Latest / Hutton & Withrow Show / Hutton & Withrow: Sam Leavitt Injury Drama, NCAA Admits Michigan Mistake & Cam Ward Under Fire | Hour 1

Transcript

Hutton & Withrow: Sam Leavitt Injury Drama, NCAA Admits Michigan Mistake & Cam Ward Under Fire | Hour 1 · Hutton & Withrow Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Out of the gates on Sporting State, it is Hutton
0:02
Speaker 1: and Withrow presented by Hard Rock Bet.
0:04
Speaker 2: He's Chad Withrow. I'm Jonathan Hutton.
0:06
Speaker 1: A lot to get to today as we get you
0:08
Speaker 1: ready for the football weekend.
0:10
Speaker 2: Chad, good morning to you.
0:11
Speaker 3: Good morning, Hutton.
0:14
Speaker 1: A lot to discuss. We are headed to Oxford this weekend.
0:18
Speaker 1: And the question would be, is Sam Leavitt headed to
0:22
Speaker 1: Oxford this weekend? Now, a surprise, doubtful designation so far.
0:27
Speaker 1: As we head into the biggest game of the college
0:29
Speaker 1: football season, Ole Miss welcoming LSU, LSU's quarterback.
0:33
Speaker 2: The question is, is he going to be able to
0:34
Speaker 2: play the game?
0:36
Speaker 3: Well, let's look at the timing of this, you know, too.
0:39
Speaker 3: This just so happens to be on the same day
0:42
Speaker 3: that Princewell Umunyalan has served papers on the campus of
0:46
Speaker 3: LSU in an Ole Miss lawsuit about NIL money that
0:49
Speaker 3: he owes to Ole Miss in a contract and a
0:52
Speaker 3: deal with them, right? Maybe our buddy Walker Jones can
0:55
Speaker 3: join us tomorrow. to discuss some of that. But I
0:58
Speaker 3: don't think it's coincidence that it so happens that it's
1:01
Speaker 3: this week. I saw my guy, Tom Mars, who's been
1:04
Speaker 3: on top of all of it, say, hey, a little
1:07
Speaker 3: context and background here. Anytime someone who's paid to serve papers,
1:11
Speaker 3: if they can't get the person at home, they will
1:14
Speaker 3: routinely go to the person's place of work and wait
1:16
Speaker 3: on them to serve papers. So it would make sense.
1:19
Speaker 3: It may not just be a big show that they
1:21
Speaker 3: were there to do that. They'd wait for him to
1:23
Speaker 3: leave the facility and hand it to him there. I
1:26
Speaker 3: also don't think it's some crazy coincidence that the week
1:29
Speaker 3: of the big game against Ole Miss, a distraction happens
1:32
Speaker 3: where he served papers in a lawsuit. And I also
1:35
Speaker 3: don't think that it's a coincidence that Sam Leavitt is
1:38
Speaker 3: listed as doubtful on Wednesday night. If he's listed as
1:41
Speaker 3: doubtful on Friday night, then I think if he plays,
1:45
Speaker 3: Lane Kiffin is in danger of being investigated for using
1:49
Speaker 3: that injury report as gamesmanship, something he's done before. Also,
1:53
Speaker 3: I don't know how you prove it. I don't think
1:55
Speaker 3: the SEC can really do anything to him for using
1:57
Speaker 3: that as gamesmanship. But I'll just say this. I'd be
2:00
Speaker 3: shocked if we don't see Sam Leavitt on Saturday night
2:02
Speaker 3: when we're in Oxford.
2:03
Speaker 2: I would too.
2:04
Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you only
2:07
Speaker 1: had to release this going into the game itself, not
2:09
Speaker 1: every single day of the week with the upgrade or downgrade.
2:14
Speaker 1: I thought this was a– I like the fact that
2:17
Speaker 1: they're giving the injury updates, but a list that starts
2:20
Speaker 1: with 30 could always end with 10.
2:21
Speaker 2: We know that.
2:23
Speaker 1: But the LSU injury report is lengthy. It's led by
2:26
Speaker 1: the quarterback. And this would be a routine situation where
2:30
Speaker 1: every week we would see upgrades to an injury report
2:33
Speaker 1: week to week. This is even unlike it for Lane's status,
2:37
Speaker 1: given the fact that not every coach wants to put
2:39
Speaker 1: every player on the injury report and unveil what's wrong
2:42
Speaker 1: with them or what's not, especially if they're trying to
2:44
Speaker 1: hide a shoulder issue.
2:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, so the initial report is– I just– AI coming
2:50
Speaker 3: through for me here. I knew there were multiple reports
2:52
Speaker 3: they had to give out. Wednesday night, three days before kickoff.
2:55
Speaker 3: So if it's a Thursday night game, it's Monday night.
2:58
Speaker 3: Three days before kickoff is the first injury report due.
3:00
Speaker 3: This is for SEC games. Then a daily update is
3:03
Speaker 3: required on Thursday and Friday. I don't know exactly about time.
3:07
Speaker 3: So Thursday, Friday, and then a final injury report would
3:11
Speaker 3: happen 90 minutes before kickoff. So we're talking about roughly
3:16
Speaker 3: 4.45 p.m. Central time. You know, 4 o'clock in the
3:20
Speaker 3: afternoon would be the final injury report. I think Sam
3:22
Speaker 3: Leavitt in that final injury report is going to be playing.
3:25
Speaker 1: That's either you're playing or you're not. That's either you're
3:27
Speaker 1: in or you're out in that final one.
3:28
Speaker 2: Yep, correct.
3:30
Speaker 3: That's where they list who's out, who's in. No probable,
3:32
Speaker 3: no doubtful, no questionable, none of that. But, yeah, I mean, look,
3:38
Speaker 3: I think by Friday this thing turns to questionable, right?
3:42
Speaker 3: And also, I mean, we do have to entertain the
3:47
Speaker 3: possibility that Sam Leavitt's hurt. I mean, he's a guy
3:49
Speaker 3: who's battled injuries his entire career, right? I know Brandon
3:52
Speaker 3: Walker with Barstool posted a video of him after the
3:55
Speaker 3: Louisiana Tech game, and we can show you right here,
3:58
Speaker 3: just sort of meandering around the field aimlessly, not putting
4:02
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure on his legs, the one leg
4:05
Speaker 3: that's heavily wrapped also, just kind of walking around and
4:09
Speaker 3: standing there. Now, Pete Nacos this morning is reporting it's
4:14
Speaker 3: a shoulder injury. that it's a shoulder problem that's limited
4:17
Speaker 3: his throwing in practice this week that is the issue
4:20
Speaker 3: for Sam Leavitt. I mean, the guy has had injury concerns, right?
4:24
Speaker 3: This is nothing new with him. He's been banged up
4:27
Speaker 3: throughout his career, so it wouldn't be the biggest shocker
4:30
Speaker 3: that he is actually hurt.
4:31
Speaker 1: To me, that looks like a normal wear and tear
4:34
Speaker 1: on a college football game for a quarterback, too, postgame there.
4:38
Speaker 1: Maybe he is hurt further than that, but it hasn't
4:42
Speaker 1: affected the overall spread in Vegas yet. Hard Rock Bet
4:44
Speaker 1: right now still has LSU minus two and a half
4:48
Speaker 1: going into that game. Generally, Vegas knows. If there's a
4:53
Speaker 1: weird line, we're always asking, who's hurt? Who's not playing
4:56
Speaker 1: this game? What does Vegas know that we don't? Right now,
4:59
Speaker 1: it would indicate that they expect them to play and
5:01
Speaker 1: play well, given the fact that LSU's on the road
5:03
Speaker 1: with a bang-up quarterback and they're favored by two and
5:05
Speaker 1: a half.
5:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm with you. The strange lines that are out
5:10
Speaker 3: there get you thinking, what are the spies saying? out there.
5:13
Speaker 3: What's the info saying about a key player or players
5:18
Speaker 3: for a team? I remember even in 2007 when Nick
5:22
Speaker 3: Saban suspended all those dudes for that. It was some
5:26
Speaker 3: book violation. They were selling books back or something in Alabama.
