Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio. It's our one on this Wednesday, Football this afternoon.
Speaker 1: I guess it's football afternoon in America. Michelle Tafoya, who
Speaker 1: will be on the sidelines for NBC Sports. She will
Speaker 1: join us from Pittsburgh coming up shortly. Phone calls are
Speaker 1: always welcome, Emails, tweets. Operator Marvin standing by, also your
Speaker 1: tweets and your email. We say good morning to chat
Speaker 1: Row as well. A little bit later on Pat forty
Speaker 1: from Sports Illustrated, an update on what's happening in the
Speaker 1: Big Ten, in particular with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Eight
Speaker 1: seven seven three D P Show Email address DP at
Speaker 1: dan Patrick dot com, Twitter handling the DP Show. Thanks
Speaker 1: for allowing us to spend a part of your day
Speaker 1: and however long you can stay, you can watch if
Speaker 1: you like on peacock. You can download the app. It's
Speaker 1: all three hours are available for free, and our great
Speaker 1: radio affiliates around the country, including the formidable Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio lineup. We as sports fans are cree years of habit.
Speaker 1: We're used to watching certain things at certain times, you know,
Speaker 1: certain times of the year, certain times of the month,
Speaker 1: or an evening. The pandemic has thrown that schedule into disarray.
Speaker 1: You know, when you think about we had NBA and NHL,
Speaker 1: we had that in the fall. We had baseball squeezed
Speaker 1: in there a whole season. We did it in a
Speaker 1: couple of months. The NFL has been the exception. Now.
Speaker 1: They made a statement in April they held the draft
Speaker 1: on time, and for the most part they have held
Speaker 1: true to that schedule. But now things are getting weird.
Speaker 1: The Ravens and Steelers are going to try again to
Speaker 1: play this afternoon. Keep in mind that this was supposed
Speaker 1: to be Thanksgiving night, and then it was going to
Speaker 1: be a Sunday or Monday or Tuesday, and now here
Speaker 1: it is on a Wednesday afternoon. I'm okay with a
Speaker 1: London game at nine am. I mean, usually they aren't
Speaker 1: good games, but I'm okay with it. I'm used to it. Now.
Speaker 1: We associate NFL games with downtime or reward for a
Speaker 1: hard day's work, Like you come home and you go
Speaker 1: I can't wait for that Monday night game or a
Speaker 1: Sunday night game. Sometimes the NFL gets lucky, stumbles into
Speaker 1: a great idea and somehow I get this strong feeling
Speaker 1: that Wednesday afternoon football will not be one of them
Speaker 1: because the Ravens could have more positive tests this morning.
Speaker 1: They have to have more tests this morning to see
Speaker 1: if they can play tonight. I don't know what happens,
Speaker 1: like how many positive tests, more positive tests with the
Speaker 1: NFL then go you know, one on second thought or
Speaker 1: third thought or is it their fourth or fifth thought
Speaker 1: that they wouldn't be able to play this game for
Speaker 1: entertainment purposes only the Steelers are favored by ten and
Speaker 1: a half. And keep this in mind, Pittsburgh beat the
Speaker 1: Ravens back in Week eight and that was twenty eight,
Speaker 1: twenty four, and that's a typical game between these two.
Speaker 1: Since Mike Tomlin took over as the head coach back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, Steelers and Ravens have played
Speaker 1: twenty games against one another. That's the most by two
Speaker 1: teams over that time frame, and they were decided by
Speaker 1: seven points or less. They played twenty seven times, twenty
Speaker 1: of the twenty seven decided by seven points or less.
Speaker 1: Is that going to be the case today? With Robert
Speaker 1: Griffin Junior the third as your quarterback, they have their
Speaker 1: running backs back, they have a depleted offensive line and
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's coming in undefeated. This program brought to you by
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Speaker 1: A couple other things. Last night, the College Football Playoff
Speaker 1: Committee released its rankings, and that wasn't the big story.
Speaker 1: The big story was Kirk Herbstreet was talking to Rhes
Speaker 1: Davis on the program and he said the following. I
Speaker 1: still think Michigan waves the white flag potentially avoids playing
Speaker 1: Ohio State next week, and then David, they'll potentially get
Speaker 1: a game on the nineteenth. They could be sitting there
Speaker 1: with six games and Michigan. Is that fair, David, Michigan
Speaker 1: could opt out basically of that game and keep Ohio
Speaker 1: State out of six games to qualify for the Big
Speaker 1: Ten Championship. That doesn't make sense to me, but I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people want to see where Ohio
Speaker 1: State would be okay, Herbie walked that back later on
Speaker 1: in the night. He posted a video and said that
Speaker 1: he didn't have any insight information and what he was
Speaker 1: basing it on, I guess was just his opinion, a
Speaker 1: gut feeling that maybe that could happen. I want to
Speaker 1: bring something up. I want to bring it back up
Speaker 1: because I said this to you yesterday around this time,
Speaker 1: my source was telling me about what was going on
Speaker 1: with Ohio State in Michigan, and I said, any updates
Speaker 1: on Ohio State. So this is yesterday's twenty four hours ago,
Speaker 1: and my source said, they're doing everything to play, but
Speaker 1: we'll be down significant numbers. Michigan has paused football activities,
Speaker 1: but don't know the numbers and their availability for this
Speaker 1: week or next week versus Ohio State. My source then
Speaker 1: goes on to text me, if they're unable to play
Speaker 1: Ohio State, they avoid losing to them and eliminate Ohio
Speaker 1: State from playing in the Big Ten Championship. That's from
Speaker 1: my source yesterday. And then I followed up after what
