Latest / The Huddle / 10/01/26 - Hour 1

Transcript

10/01/26 - Hour 1 · The Huddle

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome in to the Thursday edition of the Huddle Fox
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Sports Radio, Wisconsin, 920 Milwaukee, 1070 Madison, everywhere on the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: iHeart app, streaming live when Armin hits the button on Facebook, YouTube,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and X. I'm Drew Olson. The band is back together.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Bill Schmidt back in his chair after a couple of days.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Of rainy R & R. Hello, Billy. Time to get spooky.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: How are you guys feeling into the first of Spooktober
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: here on this beautiful, rainy, wet Thursday?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, man.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Feels like scary season. That's for sure. It is. The
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: weather's gross. And it's supposed to be a nice weekend, though.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: There we go. For Bucky's homecoming and for Brewer's baseball.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: See, I definitely need to get Armand's gauge on the
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: weather because that's how I judge if it's nice or not,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: what the approval rating is of the weather in here.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: So that's good. That means that we'll be rolling in here.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I like that.
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, rainy is never great, but, I mean,
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: it is what it is this time of year. You know,
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: the leaves are about to turn. We're about to– But listen,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: if we do get a nice weather weekend, I'd rather.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Take the rain during the week than on the weekend,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: that's for sure.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: And if we can get a little sunshine, it doesn't
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: have to be hot, you know, once we get October,
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: but I'm always reminded this time of year as my
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: anniversary is tomorrow when we had like an 80 degree
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: day at my wedding, which was kind of unexpected. You know,
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Billy always talks about October weddings, like what are you
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: doing out there with October weddings? And I think you
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: have a point, especially for sports, but it's also like
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: you don't plan on it being that warm, but when
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: it is, you get thrown off. So There's my 30-second
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: take on the weather there for you.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: That's well put. All right, there we go. Ding, ding.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: We're off and running. Off and running.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So miss a little, miss a lot in this current
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: age when the news comes at you. Fire hose. Bill
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: takes a couple days off to clean up the balance
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: sheet of those vacation days availability, personal days, spirit days,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: a little load management, a little family time in the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: middle of the week. a little time to do some
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: honey dues, you know, get some errands done, be productive.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's nice of you to give me that kind
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: of credit.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: And then the Packers just going holy over overturn their
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: offensive line team and bring in a whole bunch of veterans.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: A hundred years of experience.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: And how rude the one time that you want to
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: talk about the offensive line, the one guy that likes
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: it is gone. Hey man, it is had a lot
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of time to stew and sit and think about what
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: this all ultimately meant and felt like. And, um, Drew,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: I was very excited to see Lankan Tomlinson, a 34-year-old guy,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: come on in here. Obviously, we've been talking about the
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: former Badger and Viking, Wisconsin Lutheran Viking, Kevin Zeitler a
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: couple of different times.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Since the first show after the first game. We brought
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: everybody up, yeah. And, I mean, Nags and I sat
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: up on the perch.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: I want to say it was the second day in
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: pads and mentioned it. He asked Brian Gutekunst, about Kevin
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Zeitler by name during training camp at one point said, like,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: I would be tempted to go and get Kevin Zeitler
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: after watching certain things on family night. And I think
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Goody laughed and some fun. And there's another one in
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: McKay Beckton who's only 27. So he's the spring chicken
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: out of the group, but it's a hell of an
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: admission of guilt of the fumbling of the off season
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: and the setup and the build to then three weeks
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: in and try and somehow reconstruct a plane in midair
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: that while you give credit and absolutely do. And I'm
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: glad that at least there was the realization before the
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: inevitable landing.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: That's not so comfortable and, and crashy.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: At least you try to do something with it, but
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Lord knows these, these moves all could have been done
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: three weeks ago, let alone three months ago, instead of
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: three games in where you sit at one and two.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: The process is what we're going to pick apart. And
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the process is you have to recognize you have a problem.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: You have to admit you have the problem, which is
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: that's where the step where it gets lost.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Anybody who's ever seen football at all can watch tape
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: of the Packers and go, oh, what the hell? The
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: offensive line's an abomination. And then the Packers had to
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: admit it to themselves, and then they admit it publicly
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: by addressing it. And now the admission from admission to addressing.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I think they did about as well as they could.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: We can talk about all the reasons they got to
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: where they had to make this.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So it's like, is this, it's, it's obviously it's desperation.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Basically it's desperation because we, they still see this as
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: a Superbowl caliber team on the land and the landscape
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: that they did a month ago.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: And they're with.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Jacobs and Parsons seemingly on the cusp maybe of On
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the cusp of maybe being almost ready to come back.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: At some point being closer. Yes.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: So then, yeah, that'll be transformational. And they had to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: address that.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Did they?
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: They did the best they could with what's out. We've
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: been lobbying for Zeitler. He is a plug and play,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you know, as long as you can keep him healthy.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Now that's the thing. That's going to be the age
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: without a camp. He's never.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: You know, never held out. So he's, he's been working out.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: It's not going to take him long. No, I think,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: but how long can he go? And if he ramps
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: up quickly, is he more susceptible to injury at his age?
