Welcome in to the newest edition of the Just
In Time Sports Podcast. I am your owner and host,
Justin Jackson. And this week's episode, we'll
be talking about the NFL Week 4, along with previewing
Week 5 that actually starts tonight. We will
be talking about the WNBA, as they are on fire
right now. And of course, we will have our best
for last. And as always, don't forget to like,
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Just in time sports. Life is good. Life is good.
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I'm Nick Wright or I'm Jason. ESPN better watch
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but I like to make my statements. This is just
a time sports, come and get your weekly takes.
His opinion from the heart, he can never show
you fake. He can never show you fake. He can
never show you fake. If you winning or you losing,
he gonna tell it to you straight. He gonna tell
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tell it to you. This is Just In Time Sports.
Come and get your whoopie takes. Come and get
it. He gonna tell it to you straight. To you
straight. Welcome into the show. I am incredibly
happy to be back. I don't get a lot of opportunities
to do this show these days. My high school coaching
season is pretty hectic so far. Started off 2
-2. Ran against some elite competition. But we
started off 2 -2, looking to turn a corner here.
Actually, by the time you guys hear this tonight.
So wish us luck when you guys hear this. But
looking to turn the corner there. So my schedule
is all over the place. We play Thursday sometimes,
Friday sometimes. film whatever right so i have
a lot going on when it comes to that and of course
i also teach right so there's a lot happening
um in regards to that however i am i am happy
and excited to be back uh talking to you guys
that's how you guys hear this morning i'm actually
recording this thursday night the thursday night
football game just kicked off actually um but
but you'll hear this friday morning or friday
sometime in the day But I am definitely excited
to be back. Of course, we're going to have the
NFL. We're going to talk about the WNBA. They're
on fire. You guys know I love the WNBA. And,
of course, we'll have Best for Last, as always,
right? And so some of our football traditions
won't happen this season. So, like, Jack's Pack,
for instance, I like to keep a track over the
course of the season. Well, guys, I'm going to
be honest with you. Doing this every week has
become difficult. So, of course, if we miss a
week, it throws off the count. whatever right
and then we didn't we didn't have opportunity
to do our grid either um our big our big preseason
prediction show um but but the schedule's balancing
itself out a little bit so hopefully um with
any real amount of luck kind of pulling back
the curtains you guys will get a show every friday
or saturday uh from here on out at least through
the rest of football season then we'll evaluate
of course after that But enough about me, enough
about personal, enough about stuff that you guys
honestly didn't turn on this show to hear about.
Let's get into the NFL. Let's talk about week
four. So first, we're a month through the season,
right? I don't want to get into anything, any
team particular just yet. We're a month through
the season, right? And there's some trends going
on around the NFL. Number one, namely quarterback
play is down. And that's not just, you know,
with guys capturing the headlines. Like quarterback
play is down this year. Defenses are better.
I think right now we're in the defensive swing
of the decade. So if you notice, if you go back
through football history, there's trends typically
up and down. Every 10 years or so, you get about
six and a half, maybe seven years of great offense.
And then you have like a transition year. And
then there's two to three years where defense
is amazing. defenses catch up there's no new
tricks the young coordinators are in there now
who have seen all the different levels like because
be honest the old and the new is in high school
the old and the new is in the is in the college
level the lower level college level kind of what's
tried and true is in the nfl so when you get
these young hot shot coaches that fly up from
let's say texas 5a head coach to d2 coordinator
to d1 position coach and then they fly up and
they're like 32 33 years old or 35 years old
and they're in the nfl now well they've seen
these trends come up all the way through so you've
seen so much you see so many different schemes
there's so many different trends it's a little
different now so i think quarterback play is
down right now i think offensive play is down
right now in general because defenses have caught
up so now we need to look at that next wave of
innovation whether it is your Kyle Shanahan,
your Sean McVay, your Cliff Kingsbury, or if
it's a new wave, even the college level, yes,
there are explosions. Like, Georgia and Tennessee
went at it, right, on Rocky Top. And it was a
feast. It was a show. A lot more college games
are in their 20s at the final score, right? And
so I think now, you know, that has to come with,
you know, revenue sharing, NIL, and balancing
the talent, but also, again, defenses have caught
up. You know, we're what? I mean, it's 2025.
You know, this offensive spread, the ball revolution
started in 20... I mean, when did Brady... Brady
and Belichick in 07. Peyton Manning's 55 touchdown
year, I want to say it was 2016. It might have
been somewhere around there. So if you think
about it, 2016, Peyton Manning goes to 55 touchdowns.
Well, in the event, 10 years later, Defenses
have caught up. You also look at not only Peyton
Manning's Revolution year, the RPO game gets
popular four or five years ago. Well, now defenses
have seen every RPO you can imagine for the last
four or five years. So again, now defenses, that's
another advantage to defenses now, are catching
up. You're starting to see a lot more defenses
defend those RPOs a lot cleaner than they had
previously. The fear of the Chiefs, too high
safeties. Everybody went too high safeties, and,
like, the offenses have not figured it out yet.
Like, people went too high safeties, and offenses
has just not, it's kerfuffled everybody. Like,
no one can figure out how to beat a too high
safety defense. And it's just, you know, it's
changed the way football is played. I also think
statistically we're going to get a bad rap in
this era because of the kickoff. There's been
multiple games now so far in just the first month
of the season where the kickoff has, like, decided
the game. I forgot what game it was, but the
ball ends up landing one yard short of the landing
zone. And so the kickoff goes from, like, the
25 to the 35 or the 40. Well, 15 yards later,
they were in field goal range. You know, so especially
you got guys like Brandon Aubrey. Like, you mess
up with the landing zone against him, 15 or first
down later, you're in field goal range to win
the game. Also, so many kicks now are starting
to get to 30, 35, 33, 34, that the passing yards
are down because you're not getting the ball
in the 20, 25 anymore. You're getting the ball
in the 30, 35, 40 in some cases. I was watching
one game, and it was like the ball felt like
it started on the 45 every time. And it's like,
well, yeah, there's only 55 yards left. Well,
if you run it for half, that means there's only
27 yards available per possession for a quarterback.
