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Speaker 1: Welcome in podcast listeners. Clay Travis here. I hope you guys are having a fantastic first week of December. We've got a good Tuesday show for you. Charles Davis joins us an our one Petro's Papadakis. In our three we discussed the Monday night football big win for the Seahawks, what it means for the NFC playoff picture, as well as what in the world's going on at USC, the open college football jobs, and what we see for the college football playoff. Much to discuss, including top five bottom five in the NFL. This is the Tuesday edition of the OutKick Podcast. Thanks for listening, and it begins now. OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday morning from six to nine a m. E Stern three to six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every morning on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs are you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Last big game in the NFL, massive game, even perhaps as we come down the final four weeks of the season. This was the final game of NFL Week thirteen, Essentially, it was a battle to see what might happen in the wild card race, but also what might happen in the NFC West. And if you are waking up this morning and you are a Seahawks fan, things are breaking in your team's way in a major fashion, because in the space of twenty four hours, essentially, we have seen the uh the Seattle Seahawks go from the number five overall seed to the number two overall seed, and we have seen the San Francisco forty Niners fall from the number one seed all the way down to the five seed. It's a massive change, and it's a function of the broken system I believe by which the NFL see it's teams. Now, winning the division is the goal for every single team. But it seems like a cruel and a necessary situation that the forty Niners go from the overall home field advantage in the playoffs till losing by three points on the road to now falling all the way to the five seed where they would be forced to go on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. Right now, Uh, the Cowboys have no business whatsoever as the winner of the NFC East being able to host a playoff game because they happen to win a really bad division. But that is where we are. Also, the Vikings, with the loss, managed to bring back into the playoff race, potentially the Rams who are sitting there at seven and five. Now down the stretch. If you are a Vikings fan, you get the Lions at home on Sunday, that should be a relatively easy win. Then you have the always dangerous but perpetually each poking l A Chargers. The next week. You close with the Bears at your place and also with the Packers at your place, so three of your final four games are at home. If you win two of those games, you probably are in pretty good shape going forward to make the playoffs. And if you win three of them, depending on what happens with the Packers, you potentially could contend for the division still. But let's not underrate what exactly happened here. This was seismic for both teams involved, as well as for the forty niners. So where does this leave us with four weeks to play? Uh? In the NFC, things are wide open, but if you are a Saints fan, you have to feel really, really good about where you are coming down the final four weeks of the season. The forty Niners are coming to your place. You are right at a three point favorite in that game. If you can beat the forty Niners at home, you are looking really good for an opportunity to be the number one overall seed and the playoffs yet again in the NFC, because right after that game, the Colts come to town. The Colts seem to have fallen apart in many respects. That's a Monday night football game, so you would get an extra day to get ready. Then you go on the road against the Titans, who are playing very well. UH, and then you finish with the Panthers. But if you beat the forty Niners, and even if you lost another game in those final three, you would be the number one overall seed in UH the NFC, and you couldn't really be caught by anybody, probably because you have the tie break over the Seahawks, who it's unlikely are going to perfectly run the table um against against their lineup, although we'll see anyway, a lot of drama at the top of the NFC at again. The Saints now your overall number one seed. Rejoice. If you are a New Orleans fan, you've got Seattle sliding in at the two spot, the Green Bay Packers at the three. Obviously, all of these teams have substantial home field advantages, and you would have to feel good if you are the Saints, if you are the Seahawks, or if you are the Packers about being able to play a home field playoff game. Then in the four spot, the Cowboys have no business being there, but they would be hosting, uh the San Francisco forty Niners at this point, and uh, the the Vikings slide in at the six seed, with I would say the Rams on the outside looking in but hoping to be able to make a run down the stretch. That's pretty much the entirety of the playoff picture as it stands right now in the NFC with four weeks to go in the season. That's pretty exciting grouping, are right? What about the a f C. The a f C also pretty intriguing. You got the Baltimore Ravens right now at Tendanto with the tie break win over the Patriots, who are also tendant to those are your two teams who would be getting buys right now. Then, right on the periphery outside, the Houston Texans are your three seed. Kansas City Chiefs are your four seed. Those two teams both eight and for, but the Texans one on the road against the Chiefs, so they have the they have the the tie break there. Then you have Buffalo, who is nine and three and has been playing off the off the hook when they've been playing against bad teams, but just got a big win on the road against the Cowboys. Then you have the Steelers as the final team in the playoffs, and right now they have a tie break over the Titans predicated on their better a f C record than the Oakland Raiders, who host the Titans in Indianapolis. Colts round out the playoff picture. So, uh, that is a really intriguing situation coming down the stretch to be following. To be sure, all right, UH, let me go ahead and bring in the crew. We got a loaded show for You're gonna talk with Charles Davis here in the next segment, uh, And then in our three our guy Petros Papadakis will come by and we'll try and figure out what in the world he thinks is going on with the usc. UH decision with Clay Helton hasn't officially been been made. The decision that is that Clay Helton will return or what in the world is going on with the Trojans. The more days that Clay Helton last, the better it is for him. Uh. It is intriguing to be sure to follow along with what is happening. Uh, let me bring in Danny g Good battles a f C are set up for some really good playoff races. We would have never thought a couple of weeks ago that we'd be talking about the forty Niners being the sixth seed. That's pretty amazing. I can't wait to hear your top five coming at the top of next hour. Yeah, you know what I mean? This to me is a flaw. And I say that some cowboy fans are Eagle fans are like you ever say that? I said like the NFC East, I said, doesn't deserve a playoff spot. And I feel like this is one of those situations where the NFL in general is broken in that you shouldn't get to host a home playoff game or b seated higher than another team simply because of geographic cork. Right, just because your division stinks doesn't mean you should be rewarded with a home playoff game. I mean, I think most people listening to us right now, I think that it's crazy that the Tenant forty Niners are slotted as the road team against the six and six Dallas Cowboys. Why should the Cowboys be rewarded with a home playoff game when everybody else out there, I think agrees with me and agrees with us the forty Niners are a much better team, So why should the Cowboys get an advantage in that game? Yeah, and I think even fans of the NFC East kind of agree with you, because you see the memes that have been going around the past couple of days where the garbage cans are lined up with those teams logos on them. So even Cowboy fans are well aware that, yeah, this is a flaw in the system. But you know, one thing that I noticed last night was how much a part of the game special teams is. Right now, you talked about it yesterday. With all the field goals and extra points bouncing off the upright, it's unbelieable how often the uprights are getting hit. And then how about that fake punt. Seahawks Travis Homer ran for that first down on the fake punt in the second half when the Vikings had caught fire. I know Carol felt the momentum going the way the Vikings. Here's my argument. If if I were a coach, this is something I would legitimately be exploring. Why don't you just leave your base defense on every time there's a punt and put back no one to return the kick, and just let the ball roll and stop wherever it's done. I think Saban is listening to you right now. I mean, yeah, Savings certainly could could benefit by this. But when I look at the number, and this is just a curious factor. Unless you have a true game breaking punt returner, it's relatively rare in the NFL today, it seems to me, I'm just talking about the NFL in particular, although this could apply in college. It's relatively rare in the NFL that there are punt return touchdowns. In fact, that there's somebody who can look up the number of punt return touchdowns that we have seen in the NFL this year. I'd love to know that stat through twelve weeks of the season. In other words, I think that special teams, punt coverage and punters in general are so good at getting the ball high in the air and so good at making fair catches be called and everything else that the number of times when we get a legitimate game changing play from a punt return perspective is incredibly low. Now, I understand the need to put somebody back when you know you're trying to avoid getting pinned at the one yard line or the two yard line, and so you want somebody to fair catch it at the ten for instance. That actually I can see making sense. But in that situation where the where the Seahawks were punting from their side of the field, why not just let the ball bounce and just have it down. In general, as anybody have the stat on the number of punt returns, because if you think about the number of fumbles that you see from kick returners, and if you see the number of times that you run into the kicker or that the special teams UH is able to convert going forward on fourth down, it seems like there's almost a value at this point in time and just ensuring that the team you're going up against actually punts dub what's the stat Yeah, there's been three so far this season. Yeah. Kenyan Barner for the Falcons as one Harris for the Saints and Desmond King for the Charger. Three. So there's three this year. And I don't know whether there's a way to easily figure y're out how many fumbles there are on punt returns. But even with NFL teams, when you have the best guy with the best hands trying to return your your punts, I guarantee you there has been I would bet double digits on the number of times that somebody has fumbled trying to return a punt, uh, you know, giving up the field position and everything else. And then you also factor in the number of times that teams fake it and I legitimately wonder or you run into the kicker and give a first down, or you jump off sides or whatever else. If you just stayed in your base defense on fourth down and allowed the other team to punt and didn't even send anybody back, what would happen? And by the way, Bill Belichick did this against the Cowboys. Some of you may remember in that scenario, remember when uh, the Belichick like intimidated the Cowboys and Jason Garrett into taking a time out because he left his base defense on or appeared like he was making the Cowboys uncomfortable. By not sending anybody back, he gained ten yards and forced the Cowboys to a good time out in that scenario. But I would be exploring that idea if I wore a head coach right now. I know it's uh, it's it's it's cliche, and I know it's a it's commonplace, and I know it's tradition to put back a punt returner. But three touchdowns, if you compare it versus all the turnovers that you get in theory, you would never ever worry about turning the ball over. Now again, I'm saying there's a difference if you have a punter who is trying to pin you deep and you want to be able to fair catch it around the tin yard line. I understand that from a purely filled position perspective, But in terms of getting taken advantage of with fakes, with running into the kicker, with with getting drawn off sides, all those things, if you just tell your team based defense, we're just set up to try to keep ever there being a fake punt run against us, would it be more valuable than the kick returns you're likely to get as a punter, not to mention. Factoring in blocks in the back and everything else, I don't think you gain that much yardage as an NFL team in UH in these scenarios. I think it's intriguing to for somebody to explore. UH anybody else agree with that? Dub? Is that my crazy for that idea? Well, no, you're not crazy. And another thing, whenever you see a long punt return, what percent of the time is even get called back just because I mean, it's got to be well over fifty probably sixty seventy percent of the time you see it get called back for a legal block in the back or holding. So I feel like NET and NET you'd probably even if you just line up in your base defense and had a safety back deep and just automatically fair catch it. I think net NET for the whole season, you'd end up with better field position than you would than trying to return punts and gain yards in that matter. Yeah, I think the idea that you're gonna get a touchdown or that you're gonna flip the field with field position based on punt returns is an old school and that isn't in any way justified by the modern day data. When you actually look at the returns, Eddie, do you think this is crazy idea? You like it? No, I'm fine with it. I would definitely though, try and have somebody back there just to fair catch it and keep the ball from rolling. Um. I wouldn't be in favor of just laying the ball roll wherever. But as far as the returns go, it's there's not a lot of success there as we Yeah, I just I I wonder in general about about the value there. But you're right, big win regardless for the UH, for the Seahawks over the Vikings, changing completely the overall NFC playoff picture. Will continue to break this down. We'll see what Charles Davis thinks of the NFL as we come up on the final four weeks of the season. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. Charles Davis here momentarily at CFD twenty two. Stat for you. A lot of people reacting to my why not just put back your your base defense, never worry about getting faked against you. Uh. Here's the stats on punt coverage. There's been seventeen hundred punts roughly this year in the NFL. There have been three punt return touchdowns. That's a point o one percent chance of returning the punt for a touchdown on there have been sixty two touchbacks. That's crazy. In the NFL, it's almost never happens that a punterer puts the ball in the end zone. Now, and seven blocks ninety three fair catches average punt return in the NFL, right at seven yards. Uh So, just wondering whether it might make sense to always leave your base defense on and not even worry about trying to set up a punt return. We bring in now, Charles Davis, Charles, those numbers surprise you. I know we'll get to the games you had in general. But we were talking about the big punt return that the Seahawks, sorry, the big punt fake that the Seahawks had last night, and also certainly the way things went down between Alabama and Auburn down the stretch. It seems like you're more likely to make a mistake by running into the kicker or jumping off sides or fumbling a punt then you are actually make a big play that changes the game in terms of a punt return. Is this a crazy idea or do you think just basically going punt safe might be a strategy that makes a lot of sense in today's NFL. Oh, I don't think it's a crazy idea, and I feel like we're actually headed there sooner rather than later. With the number of coaches that I've talked to over the last ten years about punt return, kickoff return, things to that nature, there's one coach that's a Hall of Fame college football coach. I don't want to use his name just because we haven't spoken about it where I could say, hey, I can use your name, but he told me, and I'm going to estimate Clay ten years ago, what's your strategy on punt return, gaining yard at all of those things, because you know, George Allen brought it into vogue right with the special teams, and you know it's one third of the game, and and and now you have a whole special unit. When Gary Barnett was at the University of Colorado, guys would find envelopes. I don't know if they were engraved, I want to get that crazy, but they're envelopes, are names on I believe in their lockers. And though they were invitations to play on special teams because it was that important to them, and if you got an invitation that was supposed to be valued and coveted, and you would go and a hard you know, obviously Frank Biemer and Beamer ball in college football. My point being, we've gone through that that that that iteration evolution whenever you want to call it, where this is a big, big thing, And more and more recently I'm hearing from special teams coaches, from from head coaches, I just want the darn football, please, okay, So you know, and and what I'm going back to that coach and I said, what do you feel about that? And he said, hey, he said, let me tell you something. Man, all I ever want and I tell my return guys, I want the next snap after a punt to be taken by my offense, and after that, I don't care about anything else. So I think that your point is is well taken, Clay. I don't think it's you know, out of out of format by any stretch. In fact, I think we're headed towards it more. Here's your only downside. And when I say downside, I'm doing it with joy trip beyond the air quote. Coaches like to involve players in the game plan and more players that are involved, the better buy in you get in practice during the week. So that's why special teams are really important, especially on the collegiate level. How many other guys can you give rolls ownership, have them feel good about themselves, and then you'll get better production overall through your team. That's why they want more of those guys on special teams. The second downside is punt safe. If you're doing it every time, you know it ends up happening with your defensive guys, whether they want to or not, what do they do collect They take it for granted, they fall asleep on it, and you get the bake anyway, So I'm with you. I mean, I think I've said it over the last two weeks in in games i've done, I wouldn't run my punt unit out there, guys. I'd have punt safe on right now, and just all I want is the football. So I think that you and I are kind of mind melding on that. Right now, we're talking to Charles Davis at CFD twenty two. You called a really potentially Super Bowl preview between the forty Niners and the Ravens. We're gonna get to that in a minute. But man, I am loving Lamar Jackson showing up and continuing to a spouse that nobody cares work harder intra which seems to me to be so great in an era when everybody always feels like everything is aligned against them and I feel like a lot of times we give too much credence to, for lack of a better term, whiners, And the world of sports is the ultimate non whining universe in my mind. You know, ultimately there's a scoreboard, you'll win or you'll lose. Everybody understands the rules by which you play, and we don't spend a lot of time arguing about about people who were mistreated or or or not given enough respect, you know, in terms of of of overall end results. I love this concept, Uh do you find it? And and and the way he speaks about it before and after games, in addition to the fact that Lamar Jackson is playing out of this world right now with the Ravens. But isn't it kind of refreshing to hear somebody not get up and make excuses and not get up and say you know, like I you know, like, oh, I can't believe that I have any doubters or all those things, like nobody cares work harder. It's just so a sin stually distilled. I love everything about it. Yeah, and I think that he kind of handled all of that week one didn't play, you know, he kind of and he did it in such a to me an endearing way. You know, when he came up after the Miami game, we threw five touchdown passes to start the season. I believe that that was the first week he had the perfect quarterback rating. And after the ballgamesbody asked him a question whatever, and I think he answered the question first, and I think he finished it with although that became the sound bite, obviously not bad for a running back, and then moved on from there. And as you're as you pointed out, since then, we've seen the T shirts right that that that he'll where we see him talking. He talked with with my colleague Pam Oliver after the game and she mentioned m v P, like, you know, look, you can't ignore the elephant in the room. It's a big deal. And he said, listen, whatever comes to our way, it comes my way, comes my way. But we're focused on one goal and that's trying to get to the Super Bowl. Bottom line, and he's been very consistent, and you know, in this era of branding and messaging and everything else, give him an a. He's very consistent in it, and I think it's fantastic, and I think his team is enjoying the heck out of it too. And it certainly appears to be a good group that you have in Baltimore with the old nobody cares who gets the credit, as long as we get the job done, and it's kind of fun, and it's not kind of fun, it is fun to watch, and we typically find that of the best teams, although I think it's a shorter duration now clag than it was maybe when we were kids, where you could have that kind of run where your team could stay together. And I'm gonna leave it with this, The Cowboys run with Emmett and Troy and that crew, to me is one of more extraordinary runs that may never get the absolute credit it deserves, because you know what the attention is like in Dallas on the Cowboys, you know what it's like across the league, and I think at one point when they were in the middle of those that Super Bowl run over twenty Cowboys had some type of a show, radio, TV, the whole deal. How how they stayed together one championship so when everyone is doing their own thing, that's one of the untold stories I think. I think Jeff Prolman did a great job in his book, But how did they keep all that together and continue to win? Because typically that fractures a team. So do you believe that the Ravens are the best team in the NFL right now? Should they favorite? I do right now? Yes, because just just by what we've seen all these last eight weeks, and it's a two full process process. Obviously, what we're seeing now Lamar Jackson and fueling that offense. And I've said it and I will continue to say and I'll jump on the table and say it. This is a commitment from the owner, Steve Bashetti, all the way down through the organization to Lamar Jackson and how they're going to run offense. Because most owners will not sign checks on quarterbacks running the football fifteen times a game. It's just not going to happen. And you get your guy hurt. I was on the plane coming home and I was flying with some people who are who are involved in the NFL, and all of them said this is one of the most exciting things we've watched. And I don't know how long and how much on is it. And then after a beat someone said what everyone was thinking, Oh please, God, don't let him get hurt. Yeah, because that's all we've ever seen. The second part of it is, remember when they were getting shredded on defense during the early part of the season. They were two in two and they had to back to back games with the game total yards. Yeah, that's not happening anymore. So the defense is back in Ravens form. And so that's why I think right now, and having beat in San Francisco, having beat down New England, having beat down the Rams, they have played the best football. They deserve to be acknowledged as the best team. Although we know that we can't really crown anyone until February when the Super Bowl happens. But in our power rankings and everything else, to me, they're the best team in the league right now. Does it make sense to for the NFL to maintain this system where division winners automatically get home playoff games? And the reason why I'm asking is in the wake of the Sea Philadelphia, Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, in the wake of the Seahawks win last night and Monday Night football. Right now, the forty Niners have fallen from the number one overall seed to the five. Even though they're ten and two. They'd go on the road against either Dallas or Philadelphia. Right now, would be Dallas, who's six and six? Does that really make sense? In a lot of ways it does not, And it's been interesting, hasn't because if I followed this story correctly in the NBA, hasn't Adam Silver, their commissioner and his crew come up with various, would it seemingly some to some seemingly radical ideas about what they want to do for the next collective bargaining agreement with the NBA, less games, maybe an n season tournament. But the one they got my attention most was receding playoffs, which in a lot of ways does make sense. Right if you have the big upsets and all of a sudden the sixteen, you get the idea. I think that that's something the league has been exploring for a while and it could very welcome to a head if we have something like that again happened this year. If you end up with let's say Sam just go ends up winning thirteen games this year, but somehow ends up the five feed, you know, and now they've got to go on the road, right and go play Dallas slash Philadelphia. Who maybe eight and eight that may that may bring it to a head again, but we've had it a number of times over the years. Remember when Carolina won their Division seven eight and one and