Latest / The Ben Maller Show / Ben Maller Show Best of the Week
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maller
- 0:02Speaker 1: Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
- 0:06Speaker 1: from 2 to 6 Eastern, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
- 0:09Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. And to find your local
- 0:13Speaker 1: station for the Ben Maller Show at foxsportsradio.com. You can
- 0:17Speaker 1: find it there. Or stream us live every night on
- 0:20Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
- 0:23Speaker 2: This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
- 0:26Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio.
- 0:32Speaker 1: The mile-high bye-bye. The mile-high bye-bye. That is where we
- 0:37Speaker 1: will begin as we have our in-depth team coverage. Breaking
- 0:42Speaker 1: down week three in the NFL. There's one game left
- 0:45Speaker 1: on Monday night. as Chicago and Philadelphia will duke it out.
- 0:50Speaker 1: But until then, this was the final game on Sunday,
- 0:54Speaker 1: an island game. You had Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth
- 0:58Speaker 1: on the call there on NBC. The Peacock broadcasting the
- 1:04Speaker 1: game there, painting the words picture as Matthew Stafford and
- 1:08Speaker 1: the Rams squaring up with Bo Nix and the Broncos.
- 1:11Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw this game or not.
- 1:13Speaker 1: Were you burned out from all the other football? Did
- 1:15Speaker 1: you not watch football? Bad job by you if you
- 1:18Speaker 1: didn't watch football. Shame on you. Well, don't worry. We watched.
- 1:22Speaker 1: So you wouldn't have to. We have no lives. We
- 1:24Speaker 1: sit our ass all day, watch football. So there we were.
- 1:28Speaker 1: And it came down to the final minute in Colorado
- 1:32Speaker 1: is Bo Nix, the quarterback keeper. From inches outside the
- 1:37Speaker 1: goal line, the Broncos had 77 plays inside the red
- 1:40Speaker 1: zone there to get that touchdown. 47 seconds left, and
- 1:45Speaker 1: that turned out to be the difference, pushing the Broncos
- 1:47Speaker 1: past the Rams 30-26 on a game that was highlighted
- 1:52Speaker 1: by the referees. We'll get to that in a minute.
- 1:56Speaker 1: A wild five minutes of this game included a 66-yard
- 2:01Speaker 1: pick-six by Denver's defense. Then the Rams came right back,
- 2:06Speaker 1: and they scored a touchdown. And then the referee said,
- 2:08Speaker 1: hold on, boys. Hold our beer. We got you. We
- 2:11Speaker 1: got you. So the Broncos go to 2-1. The Rams
- 2:13Speaker 1: drop to 1-2 as Denver gets the final-minute win on
- 2:20Speaker 1: the Bownicks touchdown keeper. The better story is in the
- 2:23Speaker 1: losing locker room. We'll get to the officials in a minute,
- 2:25Speaker 1: but let's just look at the wide-angle lens. It's a
- 2:27Speaker 1: good jumping-off point. So as we discussed, the question– Give
- 2:32Speaker 1: me a word. Give me a word for Sean McVay's Rams,
- 2:37Speaker 1: who had a 16-point lead at halftime, and the Broncos
- 2:41Speaker 1: were doing nothing. Give me the word for Sean McVay's Rams.
- 2:45Speaker 1: So I've got pharmacy grade, 1099, and fruit basket. And
- 2:51Speaker 1: we will combine all of these things together, and we
- 2:55Speaker 1: will turn to dust. like the Rams did at times
- 2:59Speaker 1: defensively in the red zone there. Of course, they did.
- 3:02Speaker 1: have the Broncos, the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th.
- 3:07Speaker 1: How many officials? Eight officials out there? That's like 19
- 3:10Speaker 1: against 11. All right, so my word, though, my word
- 3:15Speaker 1: for the way the Rams played in the second half
- 3:17Speaker 1: before the officials had to push the Broncos across the
- 3:20Speaker 1: finish line, my word is bedraggled. The Rams played bedraggled football.
- 3:27Speaker 1: They were bedraggled, bewildered, and bedeviled. especially in that third quarter.
- 3:32Speaker 1: I don't know what the F they were doing there.
- 3:34Speaker 1: They went from incomplete control of the game, and then
- 3:39Speaker 1: it wasn't really a collapse by the Rams. It was
- 3:41Speaker 1: like a controlled demolition to let the Broncos back in
- 3:45Speaker 1: the game. And from the majestic mountains of Denver came
- 3:50Speaker 1: the unmistakable aroma of the Rams team decomposing right there
- 3:58Speaker 1: in that third quarter game. The two-point conversion thing, I
- 4:01Speaker 1: don't understand. The Rams have to be the worst team
- 4:03Speaker 1: in the NFL at defending the two-point conversion. It seems
- 4:05Speaker 1: like I watch these other games, and most of the
- 4:08Speaker 1: time they don't convert the two-point conversion. Against the Rams,
- 4:12Speaker 1: it seems to happen all the time. And this has
- 4:14Speaker 1: been some weird crap. We know the referees gave Seattle
- 4:18Speaker 1: that game last year. We know that. And now the
- 4:21Speaker 1: referees have given Denver this game. But before that happened,
- 4:25Speaker 1: Before the Rams, who didn't play, they still should have
- 4:28Speaker 1: won the game, as bad as they were. And I
- 4:30Speaker 1: don't know, McVay's halftime adjustments included the Rams all huddling up,
- 4:36Speaker 1: and they passed out a bottle of pharmacy-grade melatonin at halftime,
- 4:42Speaker 1: and then they woke up just in time for the
- 4:44Speaker 1: postgame handshake. Just in time for that sleepwalking in the
- 4:49Speaker 1: third quarter in particular there. But you don't get outscored 30-10.