27, let's say average, you get 35 yards of possession.
You get 12 possessions. That's 350, but that's
saying you score a touchdown every single time
to get 360, give or take. So it's hard, right?
Attempts are down. Yards are down. I think that
the kickoff is... ridiculous like now we're starting
to affect the offense so at first the dynamic
kickoff was to actually make the play exciting
so then when it took the extra point and slid
it back to the 17 it was to make the play exciting
like for instance if that was a situation where
you extra pointed from the 17 in a blistering
blizzard or you go for two on the three going
for two anything but if you get it half the time
is the same as you going perfect on those extra
points so You know, that made decision -making,
and it didn't really affect any other part of
the game, truly, besides late -game decision
-making and weather -based decision -making.
The special teams now are starting to negatively
affect the offense. Like, because, again, numbers
are down. The big bombs are down. You know, it's
just down right now. And quarterback play seems
to have regressed. But then we look at guys'
numbers. Oh, yeah, he was 18 of 22 for 200 yards.
Well, if you think about it, he probably got
70 -ish percent of the yards possible. But think
about it, he lost 15, 20 yards potentially of
possession every time the kickoff happened. So
that's something I think needs to be evaluated
by the NFL is the kickoff rule. I am enjoying
a lot of the competitive football. I think the
league is pretty balanced this year. I don't
think there's any juggernaut out there. I think
that the league is pretty balanced this year.
You got guys going up and down, especially in
that first month. After that first month, you're
trying to figure out who you are, what you are,
what you do well, and how you can make what you
don't do well not kill you when it matters. And
so that's kind of what the first month of the
season is about. I think a lot of teams accomplished
that goal. But speaking of teams, speaking of
teams that, whoa, could have came out of week
four looking miserable, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Went into week three 0 -2. They get an ugly win
versus the Giants. There was a moment there and
Nick Wright calls the tackle that turned the
tide. I call it one giant blunder where Patrick
Mahomes throws the ball behind the line and it
skips. And the Giants player, instead of full
speed swarming and attacking the football, Patrick
Mahomes runs up, gets the ball away from him.
And it ends up being a situation where that backwards
pass does not turn into it. I mean, it was going
to be a walk -in touchdown. He picks it up with
any kind of speed. 13 -6 right before halftime.
Instead, it's not that. Chiefs turn around, win
that game, turn around, then destroy Baltimore.
Now, they destroyed what was left of Baltimore.
Baltimore is incredibly beat up right now. And
I do mean incredibly beat up right now. They're
just not healthy. I mean, they've got guys out
everywhere, the latest few, including Kyle Hamilton
and Lamar Jackson. However, the Chiefs took advantage,
and they were able to succeed well. Coming out
of this situation, the Chiefs are 2 -2. They
lost two games that they probably shouldn't have,
but at least one game they probably shouldn't
have. And then, of course, you beat the Ravens.
So the Chiefs are sitting here now at 2 -2. The
whole division is in front of them. The Chargers
are getting a little beat up themselves, and
we'll talk about them later. But they're getting
a little beat up themselves. Joe Alts out. Of
course, they already didn't have Rashawn Slater,
so now your bookend tackles are out. And they
blew a game to the Giants in Jackson Dart's first
start, which greatly affects the AFC West standings
because now that gap the Chiefs have to run is
a little bit smaller, especially with the Chiefs
already owning a Giants win and you already owning
a Giants loss. So that gap to catch L .A.'s already
reduced compared to what it could have been.
But the Chiefs, man, the Chiefs are the Chiefs.
They find a way to figure it out. And it took,
you know, it's taking Patrick Mahomes when there's
been a big change. It's taking Patrick Mahomes,
you know, three to five games to figure it out.
And then once he figures it out, him and Andy
free start to roll. And L .A., you know, the
last week was game four. Kind of like, okay.
This is who we got on offense. This is who we
got on the line. This is who we got at skill.
How can we make these guys better than they are?
How can we have them playing over their skis
where they're just 10 ,000 % better than what
they normally are? With that came a lot of improvement.
You know, the Chiefs are starting to pick at
that two -high state to look a little bit. And
then they're starting to, when the people go
one high, they're starting to get those bombs
off again. So, shout out to Chiefs for kind of
figuring it out. Won't spend too long on this
next team. The Tennessee Titans are a disaster.
Cam Ward said it. He said, I'm going to be honest.
We ASS right now. And he was not inaccurate.
Brian Callahan and the Titans look like a joke.
It would not shock me at all if Brian Callahan
is one and done. They look like a disaster out
there. No way he comes back, in my opinion, for
year two. There's no way you ruin two years of
Cam Ward's career. It reminds me of Jacksonville
where Urban Meyer was a disaster. When they was
like, yeah, let's get a new coach in here and
basically restart the clock. It's pretty much
what they're going to do with Cam Ward. Brian
Callahan's a disaster. Let's get a new coach
in here. Let's get a Cliff Kingsbury. Let's get
a new coach in here. Excuse me. And reset the
clock. Speaking of a reset, the Buffalo Bills
do not look great right now. They've had two.
If he wins, the latest over New Orleans. I mean,
the call was a good call, but you are a couple
of inches away from New Orleans taking the lead
on you in Buffalo in the fourth quarter. The
Buffalo Bills have not been impressive lately.
And this is a league of what have you done for
me lately, right? And the Buffalo Bills, I mean,
the New Orleans Saints are awful. They're really
bad. It would shock me. It would shock me if
New Orleans wins three games. They are awful.
and they are a couple of inches away and a review
call away from taking the lead in Orchard Park.
So that is definitely potentially a concern there.
Josh Allen is Josh Allen. I just don't know what
he has around him on both sides of the balls,
defensively as a unit or offensively as a skill,
what he has around him in order to be successful.