5:29
Speaker 3: And it was the morning of the Tennessee game. And
5:31
Speaker 3: it was like an 11 a.m.
5:32
Speaker 4: Game.
5:33
Speaker 3: And he says that morning, hey, seven starters are out.
5:36
Speaker 3: And Nick Saban went out and still beat Tennessee easily
5:38
Speaker 3: in that game in a surprise upset. But it shifted
5:40
Speaker 3: the line dramatically. the point spread even more in favor
5:44
Speaker 3: of Tennessee when those guys were out in that game.
5:46
Speaker 3: So crazy things like that happen. The two guys behind
5:51
Speaker 3: Sam Leavitt are incredibly inexperienced. I know they've had the
5:55
Speaker 3: one guy go in and some mop-up duty in the
5:58
Speaker 3: fourth quarter so far. I don't think the other player
6:00
Speaker 3: has played much at all. It's the transfer over from USC,
6:04
Speaker 3: who's a former five-star player. But, yeah, I'm curious to
6:08
Speaker 3: see what happens next. with this and to see if
6:11
Speaker 3: he plays. But again, right now, what's my initial reaction?
6:14
Speaker 3: This is Lane being Lane. And on the same day
6:17
Speaker 3: that his player is served papers, I think that he's
6:22
Speaker 3: playing with LSU a little bit. I also think that
6:24
Speaker 3: Lane Kiffin does a really good job of making it
6:28
Speaker 3: about him. And this is bad and good. The bad
6:33
Speaker 3: is when he makes every decision about him and he
6:35
Speaker 3: fights to stay with the team even though he wants
6:37
Speaker 3: to take another job and then he plays the victim
6:40
Speaker 3: because he didn't get exactly what he wanted and have
6:43
Speaker 3: his cake and eat it too and go coach in
6:45
Speaker 3: the playoff. We've seen other instances where he's being very
6:48
Speaker 3: selfish and all of that. I think the good of
6:50
Speaker 3: that is, and this is something he did very well
6:52
Speaker 3: in his short time in Tennessee in 2009, he will
6:56
Speaker 3: take the pressure off of his guys and put it
6:58
Speaker 3: on him. He has no problem being the target.
7:00
Speaker 4: He loves it.
7:01
Speaker 3: Right. And he's already saying, hey, pressure's on them. It's
7:06
Speaker 3: not on us. I mean, they're hosting us. They're the
7:08
Speaker 3: ones who've had all the success lately. You guys got
7:10
Speaker 3: your coach fired a year ago. We're a program on
7:13
Speaker 3: the rise. They're the ones expecting to win this game
7:16
Speaker 3: at home. They're angry at me. We're not angry. We're
7:19
Speaker 3: going in there to win a football game. And the
7:20
Speaker 3: pressure's on them. Play loose. Play free. I mean, Kiffin
7:24
Speaker 3: said that all over and over about when he was
7:26
Speaker 3: talking trash about Urban Meyer cheating and And he was
7:29
Speaker 3: talking trash about all these things in Tennessee. He's like,
7:32
Speaker 3: we had a team that I felt like if they
7:34
Speaker 3: could not feel any pressure and just go play and
7:36
Speaker 3: people hated me, that would help everything. There's a lot
7:40
Speaker 3: of that going on, I think, this week in this
7:42
Speaker 3: game where he's making it more about Ole Miss, more
7:45
Speaker 3: about Ole Miss hating him. His governor's talking about bringing
7:48
Speaker 3: in the National Guard for security and all of this. Right.
7:53
Speaker 3: I feel like they're acting like we're going to Oxford
7:55
Speaker 3: this weekend, and everyone in Louisiana is acting like we're
7:57
Speaker 3: driving into Fallujah in 2003, the way they're talking about Oxford, Mississippi.
8:03
Speaker 3: It's going to be fine in Oxford. There's going to
8:05
Speaker 3: be a lot of people. It's going to be fine.
8:07
Speaker 3: I've been in the Grove. It will be lovely on
8:10
Speaker 3: this trip. I'm not expecting any big issues.
8:12
Speaker 2: How about this, too? This is where Kiffin deserves a
8:14
Speaker 2: lot of credit as well.
8:16
Speaker 1: Over the course of his career, and we've pointed this
8:18
Speaker 1: out multiple times over the course of his career, he
8:20
Speaker 1: has his quarterbacks ready to go.
8:22
Speaker 2: Backups mid-game.
8:24
Speaker 1: He has a good rapport with them to where insert
8:28
Speaker 1: player here and he can get the most out of
8:30
Speaker 1: a quarterback.
8:30
Speaker 2: Trinidad Chambliss is a good example.
8:34
Speaker 1: We saw him make the most when Trinidad Chambliss had
8:36
Speaker 1: to come off the bench once and we know how
8:38
Speaker 1: that ended up.
8:39
Speaker 2: He does a good job with this.
8:40
Speaker 1: It's not like they come in and they have to
8:42
Speaker 1: run a one-dimensional offense with a backup QB. He has
8:47
Speaker 1: good communication. He knows what his quarterbacks are capable of doing.
8:51
Speaker 1: And in a pinch, he can run his offense and
8:53
Speaker 1: move the football without having to be a detriment to,
8:57
Speaker 1: this is an all-defensive game.
8:58
Speaker 2: He's not going to push it the same way. He's
8:59
Speaker 2: not a star like Sam Levitt.
9:01
Speaker 1: But it's a capable coach with a very capable quarterback
9:06
Speaker 1: able to move the football and keep the.
9:07
Speaker 2: Offense on the field at times.
9:09
Speaker 3: Well, and there's two different types of backups here. So
9:11
Speaker 3: let's look at the tail of the tape if Sam
9:13
Speaker 3: Levitt can't go. Landon Clark will be the starter. Landon
9:16
Speaker 3: Clark's been the first guy to go into games. Landon
9:18
Speaker 3: Clark was a dynamic player. FCS player at Elon, formerly
9:23
Speaker 3: the Fighting Christians. I think they're the Phoenix now, but
9:26
Speaker 3: I like the nickname the Fighting Christians way better. The
9:28
Speaker 3: oxymoron of Fighting Christians is great. But Landon Clark is
9:32
Speaker 3: a veteran guy who came in from the FCS ranks
9:34
Speaker 3: that gives them a little bit more experience. Houston Longstreet,
9:39
Speaker 3: I don't know how you pronounce his first name, former five-star,
9:42
Speaker 3: transferred in from USC, but Longstreet is the other backup
9:45
Speaker 3: quarterback that could be given a chance. So look, they're
9:49
Speaker 3: not devoid of experience or talent behind Sam Levitt. It's not,
9:54
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, you're going with a three-star freshman that
9:56
Speaker 3: no one thought was even going to play if Sam
9:59
Speaker 3: Levitt can't go. You're going with a guy who was
10:00
Speaker 3: brought in to be that experience backup, and you're going
10:03
Speaker 3: with another guy who's brought into pot and maybe earned
10:06
Speaker 3: the starting job a year from now as a former
10:08
Speaker 3: five-star in Longstreet. So there's still some talent behind Levitt,
10:12
Speaker 3: but obviously the preference for everyone in purple and gold
10:16
Speaker 3: is that Sam Levitt can go on Saturday night.
10:19
Speaker 1: And I have to lean towards he's at least banged
10:21
Speaker 1: up somewhat. The idea that he's not hurt, but it
10:25
Speaker 1: would be on an injury report.
10:26
Speaker 2: Think about.
10:28
Speaker 1: What would come of that if you find out that
10:30
Speaker 1: he's not actually banged up at all, but he's on
10:32
Speaker 1: an injury report. With all of the sports wagering aspects
10:35
Speaker 1: of this, the reason why they have the injury report
10:37
Speaker 1: to begin with, and it's all just a mess with
10:39
Speaker 1: Ole Miss, that would add another layer and a wrinkle
10:42
Speaker 1: to the late Kiffin saga. with this story. It was
10:46
Speaker 1: at one and a half. Now it's back to two
10:47
Speaker 1: and a half in favor of LSU. We've got hard
10:51
Speaker 1: rock locks coming up later. Chad, I know you've been
10:53
Speaker 1: all over Ole Miss anyway. Maybe this adds to it.