- 4:53Speaker 1: in 30 minutes of football. You don't get outscored by
- 4:56Speaker 1: 20 points if you're focused. They got chewed up, spit out,
- 5:00Speaker 1: and stepped on. And some of it was self-inflicted as
- 5:04Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford threw the pick six. And Stafford suffering from
- 5:08Speaker 1: terminal flatulence yet again as he logged in the second
- 5:13Speaker 1: half of this game a passer rating of 56.4. 56.4,
- 5:19Speaker 1: which is akin, when you include all the brain farts
- 5:24Speaker 1: that he had, it's like he had more brain farts
- 5:26Speaker 1: than a nursing home bingo tournament with our friend Dick
- 5:30Speaker 1: in Dayton there in beautiful Dayton, Ohio. Meanwhile, you talk
- 5:34Speaker 1: about a piecemeal effort in the red zone by the
- 5:38Speaker 1: Rams defense yet again. And Chris Shula, the common denominator here,
- 5:43Speaker 1: the Rams defensive coordinator, has his unit in the red
- 5:48Speaker 1: zone turned to mulch uh yikes and uh pathetic gotta
- 5:53Speaker 1: finish the job i know the referees certainly were on
- 5:56Speaker 1: the side of the broncos at the end of the
- 5:58Speaker 1: game but my god you still had shots to to
- 6:01Speaker 1: make plays there at the end so it this keeps
- 6:04Speaker 1: up though they're gonna i don't know if those don
- 6:07Speaker 1: schuler steakhouses are still around those used to be popular
- 6:09Speaker 1: back and they may have to reopen those And he
- 6:11Speaker 1: can go, Chris Shula can go run those steakhouses. Now, meanwhile,
- 6:15Speaker 1: let's get to the Komodo dragon in the room. The
- 6:20Speaker 1: play that everyone will be talking about for the next
- 6:22Speaker 1: couple days here involving the NFL as the Rams backup
- 6:26Speaker 1: defensive back, Josh Wallace, made a brilliant play and was
- 6:31Speaker 1: punished for a brilliant play. He was flagged for a
- 6:34Speaker 1: defensive pass interference play against that anybody with a functioning
- 6:39Speaker 1: brain knows was a screw job by the referees in
- 6:43Speaker 1: this game. And these games are bet on. There should
- 6:46Speaker 1: be some kind of congressional investigation. What an F job.
- 6:49Speaker 1: I mean, F you, F you, F you. We like
- 6:51Speaker 1: the Broncos. Was he wearing his Bronco onesie, the referee
- 6:54Speaker 1: that made that call? My God. He probably has more
- 6:56Speaker 1: Bronco gear than Koopa Loop, that guy. Holy crap. So
- 7:00Speaker 1: Josh Wallace was flagged for a defensive pass interference play
- 7:04Speaker 1: that everybody, including the, you know, it's bad when the
- 7:07Speaker 1: NBC rules analyst, these guys are total shills for the referees.
- 7:11Speaker 1: When the rules analyst on TV is like, boy, that
- 7:13Speaker 1: was not a good call. You know, that's a bad
- 7:15Speaker 1: job by the referees, right? I mean, these guys, these
- 7:18Speaker 1: rules analysts, they lick the toes of the officials in
- 7:22Speaker 1: the game. And even that guy, Terry McCauley on NBC,
- 7:25Speaker 1: is like, well, that wasn't good. My God, he was
- 7:28Speaker 1: just hand-fighting. That's it. And it should have been interception.
- 7:33Speaker 1: Rams get the ball. Broncos burn their timeouts. That's it.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Game over, essentially. The Rams win the game at that point.
- 7:40Speaker 1: And it didn't happen. That call set up Denver. You
- 7:44Speaker 1: talk about the door-to-door service by the referees. My God,
- 7:49Speaker 1: for the game-winning touchdown. And so the Broncos at the Rams'
- 7:54Speaker 1: 11-yard line were trailing by a field goal. So they
- 7:57Speaker 1: trailed by a field goal. Bo Nix throws a short
- 7:59Speaker 1: pass to wide receiver Pat Bryant on the right sideline.
- 8:03Speaker 1: And then Josh Wallace came over, made a good play.
- 8:06Speaker 1: He gets his knee inbounds, secured the ball, and game
- 8:11Speaker 1: ending for almost game ending. Not guaranteed to be game ending.
- 8:15Speaker 1: Certainly game changing. And the Broncos would not have kicked
- 8:18Speaker 1: a field goal to tie the game. They wouldn't have
- 8:21Speaker 1: scored a touchdown. The Rams would have had possession of
- 8:24Speaker 1: the ball. The penalty negated the turnover, and the crew
- 8:29Speaker 1: flagged Wallace for defensive pass interference. This is so great.
- 8:35Speaker 1: They claimed that the contact with Bryant while the ball
- 8:39Speaker 1: was in the air. which is great if you just
- 8:42Speaker 1: make crap up. I mean, that's the way to go.
- 8:44Speaker 1: Why not? So instead gave Denver a first down from
- 8:49Speaker 1: the seven-yard line, and that's the game-changing play. Congratulations to
- 8:54Speaker 1: the Broncos. They certainly had their guardian angel on the
- 8:57Speaker 1: side of that team. So the question here. We know
- 9:01Speaker 1: it was a terrible, egregious felony pass interference call that
- 9:07Speaker 1: should not have been made. It went against L.A. Can
- 9:11Speaker 1: we stop pretending that the Broncos earned the win completely?
- 9:16Speaker 1: Can we just stop that? Okay, good. We can stop that.
- 9:19Speaker 1: I'm glad you agree. Thank you. This was a quantum
- 9:23Speaker 1: physics situation playing out in real time. Quantum physics. You
- 9:27Speaker 1: have two completely opposing versions. existing in the exact same
- 9:33Speaker 1: moment in time. Now, version number one, version number one,
- 9:37Speaker 1: the Rams played like absolute lambs in the second half
- 9:41Speaker 1: of that game. They didn't play well. I'm going to
- 9:45Speaker 1: sit here and say it. Unlike a lot of these
- 9:47Speaker 1: frauds that were their team gear, I pointed out they
- 9:51Speaker 1: didn't play well. All right? They didn't play well. Embarrassed themselves.
- 9:56Speaker 1: All right? That was embarrassing. Version two, which is also reality,
- 10:00Speaker 1: is Denver... did not deserve to win that game. They
- 10:03Speaker 1: were handed a massive, shiny gift wrap in nylon yellow,
- 10:09Speaker 1: yellow nylon right there, by the referees at the end
- 10:12Speaker 1: of that game. Both are factually correct. That late penalty
- 10:16Speaker 1: was not pass interference. I don't care how many times
- 10:18Speaker 1: you can show it, it wasn't pass interference. That's two
- 10:21Speaker 1: grown men fighting for the ball. That's what that is.