hosted a playoff game. Yeah, and look the Seahawks hosted nine. But the wild part about the Seahawks, but I can't remember Carolina, there's I think they lost because I think I think Cam was out and they were like, didn't Arizona or someone coming and who it was? But the Seahawks one gave us the beast mode run the first that's right front, and that was New Orleans, the defending Super Bowl champions who came limping in in a sense they were beat up, you remember that, Clay, but they were one, you know, they they had won ten or eleven games, came in got beat by seven and nine team in the league kind of went, oh, I don't know if that's good or bad, right, because good that the division champ held up, bad that the seven and nine team got a home game, and maybe that wasn't fair. But I don't know the desk going to change, but it seems like it's definitely something to be discussed. The Tennessee Titans. You call the preseason games for the Titans, so you know this team. Ryan Tannehill has come out of nowhere, right, I mean he is five and one in the last six. They get a huge win on the road against the Colts. Is this team in your mind coming down the final four weeks of the playoffs going to one contend in the a f C South because they still have two games left against the Texans to potentially make the playoffs. If you were sitting at the table and you had to show your cards, do you think they make it? Who? I think that, I'm gonna say one contend definitely to making it is going to be very interesting by the two games with Houston, of course, and I think Houston's back at a high level again. But here's why I'm bullish on their chances, Clay identity. Identity, identity. This team is back to their identity, and I've still never I'm still struggling and maybe I just missed it. How did they get away from it? Okay, you knew what you were building, you know what kind of team you have. I do think that Derrick Henry being hurt in preseason hurt them in their identity. The second part was they were trying so hard to get Marcus Mariota right that maybe they got away from it a little bit that way too. Once they made the move to Tannehill, they said, forget all that, we gotta get Henry going in the run game. Arthur Smith, the first year play caller, finally, you know, got locked in on that. The offensive line was intact after Lawan suspension, and they went ahead and got back to it. And you see the results in the dividends because the defense came in top tend to start the season and they're planning at an even higher level. Now. They are back to being that team, and they're that type of team that's gonna scare the heck out of you if you have any chinks in the armor in the run game, right, if you have anything at all that's gonna be a problem. That's that's that. Here here comes Tennessee and you've had an issue on your hands. So yes, I am bullish on their chances in their opportunity because competence is so high right now. And by the way, Tannehill, he maybe five and one. His numbers are blowing you away, but that's because the identity is there with the run game, and he's making better throws, better decisions, not turning the ball over, and that's helping that team as well. So I am bullish on their opportunity because I do think their competence could not be higher now, and a competent team play, as you know, is a dangerous team. We're talking to Charles Davis at CFD two. Are you buying into the argument that we've had over the last fifteen or sixteen years. It feels like, is oh, the Patriot dynasty is over finally. There's always a couple of games every year where they come out and they don't play well. They're sitting at tennant to Tom Brady in the offense. Clearly the weak link of the Patriots right now. Is it fixable or is this a more alarming loss to some degree with what happened to the Ravens and now what's happened on the road against the Texans coming down the stretch run of the season. Yeah, I'm not stupid enough to say that they are that that that you know I'm gonna buy into this is the end of the whole thing because we've seen it too many times before. But I would have more concern than I've ever had if I were New England, because I don't know where you go to get guys that make it better at this point, talk about receivers. See right now, his most dependable guy obviously his Edelman. But you and I both know that in third downs, key situations. Now you're gonna park two on him right and say, okay, you have to beat us, and then we're gonna go ahead and deal with everyone else. And right now, who scares you? Does Mohammed Sanus scare you? Does j Kobe Meyer scare you? Does the rookie Nikkila Harry scare you? Not? At the moment? Can they get back to running it the way they did down the stretch with Sony Michelle last year with Isaiah win back at left tackle. Perhaps, But I saw Brady on Sunday Night, and we've seen him have his moments. What great quarterback doesn't that seemed to be extended moments Sunday night class. I mean, every time he comes to the bench, he's like dudes, and at one time they zeroed in on him and the lip readers got involved in the words separation came up, but you didn't see people separate the rest of the game because they're not great separators at this time. That's not who these guys are. Can they all of a sudden become that anything can happen? But I don't think so. So that's why I'd have more concerned. And for the first time they actually have someone breathing down their neck in their own division, and that's Buffalo and who would have thought that. Well, they get Buffalo at home in two weeks, right, so this is gonna be an interesting race to the finish. I'd still put all my eggs in the New England basket. I'm not that stupid. But let's be honest about it. We're actually seeing some vulnerability and that hurts that defense because they can only hold up for so long without the offense given them more help. Looks like the balls maybe coming down to Tampa or to Jacksonville in your neck of the woods, by and by me and Clay. You know, this is the craziest part. You know what I thought of when when I went back and looked over Okay, obviously the Georgia State b why you think killed us in the beginning the way they finished the right we beat people. We talked about it all here. Finally beat people were supposed to be beating. Right. We beat Missouri, we beat South Carolina, we beat Vanderbilt, we beat Kentucky. Order restored for at least a season. Hey man, I gotta let you I gotta let you go and order restored. Indeed, the balls coming down to Florida. It looks like maybe going to Music City Bowl. We'll see. This is OutKick on Fox Sports Radio. This is Outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. We are on a roll here as we come through the Tuesday edition of the show. Big news that we haven't even talked about yet. Coming out of Jacksonville, where Nick Foles was given twenty two million dollars a year and has now been benched. Minshew mania back in full force. It's possible that that big contract that the Jags gave to Nick Foles will not be realized in any way. We'll see how Gardner Minshew does for the final four games of the year. But Nick Foles came back from his injury is not good against the Jags, Sorry against the Colts where the Jags got blown out, not good against the Titans where the Jags got blown out, and not good in the first half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where the Jags got blown out. And now it's kind of an intriguing position for Jacksonville to be in in a division where everybody else is at five hundred or better, the Jags sitting at four and eight. Is Gardner Minshew really going to be the future of this franchise? It appears the answer may well be yes. Sixth round pick has now been handed. The reins of the team will be intriguing to see how they do down the stretch run of the season. But Nick Foles maybe yet another big money spend for the Jags on a quarterback that doesn't pan out. You'll remember that after the playoff run with Blake Bortles, the Jags gave him big money and it didn't pan out, and they cut him and let him go, and they decided, you know what, the guy who's gonna make sense for us going forward is Nick fo Oles. And then they also drafted a guy in the sixth round and Gardner Minshew, and it seems like, at least in the short term, that maybe the guy in Jacksonville may end up being Gardner Minshew. We'll see what happens with him, but that's a pretty substantial move that the Jags are making. Doug Moron's job maybe in jeopardy. Tom Coughlin overall things not working out with Jacksonville, and so they break the glass and say, you know what, maybe the future of this franchise is not Nick Foles, who now is is looking like a flash in the pan. Guy could come in as the backup with the Eagles and look phenomenal and uh and when he's actually given the reins to his own team, he isn't the guy. So we'll see. He's made a lot of money. Obviously he's coming off of a clavical injury. I'm sure there will be a battle in the offseason. But in the meantime he has been benched. And the question is is it going to make sense going forward for for Nick Foles to be to be the guy or not? It doesn't necessarily appear so now from a sal recap perspective, Uh, if folds Is is released before June one, he would be owed thirty eight thirty three point eight million. If he's released after June one, he would be owed twenty one million, and maybe they could trade him. Maybe there's interest in some way in and moving him to another team if the Jags really are convinced that Gardner Minshew is their guy for the future. But that is a story worth following. Given how much money the Jags have now spent already on Nick Foles, that looks like money that will not be recouped in any way. All Right, when we come back to start off hour two, I'll dive into the top five, bottom five. We got a new number one team in our NFL Power rankings in the week of NFL Week thirteen. Being done, we'll also talk about many of these open jobs in college football. They continue to sprout. Where do we think people are going? What are the moving parts? There's a lot to follow there as well. Be sure to catch live editions about Kicked the coverage with Clay Travis week days at six am Eastern three am Pacific. Big Game last night not just because two good teams were playing in the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks, but because of the overall shake up that occurred in the NFC playoff picture as a result of the Seahawks win, they held on as an exciting game thirty seven thirty over the Vikings. Then our number one too and five teams changed in the playoff as a result, and so uh, the San Francisco forty Niners, who entered their day as the number one overall team in the NFC, fell all the way to the five seed. The New Orleans Saints moved up to number one overall, and then they hold the tie break over the Seahawks, who are now your number two seed. So if the season ended today in the NFC, the two teams that got the buys would be the Saints and the Seahawks. They are number one and number two, and the San Francisco forty Niners fell all the way to five, meaning that they would go on the road against the NFC East team, which is the Dallas Cowboys. Even though the forty Niners are four games better at ten into than the six and six Dallas Cowboys. That is the way that your playoffs would be set up right now. As a result of the final game of Week thirteen, the Seahawks win over the forty Niners. Well, every Tuesday an hour two during the NFL season. As we now come down the stretch run, with four games remaining for every single team, we give you the top five and the bottom five in the NFL and the OutKick Power rankings. And it's now time for those power rankings. They begin now, and there is the melodious tones in the background. I will start with the list of happiness, the list of joy, the list of excitement. That is the top five teams in the and FL right now. And we have a new number one. We have a new number one. He doesn't care, He just works harder. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. I have to say it this week. I don't understand how you could have any other team number one in the power rankings than the Ravens right now. Uh, the Ravens have one. I believe it's eight games in a row. They were two and two. Now they are tending to they would be the number one overall seed in the a f C. In recent history. They have beaten the Patriots, they have beaten the Texans, they have beaten the forty Niners and the Seahawks. Those are all of the top teams in the NFL. It is an unquestionable number one, with a bullet for the Baltimore Ravens. In the second spot, I've got the Seahawks. I know they're the two seed right now in the NFC, and I know they lost earlier to the Saints, but I haven't really been that impressed with how the Saints have been playing in general. They've been fortunate to win a couple of games. They lost to the Falcons, who were nowhere near good enough, uh to to have beaten the Saints, especially in the in the Superdome. So I have got the Seahawks as my number two team. Uh. Then I've got the forty Niners as the three. They could have easily beaten the Ravens, in which case they would be eleven and one and still be the number one overall team on my list. In the fourth spot, I have got the Saints, And in the five spot, I have got the Patriots. Let me go ahead and bring in the crew and see what they think of my top five four week thirteen now complete again in order, Ravens, Seahawks, forty Niners, Saints and Patriots. And if you're wondering why I've got the Seahawks above, the forty Niners, for instance. Well, it's the head to head. If you're wondering why I've got them above the Saints, it's the fact that they've played better down the stretch. I still have the Patriots in there, even though they just lost to the Texans, because the Texans are eighting four and the Patriots attendant to have been the superior team overall throughout the Sea season, even though the Texans got the win head to head as recently, Yes, Sunday night, what say you, Danny g about my top five? Wow? What a difference a week makes, Clay is coming around last week, you were taking bonuses away from us because we dared to have the Ravens number one. The Ravens. What did I have the Ravens last? For three years? I had of number three. Yeah, and the forty Niners and the Patriots both lost. The Ravens beat my number one team, which were the forty Niners. I adjust every week based on what I see on the field, and right now, the Ravens are the best team. You know, I think one through four we might all agree. I have the same exact one through four. Five is where there's gonna be a little bit of arguing and some debate. I think five. I was trying to decide between the Patriots and the Chiefs head to head right now they do this weekend. Yes, I think the Chiefs because they're getting healthy and their defense is coming together. I think they're gonna sneak past the Patriots in this matchup coming. Think they're gonna be They're gonna win in Foxboro's I do. I do, so, I'm gonna put the Chiefs five, Patriots six, and then I have the Texans, Bills and Packers right on the other side. It could happen. It's interesting to think about if you're a Patriots fan, if you lost to the Chiefs, then there's a possibility that if the Bills pulled off the upset over the Ravens, that as a Patriot fan, you could end up falling all the way to the wild card and be the sixth seed or the five seed, depending on how things shake out and which teams end up in the playoff picture. Here, uh, this is potentially an ominous time for the Patriots. Now, typically in these situations, they respond and they win and they reinforce their dominance. But this game against the Chiefs is gonna be a really intriguing one to watch. But but I can see I can see that argument. So even though the Chiefs are eight and four, you got them above the Patriots, and you're dropping the Patriots out of your top five. All right, Well, what say you, Dub. I'm with Danny g I dropped the Patriots as well. I got Ravens one, forty Niners, two Saints, three, Chiefs four in the Seahawks coming in at five. Why in the world do you hate the Seahawks. I just they're nine and one in one possession games and then a lot of the played a lot of close games. There's no doubt. I mean, there's a lot of coin flip games that are fifty fifty and I'm sorry, I will put them in my top five. But I mean I almost think the Vikings are still better. They lost Dalvin Cook last night, no Adam Theeland. They lost their left tackle as well, and it still came down to the wire in Seattle. But I'll put him at five for now. But uh, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rams beat them this weekend. Uh, Eddie Garcia, what do you think? Second? We can row? You and I are exactly the same. I mean again, the great minds, the brilliance, we were just they were just shut melding here, I agree completely. Or you're both a week behind. Uh, you are in agreement with your top five. What about Roberto, Roberto, you were out of you back healthy? Yeah, I'm ready to go. Were you sick, yes, I would Your kids sick? Yes? Did you get it from the kid? Of course? You know. It's it is tough. I mean I feel like at this point, my yeah, she teks to get in the bed with you guys. So uh yeah, and this is your first kid, right, first one you know about anyway? Um? So yeah, So this is uh, this is intriguing because I've got the eleven, the nine, and the five year old, and I feel like at this point in time, and I'm probably jinxing myself, I have been through like every little sniffle and bug and everything else that you can be through, and my immune system right now is about as strong as it can possibly be. Sort of like elementary school teachers, you know, they don't get sick as often after they've been in elementary school for a while because every little illness that could come through their immune system is ready for I'm not kind of got a bragg or draw attention to myself, but I have not missed And again I'm gonna jinx myself here. Probably in four years of radio early morning, I have never missed a day for being sick. Do we even have uh? And and I'm thinking about this, by the way, because Todd for got the flu and he missed the television show yesterday. I haven't missed the television show for being sick either. What is the plan if suddenly I I am throwing up in the middle of the night. Do we have a plan in the event that I'm sick? Yeah, I'm supposed to wake Jason Martin up and just make him drive in no matter what he has to drive to. Jason Martin is always sick. Every every time I'm on Twitter, he's like, I've got a little bit of a sniffle, my voice isn't right. Like, So there's almost a hundred percent chance that if you wake him up, he's going to be sick. Maybe, but that's the that's the strategy to back up to the backup as I would play animal thunder domes all. Yeah, but I mean, in all honesty, what would you what is the plan, Like if it's so, if I if I suddenly in the middle of the night wake up and I'm throwing up, You're supposed to call Jason Martin. Well, yeah, Jason Martin is are obviously our fill in for you when you're out. So he would be number one or the Danny g uh dubmen Roberto Show. Yeah, would you guys coast the entire show? That would be fun, Roberto. So, because for this is four years and I don't even know that we've ever had to execute the fire drill, Like Dan Patrick was out loud? Was it last week? Suddenly he was out or two weeks ago or whatever it was, and you guys just right, Yeah, he had a dental emergency with a tooth um And so you guys just played best of right, But we wouldn't do that with you. We would stay live on the air, all right. I'm intrigued. Alright, So, Arberto, how does your top five look? The Ravens number one, Saints number two. I like the Saints. I picked them beginning of the year to win the whole thing. Seahawks forty niners and I still got the Patriots there. So you have the same five, just in a little bit of a different order, right, So, uh, pretty much agreement, except dub hates the Seahawks and yeah, Cowizard yeah for the longest time. Oh yeah, Dubbed didn't even have the Seahawks in his top five for how many weeks? This is the first week. I mean, look, don't even have them in. Last week they had their missfield goal away from Greg's airline from a loss there San Francisco. Everything exactly had to go right for them to win that game. Another misfield goal there. I mean, to me, this should be a four or five lost team. It's true, but they've won. And at some point, if you win a lot of close games, you do have to acknowledge that the quarterback play maybe pretty good and maybe a reason why things have broken in their way in some respects. We'll see four games to go. Raven Seahawks forty nine or Saints and Patriots is my top five all right time for the list of sadness, And honestly, the list of sadness is not as sad as it has been in past years. And it's a little bit difficult because these bottom tier teams are starting to beat each other and so it's hard to figure out exactly where people should be, uh, you know, sort of slotted in. But here's my best guess, all right. As the twenty eight team in the NFL, the five worst teams, I've got the Lions now at eight. They were actually playing pretty decent early in the year. But they and I know they played okay against the Bears, but their offense has fallen apart Matthew Stafford is out. They are completely done. It seems to me this year playing out the thread. Matt Patricia looks like the latest New England Patriot guy to be hired as a head coach and be an immediate bust when he goes out on his own. But the Lions I've got at twenty eight. In the twenty nine spot, I have got the Redskins. Now. I know the Redskins won a game, and my god, how in the world can you have Can you allow your team to lose to the Redskins if you are the Panthers. But I have got the Redskins now at the twenty ninth spot in my OutKick Power rankings at twenty eight, I am slotting in the Jets, who managed to lose to the Bengals, But the Jets are coming off of a win over the Raiders, so they're kind of difficult to assess right now. They had been playing better at thirty one. The Giants are an unmitigated disaster and in the thirty second spot even though they won. I still have the Cincinnati Bengals sitting at one and eleven. What say you, Danny g My list is not much different. Jets, Lions, Redskins, Giants, Bangles. So you have the same five, yeah, just in a little bit different order. What about you, dub little history today? No Dolphins in the bottom five. I think this might be across the board. Yeah, I think that's I think that's a good point. I think this is the first time that the Dolphins haven't been one of the five worst teams in UH in the NFL. In my rankings, I'm flipping back through. See what a punter throwing to a kicker in the end zone will do for you? Well, thanks to the Eagles get to play against the NFC East and people forget how awful you might be otherwise. But yeah, good for them, honestly, because all year everyone's been talking about how they're gonna be tanking going o N sixteen for two and here they are, I mean, one of the hottest teams against the spread at least the second half of the season. They have been cash and tickets for everybody that's brave enough to bet them. But good for them. But as far as the bottom five, which in my opinion is much harder to put together than the top five, that's pretty much the same as your as I got the Redskins at twenty eight and the lines of twenty nine and then thirty two is the same. Yeah, alright, what about you, Eddie Garcia. Uh, I threw Arizona in there is team. Yeah, they haven't been playing very I'm curious to see what they do against the Steelers because they were awful against the Rams. The Cardinals were, but I feel like that's potentially a game they could win, just because it's likely to be low scoring and uh and we'll see whether Devil and Hodges travels very well on the road against Arizona. I feel like that's one worth putting a pen in and paying attention to, which would feel like an upset but wouldn't necessarily be that big of a surprise if you actually look behind the numbers. A little bit. What about your bertow any particular changes here. No, I put the Lions, the Lions and the Cardinals bolt together twenty eight they tied against each other, So nice, all right? Uh, when we come back, we will dive into the college football playoff picture. I'll also raise an interesting question before we get to that, and I'm curious on what you guys think you saw. In fact, let's go ahead and do this instead. We'll talk about college football at the top of our three. Maybe at the bottom of our two. You saw how the Patriots and Tom Brady were so frustrated against the Texans. You saw Brady losing his mind on the sideline about the fact that he didn't have any game breakers, that he couldn't get his team couldn't get any separation his wide receivers. Is it crazy to break the glass if you are the New England Patriots and go sign Antonio Brown as a hell mary for the final four weeks of the season in the hope that by the time you get to the postseason he could be rounding into form, even with all of the outstanding issues he has legally, even with the NFL investigation ongoing, would you sign Antonio Brown, if you are Bill Belichick, if you are Robert Kraft, if you are Tom Brady, and all three of you sit around and debate this issue. To me, the answer is yes, will debate it when we come back. This is outkicked the cover. It's with Clay Travis. If you watch the Patriots play against the Texans on Sunday night, there was a moment where they cut to the sideline and all the lip readers could tell Tom Brady was losing his mind. He basically has no faith whatsoever in any of his wide receivers. It appears other than Julian Edelman, and it makes sense that he'd be confident with Julian Edelman. Mohammed Sanu is a decent player, but doesn't seem to have the game breaking ability, which makes some sense right if you think about it from the Falcons perspective. Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley are both I would say, more explosive talents then Mohammed Sanu, who is more of a to use a term that we often apply to quarterbacks, a game manager, a possession receiver, a guy who can hopefully get open and make some some catches, but not a guy who's gonna take the top off the defense. And so if I am the Patriots right now and I am assessing this team's overall talent defensively, I still feel good about them. Even though they have regress somewhat in the past several weeks defensively as a quality of their competition has stepped up. The biggest issue for the Patriots I think going forward is they don't really have playmakers at receiver. They miss Rob Gronkowski. There's nobody that really scares you on this Patriots offense, and the challenges if you can score twenty one or twenty four against the Patriots, you put a lot of pressure on them in terms of forcing them uh to be able to to score twenty eight or so points to beat you. And most of the time, I believe the teams that end up winning championships are teams that can play in a variety of different styles. In other words, they can win a defensive struggle, or if the defense isn't playing that well, their offense can step it up and be able to score thirty points. And right now, it doesn't feel like the Patriots and score thirty points with their offense. So at this point in the season, it is very difficult to improve your overall team except sitting out there on the sidelines right now is Antonio Brown. I know all of the shenanigans associated with Antonio Brown. I know all of the legal issues that are out there that are outstanding. I know all of the ridiculous behavior that is associated with Antonio Brown as well. But what is one of the number one rules I preach on this show. So long as your talent exceeds your problems, you will always be employed. I think right now, the talent that Antonio Brown brings to bear on a football field exceeds his problems. If you could get Antonio Brown in a room with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft, the brain trust of the Patriots, the owner, the coach, and the quarterback, and you could get Antonio Brown to swear that he would not post anything on social media for the remainder of the season. If you could insist upon him not doing anything on his phone, not responding to anybody, not sending any d M s, not in any way being active on social media, Delete these apps off your phone. Antonio, just focus on playing wide receiver. Would you sign him for the stretch run of this season, given how desperate the Patriots look on the offensive side of the ball. My answers yes, and I think this is a calculated risk that doesn't really hurt the Patriots if they take it now. I know that Robert Kraft might be angry over the things that Antonio Brown has tweeted an instagrammed. That's why Antonio Brown apologized. I know that there are the outstanding issues and there's the possibility that he could face discipline from the NFL going for ward. Who knows what exactly has happened with the NFL investigations. But I'm looking at this purely from the perspective of would Antonio Brown make the Patriots a more difficult team to defend and potentially be a playmaker that could be a difference maker for the Patriots in the postseason. I think the answer is yes. I would sign him to play for the rest of this season as a break the glass, desperate move that the Patriots need to me need to make in order to contend for a Super Bowl. Would you make that decision as well, Danny G I'm not so sure. Last segment, I said what a difference a week makes what a difference fifteen weeks makes you go back to preseason, you are the one saying kick this guy out of the league, he's certifiable. Let me say this, I think that you have to consider all the circumstances with the Raiders. The Raiders. My argument was the Raiders are not those and I think you would agree at this point. But the Raiders are not close to being a Super Bowl contending team. But I could make an argument that Derek Carr's biggest problem going on right now is his wide receivers also have no SEP understand. But to me, there's a difference between if you believe that your team is close enough to being able to contend for a championship, you are willing to take risks that maybe you wouldn't if you say, like, Okay, what's the best case scenario. Our team makes the playoffs, right, but we don't have the horses to be able to make a run. I'm not willing to mortgage the future for a team that isn't good enough to win a championship. But I think everybody out there would acknowledge that the Patriots do have at the high ceiling the ability to win a championship, and I just look around. I mean, certainly I would say the same thing about Rob Gronkowski. Look, I would have loved if he would have come out of retirement and come back to play for the Patriots because he's a difference maker down the stretch. Now that's not viable now, so you look around and say, Okay, what moves can we to make our team better? And more importantly, what moves can we make to make our team better and also potentially allow us to contend and or win a championship. This, to me is pretty much the only one that you can make. I understand your argument. What I don't think is possible is for Antonio Brown to stay on the path you're talking about. Yeah, look, and here's how is he going to stay off? Not gonna stay off of social That's that's the condensed the condition. He's not gonna be like the rest of us. He's not gonna be like you and I. He is his own person, I understand. So no matter what they tell him, he doesn't have bargaining power right now. So if he wants he doesn't in his mind he does, well, then he's an idiot. Well, I think we've established yeah, well, I mean, I think he makes bad choices. But to me, if you sit down with him and say, look, the conditions for your employment with us down the stretch run of this season are. You can't get on Instagram, you can't get on Twitter, you can't post it all. If we see you doing that, we will cut you. Uh, we don't want any videos from inside the locker room. You're obligated to talk to the media for a couple of minutes every day. You say nothing. This is about rehabilitating your career, proving that you still have the talent to play at a high level in the NFL, and more importantly, that you can be a good teammate. We are going to try and make a Super Bowl run here. We believe you can be an important contributor for that. But here are the conditions under which we will allow you to play. And if he can't fulfill those, I'll let him go. And by the way, if the NFL comes out and says, hey, he's suspended, okay, fine go ahead and cut him. Like there's no obligation to keep him under contract going forward. I think this is potentially a good move. So your answer is no, you wouldn't touch him. Well, you make a good point. If you're the Patriots, it might be worth it. But I just think in general, he needs an off season of proving to everybody that he can behave and stay out of the messages he's been in continually for a team to really give him a chance. If he came back next season with a clean slate, I could maybe understand that, But with everything in the black cloud still hovering over his head right now, I just don't think it makes a lot of sense when you are a Belichick type coach who doesn't like distractions. I think the only team it could make sense for right now is the Patriots because of that reason, Because do you remember Bill Belichick standing there at the podium though just looked like he wanted to rip the Adams apples out of some of the reporters asking him NonStop questions about Antonio Brown. I think a lot of that is is an act from Belichick designed to just avoid giving the media anything to talk about, Like you talked to guys um. I think Jim Nancy even said it was interesting if it was an actor. Why didn't Robert Kraft listen to his team leaders like Brady, who fought for Antonio Brown to stay on the team. Well, I think because of the issues that Robert Kraft is facing in his own legal jeopardy, but also because of of the fact that anti neo Brown didn't behave I mean, I think if he hadn't reached out to that woman and tried to threaten her and told his guys to start, you know, researching her history and everything else, and sent the text messages to her, I think he might still be employed by the Patriots. I think that was there. That was there, you know, rock bottom moment with him. We can't continue because the fire and the attention and the the heat just got to pronounce there. And I think it's been dialed back to a large extent. And the other thing is you've got to just deal with it. One of the things that I would give advice to executives in general is if you believe in a choice, do it and deal with the fact that people are gonna be mad at you for twenty four hours on Twitter and then it all goes away, right, I mean, this is this is where you need somebody with some testicular fortitude. If you want to make a decision, then you can't be concerned about what social media is going to stay about it. First of all, social media isn't real, right. I mean, it feels real, but it isn't an accurate reflection of the real world. It's a large collection of people who are a tiny minority of the overall population who are perpetually angry about things. And so if you allow the way that social media responds to influence or dictate your decision making, then you are often leading yourself astray. And I would say this about the NFL, I would say with this about the n b A, I would say this about people in positions of power in general. You're way too reactive to what people say on social media. Doing nothing is often the best possible response. You've got this whole cottage industry of people that you employ who are needing to justify their employment by saying, oh, every time somebody gets mad about something, you better respond to this, when the reality is people are always mad about things, and if you just wait twenty four hours, almost every story disappears if you just wait, so the Patriots would get crushed for twenty four hours for signing Antonio Brown, and then everybody would forget about it, and the question would be, how's he gonna play? Dub Do you agree with this or you think it's crazy. I think it'd be crazy if they don't want to sign him because the way this team is set up. The defense is unbelievable, as everybody knows, and their offense is putrid. I mean they have their bottom three I guess you could say top three in the league and punts number of punts talking about the season exactly, and what they don't have, what they lack is a threat down field, and Antonio Brown would automatically bring you that. Him, coupled with Edelman, I think would automatically become one of the top three or four duos a wide receivers who would then fit in even better I think because it would open up the middle of the field with him, to have a guy like Antonio Brown who could take the top off a defense exactly, and that opens James White coming out of the backfield. I mean it would totally change their offense. And usually other than quarterback, I don't think a player affects a team that much in terms of how good they would be. But if Adam Schefter, Jay Glazer tweeted out in the next fifteen minutes of the Patriots signed Antonio Brown, I think we would all have to redo our top five teams, and I think the Patriots would be one or two in all of our lists. And look, it might take him several weeks to hit stride, but what he would be doing if you signed him right now is by the time you got to the postseason and the Patriots, barring a complete and total collapse, are going to be in the postseason. By the time you got to the postseason, you would be set and ready to roll with him going forward, and he could be a tremendous difference maker. So I think it's a risk, certainly, But is the reward for the risk more substantial than the risk? Worst case scenario, you cut him again and he isn't a good teammate and he doesn't fulfill the terms of his agreement with you to come back and play football. Best case scenario, you're hoisting another Super Bowl trophy, and a big reason why would be Antonio Brown. Uh what about which? By the way, I would think at a minimum for somebody of his age, pursuing a championship would be something that is also attractive because he hasn't experienced it in his career. What about you, Eddie Garcia, You are a Steeler fan. You were well versed in the absurdities at times of the Antonio Brown era. Is this a move you think is worth making. Well, we're, first of all, we're assuming the NFL is going to allow him to play, and if well, if the NFL is not allowing it, then it's a nonstarter. And that's not the Patriots fault. But yes, there hasn't been any official suspension. There isn't hasn't been any announcement by the NFL that he is unavailable to play, and so one of the things that Patriots would certainly have to do is connect with the league office before they signed him and verify that he's an eligible player for the final four weeks of the season. Well, nothing would show how desperate the Patriots are then to go back to Antonio Brown. But I do believe they are that desperate. I think I think they have to hapen. So I would go into it assuming the worst. I don't think he's going to uh just play football and not you know, be an idiot on social media. But you sign him and then you can just cut him when it happens, which I think would happen. Yeah, I mean, you don't give him used and look, this is the this is the way this is gonna work. You don't have any strikes, right, We're not gonna come to you and say, hey, why did you do this. We're gonna treat you completely like an adult. One of the conditions of your employment is we can't have you going out of control on social media again. Therefore we're telling you stop it, quit it cold turkey. We want you just to be a wide receiver. You'll have to talk to the media for three minutes every week. That's all we need from you, and we need to just make plays on the field otherwise. If you do that, by the way, the amount of attention you're gonna get and everything else will be off the charts as soon as the season's over. If you want to go back to your social media universe and business is booming and all the gifts and everything else you want to share and get all caught up in your feelings and take shots to people and everything else, that's fine. But in the meantime, we will pay you a decent sum of money to try and advance us in the playoffs and improve our postseason seating potential. We need you to be the guy who can take the top off the defense. Uh. If that's the case, I don't know why that's not a risk work taking. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Traffics. We got a lot of fun so far in the show. In the next hour here coming up in a few minutes, we're gonna be joined by Petros Papadakis, we'll talk about this usc coaching opening. But this Washington decision by Chris Peterson is a pretty big one that came out of nowhere. First of all, right, now, you can barely even check the news because there's so many people trying to spread legitimately fake news about coaching searches, and there's so much enthusiasm and paranoia and excitement and also just pure anarchy surrounding every college football coaching season that it's hard to even keep tabs on everything. By and large, But I do think this is a wild story, and I think it speaks to the degree to which college coaching in particular is totally totally overwhelming, by which I mean with the recruiting, pop process and everything else. It's almost impossible to have a life and be a college football coach. So Chris Peterson, who has had tremendous success at the University of Washington, announced Monday, and this is an official press release from the university, and I had to do one of those double and triple takes where I'm like, is this the official Washington account or am I being pranked? Chris Peterson announced Monday he'll step down from his position at the University of Washington as head football coach and that they are going to promote Jimmy Lake internally as the new head coach. Jimmy Lake was the defensive coordinator for the Washington Husky So this is interesting on several different levels. Let's start with what it could mean for USC. Is it possible that Chris Peterson could sit out for a year, USC could bring back Clay Hilton, and then Chris p. Jerson could be hired away to become the head coach of USC. Yes, I think that's possible if you were paying attention on Sunday, and we didn't pay a lot of attention to this on Monday because there were so many actual games to discuss. There were reports that USC was firing Clay Helton, and then USC was like, no, that's a totally made up report. But they didn't say, hey, we're keeping him and says if there doesn't seem to have been a decision made so far, and you might be wondering, Okay, why is USC sitting in this uncomfortable middle ground. You've had a lot of schools make decisive decisions. Missouri fires Barry Odom, Arkansas fires Chad Morris, Florida State fires Willie Taggart, Ole miss fires Matt Luke in the wake of the peeing celebration incident, which is just off the charts that if you didn't see the way that the egg Bowl ended. All of these are big jobs that are paying three or four million dollars a year or more, and all of them made the decision pretty quickly to fire their head coaches. Now Boston College also has fired their hey coach. There are a lot of jobs open right now. I think there are ten jobs open right now. And all of those schools were able to make decisions fairly rapidly and willing to do so right like they were willing to go ahead and get the jobs out there. Un l v's open USF is open, University of Tennis, Texas, San Antonio, New Mexico, Old Dominion. All of those jobs are out there and they are open. Right. USC hasn't done anything, So what is USC doing? I think the answer is pretty simple. They're trying to figure out whether Urban Meyer or James Franklin would come to USC. If either of those guys would be willing to make the move, then they will fire Clay Hilton. If not, they bring back Clay Hilton for another year, and maybe they check and see now whether Chris Peterson is the white coaching whale that would come down to USC. They are trying to, behind the scenes survey all of their options. USC is and they don't want to fire Clay Helton until they're assured of being able to get a much better candidate to replace him. I think that's a smart decision, But in the meantime, it leaves Clay Helton hanging in the breeze. I mean, think about how wild that is. Sunday or report comes out, even though it doesn't appear to be accurate, The report comes out that Clay Helton has been fired. USC later comes back and says that's not an accurate report, But they still haven't said, and we are not firing Clay Helton. He's gonna be our head coach next year. Every day that goes by that Clay Helton survives, every hour that goes by that Clay Helton survives, makes it more likely that he will be back. But what's clearly going on behind the scenes is USC is trying to survey everyone and figure out who is actually interested in this job. That is the lynch pin right now that's helping to hold the college football coaching carousel in place because there's a lot of big jobs out there. Florida State, Arkansas, Missouri, and Old miss are all big jobs. Not fabulous, unbelievable jobs, but big ones. I'm asked me to see what's going to happen with that c going forward. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. We start off the final hour of the Tuesday show with Monday Night Football last night, which was a huge win for the Seahawks and really upset the overall trajectory of the NFC playoff picture. When this game began, the San Francisco forty Niners were the number one overall seed in the NFC. Every single playoff game would have run through San Francisco. By the time this game was over, the forty Niners had fallen all the way to the five seed in the NFC playoffs as a result of the ridiculous quirk of NFL scheduling and postseason, which is, if you win your division, you host a home playoff game, even if that division I'm looking at you and Sea East is absolute and complete crap. So, as a result of the seahawks big win over the Vikings, the Seahawks are now your number two overall seed in the NFC. The Saints are number one. The Saints didn't even play and they moved up all the way to the number one seed. The forty Niners on the road against the Saints. Massive game coming up this weekend. But your Saints are your number one seed. Your number two seed now are uh the Seattle Seahawks, who moved from the five to the two. Your three seed is the Green Bay Packers. Your four seed are the woe full six and six Dallas Cowboys. The San Francisco forty Niners fall all the way to the five seed in the NFC, even though their tenant two. They would be on the road if the season ended today against the six and six Dallas Cowboys and the six seed, which now is within hailing distance of the St. Louis Slash l A Rams. At some point I will stop doing that. Uh is the sort of Vikings. So the Vikings with injuries to Dalvin Cook, with injuries their left tackle with Adam Feland still not playing, had a chance to win this game last night, got the ball back with about three minutes to go, Kirk Cousins fires wide on a fourth down play and as a result the uh the Seahawks find a way to win and move up to the number two overall seat. So that is the final game of the NFL for Week thirteen action. As we move into the final four weeks of the season, we now have our top five and our bottom five in the NFL. As you sort of work your way through the final month of the season of the regular season, anyway, I've got in the top five. The Ravens now as the number one team in the NFL. The Ravens I believe should be the Super Bowl favorites. They have beaten the Seahawks, they have beaten the forty Niners, they have beaten the Patriots, they have beaten the Texans, all within the last five or six weeks. And so as a result, I've got the Ravens number one. I love the more and more I pay attention to it. I love that Lamar Jackson's overall UH sort of vibe and overall motto is nobody cares work harder. Oh, I just absolutely love that he is rocking that shirt. Nobody cares work harder. It's everything that is the opposite of the social media millennial generation. Nobody cares work harder. That is an incredible mindset to attack your day with. It's just perfect. Stead of curling up in the fetal position and whining control yourself, nobody cares about your feelings, work harder. That is phenomenal. I love everything about that from Lamar Jackson. The Ravens number one, overall, number two, overall, the Seahawks, UH sliding in at the two spots, in the three spot, the forty Niners, in the four spot, the Saints, and in the five spot. I have got the New England Patriots all right again. The top five, the Ravens, the Seahawks, the forty Niners, the Saints, and the Patriots. That's the OutKick top five. That's the list of goodness, that's the list of happiness. On the list of sadness, well, we have an unfortunate collection of teams here. We have got the Lions as the best team in the NFL right now. I've got the Redskins twenty nine, the Jets, the Giants, sorry thirty the Giants thirty one, and the Bengals thirty two. Again, the five worst teams in descending order, the Lions, the Redskins, the Jets, the Giants, and the Bengals. Other stories that we are following days. So that's the Outkicked top five, bottom five in the NFL right now. Other stories that we are following. I said I would talk about the college football playoff picture. I will hear momentarily. But we are also following the question of are the Patriots gonna make a move for Antonio Brown. That's a storyline that is at least potentially out there. In the wake of Tom Brady going off on his offensive weaponry during the Sunday Night football game, I have suggested that the answer should be yes. I think it makes sense to go get Antonio Brown. We have Chris Peterson stepping down as the head coach of Washington, being replaced by his defensive coordinator. That was a blockbuster that came down yesterday afternoon. Could mean that Chris Peterson is out there for a year more UH, and he will certainly become the great white Whale coaching candidate going forward uh in the event he decides to come back. But I'm not surprised that college football coaches can get burned out based on the all encompassing nature of their job. You're constantly competing, constantly recruiting, there's no real downtime. You're always chasing sixteen and seventeen and eighteen year old high school players, always worried about whether or not your college kids are staying out of trouble. It is a massive undertaking, and so it doesn't surprise me that guys every now and then need to step back and be able to recalibrate, um in terms of trying to get that fire back inside the belly, just because it's a draining job in general to try to be on top of all the time. So UH, that is a big news story that is worth following. We have open jobs at I would say four pretty decent sized places. Florida State is open. I would think maybe Mike Norvel is their guy. It should from Memphis. Will be interested to see what exactly ends up happening there and who Florida State's gonna replace Willie Taggart with. You got three sec jobs Ole, miss Missouri, and Arkansas all open, and at least one Power five job remaining at Boston College, although I don't think that is a particularly desirable job given how bad the A c C is. Maybe somebody with Northeast connections that could make a lot of sense for Rutgers is evidently gonna announce Greg Siano. I look forward to all of the national media being furious about the mob that got Greg Ciano a job. I think the only school in America that would hire Greg Ciano is Rutgers, so he ended up at the only place he could get ahead job. I think that is going to be announced a little bit later today. Um, and he's gonna get twenty million dollars, I think guaranteed a lot of people. I think this is a big topic in general that we could probably get into when football season is over. But I think Rutgers is the most disastrous decision for college football expansion, college basketball expansion, college expansion in general that was made. Rutgers being in the Big Ten makes zero sense in a brand perspective. It was a decision that was made based on the crumbling cable and television satellite industry. There's no way Rutgers would have