I think he has the right coaches in place. I
just don't know if the roster is there to be
successful. The Packers. Packers and the Cowboys
tied at 40. It was a score agami, as it's called.
It's a unique score. There's never been a tie
at 40. They tied at 40. The Packers, at the end
of that game, played very not to lose, which
I thought was interesting until Jordan Love almost
screwed it up. I mean, my goodness. But the Packers,
knowing that a touchdown wins the game, kind
of played not to lose. They played. kind of a
offensive strategy that was kind of like okay
well if we get seven great but if we get three
Brandon Aubrey's not getting back on the field
I mean like Brandon Aubrey's that good that people
are effectively punting attempting to score a
touchdown in overtime off the off chance that
you go fast and you got a good field goal and
with a minute left they can get Brandon Aubrey
in the range I mean like that is where we are
We're the Brandon Auburn. But they ended up tying
40 -40. A tie, man, it doesn't do anybody any
good. Neither side is celebrating, which kind
of, you know, quickly brought on the thing of,
oh, well, they should, you know, make them play
until they drop and no time on overtime and all
this other stuff. Me personally, I'm a big proponent
of either sudden death and overtime. First score
wins. Doesn't matter what it is. Or no overtime
at all in the regular season. You play 60 minutes,
you're tied. There's no overtime. Like, it's
the regular season. It is what it is. There's
no overtime. Playoffs, play till you drop. But
in the regular season, either do sudden death
or have it where there's no, there's not a singular
overtime in regulation. And then you institute
overtime in the playoffs. Because, I mean, ending
in ties is ridiculous. All right, the Philadelphia
Eagles. The Philadelphia Eagles look broken.
Jalen Hurts, I mean, there's been two uniquely
awful halves of quarterback in the last X amount
of years, right? I mean, you think, I'm not sure
how far away this is, but like when Nathan Peterman
threw five picks and a half, that was a uniquely
awful half. But Jalen Hurts has had two of those
now in four games. He had a uniquely awful second
half this Sunday when he went zero for eight
for zero yards in the second half. I mean, that's
following two weeks ago, having a uniquely awful
first half in the sense of, again, very similar.
I think they had negative passing yards in the
first half, right? And so frustrating is not
even the word. You know, A .J. Brown starting
to show some frustration. Stuff starting to leak
out of the building. Not necessarily a good situation.
I think that the Eagles are going to be fine.
They keep finding ways to win. They are 4 -0.
But there also seems to be a new hole or a new
problem that pops up every week as well. And
lastly, but certainly not least, I want to just
say prayers up to Tyreek Hill. With the dislocated
knee, several ligaments torn. I mean, we're talking
potentially multiple surgeries in order to repair
his leg. If he is done, which I don't believe
he is, but if he is done, he is a first ballot
NFL Hall of Famer. You can say what you want
about his politics. You can say what you want
about his actions off the field. He's played
nine seasons. He's been a Pro Bowler, eight of
them, and first team All -Pro, five of them.
He has one of the greatest resumes of a receiver
ever. And I will argue that he was the engine
that made it go so effortlessly. Well, between
him and Eric Bien -Aimé. But, you know, that
is my two cents on Tyreek Hill is that he's a
first ballot Hall of Famer. He is going to get
a gold jacket. It's a matter of how long they
make him wait due to his stuff off the field.
so on and so forth but you know prayers up tyree
hill for a speedy recovery but up next we're
going to talk about nfl week five Welcome back
into the show. Now we're going to get into NFL
Week 5. Like I said, the Rams and the Niners,
Thursday Night Football, have kicked. I got the
Rams here. The Niners are a little beat up. You
know, Mack Jones typically is playing well under
Shanahan. Ironically, we're kind of getting what
we should have probably had four years ago. Because
remember, he leaked out before the draft. That
the Niners were going to draft Mac Jones. Media
went ballistic. I think they panic drafted Trey
Lance. End up in the same draft. Drafting Brock
Purdy as Mr. Irrelevant. Brock Purdy ends up
becoming the big contract guy. And Trey Lance
is now on his third or fourth team. So they end
up kind of being saved by their mistake. It's
one of those things where you flip the picks.
If Brock Purdy was third and Trey Lance was Mr.
Irrelevant. It's perfectly fine, right? But this
is Mac Jones on his third team. You know, Mac
Jones was a Patriot, obviously. He was in Jacksonville.
Now he's in San Fran. But he typically looks
good with the Niners. You know, he fits the Shanahan
system well. He's a low, he's a low, he's a high
ceiling, low, high floor, low ceiling guy. Meaning
that he's not going to be ever bad. Right? He's
like, he's just, he's just set up that way. He's
just a natural guy. But he's going to have high
floor. Like he's going to be consistently slightly
above average. But he's never going to be an
MVP -level player. He's never going to be an
all -pro -level player. He might even get a Pro
Bowler, too. I think he got a Pro Bowler in New
England. He might get a Pro Bowler, too. He's
going to be slightly above average at his peak.
And, you know, that can win you. I mean, Kyle
Shanahan went to the Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo
and Brock Purdy, being slightly above average.
Both, you know, surround him with a great team.
Those guys be slightly above average, you can
make a Super Bowl. I think the Rams right now
are a little bit too healthy. Puka Nakua is wide
receiver one. He's balling. Matt Stafford had
a great game on Sunday. Maybe a short turnaround
for him physically, but he had a great game on
Sunday. Sean McVay doesn't like losing to Kyle
Shanahan. His peers, man, like it's Shanahan,
it's Kingsbury, McDaniel. Like Sean McVay does
not like losing to those guys. And so I think
that the Rams are going to come out, and they're
going to put together a show that ultimately
I think they'll win the game. But, again, I don't
want to get too far into it because, again, it's
happening right now. But I do think the Rams
will win. Well, let's get into some headlines,
get into some conversation. So let's do Vikings
at Browns. That is our European game, our early
kickoff. It's 8 .30 for me, 9 .30 for the East
Coast. 6 .30 for the West Coast. I remember when
I was in Vegas a few years ago. A few years ago,
you know, I was in Vegas during football season.