- 10:24Speaker 1: And was Pat Bryant playing wide receiver or, I don't know,
- 10:28Speaker 1: was he auditioning for the community theater there in suburban Colorado.
- 10:33Speaker 1: Outside Denver. I don't know. But apparently, defending a pass.
- 10:37Speaker 1: I didn't know when this happened. You can let me know.
- 10:40Speaker 1: But let me know when defending a pass now requires
- 10:43Speaker 1: written permission from the target. That was NBA level. NBA
- 10:50Speaker 1: level showmanship by the Broncos wide receiver there. I thought
- 10:53Speaker 1: I was watching LeBron floppy McFlop play. Embarrassing. All you
- 10:59Speaker 1: Bronco fans, I'm embarrassed for you. I'm embarrassed for you.
- 11:02Speaker 1: That's your guy right there flopping. That's your guy. He flopped. Embarrassing. Gutless.
- 11:09Speaker 1: Absolutely gutless is what that play was. And then, again,
- 11:14Speaker 1: I go back to the TV rules analyst. I don't
- 11:16Speaker 1: know how often you pay attention to these bozos. These
- 11:20Speaker 1: guys are insiders to make the officials look good. Almost
- 11:24Speaker 1: never do they disagree with the referees. The calls on
- 11:27Speaker 1: the field, they almost always agree. And you had this guy.
- 11:30Speaker 1: That was bad. When the rules expert says that was bogus. OK,
- 11:38Speaker 1: what are we actually doing here? It's ridiculous. And the
- 11:42Speaker 1: Zebras delivered that flag like Amazon Prime. It was delivered
- 11:47Speaker 1: like Amazon Prime at just the perfect time. Tremendous job there.
- 11:51Speaker 1: Free express shipping directly to Denver's doorstep. The Rams, again,
- 11:54Speaker 1: they collapsed. However, the officials finished the job. They finished up.
- 11:59Speaker 1: Rams had a get out of jail free card. And
- 12:02Speaker 1: the official said, no, no, no. We're going to give
- 12:05Speaker 1: that to the Broncos. In fact, that was such a
- 12:08Speaker 1: generous situation from the referees. that the Bronco front office
- 12:13Speaker 1: is going to receive a 1099 form. That's how charitable
- 12:18Speaker 1: this was here. So Denver gets the win and a
- 12:21Speaker 1: giant yellow asterisk. is hanging over the end. It kind
- 12:25Speaker 1: of reminded me a little bit of that Michigan, Western
- 12:27Speaker 1: Michigan college football game where you're like, well, the team,
- 12:31Speaker 1: I don't think they've won that. But just like college,
- 12:34Speaker 1: they won't take the win away and all that stuff.
- 12:36Speaker 1: And there'll be some message, well, the referees, that call
- 12:39Speaker 1: should not have been made or some bull crap like that. Now,
- 12:42Speaker 1: last word, let's focus in on the Denver side here.
- 12:45Speaker 1: So the question is this, how is Broncos coach Sean
- 12:49Speaker 1: Payton feeling about his team after this I say this
- 12:54Speaker 1: in air quotes, victory, which, as we know, was very questionable.
- 13:00Speaker 1: So if I'm Sean Payton, I'm relieved. I'm not reassured.
- 13:05Speaker 1: There is a pattern here of the Broncos not being
- 13:07Speaker 1: prepared to play football. Three games into the year, and
- 13:11Speaker 1: they have had three duds in the first half to
- 13:15Speaker 1: begin the year. And you're playing around. In this game,
- 13:18Speaker 1: you need the referees to bail you out. Last game,
- 13:20Speaker 1: Jacksonville had to bail you out. And there's only so
- 13:22Speaker 1: many bailouts that you get, and you've already used a
- 13:25Speaker 1: couple of them. You've already used a couple of bailouts
- 13:28Speaker 1: if you're the Broncos at this point here. They didn't
- 13:30Speaker 1: win the game so much as they stumbled across a
- 13:32Speaker 1: bag of cash from the very generous referees here. Dropped
- 13:39Speaker 1: right on the sidewalk, and there you go. Pick it up.
- 13:42Speaker 1: Why not? Found money. So Bo Nix, again, he spent
- 13:46Speaker 1: the first 30 minutes of this game playing quarterback like
- 13:50Speaker 1: the remote controller battery had died. And it's like, whoa,
- 13:53Speaker 1: what's going on? I mean, nothing's working. Maybe the battery's
- 13:58Speaker 1: just not plugged in. I don't know. The Denver allegedly
- 14:04Speaker 1: vaunted Bronco defense got absolutely panicked. You know the Rams
- 14:07Speaker 1: had almost 500 yards of offense in this game? Without,
- 14:12Speaker 1: by the way, their top player, Puka Nikua, who was injured. Man,
- 14:16Speaker 1: you talk about gutless Bronco defense giving up almost 500
- 14:20Speaker 1: yards of offense without Puka Nikua. Then came the second
- 14:24Speaker 1: half resurrection, right? The resurrection aided by the gift-wrapped pass
- 14:30Speaker 1: interference call. with a bow on top. So spare me
- 14:35Speaker 1: the Bronco chest thumping. I don't need it. Listen, you
- 14:40Speaker 1: put your tail between your legs, you walk away, you
- 14:42Speaker 1: got your little gift. Congratulations. NFL gave you a solid.
- 14:46Speaker 1: They gave you a win. Way to go. And the
- 14:49Speaker 1: fact that Denver needed the Rams to gag and, in addition,
- 14:54Speaker 1: have the referees help them as Santa. It's like Santa's workshop.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Holy crap. And my God, and Bo Nix, you're talking
- 15:02Speaker 1: about the Rams playing like they were in a coma. Well,
- 15:05Speaker 1: Bo Nix also in the first half, and then able
- 15:07Speaker 1: to crawl across the finish line after they had like
- 15:09Speaker 1: 77 plays in the red zone there at the end.