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I don't know. He's incredible specimen. He doesn't, hasn't missed
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: many snaps and say 14,000 snaps might say otherwise, but yeah.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: And then that is.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Like, and then will he be high functioning at the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: end of the season? Because the Packers prefer guys between
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: 25 and 29 when they're at their athletic peak. They generally,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: as a matter of course, don't go get guys north
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: of 30 or 35, you know?
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: And instead to my count with a Javon Hargrave, a
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Benjamin St. Juiced on his fourth contract, but I think
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: he's under 30. You'd bring in, pardon me, Zaire Franklin
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: would also be over the age of 30. now two
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: more offensive linemen over the age of 30. This is
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: not what Brian Gutekunst wants to do, right? So, like,
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: as much as, and as you start looking through, and
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: it's a lot easier to pinpoint, or you can get
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: the splashy ones of, well, Christian Gonzalez was picked five
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: picks after Lucas Van Ness, or Jackson Smith and Jigba
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: was four picks after Lucas Van Ness. The either easier
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: one that you can look at is, say, at one
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: point during the expected championship window, You signed five 30-plus-year-old
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: free agents.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: That would speak to the fact that maybe the loading
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: up of the roster has not been to the degree
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: it needed to be. You expected or thought it was.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: But I am right there with you, Drew. At some point,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: like hitting the crisis button and hitting the panic button,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: all of us realized it was right there and lit up.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: It does take some intestinal fortitude to actually hit the
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: thing and admit the problem. Now we'll see where it
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: goes because rubber will meet the road. The health of
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: these dudes, it is always the number one conversation in
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: pro football, but it becomes a larger one when you
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: sign a 34-year-old and a 36-year-old, and you hope and
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: hope that by the time you're playing the most meaningful games,
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: which they've mentioned a number of times they're building to,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: this is all building towards... that you're with your best group,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: because if you build it and think the first three preseason,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: first three regular season games and extension of the preseason, well,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: then yesterday was cut down day.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: As much as the start of September was the actual
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: NFL cut down day. The Packers said, we need to
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: see and get these guys actual real live reps because
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: they're not getting any in the preseason. It doesn't mimic
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: of what and mirror what our development curve is doing.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: They realized that curve was a flat line. So there
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: was no development. We instantly are going to rebuild it. Now,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: as Tom Hallion once said, our asses are in the jackpot.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: And I would think this throws the personnel department squarely
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: into the jackpot.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Because as much as it is.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: a move to get yourself afloat, I think it's a
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: massive admission of guilt as to what they messed up
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: on throughout the offseason.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: And that's not easy to do.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, let's be honest, a lot of guys in
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: that position will not want to, by making those moves, saying,
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: all right, well, we have to swallow our ego and
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: say we're trying to do what we can to make
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: this team better. Understanding you're putting your target on your
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: back saying, wow, we're the idiots here. We have no clothes. Like,
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: this is what we had to do. But you have
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: to sometimes, you know, you have to take the job
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: you can get if you're unemployed and the Packers... have
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: to take what they can get right now if they're desperate,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: and they were desperate for a meal.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: We went from unemployment to debt hungry.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: If you're serious about trying to make your team better,
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: you have to put yourself in that position.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: We're going to try and do it.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: A lot of teams won't do it. Think of Joe Alexander.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: Think about old Bucs moves.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: He was cut early.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Almost never will you see a GM cut his own
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: pick that early, but there's a time when he said, well,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: sometimes if you have to admit yourself And humiliate yourself
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: to do it. You're doing it for the betterment of
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: the team.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: And we're doing, you know, you're fixing the plane while
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: it's in the air. We're doing the autopsy while the
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: patient's still alive.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: True.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Very true.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: And we're like, how did we get here? The pathology shows.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: But if we asked, if you ask the personnel people, well,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: we got them good guys. The coaches just didn't do
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: anything with them. They didn't develop them. And if you
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: ask the coaches, look at the groceries they're expecting us
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to give, you know, to make chicken salad out of these,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: you know. Blake, Blake, Blakey Blake groceries. This is the
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: soup that we're sitting with. So that's the thing to me.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: And now weird things come to your mind. It's like, yeah,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: these guys are older and they might look great. And
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: once they get gelling and will they all stay healthy?
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: How many snaps will they be together? And the new
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: guys and how will they mix them in? And we
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: all know that continuity and cohesion is so important on
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the offensive line. How long for it to gel? Then
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: does the dynamic change or do they look better when
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Jacobs arrives again?
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: All those things came in mind.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: And then I thought, well, yeah, they got old guys,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: but then now the schedule becomes even like, you don't
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: think of it, but the schedule at the end of
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: the season when they're home so much, it's like, oh,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: that's going to make it easier on the older bones
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: that you're not flying around, you know, cross country flights
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and stuff. That's going to, that might end up being
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: a factor in their favor.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Well, Drew, it's a long season. It's still, it's, it's
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: longer than it has ever been. How do you shorten it?