They actually were building. They were finishing
Allegiant Stadium at the time. They were building
Allegiant Stadium at the time I was there. And
I woke up after a concert. I woke up and football
was on. And I was so confused. Like, it was like
the fourth quarter. And I was like, what in the
world? It's like 9 .30. Like, how is football
in the fourth quarter? It's like 9 .30. Oh, it's
like 10. Like, how is football in the fourth
quarter? I forgot. Time zone. Like, time zones
are skinny. So, if it's 8 .30 here, it's 6 .30.
No, it was like 9 o 'clock. If it's 8 .30 here,
it's like 6 .30 in Vegas. What's the time zone
that we kicked off? So I woke up at like 9 o
'clock, you know, rubbing my eyes, turning the
TV on kind of thing, and I saw football in the
fourth quarter, and I was incredibly lost. But
again, for me, that would be 11. For them, that
was 9. And so, you know, so you get that early
kickoff of the European game, but it's Vikings
at Browns. Backup city here. Joe Flacco's officially
been benched for the Cleveland Browns. He probably
has started his last game in the NFL. He's been
benched for the Cleveland Browns in favor of
Dylan Gabriel. As you guys know, J .J. McCarthy
is injured for the Vikings, meaning Carson Wentz
gets another week to start. Maybe he gets a chance
to prove that he should be a starter somewhere
next season. Great, good first game. Not so great
three quarters of game two. He had a great fourth.
So he's probably eight quarters he started. I
give him five good to great ones, three awful
ones. you know not necessarily instilling a lot
of confidence in getting in him getting a starting
position next year uh because five by eight six
two and a half percent and that's an f in most
grading systems so um he got it definitely improved
there but um the story that i mean i'm not gonna
spend too much time on it it's it's media worthy
it's not worthy so i will address it but but
um They questioned Shador Sanders a lot about
Dylan Gabriel starting and what does he think
he has to do to become the starter and so on
and so forth. And he pantomimed. For those of
you who don't know what that is, he answered
without making any sounds. I'm not even sure
he said actual words. I think he just moved his
lips. But he pantomimed the answers. He didn't
give any answers. He didn't. Okay, I gave a prediction
of Rams. I'm going to go back to it. I gave a
prediction of Rams, and the Niners, behind two
Mac Jones touchdowns, are up 14 -0. Who would
have thunk it? But back to Sudo saying this.
So he panned to mind the answers. He didn't answer
them. And mixed reaction on Twitter. Mixed reaction
in the media. Some of the media, social and national
and sports, have said that's why. That's why
nobody drafted him right there. Answers like
that, acts like that. Other people have said,
why are we even talking about this? He's the
third string quarterback before. He's the third
string quarterback after. Other people are saying,
you know, why are they still asking him these
questions? Because he's decided to not answer
them by not answering them. He literally, like
I said, pantomimed the answer. He's answering
them without answering them at this point. And
so. Who knows, right? In terms of, you know,
why I should do what they already did. I mean,
I'm sure he's tired of answering the questions.
But anyway, back three are going to be on the
field. So Carson Wentz had a rough game. Well,
rough three quarters. He's looking to bounce
back against a pretty good Cleveland defense.
As bad as Cleveland is, he's looking to bounce
back against a pretty good Cleveland defense.
Speaking of good defenses, Vikings defense coordinated
by Brian Flores. They do. Two to three to four
looks that are otherworldly on defense. A game.
Like, a game. They do two to three a game that
are just, I mean, it's shift, shift. I mean,
it's start off in a zero look, flash to a two
high look, end up in a couple three look light.
It's just they give you so many different looks
at every single stage that Dylan Gabriel is going
to struggle against his defense. Here is the
issue I think Cleveland will have. Benching Joe
Flacco opened the door. As long as Joe Flacco
was playing, you could say neither rookie was
ready, right? Or Joe was good enough to keep
the starting job. Not many would argue. However,
now that the rookie is starting and Joe Flacco
is benched, you've opened the door to quarterback
change. So if Dylan Gabriel goes out there and
he plays horrible, which again is the Vikings
defense, it's on the table. He has two picks,
58 % completion percentage, a buck 90, one touchdown,
two picks, and looks rough. It's on the table.
Fans may say, okay, well, let's give the other
guy a shot. Again, I'm not saying good dealing
game is going to look bad. I'm saying it's on
the table. Vice versa. Carson Wentz played a
good game. He had a hell of a quarter, quarter
and a half. If he goes out against a well -known,
good Cleveland defense, 20 or 27. 254, two touchdowns,
no picks. How quickly are you running back to
J .J. McCarthy? Who, again, he played a couple
of games, but most of his games, the opposite
of Wentz, Wentz was five good, three bad. J .J.
was like six bad, two good before he was ultimately
injured. So I think there's going to be a lot
of decisions made in the offseason, specifically
regarding Carson Wentz and the Minnesota Vikings.
But this is kind of the tale of the tape on both
sides. Quarterbacks are huge. Two good defenses
with huge quarterback potential controversies.
Wentz plays well. How do you go in the locker
room and tell them to go back to McCarthy? Gabriel
plays bad. How can you use those at a fan base
to do what's not better? So it's a very interesting
situation on both sides. The Texans get an opportunity
here to play the Ravens. Now, normally that is
not a sentence anybody would ever say. Getting
the chance to play the Ravens is usually a horrible
idea. However, no Lamar Jackson this week. Particularly
no Kyle Hamilton. I mean, there's anywhere from
10 to 14 Ravens on the injury report, mostly
with lower legs, soft tissue stuff. And it is
just, it is absolutely devastating for Baltimore
because you got to think about it. Joe Burrow's
out, right? So there's an opportunity here to
really, really, Win the division. Lock it down.
