Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag is a podcast aiming at bringing you Wisconsin sports news and opinions everyday! Follow the podcast and find us live Sunday, Wednesday and Friday nights on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Twitch and Kick TV.
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Packers vs Dolphins Showdown, Badgers' Season Drama, Dodgers' Bold MLB Moves and Thanksgiving Sports Feast – Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trag & Aaron
Get ready for a Thanksgiving sports bonanza as we uncover the intense matchups and thrilling narratives this holiday season. From the Green Bay Packers' make-or-break showdown against the Miami Dolphins under the chilly Lambeau lights to the high-stakes clash between the Wisconsin Badgers and Minnesota, we promise insights that will heighten your excitement for these pivotal games. With Aaron joining us, our discussions about the uplifting momentum in Badger basketball and the strategic moves in MLB, such as the Dodgers landing pitcher Blake Snell, will keep you at the edge of your seat.
The spotlight is on Wisconsin's football as the Badgers navigate a season filled with unexpected twists. We're questioning where Coach Luke Fickle's team is headed, analyzing their fluctuating performances and key matchups ahead. Our conversation highlights not just the rivalry with Minnesota but the broader implications for the program's future. From standout player performances in basketball to critiques of divisional opponents, we present a comprehensive narrative on Wisconsin sports, celebrating high points and confronting challenges.
Switching gears, we delve into the NFL landscape, with a detailed look at the fierce competition in the NFC North and the intriguing yet tumultuous states of the Cowboys and Giants franchises. Lastly, we sprinkle in some fun with a debate on Thanksgiving favorites that even Oreo lovers will enjoy. Join us for the ultimate sports feast, as we blend serious analysis with lighthearted banter, ensuring your holiday is filled with both insight and entertainment.
Thank you, you how we doing everybody and welcome into Wisconsin. Sports. Time to Go with Trage. I'm your host, trage, we're coming back. It's Wednesday day before Thanksgiving. It's an exciting time, I guess.
Speaker 2:Right, the work week is kind of just a drag. You go for three, two, three days, whatever people are, and then you know work week is kind of just a drag. You go for three, two, three days, whatever people are, and then you know you have the rest of the week off so you don't really do anything. It's like the least productive week out of the entire year, like you go for two days and like you're not really doing anything. You're getting ready for Thanksgiving, everything like that.
Speaker 2:But hey, with Thanksgiving comes a lot of big games, right? We got the Packers in action tomorrow night, thanksgiving night against the Dolphins. We want to talk about that game today. Badger football back at it already on Friday taking on Minnesota for the X, for bowl eligibility. There's a lot riding on that game. We want to talk about the Badgers Badger basketball. We want to get into that today. Lots to get into. I got Aaron with me tonight to get into. I got aaron with me tonight, don't I know yet the other day I had kyle on here and I kept calling kyle aaron. I was like this guy, he just looks like. I was like, these two just look alike they just look alike and kyle thought so too.
Speaker 2:Kyle thought so too, but I got aaron with me tonight.
Speaker 1:Here, aaron, how we doing on this wednesday you you took the words out of my mouth already. I, I mean, we're, we're very interchangeable, like you know. If you blink for a second, it's like a stunt double. You know what I mean. But no, doing pretty well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like you said, it's weird, right, there are a lot of jobs out there where it's like you're off Thanksgiving and then come back the Friday and then off the weekend. I know there's essential jobs out there and I'm not going to, like you know, talk crap on those. But know, talk crap on those. But like for jobs that are like I, I just feel like that's one of those. Come on, like, at least give the guys like maybe a half day, friday or something. You know I'm campaigning, I'm gonna die on that hill. But no, doing pretty well. It's uh, yeah, a lot going on, right, a lot going on in the sporting world, and really it's uh, it's just been chaos, like for my end, but it's been, uh, controlled chaos to a certain degree. You got, I mean, wisconsin basketball man, I know we'll get into it, but uh, I know you're riding high on that. You gotta, you gotta be riding high on that right now.
Speaker 2:We're riding a wave over here right now. It is nothing but excitement right now for badger basketball, and we're gonna get into that today. What has led to where we're at right now? The stats, everything that players that have impacted so far, everything in between the lines, there we're going to, I mean like you said, badger basketball has been good.
Speaker 2:Badger football has been in the opposite. We're going to talk about them today, how maybe they can get right before they head and, you know, maybe get to a bowl. I don't know. We'll see what happens here on Friday. But, aaron, we have some news coming out of the MLB. We see a little bit of movement from the Dodgers. What did we see just happening yesterday?
Speaker 1:Yeah right, this is kind of the biggest domino to fall, at least in the pitching market. I mean, we're still waiting on Soto. We talk about that every week for position players. But Blake Snell, you know the one-year giant. Now you know Scott Boris secures the bag for him this time. I mean, if you remember, last season the Yankees had the opportunity. I mean they threw a big offer at him. Thankfully he didn't accept it, because, I mean, looking back, maybe that's the difference between them. You know potentially competing for that World Series, you know pushing that series longer. So yeah, long story short there. Dodgers, blake Snell, five years, $182 million.
Speaker 1:A lot of teams were in on snell the giants, uh, the orioles, uh, the mets, uh, to name a few. Uh, I've seen other, you know, uh, teams kind of mentioned a little bit, but those are like the, the ones that have come up. You know, at least more than once that I've seen, um, yeah, I mean the rich get richer. In this one, unfortunately, the, the goliath that is the Dodgers, just got even better. That definitely sucks in my opinion, but they were willing to shell out the bag for him. He's a good pitcher. He's got to get up there and age a little bit. The Dodgers are not afraid to break the bank. I do wonder how that's going to impact them, if at all. It might not even waver them at all because they have so much money, the whole Soto thing.
Speaker 2:I agree, know, I would agree with that there, and it it really does suck to see blake snell you know the giants are always in on everybody. It seems like the giants. You always hear their name, like even with willie adames. Now we'll hear the giant's name and we're gonna hear them with everybody and who do they get?
Speaker 2:Yeah, aaron, judge we thought judge was going there for a while, like who do they really get at the end of the day? So I mean, maybe they'll make a splash right this off season. Maybe they'll make a splash last season, didn't they? Did they grab Chapman out there last season, I believe? And I mean they got. Who did it? Was it Montgomery? Did Montgomery end up there?
Speaker 1:No, oh yeah, no, tie them back. Snell did. Snell was there, yeah.
Speaker 2:They just, they're always in on everybody and don't get anybody. It's just the Giants motto.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I feel like you know, when they were ripping off all those World Series, maybe they just hit on draft picks better, they just back then they were never a team that was, like you know, buyers, like they were never huge buyers, you know, but they had good, like they were a fun, they were almost like the spurs of like baseball because they're just like fundamentally, like they didn't make errors. They were a good base running team, like they just played smart. But you know, it's been quite a while since the Giants have been there, so maybe they feel like they have to reach now and get one of these guys and they just they don't really move the needle, especially in the NL West anymore. They don't really move the needle, especially in the NL West anymore. They hang in there for, you know, until July, august, it seems like, and then they just completely taper off and become a non-factor.
Speaker 1:So I don't know, I mean you've got to be kicking yourself, I guess. But we'll see how this offseason I mean plays out. They're not going to get like Soto or anything, I mean I'd be sure. But I'll be curious to see if they do anything major which they're going to have to. I mean, look who just got them. Like, literally, the team you're chasing just got better. So now, if you sit back and expect all your farm pieces to produce at like the Dodgers level, that's just going to be really hard. It's going to be an uphill battle. I think I miss Hunter Pence.
Speaker 2:That dude. He looked like he just snorted a line of coke in the dugout and then, walked out onto the field and just started swinging like that guy was wild.
Speaker 2:I mean I loved it, though I loved his eyes were like bam, like wow, this guy's just crazy out there. Uh, we do have in the comment section there brantley gilbert over there on twitch. He says I don't think blake's worth that much, only 110 million at max. I mean, yeah, that's the thing though you look at, guys nowadays are, is anybody really worth the dollar that they're making? Some of these guys probably not, probably not. You know, but it's the market. One guy sets a market and then you gotta give close to or that or more than that to get the next guy. And the market keeps growing, it gets bigger, it gets bigger. And now we see deals like show el tani wine soda is gonna get. I can only imagine if aaron judge were to become a free agent, what he would get in his next time around. I mean it would just be ridiculous. So lots of uh interesting stuff going on. The mlb off season already. Is there anything else happening out there in the mlb, anything, anything worth noting?
Speaker 1:um, okay, so let's just another pitching you know guy or you know another pitcher in the league that people are chasing now I guess the next guy out there, I, you know, I'm not sure there's. There's probably some other names that we, you know, we haven't really gotten into, but uh, garrett Crochet. Um, there's three teams that are rumored to be in on Garrett Crochet right now. Just take a gander or just an educated guess. I should say who are those three teams? I think two of them probably surprised you, at least two Yankees. Yankees are not one of them. Now, I'm sure they are, it's just they're not in your fate, they're not being mentioned with the top teams in on him right now NL or AL. So one NL, two AL and two are in the same division.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very surprising, I think.
Speaker 2:Red Sox. That's right In the same division there. Red Sox. That's right In the same division there, red Sox and not the Yankees. Blue Jays always need pitching the Blue Jays.
Speaker 1:It's not the Blue Jays.
Speaker 2:Is it the Tampa Bay Rays? It's not the Rays. Wow, who else am I missing in that division? There's one more Baltimore Orioles. Yeah, the Orioles are trying to replace Corbin Burns already with Garrett Crochet.
Speaker 1:I guess. So I mean that's, that's it. They were in on Snell, which I'm like wow. I mean just the fact that we had mentioned that these teams the Brewers are always in on T.