Speaker 1: Herbie said last night, and I said, it sounds like
Speaker 1: they're still playing. Any thoughts on what Herbie had to say,
Speaker 1: and my source said he's probably been talking to Davos
Speaker 1: Sweeney regarding the Florida State situation. The situation with Michigan,
Speaker 1: according to my source, is up in the air. If
Speaker 1: they can't fill a competitive team, they'll have a tough
Speaker 1: decision to make against Ohio State. So, once again, my
Speaker 1: source didn't go as far as Herbie did that they're
Speaker 1: going to weigh the white flag, but that you know,
Speaker 1: kind of the blueprint is there or the outline is
Speaker 1: there if Michigan can't be competitive, that they may not
Speaker 1: want to play this game against Ohio State. Now, obviously
Speaker 1: there are COVID issues here. That's first and foremost with
Speaker 1: all of this. This isn't hey, we're not any good,
Speaker 1: we don't want to play Ohio State. If they can't
Speaker 1: field a competitive team, from what my source told me,
Speaker 1: then they may not be able to play. They'll have
Speaker 1: a tough decision according to my source, to play against
Speaker 1: Ohio State. But Herbie did backtrack and say, I give
Speaker 1: Rees Davis a whole lot of credit because I'm assuming
Speaker 1: that was Live TV last night and Reese was asking
Speaker 1: Kirk hert Street to clarify here, and he was not
Speaker 1: taking the answers that Herbie was giving him, and Reese
Speaker 1: really pinned him down to say, do you know exactly
Speaker 1: what you're saying right now? And I don't know if
Speaker 1: Herbie did. David Pollock kind of came in and joked
Speaker 1: a little bit there, but I think that Rees Davis
Speaker 1: did a wonderful job in saying, guys, you understand what
Speaker 1: we're talking about here, that Michigan would actually not want
Speaker 1: to play a football game against Ohio State, that they
Speaker 1: would actually do whatever they could do to not play
Speaker 1: against Ohio State. My source is saying COVID is the
Speaker 1: issue that if they can't field a competitive team, then
Speaker 1: maybe they're going to have a really tough decision to make.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming Ohio State plays Michigan State this weekend and
Speaker 1: they don't have a requisite number to play requisite number
Speaker 1: of games to play for the national championship, because Ohio
Speaker 1: State could have four games and probably still play in
Speaker 1: the Final four, but they won't be playing in the
Speaker 1: Big Ten Championship. But that's just some of the background
Speaker 1: information from yesterday. What happened last night with Herbie. Herbie
Speaker 1: did walk it back, and I've known Herbie for thirty
Speaker 1: year twenty five years. And I know that we joke
Speaker 1: about Ohio State in Michigan because I'm from Ohio and
Speaker 1: I hated Michigan growing up. But Herbie never engaged in
Speaker 1: that as a fan. Never, and he's from Centerville outside
Speaker 1: of Dayton. He never engaged with that. When we would
Speaker 1: joke off the air about Ohio State Michigan, he didn't.
Speaker 1: And he has been a professional when he's on the
Speaker 1: air talking about Michigan because it's the same thing that
Speaker 1: I went through many many years ago when I said
Speaker 1: I don't have an allegiance anymore. Because if I say
Speaker 1: that I'm a Reds fan and you're a Pirates fan,
Speaker 1: then you go, well, he's a Reds fan. I had
Speaker 1: to stop rooting for any team. I don't root for
Speaker 1: Ohio State. I root for a storyline here. Herbie got
Speaker 1: caught up in Hey, maybe Ohio State. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna play in Michigan's gonna get embarrassed again and
Speaker 1: you don't want to and maybe you wave the white flag.
Speaker 1: Where you can't say wave the white flag. You can
Speaker 1: say if they don't have a competitive team here, do
Speaker 1: they make a decision based off COVID and the safety
Speaker 1: of the players they'd be putting out there against a
Speaker 1: far superior team. You can say it that way, but
Speaker 1: last night, when you say you're gonna wave the white flag,
Speaker 1: there is no I can't imagine a situation where Jim
Speaker 1: Harball would go, I don't want to play Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Deep down, you may go, this may hurt, but I
Speaker 1: can't imagine those football players are going to go, we
Speaker 1: don't want to go out there and play. You don't
Speaker 1: get to that point in your career where all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you pick and choose when you want to
Speaker 1: play and don't want to play based on based off
Speaker 1: how good somebody is or isn't. And this might just
Speaker 1: be sort of the overflow of Clemson still heated. Dabbo
Speaker 1: Sweeney is still upset at Florida State, and Herbie's got
Speaker 1: two of his sons who go to Clemson. Maybe he
Speaker 1: spoke to Dabo, according to my source, maybe that's where
Speaker 1: it came from. But I don't know of other situations
Speaker 1: where coaches are saying that team is opting out they
Speaker 1: don't want to face somebody. Yeah, like you said, this
Speaker 1: topic must be driving Jim Harbaugh crazy, and you know
Speaker 1: him we've had him on a dozen times. The fact
Speaker 1: that they're even speculation by anybody out there that his
Speaker 1: team would rather stay home than get waxed. I know
Speaker 1: he's not talking. He hasn't done a lot of interviews
Speaker 1: this year, but that must be driving him nuts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but well, it was just strange. I'm watching, I'm watching
Speaker 1: the show. It's a half hour show, and then I'm
Speaker 1: getting ready to watch basketball after that, and I thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: there's not going to be any change in the top four,
Speaker 1: top five. I was curious about Iowa stayed, I was
Speaker 1: curious about BYU, curious about Cincinnati. Basically, that's it. And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, when Herbie started talking, and