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Start three weeks in.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Right. So like I do. Yeah. I think there's something.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: To like Kevin Zeitler doesn't need six weeks of training camp.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Kevin Zeitler is kind of like, though he didn't play here.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: He's kind of like Harrison Smith. Like bring him on in.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: He'll be ready to roll. Yeah.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Like, well, and Harrison Smith was in the scheme and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: knew everybody and all that and knows where everything is.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: And Zeitler's that's a day.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: I think he'll, yeah, he'll pick up 40 plays within
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: two days. And yeah, the quote unquote ramp up, uh,
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: that to me felt like Wednesday to Thursday. Like I
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: would be shocked if he's not in there.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I was actually, um, I actually was telling my, my
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: wife that it's like, he's very, we'll see, you know,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: he got, he got in and first practice was Wednesday. Maybe,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: You think he'll be hot for Sunday? I don't think
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: he'll be up on Sunday. I don't think he'll be
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: up on Sunday, but I think he's on the starting line.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I think he's running through the tunnel against the Bears.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, 100%.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: This is for Chicago and Dallas in weeks five and six.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: And there's another part of you might have failed the
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: first test, but you can't win this game. You can't
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: win this game on the road against Jalen Daniels, who's
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: the first undrafted rookie quarterback to start from Kansas since
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: the 70s.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Or whatever it was I was reading yesterday. You can't
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: win this game.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: You don't deserve to have the problems of ramping up
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: Kevin Zeitler and Lincoln Tomlinson.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: To get ready. Tomlinson probably has the best chance of
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: going this week, right?
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Like Becton wasn't in a camp. You don't know necessarily
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: how healthy he is. So he might be ready to
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: go by Chicago or Dallas, but Hey man, Jagger Burton,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Anthony Belton.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: What's up?
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Good opportunity to make your probably final impression for now
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: in 2026. One of those guys is absolutely still going
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: to play, right? Cause you, The big elephant in the
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: room is not the 360-pound tackle that they signed in
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Mekhi Becton.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: He's a huge human being.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: But the health question that we mentioned there, these dudes
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: are also still going to, at some point, most likely
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: factor in. So it is, as much as it's a business...
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: and you got to move on and it's not good enough.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: So let's, let's get rolling. You also have to do
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: a delicate bet. There has to be a delicate balance
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: of not losing the young players that you are going
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: to have to probably count on a Jagger Burton or
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: an Anthony Belton at some point during, during the year.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Cause right now you've been told, Hey, thanks, but no, thanks.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Jacob monk, not good enough. And, and fair because of
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: how they performed on the field. But y'all are going
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: to be now looking around that offensive line room, and
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: Luke Butkus has an interesting conversation of, wow, we were
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: all hanging out for six months, and now three days later,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: it's a different squad that rolled on in here. They
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: didn't sign these guys to not have them play football.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Jacob Monk's one of the fascinating guys because I saw
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: him have some good moments on the field, both practice
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: field and couple, and he played a lot in that
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: last preseason game.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: But he didn't play a lot before that. He didn't play.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: In the game when a bunch of guys got hurt,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: he's the only offensive line in the playoff game.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Was that Philly? Yeah, Philly game.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Philly game. He didn't even get off of the bench.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And then there were times, and you could hear it
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: in the coaches.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: He was.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: He had like a Bo Melton effect. They're like, oh,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: we love the way he gets after it. You know,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: he would love the, love his, love his motor, love
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the kid. I hope he'd love to have him date
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: my daughter.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: But when he got on the field, he couldn't block.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: It's a big issue.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: He was great on the practice field. He's a great dude.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: We love the way he approaches his job. He's just
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: not very good at doing this job.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: We love his approach though. His attitude through the roof.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: And where does that get you in the NFL?
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Not, not, it gets you, it gets you into the
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: not for long category. And that's why like, As much
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: as we've talked about it, then if they're living it,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: I give at least a little bit of a hat
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: tip and have to at least acknowledge it. They said,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: first three games, we got to see if the last
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: three years of development has done anything. So we have
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: to let the dude play. Even though we might know
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: it will be very ugly, if you see signs of growth, cool.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Then dude that we have started to nurture for a while,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Uh,
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: instead they then had to make the very difficult conversation
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: and decision of, yeah, that's just not.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Good enough now.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: And here's the other part because Aaron banks and Jacob monk,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: both out of practice yesterday, right?
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Both out of practice monks healthy. Is he starting on Sunday?
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: I mean, I know that they probably would.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Like him to. I think they would probably like him to.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: And again, five days might not be enough time for
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: Tomlinson to get in here. He's at least been in
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: a camp. He's probably in more football shape and should
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: be ready to go.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: The question with me is, okay, so take him on
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: fifth round pick out of Duke, right?
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Yep. Center as well.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: And as a center, move him back to center and
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: put him between two experienced guards. Is that the best
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: case or is that even worth trying? Because then is
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Sean Ryan become the swing guard or does Sean Ryan
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: start at left guard.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: With Zeitler on the other side or how.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Do they have depth in some options, but is your,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: it's if, Jacob Monk was a higher draft pick.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: There might be more urgency to re-implement him in there.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: To squeeze something out of the bar rag there. Yeah,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: I'm with you.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, it's like, well, okay, we tried that and it
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: didn't work.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Fifth round pick, you tried. I think, again, do I
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: expect him to get cut within the next three days?