Speaker 2:They're always in. They were in on Juan Soto too. They're probably in on Juan Soto this time around too, too yeah, I um, but yeah, orioles.
Speaker 1:And then you said red sox. I think, right, yeah, red sox, yeah, orioles and red sox. Now who's the third team should be nl. Dead giveaway, can't say anything more dead giveaway.
Speaker 2:Is it the dodgers?
Speaker 1:it's the dodgers yeah, that's just stupid. Imagine if we get like I mean, I don't know if you remember when the n was like no, kobe, you're not bringing Chris Paul to the Lakers. Like at some point the MLB would say, okay enough, the Dodgers are too loaded. Like, if they get Garrett Crochet I mean you have Glasnow coming back, you have Walt Turbular, obviously Blake Snell now, like it's just like dude, give it a break.
Speaker 2:There's no control unless you can control the players union, and good luck with that. I mean, that's kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker 1:So it's getting too much, though it's already too much, and now it's like wow that's the disastrous world.
Speaker 2:That is big money baseball right there and I know it firsthand within brewers. So that's where we're kind of at at this moment. So some good news, some good news there around the MLB. I mean, hopefully Blake Snell pitches well If you're a Dodger fan out there, hopefully he pitches well for you, for everybody else we hope he sucks, all right. So that's where we're kind of all at right now. We'll see what happens. But, aaron, let's get to one of the main things we want to talk about.
Speaker 2:First off, let's talk about this Badger football game we have coming up on Friday here against Minnesota. I mean I don't know. My biggest question is how big is this game outside of just getting bowl eligible? So I mean, this game has a lot riding on it. Right, badgers win it, it, they become bowl eligible. We all know that. Keep the streak alive, everything like that. Like that's fantastic. But how big is this game program wise for the wisconsin badgers?
Speaker 2:Because you're running through a season right now where you're showing there's a lot of fans, there's a lot of critics out there who are saying you lack an identity, who are saying Luke Fickle doesn't really know how to get him going. He knew how to do it at Cincinnati and on a lesser team, but now he's in the Big Ten. Now he's with the Big Dogs, the Ryan Days, the James Franklins I know both of them have their own problems but some of the bigger coaches in college football? He's coaching against these guys now. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's lost. He doesn't know how to coach this team in Madison. There's all that outside noise. A game like this against Minnesota, a rivalry game, right, a big one you got to get up for this game, you got to get the boys going for this game. A game like this could be a program booster going forward. If you lose this game against this is just my. I mean we're going to talk more about this game. What has to happen? Everything like that. But in my opinion, if Minnesota comes into Camp Randall and we see what we saw last week and we see Minnesota walk out of there with the ax by a two touchdown, two touchdown score, if they walk out of Madison with that, this program is heading south fast. This is a sinking ship. And, yes, you go into the offseason, you might be able to fix it, everything like that. But morale fans, the seat is getting if you lose this game, that seat underneath the Luke Fickles pants. He might not be able to sit down for the entire offseason because it will be that hot.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying he's going to get fired. I don't think you fire Luke Fickle. I'll be honest with you. I don't think you fire. I was I starting out. And for anybody who says, yeah, we should fire him, starting out with Luke Fickle, I wasn't a fan of the hire. I didn't think it was a great hire.
Speaker 2:Everybody was up in the air Yay, we got rid of Paul Crist, we got Luke Fickle. He's this big time guy. He took Cincinnati to the college football playoff, this, that and between Okay, yeah, that was great, right, but now he's in Madison. Now he's got to do it in Madison. He's got to prove to me in Madison what he can do. And we can blame the lack of recruiting by Paul Crist on you know the struggles early on of this team.
Speaker 2:But now these games that I've seen, we can blame the scheming, we can blame the lack of talent, we can blame all that. But now it's about getting the guys up for a rivalry game. Now it's about getting them up and showing pride. Right, because last week against Nebraska. That game, your defense did not show up emotionally. They might've been there physically, but they did not show up emotionally. They were not focused, they were not in it, it didn't seem like it. You look at the game against Iowa, same thing. But you look at Penn State. You look at the game against Oregon the boys were up, the boys were ready, what happened? Right? So I go into this game against Minnesota and I say you got to show me something in this game, luke Fickle, game management, everything else. Your team has to show me something.
Speaker 2:If you lose a game, just despite the talent, if it's the talent that loses you that football game, okay, I'm fine, I walk away from that. Fine, right. I'm not Penn State, I'm not Oregon, I'm not Ohio State. I don't have big name recruits, I don't have five stars littering the roster, I don't have five stars backing up my five stars. I have three stars and four stars and two stars, and who even knows stars on this roster? At the end of the day, I'm good If we go out there and we I mean we ball out Badgers, just ball out and they take it down to the wire.
Speaker 2:With a good team like Oregon, like Penn State. I was good. I was like, yeah, it sucks, we were that close to beating one of those teams but we lost. And I could see things in those games that if went the other way, heck we might've beat Penn State, heck we might've beat Oregon, like there was. There was certain moments in those games where they had that opportunity. But now I look at this game and I'm like if you play this game against Minnesota words right there, right, if you play this game against Minnesota and they knock you out, what does that tell you about the direction of a program?
Speaker 1:So Aaron.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to ask the question here how big is this game for this Wisconsin Badger program, not just for bowl eligibility but for moving forward as a program?
Speaker 1:I mean you got to say it's huge, right? I mean the way I look at this game is so it's so. Looking at this, I mean obviously you're more plugged into Wisconsin than I am, but the the season as a whole is kind of a perplexing one because you know they, they play their hearts out against Penn State, they play their hearts out against um, against Oregon, and then, like lesser opponent, I mean both these teams, you know that were big issues before Wisconsin, you know Iowa and now Nebraska very like that tier of teams, right, like they're not great, they're not, they're good, like they're all right, they're not bad, all right, but they're not special in any way. And those are the kind of the teams where wisconsin, you know, kind of got their teeth kicked into a certain degree, which is is more surprised, like you would expect oregon to kick wisconsin's teeth and the spread was huge. You expect penn state to, you know, I mean the way penn state plays. I mean we, they survived minnesota this week. They survived minnesota this week, you know talking about minnesota. So it's weird.
Speaker 1:I mean I think on the I don't trust Wisconsin on the road as much as at home, just based on what I've seen this year the spread opened up at two and a half for this game in favor of Wisconsin. It's now down to one and a half, so they really think this is like up for grabs. I think you know where I do put some trust in. Luke fickle is getting getting the boys ready. But you almost have to say that with a, you know, a grain of salt, because you've seen these games where they come out flat, like last week and then the Iowa game you know are two examples of that. It's, it's a lot going on. There's a lot of moving pieces. I mean they, they move on from their. What offensive coordinator earlier this year you know just a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1:At this point, um, I, I think I mean you're sitting there five and six. Six and six is a lot better than five and seven, like I, I just think that, not that you want to be six and six, but it's like man, five and seven is like yeah, like where do you go from there? Um, it's just it's tough, like saying it's all like you said. It's tough saying Luke, this is all Luke Fickle's fault. I mean, you've made the argument a couple, you know, many a times. If they had a quarterback, they probably have two or three or four more wins like somewhere in there. Two to four wins and you know who knows who it's against, but like they find a way against maybe a Penn State, maybe an Oregon or and maybe one of these other games. You know Iowa and Nebraska, so you can, you can say that like there's just so much to this season, I think for Wisconsin. Now, if I think if you lose a close game at home, it's still bad, I still think it's it's just a bad look because, like I said, five and seven, just excuse me, that hurts it's. You know you're playing in Madison, minnesota. I mean I just saw first hand.
Speaker 1:Minnesota is kind of like, wow, if they get some momentum, like they're a tough team. You were telling me that all week and I I didn't want to hear it and I was like, and I didn't want to hear it during the game. But I have to at least admit it, right. Right, they do definitely come out firing at times and they're a physical bunch. You know, and I am a fan of, like PJ Flex and how he gets his team ready. Now he doesn't have the record he wants either, but I mean, who wants to go to Minnesota? I don't know if that's like a destination for a lot of college kids, but it's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is a huge. This is like a kind of a not a staple game for Luke Fickle, because it's not, like, you know, number 10 Wisconsin against number 8 Minnesota or something. But this has importance in, like you said, going forward. If you want to, you know, get back on the map next year, like this plays into that, I think. I mean, and if you come out, you know, flat again, then there's serious questions to be made because of, like you talked about, kind of there, you know, there might be some turmoil inside the locker room. I mean, they move on from their offensive quarter. There's just a lot of things going on. So do you think I, like you said, I don't think fickle get fired? I mean, if they lost 40 to nothing, anything's up for for grabs at that point. But I just think I mean you got them at home though, like that's the key here, if you can just find a way. It doesn't have to be pretty. If you win by one, you take it. It's the spreads at two.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I mean, you see this offense this last time out against Nebraska and the offense looked better. Right, the offense came to play. They look better. Lock look better. I mean that's a lot to say, but he looked better in that game. The one interception actually, you could blame it on the receiver if you wanted to. It doesn't have to go on lock. So I mean you put him in a situation and that's where one of my keys to this game against Minnesota is you have to get that lead early and you have to keep lock out of situations where he's trying to lead a drive quickly down the field to put points on the board, because the last thing you want with a struggling quarterback who has an interception problem is to rush him. And when he gets rushed, we see what happens. He makes mistakes and I mean there's a lot of quarterbacks out there who do the same thing, but that's something that the Badgers have to avoid in this game. But you hit the nail on the head with the turmoil in the locker room and I guess for me, I'm going into this game against Minnesota and I'm saying to myself and I'm saying this as a Badger fan right, the defense has got to come to play. They got to come to fight. They have to come to fight in this game. I don't want to hear the excuse of the defensive line sucks. All right, yes, the defensive line is not great, but look at the game against Oregon. What was Oregon able to do against Wisconsin? That was just explosive. That blew them out of the water. I'll wait Nothing, nothing. That Wisconsin's defense held Oregon to some of their lowest numbers and their iffiest numbers of the year. I don't know what else I have to say. This defense can come to play, they can come to play. And if they can play like that against a team like Oregon, why do we see this against a team like Nebraska or a team like Iowa? You can scheme up a game for Oregon, but you can't scheme for a game against Nebraska, against Iowa. So a little of that blame goes on to Trestle there, right, a little bit of that blame has to go back to Trestle with this scheming and everything like that of these games. Because you schemed up pretty well against Penn State, right, you held them for three quarters when Aller was in there. You were looking decent, I mean, they were playing well against Aller and Aller's a pretty darn good quarterback. And then Bo came in there and just was running around like a chicken with his head cut off and you didn't know what to do anymore. So I mean it just the game kind of changed. Sometimes backup quarterbacks do that too. They, they come in and they, they throw a different kind of look at you and coaches will throw different looks at you then because they have a backup quarterback in and it just changes everything. So that kind of threw Wisconsin for a loop. But you you look at that Oregon game schemed it up. Well, hell, dylan Gabriel, down a little bit, slowed down the run game. They look good, right.