Speaker 1: then he kept talking, and then I went, is somebody
Speaker 1: gonna say anything? And then he turned it over to
Speaker 1: David Pollock, and David Pollock joked with him a little bit,
Speaker 1: and then Reese hit the reset button and said, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: hold on here, do you know what you're doing? Do
Speaker 1: you know what you're saying? And he was holding her
Speaker 1: be accountable, and that's what you needed to do. It
Speaker 1: was very good TV. It wasn't scripted, but it was
Speaker 1: very good TV. All Right, mcleven, you got a pull
Speaker 1: question for me today. Well, we have to start with
Speaker 1: the obvious question. Will the Ravens and Steelers actually play
Speaker 1: today at three forty Eastern time? Can I wait for
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes after we have Michelle Tafoya on because
Speaker 1: I don't know when today's test, this morning's test results
Speaker 1: come back, but I would like to I get some
Speaker 1: point and you go for competitive balance. Could you imagine
Speaker 1: if the Steelers get ready for the Ravens, They've already
Speaker 1: flown there and you're still waiting on tests this morning
Speaker 1: to see if you can play this football game. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say we're gonna play the football game. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it's going to look like. It has to
Speaker 1: be better than Denver against New Orleans. It has to
Speaker 1: be at least RG three has played the position at
Speaker 1: a high level before. Yes, McLevin. I keep googling who's
Speaker 1: on the Ravens team tonight and it's not clear because
Speaker 1: they guys are on the COVID list, but I don't
Speaker 1: know who gets off the COVID list and time to play,
Speaker 1: So they're they're massing like eight Pro Bowl players like
Speaker 1: Klai's Campbell, Mark Andrews, Brandon Williams, you gets sewn on
Speaker 1: a list, Willie Sneed. It's everybody's out. You can't reschedule
Speaker 1: this game right like, like they can't do it again.
Speaker 1: But then what do you do if they can't play
Speaker 1: this game? Can you do it? Can you do it Thursday?
Speaker 1: Like Thursday morning? You know morning drive football? I mean,
Speaker 1: at this point, it's bordering on embarrassing. We're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna get this football game in. I don't care what happens.
Speaker 1: I don't care who plays. We're getting this football game in.
Speaker 1: But we'll talk to Michelle Tafoya. He'll she'll join us
Speaker 1: and give us an update on what is going on
Speaker 1: with this game. Yes, Paul, I wonder if Tafoya is
Speaker 1: going to have just a normal mask on on the
Speaker 1: sidelines or like the full has Matt like the Pola
Speaker 1: thirteen space suit doing report being extra cautious? Oh what
Speaker 1: else do you have? Nick Levin? Okay, wait, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on, do you want to do this time? How
Speaker 1: do you feel about that? Um? The last one didn't
Speaker 1: go great, but it wasn't terrible. I say we just
Speaker 1: go for it. Oh you're feeling that good? Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: Todd came up with a poem, A limerick. A limerick, Okay,
Speaker 1: a limerick. I'm sorry, it's my wheelhouse. Yeah, pocket with
Speaker 1: the haikus of the automotic You you stole a limerick
Speaker 1: from somebody and won an award. I did that once.
Speaker 1: Was a man from Peruh's dreamed he was kissing his shoe.
Speaker 1: He awoke in the night in the terrible fright, found
Speaker 1: out it was perfectly true, right out of a book.
Speaker 1: Do you want to get this over with? Yeah, we go.
Speaker 1: Here's Todd Fritz with his limerick about today's Raven Steelers game,
Speaker 1: a third rescheduled game. No way, it's a pandemic. So
Speaker 1: what can you say? Wednesday afternoon at Hines just a
Speaker 1: sign of the times. But are we sure that they'll
Speaker 1: even play? Okay? I like that. Now is the effort
Speaker 1: to rhyme or to entertain, I'd like to say more entertain,
Speaker 1: But as far as following the pros and what you're
Speaker 1: supposed to do for limerick lines one, two and five,
Speaker 1: after rhyme in three and four after rhymem separate, Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm gonna give you a passing grade on that.
Speaker 1: I'll take that. Yeah, like an eighty No no, no,
Speaker 1: It's like Brown University. You pass or fail, never seize,
Speaker 1: dick get degreed. What else do you have? McLevin? Okay,
Speaker 1: I was going to ask which team in the top
Speaker 1: four now is most likely to fall out with Clemson,
Speaker 1: Notre Dame, Alabama, and Ohio State. But based on what
Speaker 1: you opened with, is the answer going to be Ohio State? Well,
Speaker 1: I think that the committee this is entertainment, this is
Speaker 1: a TV show, and as much as we want to go,
Speaker 1: this is based off your resume. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you could look at Ohio State and say, based off
Speaker 1: your resume, we're putting you in the final four. Now,
Speaker 1: talent wise, they deserve to be in the final four,
Speaker 1: but you can't tell me based off your resume that
Speaker 1: they're a final four team. But I think that I
Speaker 1: think Ohio State is still going to make it even
Speaker 1: if they're playing four games. I see this scenario. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it could happen, but let's say Notre
Speaker 1: Dame loses to Clemson by less than a touchdown, Clemson
Speaker 1: fully assembled with Trevor Lawrence back, Alabama loses to Florida
Speaker 1: in a closed game. Could Ohio State get left out
Speaker 1: because you'd still keep Alabama in after a loss, and
Speaker 1: you'd keep Notre Dame in after a loss because their
Speaker 1: resume is better than Ohio States. That was just the
Speaker 1: one question that I had if we look at scenarios here,
Speaker 1: that was the one that I looked at. Yeah, mccleman,
Speaker 1: what about Texas A and M who sits at five?