- 15:12Speaker 1: So Sean Payton, first thing in the morning on Monday,
- 15:15Speaker 1: what Sean Payton should be doing is have his assistant
- 15:19Speaker 1: order up a nice fruit basket with some nice bananas
- 15:23Speaker 1: and oranges and apples and strawberry, and then a box
- 15:28Speaker 1: of chocolates, and then you could possibly even a timeshare.
- 15:32Speaker 1: They just gave you a win. That should be like
- 15:35Speaker 1: a timeshare situation, right? So definitely not a statement win.
- 15:38Speaker 1: You think beating the Rams would be a statement win.
- 15:40Speaker 1: That was not a statement win by the Broncos. Not impressed.
- 15:43Speaker 1: Not impressed that you needed the officials to bail you
- 15:46Speaker 1: out to win that game, even though the Rams played
- 15:48Speaker 1: like crap in the second half. You still needed help
- 15:50Speaker 1: from the referees. pathetic.
- 15:52Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
- 15:54Speaker 2: Show weekdays at 2 a.m. Eastern, 11 p.m. Pacific on
- 15:58Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
- 16:02Speaker 3: Stu Gatz here, pleased to be hosting college football with
- 16:05Speaker 3: Stu Gatz and the Bear. We do it two times
- 16:07Speaker 3: a week, every Monday, every single Friday throughout the college
- 16:10Speaker 3: football season. You can expect a little bit of this.
- 16:13Speaker 3: Will Stein, the head coach at Kentucky, joins us. Open
- 16:16Speaker 3: bar at a wedding, ordering a Shirley Temple.
- 16:18Speaker 1: Will or will not? No. Will not. Ketchup on steak.
- 16:24Speaker 1: Will or will not? Will not. Thank you.
- 16:27Speaker 2: A little bit of this.
- 16:29Speaker 3: Rhys Davis, host of College Game Day, is with us now.
- 16:31Speaker 2: And then I'm going home to the BBC, and they're
- 16:35Speaker 2: saying Jockovich instead of Jokovich.
- 16:37Speaker 1: Right, because you can't say Jockovich. If you do, you
- 16:39Speaker 1: know the blowback you're going to get from the American audience. Right.
- 16:42Speaker 1: And a whole lot of this.
- 16:49Speaker 3: Listen to college football with Stugatz and the Bear on
- 16:52Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- 17:01Speaker 1: We go to the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois. What a
- 17:05Speaker 1: cool town to hang out in there. Visit every once
- 17:08Speaker 1: in a while. Good city there. And the, well, some
- 17:11Speaker 1: parts of it are not great, but that's every city.
- 17:13Speaker 1: So the final chapter, the final chapter of week number three.
- 17:19Speaker 1: Week three card. Number three. It all played out on
- 17:25Speaker 1: television on the shores of Lake Michigan. At some point here,
- 17:28Speaker 1: the Bears will leave Illinois and Chicago and head off
- 17:32Speaker 1: to Indiana. But for now, they're still... The Chicago Bears,
- 17:37Speaker 1: the real Chicago Bears. Jalen Hurts and the E-A-G-L-E-S. Suck, suck, suck.
- 17:44Speaker 1: The Eagles flew in to Chicago there, played the Bears.
- 17:49Speaker 1: And we thought, well, maybe Tyson Bajent would play. Well,
- 17:52Speaker 1: he didn't play. No, no, he was not there. I mean,
- 17:56Speaker 1: he was there. He was a backup. And Case Keenum played.
- 18:00Speaker 1: I didn't even know he was still in the NFL.
- 18:01Speaker 1: You had Fox refugees Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Troy
- 18:05Speaker 1: Aikman letting everyone know he's a lame duck. Does not
- 18:07Speaker 1: have a contract next season. Wants everyone to know that.
- 18:10Speaker 1: Should all feel bad for Troy Aikman. Just made millions
- 18:13Speaker 1: of dollars to give cliches on television for years. So
- 18:16Speaker 1: they were calling the game there on ABC. I don't
- 18:18Speaker 1: know if you were watching or not. Perhaps not. But
- 18:21Speaker 1: we were. And oh my, it's our good mitzvah today.
- 18:25Speaker 1: Case Keenum. rising from the ashes like the Phoenix. He
- 18:30Speaker 1: went out there, made his first NFL start in nearly
- 18:33Speaker 1: three years, and led Chicago to an easy win, 27-7.
- 18:39Speaker 1: The game was not in doubt in the second half
- 18:43Speaker 1: here as they absolutely manhandled, the Bears manhandled Philadelphia. And
- 18:49Speaker 1: Case Keenum completed 24 of 34 passes for 247 yards.
- 18:54Speaker 1: Two touchdowns filling in for Caleb Williams, who's still riding
- 19:00Speaker 1: on a golf cart somewhere. Keenum scored on a one-yard
- 19:04Speaker 1: QB keeper as well. And that was his first rushing
- 19:09Speaker 1: touchdown since before the pandemic. It's been a minute. It's
- 19:14Speaker 1: been a minute. That wrapped up a 13-play drive and
- 19:20Speaker 1: burned more than eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Case
- 19:23Speaker 1: Keenum played keep away with the Philadelphia Eagles defense. Case
- 19:29Speaker 1: Keenum played keep away. My God. Khalif Raymond was the
- 19:34Speaker 1: leading receiver for the Bears. He had six catches for
- 19:37Speaker 1: 90 yards at a 41-yard catch-and-run touchdown there for the Bears.
- 19:43Speaker 1: who ended up taking control of the game pretty much,
- 19:46Speaker 1: it's like really never in doubt, as the Eagles. did
- 19:50Speaker 1: nothing on offense. The Bears improved two and one on
- 19:54Speaker 1: the year. And I get that bad taste after that ugly,
- 20:00Speaker 1: ugly loss to the Vikings in their previous game. And
- 20:04Speaker 1: they had 24 first downs. The Chicago Bears with the
- 20:08Speaker 1: rotting carcass. of Case Keenum, had 24 first downs. They
- 20:13Speaker 1: also ran for over 120 yards against the Philadelphia defense.
- 20:19Speaker 1: The better story is in the losing locker room. My,
- 20:23Speaker 1: oh my, Nick Sirianni. What do you have to say
- 20:26Speaker 1: for your pathetic football team, Nick Sirianni, head coach of
- 20:29Speaker 1: the Eagles? Let me know.