Speaker 2:So you head into this game now and, like I said, the defense has got to come to fight. I don't care if they. You know, for me as a Badger fan, I don't care if these guys are playing for Luke fickle anymore or if they don't care what Luke fickle says or what anybody in that locker room says. I don't care if they're playing for Fickle, if they're playing for Wisconsin, if they're playing for themselves in this one. There has to be something that drives them to want to be in this game, whether it's for the rivalry, right, you're playing Minnesota when you come to Wisconsin, you're just supposed to hate Minnesota. That's just how it is. You're just supposed to hate them. You might not have grown up in that tradition, but you come to Wisconsin, that's just how you feel. So you got to be able to. If you're, if you're, on that defense, you got to be able to get up for this game. You have to.
Speaker 2:You know there's it's one thing, to blame the scheming, which you can. I will blame the scheming, I will. I will blame Phil Longo for trying to run an offense with playmakers that are, with guys that don't fit the offense that he's trying to run. I will blame him for that. Now, do I think Phil Longo is a terrible offensive coordinator? Probably not. You put him into a system with a quarterback that can throw what he wants and with explosive wide receivers that run around like Usain Bolt or some of these fast guys out there. If you put him into a group like that, maybe his offense works, maybe the air raid works right. But the Badgers aren't built for an air raid. They never adjusted to it. Now they have to backtrack, they have to go into the offseason and they have to redesign everything again. So now Luke Fickle has been here for two years, going into year three, but in all reality he's starting back at square one in the offseason there, trying to rebuild the offense, trying to reset and retool right, which makes sense Should have been done after year one, but now we're doing it after year two, going into year three there.
Speaker 2:So you've got to come to fight in this game. You have to this game. We talked about it leading up to Nebraska and apparently Luke Fickle didn't get the boys up because we saw what Nebraska was able to do in that game. They controlled that game all the way around. Luke Fickle apparently wasn't able to get the boys up. You, luke Fickle, apparently wasn't able to get the boys up. You have to get them up for this game. I don't care what you have to say, what you have to do If you have to call Sean Payton and ask him how he bribed up his boys to go hit Brett Favre. I don't care what you have to do in this game here. You got to fire them up in this one because if you come out flat, minnesota will run you out of your own building, they will run you out of your own building.
Speaker 2:And if you get ran out of your own building I know you said it there and it just you think about it. Right, if you get beat 40 something to nothing or not, it won't be 40 something to nothing, but if you get beat, you know 40, 44 to 20 in that game. If I'm Chris McIntosh, ad of the Badgers, and I'm sitting in my office and I'm seeing that final score and I'm seeing this team again, I'm hearing the uproars from Badger fans and they're kind of upset and they're not liking the direction of the program. And then I'm seeing the past players that were once in Madison and they don't like the direction of this team. That makes your job tough. That makes you really I don't think you fire fickle. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you're gonna fire him, but you are sitting there and you're like you're calling luke into your office. You're like, hey, man, I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm not firing you today, but you have one chance offensive coordinator you hire this offseason and probably the first five games of next season. And I gotta be honest with you. Because that's where I was kind of at thinking about it. I was like if this Badger team comes out next season and they start out like two and four and it just looks terrible like I don't care, you know, next season they play Alabama, I think they play, um, I think they have Ohio State on there too, oregon, they, they have a dog, they have a gauntlet of games they have next season, I'm pretty sure, and from what I saw and it's not going to be easy, right. So I'm not expecting the Badgers to all of a sudden just mount 12 wins, like that'd be wild. I don't think they're going to have 12 wins. But if you can't, if you, if we see this again, if we see 5-5, 6-5, 5-6 at the end of the season, I mean, why would you want to keep a guy around who's keeping you stagnant? Yeah, he's getting you five wins, great. He's getting you six wins, great, like that's great. At the end of the day You're getting six wins.
Speaker 2:But in those five losses you look terrible. You look like 40-some to 10 against Iowa there. You look like 40, some to 10 against Iowa there, you look like you were 44 to 25 against Nebraska. Those are your measuring sticks. I don't think Wisconsin they might one day. One day. Let's just say it for a day. Right, they might beat Penn State. They might be better than Penn State. On that day. They might be Penn State. They might upset Ohio State. They might upset Oregon right, there's a possibility that happens. But on a talent level I don't know if Wisconsin will ever get to those marks.
Speaker 2:So you judge yourself talent-wise and success-wise against that second tier in the Big Ten, right? You're looking at Iowa. You're looking at Nebraska. You're looking at your across-the-state rival in Minnesota. You're looking down that list. You're saying these are the teams that I have to beat, these are teams I have to beat for measuring sticks during the season. And if you lose games like that, to the scores that they are, I mean, what does that tell you about a program? Which direction are you heading? You're not heading in the right direction. At that point Did you pull it? Did you see the schedule for next season for Wisconsin? I seen you were looking it up, did you?
Speaker 1:find it out. They don't have the official schedule, but they have the opponents right.
Speaker 2:Oh boy.
Speaker 1:You want to start with road or home?
Speaker 2:You're going to just throw them all at me, because I know it's a gauntlet. I know it's a gauntlet.
Speaker 1:What I found is the only thing I can really find. I mean, I can go back into Google. They won't have probably those two mid-major or whatever non-conference games that they usually play early on, right, all I saw was like the big 10 opponents. I don't know why, but um, yeah, this is what. At least this is the big 10. So you have illinois's decent team, iowa decent team. Yeah, maryland, we don't know. They just fired like they just went through a rampage of firing, so they're a question mark for next season. Um, probably not great ohio state at home and was. Who knows how Washington will be too. They're like a Maryland, we just don't know.
Speaker 2:Always tough, though Always tough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, even Maryland. I mean Maryland ran Oregon to the wire too, you never know. So all those home opponents are decent at worst, I should say Big Ten road opponents. You have Indiana, which I mean, if we can kind of get into that, that game that transpired but, um, you expect them to be decent at the very least. Um then, uh, michigan, which you don't know. Um, minnesota we're banging the drum on minnesota again. And then oregon on the road, which is that's, that's tough, that's about as tough as that is a gauntlet of a schedule right.
Speaker 1:And that's what.
Speaker 2:I'm saying is I'm not expecting the Badgers to win nine games If they do great. If they do great Because Alabama is also on that schedule, because they have a home and road away. They have a home and road, so they go to Tuscaloosa next season there and play Bama on the road. And who knows what that's going to look like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, listen to this one, right? This is their, because I found it. Now I went on the Badgers website. It's not as good as this up here on footballschedulecom. So you start the road at Miami of Ohio, big Ben's alma mater. It doesn't matter, they're not. I mean, who knows right?
Speaker 2:Who knows, it's early season you never know.
Speaker 1:Oh, we got ads popping up there. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in with Madison. You start out at home on both. That should be a 2-0 start to me. I mean I'd be shocked if it wasn't. Then, like you said, at Alabama Week 3, that's tough, oh boy. And then like it doesn't get any. This is just this middle of the season. It's going to be.
Speaker 2:I don't know who made the schedule for Wisconsin, but they hate us. They look at Indiana this season, this season for Indiana. They're like you can have all these games and then we'll give you Ohio State at the end, and then Wisconsin's just like here's a gauntlet, boys, go get them, like, let's go get them, like, let's go get them, you got them.
Speaker 1:And the thing is you want, you know, starting out a season, like Penn State's always on the road week one and James Franklin complains and cries about it. But you know their schedule, this year at least, was pretty favorable. But but like it's weird, right like this is a weird like okay, so you know you give them those two. You know, fairly easy I would. I would think games right then at Alabama, then indiana week, you know the next week and you never know and you never know plus playing in indiana.
Speaker 1:That's rough, that's tough but indiana has to kind of prove. You know what I mean. They have not taking anything away from this year, but you know, we'll see if they continue to build on this or like yeah, whatever, but you expect that to be a hard game because of the way they are this year. So you go on from indiana, you go at michigan, the big house, one of the toughest places to play with bryce underwood now coming in and a retooled, basically a retooled roster.
Speaker 2:At this point here they're gonna get some big time transfers, recruits, everything coming now that they got bryce underwood and portnoy is trying to buy everybody and bring them into ann arbor.
Speaker 1:So that's that sucks. I mean that that those three games I mean you look at like in your heart of hearts you probably think you lose off. I mean not saying they will, but like it's hard. It's hard to see a clear path and like, just depending on what these teams look like and but was with wisconsin, how they look too. But then at next week is at uh, minnesota. So it's like, man, they did hard place to play.