Speaker 1: I believe do they have a real path because what
Speaker 1: you describe leaves them out a little bit. I don't
Speaker 1: know if anybody is anxious to see Texas A and M.
Speaker 1: Just being honest here from an observer, But this is
Speaker 1: this is about This isn't March madness. This is the
Speaker 1: four best teams where people are going to watch in
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame. People will watch. You
Speaker 1: want to put Florida in there with Kyle Trask, who
Speaker 1: will probably win the Heisman, or at least if he
Speaker 1: has a great game against Alabama, he's gonna win the
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy. Maybe people will tune in for that. I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody is interested in Texas A and M
Speaker 1: being invited to the party. What else? So that means
Speaker 1: Cincinnati isn't even worth as Cincinnati is. You know, if
Speaker 1: this were March Madness Cincinnati and BYU Coastal Carolina Liberty
Speaker 1: would be a whole lot of fun. But this is football,
Speaker 1: and football doesn't believe in Cinderella's stories. They love the
Speaker 1: blue Bloods and they are gonna live and die by
Speaker 1: the blue Bloods, and I don't think this year is
Speaker 1: any exception. All right, let me take a break. We'll
Speaker 1: settle on a poll question. By the way, you got
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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty one calendar, and a whole lot more
Speaker 1: Dan Patrick dot com. Take a break. Eighteen after the hour,
Speaker 1: we'll head to Pittsburgh. Are we going to have a
Speaker 1: football game this afternoon? We'll talk to Michelle Tafoya from
Speaker 1: Football Afternoon in America right after this. I mentioned this
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Speaker 1: I was watching college basketball last night. Who it's not
Speaker 1: good basketball, They're some marquee teams. But watching Duke against
Speaker 1: Michigan State. You know, when's the last time you watched
Speaker 1: a Duke game and you had no idea who anybody
Speaker 1: was on the floor. When's the last time you watched
Speaker 1: Kentucky and had no idea who anybody was on the floor.
Speaker 1: When's the last time you watched Kansas and had no
Speaker 1: idea who anybody was on the floor. Well, that happened
Speaker 1: last night, and I followed the sport. I know Duke
Speaker 1: had an unbelievable recruiting year, but I'm watching and I'm
Speaker 1: going m nope, nope. And that was the case last night.
Speaker 1: Kentucky Kansas not good, not good at all. And then
Speaker 1: Duke and Michigan State, Michigan State got to win. Yes, Paul,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. You know. Two years ago, Zion took
Speaker 1: over the sport. Everyone knew. You got to know him fast,
Speaker 1: but by default you got to know RJ. Barrett and
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish and the other guys. There's not a focal
Speaker 1: point guy anywhere. The player of the year. It's playing
Speaker 1: for the Iowa Hawkeyes and not a lot of people
Speaker 1: I would think it's much national attention. Age seven seven
Speaker 1: three DP show will settle on a poll question. Got
Speaker 1: a couple interesting status of the day coming up, but
Speaker 1: the big question of the day is are we going
Speaker 1: to have football this afternoon? Michelle Tafoya NBC Sunday Night Football,
Speaker 1: NBC Wednesday Afternoon Football sideline reporter, and she joins us
Speaker 1: now from Pittsburgh. How confident are you we're playing football
Speaker 1: to day? Michelle, I'm very confident. But first I have
Speaker 1: to say Jalen Sugs of Gonzaga, don't ignore him. Okay,
Speaker 1: mini guy point guard. All right, Yeah, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: some football. It's the Thanksgiving edition of Sunday Night Football
Speaker 1: on Wednesday afternoon. That's what we have. We feel pretty confident. Look,
Speaker 1: the Steelers have two guys missing, and James Connor and
Speaker 1: Stefanto it the Ravens. You should see this flip card.
Speaker 1: If people don't know what a flip card is, it's
Speaker 1: the card that they give the media to lists all
Speaker 1: the starters in the second and third deep. It is
Speaker 1: a mess. It's just an absolute mess for the Ravens.
Speaker 1: But you know, some of these guys are coming back.
Speaker 1: The rumors that Mark Ingram and JK. Dobbins will play
Speaker 1: in this game are false. They will not. They're not
Speaker 1: coming and so but you know they're going to take
Speaker 1: rapid tests before they leave the hotel today. And assuming
Speaker 1: everyone clears, we've got a football game. Okay, could there
Speaker 1: be a number and like, is there a number of
Speaker 1: positive tests that could happen this morning where that it
Speaker 1: would put this game in jeopardy? Well, my guests would
Speaker 1: be again, this is not official, Dwan, but what they've
Speaker 1: been doing is I mean, if there's a single test,
Speaker 1: then really, if that person's been in meals, in a walkthrough,
Speaker 1: in a meeting, then everyone's at risk. Or they could say,
Speaker 1: you know what, it's a it's a defensive back. We're
Speaker 1: only worried about the corners and everyone else's is negative.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it would have to be cleared with the league,
Speaker 1: but yeah, that's something I'm sure John Harbaugh is grinding
Speaker 1: his teeth about this. Morning is get these tests back
Speaker 1: and please make them negative. How is your role changed
Speaker 1: in the last week in approaching this game. I've just
Speaker 1: become very familiar with Pittsburgh, Dan, especially the downtown area.
Speaker 1: It's been you know, I you know, the role hasn't
Speaker 1: changed so much, although I'll tell you we're all kind
Speaker 1: of like dizzy of looking through the numbers and the names. Okay,
Speaker 1: this guy now is off the list, but this guy's on.