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: No.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: My first thought when they started making these signs was, well,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Jacob Monk's got to get released.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just, I don't know. I don't know if
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: you do.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: You need a healthy young body that you've got some
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: investment in.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: On September 1st, during cut-down day, Goody said, we were
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: more worried about people poaching our guys.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I don't even worry about that anymore.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: That's one you got to wear around your neck. You're
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: more worried about them poaching our guys. We weren't necessarily
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: looking at anybody.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know what you were watching.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Might be able to release him and get him into
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: the practice squad.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: I always wonder if these guys 100% always believe the
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: things they're saying or are they just trying to make
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: themselves believe?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: It's a hard thing.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: I think he'll get through it. Well, that's my thing.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: But you mentioned that Philadelphia game. Jacob Monk, the only
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: active offensive lineman that doesn't play in the game. Yeah,
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: and a bunch of guys were going down. They lost
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: two starters. And then they lost two starters, and then
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: in the offseason, they willingly lost other starters. They willingly
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: let Josh Myers go, who got hurt in that game.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: They willingly, maybe the year before, or was that that
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: year where they let John Runyon go? And now both
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: are starting in New York. Both are good NFL starting
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: offensive linemen. And maybe there's a confidence turned to arrogance,
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: and at some point you get bit with it.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: We can just do this.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: We just turn fifth round picks into good starting offensive
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: linemen every single time. And sure, we did it with
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: John Runyon. We'll do it again. And then last year,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: after you almost, I shouldn't say almost, you benched the
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: guy in Arizona and Sean Ryan, he's the only one
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: that you end up keeping because he was the only
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: one left in the cabinet. So it's a, as much
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: as the admission of guilt might feel like just 2026,
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: I think this is, you've built the last two to
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: three years to get to this point with, uh, with
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: that unit up front. And now you're hoping that you
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: can really get your bacon saved right there on the
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Blackstone because he cooked it maybe a little too hot, a.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Little bit too much interesting stuff. And then in addition
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: to all the churn on the offensive line comes the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: news that Jane reads out for the season season ending surgery, uh.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Not career ending. Hopefully not.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: You're threatening when you've got a neck problem.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. They said about Nick Collins, too, the next day. Exactly.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: That concerns me, yeah. So, you know, it's definitely a concern.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: He's an important piece.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Now they're going to probably face Sky Moore into a
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: lot of that stuff that they had envisioned for Jaden
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Reed and, like, get.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Orbit motions and handoffs and, you know, flanking him out
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: and moving him around.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: And Armin's favorite guy, hopefully coming off IR soon, would
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: be Savion Williams. And he'll get implemented in there. But, yeah,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Sky Moore's got some juice. So I would anticipate Drew
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: 23 gets the first crack at it.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: But, I mean, also one's healthy. You know Paul Melton's
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: going to find his way in. Got to.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: So we've got that to talk about today. And we'll
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: be exploring all of this in more detail tonight at
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the Thursday Night Huddle at Pottawatomie Sportsbook in the Annex.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: It's our doubleheader day.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I cannot wait. 5 o'clock club meeting in the morning
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: and in the afternoon.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Be great to see some 5 o'clock clubbers at the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: 5 o'clock club at Pottawatomie.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Just saying.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: We'll have the phrase that pays that can get you
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: a $ 10 gift card.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: It might be a good night to be at the
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: Pottawatomie Sportsbook. I mean, we're leading into, yes, Thursday night football.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Rodgers against the Browns, but Phillies against the Braves.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: What a good night. Braves for a win or go home.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: The other three series ended in baseball, including... The Chicago
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Cubs going down. Padres coming to Milwaukee for a 7.30
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: date Saturday night.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: We'll talk all about that in the back end of
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the program.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: We've got Hunter Baumgart, our boots on the ground baseball
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: beat guy, and then Bill Schroeder from Brewers TV to
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: look ahead to the swinging Friars against the Brew crew
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: this weekend.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: The fun starts. Padres steamrolled the Cubs.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: As joyous as it was to see the Cubs get
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: knocked out with barely a whimper, I don't think they
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: led at all in the two games.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Uh, no, they didn't.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: It was not, uh, it's a little daunting seeing the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: way that the Padre, but you're one Ms. Game away
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: from a slump. That's the nature of playoff baseball.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: And that's how.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: We're going to roll into this. And, uh, the Pottawatomie
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: sports book. We'll talk about lines later on. They're expecting
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: a dominating Ms. Performance right out of the gates, but
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: they've won 20 of 26 since the month of September started.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Goodness gracious. Let's get a bucket of cold water. And
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: the only team close to them, the Brew Crew. Come
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: on now. Let's bring it. Champions fear no one.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: You're in the Thursday edition of the Huddle, Fox Sports.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Radio, Wisconsin.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Rehab starts in the minor leagues, so they know one another.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Really, really well. He curves, strike three. He's going to
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: challenge here, but they look like that pitch got the corner.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: That's a tough challenge, guys, in the first inning, first
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: battle of the game to lose that.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: That is a failed challenge by Pete Crow Armstrong.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Cubs... What were they outscored, 12-1? That sounds right.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: They got their one run on a base hit up
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: the middle by Nico Horner, who I think was the
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: only guy to do anything on offense for the Cubbies.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: I listened to PCA last night or this morning from
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: last night, and he was as dejected as you possibly
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: could be.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: He said, I don't know, you watch the games. Look
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: at the box score. Not like I did anything.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: Over.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: At least you admit it, man. Yeah. But I got
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: bad news for you. He's not the first. He definitely
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: won't be the last MVP to have a quick in
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: and out. And Drew, it.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Is easiest said than done, but you need your stars
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: to play like stars to win these October games. Brewers
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: have seen it a lot of times and Pete Crow
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Armstrong is not the first and won't be the last
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: MVP to go quiet onto a postseason game. That is a,
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: that's one that, Tale as old as time.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: It's hashtag baseball.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: We talked about it at length yesterday when Dobe was
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: in here and Hunter. It was that you have the highest,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: most prolific regular season offense go into a series and.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Got, what, eight hits? Mm-hmm. Eight hits in one run
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: and 18 innings? Escort it out quietly.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: How many times have we talked about it? You need
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: your best guys to do things on those days. And
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: they played in a really tough environment.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Man, that is tough. That's a big deal. That is
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: just a crazy, crazy park there.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: You could hear the energy right away in the first inning,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: and that was a first-inning challenge. And the way it
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: set momentum up again for that crowd, it's going to
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: be very, very tough.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: 19-3, I think, since September 5th.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: The Padres have been incredibly hot, so the Brewers had
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: their work cut out for them with this first-round opponent.