Speaker 2:You know, like you said, they're a tough team, no matter what they're tough and playing for the axe in the middle of the season after that gauntlet of a schedule right, right now.
Speaker 1:All these times are to be in that like there's not a single time in games, but um take a guess who you play after Minnesota.
Speaker 2:Probably Ohio State.
Speaker 1:Don't just throw them in there At Oregon.
Speaker 2:At Oregon, even better, we'll go to Oregon. We'll go to Oregon, that's okay. We'll go to Oregon, take on the Ducks, and then we'll go back home and we'll take on Ohio State, just for fun.
Speaker 1:No, that would be like.
Speaker 2:They would just do it to us. Just bury them right midseason.
Speaker 1:So once you survive all that, somehow We'll see what happens. You never know, but, man, that's about as tough as it gets. You would think you come home against Illinois, who is never an easy out.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Under Brett Villeneuve they've kind of been they flirt with being ranked, then they're non-ranked, they're not a bad team have been, you know, they flirt with being ranked and they're non-ranked and they're like they're, they're not a bad team. So that'll be not unique, I would expect. And then iowa never easy at least what's weird is they finished their last. Uh, according to this, their last one, two, three, four, five games are at home. That's kind of like very you'll take that. You'll take that we have ohio state at home in that stretch.
Speaker 2:That's good I just at home.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, you see, you go illinois, iowa, maryland, which, like we said, we don't know, but you know that should you hope for a win there, depending on what they look like, never know with the transfer portal, but uh, maryland, then ohio state, which never easy, and then washington, which wild card as well. So, man, that middle street there's like four or five straight weeks of like wow, like yeah, alabama, indiana, michigan, minnesota, at Oregon, sorry, at Alabama, at Indiana, at Michigan, at Minnesota, at Oregon, like wow, yeah, it's a gauntlet, it'll be a gauntlet and we will.
Speaker 1:Can you measure like fickle on that? Like I'm not saying that you give them a pass?
Speaker 2:I don't think you. You don't give them a pass, you don't measure fickle on wins and losses. I would say, and I know that's still so, it sucks to say, but you don't measure them on wins and losses, you measure them off of how did your teams look in those wins and losses? Because I think the biggest problem that Badger fans well, me as me, being a Badger fan the biggest problem that I have is that these losses the Iowa, the Nebraska loss those losses are ugly, those losses. You look like garbage in those losses. I was good with the Oregon loss, like you lost 16 to 13. One of the best teams in the country could be the national champion when it all is all said and done, and you might have played them closer than anybody. But Ohio State that's a statement, right, that's a good loss at that point.
Speaker 2:The loss to Penn State I know it's so stupid to say a good loss, but that's the thing, right, a good loss. Penn State you lost 28-13, 28-14, whatever it was, 28-13 was the final and I mean you were in that for three quarters. You threw a pick, pick, six, turned. The game all went south. You couldn't score yourself. Problems, right. So it's going to be defined on. What does the team look like? Do they look like they quit on? Do they look like they quit on Luke Fickle? And what does this new offense look like underneath of so and so what does that offense look like? What does the defense look like? What do you do with your quarterback room? It's going to be all those things, because we're not sitting here questioning recruiting. The recruiting looks good for Luke Fickle. The recruiting class looks good. They're not great, but they look good. I think they're ranked in some rankings 22nd in the recruiting for 2025 and in some they're 15th. So I mean you look at the recruiting. You're like that looks good. You just got Carter Smith quarterback there. I mean you're feeling good, but now you got to see it on the football field. Now you got to see it next season there.
Speaker 2:What do they do in the transfer portal? Because this last, last time around, you added linebackers they stink. You added guys on the defensive line they stink. So now, what do you get out of the transfer portal this next off season? That's going to boost what you have now. We'll see what happens there. So we do have a couple of comments in the section here. Bradley, gill, we'll get to your Bo Nix talk there later on. But if you're fighting for the axe for the badgers, the badgers have to step up to beat minnesota. Uh, because they are a good team. It's going to be hard but I think they can pull it out if they can do those things. I agree. I agree 100. It's going to be who comes to fight in this game here. Um and brantley I think aaron is having a great time because he's a penn state fan laughing at the badgers I think so, I think he just feeds off of our sadness on this side?
Speaker 1:No, I honestly don't. I have no ill will whatsoever. I have no. There's no reservation against Wisconsin and I'm never going to laugh until we can. I mean we're the laugh like we are the stepchild to Ohio State.
Speaker 1:I hate it with a passion. I hate it. It's almost worse than like I wish we'd be middle of the pack one of these years just to like shake things up or something. I don't know. I like the fact. You know the offensive coordinator has been good, but I'm sure he'll get a head coaching job. Like Penn State, offensive and defensive coaches never last long, they just get plucked. And you know Manny Diaz is at Duke now, so it's hard to sustain consistency. I mean Penn State's done it the last two to three years, but we're still not. You know James Franklin talks about good great elite. Maybe we're teetering on elite finally, but we're still not even elite. So it's really tough. And, like I said, if Trajan wasn't a Michigan fan I'd be roasting him this season because they suck. But I have no ill will. I don't like Michigan, but I have no ill will against Wisconsin. I should say. I almost said Ohio State, I couldn't be less true, he's a stand-up Penn State fan.
Speaker 2:He's okay over there. He's okay. There are Penn State fans that get on my nerves and he's not one of those. He's all good. He's all good. He's all good over there. We do have Dustin in the comments. Nice to see you, dustin. He says Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving back at you and to your family out there. Hopefully you have a good time celebrating tomorrow or today. I don't know A lot of people. It's weird Thanksgiving time. People celebrate either tomorrow or sometimes they get together on the weekends. It's you never know right. It's like Christmas Sometimes. You know I've had it before or my family. You know one side will get together on Christmas day and the next side's getting together like January 20th and it's like Christmas is by already. Guys.
Speaker 1:Like what are we doing? What are we doing?
Speaker 2:here we can just ship these packages in the mail and just go down to the bar the next weekend Like, come on, come on, let's get real about it here. So I mean, Aaron, some of the keys we got away from the badge, we got deep into the badges there talking about this team, but some of the keys I have in this game here controlling the run game for Minnesota when running back, Darius Taylor goes for over 60 yards, that's interesting. Stat there they are five and oh. But when he does not go over that 60-yard mark they are 1-4 on the season there. So controlling that run game, essentially for the Badgers there, that's going to be the defensive front, stepping up the linebackers doing their thing out there.
Speaker 2:So you got to be watching that in this one and, like I said before, you got to get going early in this one. You got to get out to a lead, a little bit of a lead there. Play from ahead. You cannot get behind in this game because, like we talked about, Braden Locke cannot play behind in games there. So you got to be doing that. Got to limit self-inflicted wounds in this game here. Penalties, pre-snap penalties, are backbreakers for this team. The missed field goals against Nebraska hurts Big special teams plays. We saw Nebraska break off a bunch of big special teams plays. We saw nebraska break off a bunch of big special teams plays. Special teams will be big in this one taking care of business. They're downing this minnesota team deep there. And turnovers you gotta limit turnovers in this game and I mean you do all those things. Now it's just about playing the game. Now it's about taking care of the football and doing your things. So those are some of the things I'm watching.
Speaker 2:Winning in the trenches is a big one for me. On both sides of the ball Offense you've got to be able to protect Brighton Locke, get that run game going. And on the defensive side of the football there you've got to be able to get back there, slow down that run game, put some pressure on the quarterback, because the Badgers don't like to blitz a lot, but when they do, you've got to find ways to get at in this game here. And also, I mean we're looking at Brighton Locke. He looked better against Nebraska last week there. Badgers, keep them comfortable. Keep them comfortable in this game in that pocket. Get the ball out early, Timely throws. The little things. Keep it simple, Do little things in this game and I really do think the Badgers can pull this one out. I really do. I think they can pull this one out. I really do. I think they can pull this game out. It'll be a big boost for them going forward.
Speaker 2:You get all those extra practices going towards that bowl game, whatever it is. I know it's a meaningless bowl game for a lot of people out there, but I think it's huge for this program. I really do. I think it's huge for this program to keep that bowl winning streak or the bowl consecutive bowl game streak alive. I think it's huge. So've got to get that number up and keep it going there. So all those things. For me is what's got to happen in this one? And I mean, Aaron, what are you, what are you thinking? What are we thinking here? Who do you got who's going to win this game? This is extremely tough.
Speaker 1:He's thinking tough.
Speaker 2:now he's thinking tough.
Speaker 1:Oh man, because I think Minnesota, to me, is going to be it's questionable, because you know they could have won that Penn State game. They really could have. It would be like wow, like I was deeply concerned that Penn State was going to lose. So I mean, you get them at home, which is a good thing, you get them coming off that loss, which is that's what's interesting, right? How are they going to respond? I mean, I think PJ Fleck's one of those coaches. I think the team always looks pretty sound, like it's rare you see Minnesota get unglued. You know it's just like they seem fundamentally like they're just a sound football team. They don't make a ton of mistakes.
Speaker 1:Wisconsin, you know we've seen just different. We just don't exactly know what we're getting week to week, not to say we know exactly what we're getting with Minnesota. I mean their quarterback, pretty good numbers there on the year Max Brosmer, 15 touchdowns, five picks. He's got, you know, 2,400 yards to Brayden Locke's 1,800. I know Brayden Locke didn't play as much either, I know that. But yeah, not bad numbers, I mean really not bad numbers. Wisconsin does have the advantage in the rushing game, though, where Tyree Walker 828 yards, darius Taylor 730. And receiving, I mean, that's just. I'm not going to go into that too deep because I don't want to just keep going on this but minnesota does have a decent defense too. They've given up less points than wisconsin. Now I don't think they've played the schedule that wisconsin's had either. So it's it's, it's comparable. That's how I look at that. That's one of those like well, we don't know, because, um, I don't think minnesota's played like alabama and those type of teams.