Speaker 1: So they have how many starters missing, and how many
Speaker 1: of those guys are Pro bowlers and which who's Oh,
Speaker 1: but this guy now is back and this guy's off.
Speaker 1: That part has been honestly the most time consuming part
Speaker 1: of this for me anyway, and I think really for
Speaker 1: all of us, trying to figure out who's playing. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, all these practice squad players that are coming up.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just a bunch of them and people
Speaker 1: don't know who they are, so preparing that way. I
Speaker 1: know it's been tough for Chris getting these names of
Speaker 1: guys you never heard of, and you know, for me, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just feel like I'm a I'm a counter, I'm
Speaker 1: a I count COVID test. That's what I've done all weeks.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Michelle Tafoya, NBC Sunday Night Football sideline reporter,
Speaker 1: Mike Trico, Chris collins Worth and Michelle will be on
Speaker 1: the call. Game starts at three forty Eastern. What is
Speaker 1: the schedule this morning for these two teams or when
Speaker 1: did they take the field? Okay, so kickoffs at three forty,
Speaker 1: we go on there a three thirty. I think the
Speaker 1: teams arrive in the one o'clock our. You know, as
Speaker 1: I talked to Cam Hayward last night, I said, what's
Speaker 1: the day like tomorrow? He goes, It's just a delayed
Speaker 1: one o'clock game. That's the way they're looking at it.
Speaker 1: They're looking at like, you know what, We're supposed to
Speaker 1: play at one, but there's a lot of snows, so
Speaker 1: we got to play at three thirty instead. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, everything's just bumped a little bit. Um. I
Speaker 1: know these guys are itching to get out there. The
Speaker 1: one kind of silver lining, especially for Pittsburgh, is guys
Speaker 1: have had all this time to rest and get better.
Speaker 1: They were they were pretty beat up, and they've gotten
Speaker 1: to rest and get better. I would say that's true
Speaker 1: for some of the Ravens as well. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh feels great now. Harbaugh loves the idea that no
Speaker 1: one thinks they can win this game, but it is
Speaker 1: hard to see them putting it together a team that
Speaker 1: can contend with with what the Steelers have gone right now,
Speaker 1: though the first game was very close. Did you talk
Speaker 1: to Roethlisberger? Did the crew talk to Roethlisberger? Yes? Okay,
Speaker 1: what did you take away from that interview? Um? Nothing
Speaker 1: particularly groundbreaking, Um, you know, just I think the usual stuff.
Speaker 1: He feels great, Um, loves his team. They don't need
Speaker 1: to go undefeated. Um, they just want to keep winning
Speaker 1: their ultimate goal as a super Bowl obvious flee and
Speaker 1: they're really confident. There's no drama with Pittsburgh and right, yeah,
Speaker 1: not really. Isn't that funny? And so many times that
Speaker 1: there are, but uh, you know, it's it's interesting no drama.
Speaker 1: Tomlins his usual brilliant self with all these lines that
Speaker 1: come out of his mouth that just just kill you.
Speaker 1: But it's yeah, there's not a lot of drama because
Speaker 1: there isn't a lot of injury. Now. The interesting thing
Speaker 1: about James Connor, they're running back there, they're superstar is
Speaker 1: that you know, he's a cancer survivor, and one of
Speaker 1: the things about this COVID thing is if you have
Speaker 1: a secondary you know, a co co morbidity they call it,
Speaker 1: that can be dangerous. But James has been healthy for
Speaker 1: a long time. As far as we know, he's he's
Speaker 1: handling this just fine. And I would say the same
Speaker 1: thing about Mark Andrews for the Ravens. He's a type
Speaker 1: one diabetes guy and having a great season by the way,
Speaker 1: but you know he came into this season I was
Speaker 1: wide open and didn't really think anything of it. But
Speaker 1: those are the two I think on these two teams
Speaker 1: that you have to kind of just have a little
Speaker 1: bit of extra concern for what roll his weather played today,
Speaker 1: not as much as it would have last night, because
Speaker 1: yesterday was a complete snowstorm here and things were very
Speaker 1: slick and they got it went from snow to rain
Speaker 1: late in the day. It was ugly. So I think
Speaker 1: weather's going to be a non factor. It's supposed to
Speaker 1: be sunny, cold. But you know, if anything was going
Speaker 1: to be impacted, I would say it's the kicking game,
Speaker 1: But that has never seemed to bother. Justin Tucker, what's
Speaker 1: interesting Justin Tucker's like the most successful kicker at HINZ ever.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's missed one kick here, one field goal attempt,
Speaker 1: and that was in his first season. The interesting thing
Speaker 1: is for him is his long snapper, Morgan Cox is
Speaker 1: out with COVID, So they've got a practice guy coming
Speaker 1: up to do the long snapping with this group, Justin Tucker.
Speaker 1: They're punter Sam Cook who does the holding, and this
Speaker 1: group has played ninety straight games together and now they're
Speaker 1: interrupting this and we'll see how that goes. You know,
Speaker 1: Justin didn't want to talk about he was a little superstitious.
Speaker 1: He told me a guy Nick's going to do great,
Speaker 1: Nick Moore, who's coming up. But you know that could
Speaker 1: be sort of an interesting twist in all this. A
Speaker 1: guy who has had just ridiculous success at hines In
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker, is that messed up today? Who knows? You're
Speaker 1: also hosting NBC Sports Uncovered, a podcast and the latest
Speaker 1: interview is with John Gruden. What did we unearth from
Speaker 1: the podcast with the new and improved two point zero
Speaker 1: John Gruden? For me, the most interesting thing was how
Speaker 1: emotional he can still get about thinking about when he
Speaker 1: was traded to Tampa when he was when the Raiders
Speaker 1: were able to say, yeah, we don't we don't really
Speaker 1: need you anymore, We're going to trade you. It. Really
Speaker 1: I was surprised at how much that still stings for him,
Speaker 1: even though he went to Tampa and beat the Raiders
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl and really had the ultimate revenge.