10:57
Speaker 3: So I think the initial thought that, okay, Hutton, this
11:00
Speaker 3: is gamesmanship. This is Lane being Lane. He's fine. He's
11:04
Speaker 3: making up injuries. I think he is banged up. I
11:06
Speaker 3: don't know that he's completely making it up. It's almost
11:09
Speaker 3: impossible to prove. You know, that a coach beyond a–
11:13
Speaker 3: unless there's like a text that was sent to the
11:15
Speaker 3: wrong person in the SEC office of Lane Kiffin devising
11:19
Speaker 3: a plan to F with Ole Miss and say that,
11:22
Speaker 3: like that's the only way they could prove any ill
11:25
Speaker 3: intent with this. But I will say, if Greg Sankey
11:28
Speaker 3: and the SEC were to launch an investigation into any coach.
11:32
Speaker 2: Did he?
11:33
Speaker 3: For foul play. Never, ever in my 35 years as
11:36
Speaker 3: a coach have I ever been accused of foul play.
11:39
Speaker 3: It wouldn't be Bobby Bowden they'd investigate, okay?
11:41
Speaker 2: No, never.
11:41
Speaker 3: It would be Lane Kiffin right now. So if there's
11:44
Speaker 3: any coach that could be under the suspicion of the
11:46
Speaker 3: SEC with all the stuff swirling around that program and
11:49
Speaker 3: around him and around the conference, I would think that
11:53
Speaker 3: it would be the SEC looking into Lane and whether
11:56
Speaker 3: or not he's lying on his injury reports.
11:58
Speaker 1: Speaking of investigations, the NCAA admits that the Big Ten cheated.
12:02
Speaker 1: We've got that and more straight ahead here on Hutton & Withrow.
12:05
Speaker 1: It is Hutton & Withrow. We are presented by Hard
12:07
Speaker 1: Rock Bet. Big news, we've partnered with Hard Rock Bet
12:09
Speaker 1: for the whole season, and they're bringing us all the odds,
12:12
Speaker 1: the lines, the insights, analysis, content all year long. The
12:16
Speaker 1: Hard Rock name, you know, but maybe you don't know
12:19
Speaker 1: the Hard Rock Bet sportsbook app just yet. Hard Rock
12:23
Speaker 1: Bet is Florida's only legal sportsbook. It's the most trustworthy
12:26
Speaker 1: option in the market. They're also live in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,
12:31
Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia.
12:34
Speaker 3: That's right. And football is back. Best time of year
12:37
Speaker 3: for bettors. Hard Rock Bet is ready with new features,
12:39
Speaker 3: app updates, promos. Welcome offer right now. If you bet $ 5,
12:43
Speaker 3: you get $ 100 in bonus bets. And this one's for
12:46
Speaker 3: all customers, not just new users. Florida listeners, you get
12:49
Speaker 3: in on the NFL Survivor Contest. You can do that
12:51
Speaker 3: right now. Pick one team to win each week. Last
12:53
Speaker 3: survivor standing split $ 2 million. Sign up and get all
12:57
Speaker 3: the details at hardrock.bet.com. That's hardrock.bet.com.
13:03
Speaker 1: Well, the NCAA finally admitted what Western Michigan had been
13:07
Speaker 1: trying for a week and a half to get across,
13:09
Speaker 1: what we all knew, what the reasonably drunk fan would
13:14
Speaker 1: have known, Chad, according to Derek Dooley, that what happened
13:18
Speaker 1: at the end of that game should not have happened.
13:21
Speaker 1: at the end of all of this, that it was flawed,
13:23
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous, and that, well, Michigan got the extra opportunity.
13:27
Speaker 1: And although they didn't say this, they most certainly would
13:29
Speaker 1: agree with us. When Michigan falls, they fall forward.
13:33
Speaker 3: They really do. They can't get out of their own way,
13:36
Speaker 3: yet getting in their own way seems to always benefit
13:39
Speaker 3: the Wolverines, no matter what. I've got to go back
13:41
Speaker 3: and look. I got a text from Derek Dooley, too,
13:43
Speaker 3: on Monday morning. It was a video of something, and
13:47
Speaker 3: he said, here is the average drunk fan rule, and
13:50
Speaker 3: it was something from the NFL. about a replay that
13:53
Speaker 3: was confusing to people, but clearly the guy caught it
13:55
Speaker 3: or he fumbled it or something. I'll have to go
13:57
Speaker 3: back and find what it is, but Dooley was on
13:59
Speaker 3: one early Monday morning about his average drunk fan being
14:02
Speaker 3: able to decide this was actually a catch. Here's what
14:06
Speaker 3: I do not understand about this whole story. We all
14:10
Speaker 3: saw it. We questioned why the two clocks, how were
14:13
Speaker 3: there ever two clocks in a sporting event? How was
14:15
Speaker 3: the clock that synced up with the stadium? And with
14:17
Speaker 3: NBC's broadcast, not the same clock that the Big Ten
14:20
Speaker 3: is using. They're lying to you. They've got Heather Denich
14:23
Speaker 3: doing their reporting for them, going on ESPN the next morning, saying, guys,
14:27
Speaker 3: nothing to see here. I have talked to the Big Ten,
14:29
Speaker 3: and let me tell you, the Big Ten officers assured
14:31
Speaker 3: us they followed protocols. And just because it's unfortunate for
14:35
Speaker 3: Western Michigan how it looked, they had the right clock.
14:39
Speaker 3: And then the Big Ten came out after Western Michigan
14:42
Speaker 3: complained and said, well, Maybe they didn't have the right clock. Oh,
14:45
Speaker 3: maybe there is a rule or should be a rule written,
14:48
Speaker 3: even though everyone understands it because Mike Pereira of the
14:51
Speaker 3: NFL said it's clear in the NFL rules that if
14:55
Speaker 3: there's any discrepancy on any review between a clock you're
14:58
Speaker 3: looking at on a computer monitor or the one in
15:00
Speaker 3: the stadium, you defer to the one in the stadium.
15:02
Speaker 2: That's the game clock.
15:03
Speaker 3: Common sense stuff, right? But this was an unwritten rule
15:06
Speaker 3: until the NCAA said, okay, this needs to be in
15:10
Speaker 3: the rule book, but obviously that happened. So... The NCAA
15:14
Speaker 3: comes out, Hutton, and says everything we already knew, that
15:17
Speaker 3: the proper protocol was not followed by the Big Ten
15:19
Speaker 3: in the review process. Here's what I don't fully understand.
15:27
Speaker 3: What is the NCAA here for if not to give
15:30
Speaker 3: a suspension to Arion Carter for a $ 427 flight? They
15:34
Speaker 3: had the power to do that. And then Arion Carter
15:37
Speaker 3: turns and makes a mockery of the NCAA by giving
15:40
Speaker 3: money to cancer research, which I love. But they have
15:42
Speaker 3: the power to do this, but the NCAA Oversight Committee
15:45
Speaker 3: can say, the Big Ten clearly cheated here. That may
15:49
Speaker 3: be strong language for some people, but that's what happened.
15:53
Speaker 3: Whether there was intent or not, they cheated. They circumvented
15:57
Speaker 3: the actual rule, and they came up with a clock
15:59
Speaker 3: that didn't exist to give Michigan another play. And the
16:03
Speaker 3: NCAA Oversight Committee says, if that other play didn't happen,
16:05
Speaker 3: the outcome is different. But we can't do anything about it?
16:08
Speaker 3: but we can't overturn the outcome? Who can? The Supreme Court?
16:13
Speaker 3: Where do you need to go to give Western Michigan
16:15
Speaker 3: that win? Why can't they not overturn it?
16:19
Speaker 1: Who can if the NCAA can't? And why not? So
16:22
Speaker 1: they cited this rule. Here's part of the reason why
16:24
Speaker 1: is the rule book, where they have to cite the
16:26
Speaker 1: rule 1-1-3-B-3. And then they go to another rule, 5-2-9.