Speaker 1:Um, looking that up right now, but I, I want to say, you know, because Wisconsin's, at home they come out like I've been. I said it, you know, I thought they'd win the Nebraska game, but that was just. I mean, it is what it is. But I think at home, I, I give them the slight edge here. Um, yeah, looking at Minnesota, they've, you know, they play penn state. They played out. They beat illinois as well, um, and that's about it. I mean they, they lost to michigan, they lost to iowa. Um, they did beat usc at home, but uh, maryland at home, I mean, and ruck, I mean ruckers just beat them a couple weeks ago too, and ruckers has not had the season that we thought they would earlier in the year.
Speaker 1:So it's very, very, very tough to pick. But I will say Wisconsin gets the win, gets the 500. I mean bowl eligibility is on the line. So I think some guys will find some importance in that and they'll come out firing it and do enough. I think the defense will show up in this one and this, like we said it last week, it could be a grinded out game. This week, um screams grinded out. Like I think this is a big 10 grinded out game where what you know last week just didn't turn into that but this this week does and wisconsin wins like uh, 2825, I'll say I could see that.
Speaker 2:I definitely could. I could see a low scoring affair. I was thinking like 24-21, right in that range there. Just something low scoring, not much to it, kind of ball game there. But it's going to be tough. It's going to be a hard-fought game between these two teams. So hopefully we see a good one coming from the Badgers here on Friday. So that's going to be an 11 o'clock tip, our tip kick on Friday. There should be a good one. Hopefully.
Speaker 2:We're talking about a Badger win when we're going to be on. We're going to talk about it on Friday night when we get back on here on the show. So we're going to recap that game right off the bat there. So we'll see. I mean mean, either we're going to come in guns, a blazing and happy as all get out, or we're going to come in and start throwing stuff against the wall. I don't know. We'll see what happens on friday here on the show. So before we move on, we got dust in there. He says he's celebrating with the family tomorrow madison for the badgers on friday, minnesota for the vikings on sunday. That's a heck of a weekend right there, getting all over the place, getting down to madison to watch the badgers and then heading over to minnesota to watch sam darnold lose a game out there. I mean, come on what?
Speaker 1:a weekend.
Speaker 2:What a weekend right there. I mean great, great for you there. So, aaron, I want to talk about one good wisconsin team at this point, and I know we have hockey and everything like that, but hunter's gonna get us a video on friday talking about the hockey and everything like that. Let's talk about this Badger basketball team Because, aaron, I could not have asked for a better start. I really couldn't. 7-0. 7-0 to start this season here, coming off a big tournament win there against Pitt, a comeback game. It was exciting. It was everything you wanted to see. This is a good Pitt team that they played Good defensively thing. You wanted to see. This is a good Pitt team that they played Good defensively. They can score it. The Badgers did their thing, came back in that game, took the lead. It was just. I mean, we talked about it. What would happen if the Badgers went down to a good team? Could they find their way back? Could they claw their way back? The answer to our question yes, they did. They did it against Pitt.
Speaker 2:Now everybody's going to say, well, pitt's not Duke, pitt's not Arizona, pitt's not Gonzaga, pitt's not this, pitt's not that. Okay, yeah, I know they're not that, all right, but if you dig yourself. Excuse me there. If you dig yourself that much of a hole against Duke, I mean sorry, like you're probably going to lose that basketball game. I don't know what else to say. So I mean good, good, good, good win by wisconsin against pitt.
Speaker 2:But let's talk about this team from what we're seeing so far. So I got some of the stats written down there. Holy crap, he's moving his mic over there scared the crap out of me on this end. He's sliding around and making noise. So let's look at some of these stats for this badger team. What we've seen lately or to start this season. That just been kind of eye-opening to what this team's been able to do this season.
Speaker 2:So right now in the country they're ranked 31st in points per game, at 86.9. And I know everybody's like well, it's 31st, that's not that great. You got to remember. We're talking about all division one teams at this point. So when you're talking to all division one teams and you actually look at the rankings for this, there's teams up at the top of that list that you will not hear about when it comes to March Madness. These teams are irrelevant to the big landscape of college basketball and yet they're up there near the top, so 31st in points per game at 86.9 points per game.
Speaker 2:That's a Badger team that used to beat team 50-something to 40. That's how they used to play the game. Now they're scoring at a clip where they're averaging about 86 a game. That's impressive for what we've seen so far. So you got to love those stats. The flip side of that they've given up about 71.6 points per game on the season. So you take your you're scoring a lot but you're giving up a lot. You, you're okay, right, you're okay with that.
Speaker 2:But now you got to see this team defend, which they did in a close game. When they played Pitt. They still put up 81, slowed them down, held them to 75 there. Question is, when you do play in some of those games, can you hold some teams down Because you're going to get into the Big Ten play where teams like to slow it down? It's a little more gritty basketball. What does this team look like at that point? Are they still able to score at this high clip? And when they can't score at that high clip, can they slow this opposing team down enough where they are able to still win that game? So that's something to keep an eye on there.
Speaker 2:But so far so good and impressive stats there in the points per game department 86th in field goal percentage at this point they're shooting about 47% from the field. That's pretty darn good. They're about 50% from the field on the season so far. You'll live with that. You'll live with that there. So I love that. 107th in three-point attempts on the season with 25 per game at this point, three-point percentage they're sitting at about 36%. Not terrible For a team shooting 36%. That's not terrible at all. 103rd in the country there at 36%. That's not bad at all. They are 11th in free throws made at 21 per game, 24 free throw attempts per game there. And they are first in free throw percentage in the entire country. They are first in free throw percentage at 86.5% on the season. So all those offensive stats, you love those. You love those there. And then also only averaging 9.4 turnovers per per game. You like you would like that. To sit around that nine mark. If they can sit around that nine mark per game on the season, you live with that. You're gonna have games where you have 11 or 12, but you want to sit around that nine range for an entire game. You're sitting pretty so I like that number so far.
Speaker 2:Looking at the defensive side field goal percentage against them, they're 42 percent on the year. Yeah, I mean it's not great but it's not bad. It's right there. So defensively been doing a good job to start out the season so far. Seven three-point they're getting about 24.3 three-point attempts against them per game on the season and they're giving up about seven. So seven for 24 on the season. That's not bad. That's not bad numbers. They're defending the arc well. Teams are snapping off a lot of threes against them there. So that's something to keep an eye on. There's the badgers perimeter defense. Can they hold true out there?
Speaker 2:Rebounds per game this is where the number kind of gets close. There the badgers are averaging about 35 rebounds per game offensively and are well per game as a team on the defensive side of the ball are well opposing teams. They're giving up about 33 rebounds per game. So about 35 to 33, quite even there. You maybe want to see those numbers kind of go separate a little bit. I'll rebound. Some teams do a good job in that department. Now the number that's probably keeping that a little bit closer. I believe against arizona they gave up like 50. I think arizona had like 55 rebounds against the badgers when they played in that one. So that number I think it was 52 to 28 in that game, so that Arizona game rebounds. That probably made that number look a little bit worse, I guess a little bit closer. But 35 to 33, you'll live with that. We'll want to see that separate out there Some of the differentials that I've seen so far.
Speaker 2:Points per game on the season the Badgers are plus 15. So beating teams by an average about plus 15. That's quite impressive right there. Looking at the three-point percentage, they're actually plus five on the season. Free throw percentage, they're plus 15. Of course they're the number one team shooting free throws in the country. Knock on wood, it stays like that. But that's what we're seeing right now. And their rebounds are actually plus 1.7, so the numbers there were rough but plus 1.7 on the season there.
Speaker 2:So the numbers all I mean for this Badger team are impressive so far from what we've, what we've been used to in the past, I guess I would say, because with this Badger team in the past those offensive stats were never that high. You weren't looking at an. 86.9 points per game, seven games into the season and two I mean the Badgers, two Ken Palm top 25 wins already are with our Ken Palm rankings wins, I guess you would say with Pitt and Arizona on the schedule already they actually are, I think they're at. They're one of the only teams in the country with two wins in the Ken Palm ranking already. So that's impressive already off the bat there. So two great wins for this Badger team. And I mean you look at this roster so what, what has led to them getting it done right? Those stats right there, only the stats right.
Speaker 2:We got to look at the players individually. John Tonje I wish they would make a transfer of the year award because we make every other award. I wish we'd make a transfer of the year award because John Tonje could be that guy 23 points a game at this point here. He's averaging about five rebounds per game, about two assists per game and about a steal per game on the season and getting to the free throw line at an impressive clip and he's averaging 95% at the free throw line on the season so far and 40% from downtown on this season. So far I mean John Tonje has been nothing but fantastic. When the Badgers needed a boost against Pitt he was able to drive, get to the free throw line, do his thing. It was, I mean, against Arizona, did that same number. John Tonje has been nothing but fantastic for this Badger team early on here and nobody knew what to expect out of him.
Speaker 2:Right, this was a guy where we're like, yeah, he's athletic, he's got abilities, he's got abilities right. But you look at the stats over the years, you look at where he's been, you look at the injury in the past. You're like what are we getting? Is this guy going to be? Is he going to be able to replace AJ Storer, who is now at Kansas? Is he going to be able to replace that scoring effort from what he gave? Yes, the answer to that question yes, and I actually think better than what AJ Storr brought to the Badgers.
Speaker 2:Aj Storr was a scorer by volume. The more shots he put up, the better the numbers looked right. He gave me 20 points, but it took him 30 shots to get there. It gave me 15, but it took him 25. So you look at this guy, you look at AJ Storr.