Speaker 1: But it's still it still is hard for him to
Speaker 1: talk about. And that that was interesting to me because
Speaker 1: as hard as I tried to get more information from him,
Speaker 1: he would say, it's too painful and it makes me emotional,
Speaker 1: and so I'm done talking about that. But given what
Speaker 1: happened in that Super Bowl, it felt like they knew
Speaker 1: every play that rich Gannon was calling. Does Gruden admit
Speaker 1: that now that they knew exactly what was going on?
Speaker 1: He in a way, yeah. I mean, the they acknowledge
Speaker 1: the fact that that was one of those years where
Speaker 1: you didn't have that that weak break between the end
Speaker 1: of the season and the Super Bowl, or between the
Speaker 1: end of the playoffs and the Super Bowl that we
Speaker 1: have now, that sort of bye week, and that really
Speaker 1: didn't allow the Raiders to change much. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: that with that short we could notice or short we
Speaker 1: could practice in preparation, they weren't able to change much.
Speaker 1: And yeah, Gruden, Gruden knew a lot. And Gruden loves
Speaker 1: to have some colorful language in practice on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: If you were going to like, was there a moment
Speaker 1: where you went, oh my god, you're on the sidelines
Speaker 1: and you hear a coach go off. Have you had
Speaker 1: one of those moments with Gruden? Well, anybody just where
Speaker 1: the language was a little more colorful than you would
Speaker 1: have thought. Sure, I have. You know what's odd about
Speaker 1: My strongest memory of Gruden was early in my sidelining career.
Speaker 1: I was still at CBS and it was the day
Speaker 1: after Christmas and we were doing a game at Oakland.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember who the other team was because
Speaker 1: on Christmas Night, the night before the game, I had
Speaker 1: a surprise in that my then boyfriend now husband popped
Speaker 1: the question on Christmas Night. So I went out the
Speaker 1: next day to that game just you know, like on
Speaker 1: a cloud. And Lance Barrow was the producer of the
Speaker 1: game who kept saying, Michelle, hold the microphone in your
Speaker 1: left hand, so what one could and and so then
Speaker 1: I just remember at halftime, I was waiting for Gruden
Speaker 1: to come out, and Gruden sort of pointed to the ground, like,
Speaker 1: you come over here, I'm not coming to you, And
Speaker 1: so I went over and talked to him. But you know,
Speaker 1: I have a great relationship with Gruden because we worked
Speaker 1: on Monday Night Football on ESPN for a couple of
Speaker 1: years together. And but yeah, I mean, every coach is different,
Speaker 1: and they're all they've all got their thing, and some
Speaker 1: guys are really much more polite than you would expect,
Speaker 1: and some guys are really salty. Who is really polite?
Speaker 1: You know, It's funny, Dan, It doesn't come to mind
Speaker 1: right away. How is Belichick? Is he ever like expressive
Speaker 1: with you? Effusive? Where he just I wouldn't say effusive.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that he's ever really effusive unless he's
Speaker 1: talking about a great story or something historical in football.
Speaker 1: But you know, he Look, I'm appreciative of any coach
Speaker 1: that's willing under those circumstances to talk to you. I
Speaker 1: do have a memory of him going into that last
Speaker 1: Super Bowl we covered in Arizona, and I remember they
Speaker 1: were heading into the locker room for the last time
Speaker 1: before kickoff, and I caught up with him and I said,
Speaker 1: let me just ask you do you get nervous before
Speaker 1: these big games? And he goes, yeah, I do. And
Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting because he's a guy that
Speaker 1: would never really let on that things, you know, bother
Speaker 1: him and that he's anything but just feet on the
Speaker 1: ground and everything. So I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's a game to game thing, Dan,
Speaker 1: and you just kind of go into each interview with
Speaker 1: these coaches, whether they're winning or losing, just bracing for
Speaker 1: the worst and trying not to ask a stupid question.
Speaker 1: Have fun today, Michelle, and hopefully you get to a
Speaker 1: skate Pittsburgh, not that it's not a great city, but
Speaker 1: you probably spent more time there than you your Pan
Speaker 1: taxes in Pittsburgh. We are we all are um and
Speaker 1: there's no room service. So but no, we're good. We're
Speaker 1: I don't want to sound like we're complaining. We're not.
Speaker 1: We're it's all good and we're excited. But thank you
Speaker 1: Dan for having me. Thank you, Michelle. That's Michelle Tafoya,
Speaker 1: NBC Sunday Night Football Now Wednesday Afternoon Football Sideline Reporter
Speaker 1: Festivity start at three thirty Eastern on NBC and also
Speaker 1: the NBC Podcast with John Gruden Sports Uncovered with Michelle Tafoya.
Speaker 1: Play the Day up next your phone calls as well
Speaker 1: back after this in The Dan Patrick Show. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch us live every weekday morning nine until noon eastern
Speaker 1: six to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, and you
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app at FSR or
Speaker 1: stream us live on the Peacock app. Oh my God,
Speaker 1: Play of the Day. This is the play on the day.