ever been added to the Big Ten but for the crumbling cable and satellite bundle. I think what's gonna matter in the years ahead is the overall rand value of a program, not what state it actually happens to reside in. I think that's a big issue going forward in terms of a fundamental air of miscalculation that was made to put Rutgers in the Big Ten to begin with. And they're never gonna win there in the Big Tennis. They're never gonna be better than Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, or Ohio State. And that's just for the programs. The question is are they ever gonna be better than Maryland, for God's sakes, or Indiana? All Right? As you as you consider that, um also, what in the world is USC going to do Uh, that is unclear. But what is clear is as we get closer to the college football Playoff, it's not as complicated as people are gonna make it out to be. And we're gonna talk about this tomorrow because we will get the college football playoff rankings tonight, which will give us a good sense of the final season final regular season rankings. But I'm gonna tell you exactly what's gonna happen here, all right, l S, you in Ohio State are going to be in the playoff. Clemson is a twenty nine point favorite, so whether or not they uh, they win by twenty nine, it would be a huge upset for them to lose to Virginia. All right, So I think we basically have three spots in the college football playoff taken l S, U, Ohio State, and Clemson. Who's gonna be the four team? All right? The fourth team? We had a poll question about this yesterday. But if Georgia wins there in the playoff. If Georgia loses, then either the winner of Oklahoma, Baylor or Utah, if they assume that all those teams win and get to twelve and one, either the Big twelve champ or the pac twelfth champ will get in. We had a big pole question about this yesterday, tons of you voted. Let me give you the latest update as that pole finishes off. I am intrigued to see what exactly it's gonna look like. Um, but it's gonna be a tough decision I think going forward for the College Football Playoff Committee to decide exactly how to how to break these down. But we ended up with thirty five thousand votes from you guys. You can always go vote in our polls at Clay Travis is my Twitter handle. Fifty five percent of you said you would take the big twelve champ either twelve and one Oklahoma or twelve and one Baylor, while fort of you said you would take twelve and one Utah. So that could end up being a difficult decision going forward. The bigger issue with the college Football Playoff rankings may well end up being who's the number one overall seed. In past years, this hasn't mattered because no one has actually been able to win the College Football Playoff as the number one overall seed. The number one seed has lost all five years. You've been better off as the four seed than you are as the as the one. But I do think this could matter in a big way this year because if you are the one seed, you get to play probably against Utah, against UH Baylor, or against UH potentially the Oklahoma Sooners. If you are the one seed and you are l s U, that's a lot easier than having to play against Clemson, which the two seed will likely have to do because I think Clemson has pretty much slotted in at the number three overall position. So as you look forward, one of the intriguing subplots to follow is not just who's gonna get in, but who's gonna get the number one seed. And I think if you look at the resumes going forward, and we'll discuss this more tomorrow, I think if l s U wins out, they will be the one seed and they will pass Ohio State because l s U has the potential to beat a top four team in its conference title game in Georgia, whereas Ohio State is playing against a team that it's already beaten. And if you look at the overall resumes, if l s U beat to Georgia, then thirteen and O L s U I believe, would have to be the number one overall seed, and that means they would likely then be playing against Utah, Oklahoma or Baylor in Atlanta, which would mean that Ohio State and Clemson would get shipped out to Arizona to play in the other college football playoff game. But keep tabs on that who's number one in Ohio State probably will still be number one this week because they got the win over Michigan and just because Texas A and m was only was not really a major opponent for l s U in terms of changing their resume. But the final conference title game, I think there's a really good chance that l s U wins that game, and if they do, I believe l s U will be your number one overall team. And then, like I said, they'll be playing either Utah, Oklahoma or Baylor in Atlanta, which is a lot easier of a matchup than going up against Clemson, which I believe will be the Ohio State game, and that'll be taking place out in Arizona. But a little bit better sense of at once we get the final top twenty five college football regular season playoff rankings, which will be tonight, and we will see how that goes. In the meantime, We're about to be joined by Petros Papadegas. I'll ask him all about these this USC situation. Also, who would he take twelve and one Utah or twelve and one Oklahoma or Baylor the Pack twelve champ or the Big twelve champ. We will discuss all that and more. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. That's Taylor Swift for Christmas for Petros Papadekas my present to him. All right, be uh you can listen to Petros pad A M five seventy l A Sports. You can follow him on Twitter at the old p What in the world's going on at s C. Do you have any idea? No? Yeah, I mean that's a good uh, that's a good pregnant pause. But so Sunday the news comes out according to somebody on some site, that he's gonna be five, and everybody immediately No, no, no, not just somebody on some site. A sports illustrated writer. Is he a sports illustrated Yes, a guy named Adam Maya who writes for Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Writer, that's a respected publication. Yes, Adam Maya. Shot is shot, And say Clay Helton is expected to be fired. Then all the people that live in the Manhattan Beach area in California who are connected to USC and in the media, which is also the same area more or less where Clay Helton lives in the USC director of Sports Information started to say, well, he hasn't been fired. Well, they didn't say that he was going to be tapped. No one has gone on record and said anything. It's just a bunch of source stuff saying well, he hasn't been fired, but that doesn't say he's not going to be Have you ever seen a story like I can't remember. It's one thing if the story comes out and people say, hey, this guy is gonna be fired, and then the school comes back and says, no, you guys are idiots. You know, effectively, this guy is gonna be counted. A media food fight play within Sports Illustrated because Pat Forty, who also works for Sports Illustrated, he combated it and said it wasn't true and attacked their own writer. And I don't even think he called that writer. He just probably called his USC quote unquote source, Bruce Feldman. Our guy, uh probably called the same source. And then you have Pete Famil, who used to work for Sports Illustrated, who probably called the same person. I don't think their source knows anything. I don't think the president of the university careful or the new athletic director Mike Bone, has told anybody anything. Now that being said, maybe they're trying to lock up a higher and maybe they have a home run ready and they're waiting. But in the meantime, Clay Helton's driving around Los Angeles taking photo ops with recruits to make it look like he's doing stuff, and everybody's sitting here spinning their wheels. There's a December eighteen signing day, you know, with Mike Garrett chased John Robinson around for like two and a half weeks and finally fired him on his answering machine. That was when I was on the team. So uh, it's very odd, But I think only the university president of the Apple ed Tractor actually know what they're going to do. But this speaking of pregnant pauses play, this long weird weight is not doing anybody any favors about quelling the rumors of USC ending their dysfunction. They don't seem to have ended their dysfunction just because they hired a new a D and I think you hit on it. What has to be happening here probably is a lot of back channel conversations, maybe with Urban Meyer, maybe with James Franklin. I don't know who else you think might be a top of the line candidate that role. Meck Able, Yeah, are you okay, Matt ruling me? Matt Campbell, are you willing to come take this job? And if so, what would the dollar figures look like? And if they can get a private, behind the scenes deal worked out, then Clay Helton is on the chopping block. If not, then they're going to trot out and say, oh, we intended to keep Clay Helton all along. Does that seem like a rough approximation of what's going on right now? Yeah, except for that last part, this whole we're gonna keep him. Like, if they were going to keep Clay Helton, they needed to say that on Sunday. Yeah, if they were going to keep play Help, they needed to say it. It is. It is wild when the story comes out, Hey, they're firing Clay Hilton, and USC is upset. Not that the report is that they're firing Clay Hilton, but all they can do is say, Oh, the report's inaccurate, and basically we haven't made a decision yet, so the report could end up being accurate before all is said and done. Yeah, it doesn't seem like USC is able to control their own information. Yeah, uh, despite having a new athletic director. And I wish it wasn't par for the course. But you know, dysfunction in USC have been like peanut butter and jelly, especially for the last you know, twelve years, So this is this is nothing new, but I thought that they'd be able to handle it in a lot more precise manner. And you know, he could still, to quote Scott Wolfe, the great USC beat writer, he could still hit a home run. But right now, uh, it looks like he's up there and the count is against him. All right, So let's step away from s C for a moment. How surprised were you about the Chris Peterson news at Washington Surprised, really surprised. Some people that know Chris a little better are not. I've gotten to know Chris Peterson a little bit and really have a lot of respect for him. He's he's nothing like the person that comes across in in the major college football media at least not att in my experience. And I've sat down and eating with him a couple of times. I mean, I'm not friends with him or anything, but yeah, I really like Chris Peterson, and I think he just wanted out. You know, there's all these people that are texting me like, of course now he's coming to USC And it's like, you know, as if all these people are just puzzle pieces that you move around the country, uh and make. Some of them are, but Chris Peterson's not. And I think he's just going to take a university job and live with his family and and maybe he'll be back after he recharges. Do we underrate Do we underrate that in general? As all? How all encompassing being a head football coaches in college, even if you're a really successful one like Chris Peterson, it's just so incredibly draining that a lot of guys just need a break. Yeah. What happens is the NFL guys are different, right, because it's a it's a job, like you're there from nine to five, and obviously it's a very encompassing job and people work their ass off, but you're not responsible for the players. In the same time, let me give Let me give you an example of that. By the way, this is a good one. So I was down out of town at at Rosemary Beach in Florida, for which is a Gulf Coast area, for Thanksgiving. Sean Payton uh is obviously the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He coached on Thanksgiving beats the Falcons and then went to the beach and stayed there Friday, Saturday, Sunday before going back to get ready for the start of the uh you know, the next week, right to get ready for what's a huge game against the forty niners. But he could dial out during the football season even and he's probably a little bit different because he's been there a lot longer. Imagine most coaches wouldn't do this. But he could go away with his family for a few days after winning that week and kind of dial out. And your point on the NFL versus college is a good one, because, yes, the season itself is a grind and it's overwhelming, but once you get outside of that, it's not like you've got to recruit guys to come, you know, be a part of your program. It's not like you're constantly texting sixteen and seventeen year old. It's not like that grind of double different signing days and everything else. The competition is a different style competition. It's much more regulated. You can go away on a vacation and not feel like you're giving up your life. Now, that's a big part of it. The other part of it, which always struck me when I got to know some more head coaches, is you're not only responsible for the five scholarship guys and all your walk on but look at the Urban Meyer situation. I mean, be responsible for all your assistance, everything that they do. Most everybody that works in the athletic department, all the people that work up in the office, you know, all the young ladies. All that stuff comes under your jurisdiction. And if somebody does something, you get to call it four in the morning, right, you know, if somebody's dad does something, you get a call in four in the morning. So it does where these guys out will Peterson coach in a big time program? Again, I have no idea, but I have a lot of respect for him, And Bruce Feldman said it best. I think this is why Jimmy Lake, who's a very respected coach. The d C at at Washington never took any of these other jobs that he's been offered over the years. He was waiting for this one. I'm sure Chris Peterson told him that that he wasn't going to be long for it, and they move forward with a very very reputable coach who still keeps that great defensive mentality. So I think they'll be okay up in Washington. Okay, big question that a lot of people are already debating college football playoff. If Georgia wins and beats l s U. I don't think it's that complicated because it doesn't look like Clemson's gonna lose. I think Ohio State and LSU are basically in, so that would be your playoff four. We could argue about how exactly the seating should go, but that's, you know, not necessarily that much drama. Let's say l s U wins finishes off third. To know Ohio State and Clemson both win two as their favored to do, and he got three thirteen and oh teams, I think they would be slotted one l s U to Ohio State three Clemson. Maybe you disagree. I think most people will probably end up in that that boat once they are actually look at all the resumes, but who deserves to go in the fourth spot. Let's say that Utah beats Oregon finishes twelve and one, and obviously we know either Oklahoma or Baylor is going to finish twelve and one. Got a pack twelve champ, You've got a big twelve champ who gets in? Really tough call, right, yeah, because I really like both teams resumes. Now, as far as the pack twelve goes, I'm not sure what Utah deserves. They will have lost to an eight and four team in USC Oklahoma if they went out, would have lost too an eight and four team in Campus State who was a really good team this year. USC has been a disappointment. Kansas State was a surprise. So that's kind of a similar deal there. If it's Baylor, who I like very much, uh and really senior laden team, and you know how much I respect Matt Rule, well, Baylor would have avenged their loss. They're only lost to Oklahoma on a neutral site after they lost at home. And here's Utah, who doesn't have that great of a nonconference but has just been absolutely dismantling people since they lost a hard luck game to USC on a Friday night, one of those dumb scheduling games in September. So I mean they're all laid out pretty well. I do think this, and it doesn't really matter as far as I guess. Maybe it does if you're on the committee because the eye test is is a big part of this. But Utah came compete better than any Pack twelve team in the history of the Pack twelve during the College Football Playoff in the college foot and you believe that because of their defense, in their physicality. I believe that because of the way their offensive line has developed, the way their quarterback Tyler Huntley, who has a legit shot at at least a trip to New York maybe uh throwing the ball at all year and throwing it down field too. I like Tyler Huntley. Zack Moss is one of the great backs in the country. The defensive front and the secondary and the linebackers. I mean, they are top to bottom great defense with all Pack twelve performers at every level and legitimately heavy upfront. They're not going to get pushed off the ball, and their offensive line is developed over the year, and I just I think that they would compete better than even Mark Calfridge's Oregon team with Mariota. That beat that jamis Winston Florida State team. I think Utah is a the best Pack twelve team we've had in a long time. As far as the College Football Playoff goes, Does that mean they deserve to get in over Oklahoma? I mean the resumes are really similar, but I think Oklahoma's defense in the way they played defense down the stretch is not the same as as what Utah has been doing in the last month and a half. So I mean, if you talk got left out and got to go to the Rose Bowl, it's still one of the great seasons in Utah history since they went onto the Pack twelve. You know, we know they had undefeated seasons under Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham when they were in the Mountain West. But it would be the best still to be the best Utah season in a power conference and uh and I like Oklahoma this year. I like Baylor even more so. I wouldn't have a problem with whatever they did, but I think Utah would be the best representative as far as being able to compete this year, especially be because of the guys like Lecky a Photo and Petis d and the guys they have up front are are really comparable to an SEC school. We're talking to Petros Papadegas at the Old p You can follow him on Twitter there you can listen to him on a M five seventy l A Sports every afternoon. He gets up early with us, thankfully every single Tuesday morning. So when you look at at the at the landscape of the college Football Playoffs, do you believe that Oklahoma's brand value will factor in here? Because I think it's fair to say that Utah and Baylor on national sort of brand recognition are nowhere near Oklahoma. And I know it's a College Football Playoffs selection committee and they're just supposed to look at the data in front of them. But in the back of their mind, are they thinking Sooner's equal, big brand, equal potential ratings in a way that Utah and Baylor don't, Or do you think I'm being uh, you know, like maybe a bit obtuse here in the that's not going to factor in ultimately to the decision that's made. Well, I have no idea what their conversations are, like, you know, what does condo Lisa Rice say, I don't know, you know, what is the A D in Organs? I mean, you know who used to work at Nike. I I don't know what any of these people say in these rooms. Uh. Does Oklahoma have a more legendary college football brand that they absolutely know how to celebrate in a very classy way. It's always been my opinion, and even after I went to Norman, it was it was reinforced. I I think Oklahoma is an awesome program, and they do a great job kind of celebrating who they are without being super annoying. I love the Utah program. You know, they have their unique in their own way, and they're they're tucked up there in the Wahsatch Mountains and Salt Lake City, but it's very different. And we all know what Matt Rule has been able to do at Baylor, which is wildly impressive. It's going to get him an NFL job or or a big time college football job if he wants it. I don't think they're supposed to factor in the blue blood nature of it, but it's hard to imagine that they won't because college football is about these iconic programs, right Alabama, Oklahoma, L s u U, S you know, that's why we scream and yell about USC. They've shown us nothing in the last decade really, you know, other than beating James Franklin, who somehow a hot coach even though the best the best win James Franklin has ever had as a loss to Clay Hilton, who's been on the brink of getting fired for years. Title game, went to the road, biggest game has ever been he has been the Rose Bowl and he lost it. So I mean, I'm not saying James Franklin is not a better coach than Clay Hilton. He sure is, but made that game, made Sam Donald the legend too. Yeah, well, Sam Donald, you know, get a out of things for Clay help. He wouldn't be here without Sam Donald. But I mean you shouldn't factor in the blue blood nature of it. Oklahoma doesn't control a game the way that you talk in And I do like, I like you tak better than Oklahoma. But I'm not gonna sit here and burn down my house if Utah doesn't get it. Good stuff. As always, We'll talk to you next week, my man. Have a good have a good rest of the week. Yeah, play keep it going, man, keep fighting the fight with Joel. Keep you guys are still fighting about great Ciano two years later. Two years later, Joel still coming at me, all right? That is at the old P A M. Five seventy l A Sports. You can listen to him this afternoon, as many of you will be doing. This is out kicked the coverage with Clay's ravas. It might seem like a small thing, but I think there's actually a fascinating story here between the cultures of the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens, and I think it can be personified in something as simple as a T shirt. Uh. Freddie Kitchens wore a T shirt that said they started it, which was a reflection of the brawl that happened at the end of the Browns and the Steelers game. Now, that could be a funny T shirt they started at ha ha. I think it's a dumb thing to wear during the week before you play a game against the Steelers, because in general, you don't want to give any motivation to the opposing team. But ultimately they started It is not a rallying cry. It is a wine. It is a we aren't to blame for what we did. It is someone else's fault, and so I want you to think about this. Freddie Kitchens was asked about it after his team lost to the Steelers, and here's what he said about the T shirt. I'm done talking about the T shirt the T shirt. T shirt is what it is, So I'm done talking about it. The T shirt is what it is. Indeed, I'll get to that in a minute. But Lamar Jackson also has been wearing a T shirt, and his T shirt says nobody cares work harder. I love everything about that message that he's sending on something as simple as a T shirt. Here's what Lamar Jackson said about that after the game. Nobody called about what you're doing. You gotta record if you want to be the best, you gotta record that being a best. If you doubt when you recording, Maddie, I love it all right. That is two different statements that are made about essentially two different T shirts, which tell you about two different teams going in opposite directions. Sports isn't about excuses. People make excuses in life when they lose. You very rarely hear people make excuses when they win. And that's why I love Lamar Jackson's T shirt. Nobody cares. Work harder, Nobody cares what your excuses might be. Nobody cares about reasons why you failed. Work harder. That's the very essence of sports. Freddie Kitchens wore a T shirt that said they started it. Two leaders of two different franchises going in completely different directions. The culture of the Baltimore Ravens is no excuses, work harder. The culture of the Cleveland Browns is we're not being treated fairly. They started it, and you see it all the way from Jimmy Haslum all the way down. What did Jimmy Haslam's wife do? She wore a toboggan that endorsed Miles Garrett and believed that he was being treated unfairly. Much of sports these days, we spend a lot of time talking about excuses for why things happen, why people are being treated fairly, why there's all this systemic issues. Ultimately, sports is a bottom line business. All that matters is a win or a loss. Lamar Jackson gets that he's not making excuses when he stands up and talks to the media. He's not spending a lot of time talking about people who've doubted him, including me. He's talking about the fact that nobody cares work harder. That's the very essence of American capitalism, that's the very s s of the American dream. That's the very essence of American excellence. As it pertains to the meritocracy of sports, we don't care about anything other than who wins and loses. Freddie Kitchens making excuses. They started it. I'm not going to talk about a T shirt making a bad decision to be a victim. It's two kinds of people in the world. There's people who are winners and there's people who are losers. What you will find if you spend enough time in life is that winning is a mindset and losing as a mindset. If you believe that you will lose, you typically do end up losing. If you believe that you will win, you typically end up winning. Doesn't mean that you always win. It means that when you lose, you have the self confidence to get up, dust yourself off, and try again. When you lose, and you immediately start looking around, casting blame, looking for reasons why you were defeated, they started it. It's a loser's mentality. Nobody ever makes excuses for winning. Losers make excuses. The Cleveland Browns are a lose or franchise. They started as a loser T shirt. It's a loser mantra embraced by Freddie Kitchens. Nobody cares work Harder is a winner's mindset. It is being embraced and endorsed by Lamar Jackson, the presumptive m v P this season, who is right now leading the Super Bowl favorites. I love the distinction. I love the dichotomy there. It's a T shirt, but it's something much more. Think about it as you go about your day. On Tuesday, I am Clay Travis. This is OutKick the Coverage. Encourage you to download the podcast. Don't miss anything that we talked about. We'll be back tomorrow, same bad time, same bat channel six and nine am Eastern. Also unlock it in later. This is OutKick. Be sure to catch live editions about Kick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific
Speaker 1: Welcome in podcast listeners. Clay Travis here. I hope you guys are having a fantastic first week of December. We've got a good Tuesday show for you. Charles Davis joins us an our one Petro's Papadakis. In our three we discussed the Monday night football big win for the Seahawks, what it means for the NFC playoff picture, as well as what in the world's going on at USC, the open college football jobs, and what we see for the college football playoff. Much to discuss, including top five bottom five in the NFL. This is the Tuesday edition of the OutKick Podcast. Thanks for listening, and it begins now. OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday morning from six to nine a m. E Stern three to six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every morning on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs are you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Last big game in the NFL, massive game, even perhaps as we come down the final four weeks of the season. This was the final game of NFL Week thirteen, Essentially, it was a battle to see what might happen in the wild card race, but also what might happen in the NFC West. And if you are waking up this morning and you are a Seahawks fan, things are breaking in your team's way in a major fashion, because in the space of twenty four hours, essentially, we have seen the uh the Seattle Seahawks go from the number five overall seed to the number two overall seed, and we have seen the San Francisco forty Niners fall from the number one seed all the way down to the five seed. It's a massive change, and it's a function of the broken system I believe by which the NFL see it's teams. Now, winning the division is the goal for every single team. But it seems like a cruel and a necessary situation that the forty Niners go from the overall home field advantage in the playoffs till losing by three points on the road to now falling all the way to the five seed where they would be forced to go on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. Right now, Uh, the Cowboys have no business whatsoever as the winner of the NFC East being able to host a playoff game because they happen to win a really bad division. But that is where we are. Also, the Vikings, with the loss, managed to bring back into the playoff race, potentially the Rams who are sitting there at seven and five. Now down the stretch. If you are a Vikings fan, you get the Lions at home on Sunday, that should be a relatively easy win. Then you have the always dangerous but perpetually each poking l A Chargers. The next week. You close with the Bears at your place and also with the Packers at your place, so three of your final four games are at home. If you win two of those games, you probably are in pretty good shape going forward to make the playoffs. And if you win three of them, depending on what happens with the Packers, you potentially could contend for the division still. But let's not underrate what exactly happened here. This was seismic for both teams involved, as well as for the forty niners. So where does this leave us with four weeks to play? Uh? In the NFC, things are wide open, but if you are a Saints fan, you have to feel really, really good about where you are coming down the final four weeks of the season. The forty Niners are coming to your place. You are right at a three point favorite in that game. If you can beat the forty Niners at home, you are looking really good for an opportunity to be the number one overall seed and the playoffs yet again in the NFC, because right after that game, the Colts come to town. The Colts seem to have fallen apart in many respects. That's a Monday night football game, so you would get an extra day to get ready. Then you go on the road against the Titans, who are playing very well. UH, and then you finish with the Panthers. But if you beat the forty Niners, and even if you lost another game in those final three, you would be the number one overall seed in UH the NFC, and you couldn't really be caught by anybody, probably because you have the tie break over the Seahawks, who it's unlikely are going to perfectly run the table um against against their lineup, although we'll see anyway, a lot of drama at the top of the NFC at again. The Saints now your overall number one seed. Rejoice. If you are a New Orleans fan, you've got Seattle sliding in at the two spot, the Green Bay Packers at the three. Obviously, all of these teams have substantial home field advantages, and you would have to feel good if you are the Saints, if you are the Seahawks, or if you are the Packers about being able to play a home field playoff game. Then in the four spot, the Cowboys have no business being there, but they would be hosting, uh the San Francisco forty Niners at this point, and uh, the the Vikings slide in at the six seed, with I would say the Rams on the outside looking in but hoping to be able to make a run down the stretch. That's pretty much the entirety of the playoff picture as it stands right now in the NFC with four weeks to go in the season. That's pretty exciting grouping, are right? What about the a f C. The a f C also pretty intriguing. You got the Baltimore Ravens right now at Tendanto with the tie break win over the Patriots, who are also tendant to those are your two teams who would be getting buys right now. Then, right on the periphery outside, the Houston Texans are your three seed. Kansas City Chiefs are your four seed. Those two teams both eight and for, but the Texans one on the road against the Chiefs, so they have the they have the the tie break there. Then you have Buffalo, who is nine and three and has been playing off the off the hook when they've been playing against bad teams, but just got a big win on the road against the Cowboys. Then you have the Steelers as the final team in the playoffs, and right now they have a tie break over the Titans predicated on their better a f C record than the Oakland Raiders, who host the Titans in Indianapolis. Colts round out the playoff picture. So, uh, that is a really intriguing situation coming down the stretch to be following. To be sure, all right, UH, let me go ahead and bring in the crew. We got a loaded show for You're gonna talk with Charles Davis here in the next segment, uh, And then in our three our guy Petros Papadakis will come by and we'll try and figure out what in the world he thinks is going on with the usc. UH decision with Clay Helton hasn't officially been been made. The decision that is that Clay Helton will return or what in the world is going on with the Trojans. The more days that Clay Helton last, the better it is for him. Uh. It is intriguing to be sure to follow along with what is happening. Uh, let me bring in Danny g Good battles a f C are set up for some really good playoff races. We would have never thought a couple of weeks ago that we'd be talking about the forty Niners being the sixth seed. That's pretty amazing. I can't wait to hear your top five coming at the top of next hour. Yeah, you know what I mean? This to me is a flaw. And I say that some cowboy fans are Eagle fans are like you ever say that? I said like the NFC East, I said, doesn't deserve a playoff spot. And I feel like this is one of those situations where the NFL in general is broken in that you shouldn't get to host a home playoff game or b seated higher than another team simply because of geographic cork. Right, just because your division stinks doesn't mean you should be rewarded with a home playoff game. I mean, I think most people listening to us right now, I think that it's crazy that the Tenant forty Niners are slotted as the road team against the six and six Dallas Cowboys. Why should the Cowboys be rewarded with a home playoff game when everybody else out there, I think agrees with me and agrees with us the forty Niners are a much better team, So why should the Cowboys get an advantage in that game? Yeah, and I think even fans of the NFC East kind of agree with you, because you see the memes that have been going around the past couple of days where the garbage cans are lined up with those teams logos on them. So even Cowboy fans are well aware that, yeah, this is a flaw in the system. But you know, one thing that I noticed last night was how much a part of the game special teams is. Right now, you talked about it yesterday. With all the field goals and extra points bouncing off the upright, it's unbelieable how often the uprights are getting hit. And then how about that fake punt. Seahawks Travis Homer ran for that first down on the fake punt in the second half when the Vikings had caught fire. I know Carol felt the momentum going the way the Vikings. Here's my argument. If if I were a coach, this is something I would legitimately be exploring. Why don't you just leave your base defense on every time there's a punt and put back no one to return the kick, and just let the ball roll and stop wherever it's done. I think Saban is listening to you right now. I mean, yeah, Savings certainly could could benefit by this. But when I look at the number, and this is just a curious factor. Unless you have a true game breaking punt returner, it's relatively rare in the NFL today, it seems to me, I'm just talking about the NFL in particular, although this could apply in college. It's relatively rare in the NFL that there are punt return touchdowns. In fact, that there's somebody who can look up the number of punt return touchdowns that we have seen in the NFL this year. I'd love to know that stat through twelve weeks of the season. In other words, I think that special teams, punt coverage and punters in general are so good at getting the ball high in the air and so good at making fair catches be called and everything else that the number of times when we get a legitimate game changing play from a punt return perspective is incredibly low. Now, I understand the need to put somebody back when you know you're trying to avoid getting pinned at the one yard line or the two yard line, and so you want somebody to fair catch it at the ten for instance. That actually I can see making sense. But in that situation where the where the Seahawks were punting from their side of the field, why not just let the ball bounce and just have it down. In general, as anybody have the stat on the number of punt returns, because if you think about the number of fumbles that you see from kick returners, and if you see the number of times that you run into the kicker or that the special teams UH is able to convert going forward on fourth down, it seems like there's almost a value at this point in time and just ensuring that the team you're going up against actually punts dub what's the stat Yeah, there's been three so far this season. Yeah. Kenyan Barner for the Falcons as one Harris for the Saints and Desmond King for the Charger. Three. So there's three this year. And I don't know whether there's a way to easily figure y're out how many fumbles there are on punt returns. But even with NFL teams, when you have the best guy with the best hands trying to return your your punts, I guarantee you there has been I would bet double digits on the number of times that somebody has fumbled trying to return a punt, uh, you know, giving up the field position and everything else. And then you also factor in the number of times that teams fake it and I legitimately wonder or you run into the kicker and give a first down, or you jump off sides or whatever else. If you just stayed in your base defense on fourth down and allowed the other team to punt and didn't even send anybody back, what would happen? And by the way, Bill Belichick did this against the Cowboys. Some of you may remember in that scenario, remember when uh, the Belichick like intimidated the Cowboys and Jason Garrett into taking a time out because he left his base defense on or appeared like he was making the Cowboys uncomfortable. By not sending anybody back, he gained ten yards and forced the Cowboys to a good time out in that scenario. But I would be exploring that idea if I wore a head coach right now. I know it's uh, it's it's it's cliche, and I know it's a it's commonplace, and I know it's tradition to put back a punt returner. But three touchdowns, if you compare it versus all the turnovers that you get in theory, you would never ever worry about turning the ball over. Now again, I'm saying there's a difference if you have a punter who is trying to pin you deep and you want to be able to fair catch it around the tin yard line. I understand that from a purely filled position perspective, But in terms of getting taken advantage of with fakes, with running into the kicker, with with getting drawn off sides, all those things, if you just tell your team based defense, we're just set up to try to keep ever there being a fake punt run against us, would it be more valuable than the kick returns you're likely to get as a punter, not to mention. Factoring in blocks in the back and everything else, I don't think you gain that much yardage as an NFL team in UH in these scenarios. I think it's intriguing to for somebody to explore. UH anybody else agree with that? Dub? Is that my crazy for that idea? Well, no, you're not crazy. And another thing, whenever you see a long punt return, what percent of the time is even get called back just because I mean, it's got to be well over fifty probably sixty seventy percent of the time you see it get called back for a legal block in the back or holding. So I feel like NET and NET you'd probably even if you just line up in your base defense and had a safety back deep and just automatically fair catch it. I think net NET for the whole season, you'd end up with better field position than you would than trying to return punts and gain yards in that matter. Yeah, I think the idea that you're gonna get a touchdown or that you're gonna flip the field with field position based on punt returns is an old school and that isn't in any way justified by the modern day data. When you actually look at the returns, Eddie, do you think this is crazy idea? You like it? No, I'm fine with it. I would definitely though, try and have somebody back there just to fair catch it and keep the ball from rolling. Um. I wouldn't be in favor of just laying the ball roll wherever. But as far as the returns go, it's there's not a lot of success there as we Yeah, I just I I wonder in general about about the value there. But you're right, big win regardless for the UH, for the Seahawks over the Vikings, changing completely the overall NFC playoff picture. Will continue to break this down. We'll see what Charles Davis thinks of the NFL as we come up on the final four weeks of the season. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. Charles Davis here momentarily at CFD twenty two. Stat for you. A lot of people reacting to my why not just put back your your base defense, never worry about getting faked against you. Uh. Here's the stats on punt coverage. There's been seventeen hundred punts roughly this year in the NFL. There have been three punt return touchdowns. That's a point o one percent chance of returning the punt for a touchdown on there have been sixty two touchbacks. That's crazy. In the NFL, it's almost never happens that a punterer puts the ball in the end zone. Now, and seven blocks ninety three fair catches average punt return in the NFL, right at seven yards. Uh So, just wondering whether it might make sense to always leave your base defense on and not even worry about trying to set up a punt return. We bring in now, Charles Davis, Charles, those numbers surprise you. I know we'll get to the games you had in general. But we were talking about the big punt return that the Seahawks, sorry, the big punt fake that the Seahawks had last night, and also certainly the way things went down between Alabama and Auburn down the stretch. It seems like you're more likely to make a mistake by running into the kicker or jumping off sides or fumbling a punt then you are actually make a big play that changes the game in terms of a punt return. Is this a crazy idea or do you think just basically going punt safe might be a strategy that makes a lot of sense in today's NFL. Oh, I don't think it's a crazy idea, and I feel like we're actually headed there sooner rather than later. With the number of coaches that I've talked to over the last ten years about punt return, kickoff return, things to that nature, there's one coach that's a Hall of Fame college football coach. I don't want to use his name just because we haven't spoken about it where I could say, hey, I can use your name, but he told me, and I'm going to estimate Clay ten years ago, what's your strategy on punt return, gaining yard at all of those things, because you know, George Allen brought it into vogue right with the special teams, and you know it's one third of the game, and and and now you have a whole special unit. When Gary Barnett was at the University of Colorado, guys would find envelopes. I don't know if they were engraved, I want to get that crazy, but they're envelopes, are names on I believe in their lockers. And though they were invitations to play on special teams because it was that important to them, and if you got an invitation that was supposed to be valued and coveted, and you would go and a hard you know, obviously Frank Biemer and Beamer ball in college football. My point being, we've gone through that that that that iteration evolution whenever you want to call it, where this is a big, big thing, And more and more recently I'm hearing from special teams coaches, from from head coaches, I just want the darn football, please, okay, So you know, and and what I'm going back to that coach and I said, what do you feel about that? And he said, hey, he said, let me tell you something. Man, all I ever want and I tell my return guys, I want the next snap after a punt to be taken by my offense, and after that, I don't care about anything else. So I think that your point is is well taken, Clay. I don't think it's you know, out of out of format by any stretch. In fact, I think we're headed towards it more. Here's your only downside. And when I say downside, I'm doing it with joy trip beyond the air quote. Coaches like to involve players in the game plan and more players that are involved, the better buy in you get in practice during the week. So that's why special teams are really important, especially on the collegiate level. How many other guys can you give rolls ownership, have them feel good about themselves, and then you'll get better production overall through your team. That's why they want more of those guys on special teams. The second downside is punt safe. If you're doing it every time, you know it ends up happening with your defensive guys, whether they want to or not, what do they do collect They take it for granted, they fall asleep on it, and you get the bake anyway, So I'm with you. I mean, I think I've said it over the last two weeks in in games i've done, I wouldn't run my punt unit out there, guys. I'd have punt safe on right now, and just all I want is the football. So I think that you and I are kind of mind melding on that. Right now, we're talking to Charles Davis at CFD twenty two. You called a really potentially Super Bowl preview between the forty Niners and the Ravens. We're gonna get to that in a minute. But man, I am loving Lamar Jackson showing up and continuing to a spouse that nobody cares work harder intra which seems to me to be so great in an era when everybody always feels like everything is aligned against them and I feel like a lot of times we give too much credence to, for lack of a better term, whiners, And the world of sports is the ultimate non whining universe in my mind. You know, ultimately there's a scoreboard, you'll win or you'll lose. Everybody understands the rules by which you play, and we don't spend a lot of time arguing about about people who were mistreated or or or not given enough respect, you know, in terms of of of overall end results. I love this concept, Uh do you find it? And and and the way he speaks about it before and after games, in addition to the fact that Lamar Jackson is playing out of this world right now with the Ravens. But isn't it kind of refreshing to hear somebody not get up and make excuses and not get up and say you know, like I you know, like, oh, I can't believe that I have any doubters or all those things, like nobody cares work harder. It's just so a sin stually distilled. I love everything about it. Yeah, and I think that he kind of handled all of that week one didn't play, you know, he kind of and he did it in such a to me an endearing way. You know, when he came up after the Miami game, we threw five touchdown passes to start the season. I believe that that was the first week he had the perfect quarterback rating. And after the ballgamesbody asked him a question whatever, and I think he answered the question first, and I think he finished it with although that became the sound bite, obviously not bad for a running back, and then moved on from there. And as you're as you pointed out, since then, we've seen the T shirts right that that that he'll where we see him talking. He talked with with my colleague Pam Oliver after the game and she mentioned m v P, like, you know, look, you can't ignore the elephant in the room. It's a big deal. And he said, listen, whatever comes to our way, it comes my way, comes my way. But we're focused on one goal and that's trying to get to the Super Bowl. Bottom line, and he's been very consistent, and you know, in this era of branding and messaging and everything else, give him an a. He's very consistent in it, and I think it's fantastic, and I think his team is enjoying the heck out of it too. And it certainly appears to be a good group that you have in Baltimore with the old nobody cares who gets the credit, as long as we get the job done, and it's kind of fun, and it's not kind of fun, it is fun to watch, and we typically find that of the best teams, although I think it's a shorter duration now clag than it was maybe when we were kids, where you could have that kind of run where your team could stay together. And I'm gonna leave it with this, The Cowboys run with Emmett and Troy and that crew, to me is one of more extraordinary runs that may never get the absolute credit it deserves, because you know what the attention is like in Dallas on the Cowboys, you know what it's like across the league, and I think at one point when they were in the middle of those that Super Bowl run over twenty Cowboys had some type of a show, radio, TV, the whole deal. How how they stayed together one championship so when everyone is doing their own thing, that's one of the untold stories I think. I think Jeff Prolman did a great job in his book, But how did they keep all that together and continue to win? Because typically that fractures a team. So do you believe that the Ravens are the best team in the NFL right now? Should they favorite? I do right now? Yes, because just just by what we've seen all these last eight weeks, and it's a two full process process. Obviously, what we're seeing now Lamar Jackson and fueling that offense. And I've said it and I will continue to say and I'll jump on the table and say it. This is a commitment from the owner, Steve Bashetti, all the way down through the organization to Lamar Jackson and how they're going to run offense. Because most owners will not sign checks on quarterbacks running the football fifteen times a game. It's just not going to happen. And you get your guy hurt. I was on the plane coming home and I was flying with some people who are who are involved in the NFL, and all of them said this is one of the most exciting things we've watched. And I don't know how long and how much on is it. And then after a beat someone said what everyone was thinking, Oh please, God, don't let him get hurt. Yeah, because that's all we've ever seen. The second part of it is, remember when they were getting shredded on defense during the early part of the season. They were two in two and they had to back to back games with the game total yards. Yeah, that's not happening anymore. So the defense is back in Ravens form. And so that's why I think right now, and having beat in San Francisco, having beat down New England, having beat down the Rams, they have played the best football. They deserve to be acknowledged as the best team. Although we know that we can't really crown anyone until February when the Super Bowl happens. But in our power rankings and everything else, to me, they're the best team in the league right now. Does it make sense to for the NFL to maintain this system where division winners automatically get home playoff games? And the reason why I'm asking is in the wake of the Sea Philadelphia, Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, in the wake of the Seahawks win last night and Monday Night football. Right now, the forty Niners have fallen from the number one overall seed to the five. Even though they're ten and two. They'd go on the road against either Dallas or Philadelphia. Right now, would be Dallas, who's six and six? Does that really make sense? In a lot of ways it does not, And it's been interesting, hasn't because if I followed this story correctly in the NBA, hasn't Adam Silver, their commissioner and his crew come up with various, would it seemingly some to some seemingly radical ideas about what they want to do for the next collective bargaining agreement with the NBA, less games, maybe an n season tournament. But the one they got my attention most was receding playoffs, which in a lot of ways does make sense. Right if you have the big upsets and all of a sudden the sixteen, you get the idea. I think that that's something the league has been exploring for a while and it could very welcome to a head if we have something like that again happened this year. If you end up with let's say Sam just go ends up winning thirteen games this year, but somehow ends up the five feed, you know, and now they've got to go on the road, right and go play Dallas slash Philadelphia. Who maybe eight and eight that may that may bring it to a head again, but we've had it a number of times over the years. Remember when Carolina won their Division seven eight and one and hosted a playoff game. Yeah, and