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: If they make it all the way to the promised
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: land where we want them to be, they're going to
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: have to pass... through some of the toughest, toughest opponents
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: you can really ask for.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: And that's how you win championships.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: The home field advantage drew might be something might not be.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: I will say it definitely is gotta be harder. It's
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: gotta be something different playing in that atmosphere. Then the
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: one that I watched have to go into at, at
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Dakin park, they're calling it nowadays in, in downtown Houston, where,
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, they're booing my man walking off the Mount rightfully.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: So he didn't even get out of the first inning.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: But that place was quiet, empty, and mean towards their.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Own crowd yesterday. Let's be honest. Houston fans really didn't
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: believe in their team.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: And, of course, when they put out that performance right
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: in front of them, it sure didn't help. But it's
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: a 180 in San Diego. I mean, they believe in
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: this team. The San Diego fans are raucous. They're into it.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: They're packed, obviously. It's a packed house. And you're right, Billy.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: What a difference it was in Houston.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Tatis, Merrill, Milwaukee's favorite player, Manny Machado. Man, they're good.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: My favorite. Yes, sir.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: They're a good team. They're one of the few teams
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that won a season series against the Brewers this year, 4-2. Yeah,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: that's right. But it's supposed to be.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Hard, right? They're hot. That's it. They're hot for now. Yeah,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: that's the thing.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: They're hot for now, Drew, and I like that you
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: said it that way because San Diego also has the one–
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: they have rolling for them. One thing that you see
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: a lot of different teams do the Brewers best team
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: in baseball all year long, San Diego best team in
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: baseball since September started. But since what, like maybe June
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: is when the swoon really ended for them. Tatis didn't
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: hit a Homer for the first, like two months of
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: the year and ended with a two 80 average 25
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: bombs and ended up kind of being the guy that
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: you expect him to be. And they've had it all
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: crammed into like four months. So They've got all the positive,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: good vibes rolling that you can. One thing that quiets
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: that down is Miz in an excited Brewers crowd, and
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: then you string together three hits.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: That'll quiet that place down a little bit.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: So the Cubs didn't have an extra base hit in
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the series until the ninth inning of Game 2.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Wow. Nico Horner doubled. And this was one of the
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: best offenses in baseball.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: And Crow Armstrong and Bregman combined to go 0 for
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: 15 in two games.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a recipe to lose them. Good night. Good morning,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: good evening, good night. So Horner had four of their
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: eight hits in the series.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: My goodness.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's wild.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's getting escorted out quickly. And I thought about
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: being the internet meme of my man in the picture,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: just the dude in the tux fixing the.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Tie at the funeral.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: I'll do that after the Brewers get past San Diego
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: because you didn't even have the chance to spike the
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: football last night.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And then the Red Sox got vanquished.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Outscored 18-2 in two games, the biggest, most lopsided margin
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: in this two-game round since they instituted it.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: And I don't necessarily like being that guy, Drew, but
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: I think it was last night.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: In game one, they pulled Tooley. Is that how you
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: pronounce his name? Yeah, Tooley. Sweet mustache.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: They pull him before he was going to face Ben Rice.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: And Miller comes in and quickly gives one up to
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: the right field bleachers. Pretty sure the exact same thing
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: happened last night.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: They yanked, they yanked.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Sonny gray, who was dancing around some trouble. And a
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: Miller cat gave it up to, I believe it was
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Bellinger who leaned back and put that thing into the bleacher.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: That's a tough fact. It was a little upset, a
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: little salty. He did not look at him. He was upset.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: He said, how can you pull me after 70 pitches?
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: I'm the best pitcher through three times with lineup in baseball.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: That's just a fact.
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: Ooh, I'm a highly successful National Football League coach. He
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: says it's beyond debate. I don't know how he could
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: pull me, and he definitely wasn't happy. It just shows
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: you how quickly things can end in this game.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Two things can be true. The playoffs is a new season.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: It's a clean slate. What happened during the 162 kind
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: of gets wiped away, such as the Brewers going 7-0
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: against the Dodgers, meaning what?