Speaker 1: Check this out now, Wilson, look at the drop stops. Hey,
Speaker 1: it hits. He has taken over this game entirely. It's
Speaker 1: the Jaylen Wilson Show in Indie. I did it with fundamentals,
Speaker 1: just a shot fake let him five. By courtesy of
Speaker 1: Learfield IMG College. The freshman Jaylen Wilson led the way
Speaker 1: for Kansas twenty three points en route to a sixty
Speaker 1: five sixty two win over Kentucky. Kansas won despite shooting
Speaker 1: thirty percent from the floor. They got no field goals
Speaker 1: from their bench, the lowest field goal percentage by any
Speaker 1: team to beat Kentucky in the last twenty five years.
Speaker 1: Your Play of the Day has brought you by built
Speaker 1: Bar Fritzie had one yesterday, fabulous. Fritzie said, can I
Speaker 1: have another one today? I go, yeah, I'm not rationing
Speaker 1: them out. You can have another one if you need it.
Speaker 1: It's like I almost had like three or four in
Speaker 1: a row. I don't think it's ante'd have like a
Speaker 1: whole box of them in one No, No, you should
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Speaker 1: into the promo, coddp twenty percent off your purchase. That's
Speaker 1: a great appearance by Michelle Tilfoya because you told she
Speaker 1: told you that Baltimore's running backs are not playing in
Speaker 1: this game. They're starting running backs are not playing in
Speaker 1: this game, and that there's a new long snapper for
Speaker 1: the Ravens with Justin Tucker. I don't know if the
Speaker 1: game comes down to a field goal, but it's just
Speaker 1: these little small things that the sideline reporters, the great
Speaker 1: sideline reporters find out, just to give you a sense
Speaker 1: of keep an eye on this. Maybe nothing happens. Justin
Speaker 1: Tucker is the best field goal kicker ever at Hinesfield,
Speaker 1: he's a Hall of Famer if it comes down to
Speaker 1: a big kick and maybe something happens with a long
Speaker 1: snapper there. But she told you that Baldimore's running backs
Speaker 1: are not going to be playing in this game. I
Speaker 1: don't know how many positive tests would have to take
Speaker 1: place for the NFL to step in and say we
Speaker 1: can't play this game like at this point. I don't
Speaker 1: know if there is a number, but they're going to
Speaker 1: be tested this morning prior to getting ready to play
Speaker 1: this football game. All right, club, and you got a
Speaker 1: pull question for me? Well, I did put up our one.
Speaker 1: Will they played it today? And eighty four percent said yes?
Speaker 1: And it seems like Michelle agreed. I have a strong
Speaker 1: NBA option. Can I can save it for later in
Speaker 1: the show or share it with you? Now? Give it
Speaker 1: to me now? By the way, the MAVs Lakers on
Speaker 1: Christmas Day? Oh yeah, the question is which Christmas Day game?
Speaker 1: If you can only watch one, which one are you
Speaker 1: going with? Okay? So the choices are the MAVs, Lakers,
Speaker 1: the Clippers, Nuggets? Oh no, no, okay, let's see here.
Speaker 1: We got the Nets, Celtics kde Why didn't they have
Speaker 1: the Nets against the Rockets, because then I can have
Speaker 1: Daryl Morey, who's with the seventies sixers, and then you
Speaker 1: have James Harden and then just that does you know,
Speaker 1: is there tampering that happens with Daryl Morey with James
Speaker 1: Harden coming to the seventy sixers or do you look
Speaker 1: at that game and go, hey, you know what, Joe
Speaker 1: lmbad on the Rockets would be a really interesting acquisition here.
Speaker 1: I thought that that might be a little bit more
Speaker 1: interesting than the Celtics and the Nets. But you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm interested to see what the Nets roll
Speaker 1: out and what kind of mood Kevin Durant is. By
Speaker 1: the way, Kevin Durant met with the media, and Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant just wants to let you know he didn't talk
Speaker 1: to James Harden about joining the Nets. Is there anything
Speaker 1: that you could share with us about that conversation? And
Speaker 1: then you relay that James wants to play with the
Speaker 1: Nets to Sean as soon as you hear something like that,
Speaker 1: I don't know where are you making these stories up
Speaker 1: that me and James talked about any of this set
Speaker 1: of workout, Like I don't know where that came from.
Speaker 1: And James is a friend of mine, But I let
Speaker 1: the front office hand to all of that stuff. I
Speaker 1: was just so focused on working out. I heard all
Speaker 1: the noise and I heard that, you know, James potentially
Speaker 1: wanted to come to the net. But anybody can make
Speaker 1: up stories. Anybody can write a story, and it gets
Speaker 1: some trash. Okay. Now, maybe Kevin Durant was really focused
Speaker 1: on working out and probably didn't have time to take
Speaker 1: a phone call from James Harden because it's coming back
Speaker 1: from an achilles injury. So I understand, Yeah, you have
Speaker 1: no time to take a phone call from James. Tell
Speaker 1: him I'm working out. I can't take this phone call.
Speaker 1: Do I believe Kevin Durant? Now I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1: Kevin always turns it around and makes it the media.
Speaker 1: The media did this, Okay? Was this woj or Sham liked?
Speaker 1: Did Sham's come up with this? Did Woge come up
Speaker 1: with it? I mean, these are two of the most
Speaker 1: respected reporters in basketball, and I believe one of them
Speaker 1: had this story about James Harden maybe joining the Nets.