Cleveland's awful. Pittsburgh has Aaron Rodgers,
but they're up and down. Baltimore had an opportunity
here to really get away and high with this division,
and they didn't. Like I said, now there's a bunch
of soft tissue injuries running around, which
leads to the Houston Texans, who need momentum,
who need kind of a pick -me -up game, kind of
a help -me -help -you game, and they get the
Ravens. So, you know, Baltimore's off for that
defense. I mean, they're opportunistic at defense.
They can get a stop when they're pushed, so on
and so forth. But they're not very good at defense.
They're not apparently very good at handing the
ball to Derrick Henry because they are the worst
team in the NFL when it comes down to handing
the ball to their running backs on first and
second down. So they're very limited at receiver.
I mean, it's just bad right now, right? So Houston.
Gets an opportunity to play Baltimore, who's
beat up, not ready to go, more than likely. I
said no Lamar Jackson, more than likely. They're
going to be in trouble from the opening outset.
Speaking of Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks, Sam
Donald plays Baker Mayfield. The Seattle Seahawks
line up against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Both teams
are 3 -1. These two quarterbacks are kind of
the opposite of each other. Their stories are
almost polar opposites, actually. You have Sam
Darnold, who grew up with a little money. I mean,
Baker had a little money, too. But Sam Darnold
grew up with a little money. He was a highly
ranked high school quarterback. He ended up winning
the USC. He ended up starting. He was third round.
He was third overall pick. You know, that's his
upbringing. Baker Mayfield, again, similar, had
a little money. But he's a two -time walk -on.
He doesn't have a Heisman Trophy. Yes, he does.
He has a Heisman Trophy. He's a two -time walk
-on. He had to battle for everything he ever
got at the college level. So having to figure
out stuff through controversy and battling isn't
or was not or still isn't atypical to Baker Mayfield.
He's always had that cocky, moxie, that grit
and determination, that drive to be great. Well,
in the NFL, their lives have kind of been similar.
Both were, I mean, I think Baker went. Baker
was first round. Donald was top three. Didn't
work out in their original locations for whatever
reason. They go to their second locations and
they show flashes. And now they've got their
own franchises. And, you know, Sam Donald is
the unquestioned QB of the next, I mean, at least
three to four years of our opinion in Seattle.
Baker Mayfield is Tampa's second favorite son
behind Tom Brady at quarterback. But, I mean,
to have those careers go the way that they went
and collegiate careers and then the NFL to have
very similar stories, it's kind of cool. Now
they're playing each other this week. Jaden Daniels
set to return against the Chargers. Now Terry
McLaurin is not, but Jaden Daniels is set to
return against the Los Angeles Chargers. So a
huge boost for the commander's offense there.
and my fantasy team having Jane Daniels return
to the lineup. And then the primetime preview,
the My Patriots play at the Bills on Sunday Night
Football. Very interesting game for the Patriots.
I spoke about it earlier. The Bills have not
been playing that well. The Patriots put up 43
against the Carolina Panthers, saying Carolina
Panthers that it just pitched a shutout three
before 30 -0. So, a big, big opportunity for
New England here, especially with the Buffalo
Bills. I don't know if they're trying to figure
their scheme out. I don't know what's going on.
But especially with the Bills struggling a little
bit here, this is an opportunity to put on a
show if you're in New England. Plus, it's before
the blizzard hits. And then Monday Night Football,
Chiefs at Jags, you know, Presto's Promise versus
the Night Kings. I feel like if you're in the
Game of Thrones. Nick Wright has called Trevor
Lawrence the prince that was promised, a .k .a.
the prince. And he's playing the Night King with
all the power in his hand and Patrick Mahomes.
And so, very interesting football game here.
A little humid. That could play into the fact
that it's not a frying pan, but it is a little
humid in the south right now. And he's not really
breaking a whole heck of a lot. He broke a little
bit, but not a whole heck of a lot. It's a lot
more humid. than, you know, Kansas City would
be used to feeling. But up next, we are going
to leave the NFL. I'm excited for this week five.
Like I said, starting with tonight, getting the
9 -0, 14 -0, whatever. Killed my prediction before
you guys even hear it. But up next, we're going
to jump into the WNBA. There's a lot that's going
down with the W from literally the top down.
Welcome back into the show where the only thing
hotter than this microphone is the microphone
that Nafisa Collier used to go at Kathy Engelbert
of the WMGA. If you have not seen the clip, it's
4 minutes and 12 seconds long. I know because
I posted it. It's all over JTS, social medias,
Threads, X, Instagram, and Facebook. Wow. I mean,
oftentimes you see barbs when there's a labor
negotiation, right? Anytime there's union versus
management, there's a labor negotiation, negotiating
for a collective bargaining agreement, oftentimes
there are barbs. CBA negotiations are common
in the NFL. Their deals feel shorter. I feel
like they're really negotiating a CBA every three
years. Usually it comes down to a financial split
between money and players. And what's the practice
schedule like? So how much organized team activities
do you have to do? You have a guy like Shannon
Sharpe that get mad at the players every time
because he says like, guys, you know this is
coming. You don't save and you give you give
in to dumb stuff like you give up a half percent
of money. So you get the weed high, the weed
levels higher. And it's like, dude, you know
what I'm saying? Like you give up leverage. for
dumb stuff or less padded practices or you know
something where you know instead you give you
give up money for that like you guys are low
on money you give up money for something that
matter like getting less padded practice um and
then the nba the nba feels standard -ish As far
as labor negotiations, they don't really have
any. I mean, they had the lockout of 2011, but
that was the last time there was a real labor
standoff. It was a couple times in the NFL. It
was in the 11th hour that they figured out a
deal. Hadn't been a lockout in a long time in
the NFL, but I remember the lockout of 2011.
That's the epic game. I mean, they were Kevin
Durant and Rucker Park. LeBron and the crew,
Miami. South Bend pro -ams. I mean, that's when
NBA players are popping up to random pro -ams.
Kobe went to the Drew League. I mean, that's
when NBA players are popping up to random pro
-ams. It's just to play competitive basketball.