16:34
Speaker 1: And it says, which made the score final once the
16:36
Speaker 1: referee declares the game over and prevent changes from the
16:39
Speaker 1: period ending.
16:41
Speaker 2: What?
16:42
Speaker 1: But it should have been over prior to this. Plus,
16:45
Speaker 1: it was taken out of the referee's hands whenever you
16:47
Speaker 1: go to the review to look at the clock. The committee, therefore,
16:51
Speaker 1: said it could not grant the Mid-American Conference's request to
16:53
Speaker 1: overturn the result. Had this been reversed, Chad, first of all,
16:57
Speaker 1: had this been reversed, I don't think we'd ever go
16:59
Speaker 1: to the review again.
17:01
Speaker 2: In this case, right?
17:02
Speaker 1: We don't give Western Michigan the second opportunity here.
17:05
Speaker 2: I wouldn't expect. Michigan wins that game.
17:09
Speaker 1: And second, I absolutely think that we'd see a bigger
17:13
Speaker 1: fight for this because we'd be talking about the college
17:15
Speaker 1: football playoff entry rather than the college football playoff.
17:20
Speaker 2: Block where you try.
17:22
Speaker 1: To see if the college football committee would actually keep
17:24
Speaker 1: Michigan out of the college football playoff if it came
17:27
Speaker 1: down to something like this. they've taken a backseat to this.
17:33
Speaker 1: They said they wouldn't even consider the LSU issues if
17:37
Speaker 1: they were playing NFL players, that they were just going
17:40
Speaker 1: to go by whatever was allowed and they wouldn't get
17:42
Speaker 1: involved with one way or the other. My guess is
17:45
Speaker 1: they would say the same thing about this.
17:47
Speaker 2: And in that case, the win counts. We've moved on.
17:50
Speaker 1: I think by and large, a lot of us have
17:52
Speaker 1: moved on from the result, too. You know, the counter
17:55
Speaker 1: argument is, well, they did allow the second Hail Mary
17:57
Speaker 1: to be completed.
17:58
Speaker 2: That's all true.
17:59
Speaker 1: But I think in any other circumstance, we wouldn't have
18:01
Speaker 1: seen the second attempt and the game would have been
18:03
Speaker 1: over from that point.
18:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:06
Speaker 3: And the quote from the committee, the committee consulted with
18:09
Speaker 3: national officiating leadership regarding the instant replay protocols based on
18:12
Speaker 3: that info. The committee agreed that instant replay protocols were
18:15
Speaker 3: not followed in the contest second to last play. Had
18:17
Speaker 3: the protocols been followed, the outcome of the game would
18:20
Speaker 3: have been different. Here's another question I have. Does that
18:22
Speaker 3: statement right there from the NCAA Oversight Committee prompt some
18:25
Speaker 3: sort of issue with sports wagering companies that had Western
18:30
Speaker 3: Michigan money line? I mean, here you have the NCAA
18:33
Speaker 3: saying that they won the game. So if I had
18:35
Speaker 3: a $ 100 bet on Western Michigan Moneyline that paid me
18:39
Speaker 3: $ 100, 000 or whatever the odds were before the game started,
18:43
Speaker 3: do I have an argument now or do you just
18:45
Speaker 3: get your money back in the bet? Or will I
18:48
Speaker 3: talk to Hard Rock Bet about that and how you
18:50
Speaker 3: handle a situation like that? I don't know the legalities
18:53
Speaker 3: around it, but here you have the NCAA saying the
18:57
Speaker 3: outcome would have been different had they followed the proper protocols. Hutton,
19:00
Speaker 3: I guess the one... Response to this is apparently it
19:04
Speaker 3: wasn't written in the rules perfectly about the protocol and
19:08
Speaker 3: a clock because they just didn't think about it, that
19:10
Speaker 3: there could be two separate clocks. And Pereira is saying
19:13
Speaker 3: the NFL has that rule. And then the NCAA sent
19:16
Speaker 3: a memo out, remember, saying if there's two different clocks,
19:19
Speaker 3: you go by the one in the stadium. I can't
19:21
Speaker 3: believe we're even having to explain this to the Big
19:23
Speaker 3: Ten in this case, but they did. So Maybe it's
19:26
Speaker 3: because it happened after the fact that that memo was
19:29
Speaker 3: sent out and that now there's a rule. That's why
19:31
Speaker 3: they can't go back and do anything. I just have
19:33
Speaker 3: a hard time believing that everyone saw it. Everyone knows it.
19:38
Speaker 3: Western Michigan won the game. The NCAA is admitting it.
19:41
Speaker 3: The Big Ten has had to admit it. Western Michigan's
19:44
Speaker 3: angry about it, yet everyone is saying we can't overturn
19:48
Speaker 3: the outcome. I can't think of the last... overturned outcome
19:51
Speaker 3: of a game, but I feel like at some point
19:53
Speaker 3: somebody has to be able to do that if something
19:56
Speaker 3: like this happens that's this egregious.
19:59
Speaker 1: First off, there were several statements released very premature in this.
20:05
Speaker 1: John Fant is reading a statement from the Big Ten.
20:09
Speaker 1: On NBC, I believe, right?
20:10
Speaker 3: Or Fanta. That was tough to watch. That was tough
20:13
Speaker 3: to watch for our guy Fanta.
20:14
Speaker 1: They're saying the opposite of all this, right? They're saying
20:19
Speaker 1: that the way they handled this was proper protocol. So
20:24
Speaker 1: you have a lot of different opinions on it based
20:27
Speaker 1: on the statements being released after the game. You hear
20:29
Speaker 1: the officials. They're mic'd up. Moving forward, we're going to
20:33
Speaker 1: hear more of this, which is great. I love hearing
20:35
Speaker 1: the officials in the truck or talking to the conference
20:40
Speaker 1: office when they're doing all this. I think we should
20:43
Speaker 1: always hear that, quite frankly, at every level of a
20:46
Speaker 1: televised broadcast. And I'm also thinking, why doesn't Western Michigan
20:50
Speaker 1: pull the UCF trick where they just act like they're
20:53
Speaker 1: the national champions? Where they go ahead and declare themselves 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0.
20:56
Speaker 1: They've got Rice this week, and then they have Boise State.
21:01
Speaker 2: But, I mean.
21:02
Speaker 1: If they continue to stay unbeaten, Chad, they'll go through
21:07
Speaker 1: Boise State. That should be the battle for the college
21:10
Speaker 1: football playoff entry right there with Western Michigan. They should
21:13
Speaker 1: start their campaign immediately, which would have been their first
21:17
Speaker 1: victory over a ranked team, period. Top 25, week one
21:20
Speaker 1: ranked team. We're talking about the history of the program.
21:24
Speaker 3: See, I'm concerned, Hutton, with making it right on both sides.
21:29
Speaker 3: Call me a Michigan hater or whatever you want right now,
21:31
Speaker 3: but they need the loss, too. Do you know what
21:36
Speaker 3: I mean? I want Western Michigan to have that win
21:38
Speaker 3: because they won the game, but also, to me, it's
21:41
Speaker 3: not fair that Michigan continues to get to parade around
21:44
Speaker 3: like a 2-0 team, when in reality they're a 1-1
21:47
Speaker 3: football team that has a nice win in home over
21:49
Speaker 3: Oklahoma and a terrible loss at home to a MAAC team.
21:53
Speaker 3: But instead, they get to be 2-0. Now here's where
21:55
Speaker 3: I think that, to your point about college football playoff,
21:59
Speaker 3: absolutely the college football playoff selection committee should count that
22:03
Speaker 3: as a win. There's nothing stopping them. When they get
22:05
Speaker 3: together as a committee to decide on the playoff teams, Hutton,
22:09
Speaker 3: and they're talking about how they're ranking the group of
22:12
Speaker 3: six teams and all of that, like, yes, make sure
22:17
Speaker 3: that you give Western Michigan that win. That's where you
22:19
Speaker 3: can make it right, is when they go and talk
22:22
Speaker 3: about how they're gaining. They could say, look, they won
22:25
Speaker 3: the game. The NCAA came back and said they won
22:27
Speaker 3: the game. The Big Ten screwed it up. So we're
22:30
Speaker 3: going to give Western Michigan that win. We're going to
22:31
Speaker 3: operate under the assumption that they are, whatever their record
22:35
Speaker 3: is at that point when the first rankings come.