Speaker 1: There's also a story that is in the exploratory stages
Speaker 1: of James Harden and the Golden State Warriors. Just exploratory, okay,
Speaker 1: But I do believe Kevin Durant somehow, some way, at
Speaker 1: some time probably to talk to James Harden and maybe
Speaker 1: said something like, you know, it'd be cool if you
Speaker 1: joined us. Yeah. Well, I do agree with Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: that oftentimes the media gets reports wrong or like there
Speaker 1: are things that are completely made up and fabricated that
Speaker 1: have come out of thin air. The problem with Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant saying that right now is the last time we
Speaker 1: heard him say this was when him and Kyrie were
Speaker 1: in that hallway at the All Star Game talking to
Speaker 1: each other and they were like, oh what, so all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the two of us are talking, now
Speaker 1: we're going to get together and play on the same team.
Speaker 1: And then a year or two later it's like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so that time in the hallway that is when we
Speaker 1: actually decided we were going to get together. Now he
Speaker 1: can be critical of me because I said, Durant and
Speaker 1: Kyrie are going to play together next year, and I
Speaker 1: believe it'll be with the Knicks, and then, as it
Speaker 1: turned out, they weren't interested in the Knicks they just
Speaker 1: went to a different borough to play for the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 1: But when they got together at the All Star Game
Speaker 1: and we saw him huddled just those two, and then
Speaker 1: people started to speculate. And that's when Durant said, oh, like,
Speaker 1: we can't have a conversation without tirees. Like, you guys
Speaker 1: just make things up. Man, I don't even know where
Speaker 1: that with two friends, it is my best brand. I
Speaker 1: can't talk to him, oh man. The Lakers and the
Speaker 1: Mavericks on Christmas Day. This will be the fourteenth consecutive
Speaker 1: year Lebron has played on Christmas Day. Man fifteenth time
Speaker 1: overall he's played on Christmas Day. The player who holds
Speaker 1: the record for most games played on Christmas anybody, Santa Claus?
Speaker 1: That's fair. Guess he doesn't play on Christmas. He works.
Speaker 1: He works, he doesn't play. He works. Kobe Bryant. Kobe
Speaker 1: played sixteen games on Christmas Day. Lub by way, you
Speaker 1: didn't let me finish the poll. There's two more games,
Speaker 1: Oh god, okay, Warriors against the Bucks and of course
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson and the Pelicans against the Heat. Now, I
Speaker 1: think you might choose the Warriors because I could tell
Speaker 1: you're itching for them. If Clay was there, then yes.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just that's such a loss because I
Speaker 1: was really looking forward to seeing what Golden State was
Speaker 1: capable of doing, and if James Wiseman was going to
Speaker 1: fit into what they do or how he was going
Speaker 1: to fit into what they do. And I really thought
Speaker 1: they were going to challenge the Lakers. I really really did.
Speaker 1: I thought that they might be the team to beat. Now,
Speaker 1: this is before the Lakers made their moves, and I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers got better. But it's Dallas because it's
Speaker 1: Lebron who's been the face and maybe you know, Luca
Speaker 1: is now the face of the NBA or one of
Speaker 1: the faces and going to be the face of the NBA.
Speaker 1: And to have those two collide on Christmas Day, that
Speaker 1: would probably be the one. You know, the Celtics with Kyrie,
Speaker 1: Oh boy, Kyrie's going to get back at the Celtics.
Speaker 1: I don't care who cares. Kemba Walker is now going
Speaker 1: to be out till January. He had something with his knee. Man,
Speaker 1: the Celtics had felt like, oh my gosh, they're on
Speaker 1: the verge of and I don't think they're on the
Speaker 1: verge of anymore. But I'm interested to see what happens
Speaker 1: with the Nets. I'm interested to see if there's a
Speaker 1: minute's restriction with them with Steve Nash. I'm just interested
Speaker 1: in the whole dynamic of that team, with everything that
Speaker 1: happens with them. Yes, Ton, why not Nets at Lakers.
Speaker 1: I'm not the schedule maker, Ton, but if you could
Speaker 1: pick one, if you can match any two teams against
Speaker 1: each other, wouldn't you want to see Durant and Kyrie
Speaker 1: at the Champs. I would like to have the Lakers
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. I'd like that better because I would want
Speaker 1: it to be tilted towards the Nets playing well, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to have them go out there and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you know, Kyrie and Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: are sort of playing, you know, twenty two minutes and
Speaker 1: it's you know, they're not ready for prime time there.
Speaker 1: I'd want it to be where the Nets are ready
Speaker 1: to play and just see how good they're they're going
Speaker 1: to be. What what kind of offense do they run
Speaker 1: with Steve Nash as their head coach? Yeah, PAULI year
Speaker 1: two zions be pretty interesting. Does he look different? Feel different?
Speaker 1: Minutes restrictions, game restrictions. It seems like that should all
Speaker 1: be gone. There's been a long time since he played basketball.
Speaker 1: It should be rest it should be conditioning. All the excuses,
Speaker 1: I would say, excuses of year one, but the quirks
Speaker 1: of year one should be gone. I just want to
Speaker 1: know what his game is like. You know, if he's
Speaker 1: slimmed down, because he did look overweight last year. Statistically,
Speaker 1: he had an incredible year, incredible rookie year. His usage
Speaker 1: was it mean, incredible. But I want to know how
Speaker 1: you know, what style of offense are they able to
Speaker 1: run with him? Because he doesn't fit into any real category.
Speaker 1: They're going to make him a small forward this year.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that matters, but I do want
Speaker 1: to see what he looks like, what's his style, what's
Speaker 1: their style as well? All right, we'll get to your
Speaker 1: phone calls coming up out sidetrack there. With the NBA
Speaker 1: schedule for Christmas, we'll check in with Pat Forty. What's
Speaker 1: he make of the Ohio State situation? Are they going
Speaker 1: to play this weekend? Are they going to play against
Speaker 1: Ohio State? Are they going to make it into the
Speaker 1: final four? That story's coming up