And people forget, like, it's not the NBA. No,
but the first word pro -am is pro. So, like,
European players, guys who play in, like, Canada,
EuroLeague and stuff, well, their season hadn't
started yet. By the time the NBA season starts.
And the EuroLeague kind of does it on purpose
to kind of give those guys who are cut last minute
by the NBA a chance to go over to Europe and
play good basketball. You can't play them both
at the same time. But it kind of gives you out
where those guys are still over in America getting
work in before they fly over to Europe. So a
lot of those Rutgers and he's going to come to
Amazon. Rutgers and Drew and things like that.
Like, there are European players, there are ex
-Euro players, there's guys that still play like
TBT and stuff like that on the floor. So we're
not talking about just your Joe Blow at the YMCA.
We're talking about legitimate competition. And
that happened in 2011. Well, anyway, the WNBA
is getting into a labor negotiation and it's
been coming down the pike for two years. I said
it before, I say it again. Nafisa Carrier with
a lot more details. pretty much echo what I've
been saying for years on this show and, you know,
loudly off the air. It ain't Kathy Engelbert.
I don't know who the WNBA commissioner is supposed
to be. I don't know if it's supposed to be Matt
Johnson. I don't know if it's supposed to be
Lisa Leslie. I don't know if it's supposed to
be Maya Moore. I don't know if it's supposed
to be, oh my God, oh, Robin Roberts. I don't
know who it's supposed to be. I know it ain't
Kathy Engelbert. It could be Mark Tatum, who's
the deputy commissioner of the NBA. I mean, the
WNBA and NBA are tied in together so much anyway.
Let Mark Tatum get his feet wet as a commissioner
before he becomes commissioner of the NBA. Let
him go be the commissioner of the WNBA. I don't
know. But I do know for a fact it ain't Kathy
Engelbert. I said that I think her media deal
should have been bigger. I think her media deal
should have already happened. I think that she
should have seen the wave of that high school
class coming. You know, it ended up being that
college, that collegiate, well, I say that high
school class because Paige didn't come out with
them, but you should have seen that wave coming.
By the time they were juniors, they were bigger
than everybody in the WNBA. And by they, I mean
Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Camila Cordoza, and
Kaitlyn Clark. There is nobody in the W, you
could put any four you want, that had their star
power. You could put Asia Wilson with Kelsey
Plum with... Nafisa Collier with Brianna Stewart
as far as fan bases. And they would not have
touched those four ladies. They really got close,
right? So you had this tidal wave coming in.
that you knew based on the NCAA women's ratings,
based on tournament, based on merch, based on
NRL deals, based on attention, based on segment,
based on screen time, like just stuff you can
see, not even the behind the scenes analytics
stuff I'm sure she has access to, just stuff
you can see, that group was going to be different.
And Paige Becker's too. Paige gets hurt, she
ends up behind them. But that group was going
to be different. Right. That group was going
to change the way women's basketball was discussed.
And ultimately they do. That group is just different.
Right. They're there. I mean, we're talking bigger
than a three to see with Della Dawn, Brittany
Grimes, Skylar Diggins. We're talking bigger
than Candace Parker's arrival, even with her
winning rookie of the MVP in the same season.
We're talking bigger than Maya Moore's arrival.
Like those ladies. were i mean the quintessential
super mega stars that a league or a sport was
ever gonna have right i mean we're talking magic
and bird arriving in the nba to save the nba
this class was going to save and nothing has
saved the wmba's profitability so much so there's
no investors there's expansion There's all kind
of stuff happening in the NBA off the strength
of those ladies. I said it before, I was like,
Cathy's not taking advantage of this. There should
be a new CBA. There should be a new pay structure.
Like, retroactively do. I mean, we're talking,
like, if there's a $2 billion TV deal coming
down the pike, like, backdo the contracts. Like,
don't let, you know, and I said, like, don't
let, like, because of the structure. Angel Reese
or Kaitlyn Clark come in making, you know, $178
,000 and Asia Wilson making $150 ,000. Like,
don't do that, right? But do it to where, okay,
if the rookie scale is still 10 % of the new
salary cap, well, Asia Wilson's coming for $20
,000, so her contract from here on out is worth
20 % or something like that, right? And the WNBA
players and agents set it up to where they're
going to take advantage of the new CBA deal.
Why? 90 % of the league is free agents this year.
done on purpose. They all negotiated to be free
agents this offseason for the purpose of when
the CBA hits, boom, when the new salary structure
came out, they negotiated under that salary structure
and not this salary structure. Very well done
by the players and agents, especially the United
Front. Now, there's a lot less of them. It's
144, well, 156 now, and then it'll be up to 196
in a couple years, but Very good job as players
and agents to, you know, see that coming down
the pike. Take advantage of it. Anyway, back
to Fee's comments. So, Nafisa Collier sat down
and said, before she takes any questions in her
A's interview, she just lit into Kathy Engelberg.
She said how, kind of cliff -noted, at one point
Kathy Engelberg said that Kaitlyn Clark should
be thanking her for the platform so that Kaitlyn
can make a whole bunch of money off the court.
because Fee said that she thought it was unfair
that Angel Reese and Kaitlyn Clark and Paige
Beckers, women who are clearly driving the revenue,
who are clearly at the forefront of this new
wave of attention and fandom and fan bases and
whatever, are making so little money. Kathy basically
said they better be glad they even have a chance
to do it. Kaitlyn better be glad she makes $16
million off the court. Nafisa Kalia also pulled
up receipts that Kathy Engelbert said that the
players should be on their knees thanking her
for the media deal she got for them. She also
mentioned something else. Oh, Nafisa Kalia pointed
to her running unrivaled. She said, it would
be one thing if I didn't know how to run a league,
but unfortunately for them, I do. Unrivaled is
very profitable. They had a TV deal set up up
on arrival. The players love it. The facilities
are great. They play in one location. They work
out all the time. There's this great free agent
kind of bonding situation, recruitment kind of
thing going on, right? But unrivaled's great.