look the Seahawks hosted nine. But the wild part about the Seahawks, but I can't remember Carolina, there's I think they lost because I think I think Cam was out and they were like, didn't Arizona or someone coming and who it was? But the Seahawks one gave us the beast mode run the first that's right front, and that was New Orleans, the defending Super Bowl champions who came limping in in a sense they were beat up, you remember that, Clay, but they were one, you know, they they had won ten or eleven games, came in got beat by seven and nine team in the league kind of went, oh, I don't know if that's good or bad, right, because good that the division champ held up, bad that the seven and nine team got a home game, and maybe that wasn't fair. But I don't know the desk going to change, but it seems like it's definitely something to be discussed. The Tennessee Titans. You call the preseason games for the Titans, so you know this team. Ryan Tannehill has come out of nowhere, right, I mean he is five and one in the last six. They get a huge win on the road against the Colts. Is this team in your mind coming down the final four weeks of the playoffs going to one contend in the a f C South because they still have two games left against the Texans to potentially make the playoffs. If you were sitting at the table and you had to show your cards, do you think they make it? Who? I think that, I'm gonna say one contend definitely to making it is going to be very interesting by the two games with Houston, of course, and I think Houston's back at a high level again. But here's why I'm bullish on their chances, Clay identity. Identity, identity. This team is back to their identity, and I've still never I'm still struggling and maybe I just missed it. How did they get away from it? Okay, you knew what you were building, you know what kind of team you have. I do think that Derrick Henry being hurt in preseason hurt them in their identity. The second part was they were trying so hard to get Marcus Mariota right that maybe they got away from it a little bit that way too. Once they made the move to Tannehill, they said, forget all that, we gotta get Henry going in the run game. Arthur Smith, the first year play caller, finally, you know, got locked in on that. The offensive line was intact after Lawan suspension, and they went ahead and got back to it. And you see the results in the dividends because the defense came in top tend to start the season and they're planning at an even higher level. Now. They are back to being that team, and they're that type of team that's gonna scare the heck out of you if you have any chinks in the armor in the run game, right, if you have anything at all that's gonna be a problem. That's that's that. Here here comes Tennessee and you've had an issue on your hands. So yes, I am bullish on their chances in their opportunity because competence is so high right now. And by the way, Tannehill, he maybe five and one. His numbers are blowing you away, but that's because the identity is there with the run game, and he's making better throws, better decisions, not turning the ball over, and that's helping that team as well. So I am bullish on their opportunity because I do think their competence could not be higher now, and a competent team play, as you know, is a dangerous team. We're talking to Charles Davis at CFD two. Are you buying into the argument that we've had over the last fifteen or sixteen years. It feels like, is oh, the Patriot dynasty is over finally. There's always a couple of games every year where they come out and they don't play well. They're sitting at tennant to Tom Brady in the offense. Clearly the weak link of the Patriots right now. Is it fixable or is this a more alarming loss to some degree with what happened to the Ravens and now what's happened on the road against the Texans coming down the stretch run of the season. Yeah, I'm not stupid enough to say that they are that that that you know I'm gonna buy into this is the end of the whole thing because we've seen it too many times before. But I would have more concern than I've ever had if I were New England, because I don't know where you go to get guys that make it better at this point, talk about receivers. See right now, his most dependable guy obviously his Edelman. But you and I both know that in third downs, key situations. Now you're gonna park two on him right and say, okay, you have to beat us, and then we're gonna go ahead and deal with everyone else. And right now, who scares you? Does Mohammed Sanus scare you? Does j Kobe Meyer scare you? Does the rookie Nikkila Harry scare you? Not? At the moment? Can they get back to running it the way they did down the stretch with Sony Michelle last year with Isaiah win back at left tackle. Perhaps, But I saw Brady on Sunday Night, and we've seen him have his moments. What great quarterback doesn't that seemed to be extended moments Sunday night class. I mean, every time he comes to the bench, he's like dudes, and at one time they zeroed in on him and the lip readers got involved in the words separation came up, but you didn't see people separate the rest of the game because they're not great separators at this time. That's not who these guys are. Can they all of a sudden become that anything can happen? But I don't think so. So that's why I'd have more concerned. And for the first time they actually have someone breathing down their neck in their own division, and that's Buffalo and who would have thought that. Well, they get Buffalo at home in two weeks, right, so this is gonna be an interesting race to the finish. I'd still put all my eggs in the New England basket. I'm not that stupid. But let's be honest about it. We're actually seeing some vulnerability and that hurts that defense because they can only hold up for so long without the offense given them more help. Looks like the balls maybe coming down to Tampa or to Jacksonville in your neck of the woods, by and by me and Clay. You know, this is the craziest part. You know what I thought of when when I went back and looked over Okay, obviously the Georgia State b why you think killed us in the beginning the way they finished the right we beat people. We talked about it all here. Finally beat people were supposed to be beating. Right. We beat Missouri, we beat South Carolina, we beat Vanderbilt, we beat Kentucky. Order restored for at least a season. Hey man, I gotta let you I gotta let you go and order restored. Indeed, the balls coming down to Florida. It looks like maybe going to Music City Bowl. We'll see. This is OutKick on Fox Sports Radio. This is Outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. We are on a roll here as we come through the Tuesday edition of the show. Big news that we haven't even talked about yet. Coming out of Jacksonville, where Nick Foles was given twenty two million dollars a year and has now been benched. Minshew mania back in full force. It's possible that that big contract that the Jags gave to Nick Foles will not be realized in any way. We'll see how Gardner Minshew does for the final four games of the year. But Nick Foles came back from his injury is not good against the Jags, Sorry against the Colts where the Jags got blown out, not good against the Titans where the Jags got blown out, and not good in the first half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where the Jags got blown out. And now it's kind of an intriguing position for Jacksonville to be in in a division where everybody else is at five hundred or better, the Jags sitting at four and eight. Is Gardner Minshew really going to be the future of this franchise? It appears the answer may well be yes. Sixth round pick has now been handed. The reins of the team will be intriguing to see how they do down the stretch run of the season. But Nick Foles maybe yet another big money spend for the Jags on a quarterback that doesn't pan out. You'll remember that after the playoff run with Blake Bortles, the Jags gave him big money and it didn't pan out, and they cut him and let him go, and they decided, you know what, the guy who's gonna make sense for us going forward is Nick fo Oles. And then they also drafted a guy in the sixth round and Gardner Minshew, and it seems like, at least in the short term, that maybe the guy in Jacksonville may end up being Gardner Minshew. We'll see what happens with him, but that's a pretty substantial move that the Jags are making. Doug Moron's job maybe in jeopardy. Tom Coughlin overall things not working out with Jacksonville, and so they break the glass and say, you know what, maybe the future of this franchise is not Nick Foles, who now is is looking like a flash in the pan. Guy could come in as the backup with the Eagles and look phenomenal and uh and when he's actually given the reins to his own team, he isn't the guy. So we'll see. He's made a lot of money. Obviously he's coming off of a clavical injury. I'm sure there will be a battle in the offseason. But in the meantime he has been benched. And the question is is it going to make sense going forward for for Nick Foles to be to be the guy or not? It doesn't necessarily appear so now from a sal recap perspective, Uh, if folds Is is released before June one, he would be owed thirty eight thirty three point eight million. If he's released after June one, he would be owed twenty one million, and maybe they could trade him. Maybe there's interest in some way in and moving him to another team if the Jags really are convinced that Gardner Minshew is their guy for the future. But that is a story worth following. Given how much money the Jags have now spent already on Nick Foles, that looks like money that will not be recouped in any way. All Right, when we come back to start off hour two, I'll dive into the top five, bottom five. We got a new number one team in our NFL Power rankings in the week of NFL Week thirteen. Being done, we'll also talk about many of these open jobs in college football. They continue to sprout. Where do we think people are going? What are the moving parts? There's a lot to follow there as well. Be sure to catch live editions about Kicked the coverage with Clay Travis week days at six am Eastern three am Pacific. Big Game last night not just because two good teams were playing in the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks, but because of the overall shake up that occurred in the NFC playoff picture as a result of the Seahawks win, they held on as an exciting game thirty seven thirty over the Vikings. Then our number one too and five teams changed in the playoff as a result, and so uh, the San Francisco forty Niners, who entered their day as the number one overall team in the NFC, fell all the way to the five seed. The New Orleans Saints moved up to number one overall, and then they hold the tie break over the Seahawks, who are now your number two seed. So if the season ended today in the NFC, the two teams that got the buys would be the Saints and the Seahawks. They are number one and number two, and the San Francisco forty Niners fell all the way to five, meaning that they would go on the road against the NFC East team, which is the Dallas Cowboys. Even though the forty Niners are four games better at ten into than the six and six Dallas Cowboys. That is the way that your playoffs would be set up right now. As a result of the final game of Week thirteen, the Seahawks win over the forty Niners. Well, every Tuesday an hour two during the NFL season. As we now come down the stretch run, with four games remaining for every single team, we give you the top five and the bottom five in the NFL and the OutKick Power rankings. And it's now time for those power rankings. They begin now, and there is the melodious tones in the background. I will start with the list of happiness, the list of joy, the list of excitement. That is the top five teams in the and FL right now. And we have a new number one. We have a new number one. He doesn't care, He just works harder. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. I have to say it this week. I don't understand how you could have any other team number one in the power rankings than the Ravens right now. Uh, the Ravens have one. I believe it's eight games in a row. They were two and two. Now they are tending to they would be the number one overall seed in the a f C. In recent history. They have beaten the Patriots, they have beaten the Texans, they have beaten the forty Niners and the Seahawks. Those are all of the top teams in the NFL. It is an unquestionable number one, with a bullet for the Baltimore Ravens. In the second spot, I've got the Seahawks. I know they're the two seed right now in the NFC, and I know they lost earlier to the Saints, but I haven't really been that impressed with how the Saints have been playing in general. They've been fortunate to win a couple of games. They lost to the Falcons, who were nowhere near good enough, uh to to have beaten the Saints, especially in the in the Superdome. So I have got the Seahawks as my number two team. Uh. Then I've got the forty Niners as the three. They could have easily beaten the Ravens, in which case they would be eleven and one and still be the number one overall team on my list. In the fourth spot, I have got the Saints, And in the five spot, I have got the Patriots. Let me go ahead and bring in the crew and see what they think of my top five four week thirteen now complete again in order, Ravens, Seahawks, forty Niners, Saints and Patriots. And if you're wondering why I've got the Seahawks above, the forty Niners, for instance. Well, it's the head to head. If you're wondering why I've got them above the Saints, it's the fact that they've played better down the stretch. I still have the Patriots in there, even though they just lost to the Texans, because the Texans are eighting four and the Patriots attendant to have been the superior team overall throughout the Sea season, even though the Texans got the win head to head as recently, Yes, Sunday night, what say you, Danny g about my top five? Wow? What a difference a week makes, Clay is coming around last week, you were taking bonuses away from us because we dared to have the Ravens number one. The Ravens. What did I have the Ravens last? For three years? I had of number three. Yeah, and the forty Niners and the Patriots both lost. The Ravens beat my number one team, which were the forty Niners. I adjust every week based on what I see on the field, and right now, the Ravens are the best team. You know, I think one through four we might all agree. I have the same exact one through four. Five is where there's gonna be a little bit of arguing and some debate. I think five. I was trying to decide between the Patriots and the Chiefs head to head right now they do this weekend. Yes, I think the Chiefs because they're getting healthy and their defense is coming together. I think they're gonna sneak past the Patriots in this matchup coming. Think they're gonna be They're gonna win in Foxboro's I do. I do, so, I'm gonna put the Chiefs five, Patriots six, and then I have the Texans, Bills and Packers right on the other side. It could happen. It's interesting to think about if you're a Patriots fan, if you lost to the Chiefs, then there's a possibility that if the Bills pulled off the upset over the Ravens, that as a Patriot fan, you could end up falling all the way to the wild card and be the sixth seed or the five seed, depending on how things shake out and which teams end up in the playoff picture. Here, uh, this is potentially an ominous time for the Patriots. Now, typically in these situations, they respond and they win and they reinforce their dominance. But this game against the Chiefs is gonna be a really intriguing one to watch. But but I can see I can see that argument. So even though the Chiefs are eight and four, you got them above the Patriots, and you're dropping the Patriots out of your top five. All right, Well, what say you, Dub. I'm with Danny g I dropped the Patriots as well. I got Ravens one, forty Niners, two Saints, three, Chiefs four in the Seahawks coming in at five. Why in the world do you hate the Seahawks. I just they're nine and one in one possession games and then a lot of the played a lot of close games. There's no doubt. I mean, there's a lot of coin flip games that are fifty fifty and I'm sorry, I will put them in my top five. But I mean I almost think the Vikings are still better. They lost Dalvin Cook last night, no Adam Theeland. They lost their left tackle as well, and it still came down to the wire in Seattle. But I'll put him at five for now. But uh, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rams beat them this weekend. Uh, Eddie Garcia, what do you think? Second? We can row? You and I are exactly the same. I mean again, the great minds, the brilliance, we were just they were just shut melding here, I agree completely. Or you're both a week behind. Uh, you are in agreement with your top five. What about Roberto, Roberto, you were out of you back healthy? Yeah, I'm ready to go. Were you sick, yes, I would Your kids sick? Yes? Did you get it from the kid? Of course? You know. It's it is tough. I mean I feel like at this point, my yeah, she teks to get in the bed with you guys. So uh yeah, and this is your first kid, right, first one you know about anyway? Um? So yeah, So this is uh, this is intriguing because I've got the eleven, the nine, and the five year old, and I feel like at this point in time, and I'm probably jinxing myself, I have been through like every little sniffle and bug and everything else that you can be through, and my immune system right now is about as strong as it can possibly be. Sort of like elementary school teachers, you know, they don't get sick as often after they've been in elementary school for a while because every little illness that could come through their immune system is ready for I'm not kind of got a bragg or draw attention to myself, but I have not missed And again I'm gonna jinx myself here. Probably in four years of radio early morning, I have never missed a day for being sick. Do we even have uh? And and I'm thinking about this, by the way, because Todd for got the flu and he missed the television show yesterday. I haven't missed the television show for being sick either. What is the plan if suddenly I I am throwing up in the middle of the night. Do we have a plan in the event that I'm sick? Yeah, I'm supposed to wake Jason Martin up and just make him drive in no matter what he has to drive to. Jason Martin is always sick. Every every time I'm on Twitter, he's like, I've got a little bit of a sniffle, my voice isn't right. Like, So there's almost a hundred percent chance that if you wake him up, he's going to be sick. Maybe, but that's the that's the strategy to back up to the backup as I would play animal thunder domes all. Yeah, but I mean, in all honesty, what would you what is the plan, Like if it's so, if I if I suddenly in the middle of the night wake up and I'm throwing up, You're supposed to call Jason Martin. Well, yeah, Jason Martin is are obviously our fill in for you when you're out. So he would be number one or the Danny g uh dubmen Roberto Show. Yeah, would you guys coast the entire show? That would be fun, Roberto. So, because for this is four years and I don't even know that we've ever had to execute the fire drill, Like Dan Patrick was out loud? Was it last week? Suddenly he was out or two weeks ago or whatever it was, and you guys just right, Yeah, he had a dental emergency with a tooth um And so you guys just played best of right, But we wouldn't do that with you. We would stay live on the air, all right. I'm intrigued. Alright, So, Arberto, how does your top five look? The Ravens number one, Saints number two. I like the Saints. I picked them beginning of the year to win the whole thing. Seahawks forty niners and I still got the Patriots there. So you have the same five, just in a little bit of a different order, right, So, uh, pretty much agreement, except dub hates the Seahawks and yeah, Cowizard yeah for the longest time. Oh yeah, Dubbed didn't even have the Seahawks in his top five for how many weeks? This is the first week. I mean, look, don't even have them in. Last week they had their missfield goal away from Greg's airline from a loss there San Francisco. Everything exactly had to go right for them to win that game. Another misfield goal there. I mean, to me, this should be a four or five lost team. It's true, but they've won. And at some point, if you win a lot of close games, you do have to acknowledge that the quarterback play maybe pretty good and maybe a reason why things have broken in their way in some respects. We'll see four games to go. Raven Seahawks forty nine or Saints and Patriots is my top five all right time for the list of sadness, And honestly, the list of sadness is not as sad as it has been in past years. And it's a little bit difficult because these bottom tier teams are starting to beat each other and so it's hard to figure out exactly where people should be, uh, you know, sort of slotted in. But here's my best guess, all right. As the twenty eight team in the NFL, the five worst teams, I've got the Lions now at eight. They were actually playing pretty decent early in the year. But they and I know they played okay against the Bears, but their offense has fallen apart Matthew Stafford is out. They are completely done. It seems to me this year playing out the thread. Matt Patricia looks like the latest New England Patriot guy to be hired as a head coach and be an immediate bust when he goes out on his own. But the Lions I've got at twenty eight. In the twenty nine spot, I have got the Redskins. Now. I know the Redskins won a game, and my god, how in the world can you have Can you allow your team to lose to the Redskins if you are the Panthers. But I have got the Redskins now at the twenty ninth spot in my OutKick Power rankings at twenty eight, I am slotting in the Jets, who managed to lose to the Bengals, But the Jets are coming off of a win over the Raiders, so they're kind of difficult to assess right now. They had been playing better at thirty one. The Giants are an unmitigated disaster and in the thirty second spot even though they won. I still have the Cincinnati Bengals sitting at one and eleven. What say you, Danny g My list is not much different. Jets, Lions, Redskins, Giants, Bangles. So you have the same five, yeah, just in a little bit different order. What about you, dub little history today? No Dolphins in the bottom five. I think this might be across the board. Yeah, I think that's I think that's a good point. I think this is the first time that the Dolphins haven't been one of the five worst teams in UH in the NFL. In my rankings, I'm flipping back through. See what a punter throwing to a kicker in the end zone will do for you? Well, thanks to the Eagles get to play against the NFC East and people forget how awful you might be otherwise. But yeah, good for them, honestly, because all year everyone's been talking about how they're gonna be tanking going o N sixteen for two and here they are, I mean, one of the hottest teams against the spread at least the second half of the season. They have been cash and tickets for everybody that's brave enough to bet them. But good for them. But as far as the bottom five, which in my opinion is much harder to put together than the top five, that's pretty much the same as your as I got the Redskins at twenty eight and the lines of twenty nine and then thirty two is the same. Yeah, alright, what about you, Eddie Garcia. Uh, I threw Arizona in there is team. Yeah, they haven't been playing very I'm curious to see what they do against the Steelers because they were awful against the Rams. The Cardinals were, but I feel like that's potentially a game they could win, just because it's likely to be low scoring and uh and we'll see whether Devil and Hodges travels very well on the road against Arizona. I feel like that's one worth putting a pen in and paying attention to, which would feel like an upset but wouldn't necessarily be that big of a surprise if you actually look behind the numbers. A little bit. What about your bertow any particular changes here. No, I put the Lions, the Lions and the Cardinals bolt together twenty eight they tied against each other, So nice, all right? Uh, when we come back, we will dive into the college football playoff picture. I'll also raise an interesting question before we get to that, and I'm curious on what you guys think you saw. In fact, let's go ahead and do this instead. We'll talk about college football at the top of our three. Maybe at the bottom of our two. You saw how the Patriots and Tom Brady were so frustrated against the Texans. You saw Brady losing his mind on the sideline about the fact that he didn't have any game breakers, that he couldn't get his team couldn't get any separation his wide receivers. Is it crazy to break the glass if you are the New England Patriots and go sign Antonio Brown as a hell mary for the final four weeks of the season in the hope that by the time you get to the postseason he could be rounding into form, even with all of the outstanding issues he has legally, even with the NFL investigation ongoing, would you sign Antonio Brown, if you are Bill Belichick, if you are Robert Kraft, if you are Tom Brady, and all three of you sit around and debate this issue. To me, the answer is yes, will debate it when we come back. This is outkicked the cover. It's with Clay Travis. If you watch the Patriots play against the Texans on Sunday night, there was a moment where they cut to the sideline and all the lip readers could tell Tom Brady was losing his mind. He basically has no faith whatsoever in any of his wide receivers. It appears other than Julian Edelman, and it makes sense that he'd be confident with Julian Edelman. Mohammed Sanu is a decent player, but doesn't seem to have the game breaking ability, which makes some sense right if you think about it from the Falcons perspective. Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley are both I would say, more explosive talents then Mohammed Sanu, who is more of a to use a term that we often apply to quarterbacks, a game manager, a possession receiver, a guy who can hopefully get open and make some some catches, but not a guy who's gonna take the top off the defense. And so if I am the Patriots right now and I am assessing this team's overall talent defensively, I still feel good about them. Even though they have regress somewhat in the past several weeks defensively as a quality of their competition has stepped up. The biggest issue for the Patriots I think going forward is they don't really have playmakers at receiver. They miss Rob Gronkowski. There's nobody that really scares you on this Patriots offense, and the challenges if you can score twenty one or twenty four against the Patriots, you put a lot of pressure on them in terms of forcing them uh to be able to to score twenty eight or so points to beat you. And most of the time, I believe the teams that end up winning championships are teams that can play in a variety of different styles. In other words, they can win a defensive struggle, or if the defense isn't playing that well, their offense can step it up and be able to score thirty points. And right now, it doesn't feel like the Patriots and score thirty points with their offense. So at this point in the season, it is very difficult to improve your overall team except sitting out there on the sidelines right now is Antonio Brown. I know all of the shenanigans associated with Antonio Brown. I know all of the legal issues that are out there that are outstanding. I know all of the ridiculous behavior that is associated with Antonio Brown as well. But what is one of the number one rules I preach on this show. So long as your talent exceeds your problems, you will always be employed. I think right now, the talent that Antonio Brown brings to bear on a football field exceeds his problems. If you could get Antonio Brown in a room with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft, the brain trust of the Patriots, the owner, the coach, and the quarterback, and you could get Antonio Brown to swear that he would not post anything on social media for the remainder of the season. If you could insist upon him not doing anything on his phone, not responding to anybody, not sending any d M s, not in any way being active on social media, Delete these apps off your phone. Antonio, just focus on playing wide receiver. Would you sign him for the stretch run of this season, given how desperate the Patriots look on the offensive side of the ball. My answers yes, and I think this is a calculated risk that doesn't really hurt the Patriots if they take it now. I know that Robert Kraft might be angry over the things that Antonio Brown has tweeted an instagrammed. That's why Antonio Brown apologized. I know that there are the outstanding issues and there's the possibility that he could face discipline from the NFL going for ward. Who knows what exactly has happened with the NFL investigations. But I'm looking at this purely from the perspective of would Antonio Brown make the Patriots a more difficult team to defend and potentially be a playmaker that could be a difference maker for the Patriots in the postseason. I think the answer is yes. I would sign him to play for the rest of this season as a break the glass, desperate move that the Patriots need to me need to make in order to contend for a Super Bowl. Would you make that decision as well, Danny G I'm not so sure. Last segment, I said what a difference a week makes what a difference fifteen weeks makes you go back to preseason, you are the one saying kick this guy out of the league, he's certifiable. Let me say this, I think that you have to consider all the circumstances with the Raiders. The Raiders. My argument was the Raiders are not those and I think you would agree at this point. But the Raiders are not close to being a Super Bowl contending team. But I could make an argument that Derek Carr's biggest problem going on right now is his wide receivers also have no SEP understand. But to me, there's a difference between if you believe that your team is close enough to being able to contend for a championship, you are willing to take risks that maybe you wouldn't if you say, like, Okay, what's the best case scenario. Our team makes the playoffs, right, but we don't have the horses to be able to make a run. I'm not willing to mortgage the future for a team that isn't good enough to win a championship. But I think everybody out there would acknowledge that the Patriots do have at the high ceiling the ability to win a championship, and I just look around. I mean, certainly I would say the same thing about Rob Gronkowski. Look, I would have loved if he would have come out of retirement and come back to play for the Patriots because he's a difference maker down the stretch. Now that's not viable now, so you look around and say, Okay, what moves can we to make our team better? And more importantly, what moves can we make to make our team better and also potentially allow us to contend and or win a championship. This, to me is pretty much the only one that you can make. I understand your argument. What I don't think is possible is for Antonio Brown to stay on the path you're talking about. Yeah, look, and here's how is he going to stay off? Not gonna stay off of social That's that's the condensed the condition. He's not gonna be like the rest of us. He's not gonna be like you and I. He is his own person, I understand. So no matter what they tell him, he doesn't have bargaining power right now. So if he wants he doesn't in his mind he does, well, then he's an idiot. Well, I think we've established yeah, well, I mean, I think he makes bad choices. But to me, if you sit down with him and say, look, the conditions for your employment with us down the stretch run of this season are. You can't get on Instagram, you can't get on Twitter, you can't post it all. If we see you doing that, we will cut you. Uh, we don't want any videos from inside the locker room. You're obligated to talk to the media for a couple of minutes every day. You say nothing. This is about rehabilitating your career, proving that you still have the talent to play at a high level in the NFL, and more importantly, that you can be a good teammate. We are going to try and make a Super Bowl run here. We believe you can be an important contributor for that. But here are the conditions under which we will allow you to play. And if he can't fulfill those, I'll let him go. And by the way, if the NFL comes out and says, hey, he's suspended, okay, fine go ahead and cut him. Like there's no obligation to keep him under contract going forward. I think this is potentially a good move. So your answer is no, you wouldn't touch him. Well, you make a good point. If you're the Patriots, it might be worth it. But I just think in general, he needs an off season of proving to everybody that he can behave and stay out of the messages he's been in continually for a team to really give him a chance. If he came back next season with a clean slate, I could maybe understand that, But with everything in the black cloud still hovering over his head right now, I just don't think it makes a lot of sense when you are a Belichick type coach who doesn't like distractions. I think the only team it could make sense for right now is the Patriots because of that reason, Because do you remember Bill Belichick standing there at the podium though just looked like he wanted to rip the Adams apples out of some of the reporters asking him NonStop questions about Antonio Brown. I think a lot of that is is an act from Belichick designed to just avoid giving the media anything to talk about, Like you talked to guys um. I think Jim Nancy even said it was interesting if it was an actor. Why didn't Robert Kraft listen to his team leaders like Brady, who fought for Antonio Brown to stay on the team. Well, I think because of the issues that Robert Kraft is facing in his own legal jeopardy, but also because of of the fact that anti neo Brown didn't behave I mean, I think if he hadn't reached out to that woman and tried to threaten her and told his guys to start, you know, researching her history and everything else, and sent the text messages to her, I think he might still be employed by the Patriots. I think that was there. That was there, you know, rock bottom moment with him. We can't continue because the fire and the attention and the the heat just got to pronounce there. And I think it's been dialed back to a large extent. And the other thing is you've got to just deal with it. One of the things that I would give advice to executives in general is if you believe in a choice, do it and deal with the fact that people are gonna be mad at you for twenty four hours on Twitter and then it all goes away, right, I mean, this is this is where you need somebody with some testicular fortitude. If you want to make a decision, then you can't be concerned about what social media is going to stay about it. First of all, social media isn't real, right. I mean, it feels real, but it isn't an accurate reflection of the real world. It's a large collection of people who are a tiny minority of the overall population who are perpetually angry about things. And so if you allow the way that social media responds to influence or dictate your decision making, then you are often leading yourself astray. And I would say this about the NFL, I would say with this about the n b A, I would say this about people in positions of power in general. You're way too reactive to what people say on social media. Doing nothing is often the best possible response. You've got this whole cottage industry of people that you employ who are needing to justify their employment by saying, oh, every time somebody gets mad about something, you better respond to this, when the reality is people are always mad about things, and if you just wait twenty four hours, almost every story disappears if you just wait, so the Patriots would get crushed for twenty four hours for signing Antonio Brown, and then everybody would forget about it, and the question would be, how's he gonna play? Dub Do you agree with this or you think it's crazy. I think it'd be crazy if they don't want to sign him because the way this team is set up. The defense is unbelievable, as everybody knows, and their offense is putrid. I mean they have their bottom three I guess you could say top three in the league and punts number of punts talking about the season exactly, and what they don't have, what they lack is a threat down field, and Antonio Brown would automatically bring you that. Him, coupled with Edelman, I think would automatically become one of the top three or four duos a wide receivers who would then fit in even better I think because it would open up the middle of the field with him, to have a guy like Antonio Brown who could take the top off a defense exactly, and that opens James White coming out of the backfield. I mean it would totally change their offense. And usually other than quarterback, I don't think a player affects a team that much in terms of how good they would be. But if Adam Schefter, Jay Glazer tweeted out in the next fifteen minutes of the Patriots signed Antonio Brown, I think we would all have to redo our top five teams, and I think the Patriots would be one or two in all of our lists. And look, it might take him several weeks to hit stride, but what he would be doing if you signed him right now is by the time you got to the postseason and the Patriots, barring a complete and total collapse, are going to be in the postseason. By the time you got to the postseason, you would be set and ready to roll with him going forward, and he could be a tremendous difference maker. So I think it's a risk, certainly, But is the reward for the risk more substantial than the risk? Worst case scenario, you cut him again and he isn't a good teammate and he doesn't fulfill the terms of his agreement with you to come back and play football. Best case scenario, you're hoisting another Super Bowl trophy, and a big reason why would be Antonio Brown. Uh what about which? By the way, I would think at a minimum for somebody of his age, pursuing a championship would be something that is also attractive because he hasn't experienced it in his career. What about you, Eddie Garcia, You are a Steeler fan. You were well versed in the absurdities at times of the Antonio Brown era. Is this a move you think is worth making. Well, we're, first of all, we're assuming the NFL is going to allow him to play, and if well, if the NFL is not allowing it, then it's a nonstarter. And that's not the Patriots fault. But yes, there hasn't been any official suspension. There isn't hasn't been any announcement by the NFL that he is unavailable to play, and so one of the things that Patriots would certainly have to do is connect with the league office before they signed him and verify that he's an eligible player for the final four weeks of the season. Well, nothing would show how desperate the Patriots are then to go back to Antonio Brown. But I do believe they are that desperate. I think I think they have to hapen. So I would go into it assuming the worst. I don't think he's going to uh just play football and not you know, be an idiot on social media. But you sign him and then you can just cut him when it happens, which I think would happen. Yeah, I mean, you don't give him used and look, this is the this is the way this is gonna work. You don't have any strikes, right, We're not gonna come to you and say, hey, why did you do this. We're gonna treat you completely like an adult. One of the conditions of your employment is we can't have you going out of control on social media again. Therefore we're telling you stop it, quit it cold turkey. We want you just to be a wide receiver. You'll have to talk to the media for three minutes every week. That's all we need from you, and we need to just make plays on the field otherwise. If you do that, by the way, the amount of attention you're gonna get and everything else will be off the charts as soon as the season's over. If you want to go back to your social media universe and business is booming and all the gifts and everything else you want to share and get all caught up in your feelings and take shots to people and everything else, that's fine. But in the meantime, we will pay you a decent sum of money to try and advance us in the playoffs and improve our postseason seating potential. We need you to be the guy who can take the top off the defense. Uh. If that's the case, I don't know why that's not a risk work taking. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Traffics. We got a lot of fun so far in the show. In the next hour here coming up in a few minutes, we're gonna be joined by Petros Papadakis, we'll talk about this usc coaching opening. But this Washington decision by Chris Peterson is a pretty big one that came out of nowhere. First of all, right, now, you can barely even check the news because there's so many people trying to spread legitimately fake news about coaching searches, and there's so much enthusiasm and paranoia and excitement and also just pure anarchy surrounding every college football coaching season that it's hard to even keep tabs on everything. By and large, But I do think this is a wild story, and I think it speaks to the degree to which college coaching in particular is totally totally overwhelming, by which I mean with the recruiting, pop process and everything else. It's almost impossible to have a life and be a college football coach. So Chris Peterson, who has had tremendous success at the University of Washington, announced Monday, and this is an official press release from the university, and I had to do one of those double and triple takes where I'm like, is this the official Washington account or am I being pranked? Chris Peterson announced Monday he'll step down from his position at the University of Washington as head football coach and that they are going to promote Jimmy Lake internally as the new head coach. Jimmy Lake was the defensive coordinator for the Washington Husky So this is interesting on several different levels. Let's start with what it could mean for USC. Is it possible that Chris Peterson could sit out for a year, USC could bring back Clay Hilton, and then Chris p. Jerson could be hired away to become the head coach of USC. Yes, I think that's possible if you were paying attention on Sunday, and we didn't pay a lot of attention to this on Monday because there were so many actual games to discuss. There were reports that USC was firing Clay Helton, and then USC was like, no, that's a totally made up report. But they didn't say, hey, we're keeping him and says if there doesn't seem to have been a decision made so far, and you might be wondering, Okay, why is USC sitting in this uncomfortable middle ground. You've had a lot of schools make decisive decisions. Missouri fires Barry Odom, Arkansas fires Chad Morris, Florida State fires Willie Taggart, Ole miss fires Matt Luke in the wake of the peeing celebration incident, which is just off the charts that if you didn't see the way that the egg Bowl ended. All of these are big jobs that are paying three or four million dollars a year or more, and all of them made the decision pretty quickly to fire their head coaches. Now Boston College also has fired their hey coach. There are a lot of jobs open right now. I think there are ten jobs open right now. And all of those schools were able to make decisions fairly rapidly and willing to do so right like they were willing to go ahead and get the jobs out there. Un l v's open USF is open, University of Tennis, Texas, San Antonio, New Mexico, Old Dominion. All of those jobs are out there and they are open. Right. USC hasn't done anything, So what is USC doing? I think the answer is pretty simple. They're trying to figure out whether Urban Meyer or James Franklin would come to USC. If either of those guys would be willing to make the move, then they will fire Clay Hilton. If not, they bring back Clay Hilton for another year, and maybe they check and see now whether Chris Peterson is the white coaching whale that would come down to USC. They are trying to, behind the scenes survey all of their options. USC is and they don't want to fire Clay Helton until they're assured of being able to get a much better candidate to replace him. I think that's a smart decision, But in the meantime, it leaves Clay Helton hanging in the breeze. I mean, think about how wild that is. Sunday or report comes out, even though it doesn't appear to be accurate, The report comes out that Clay Helton has been fired. USC later comes back and says that's not an accurate report, But they still haven't said, and we are not firing Clay Helton. He's gonna be our head coach next year. Every day that goes by that Clay Helton survives, every hour that goes by that Clay Helton survives, makes it more likely that he will be back. But what's clearly going on behind the scenes is USC is trying to survey everyone and figure out who is actually interested in this job. That is the lynch pin right now that's helping to hold the college football coaching carousel in place because there's a lot of big jobs out there. Florida State, Arkansas, Missouri, and Old miss are all big jobs. Not fabulous, unbelievable jobs, but big ones. I'm asked me to see what's going to happen with that c going forward. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. We start off the final hour of the Tuesday show with Monday Night Football last night, which was a huge win for the Seahawks and really upset the overall trajectory of the NFC playoff picture. When this game began, the San Francisco forty Niners were the number one overall seed in the NFC. Every single playoff game would have run through San Francisco. By the time this game was over, the forty Niners had fallen all the way to the five seed in the NFC playoffs as a result of the ridiculous quirk of NFL scheduling and postseason, which is, if you win your division, you host a home playoff game, even if that division I'm looking at you and Sea East is absolute and complete crap. So, as a result of the seahawks big win over the Vikings, the Seahawks are now your number two overall seed in the NFC. The Saints are number one. The Saints didn't even play and they moved up all the way to the number one seed. The forty Niners on the road against the Saints. Massive game coming up this weekend. But your Saints are your number one seed. Your number two seed now are uh the Seattle Seahawks, who moved from the five to the two. Your three seed is the Green Bay Packers. Your four seed are the woe full six and six Dallas Cowboys. The San Francisco forty Niners fall all the way to the five seed in the NFC, even though their tenant two. They would be on the road if the season ended today against the six and six Dallas Cowboys and the six seed, which now is within hailing distance of the St. Louis Slash l A Rams. At some point I will stop doing that. Uh is the sort of Vikings. So the Vikings with injuries to Dalvin Cook, with injuries their left tackle with Adam Feland still not playing, had a chance to win this game last night, got the ball back with about three minutes to go, Kirk Cousins fires wide on a fourth down play and as a result the uh the Seahawks find a way to win and move up to the number two overall seat. So that is the final game of the NFL for Week thirteen action. As we move into the final four weeks of the season, we now have our top five and our bottom five in the NFL. As you sort of work your way through the final month of the season of the regular season, anyway, I've got in the top five. The Ravens now as the number one team in the NFL. The Ravens I believe should be the Super Bowl favorites. They have beaten the Seahawks, they have beaten the forty Niners, they have beaten the Patriots, they have beaten the Texans, all within the last five or six weeks. And so as a result, I've got the Ravens number one. I love the more and more I pay attention to it. I love that Lamar Jackson's overall UH sort of vibe and overall motto is nobody cares work harder. Oh, I just absolutely love that he is rocking that shirt. Nobody cares work harder. It's everything that is the opposite of the social media millennial generation. Nobody cares work harder. That is an incredible mindset to attack your day with. It's just perfect. Stead of curling up in the fetal position and whining control yourself, nobody cares about your feelings, work harder. That is phenomenal. I love everything about that from Lamar Jackson. The Ravens number one, overall, number two, overall, the Seahawks, UH sliding in at the two spots, in the three spot, the forty Niners, in the four spot, the Saints, and in the five spot. I have got the New England Patriots all right again. The top five, the Ravens, the Seahawks, the forty Niners, the Saints, and the Patriots. That's the OutKick top five. That's the list of goodness, that's the list of happiness. On the list of sadness, well, we have an unfortunate collection of teams here. We have got the Lions as the best team in the NFL right now. I've got the Redskins twenty nine, the Jets, the Giants, sorry thirty the Giants thirty one, and the Bengals thirty two. Again, the five worst teams in descending order, the Lions, the Redskins, the Jets, the Giants, and the Bengals. Other stories that we are following days. So that's the Outkicked top five, bottom five in the NFL right now. Other stories that we are following. I said I would talk about the college football playoff picture. I will hear momentarily. But we are also following the question of are the Patriots gonna make a move for Antonio Brown. That's a storyline that is at least potentially out there. In the wake of Tom Brady going off on his offensive weaponry during the Sunday Night football game, I have suggested that the answer should be yes. I think it makes sense to go get Antonio Brown. We have Chris Peterson stepping down as the head coach of Washington, being replaced by his defensive coordinator. That was a blockbuster that came down yesterday afternoon. Could mean that Chris Peterson is out there for a year more UH, and he will certainly become the great white Whale coaching candidate going forward uh in the event he decides to come back. But I'm not surprised that college football coaches can get burned out based on the all encompassing nature of their job. You're constantly competing, constantly recruiting, there's no real downtime. You're always chasing sixteen and seventeen and eighteen year old high school players, always worried about whether or not your college kids are staying out of trouble. It is a massive undertaking, and so it doesn't surprise me that guys every now and then need to step back and be able to recalibrate, um in terms of trying to get that fire back inside the belly, just because it's a draining job in general to try to be on top of all the time. So UH, that is a big news story that is worth following. We have open jobs at I would say four pretty decent sized places. Florida State is open. I would think maybe Mike Norvel is their guy. It should from Memphis. Will be interested to see what exactly ends up happening there and who Florida State's gonna replace Willie Taggart with. You got three sec jobs Ole, miss Missouri, and Arkansas all open, and at least one Power five job remaining at Boston College, although I don't think that is a particularly desirable job given how bad the A c C is. Maybe somebody with Northeast connections that could make a lot of sense for Rutgers is evidently gonna announce Greg Siano. I look forward to all of the national media being furious about the mob that got Greg Ciano a job. I think the only school in America that would hire Greg Ciano is Rutgers, so he ended up at the only place he could get ahead job. I think that is going to be announced a little bit later today. Um, and he's gonna get twenty million dollars, I think guaranteed a lot of people. I think this is a big topic in general that we could probably get into when football season is over. But I think Rutgers is the most disastrous decision for college football expansion, college basketball expansion, college expansion in general that was made. Rutgers being in the Big Ten makes zero sense in a brand perspective. It was a decision that was made based on the crumbling cable and television satellite industry. There's no way Rutgers would have ever been added to the Big Ten but