- 20:30Speaker 4: I think we all have to own that loss right there.
- 20:33Speaker 4: I don't think anybody coached well. I don't think anyone
- 20:36Speaker 4: played well. It was a true team loss. And when
- 20:39Speaker 4: it's a true team loss, I have to look at
- 20:42Speaker 4: myself first. We weren't ready to coach. We weren't ready
- 20:45Speaker 4: to play. And that ultimately starts and ends with me.
- 20:49Speaker 1: Right out of the SportsCliché. com textbook right there. My God.
- 20:54Speaker 1: I've noticed doing this job over the years, there's certain
- 20:57Speaker 1: crutches that these guys all use. Typically, got to watch
- 21:00Speaker 1: the tape. He didn't say got to watch the tape.
- 21:02Speaker 1: But you never can blame individuals. I love it, too,
- 21:05Speaker 1: when individuals obviously cost you the game. Kicker misses a
- 21:08Speaker 1: field goal. Quarterback misses a bunny throw that would have
- 21:11Speaker 1: won the game. The game actually, there was a play
- 21:15Speaker 1: in the first quarter. Shut the F up. Just shut
- 21:18Speaker 1: the F up. Screw you. So this word is emasculating.
- 21:23Speaker 1: That was an emasculating performance for Nick Sirianni's team. They're 2-1.
- 21:27Speaker 1: This is the first halfway decent opponent they've played, and
- 21:30Speaker 1: they did not answer the bell there. A lifeless offensive performance.
- 21:35Speaker 1: But we're going to start on the defense. That's a
- 21:37Speaker 1: good jumping-off point. So let us discuss the question. Let's
- 21:41Speaker 1: dust off the Mallor Panic-O-Meter. The Mallor Panic-O-Meter. Where are
- 21:48Speaker 1: you at on Vic Fangio's Eagles defense getting carved up
- 21:53Speaker 1: by a 38-year-old third-string quarterback named Case Keenum? So I've
- 21:59Speaker 1: got 1990s TV star, bird's-eye view, and Van Gogh. And
- 22:08Speaker 1: we will combine all of these things together, and we
- 22:11Speaker 1: will stop and smell the roses. And we'll also stop
- 22:17Speaker 1: and smell the poo-poo from the Philadelphia Eagles. So the
- 22:22Speaker 1: Maller panic meter, 1 to 10. You know how this works,
- 22:25Speaker 1: 1 to 10. I am at a 9.5 for the Eagles. Oh,
- 22:30Speaker 1: you're overreacting, Maller. I don't think I am. Let me
- 22:34Speaker 1: make my case. I'll tell you why I'm at a
- 22:35Speaker 1: 9.5 for the Philadelphia Eagles defense. The Eagles did not
- 22:39Speaker 1: just lose this game. They got smacked around by the
- 22:42Speaker 1: running game, by an old man quarterback, a quarterback who
- 22:46Speaker 1: I believe is old enough to still check his Hotmail account.
- 22:50Speaker 1: He might even have an AOL account. Oh, my God! Yes!
- 22:56Speaker 1: And this is the personification of a team that was
- 23:00Speaker 1: not ready to play. Completely lethargic. It looked like they
- 23:05Speaker 1: were playing in wet mud, but the Bears were not.
- 23:09Speaker 1: The Eagles' defense was playing like that. And Case Keenum,
- 23:12Speaker 1: at age 38, comes out there, makes his first start
- 23:15Speaker 1: in almost three years, and he turned into a 1990s,
- 23:19Speaker 1: early 90s TV star. He was straight up Doogie Howser MD.
- 23:25Speaker 1: He was. It was a surgical slicing of the Philadelphia
- 23:29Speaker 1: Eagles there. as they took out all the bones of
- 23:32Speaker 1: the Eagles and then chopped up the meat into little
- 23:35Speaker 1: bite-sized pieces there. Did you know Case Keenum, against the
- 23:40Speaker 1: blitz from the Philadelphia football team, they blitzed 11 times.
- 23:45Speaker 1: Case Keenum, how many passes do you think he completed
- 23:48Speaker 1: out of 11 blitzes where they threw? You think he
- 23:52Speaker 1: went like 6 of 11? That'd be good, right?
- 23:54Speaker 4: 6 of 11.
- 23:54Speaker 1: How about 7? 7 of 11, like the The store. No,
- 24:00Speaker 1: it was not. How about 11 out of 11? No,
- 24:05Speaker 1: I didn't play in the NFL. I just think that's good.
- 24:07Speaker 1: 11 out of 11 against the Blitz. It's tied for
- 24:12Speaker 1: the fourth most completion since the nerds started tracking that
- 24:17Speaker 1: statistic without an incompletion. And that goes back a couple
- 24:22Speaker 1: of decades. They've been keeping track of that stat. As
- 24:25Speaker 1: Uncle Vic's guys were dragged, they were dented and demolished.
- 24:29Speaker 1: defensively here, they could not get the Bears off the field,
- 24:33Speaker 1: which seemingly is problematic. You know? Oh, you can't say that!
- 24:38Speaker 1: You're being mean!
- 24:40Speaker 5: I know.
- 24:40Speaker 1: I know. And up front, Philadelphia, my entire life, they've
- 24:43Speaker 1: always prided themselves on having this physical defense. They haven't
- 24:47Speaker 1: always been good, but they're like, hey, we're physical. We
- 24:50Speaker 1: can get this done. And they were pushed around. Bears
- 24:53Speaker 1: had 128 yards. On the ground, and it was nice
- 24:57Speaker 1: and soft like Play-Doh. Nice and soft like Play-Doh against
- 25:02Speaker 1: that Chicago offense. And the Birds, they appear to have
- 25:06Speaker 1: a leak in the middle of the defense. From what
- 25:10Speaker 1: I've seen here, they have some problems there in the middle.
- 25:13Speaker 1: It's a trend now. We're three weeks into the season,
- 25:15Speaker 1: and the linebackers and the safeties are not exactly getting
- 25:20Speaker 1: her done at this point. Now they've got the Rams
- 25:22Speaker 1: up next. So that's two teams coming off a loss.
- 25:26Speaker 1: We'll see how that goes. Now, meanwhile, page two. Now
- 25:29Speaker 1: to the offense of the Birds, which was very offensive.