22:37
Speaker 2: Out, right?
22:38
Speaker 3: Yes.
22:39
Speaker 2: Think about this, too.
22:41
Speaker 1: And this is what I mean by falling forward. Michigan
22:44
Speaker 1: loses week one to Western Michigan, but they get the win. Meanwhile,
22:48
Speaker 1: they beat Oklahoma the following week after their coach calls
22:51
Speaker 1: out their quarterback. And falling forward, not only do they
22:55
Speaker 1: win that game, despite no passing offense, they win that game, Chad,
22:59
Speaker 1: and Ohio State and Oregon both.
23:01
Speaker 2: Lose the same week.
23:04
Speaker 1: So you've got not only getting past Western Michigan in
23:07
Speaker 1: that debacle, you win against Oklahoma, you start 2-0, and
23:11
Speaker 1: then you have your biggest rival and then a contender
23:14
Speaker 1: for the Big Ten both fall flat in the same week.
23:18
Speaker 1: And in Oregon's case, they lose to Oklahoma State. Meanwhile,
23:21
Speaker 1: you pick up the win when you shouldn't have against
23:23
Speaker 1: Western Michigan. It's remarkable how they pull this off all
23:25
Speaker 1: the time.
23:26
Speaker 3: They backdoor their way into everything. Jake Keller on the
23:30
Speaker 3: YouTube chat says, Chad, real Michigan fans know we aren't 2-0,
23:34
Speaker 3: but we still beat a big, bad SEC team that
23:36
Speaker 3: made the playoff last year. My response to him was,
23:39
Speaker 3: I don't think Oklahoma is very good, having watched that game,
23:42
Speaker 3: especially on offense. But congrats on your 1-1 start. to
23:46
Speaker 3: the Michigan fan. A big one-and-one start for the Wolverines
23:48
Speaker 3: this season. But yeah, I think Wolverine fans probably are
23:53
Speaker 3: knowledgeable enough to realize we may not be very good
23:56
Speaker 3: this year, but they did get a nice win over Oklahoma.
23:59
Speaker 3: I think that game says more about Oklahoma's ineptitude and
24:02
Speaker 3: how getting really bulked up and rocked up as a
24:05
Speaker 3: quarterback is not a wise move, like we've seen time
24:07
Speaker 3: and time again from John Mateer. But, sure, congrats on
24:11
Speaker 3: that game. But, again, you're 1-1. So I think the only–
24:14
Speaker 3: you're never going to make it right on Michigan's end
24:17
Speaker 3: because that's still going to appear as a win in
24:19
Speaker 3: their win column. So whatever bowl game they end up
24:21
Speaker 3: in or if– I mean, I doubt it, but if
24:24
Speaker 3: they're in some college football playoff discussion late in the year,
24:28
Speaker 3: that's going to factor in as a win. Hutton, I
24:30
Speaker 3: think you hit on it in terms of group of five.
24:33
Speaker 3: I don't know why I keep wanting to say group
24:34
Speaker 3: of six. I keep adding a conference. In terms of
24:37
Speaker 3: group of five. They need to factor Western Michigan, they
24:41
Speaker 3: being the selection committee, for the playoff as a win.
24:46
Speaker 3: And I want them to say it whenever they do
24:49
Speaker 3: that interview, whoever the chairman is now of the selection committee,
24:53
Speaker 3: I want them to say, Western Michigan is ranked as
24:56
Speaker 3: the highest team in the group of five because no
25:00
Speaker 3: one has as good of a win as in the
25:03
Speaker 3: big house against Michigan. And we saw the game and
25:06
Speaker 3: the NCAA admitted it. They won the game. Michigan got
25:09
Speaker 3: an extra play and they scored a touchdown on the
25:11
Speaker 3: extra play. I hope they're just willing to admit it
25:14
Speaker 3: the way it is.
25:15
Speaker 1: Another example, falling forward, they get the extra play. They
25:17
Speaker 1: still have to complete the Hail Mary and they do somehow.
25:21
Speaker 3: It was a great play. It was an amazing play
25:24
Speaker 3: by the receiver jumping up and high-pointing that ball in
25:26
Speaker 3: front of everyone. It doesn't change the fact the play
25:29
Speaker 3: never should have happened.
25:30
Speaker 1: Never should have happened. Chad, coming up, Cam Ward speaks again.
25:33
Speaker 1: Does he get a win behind the podium? Chances are
25:36
Speaker 1: it's not falling forward. It's not falling forward. We discuss
25:40
Speaker 1: that next here on How to Withrow. Sutton and Withrow
25:44
Speaker 1: presented by Hard Rock Bet. Right now, you can go
25:46
Speaker 1: to hardrock.bet.com. Take advantage of the $ 5, get $ 100 back
25:51
Speaker 1: in bonus bets. It's Perfect 10, just like Perfect 10 Mortgage.
25:54
Speaker 1: The name says it. Apply in 10 minutes, close in
25:56
Speaker 1: 10 days. That's the whole idea here. A mortgage that's simple, fast, fair.
26:00
Speaker 1: 10 minutes, start to finish right from your phone. No
26:02
Speaker 1: stack of paperwork. And Chad, you're sitting across the desk
26:05
Speaker 1: from a banker who's talking down to you.
26:07
Speaker 3: That's right. Talking to a real person that understands your issues,
26:10
Speaker 3: they're going to tell you this, Hutton. Date the rate,
26:13
Speaker 3: marry the house. Put it on a T-shirt. However you
26:15
Speaker 3: need to remember it, stop with the credit card debt
26:17
Speaker 3: and juggling everything else. They're going to help you out
26:20
Speaker 3: at Perfect 10 Mortgage. If you're buying new construction, ask
26:22
Speaker 3: about the builder program. Builder-funded rate buy-downs that can get
26:26
Speaker 3: you a rate the bank can't print. Date the rate.
26:28
Speaker 3: Marry the house. Perfect10Mortgage. com. Call them now at 855-789-1010. That's Perfect10Mortgage. com.
26:37
Speaker 3: Perfect 10 Mortgage is an equal housing lender. Perfect 10
26:39
Speaker 3: Mortgage is a DBA or network funding LP. NMLS number 2297.
26:43
Speaker 3: Equal housing lender. All borrowers must qualify. This advertisement is
26:46
Speaker 3: not a promise to make alone.
26:49
Speaker 1: Well, Kev Ward's certainly not making a promise to sound
26:53
Speaker 1: like he's going to take any blame whatsoever. or put
26:57
Speaker 1: the pressure on himself instead of the rest of the team,
26:58
Speaker 1: that's for sure. What, we're two weeks removed from reporters,
27:03
Speaker 1: Jared Stillman, being told, you know, journalistic integrity, you're just
27:08
Speaker 1: a YouTuber, don't come back, after he asked Cam Ward
27:11
Speaker 1: how he would assess his preseason performance. Well, now, with
27:16
Speaker 1: the real games mattering and the real performances being dissected,
27:21
Speaker 1: here's Cam Ward being asked about his, well, week one
27:24
Speaker 1: play and overall body of work.
27:27
Speaker 4: As time goes on, I think we'll be where we
27:28
Speaker 4: want to be.
27:29
Speaker 3: Are you personally at the floor as an NFL quarterback?
27:32
Speaker 4: I think I'm a very good quarterback. I think I
27:34
Speaker 4: do a lot of things different that a lot of
27:36
Speaker 4: quarterbacks can't do. And it's also stuff that I have
27:39
Speaker 4: to get better at as some things that I lack.
27:42
Speaker 4: That's a process that you take on each and every day.
27:44
Speaker 4: I have great coaches around me to continue to push
27:47
Speaker 4: me to that level that I.
27:47
Speaker 3: Want to play at.
27:49
Speaker 4: And when the tide turns, I'm pretty sure it's going
27:52
Speaker 4: to be a different story.
27:53
Speaker 2: Does a very good.