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: They get swept 0-4.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, The Cubs slump started, well,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: it kind of started when the Brewers took, you know.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I would totally agree. They kind of like squashed their hopes.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: But then they, you know, and they were in a
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: swoon and then they kind of rose up and they
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: won the, they punched their ticket. But as my pal
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Bob Nightingale pointed out, when Nico Horner got that run
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: scoring single last night to knock in their only run
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of the series, that snapped a two for 66 streak
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: with runners in scoring position in the previous eight games. Yeah,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: there was a lot of questions after August. I remember
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the Brewers when they were at their most brutal and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: they were so tough to watch and they couldn't get
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: a hit with runs, couldn't get the runs in, couldn't score.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: They were still winning games, but they couldn't get runs in.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: That was maybe a rough week or something. One of
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: their stretches when they went 3-7 in a 10-game stretch
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: or something.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Sounds about right.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: They couldn't score, and we were ripping them, but 2
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: for 66?
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Game of streaks. That is a wild close. Offense is contagious.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: So is slumping, and that's why.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: In the snap of a finger, the Padres could come
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: here and the mojo could go bye-bye. And if they
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: go back to San Diego down 0-2, that crowd can
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: only help you so much.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it can only do so much. And the thing is,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: you don't let them have a lead into the eighth inning.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: They don't get to deploy their biggest weapon.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: And that's it. That's the thing.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: And the thing is with the Cubs, but the same
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: thing happened last year. The Brewers took their week off.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: They come out, put up six in the first inning,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: didn't they, in game one against the Cubs?
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: They cruise through game two and there, then they went,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of filled their socks a little bit.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: That's the experience that will be pivotal to me.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: It's like at worst as it's not really groundbreaking, a
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: hot take of sports radio, but at worst you believe
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee with a one, one split in, in your right
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: in the blueprint to win a five gamer. Even then
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: you're kind of at a disadvantage.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, big time. Yeah. You don't have to wrestle.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: But you know, if you hold serve going into that cauldron,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Can't be much worse than what they experienced last year
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: when they were haranguing Freddie Peralta and like everybody, the
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: whole Brewers team looked rattled.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Well, I was going to say, and Quinn Priester walked
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: up there and you could, I could see the fear
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: in his eyes from 90 miles away.
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: So whoever gets the rock, whether it's, you know, the
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: affable Bobby Gasser or Dustin Mayer, whoever gets that rock
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: in game three, or even if it's a bullpen day
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is, that, You're going to be going
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: into it there, and they know that, though, because they.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Were just there last year.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and Drew, I think that's a really, really good point.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Murph talked about it every time he could into a
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: microphone about how much of a hornet's nest that was
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: they walked into at Wrigley Field last year. He's like,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: you guys understand how tough that was. I don't know
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: you guys understand how tough that was for a young team. Well,
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: now they understand how tough it is to go play
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: playoff baseball on the road in a hostile environment. Will
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: it factor in? Hopefully it helps out. I mean, Bobby
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: Gasser came in and cleaned up that blowout in game.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Four, I think, down in Wrigley last year. So he's
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: had the opportunity.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: I'm really interested to see if it's Dustin May because
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: this is the one part where maybe some familiarity is
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: a factor.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's not.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: He's pitched in San Diego a number of times, right?
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Being a former Dodger, that atmosphere, that building is not
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: going to be foreign to him at all. And I
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: kind of like the chances.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Two games is the epitome of the small sample, right?
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: And the stats from two games can be misleading. Like
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: we said, the Cubs did eight hits in two games
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: and scored one run in two games. This is the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: most productive offense in baseball.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: But ops leaders in mlb as.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: My pal uh robert stanbury only the third aka buzzy
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: from baltimore buster only pointed out during the regular season
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the yankees like hitting with two strikes is hard and
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: it's hard to be productive the yankees batters in the
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: regular season hitting with two strikes had a 153 average
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Two games against the Red Sox, they hit.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: 364.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: It's like they know what's coming. Like, the scouting was
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that good, or they just, for two games, were locked in.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: The lefty against lefty platoon generally reduces the productivity of
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: left-handed hitters facing left-handed pitchers.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: The Yankees hit like. 500 against lefties. They're lefty on lefties.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: They're raking. And there's no point where we're going to— Now,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: is that sustainable? Maybe, but— It looked a little flukish
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: to me.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Well, and that's the fun part about the baseball playoffs, though.
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: The fluky things can carry you for three weeks or
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: a month into a ride that you never forget.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: That's right. And we spend so much mental energy and analysis.
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: Trying to figure out what the secret sauce is in
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: the playoffs, and there often isn't one. The secret sauce
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: is your guys have to make those plays in those moments,
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: or they don't, and that's just what's going to decide it.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, you talk about power, power plays. Well, the
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: Cubs led the NL in home runs. It didn't play
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: when they didn't have them. Yeah, you talk about the
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: splits there. It's just a small sample, and that's the
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: way baseball goes in these small playoff situations.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Do you like this one better? Do you like the
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: three games better than the old one game that they had?
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: I did.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: The one game was unfair because if say you're the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: White Sox or something, you play on the road, your
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: fans don't get a game and it's like, yeah, it
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: kind of sucks. But the same thing, you can get
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: eliminated in three without coming back.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Without coming home.