- 25:34Speaker 1: The question, can we stop protecting Jalen Hurts and admit
- 25:39Speaker 1: that he was terrible against Chicago? Can we just stop?
- 25:44Speaker 1: A lot of people say, well, he won the Super Bowl.
- 25:45Speaker 1: They always give you the yabbit, yabbit, yabbit, yabbit, the
- 25:48Speaker 1: yabbit rabbit. Yabbit, he won the Super Bowl.
- 25:51Speaker 5: Okay.
- 25:52Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley had 5,000 yards rushing that year. Defense was elite,
- 25:57Speaker 1: all that stuff. Jalen Hurts, yet again, looking like a
- 26:01Speaker 1: guy that does not elevate the people around him. This
- 26:04Speaker 1: is something we see quite often with Jalen Hurts. And
- 26:06Speaker 1: he was playing quarterback like somebody had replaced the playbook,
- 26:11Speaker 1: and they said, hey, let's play a joke on Jalen Hurts.
- 26:13Speaker 1: Instead of giving him the playbook, let's give him the
- 26:15Speaker 1: Cheesecake Factory menu. And so he was trying to run
- 26:19Speaker 1: plays off that. Can I get the chicken littles? Can
- 26:21Speaker 1: I get the chicken? No, no. Okay. Can I get
- 26:24Speaker 1: the burger and fries? No, no, no. How about the mozzarella? No,
- 26:27Speaker 1: I can't get the mozzarella. How about, wait a minute.
- 26:29Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
- 26:30Speaker 1: Can I get the mac and cheese balls? No, we
- 26:32Speaker 1: can't get that. Okay. All right. So up first for
- 26:35Speaker 1: Philadelphia this year. It's kind of like a college team.
- 26:40Speaker 1: You know how these college teams play these directional schools,
- 26:43Speaker 1: their paycheck games? where they just cut a check to
- 26:46Speaker 1: some pathetic school who takes the money to get beaten
- 26:49Speaker 1: to a pulp. And that's essentially what the Eagles had.
- 26:52Speaker 1: They had a soft launch to start the year. They
- 26:53Speaker 1: still almost effed up against Tennessee. But they played Washington
- 26:57Speaker 1: week one. That's a bad team. Tennessee, a bad team.
- 27:01Speaker 1: And so they were in the kiddie pool to start
- 27:04Speaker 1: the year. And then the Eagles go against Chicago. And
- 27:08Speaker 1: Chicago's like, we're in the deep end here. And it
- 27:11Speaker 1: turns out Jalen Hurts did not bring his floaties. And
- 27:14Speaker 1: so it was a problem. The Bears putting Jalen Hurts
- 27:18Speaker 1: into a maze. They said, all right, let's toss him
- 27:20Speaker 1: into a maze here. So he was in a corn maze,
- 27:22Speaker 1: and he spent about three hours of time running into
- 27:26Speaker 1: the hedges and thoroughly baffled by the defensive strategy of Chicago.
- 27:34Speaker 1: And it's like, man, it's like they tossed him a
- 27:36Speaker 1: Rubik's Cube. And they said, all right, Jalen, solve the
- 27:39Speaker 1: Rubik's Cube. And he said, OK, I'll solve it. And
- 27:41Speaker 1: then he just started chewing on it. Well, that's not
- 27:43Speaker 1: going to get it done. That's not it. And we
- 27:45Speaker 1: were surprised that Jalen did not trip because he appeared
- 27:49Speaker 1: to tie his shoes properly, which I think is the
- 27:52Speaker 1: only thing, the only thing that he did well was
- 27:56Speaker 1: tie his shoes prior to the game. Because, man, everything
- 28:00Speaker 1: else was pure quarterback detention without recess. Bad. They had
- 28:07Speaker 1: three straight three and outs. In the second half there,
- 28:12Speaker 1: that's run a play, run a play, run a play, punt.
- 28:15Speaker 1: And that means now they've done that nine times this season.
- 28:20Speaker 1: Nine times the Eagles have gotten the ball and not
- 28:23Speaker 1: been able to get a first down and nine times
- 28:26Speaker 1: had to punt after three plays. That's it. And so
- 28:30Speaker 1: it's a mess. It is a mess. And Jalen Hurts
- 28:34Speaker 1: went up in weight class here, and the Eagles offense did,
- 28:38Speaker 1: and immediately looked for the white towel. Body blow, body blow,
- 28:42Speaker 1: just like that. And ultimately, Jalen Hurts, he ended up
- 28:44Speaker 1: having a bird's eye view from the cockpit as he
- 28:48Speaker 1: flew the Vomit Comet for the Eagles offense there, a
- 28:52Speaker 1: nonstop flight destination loser's lounge. And they landed right there.
- 28:56Speaker 1: They went into the loser's lounge. They had a cocktail there.
- 28:59Speaker 1: And you're supposed to be better than that. And, yeah, yeah,
- 29:03Speaker 1: this is one of those teams to keep an eye on.
- 29:06Speaker 1: You look down the line, teams that could go kerfluey
- 29:09Speaker 1: and blow things up. Tampa Bay is on that short list.
- 29:12Speaker 1: The Eagles are certainly on that short list of teams
- 29:15Speaker 1: that could say, okay, this is not going well. Let's
- 29:18Speaker 1: change the coach. Let's change the quarterback. And the winds
- 29:22Speaker 1: of change will start howling. Now, speaking of wins, we
- 29:25Speaker 1: go to the Chicago side, the winner's locker room. The
- 29:28Speaker 1: better story is in the loser's locker room, but we
- 29:30Speaker 1: go to the winner's locker room there. And with Caleb
- 29:33Speaker 1: Williams still away for likely a couple more weeks for
- 29:37Speaker 1: the Bears, Case Keenum, as he upstaged everybody. We talked
- 29:43Speaker 1: about Case Keenum, the story here. He stole the show.
- 29:47Speaker 1: So the question going forward, should Case Keenum remain the
- 29:53Speaker 1: Bears starter until Caleb Williams returns? So I'm nodding my head.
- 30:01Speaker 1: There's really no other answer. I don't even know why
- 30:02Speaker 1: this is a debate. Yet it seems everything is a
- 30:06Speaker 1: debate these days. But I am Benny Brightside on the
- 30:08Speaker 1: old Rams quarterback, Case Keenum. I am Benny Brightside here.