27:54
Speaker 3: NFL quarterback have better results than you're having?
27:56
Speaker 2: Say that again?
27:57
Speaker 4: Doesn't a very good NFL quarterback have better results.
28:00
Speaker 2: Than you have?
28:01
Speaker 3: I think it comes with the game.
28:03
Speaker 4: It comes with the defense you're playing. It comes with,
28:05
Speaker 4: you know, what the D.C. 's philosophy is. And, you know,
28:10
Speaker 4: every game is not going to be a shootout. Every
28:11
Speaker 4: game is going to be a– it could be a
28:13
Speaker 4: bad pass rate. It could be a bad, you know,
28:15
Speaker 4: completion ratio. But it's all about the win and loss. And,
28:18
Speaker 4: you know, we haven't done that. And that's something that
28:20
Speaker 4: we only focus on is win and losing. I mean,
28:21
Speaker 4: win it.
28:21
Speaker 1: When it comes to the– Dad, this is not going
28:25
Speaker 1: well for the young QB. Let's put it that way.
28:27
Speaker 1: Will Levis had 21 starts before he was really told
28:33
Speaker 1: just to hit the door. And Cam Ward seems to
28:37
Speaker 1: be getting a lot more than that. He hasn't hit
28:38
Speaker 1: that number yet. But man, this is an example of
28:43
Speaker 1: what not to do. The best quarterbacks in the league,
28:46
Speaker 1: they stand at the podium and they say, the poor
28:49
Speaker 1: performance of the team was on me.
28:51
Speaker 2: I've got to do better. It starts with me. It
28:52
Speaker 2: starts with.
28:53
Speaker 1: I, I ask, as Chad has recently donned the hashtag
28:58
Speaker 1: and the meme instead of we. And he just hasn't
29:04
Speaker 1: done that. He hasn't pointed to himself first. He did
29:07
Speaker 1: this at the postgame podium after the loss to the
29:10
Speaker 1: New York Jets where he said the receivers need to
29:12
Speaker 1: flatten their routes. I mean, this is elementary stuff when
29:16
Speaker 1: it comes to being the quarterback in the face of
29:19
Speaker 1: a franchise.
29:20
Speaker 2: When it goes bad, you point to yourself.
29:21
Speaker 1: When it goes well, you give praise to the rest
29:24
Speaker 1: of the team and individuals in your offensive line that
29:27
Speaker 1: made it happen and paved the way. That echoes through
29:29
Speaker 1: the locker room. And so would this, where there's less
29:36
Speaker 1: looking in the mirror and more looking at the media
29:38
Speaker 1: asking the questions.
29:41
Speaker 3: And at the risk of being called a racist again,
29:43
Speaker 3: which I do not care about, he just sounds dumb.
29:48
Speaker 3: He sounds like someone who's got no logical sense about
29:50
Speaker 3: him when he speaks.
29:52
Speaker 4: I mean, you.
29:53
Speaker 3: I get that when you ask somebody, what do you
29:56
Speaker 3: think of yourself? You don't want to stand up there
29:57
Speaker 3: as a quarterback or anyone and say, boy, I suck.
30:00
Speaker 3: I'm terrible at this profession. I need to go sell
30:04
Speaker 3: insurance because this clearly is not the life for me
30:06
Speaker 3: now that I'm here in the NFL. I don't expect
30:09
Speaker 3: him to say that. But when you continue to say,
30:12
Speaker 3: I'm a really good quarterback, I'm a really good quarterback
30:15
Speaker 3: in this league, and then you get questioned about it,
30:17
Speaker 3: and great job by PK coming back and saying, don't
30:21
Speaker 3: your results say otherwise? Don't really good quarterbacks have different results?
30:25
Speaker 3: In his response, Hutton is that– Well, you know, it
30:28
Speaker 3: comes down to the philosophy of defensive coordinators. And the
30:31
Speaker 3: philosophy of the defensive coordinators is to make the quarterback
30:35
Speaker 3: a weakness, which you continually do on your own. The
30:40
Speaker 3: defensive coordinator's philosophy is to not get into a shootout.
30:44
Speaker 3: And they are successful time and time again with the
30:47
Speaker 3: Tennessee Titans.
30:48
Speaker 4: Like, what?
30:50
Speaker 3: I would understand if he's like, look, the stats aren't great,
30:54
Speaker 3: but I don't care about stats because we're winning. I
30:58
Speaker 3: saw Aaron Rodgers was asked a question about targets, and
31:01
Speaker 3: he said, matter of factly, I don't give a shit
31:03
Speaker 3: about targets, about target count. No one in that locker
31:06
Speaker 3: room cares about it. We're not going to sit here
31:07
Speaker 3: and talk about who was targeted the most. He's like,
31:10
Speaker 3: I'm throwing to whoever's open. Bottom line, that's what we're
31:12
Speaker 3: looking at. He's like, there are guys, let me tell
31:14
Speaker 3: you how the National Football League works. There are guys
31:17
Speaker 3: on every team that should get a certain number of
31:20
Speaker 3: targets that are big time players and playmakers. For everyone else,
31:23
Speaker 3: it's about getting in the flow and getting open and
31:26
Speaker 3: being seen and all that and the quarterback finding them.
31:28
Speaker 3: But I don't care about targets. Cam Ward needs to
31:32
Speaker 3: be more like that and less of what he's doing
31:35
Speaker 3: right now, which is saying things that make no sense
31:39
Speaker 3: at all. to the media, and when you're speaking there,
31:42
Speaker 3: you're speaking to everybody. You're speaking to Titans fans, everyone else. Again,
31:45
Speaker 3: the guy does not seem very smart, and that is
31:48
Speaker 3: not a good thing for a quarterback in the NFL.
31:51
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. It's not. I don't know what his ACT
31:54
Speaker 3: score was. I don't know how many books he's read.
31:57
Speaker 3: I don't care. I'm not saying he's completely unintelligent. I'm
32:00
Speaker 3: saying when he speaks, it comes across as dumb, as
32:04
Speaker 3: not smart. I'll also say this. When Kevin Dyson, former Titan,
32:09
Speaker 3: is on a sideline of a Titans radio broadcast and
32:13
Speaker 3: talking about how he's trying to pump up the offensive
32:15
Speaker 3: line in that game in the second half, and the
32:17
Speaker 3: offensive line is looking at him like he's got six
32:19
Speaker 3: eyes and not responding, why do you think that is,
32:24
Speaker 3: that they're not responding to him? Could it also be,
32:27
Speaker 3: and I'm not giving them any credit for being leaders
32:29
Speaker 3: either on the offensive line, but could it be because
32:32
Speaker 3: you got a quarterback whose definition of intensity is breaking
32:36
Speaker 3: an iPad or a tablet on the sideline every time
32:39
Speaker 3: something goes away? How many tablets have they gone through
32:41
Speaker 3: over there on that Titan sideline? Every time I look up,
32:43
Speaker 3: he's breaking a new one. That seems to be his
32:45
Speaker 3: response to everything.
32:47
Speaker 1: More tablets than completions is what it feels like. I mean,
32:49
Speaker 1: it's not to that level, but it feels like that.
32:51
Speaker 1: The direct quote from Dyson, who was on the sideline,
32:54
Speaker 1: said there was a point in there where Cam– was like, beep, beep, beep, beep,
32:57
Speaker 1: like cussing. And he goes, I'm tired of this three
33:00
Speaker 1: and outs. We got to do something that starts with me,
33:02
Speaker 1: but y'all got to do this. He really tried. And
33:05
Speaker 1: it's just like, everybody just kind of looked at him like, okay.
33:09
Speaker 1: And you got Latham doing the same thing. You've got
33:11
Speaker 1: Simmons doing the same thing. This is on Cam Ward.
33:13
Speaker 1: And I said this earlier in the week, Cam Ward
33:16
Speaker 1: has to lead, but it starts by performance. You know,
33:19
Speaker 1: he's got to lead through performance. You can't just designate
33:21
Speaker 1: someone to captain of the team. And that player is
33:25
Speaker 1: going to come in and be the end-all, be-all, definitive, bottom-line,
33:29
Speaker 1: final answer, and speak on behalf of every player. The
33:32
Speaker 1: guy's got to perform to a level where you trust
33:36
Speaker 1: in what he's doing and where he's taking you. And
33:39
Speaker 1: when things don't go well and you start pointing fingers, well,
33:41
Speaker 1: that's not the leader of the locker room right there.