And so to have someone who runs unrivaled basketball,
supposed to be an off -season league for ladies
who don't have to go overseas now, for you to,
for Nafisa Collier to scathingly lambast kathy
engelbert the way that she did i mean we're not
talking about a rant on twitter we're not talking
about a in the car video off the cuff we're not
talking about in the bathroom or in the living
room and you know you get on instagram live or
people did people just record it and post it
she went to her exit interview in front of minnesota
media Everybody knew she was the center of the
latest WNBA controversy. She runs on rival and
she's highly respected in the WNBA circles with
a four -minute prepared speech with receipts,
with evidence, with scathing points. I mean,
this was bad. Like, I can't imagine trying to
think. AJ wasn't the best player in the world,
so it's not Patrick Mahomes. This would be like
Joe Burrow going up and just ripping Roger Goodell
to shreds. This would be like Shea Gildress Alexander
tearing apart Adam Silver with a four or five
minute prepared speech on labor negotiations
and not trusting the players and not caring.
And there's been little stuff that has leaked
out, like people complaining about the scheduling.
you know there's no reason to play that many
games in that many days excuse me travel was
a big issue hence the private plane deal or the
charter flight deal um i mean so many different
things have you know popped up small relatively
i mean but i mean i had a problem remember i
had a problem with kathy whenever you know like
the raiders owner Mark Davis was going to use
the Raiders plane for the Aces. Like, they just
fly on the Raiders plane. She was like, no, that's
an impermissible benefit. What? Because my owner
has money and others don't? I remember when the
Memphis Grizzlies owners were talking about coming.
I think they have a team. No, they're involved
with Brooklyn, I think. They were going to use
their team plane to fly the players. I'm like,
nope, can't do it. Because everybody can't fly
private, so you can't either. what that's a part
of it that's a part of my franchise is better
we have charter planes that franchise doesn't
like that you know what i'm saying like that's
part of it that's part of the business like you
know and stuff like that i would i lamented it
for years as a kathy's not it man like even before
the w exploded even before we had this mega wave
with that you know that specific high school
class with page and camilla and caitlin and angel
And Brink and Haley Van Lith, you know, before
them. And, you know, a lot of these stars came
in. And Juju Watkins is on the rise. She's coming.
You know, Sarah Strong is in college basketball
right now. And Flo J. Johnson. And, you know,
you've got all these stars that are running around
women's basketball. I said Kathy wasn't the one
to lead them. I said Mark Tatum. I don't know
why that keeps coming in my head. But he's the
deputy commissioner of the NBA. He's next in
line to be the commissioner commissioner. Adam
Silver was David Stern's deputy commissioner.
Excuse me. Adam Silver was David Stern's deputy
commissioner. Now Mark Tatum is Adam Silver's.
Hey, Mark, get your feet wet. Go to the WNBA
for a few years. Be the commissioner there. You'll
stay on NBA payroll as far as your salary, your
amount and everything, but you'll be 90 % of
your day be WNBA. Or you're WNBA, you know, so
you're WNBA during the summer. You come to the
NBA league office. During the NBA offseason.
But. Or something. You know. But. To have that
happen to you. And then to have the players back
it. Then you give a weak response. I mean. It
was terrible. It was. It was effectively like
being shot in the arm. And then talk about emotional
healing. Because she. I mean. She said she respected
Nafisa Collier. And all the players. And stuff
like that. But. She tapped dance like the late,
great Gregory Hines. When it came down to. She
tapped dance like the late, great Gregory Hines.
When it came down to avoiding that, you know,
thing. I mean, she she put out a very weak statement.
You got blasted. For four minutes. On a prep
speech. Right. Like it was. It ain't something
that she. Like I said. It wasn't the whole. Let
me. Sit in. My living room. Or my. Instagram
live. And I'm emotional. Or whatever. No. She
had a four minute speech. About you. And your
response was. What your response was. It's not
good. Right? That's not good. So, I think ultimately,
I think at this point, Cathy's going to have
to resign. I don't, I mean, you've got Sophie
Cunningham saying that she's tired of the WNBA's
BS and that they don't even have a league. Lockout's
coming. I mean, this is bad for the W and players
are saying it like at the time where the W needs
to hurry up and lock it down and expand and get
it together. And you're potentially running face
first into a lockout in the biggest, most important
time of the WCAP. Like free agency for the WNBA
should have been setting a record contract every
day and the first million dollar deal or whatever
it was going to be. Constantly. All over social
media. All over the platforms. Biggest offseason
in WNBA history. One of the bigger offseasons
in professional basketball history. And instead,
you're running face first to a lockout. And the
biggest story, even overshadowing your finals,
that starts by the time you guys hear this tonight,
is the first, second, third best player in the
world. Blasting your commissioner for being a
terrible, not only commissioner, but it sounds
like person. That ain't great. Kathy's got to
step down. Said it for years. She ain't the one.
Players have hinted at it for years. The feast
will drop the bomb. Angel Reese stepped out quickly
and supported her. Derek and Hamby jumped out
quickly and supported her. Paige Beckers made
her feelings known. Kaylin Clark, not so much.
Lisa Leslie has been on platforms making her
feelings known. Legends, walking statues, walking
Hall of Fame bus are putting their support in.
Kathy's got to go. The WNBA wants any hope of
this thing smoothing out. Kathy's got to go or
she's got to concede a lot in the negotiation.
I'm not sure either. I'm not sure she's willing
to do either. I think for the league's purposes,
force her out, hire a new commissioner, and then
a commissioner negotiates the deal. But that
was bad. And Nafisa Collier did it at an expert
level. I mean, it was marvelous what she did
at an expert level. Congratulations to her on
what she said. All of it was true. And so kudos
to her. But up next, we're going to have our
best for last about the NBA media day as we are
simply, I mean, preseason basketball is happening.