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: But it is a little more fair than to put
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: it on one game. But at the same time. I
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: didn't mind the fact of like, you're watching four game
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: sevens across baseball to start the playoffs.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: It's like, let's get a bunch of game sevens. So
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: it does emphasize the importance of getting the buy too.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: There are folks like you can't make that first round
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: of five gamer. And cause then the buy becomes like a,
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: an albatross. Then it becomes the college football playoff buy
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: where you don't want it too long.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: And then the, you know, you could say, I've heard
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of people say, well, winning the V the
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: division should get you a buy and just add another
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: wild card. team and let them play it and give
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: all three division winners first.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: Round then you have the astros who didn't deserve anything
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: even though they won well.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: There's gonna be a losing team in the nfl deserve
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: to host a playoff game because they won the division
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: i say no they do every year though but you
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: know what's the reward for winning the division if you
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: have to play in the wild card round because i
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: gotta be honest with you the one game was the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I thought it was the greatest thing that's ever been.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, it was fun. I thought it was so cool.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: So until the Brewers lost in Washington.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: Until that ball went right underneath Trent Grisham's leg.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: I didn't love it as much, but Hey.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: Man, it gives and takes that game seven instantly to
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: start sets. No, there's no better tenor and no better
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: way to start involved.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: And then in essence, we did get that too. Cause
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: you know, people forget.
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: The Brewers lost that one gamer. Well, they also, uh,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: they beat, They won game 163, right? And then didn't
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: have to play one of those one games. Kind of like.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: In essence, that was a one-game race. 163 is, yeah.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: And then 2018 was the first test run of this
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: three-game series. He got two games at home for the Cubs.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: They lost 163. Then they lost the wildcard game to
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: the Rockies, and their season was done by Wednesday.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: That was just it. Yeah.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: And as I say, and people will forget this, and
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: I will remind people no matter what happens, you win
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: the series, you don't play.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: The Brewers are 1-0 in the playoffs right now.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: They didn't spray champagne and put plastic over lockers and
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: hand out T-shirts, but they won a series already.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: They won a playoff series. That's the overriding theme for me.
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, when you watch these series and how much
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: can happen irregularly in 48 hours, you need to just.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: Put yourself in a position.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: That's the answer to anybody who says, well, what's the
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: difference in winning the division if you don't win the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: World Series?
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, they won a playoff series.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: They didn't have to play, and they made it easier
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: on themselves to get to where they want to go.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: Period, full stop. Yeah, there's a lot of teams that
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: aren't going to win the World Series in this playoffs.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Everybody's got one. It doesn't mean everything else you did
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: was wrong. Including the Cubs and the Red Sox.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: And the Cubs, Brewers, would have been fun to have
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: that series again, but now we're on to San Diego.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to Hunter Baumgart about that, Bill Schroeder as well.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Other than Manny Machado, there's nothing really to hate the
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Padres about. They're kind of a likable team. They've got
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: a chill vibe. They're not the Dodgers, although they spend
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of money. They spend a lot, yeah, no doubt.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: I've always thought, you know how you talk about Stolen Valor,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: people with the military, or as has been pointed out
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: by one of my friends who works in the trades,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: anybody who wears a Carhartt to drink a Pabst in Bayview,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Stolen Valor for the working class, the blue collars, that
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Armin champions.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Armin walks in. San Diego, in.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Some ways, San Diego over the years and for much
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: of my life has the Stolen Valor. of positioning themselves
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: as a small market team when they ain't a small
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: market team.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Well, that was Boston, New York. They ain't a small
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: market team. That was like Boston.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Their territory goes into Mexico, and they have a pretty
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: big fan base, and that's a pretty big area, and
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: they're like.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: A one-team town.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: They don't have the charges anymore, so all the energy
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and all the resources and juice goes to the Padres
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and their 81 home games and the playoff run, so yeah.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: And it's always nice. They're not a small market. Yeah,
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: and it's also... They're at most a bottom big or
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: a top mid.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: If there's five places in America where the weather never changes,
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: San Diego is right there.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: At the top of the list. Most people would say
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: they have the best weather in the country. Like the
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: absolute best that ever changes. Oh my goodness. It's always good.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: And they got green crosses all over the place.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: And great fish tacos in the ballpark. Take a quick break.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: You're in the huddle.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin. Drew, Billy, and Armin reunited. It
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: feels so good. First half of a doubleheader for us.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: We'll be at Pottawatomie Sportsbook in the Annex tonight with
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: the Thursday Night Huddle. Invite you to come and join
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: us in person if you're in the area. What else
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: are you going to do? It's raining outside.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: It's soggy. Come on inside and watch some sports.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: There will be, as Billy mentioned, there'll be some college
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: game on, some great things at the buffet, layer investments
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: for the NFL Sunday.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: Watch that.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: The Browns and the Steelers, which two, two and one teams,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: two and one teams. And everybody's tied in that division
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: at two and one.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: We mentioned the winner take all game in the MLB,
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: but yeah, The action really is hot in Sin City
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: because I believe it's winner-take-all fevers and aces tonight.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, and that's been a wild series. We're not going
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: to talk about it, but that's been a wild series.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: Did you guys talk about Asia Wilson walking into the
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: crowd with the point heard around the world in Indianapolis?