Speaker 2:I think Tonjay's a more efficient scorer than what Storr was. That's why I love what John Tonjay's been able to do. So you got Tonjay. Now you get Jack Janicki and this dude yes, he's averaging two points a game. Right, it's nothing crazy. This guy's not crazy. Lighten up the stat book.
Speaker 2:But he is an underrated star. He is this guy. He brings the intensity. He brings that speed on the defensive end, the speed on the offensive end. He's a great passer, he's a great defender. He's got all those kinds of abilities. He can shoot it right, he can shoot it. We know he can shoot it. It's just it's going to come with time. We got to give him some time. He, he.
Speaker 2:Sometimes he gets a little excited when he gets in there, he gets a little ecstatic and he starts, you know, a fast break, three on one against UCF and he fires up a three like just getting wild. But he's coming down with the ball and he fires up a three Like I, like you know what did? One of the assistant coach for the Badgers said you have to have some onions to shoot a ball like that and it's like, yeah, you got to. You know he said it laughing and it's like, yeah, you got to have that feeling and that confidence. And Jack Janicki brings that confidence to this basketball team and he's a great complement off the bench for the Badgers, kamari McGee has been nothing but fantastic.
Speaker 2:This guy comes off the bench and he plays big minutes and he's averaging seven points a game. But it's like, those seven points per game that he's averaging are the biggest moments, the biggest moments. The Badgers couldn't buy a bucket, they couldn't buy a three against Pitt. And then all of a sudden, kamari McGee bang, bang, two of them bang bang, arizona bang three. It's just like the biggest moments. Kamari McGee steps up and he makes plays and he gets to the rim and he makes some acrobatic shot and he comes out and he bangs a three and he settles down the guys. He's a spark plug. He's everything you want him to be. And then some, he could be a starter. He could be a starter, but he's okay. He's okay being that guy who comes off the bench because he contributes in a different way. So I look at this team right now and I mean you have compliments of everybody right a different way. So I look at this team right now and I mean you have compliments of everybody right. John Blackwell averaging 16 points a game. He's definitely progressed well from last season there. Max Gleisman 12 a game right now. He's hit or miss right. Some games he's hot, some games he's not. He's hit or miss for you. Nolan Winter has definitely improved. He's averaging nine a game right now. He's been fantastic on the interior forum there.
Speaker 2:And Stephen Crowell I mean. You know a lot of people hate Stephen Crowell for his. He sometimes plays like Charmin Ultrasoft out. There is the key thing that I see all over the internet. That's what they call him. And you know, sometimes yes, sometimes I do wish that he would bully ball a little bit and he'd play a little bit tougher down there. But you know what? What Steven Crowell does for a seven footer. That is just fantastic. He facilitates the basketball, he moves that sucker, he gets the ball down to the post and I wish sometimes his initial reaction would be backing my guy down scored at the rim, and sometimes it is. But other times he's like catches, it looks bam corner three, like he's just got that knack to him where he's like I'm gonna get this ball and I'm gonna look for a shooter. And you gotta love that in a big guy. A big guy who can pass is nothing but fantastic for you so, aaron, I mean you've seen this team a little bit so far this season here.
Speaker 2:What has impressed you about this team?
Speaker 1:I think a couple things you already mentioned. Um, the John Tonje, like the transfer is like that's incredibly the I think the success of this team like maybe not. I mean I think you can make a case, as Tonje goes, like this team goes, like if he, if he would fall off a cliff for some reason, like I think they would struggle.
Speaker 2:I think they might jump off the cliff with them. I think they might Like that is how close knit it seems this team is, Like they are.
Speaker 1:Just it seems like they're really gelled this season, like it's one cohesive unit, which, yeah, that's I mean you you pretty much find any. I mean, look at the Dodgers, it felt like that was a very close-knit team. Like you look at teams that win and that's usually, more times than not, like a key characteristic of those teams is just the team chemistry as a whole. I think what you also said said with, like the free throw percentage that they're shooting, I mean, first in the nation. There's no one better doing it. So if they can I'm not saying they have to be first all year, but if you, if you can stay within, let's say, top five ideally, or top 10 at worst you know that always gives you a chance to cause.
Speaker 1:You know, you know how these games go. Like the last couple minutes it turns into just foul crazy sometimes. So like that matters immensely, um, and like the fact that wisconsin can do that. And then you point out the fact you know this pit game they were trailing. You know it shows some grit. You know, I mean, I know it's still early in the season, but you never know how a team's going to react, though you know getting kind of beat up a little bit here and there. You know, um, and they hang in there and find a way to win, like that. That's there.
Speaker 1:You're starting to see things, um, that a very good team does not, you know, not a good team like a very good team. So if you can start to build on that and continuously I'm not saying go freaking undefeated right, there's going to be, you know you're going to hit a bump in the road eventually. Um, yeah, so far, so good. And and those key things like tanji, I mean you, you know you mentioned other players. Obviously it's not just tanji, but like him being, you know, a standout, and then the, the free throw percentage being as good as it is key things there yeah, no 100, and you just love what you're seeing.
Speaker 2:This was a team that was picked to finish 12th in the big 10 this season 12th and you have two wins already against two like we mentioned earlier, ken palm top teams in there with pit and arizona. You have a win against the top team in arizona who just went toe-to-toe with duke, who, I mean arizona playing. They're not a bad team and you scored 103. 103 against that team and you're showing things this season that you haven't shown in Badger basketball ever. I mean, we're looking at the points per game, we're looking at the amount of threes you're shooting, the field goal percentage, all those things. Yes, I mean the 2015 Badger team that went to the national championship. That was a great team. That was a great team. That was a great team. They didn't even put up numbers like this. They weren't averaging this number. Now, I'm not going to say that this number is going to stay right. I don't foresee the Badgers getting into the Big Ten play and they're like averaging 86 points per game, per game in the Big Ten, like that's tough, like the Big Ten's tough. So I'm not going to say that, but right now, this team is doing things that weren't expected. This wasn't supposed to be this good of a team or look like this good of a team, and right now, for badge fans, this is what we need, because the bad football team is depressing at this point here. So you needed something like this and Greg guard I don't. I'm going to be honest with you. It speaks volumes to him as a head coach because I have given criticism to Greg Gard. Actually, after last season Nebraska game, I fired him. I fired him after that game.
Speaker 2:I had a big argument with one of the old guys on the show here, rogan. He might come back on the show at some point here as this Badgers season goes along, but him and I got in a big old spit about it. We were talking about it and I said you know what? Said this team looks lost. I said there's no identity. I said this team just they don't look good. And I said greg guard is to blame for that. And I said I would have fired him after that and we had this big old argument about it and at the end of the year he looked at me and he said right on the show, he said you know what? You were right. He said this team was just this and that and everything in between, and it kind of was okay, what is he going to do going into this season? And he changed.
Speaker 2:Greg Gard changed Because what his philosophy was, you know, not a lot of threes, we weren't shooting a lot of threes, we were trying to get it inside. We were trying to do this. We were trying to do that this season. This team moves the ball fast. They're not afraid to fire up threes. They're not afraid that hey, hey, if we miss a three, we have to go back down and play defense and get the ball back right. They're not afraid of that, they're just having a killer instinct which comes from kirk penny op coached overseas. There. He's overseas. He brought that back with him. He's been fantastic for this team and I think he helped change up this team and I think it speaks volumes to what greg guard has done as a coach is adapting to the new level of what college basketball is.
Speaker 2:And I can can tell you this and I've seen a lot of people talking about it on like Twitter and everything like this I don't know what recruit wouldn't look at the Wisconsin Badgers right now and say or not, recruit, but transfer, right. I don't know what transfer would. Look at the Wisconsin Badgers right now and say I don't want to go there because of this. What wouldn't you want to do here? You can look at these guys. Look at John Tonje, right, he came in and nobody's telling him not to shoot, Nobody's telling him not to drive. Not a single person, not a single person, is telling John Tonje how to do his thing and he has. Look at what he's doing right now. These are numbers that nobody expected out of John Tonje and he's been fantastic. You got this.
Speaker 2:I really do think that this season, if this Badger team continues on a progressive track, like you said, they're not going undefeated. They're going to lose some games. But say you go and you have, let's just say, 11 losses on the season. You end up with 11 losses. Whatever that would add to in wins I'm not going to do the math right now, but you're going to end up in the tournament with that record. You're probably sitting close to the top of the Big Ten. You look good throughout the season. Let's just say a transfer is out there, a good score, everything like that. They're trying to get themselves to the next level. Wisconsin's now in there. They're now in the conversation Because before always, the argument was why don't players come to Madison?
Speaker 2:And the biggest reason was we can't show off our skill in Madison. We're not going to play fast, we're not going to do this, we're not going to do that, we're not going to be able to showboat, we're not going to be able to fire up threes and shoot at a high percentage clip and everything like that. Look at this team now. They don't care, they're doing it all. They're doing everything that Duke's doing, everything that you know Kentucky will let you do, or Arkansas or wherever. They're doing all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So now, what Greggard has changed this to be now is a hot spot for transfers, a hot spot for players out there. Now, I'm not going to say it's the hottest spot in the world right, duke's still the big powerhouse, right, and Gonzaga's still out there, and everything like that. But I think it puts Wisconsin onto this transfer portal map now, where guys are going to look at the Badgers and say I can show off my skillset there, and I think that's going to help a lot with recruiting too, because we look through the years, right, tyler Harrell was committed to the Badgers, ended up at Kentucky. Big reason why he wasn't going to be able to do what he wanted to do with the Badgers. Right, they were going to. They were probably going to make him sit for a year because they, you know, they love to sit the freshmen, not play them right away, get them kind of built up before they put them into action. And you know, same with Con Canupo. He's now out there with Duke right now.