We are simply weeks away. From the NBA season
Welcome back to the show. And now we're going
to talk about the NBA media day. Kind of some
quick hitters. Some stuff that popped out. Zion
Williamson's body was the number one thing that
popped out. Skinny Z, Slim Z, Ozempic Z has been
some of the names thrown around. Hill Zion, Mountain
Zion. That's been kind of the names that have
been thrown around. Mostly jokes, but mostly
commending him. He dedicated himself. He said
he had a workout plan this summer. He stuck to
it. He had boxing. He had a different level of
training. He looks great. Zion Williamson was
not caught without his shirt off on purpose.
He used to have the little white tight thing
on his jersey if he took his jersey off. He's
taking pictures with fans shirtless. He's confident
in his body. He likes the way it looks. He likes
the way it feels. He feels amazing. Which is
great, man. Zion Williamson, healthy, is a top
10 player in the NBA. Pelicans were the top 10
player in the NBA. And Zion, you add a Jordan
Poole, you add a Kevon Looney. Trey Murphy and
Herb Jones are both top 10 wings in this league.
You're looking at a playoff team. Zion's an MVP
candidate. You're looking at a conference finals
appearance, potentially, in New Orleans. kudos
to Zion for getting his body in shape I hope
that he doesn't get injured little nicks and
bruises whatever but like don't have a sprained
knee and it's out for a month because then it
kind of goes with well dang I was big and I got
hurt smaller like I hurt what's the benefit whatever
but he look he's flying around just from the
clips I've seen when they were in Australia um
Anthony Davis looks chunky he can say what he
want to say because ask him about his weight
he said he wants to say in terms of he typically
255 258 but he don't want to come in his playing
weight because he loses apparently he loses 10
to 12 pounds early in the season every year so
he doesn't want to come in at his playing weight
because then when he loses those 10 to 12 he'll
be underweight whatever I've seen Anthony Davis
every single offseason since he was a pelican
Since he came in as a rookie, every single offseason,
I have seen Anthony Davis. He was a New Orleans
Pelican, and then he went to play with LeBron.
If you want to pay attention to you closely,
be a Pelican or play with LeBron. And he did
those things for the first, I mean, all his career.
He was either a Pelican or with LeBron, so I
paid attention to him closely. He's never been
this big. He looks chunky. He looks like Luka
did in Dallas. Luka looks like AD did in LA.
Not saying those things are connected. However,
AD's never been chunky. He's chunky in Dallas.
Luka's never been skinny. He's skinny in LA.
Not saying those things are connected. But it
is very convenient. Another thing I noticed from
EDA is Brandon Ingram's comments lambasting the
city of New Orleans. You know, trash talking
New Orleans about attendance and so on and so
forth. A lot of people ran a bunch of numbers.
Turns out New Orleans -Toronto attendance, not
that much different. Also attendance when he
plays, not that much different. So, you know,
it's kind of hard to talk noise when you're routinely
injured. Now, I mean, obviously injuries are
sometimes hard to control, but from a fan, no
offense to this guy, but like Brandon Boston
was a guy that played a lot of minutes for the
Pelicans. Not Zion, not Trey, not Herb, not CJ,
not Brandon. Not Brandon Ingram, but Brandon
Boston. No offense to Brandon Boston at all.
Loved him when he was in New Orleans. Thank you
for what you did for my pals. Doesn't exactly
incite people to want to go to the game. Just
doesn't. So injuries and stuff play a part. Obviously,
that stuff matters, right? Let's see here. Anything
else for me today that jumped out to me? Oh,
LeBron's going to start training camp very slowly.
He probably has a nerve issue in his glute. So
he's entering year 23 very slowly. Plans to ramp
him up extremely cautiously to have him ready
for opening night, which again is in about three
weeks' time. I don't think there's anything else
that jumped out to me quickly. Oh, the old Warriors,
the old in -state Warriors. the Golden State
former Warriors. Those guys are old, man. Like,
they are starting their lineup this year, potentially
the youngest guy in it. It's like 33 -34. The
day before media day, they had nine players.
Then they signed Al Horford, and then they picked
up DeAnthony Melton, got Kaminga back, signed
somebody else, and then they brought in Seth
Kerr and Exhibit 9 deal. So that was, you know,
kind of the Warriors offseason. They kind of
waited and waited and waited and waited and waited.
And then did everything we expected them to do.
Get a Horford, bring back Kaminga, get back Melton.
Seth Curry was a curveball or a new piece. But
they did almost verbatim everything we said they
were going to do. But that is kind of the main
storyline so far throughout the NBA's media days.
Oh, and then the Kawhi Leonard stuff. Ramona
Shelburne is reporting that there were several
people. So they, after she... hammering on the
aspiration stuff um which is if you guys remember
the constant ongoing pablo torre investigation
into effectively cap circumvention from the los
angeles clippers involved in company company
named aspiration that has like a basically a
no -show contract with quiet leonard to pay him
a little extra money that conveniently always
seems to match or nearly match the paper trail
of investments from Clippers, either ownership
or high -level management. And Ramona Shelburne
hammered in on it. Like, she asked repeatedly
to the point where I ended up just no commenting
out of it. And then they apparently, according
to Ramona Shelburne, they took her microphone.
And then there was five or six people whose hands
stayed up almost the entire time that never got
called on. People who were connected and who
they thought might have harped on aspiration
juxtaposed with the basketball court. If you
don't want your dirt talked about in the media,
don't do it. That's just me. But that is the
gist of what's happening in the NBA. But that
also concludes everything we have for today.
Glad to be back with you guys. Crossed the hour
cliff. Nice, nice. Crossed over an hour there.
So excited to be back with you guys and to be
back on this microphone talking with y 'all,
sharing my unbridled, unfiltered opinions about
the worldwide of sports all over America right
now. We'll touch on international stuff coming
up soon. But as always, thank you guys for joining
with me. Thank you guys for rocking with me.
Follow the social media handle at J time sports.
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It's a huge help. But thank you all. This is
your host, Justin Jackson, signing out.