- 30:11Speaker 1: And I say you keep that old jalopy with 150,000
- 30:17Speaker 1: miles on it. You keep that car on the highway
- 30:20Speaker 1: until the transmission falls out. And, yeah, that's what I
- 30:24Speaker 1: would do. Case Keenum was... That impressive. Of course, we
- 30:29Speaker 1: had no expectations for Case Keenum. The fact that he
- 30:33Speaker 1: was able to breathe and walk and chew gum, we
- 30:37Speaker 1: were like, wow, that's pretty impressive. Man, it was a,
- 30:40Speaker 1: by the standard we had for Case Keenum, that was
- 30:43Speaker 1: a virtuoso performance. It was. Keenum did not merely hold
- 30:47Speaker 1: down the fort, and he wasn't just a game manager.
- 30:50Speaker 1: He actually installed the new kitchen, which was unexpected. He
- 30:54Speaker 1: installed the new kitchen. Yeah, 38 years young. And apparently
- 30:59Speaker 1: preserved the last three years in football, you know, in
- 31:03Speaker 1: football goo to keep him fresh and all that stuff.
- 31:06Speaker 1: And yet, listen, Tyson Bajent had been designated the QB
- 31:11Speaker 1: number two, and he's making $ 5 million a year. And premium,
- 31:16Speaker 1: supposedly a premium backup. That's what you all say, premium backup,
- 31:20Speaker 1: Tyson Bajent. But last I checked, this is the results-based business, right?
- 31:25Speaker 1: This is the results-based business and all that. So you
- 31:28Speaker 1: don't bench Van Gogh. You don't bench Van Gogh halfway
- 31:32Speaker 1: through the starry night because the other guy has a
- 31:37Speaker 1: nicer contract. You don't do that. And Keenum has earned
- 31:40Speaker 1: another start. Now, it's more likely than not, based on
- 31:42Speaker 1: his track record with all these teams he's played for,
- 31:45Speaker 1: that Case Keenum will go out and poop the bed
- 31:48Speaker 1: because that's normally what happens. He'll have a game like
- 31:50Speaker 1: this where he looks really good, and then you'll be like, okay,
- 31:53Speaker 1: he can do that again. And no, no, no. He'll
- 31:55Speaker 1: have like one or two good games in a row,
- 31:57Speaker 1: and then it goes sideways. It goes sideways fast. But
- 32:01Speaker 1: this is not Little League. Last I checked, it is
- 32:04Speaker 1: not Little League. Everybody does not get an inning. So
- 32:07Speaker 1: if Case Keenum is the guy, which he appeared to be,
- 32:09Speaker 1: you just send him back out there and the depth
- 32:11Speaker 1: chart is written in pencil, not pen, in pencil for
- 32:16Speaker 1: a reason. So Case Keenum, the football equivalent for the
- 32:19Speaker 1: Bears here, it's kind of like finding $ 20 stuffed in
- 32:24Speaker 1: that little weird pocket. You know how the jeans have
- 32:26Speaker 1: that little weird pocket in the front there and you
- 32:28Speaker 1: found 20 bucks in there. Like, wow, that's kind of weird.
- 32:31Speaker 1: and it's great. I'm not going to complain. It's nice.
- 32:34Speaker 1: I know they're old jeans. I'm not going to complain
- 32:36Speaker 1: about that. You keep Cinderella in there at the ball.
- 32:41Speaker 1: You say, all right, Cinderella, you're at the ball. Keep
- 32:42Speaker 1: going there until the slipper breaks and turns back into
- 32:45Speaker 1: a crappy Skechers sneaker, and then you make the change.
- 32:48Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
- 32:50Speaker 2: Show weekdays at 2 a.m. Eastern, 11 p.m. Pacific.
- 32:54Speaker 1: We have Slug in Vegas. Hello, Slug, the master of
- 32:57Speaker 1: mashed potatoes. Hello, Slug. All right. Fair enough. Slug.
- 33:08Speaker 4: Good luck, Coop.
- 33:09Speaker 1: Who do you want to partner up with, Slug?
- 33:12Speaker 2: Come on, Ben.
- 33:12Speaker 1: Let's do it. Let's do it. We're in it to
- 33:14Speaker 1: win it. And Sean is in North Dakota. Hello, Sean. Welcome.
- 33:19Speaker 4: Hey.
- 33:20Speaker 1: Hey. Hey. Sean, who do you want to partner up with, Sean?
- 33:28Speaker 2: Coop?
- 33:29Speaker 1: Coop Loop? Okay. All right. All right. Let's do it.
- 33:31Speaker 1: It's the matchup. What are the categories you're cool? Please, quickly.
- 33:34Speaker 2: All right.
- 33:34Speaker 1: This is the Halsey edition of Mallard's Mountain of Money. Oh,
- 33:38Speaker 1: I love her. She turns 32 years old today. Okay.
- 33:41Speaker 5: The categories are bad at love, sorry, ego, and lucky. Slug,
- 33:48Speaker 5: which category would you like?
- 33:50Speaker 1: Who the hell is Halsey? Some British chick, I think. Yeah.
- 33:55Speaker 1: Give me the first one. Bad at love. All right.
- 33:58Speaker 1: And Sean, do you want sorry, ego, or lucky?
- 34:01Speaker 4: Sorry. All right.
- 34:02Speaker 1: All right, those are the categories. Gentlemen, do not hang
- 34:05Speaker 1: up or you will be disqualified from playing the game.
- 34:06Speaker 1: We will have Mallard's Mountain of Money in its entirety.
- 34:10Speaker 1: We'll get to that, and we will do it next.
- 34:13Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
- 34:16Speaker 2: the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And
- 34:21Speaker 2: within the iHeartRadio app, search FSR to listen live. Now,
- 34:27Speaker 2: Mallard's Mountain of Money.
- 34:29Speaker 1: Lord, that's a lot of money.
- 34:30Speaker 2: Do you have what it takes to get to the top?
- 34:34Speaker 2: Probably not.