Speaker 2:Some of these you know bigger name guys coming out of the state there Jalen Johnson, I believe he went. I think he went to Duke too. There's a lot of guys that went to Duke, a lot of good players from Wisconsin there. But this might help bring those guys into the Badgers now because they can showcase their skills with this team within this offense. This offense is more of a NBA ready offense versus what the Badgers were doing in the past. So, aaron, I mean I love the direction. I love the direction for the simple fact of it makes recruiting. It makes transfer portal ads easier, because you can sell guys on a faster paced NBA, almost NBA stylish offense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean that's what you look to do Like. I think you know you can compare this to certain football programs out there. Of course now I can't think of one, but you know Lincoln Riley with USC. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of.
Speaker 2:That's a pro style.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at least offensively. I don't think many guys defensively are making the trek over there, but yeah, it's one of those, you know. I mean, even like I can compare it to. You know how Penn State plays football? Right, they just spread it out. They do all these crazy plays, right. That's what you kind of want to see if you're a player coming like a tight end. Now Penn State's become like a quote-unquote tight end factory, right, and they got Tyler Warren. There were guys before him that weren't as good, but you know, it's the same.
Speaker 1:You can apply like the same thing to wisconsin basketball, right, oh, you're a three-point shooter. Oh, go to wisconsin, oh, you're a big man. You know, you mentioned the big man on wisconsin. Like, you can go there, play your style of basketball, or go to a certain like usc and play your style of football, like, if you have that, it opens the door for so many more people to come in where some of these teams, whether it be basketball or football or whatever it is it's, you know, one-dimensional. We're going to do it this way, like Michigan, right, michigan is now, I mean, we'll see with the quarterback coming in. But like, if you're a running back, you go to Michigan. Like that's just, you play behind a great offensive line. Now, if you're a receiver, maybe you don't want to go to Michigan. But same thing applies here, just in a different way is like okay, if you're a point guard, go to.
Speaker 1:Like anybody can fit in with this current configuration of how Wisconsin is formed and like that's what you like to see. Like you said, I mean there opens up the door to guys that are in the transfer portal. You can maybe bring in recruits easier, because now it looks more like, like you said, an NBA-ready offense. It's more of like just play your game, not, you know, play this, play Wisconsin's way or play Duke's way or whatever. You know what I mean. Like it's play your game and we're kind of like figuring out as we go how we can make you the best player and like that is that's key. I think that and that, you know, turns one year into two, into three, into four, like you never know what that can bring for recruiting and or the transfer portal.
Speaker 2:And builds you up right. Because John Tonje we were just mentioning him before you look at the numbers before he came to Madison I was just going to pull them up here Played at Colorado State for his first four seasons and not a whole lot of I mean not great numbers across the board. He did in his final season at Colorado State average 14 a game. But then last season he did have an injury but he played at Missouri two points a game right before that. And then you look at the rest of the years at Colorado State nine, six, three in his freshman year at Colorado State there. And then you look at Wisconsin 23 points a game already this season. I mean just to see what they were able to do with john tonje and help him become the player he is at this point where he has won back to back. I believe it was big 10 players of the week, like there aren't many guys who do that. There aren't many guys who do that. It might have been. I don't know if it was big time player of the week or if it was national player of the week. I now I'm I'm wishing I would have remembered that stat for a fact. Now I might be confused it was back-to-back either national or Big Ten player of the week but still you love to see guys like that be able to step into a program here and just flourish. And that's what I think is going to draw in a lot of big-time transfers, big-time recruits, into this Badger team Maybe not big-time, but guys who could potentially be something, and you're going to be able to build something off that. So, like I was saying, I just love. I love what Greg guard did to adapt to the new style of college basketball, and he knew he had to do it. I mean, you have to. You can't just stick with the old way. You got to adapt at some point and he's adapting and he's adapting well and you love to see that. So it's badger team starting seven and all. They won't have another game here until Saturday when they take on Chicago State there. So we will talk, we'll preview that game on Friday here on the show, we'll preview that game and we'll get you ready for Chicago State there on Saturday when the Badgers will be put to the test. That's a pretty good Chicago State team. We saw that last year. I mean they're not a well-known team by any means, but they're not a pushover team, so the Badgers will have their test in that game there against Chicago State. So can't wait to talk about that game on Friday here on the show. So, aaron, let's just get to it.
Speaker 2:Thanksgiving blind ranking. Okay, thanksgiving, blind ranking. So I'm going to give you five different items. You're going to put them on a list one through five. You don't know what the next one is. Got everybody out there. He does not know what the next one is. Okay, so I got this list over here. He can't see it. I can only see it. I'm going to give him the list. He's got to rank them one through five. First up, first up we have a classic, but people can still mess this up if they don't season right or cook it right. Turkey we got turkey on the list here One through five. You don't know what the rest of the list is. The rest of the list could be pretty darn banging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as much as like I mean you can't have Thanksgiving without turkey, like that's a staple, obviously, like that's what you think of things, but I don't. I'm not like the biggest turkey like I like it, don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not. There are some other things I like more, so I'm gonna put it at three, just because there are some other things I enjoy more. Like I said, you need it. It's like the filling up most filling item there is on the on the plate. But yeah, give me three for that three for turkey.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, we got stuffing. We got stuffing, or you can double down. We have dumplings at thanksgiving. We have some dumplings, some breaded redheaded dumplings there. So dumplings or stuffing, whatever you have which one.
Speaker 1:Where are you ranking that? Just because it's more conventional, like if we're talking just the stereotypical?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's what I put stuffing for. We don't have stuffing, we have dumplings. So I didn't, but I was like not everybody has. We don't have stuffing, we have dumplings, so I didn't, but I was like not everybody has dumplings, most people have stuffing.
Speaker 1:See, I like the dumplings better, but I just for the sake of like traditional, like most people in this probably. But I like that idea. I think you're doing the right thing there. Um, I I'm not a stuffing guy. I was buddy at work today. I was like man, I think stuffing is overrated. Um, so I'm gonna put that at. I almost want to go five with that.
Speaker 2:That's one of my least I got a pretty good list coming up. I got a pretty good list I I'll go five.
Speaker 1:I almost went four, but I'll go five on on stuffing, not, not the biggest bet I think that's a good choice.
Speaker 2:I think that's a good choice. Next up, we got mac and cheese. Some people have a good old serving of mac and cheese with their thanksgiving I love I do.
Speaker 1:I'm not a mac and cheese like every week type of guy, but here and there, like every couple weeks, I like it. If you overdo it, I really I. It makes me like, yeah, but uh, I'll go. Two mac and cheese.
Speaker 2:Number two mac and cheese two mac and cheese, all right, mashed potatoes I, I'm probably like if I could live off one thing.
Speaker 1:Mashed potatoes is in the list, like I'm not saying it's number one, but it's probably top top five, maybe with or without gravy?
Speaker 2:are you an animal? Are you a real person? See, I.
Speaker 1:I like a little great when you say I'm not a bit like you can't if you douse it with gravy. I'm not it with gravy, I'm not in on that. In moderation, some gravy, nothing wrong with that. Give me mashed potatoes at number one.
Speaker 2:All right, All right. Mashed potatoes. Pumpkin pie is our last one there. Pumpkin pie See.
Speaker 1:I'm not the biggest, I'm not a pumpkin guy.
Speaker 2:That's falling at number four. That's falling at number four. That's falling at number four. That's okay.
Speaker 1:I feel better than stuffing. I like how this list played out, because I'll still take it over stuffing, but those people that love pumpkin, everything I genuinely maybe I should.
Speaker 2:Just during Thanksgiving. Just during Thanksgiving. All right, I can down a pumpkin pie with Cool Whip on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, that's great Pumpkin pie with Cool Whip on.
Speaker 2:Thanksgiving. Yeah, okay, all right, nothing that coats better.
Speaker 1:But when?
Speaker 2:you have when Starbucks comes out with some pumpkin latte in October and my wife's going all ballistic on it because it's the season now. Okay, this is where lines are drawn. Right now, the big excitement for my wife my mother too is that Starbucks is out with all their Christmas drinks in November and like they're going to hold them too. I starbucks is out with all their christmas drinks in november and like they're gonna hold them through. I'm like, relax, all right, it's, it's not that good, like sugar cookie, this and this. And I'm like, oh my god, like that's why my christmas tree's up already and it's not even thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Like that's where I'm at right now I will be on the side of like give me all the sugar. Like all the christmas, uh drinks, peppermint, all that. I can do that tenfold over the pumpkin. Like where that? There's that window of time where it's just like pump, you got pumpkin cookies, you got like all I'm just like dude, pumpkin. Pumpkin tastes like a candle. I don't know what it is. It's like it's, it's just, it's not great. I don't hate it, but it's like I could do without it. I could like if it didn't exist, cool. Like if it went away, I'd be like fine, but I totally get you on the pumpkin pie with the whipped cream. Like there is. Yeah, I can, I can get behind that. I think I tried a pumpkin, I think it was an oreo. I was like this is horrible.
Speaker 2:Now, they try to make everything oreos. There's a coca-cola oreo too now oh my it's just disgusting. My wife she puts, she puts them down. But like me, I'm like these Oreos are disgusting.
Speaker 1:Just, you know I don't want to get too long-winded, but other than original, because like that's boring, right? Everybody knows you. Is there an Oreo that you like? Because I don't really try a lot of the different ones. I'll be honest with you, I try and refrain as much as I can from Oreos right now, but is there anything out of the ordinary you like? I think there was an icing one that was pretty decent.
Speaker 2:I like the vanilla one. I like the vanilla one, see, but I'm a weird. Like, okay, if you take me to an ice cream parlor, if you take me out to the ice cream parlor, I'm the guy who's going to get vanilla ice cream. I I'm not grabbing, like they could have everything underneath the sun, like Rocky Road and some random ones, and I'm walking out of there with a cup of vanilla ice cream and everybody's looking at me like what is wrong with this dude? Like you have an option of 35 different ice creams here and you're going with generic vanilla and like I'm good with it, like that's the best thing I can have I.