33:45
Speaker 1: That's not where you find players that want to get
33:48
Speaker 1: in line and follow the direction you're taking them. What
33:51
Speaker 1: ends up happening is, oh, this is par for the
33:54
Speaker 1: course within this locker room and organization. Here we go
33:57
Speaker 1: again is kind of the sentiment. And even the players
34:00
Speaker 1: who haven't been there, the vast majority of the roster
34:02
Speaker 1: has not been there for all of this, but yet
34:04
Speaker 1: they're not getting behind the young quarterback because the young
34:07
Speaker 1: quarterback isn't moving the football or pulling the trigger or
34:10
Speaker 1: making things happen when perceived pressure is there, but really
34:14
Speaker 1: pressure isn't there. I thought Kowarski and PaulKowarski.com, the site
34:17
Speaker 1: did a great job of breaking down– Offensive line certainly
34:21
Speaker 1: needs to be better.
34:22
Speaker 2: That has to be better.
34:24
Speaker 1: But pressure wasn't there on every single play. Perceived pressure was,
34:28
Speaker 1: and that's where things are sped up. And receivers are
34:32
Speaker 1: breaking open. Players aren't getting the football. And when you're
34:36
Speaker 1: skipping rocks on screen passes or throwing it too high
34:38
Speaker 1: for Wondell Robinson to grab and go, that gives you
34:42
Speaker 1: no chance within an offense that's about the short passing
34:44
Speaker 1: game to open up the deep passing game and where
34:48
Speaker 1: the short passing game.
34:49
Speaker 2: Is the extension of the run game.
34:50
Speaker 1: They didn't stick with the run, but the short passing
34:53
Speaker 1: game is an extension of the run, and they weren't
34:55
Speaker 1: completing those passes to help out the quarterback. He's got
34:57
Speaker 1: to help himself, and he's not doing it on the
34:59
Speaker 1: field or behind the podium to receive any type of sympathy,
35:04
Speaker 1: not just from the audience, not just from the fans
35:07
Speaker 1: or the media, but from internally, internally from the locker room.
35:11
Speaker 1: He's got to give a reason for everybody to buy
35:14
Speaker 1: in and believe, and right now, Chad, he's not doing that.
35:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I just don't. JT even said it in
35:20
Speaker 3: our YouTube chat. Someone's got to defend Cam Ward here.
35:23
Speaker 3: Come on, bring it in the chat. Who's defending Cam
35:26
Speaker 3: Ward now? The defense of Cam Ward that I keep
35:28
Speaker 3: seeing is even from Cortland Finnegan, who's responding to me
35:31
Speaker 3: on Instagram, is mainly, give the kids some more time.
35:36
Speaker 3: It's kind of the one response that you'd get. And or,
35:39
Speaker 3: but the offensive line sucks, but the organization sucks, but
35:43
Speaker 3: Two different offensive coordinators, head coach fired. He was put
35:46
Speaker 3: into an unwinnable situation with this organization. I'm not saying
35:51
Speaker 3: that a lot of those things are not true. They are.
35:54
Speaker 3: But also, going back to your point, it starts with
35:57
Speaker 3: the quarterback. I mean, it's always going to start with
36:00
Speaker 3: the quarterback, right? Head coach matters. Offensive coordinator matters. Owner matters.
36:04
Speaker 3: So all of those things matter in an NFL team.
36:06
Speaker 3: But you can't just defer to, well, everything else sucks
36:11
Speaker 3: and Cam doesn't. Cam has sucked too. All of them,
36:16
Speaker 3: everybody not good enough. And I think on the leadership
36:19
Speaker 3: part of, okay, why are the players not responding to him?
36:23
Speaker 3: It's what we talked about, right? Like it's one thing
36:26
Speaker 3: if you're the quarterback to go to a receiver separately
36:30
Speaker 3: where no one's watching and not show them up, but
36:32
Speaker 3: be like, hey man, you got to get your shit
36:34
Speaker 3: together here. We got to flatten out these routes. We
36:36
Speaker 3: work on it all the time, right? Like, let's go. Like,
36:39
Speaker 3: what do we need to do to get on the
36:40
Speaker 3: same page here? Because this ain't working. Like, we talk
36:43
Speaker 3: about it all the time, but, like, let's get it together.
36:45
Speaker 3: It's one thing to do that, and another thing to
36:47
Speaker 3: go publicly at a podium or, you know, he hasn't
36:50
Speaker 3: done this, but take to social media or something like
36:52
Speaker 3: that and be like, hey, this guy's no good. You know,
36:55
Speaker 3: this guy, I can't work with him. He's not flattening
36:58
Speaker 3: out his routes. It's not my accuracy issues. It's his. Like,
37:03
Speaker 3: he needs more help from someone from a media standpoint
37:08
Speaker 3: and how to handle these podium sessions and less– hangers
37:14
Speaker 3: on like his dad, quite frankly, and others that are
37:17
Speaker 3: reaching out to people on social media bashing them for
37:20
Speaker 3: criticizing Cam Ward. Instead of focusing on the criticism, focus
37:25
Speaker 3: on the reason for the criticism and how to help
37:27
Speaker 3: him avoid some of that criticism by unforced errors like this.
37:33
Speaker 3: And I'm sorry, but when you say things like he
37:35
Speaker 3: did after the game, when you wear a shirt that
37:37
Speaker 3: says seed on it with the definition after that game,
37:40
Speaker 3: when you're answering Paul Koharski's question that way, Hutton, these
37:43
Speaker 3: are unforced errors. And the Titans don't need any help
37:46
Speaker 3: with unforced errors. There's going to be plenty of errors
37:48
Speaker 3: throughout the season with this terrible roster and this team
37:51
Speaker 3: right now. They don't need any help with that. Cam
37:53
Speaker 3: Ward needs help.
37:55
Speaker 1: And the other part of this, too, is he's being
37:57
Speaker 1: told from the defensive tackle, this is your team. having
38:02
Speaker 1: the leader of a team be the defensive tackle, Jeffrey
38:04
Speaker 1: Simmons has been the leader. The problem is not him.
38:08
Speaker 1: He's trying to do everything he can to have everyone
38:10
Speaker 1: follow in line with his level of play and expectation.
38:14
Speaker 2: I love that.
38:15
Speaker 1: But the mentality of the quarterback must be different than
38:18
Speaker 1: the mentality of a defensive tackle trying to get after
38:21
Speaker 1: the quarterback and dominate and be a grizzly every single play.
38:26
Speaker 1: Simmons has been able to walk the walk and now
38:28
Speaker 1: talk the talk.
38:29
Speaker 2: He is the guy.
38:31
Speaker 1: But the quarterback has to be more diligent in how
38:34
Speaker 1: he goes about leading the team. The big pressure moments,
38:37
Speaker 1: the ball is in his hands every single play. Simmons
38:40
Speaker 1: is either being double teamed or, in some cases, he's
38:43
Speaker 1: being rotated out of plays now because of Salah's defense.
38:47
Speaker 2: Whatever that is, we can get to that later.
38:51
Speaker 1: It's got to be a different temperament and a different
38:53
Speaker 1: understanding of who's to blame and why from the quarterback
38:57
Speaker 1: position than a defensive lineman. It's a different mentality on
39:02
Speaker 1: the field and how you attack the position. I feel
39:05
Speaker 1: far too often it's Cam having the mindset and outlook
39:11
Speaker 1: of Simmons, which is great, but you can't be that 100%
39:15
Speaker 1: of the time. It's not on everybody else to meet
39:18
Speaker 1: your expectation or J.C. Latham, who isn't living up to
39:22
Speaker 1: his expectation as a first-round pick, that needs to be
39:25
Speaker 1: better to meet where Simmons is on a day-to-day basis. He's...