- 34:36Speaker 1: All right, here we go. Sluggo, my buddy. The master
- 34:40Speaker 1: of the mashed potatoes. Are you ready, Slug? Slug? I
- 34:46Speaker 1: don't hear you, Slug. Hello, Slug. I turned on my
- 34:48Speaker 1: mic instead of theirs. I'm sorry. All right. Hello, Slug.
- 34:50Speaker 1: Are you there, Slug?
- 34:51Speaker 5: I'm here. I'm here.
- 34:52Speaker 1: All right, Slug. Here we go. You picked bad at love.
- 34:56Speaker 1: These athletes have all been divorced multiple times. Are you
- 34:59Speaker 1: prepared here, Sluggo?
- 35:01Speaker 5: Sure.
- 35:02Speaker 1: They're just like me. Exactly. Here we go. 45 seconds
- 35:06Speaker 1: on the clock. We're on our way and go. He's
- 35:09Speaker 1: a quarterback. He was a quarterback for the Cowboys. He's
- 35:11Speaker 1: Joe Buck's partner. Yes. Quarterback for the Steelers in the 70s.
- 35:15Speaker 1: He's on Fox NFL pregame. Did a radio show. Blonde hair.
- 35:24Speaker 1: All right. Gap-toothed defensive player for the Giants. He's also... Yes.
- 35:29Speaker 1: Charles Barkley's sidekick on the NBA on TNT. Played for...
- 35:33Speaker 1: First name.
- 35:39Speaker 2: Shaquille O'Neal.
- 35:39Speaker 1: No, I said the second. All right. Catcher for the
- 35:42Speaker 1: Big Red Machine.
- 35:44Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 35:44Speaker 1: What's his last name? Smith. All right. Catcher for the
- 35:47Speaker 1: Reds in the 70s. Sonny Benz. Yes. He hosted the Mets.
- 35:52Speaker 1: All right. You got hooked up on Kenny. Ben choked there. Wow.
- 35:56Speaker 1: He said Kenny Jet. He didn't say Kenny Smith. No,
- 35:58Speaker 1: you choked. No, I didn't choke.
- 36:00Speaker 5: He choked. He said Kenny Jet. Sean, we've got the
- 36:03Speaker 5: category sorry. These sports figures all had to issue public apologies.
- 36:08Speaker 5: Are you ready, Sean? Yes.
- 36:10Speaker 1: Don't choke. 45 seconds. Let's begin. Best golfer of all time.
- 36:15Speaker 1: Tiger Woods. Yes. This quarterback killed dogs. Michael Vick.
- 36:21Speaker 5: Yes. This guy is a point guard for the Mavericks
- 36:23Speaker 5: right now. He believes in the flat earth.
- 36:27Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. Yes.
- 36:29Speaker 5: This is a center. He used to play for the Jazz.
- 36:32Speaker 5: He touched all the microphones during COVID.
- 36:35Speaker 1: He's French. Greg Ostertag.
- 36:41Speaker 5: This guy's a running back for the Ravens. He punched
- 36:43Speaker 5: his wife in an elevator.
- 36:45Speaker 1: Oh, um... Doggone it, I can't... All right.
- 36:53Speaker 5: Coach for the Cardinals. He has the same last name
- 36:57Speaker 5: as a quarterback. Greg Ostertag is one of the funniest
- 37:00Speaker 5: answers we've ever gotten. French guy, touched all the microphones.
- 37:04Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is who we were looking for there. Oh
- 37:07Speaker 1: my goodness. You couldn't get less French than Greg Ostrich.
- 37:11Speaker 1: Ray Rice. Ray Rice. What's the score, Lorena? I'm sad
- 37:14Speaker 1: to say, Coop, you guys got 60. All right. And
- 37:17Speaker 1: Ben got 140. So we're up again, Sean. You said
- 37:20Speaker 1: I choked. You did choke. You should have got more.
- 37:22Speaker 1: You choked more than me. No, Greg. Hurry up. You're
- 37:26Speaker 1: wasting time. All right. Do you want ego or lucky? Lucky.
- 37:31Speaker 5: Ego. Okay.
- 37:32Speaker 1: Well, that worked out well.
- 37:35Speaker 5: Sean, ego. These athletes all have huge egos. 45 seconds.
- 37:41Speaker 1: Let's begin. Best basketball player of all time. Yes. His
- 37:47Speaker 1: nickname is Primetime. He's the coach of Colorado.
- 37:51Speaker 2: Yes.
- 37:52Speaker 5: This guy is the wide receiver for the Eagles and
- 37:54Speaker 5: the Cowboys. Yes. This guy is the outfielder for the
- 38:02Speaker 5: Red Sox. He was he played with David Ortiz. It
- 38:06Speaker 5: was the dreads. Yes, this guy was the all-time stolen
- 38:13Speaker 5: base king. Talked about himself in the third person. Yes,
- 38:16Speaker 5: this guy shot free throws underhanded, like grandma style.
- 38:21Speaker 2: White guy. All right.
- 38:23Speaker 5: This guy is like the glue guy. Ben always calls
- 38:25Speaker 5: him the glue guy and trash talker.
- 38:27Speaker 1: What's the score? 220, Coop. Where are we at?
- 38:30Speaker 4: 140.
- 38:30Speaker 1: All right, here we go. Slug, you picked Lucky. These
- 38:33Speaker 1: athletes were all part of some of Lucky's plays in
- 38:35Speaker 1: sports history. 45 seconds. We're on our way. Go. Steeler
- 38:38Speaker 1: running back in the 1970s. The running back for Terry Bradshaw.
- 38:44Speaker 2: I know.
- 38:45Speaker 1: Skip it.
- 38:45Speaker 4: Go.
- 38:45Speaker 1: All right, he threw the forward pass for the Tennessee Titans,
- 38:50Speaker 1: the miracle in Music City. Tight end for the Tennessee Titans.
- 38:54Speaker 1: He died. Too drunk, go. All right, helmet catch guy
- 38:58Speaker 1: for the Giants in the Super Bowl.
- 39:00Speaker 5: Tyree.
- 39:00Speaker 1: What's his first name?
- 39:03Speaker 5: Tyree.
- 39:04Speaker 1: Yeah! That's a winner! Even drunk Slug was able to
- 39:10Speaker 1: remember David Tyree. Winner, winner, winner!