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I was off yesterday. We didn't talk about that.
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: Oh, my goodness. Walking that guy down there at courtside.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: His wife pulled him down first, though. Speaker 2 and
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: she's going to kick your ass.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Y'all said an 18 winning.
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, that was the first time at 18, everyone
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: beat a one seat in the, in the, in the Liberty, right?
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Liberty one. So, and not Liberty, Liberty, not now, not Liberty, Beverly,
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: who is apparently now a thing.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: I didn't realize Liberty, Liberty was actually a physical being,
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: but now he's sitting with Jason Benetti during a playoff.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: It's like a good spot for him.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: And a local hero, a I was going to say
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: Arike had 45 to stave off elimination in overtime.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: She scored 45. For Dallas. That's a wild game. That's
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: a seven against a two. So Arike was, you know.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: And that game will be played Friday night.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: Man, we might have to be watching the W. Well,
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: I've been telling you all summer. If you like sweet action, man,
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: it's been pretty good.
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: Well, I'll be betting it tonight. I mean, listen, I've
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: been rolling pretty good on Thursday nights.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: One of the things they'll be addressing on the Steelers-Browns
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: broadcast is that, obviously, it's the old rivalry, and you've
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: got Rodgers again in a primetime slot, so they'll be
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: talking about him a lot. But the Steelers traded Joey
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Porter to the Cowboys. Joey Porter Jr. gets dumped to
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: the Cowboys for a second next year. And I'm a
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: sixth next year in the second 28.
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: And a guy that has just been frustrated with his
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: contract ever since the start of the year and.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh wasn't going to pay him.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: And that's the interesting part here, Drew, where you get
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: to a point in the league where it's like, well,
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: at this point you have to extend me. There used
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: to be a time you played out the contract. And
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: I think you see a lot more of these older
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: school organizations where they're going to pay some. We're not
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: going to pay everybody. We're paying Cam Hayward more money
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: every single year. We're paying TJ Watt money every single year.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: We're paying all of this front seven money every single year.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: And they got to trim at some point. Steelers already
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: had the highest price defense in football, like by a
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: wide margin. And, you know, Joey Porter Jr. I think
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: he's a good player. I don't know that he's a
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: great player, but he's a good player.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: And they quickly said that they can get somebody else. Hey,
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: who knows?
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: If they're putting up 30 a game, Drew, they're just
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: planning on outscoring people. I'll tell you, I think Joey
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: Porter Jr. might have helped them last week try to
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: slow down Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins a little bit.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: But they got the win. Didn't necessarily matter. I'll tell
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: you who I'm excited to see here tonight, though. Todd Munkin.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: in hunting and bang stadium, hunting and bang field.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: Once again, leader of the Browns, 60 year old first
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: time head coach living his absolute best life, trying to
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: move his team into first place here tonight.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: You know what that it is have all of a
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: sudden the NFL will give it in this way, right?
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: When we talk about all the unusual things that happen
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: week to week, that all of a sudden this game
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: is interesting and important. Like, you know, I think we
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: would have looked at this game and saying, oh, Steelers-Browns, like,
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: before the season started, who cares? There's a lot of
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: interest in this game now. It's going to be compelling,
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: and it's an important game, obviously, so it'll be fun
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: to watch. And, yeah, the other thing with Joey Porter
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: is I don't know if that back is going to
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: heal now. That's the big question I have.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: Well, it's crazy what happens, Armin, when you sleep on
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: a bed of money. Yeah, it's amazing.
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: It's therapeutic. Quickly is able to... fix back, cure back
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: pains very, very quickly. Tempur-pedically, you know, one of those things, yeah.
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: Micah slept on one last year, and he was better
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: for week one. All of a sudden, better to go.
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: But Todd Munkin, one of the reasons why, not only
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: because he's a Division III guy, there's always going to
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: be a little soft spot in my heart for any
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: DIII guys in there. but my man might be one
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: of the more undervalued NFL guys in a long time.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: He was the leader of the coaching staff in the,
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: I believe, play caller when Georgia won the national title
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: against Alabama in 2021. Same deal in 2022 when they
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: steamrolled and freight-trained TCU, put up 65 against them, and
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: was the offensive coordinator for another one of Lamar Jackson's
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: MVP seasons. So he's been doing this for a while
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: and now finally gets his chance, Drew, and... Steelers better
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: come prepared. Those brownies are ready to play here tonight.
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: That's going to be fun on prime.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: I'm with you. This used to be, I thought, I
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: think they were planning this to be a shovel game. Yeah.
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: This was the one that if Al Michaels was circling
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: the schedule, he thought Lambo, Atlanta, Green Bay, that'll be a,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: that'll be a good game. And then I'll get the
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: snoozer one week later that I'll just have to look
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: forward to my steak.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: He's just praying. He gets a good one. So he
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: doesn't fall asleep in that fourth quarter. It should be
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: fun tonight.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It is.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: And we'll have fun at Pottawatomie Sportsbook. Annex, come see
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: us for the Thursday Night Huddle. All right, 5 o'clock, clubbers,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: make room. The 6 o'clock crew is going to join
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: us next year in the huddle. Fox Sports Radio, Wisconsin.