39:30
Speaker 1: That's almost like he's calling out players the way Simmons
39:33
Speaker 1: would behind the scenes. That's not how this works. And
39:37
Speaker 1: far too often there are coaches who have to just
39:39
Speaker 1: sit back and let Cam be Cam because that's the organization's,
39:43
Speaker 1: that's the face of the franchise.
39:45
Speaker 2: They signed up for this. Their job's on the line
39:46
Speaker 2: for this.
39:47
Speaker 1: And Chad, that's also the big mistake is there's no
39:51
Speaker 1: ability to mold the player who is going to stay
39:54
Speaker 1: the same week in and week out. And unfortunately, that's
39:58
Speaker 1: the way it seems with Cam Ward currently, is he's
40:01
Speaker 1: going to remain exactly the same, and exactly the same
40:03
Speaker 1: is not someone that players are going to get in
40:05
Speaker 1: line and follow right now.
40:07
Speaker 2: This is a huge week. Week one was massive.
40:11
Speaker 1: But like we mentioned earlier, the players across the league
40:14
Speaker 1: who have to have a bounce-back week, Everybody else is
40:17
Speaker 1: a leader except for Deshaun Watson in that category of
40:19
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks who need a huge week two compared to
40:22
Speaker 1: their week one.
40:23
Speaker 2: Stafford, Herbert, those guys are going to– we expect them
40:26
Speaker 2: to bounce back.
40:28
Speaker 1: Can Cam Ward have a great performance against a good
40:31
Speaker 1: football team in Philadelphia and lead his team to victory
40:34
Speaker 1: and actually help the cause instead of hurt the cause?
40:37
Speaker 1: Because until then, nobody's going to believe that Cam Ward
40:39
Speaker 1: is also following what he's preaching and following what he's
40:43
Speaker 1: saying until he actually– does it consistently. It's more inconsistent,
40:49
Speaker 1: which is the only thing that's consistent about Graham Ward.
40:51
Speaker 1: We've seen flashes of good play. We have yet to
40:55
Speaker 1: see instances of great play.
40:57
Speaker 2: We haven't seen that. He hasn't been great.
41:00
Speaker 1: So every excuse can be thrown out there about coaching changes, offense,
41:04
Speaker 1: new receivers coming in, whatever. This is the number one
41:09
Speaker 1: overall pick, and with that comes expectations. It's time to
41:12
Speaker 1: put up some performances that meet the bar of stepping
41:16
Speaker 1: forward and towards that expectation. Instead, the good performances just
41:22
Speaker 1: keep them where they are because of the bad performances
41:24
Speaker 1: where you're skipping rocks, you're getting sacked, and you're pointing
41:27
Speaker 1: fingers on the sideline.
41:29
Speaker 3: It's a great point, Hutton. I brought up Aaron Rodgers earlier.
41:33
Speaker 3: In the comparison of Jeffrey Simmons and Cam Ward, you
41:36
Speaker 3: can't always have multiple guys like that. There can only
41:40
Speaker 3: be one Aaron Rodgers in a locker room.
41:42
Speaker 2: You don't need your.
41:42
Speaker 3: Defensive captain being the exact same as Aaron Rodgers in
41:45
Speaker 3: the way he acts and talks to players and all that.
41:48
Speaker 3: You have to have some different personality. Some of the
41:51
Speaker 3: best teams have functioned well because the leaders on the
41:54
Speaker 3: team are a little bit different from a personality standpoint.
41:56
Speaker 3: Not everybody can lead the same way because their play
42:00
Speaker 3: doesn't reflect the respect of that level of leadership. So
42:03
Speaker 3: you have to go about it your own way. You
42:05
Speaker 3: also can't be fake. You can't be phony. I don't
42:07
Speaker 3: think Cam Ward is fake or phony. I just think
42:10
Speaker 3: that he is coming across as not very smart in
42:13
Speaker 3: how he's going about it, and I think players are
42:15
Speaker 3: seeing that, and certainly media and fans are seeing it.
42:17
Speaker 3: Wes Patrick in the YouTube chat says, Unfortunately, the Titans
42:20
Speaker 3: organization has already designated him as captain and leader of
42:23
Speaker 3: the franchise. Warren Moon's number one, the seed shirt. Come on.
42:27
Speaker 3: It's the organization's fault for crowning him without proof. I
42:31
Speaker 3: think that there's a lot of truth to that because
42:34
Speaker 3: they needed to crown someone as they're building a new stadium.
42:36
Speaker 3: And they decided the number one overall pick at quarterback
42:38
Speaker 3: was the guy to crown. Jay Carey says the whole
42:42
Speaker 3: Cam experiment has been a disaster. He's 3-15 as a starter.
42:46
Speaker 3: One of those wins was a Cardinals gift when the
42:48
Speaker 3: guy fumbled the ball into the end zone. He has
42:52
Speaker 3: the worst press conferences and has no self-awareness. All those
42:56
Speaker 3: things are true right now. I mean, I can't argue
42:58
Speaker 3: with anything Wes or Jay Carey or anyone else is
43:01
Speaker 3: saying about Cam Ward right now, given the results. and
43:06
Speaker 3: given his public reaction to those results. The public reaction
43:10
Speaker 3: isn't introspective, I need to figure out what works better
43:14
Speaker 3: for me and go play better. It's always outward. It's, oh,
43:19
Speaker 3: how would you rate my performance, Jared Stillman? Oh, well,
43:23
Speaker 3: the tide's going to turn and you're all going to see. Oh,
43:25
Speaker 3: how dare you question me on that next question instead
43:28
Speaker 3: of answering the question. It's never about, you know what,
43:32
Speaker 3: the one time he said, We ass, which I said
43:35
Speaker 3: I want to hear a little bit more I ass
43:37
Speaker 3: this year out of him. Someone else in our YouTube chat,
43:39
Speaker 3: and I want to credit the person properly, Chris in
43:42
Speaker 3: the YouTube chat says, Titans complete ass.
43:46
Speaker 2: There you go.
43:47
Speaker 3: There's a new moniker for the Tennessee Titans.
43:50
Speaker 1: Hey, last year, J.C. Latham admitted to this. They're not
43:53
Speaker 1: helping him up off the field, off the turf. You know,
43:57
Speaker 1: Salah pointed this out. He said we can't be anybody's bitch.
44:01
Speaker 1: That was Latham. Latham's also part of the Dyson piece
44:04
Speaker 1: where he's trying to get people fired up too.
44:06
Speaker 3: Let me say something about that offensive line too. They
44:09
Speaker 3: suck too.
44:10
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
44:11
Speaker 3: They ass as well, and they're spending a lot of
44:13
Speaker 3: money on that offensive line. I'm thinking there's not much
44:15
Speaker 3: return on investment so far from that line.
44:18
Speaker 4: J.C.
44:18
Speaker 3: Latham had one good quote, and it was before they
44:21
Speaker 3: played a game. They went out there and they got
44:23
Speaker 3: mollywhopped by the New York Jets.
44:25
Speaker 2: You're right. Therein lies the common sense answer, though.
44:29
Speaker 1: If Ward puts it on himself, then everyone else will
44:33
Speaker 1: make the excuse for him about the offensive line. And instead,
44:37
Speaker 1: by pointing out the flattening routes and everything, then you
44:41
Speaker 1: have to point out what Ward's not doing. And what
44:43
Speaker 1: he's not doing is making plays, making big plays. A
44:46
Speaker 1: lot of quarterbacks have been around some bad offensive lines.
44:49
Speaker 1: Generally speaking, the star quarterback makes everyone around him that
44:52
Speaker 1: much better.
44:54
Speaker 2: And right now, that is not happening. That is not happening.
44:58
Speaker 1: With the Tennessee Titans as they take on the Philadelphia
45:00
Speaker 1: Eagles this coming week. Coming up, we have one big
45:03
Speaker 1: thing on every NFL game. We'll tell you about the
45:06
Speaker 1: one big thing to watch out for with the Eagles
45:08
Speaker 1: and Titans and the top games, including the big one
45:11
Speaker 1: coming up on Thursday Night Football. That's straight ahead here
45:13
Speaker 1: on Happy Withrow.