, you usually, like, my college roommate had walking mono, but he was a bit promiscuous, so we kind of figured out where that came from. He was trying to pull a will chain.

Yeah, I hear a grown man get mono. Mono can be picked up from anything, so it's not just like a saliva, right? No, it's actually like, it's just like a germ. It used to be the kissing disease. Yeah, that's what it's called, but you can touch a doorknob and you get it.

It just doesn't. We know how Sam Darnold got mono. Yeah, ridiculous. Grow up and get syphilis like a real man. Boy, we're getting nasty out of set.

Wait a minute here. This. This whole show took a little up here. You guys. That's it.

We're good. All right. Okay. So we'll end on that note. No, I can't end on that note.

We can't. We can't end on that note. The man's disease. Do we want to talk about the trainer for Antonio Brown? No.

No more. We do not.

Well, listen, Ethan. I hope that gets resolved before we come back on Saturday. But, Johnny, even with the training, you know, there's a time where you have to stretch, and if you lay on your back, stretch. Don't forget, check out SportsCarolinamonthly.com daily for the latest news on your favorite sports teams in North Carolina. Weekly podcasts like The Nest, hosted by personal trainer Rod Thunderberg, franchise player sports podcast.

No, no, no. A throw with Ryan Stone, live with Brandon Blakeney and the rundown. Articles written by some of the best talent, ticket specials, and more.

So good to be back, man. Thanks for joining us. Glad to have you back, Johnny. Good to see you, brother. We'll have a full house next week.

Brandon Blakeney will be back in the house with us. We are out. Enjoy your weekend, Triad.
Whisper: parakeet / 2025-07-09 21:31:32 / 2025-07-09 21:36:28 / 5

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