for the crumbling cable and satellite bundle. I think what's gonna matter in the years ahead is the overall rand value of a program, not what state it actually happens to reside in. I think that's a big issue going forward in terms of a fundamental air of miscalculation that was made to put Rutgers in the Big Ten to begin with. And they're never gonna win there in the Big Tennis. They're never gonna be better than Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, or Ohio State. And that's just for the programs. The question is are they ever gonna be better than Maryland, for God's sakes, or Indiana? All Right? As you as you consider that, um also, what in the world is USC going to do Uh, that is unclear. But what is clear is as we get closer to the college football Playoff, it's not as complicated as people are gonna make it out to be. And we're gonna talk about this tomorrow because we will get the college football playoff rankings tonight, which will give us a good sense of the final season final regular season rankings. But I'm gonna tell you exactly what's gonna happen here, all right, l S, you in Ohio State are going to be in the playoff. Clemson is a twenty nine point favorite, so whether or not they uh, they win by twenty nine, it would be a huge upset for them to lose to Virginia. All right, So I think we basically have three spots in the college football playoff taken l S, U, Ohio State, and Clemson. Who's gonna be the four team? All right? The fourth team? We had a poll question about this yesterday. But if Georgia wins there in the playoff. If Georgia loses, then either the winner of Oklahoma, Baylor or Utah, if they assume that all those teams win and get to twelve and one, either the Big twelve champ or the pac twelfth champ will get in. We had a big pole question about this yesterday, tons of you voted. Let me give you the latest update as that pole finishes off. I am intrigued to see what exactly it's gonna look like. Um, but it's gonna be a tough decision I think going forward for the College Football Playoff Committee to decide exactly how to how to break these down. But we ended up with thirty five thousand votes from you guys. You can always go vote in our polls at Clay Travis is my Twitter handle. Fifty five percent of you said you would take the big twelve champ either twelve and one Oklahoma or twelve and one Baylor, while fort of you said you would take twelve and one Utah. So that could end up being a difficult decision going forward. The bigger issue with the college Football Playoff rankings may well end up being who's the number one overall seed. In past years, this hasn't mattered because no one has actually been able to win the College Football Playoff as the number one overall seed. The number one seed has lost all five years. You've been better off as the four seed than you are as the as the one. But I do think this could matter in a big way this year because if you are the one seed, you get to play probably against Utah, against UH Baylor, or against UH potentially the Oklahoma Sooners. If you are the one seed and you are l s U, that's a lot easier than having to play against Clemson, which the two seed will likely have to do because I think Clemson has pretty much slotted in at the number three overall position. So as you look forward, one of the intriguing subplots to follow is not just who's gonna get in, but who's gonna get the number one seed. And I think if you look at the resumes going forward, and we'll discuss this more tomorrow, I think if l s U wins out, they will be the one seed and they will pass Ohio State because l s U has the potential to beat a top four team in its conference title game in Georgia, whereas Ohio State is playing against a team that it's already beaten. And if you look at the overall resumes, if l s U beat to Georgia, then thirteen and O L s U I believe, would have to be the number one overall seed, and that means they would likely then be playing against Utah, Oklahoma or Baylor in Atlanta, which would mean that Ohio State and Clemson would get shipped out to Arizona to play in the other college football playoff game. But keep tabs on that who's number one in Ohio State probably will still be number one this week because they got the win over Michigan and just because Texas A and m was only was not really a major opponent for l s U in terms of changing their resume. But the final conference title game, I think there's a really good chance that l s U wins that game, and if they do, I believe l s U will be your number one overall team. And then, like I said, they'll be playing either Utah, Oklahoma or Baylor in Atlanta, which is a lot easier of a matchup than going up against Clemson, which I believe will be the Ohio State game, and that'll be taking place out in Arizona. But a little bit better sense of at once we get the final top twenty five college football regular season playoff rankings, which will be tonight, and we will see how that goes. In the meantime, We're about to be joined by Petros Papadegas. I'll ask him all about these this USC situation. Also, who would he take twelve and one Utah or twelve and one Oklahoma or Baylor the Pack twelve champ or the Big twelve champ. We will discuss all that and more. This is outkicked the coverage with Clay Travis. That's Taylor Swift for Christmas for Petros Papadekas my present to him. All right, be uh you can listen to Petros pad A M five seventy l A Sports. You can follow him on Twitter at the old p What in the world's going on at s C. Do you have any idea? No? Yeah, I mean that's a good uh, that's a good pregnant pause. But so Sunday the news comes out according to somebody on some site, that he's gonna be five, and everybody immediately No, no, no, not just somebody on some site. A sports illustrated writer. Is he a sports illustrated Yes, a guy named Adam Maya who writes for Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Writer, that's a respected publication. Yes, Adam Maya. Shot is shot, And say Clay Helton is expected to be fired. Then all the people that live in the Manhattan Beach area in California who are connected to USC and in the media, which is also the same area more or less where Clay Helton lives in the USC director of Sports Information started to say, well, he hasn't been fired. Well, they didn't say that he was going to be tapped. No one has gone on record and said anything. It's just a bunch of source stuff saying well, he hasn't been fired, but that doesn't say he's not going to be Have you ever seen a story like I can't remember. It's one thing if the story comes out and people say, hey, this guy is gonna be fired, and then the school comes back and says, no, you guys are idiots. You know, effectively, this guy is gonna be counted. A media food fight play within Sports Illustrated because Pat Forty, who also works for Sports Illustrated, he combated it and said it wasn't true and attacked their own writer. And I don't even think he called that writer. He just probably called his USC quote unquote source, Bruce Feldman. Our guy, uh probably called the same source. And then you have Pete Famil, who used to work for Sports Illustrated, who probably called the same person. I don't think their source knows anything. I don't think the president of the university careful or the new athletic director Mike Bone, has told anybody anything. Now that being said, maybe they're trying to lock up a higher and maybe they have a home run ready and they're waiting. But in the meantime, Clay Helton's driving around Los Angeles taking photo ops with recruits to make it look like he's doing stuff, and everybody's sitting here spinning their wheels. There's a December eighteen signing day, you know, with Mike Garrett chased John Robinson around for like two and a half weeks and finally fired him on his answering machine. That was when I was on the team. So uh, it's very odd, But I think only the university president of the Apple ed Tractor actually know what they're going to do. But this speaking of pregnant pauses play, this long weird weight is not doing anybody any favors about quelling the rumors of USC ending their dysfunction. They don't seem to have ended their dysfunction just because they hired a new a D and I think you hit on it. What has to be happening here probably is a lot of back channel conversations, maybe with Urban Meyer, maybe with James Franklin. I don't know who else you think might be a top of the line candidate that role. Meck Able, Yeah, are you okay, Matt ruling me? Matt Campbell, are you willing to come take this job? And if so, what would the dollar figures look like? And if they can get a private, behind the scenes deal worked out, then Clay Helton is on the chopping block. If not, then they're going to trot out and say, oh, we intended to keep Clay Helton all along. Does that seem like a rough approximation of what's going on right now? Yeah, except for that last part, this whole we're gonna keep him. Like, if they were going to keep Clay Helton, they needed to say that on Sunday. Yeah, if they were going to keep play Help, they needed to say it. It is. It is wild when the story comes out, Hey, they're firing Clay Hilton, and USC is upset. Not that the report is that they're firing Clay Hilton, but all they can do is say, Oh, the report's inaccurate, and basically we haven't made a decision yet, so the report could end up being accurate before all is said and done. Yeah, it doesn't seem like USC is able to control their own information. Yeah, uh, despite having a new athletic director. And I wish it wasn't par for the course. But you know, dysfunction in USC have been like peanut butter and jelly, especially for the last you know, twelve years, So this is this is nothing new, but I thought that they'd be able to handle it in a lot more precise manner. And you know, he could still, to quote Scott Wolfe, the great USC beat writer, he could still hit a home run. But right now, uh, it looks like he's up there and the count is against him. All right, So let's step away from s C for a moment. How surprised were you about the Chris Peterson news at Washington Surprised, really surprised. Some people that know Chris a little better are not. I've gotten to know Chris Peterson a little bit and really have a lot of respect for him. He's he's nothing like the person that comes across in in the major college football media at least not att in my experience. And I've sat down and eating with him a couple of times. I mean, I'm not friends with him or anything, but yeah, I really like Chris Peterson, and I think he just wanted out. You know, there's all these people that are texting me like, of course now he's coming to USC And it's like, you know, as if all these people are just puzzle pieces that you move around the country, uh and make. Some of them are, but Chris Peterson's not. And I think he's just going to take a university job and live with his family and and maybe he'll be back after he recharges. Do we underrate Do we underrate that in general? As all? How all encompassing being a head football coaches in college, even if you're a really successful one like Chris Peterson, it's just so incredibly draining that a lot of guys just need a break. Yeah. What happens is the NFL guys are different, right, because it's a it's a job, like you're there from nine to five, and obviously it's a very encompassing job and people work their ass off, but you're not responsible for the players. In the same time, let me give Let me give you an example of that. By the way, this is a good one. So I was down out of town at at Rosemary Beach in Florida, for which is a Gulf Coast area, for Thanksgiving. Sean Payton uh is obviously the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He coached on Thanksgiving beats the Falcons and then went to the beach and stayed there Friday, Saturday, Sunday before going back to get ready for the start of the uh you know, the next week, right to get ready for what's a huge game against the forty niners. But he could dial out during the football season even and he's probably a little bit different because he's been there a lot longer. Imagine most coaches wouldn't do this. But he could go away with his family for a few days after winning that week and kind of dial out. And your point on the NFL versus college is a good one, because, yes, the season itself is a grind and it's overwhelming, but once you get outside of that, it's not like you've got to recruit guys to come, you know, be a part of your program. It's not like you're constantly texting sixteen and seventeen year old. It's not like that grind of double different signing days and everything else. The competition is a different style competition. It's much more regulated. You can go away on a vacation and not feel like you're giving up your life. Now, that's a big part of it. The other part of it, which always struck me when I got to know some more head coaches, is you're not only responsible for the five scholarship guys and all your walk on but look at the Urban Meyer situation. I mean, be responsible for all your assistance, everything that they do. Most everybody that works in the athletic department, all the people that work up in the office, you know, all the young ladies. All that stuff comes under your jurisdiction. And if somebody does something, you get to call it four in the morning, right, you know, if somebody's dad does something, you get a call in four in the morning. So it does where these guys out will Peterson coach in a big time program? Again, I have no idea, but I have a lot of respect for him, And Bruce Feldman said it best. I think this is why Jimmy Lake, who's a very respected coach. The d C at at Washington never took any of these other jobs that he's been offered over the years. He was waiting for this one. I'm sure Chris Peterson told him that that he wasn't going to be long for it, and they move forward with a very very reputable coach who still keeps that great defensive mentality. So I think they'll be okay up in Washington. Okay, big question that a lot of people are already debating college football playoff. If Georgia wins and beats l s U. I don't think it's that complicated because it doesn't look like Clemson's gonna lose. I think Ohio State and LSU are basically in, so that would be your playoff four. We could argue about how exactly the seating should go, but that's, you know, not necessarily that much drama. Let's say l s U wins finishes off third. To know Ohio State and Clemson both win two as their favored to do, and he got three thirteen and oh teams, I think they would be slotted one l s U to Ohio State three Clemson. Maybe you disagree. I think most people will probably end up in that that boat once they are actually look at all the resumes, but who deserves to go in the fourth spot. Let's say that Utah beats Oregon finishes twelve and one, and obviously we know either Oklahoma or Baylor is going to finish twelve and one. Got a pack twelve champ, You've got a big twelve champ who gets in? Really tough call, right, yeah, because I really like both teams resumes. Now, as far as the pack twelve goes, I'm not sure what Utah deserves. They will have lost to an eight and four team in USC Oklahoma if they went out, would have lost too an eight and four team in Campus State who was a really good team this year. USC has been a disappointment. Kansas State was a surprise. So that's kind of a similar deal there. If it's Baylor, who I like very much, uh and really senior laden team, and you know how much I respect Matt Rule, well, Baylor would have avenged their loss. They're only lost to Oklahoma on a neutral site after they lost at home. And here's Utah, who doesn't have that great of a nonconference but has just been absolutely dismantling people since they lost a hard luck game to USC on a Friday night, one of those dumb scheduling games in September. So I mean they're all laid out pretty well. I do think this, and it doesn't really matter as far as I guess. Maybe it does if you're on the committee because the eye test is is a big part of this. But Utah came compete better than any Pack twelve team in the history of the Pack twelve during the College Football Playoff in the college foot and you believe that because of their defense, in their physicality. I believe that because of the way their offensive line has developed, the way their quarterback Tyler Huntley, who has a legit shot at at least a trip to New York maybe uh throwing the ball at all year and throwing it down field too. I like Tyler Huntley. Zack Moss is one of the great backs in the country. The defensive front and the secondary and the linebackers. I mean, they are top to bottom great defense with all Pack twelve performers at every level and legitimately heavy upfront. They're not going to get pushed off the ball, and their offensive line is developed over the year, and I just I think that they would compete better than even Mark Calfridge's Oregon team with Mariota. That beat that jamis Winston Florida State team. I think Utah is a the best Pack twelve team we've had in a long time. As far as the College Football Playoff goes, Does that mean they deserve to get in over Oklahoma? I mean the resumes are really similar, but I think Oklahoma's defense in the way they played defense down the stretch is not the same as as what Utah has been doing in the last month and a half. So I mean, if you talk got left out and got to go to the Rose Bowl, it's still one of the great seasons in Utah history since they went onto the Pack twelve. You know, we know they had undefeated seasons under Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham when they were in the Mountain West. But it would be the best still to be the best Utah season in a power conference and uh and I like Oklahoma this year. I like Baylor even more so. I wouldn't have a problem with whatever they did, but I think Utah would be the best representative as far as being able to compete this year, especially be because of the guys like Lecky a Photo and Petis d and the guys they have up front are are really comparable to an SEC school. We're talking to Petros Papadegas at the Old p You can follow him on Twitter there you can listen to him on a M five seventy l A Sports every afternoon. He gets up early with us, thankfully every single Tuesday morning. So when you look at at the at the landscape of the college Football Playoffs, do you believe that Oklahoma's brand value will factor in here? Because I think it's fair to say that Utah and Baylor on national sort of brand recognition are nowhere near Oklahoma. And I know it's a College Football Playoffs selection committee and they're just supposed to look at the data in front of them. But in the back of their mind, are they thinking Sooner's equal, big brand, equal potential ratings in a way that Utah and Baylor don't, Or do you think I'm being uh, you know, like maybe a bit obtuse here in the that's not going to factor in ultimately to the decision that's made. Well, I have no idea what their conversations are, like, you know, what does condo Lisa Rice say, I don't know, you know, what is the A D in Organs? I mean, you know who used to work at Nike. I I don't know what any of these people say in these rooms. Uh. Does Oklahoma have a more legendary college football brand that they absolutely know how to celebrate in a very classy way. It's always been my opinion, and even after I went to Norman, it was it was reinforced. I I think Oklahoma is an awesome program, and they do a great job kind of celebrating who they are without being super annoying. I love the Utah program. You know, they have their unique in their own way, and they're they're tucked up there in the Wahsatch Mountains and Salt Lake City, but it's very different. And we all know what Matt Rule has been able to do at Baylor, which is wildly impressive. It's going to get him an NFL job or or a big time college football job if he wants it. I don't think they're supposed to factor in the blue blood nature of it, but it's hard to imagine that they won't because college football is about these iconic programs, right Alabama, Oklahoma, L s u U, S you know, that's why we scream and yell about USC. They've shown us nothing in the last decade really, you know, other than beating James Franklin, who somehow a hot coach even though the best the best win James Franklin has ever had as a loss to Clay Hilton, who's been on the brink of getting fired for years. Title game, went to the road, biggest game has ever been he has been the Rose Bowl and he lost it. So I mean, I'm not saying James Franklin is not a better coach than Clay Hilton. He sure is, but made that game, made Sam Donald the legend too. Yeah, well, Sam Donald, you know, get a out of things for Clay help. He wouldn't be here without Sam Donald. But I mean you shouldn't factor in the blue blood nature of it. Oklahoma doesn't control a game the way that you talk in And I do like, I like you tak better than Oklahoma. But I'm not gonna sit here and burn down my house if Utah doesn't get it. Good stuff. As always, We'll talk to you next week, my man. Have a good have a good rest of the week. Yeah, play keep it going, man, keep fighting the fight with Joel. Keep you guys are still fighting about great Ciano two years later. Two years later, Joel still coming at me, all right? That is at the old P A M. Five seventy l A Sports. You can listen to him this afternoon, as many of you will be doing. This is out kicked the coverage with Clay's ravas. It might seem like a small thing, but I think there's actually a fascinating story here between the cultures of the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens, and I think it can be personified in something as simple as a T shirt. Uh. Freddie Kitchens wore a T shirt that said they started it, which was a reflection of the brawl that happened at the end of the Browns and the Steelers game. Now, that could be a funny T shirt they started at ha ha. I think it's a dumb thing to wear during the week before you play a game against the Steelers, because in general, you don't want to give any motivation to the opposing team. But ultimately they started It is not a rallying cry. It is a wine. It is a we aren't to blame for what we did. It is someone else's fault, and so I want you to think about this. Freddie Kitchens was asked about it after his team lost to the Steelers, and here's what he said about the T shirt. I'm done talking about the T shirt the T shirt. T shirt is what it is, So I'm done talking about it. The T shirt is what it is. Indeed, I'll get to that in a minute. But Lamar Jackson also has been wearing a T shirt, and his T shirt says nobody cares work harder. I love everything about that message that he's sending on something as simple as a T shirt. Here's what Lamar Jackson said about that after the game. Nobody called about what you're doing. You gotta record if you want to be the best, you gotta record that being a best. If you doubt when you recording, Maddie, I love it all right. That is two different statements that are made about essentially two different T shirts, which tell you about two different teams going in opposite directions. Sports isn't about excuses. People make excuses in life when they lose. You very rarely hear people make excuses when they win. And that's why I love Lamar Jackson's T shirt. Nobody cares. Work harder, Nobody cares what your excuses might be. Nobody cares about reasons why you failed. Work harder. That's the very essence of sports. Freddie Kitchens wore a T shirt that said they started it. Two leaders of two different franchises going in completely different directions. The culture of the Baltimore Ravens is no excuses, work harder. The culture of the Cleveland Browns is we're not being treated fairly. They started it, and you see it all the way from Jimmy Haslum all the way down. What did Jimmy Haslam's wife do? She wore a toboggan that endorsed Miles Garrett and believed that he was being treated unfairly. Much of sports these days, we spend a lot of time talking about excuses for why things happen, why people are being treated fairly, why there's all this systemic issues. Ultimately, sports is a bottom line business. All that matters is a win or a loss. Lamar Jackson gets that he's not making excuses when he stands up and talks to the media. He's not spending a lot of time talking about people who've doubted him, including me. He's talking about the fact that nobody cares work harder. That's the very essence of American capitalism, that's the very s s of the American dream. That's the very essence of American excellence. As it pertains to the meritocracy of sports, we don't care about anything other than who wins and loses. Freddie Kitchens making excuses. They started it. I'm not going to talk about a T shirt making a bad decision to be a victim. It's two kinds of people in the world. There's people who are winners and there's people who are losers. What you will find if you spend enough time in life is that winning is a mindset and losing as a mindset. If you believe that you will lose, you typically do end up losing. If you believe that you will win, you typically end up winning. Doesn't mean that you always win. It means that when you lose, you have the self confidence to get up, dust yourself off, and try again. When you lose, and you immediately start looking around, casting blame, looking for reasons why you were defeated, they started it. It's a loser's mentality. Nobody ever makes excuses for winning. Losers make excuses. The Cleveland Browns are a lose or franchise. They started as a loser T shirt. It's a loser mantra embraced by Freddie Kitchens. Nobody cares work Harder is a winner's mindset. It is being embraced and endorsed by Lamar Jackson, the presumptive m v P this season, who is right now leading the Super Bowl favorites. I love the distinction. I love the dichotomy there. It's a T shirt, but it's something much more. Think about it as you go about your day. On Tuesday, I am Clay Travis. This is OutKick the Coverage. Encourage you to download the podcast. Don't miss anything that we talked about. We'll be back tomorrow, same bad time, same bat channel six and nine am Eastern. Also unlock it in later. This is OutKick. Be sure to catch live editions about Kick the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern, three am Pacific