Speaker 1:I'll say that I'm in pretty much in lockstep with you. The only thing I would differ is if we go vanilla, I do like some rainbow sprinkles, but, um, on, the spice it up a little bit, make it pretty, yeah. Or or I'm a I'm a neapolitan guy. Like, give me a neapolitan, I'm cool with that. Or theapolitan, I'm cool with that. Or the salted caramel, but I don't really deviate from any if it's not one of those three. Like I'm not getting. What is it? Everybody likes mint chocolate chip. I don't get it. I mean it's not bad, but I would never pick that over vanilla, over Neapolitan, over like salted caramel, that one that is like man. That's bad stuff for me, but it's addictive, but it's like I don't. I know there's nothing wrong with that. In my opinion, though, why do you need an elaborate like there's like red velvet cake, ice cream? I'm like no, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It is absolutely ridiculous. So I got a list Top 30 Oreos tasted and tested and right.
Speaker 1:so I don't know who the heck was involved in this ranking, but I wish I was.
Speaker 2:I gotta be honest with you. So number one on the list is birth cake, birthday cake, oreos that's pretty good, that's pretty good fudge dipped.
Speaker 2:Oreo thin bites came in at number two. Oreo mint thins I could see that one. I like Thins. I could see that one. I like mint and chocolate. I could see that one. That one's clutch Oreo Thin Bites so classic, it's basically a regular Oreo but thin and in a tiny bag. Chocolate Oreo Thins Okay, I like chocolate. Chocolate with chocolate, that's cool. Churrio Oreo Came in at number six. All right. Chocolate Oreo came in at number seven. Peanut butter Oreo came in at number eight. Fudge dip mint Oreo twin bites came in at number nine, and white fudge dipped.
Speaker 2:Oreo thin bites came in at number 10 on the list. Yeah, they make a Lady Gaga. It's a Chromatica Lady Gaga Oreo.
Speaker 1:I was going to say I don't want. I want to keep this family friendly because, like, never mind, Never mind, that can go so many different directions there. I was like you know what is the taste of that, right? But yeah, no.
Speaker 2:Let's see. Here Was actually a golden Oreo in the size, but we couldn't help but be tickled by the color. It is pink-colored golden cookie with green cream interesting, interesting, yeah, that's lady gaga in a nutshell right there I see a peeps oreo. I don't know if I've ever seen that no, no, no, no, oh girl, I don't like peeps, man, I don't like peeps.
Speaker 1:You put peeps with it, oh god it is literally like a peep is like you take a massive uh spoon and put it in a sugar, in a sugar bag and that's what a peep like.
Speaker 2:That's too much, that's oh, oh, I can't do it. You can't do it there you can't do it there so. So let's get off to your real topic. Let's get off that. We hope everybody has a great thanksgiving and if you guys want to shoot us over your thanksgiving one through five, you think your top if anybody is in the comment section wants to tell us your top thanksgiving meal, what you love the most, let us know.
Speaker 1:Let us know in the comment section let me, let me ask you real quick 10 seconds, let me just give me an opinion on both. Real quick. Sour Patch Oreos never had.
Speaker 2:Oh God, no, why. Why would you want that? Why would you want to do that?
Speaker 1:I need an opinion before I try them. And then Mississippi Mud Pie that might be good.
Speaker 2:That might be dirty, that might be dirty.
Speaker 1:That's just those were.
Speaker 2:I threw that one up, but that Sour Patch Kids one, what is it? Chocolate and sour Like that would just be gross.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sour Patch Kids flavored cookie and cream. So the outside of the.
Speaker 2:If the cookie is flavored like it, then it might make it better.
Speaker 1:But that's not even Oreo anymore. It's a vanilla dynamic to it, so maybe Maybe I'll let you try it Next show. Next show remind me.
Speaker 2:I've had some bad Mexican before, but like I don't know if I can push myself into the Oreo department, I don't know if I could, like that'd be rough, that'd be rough on that one. But Aaron, let's talk about the big game coming up here in the NFL. Coming up tomorrow night, thanksgiving night, prime time Starts. The big up here in the NFL coming up tomorrow night, thanksgiving night, primetime Starts the big primetime slate for the Packers. They have, I believe it's, four weeks in a row they're going to play primetime. They have the Dolphins on tomorrow, then they play the Lions next Thursday, then they have the Seahawks in primetime and then they have the Saints in primetime too. So they have four straight primetime games there in a row. That is crazy. I don't think that happens very often. That is a lot of primetime games. But hey, it's good for the Packers, good for publicity and hopefully good for this team to get on national television and show off what they got moving forward here.
Speaker 2:So, aaron, I've heard this question asked a lot of places and I heard it on. I believe it was a Bill Michaels show today on the radio and everything like that, and you know he asked in there about how big this game was for the Packers. So I want to ask the question I want to talk about between you and me how big is this game versus the Dolphins For the division race? Not only for the division race, but also for morale, for momentum, for the playoff race going on? How big is this game for the Packers coming up? I'll let you answer first, then I'll answer on the backside of that. How big does this game look? Because and I'll just add some context to it you have the Lions coming up next, then the Seahawks and then the Saints, and then the Vikings, then the Bears.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, every game.
Speaker 1:I think at this point for seeding, like for division, for seeding all that you know, looking at the playoff perspective of you know, all these teams right, the Lions, the Packers, the like, like just looking at that division specifically, all these games are big and I mean you grab the Dolphins at home, which Dolphins are, kind of they're playing to be in the mix right of the AFC.
Speaker 1:So they, as much as the Packers, you know, want this game. I think the Dolphins are going to want it just. I mean, you know there's that cliche like what team wants this game? I think the Dolphins are going to want it just to. I mean, you know there's that cliche like what team wants it more? But I think the Dolphins at least, like they know psychologically, like hey, we need to be in this game, cause you know we're sitting here five and six and anything can happen, um, with the seating, and like you're not out of it by any means, if you're the, if you're the uh, the Dolphins there, so like flip it back to the Packers there. I mean, you know Detroit's in a 10 and one, everybody's there.
Speaker 1:They're basically a shoe in to go to the Superbowl. Everybody's saying already, which is like, kind of, I get it, but it's ridiculous. You know like, pump the brakes. There's a. There's a lot more teams than the lines and the NFC and who knows, like it could be a team inlet right now, like they, they're just, they're 10 and one, they're, you know, best team in the division. So you, you want to. I mean, the dolphins are not a bad team by any means, but this is a game you want to win because you know that Seahawks game's tough. You know playing the lions is tough, like division games coming up.
Speaker 1:This is kind of a a big one for you know one, for a lot of reasons. You're on prime time. All the eyeballs will be on, especially on a holiday too, where it's like you wind down for Thanksgiving. Okay, what's on TV? You know what I mean? It's just one of those things. So you want to have a good showing here. The Vikings are right in it as well. So this is really a three-team race at this point and there eight and three. You don't want to go to eight and four, you know. Then you're, you're starting to uh, it's like man, the division start. I'm not saying it's completely out of reach, but you're starting to. You know it's starting to lose a little bit of grip there.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, big game for the packers. I, I mean I expect them to to beat the dolphins. I mean, you know you're in green bay. Um, I imagine, looking at the weather right now, imagine it. I mean, shoot, it's 29 right now. I mean they're calling for snow tomorrow. That's awesome, right, uh, 30 degrees and and snow. Um, I don't know if it's like a lot, but, um, snowfall is possible.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that I think you know the packers, being a whole lambo, feel that like that's their, it's the bread and butter for for the pack. Like snow November, like you know what I mean, the dolphins are Miami, like the waves, you know, like it's, it's, it's a completely different vibe there. So I look for that to play a factor, just cause you know we've seen the the dolphins struggle in Buffalo, for I and I I want to say it's part of that, part of that is is the reason. So, yeah, big game for the Packers. I think you know, coming off that, that 49ers win, you know, not 49ers at full strength, but I mean they beat the crap out of them regardless. So that's what you look you look for in a game like that. So just keep that momentum rolling. After that, that bears game. That was like down to the wire and then, like I said, you're coming off that butt whooping against the Niners. So, yeah, this upcoming schedule gets pretty interesting for the Packers. You want to take care of a team like the Dolphins while you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, and I would say this game is a big one too for the Packers, simply because I look at this schedule and, like you said, coming up here. But I look at that game. The Lions, lions play the Bears earlier in the day, right, and say the Bears don't somehow clutch up for me and beat the Lions. If the Packers lose to the Dolphins, the division race is over. There's no way they can make up ground. The Lions would have to go on some epic losing streak to have the Packers jump back into it. But let's just say you win, right, you win this game. And then you play the Lions next week and you win this game. You beat the Lions. Now you're a game closer. Now you're right there, right, you're right there in the mix. And let's just say Arizona goes and they beat the Vikings coming up this weekend here and the Vikings drop. Now the Packers are tied for second. You're a game behind the Lions. Now the Lions I know everybody thinks that they're. You know, I think they're one of the best teams you know in the NFL, if not the best team in the NFL. But the Lions are going to slip up. They're going to slip up and the thing that kind of, and I think I heard it, I think it was this morning on Unsportsmanlike there on ESPN, with Chris Canty on there, and Chris Canty said you know this team is they're already hit their stride. They hit their stride week one. Well, what happens when they lose that stride for a game? Because it's going to happen, you can't go on this 17 or whatever game, whatever it's going to end up being 20, 21, and by the end of it, whatever it is, game bender, right, that's tough. So you're going to hit some kind of snag along the way. Just a question of is it against the Packers? Is it against somebody else? Is it against somebody else and the Packers? Could else's against somebody else and the Packers? Could it be in a playoff game? I think so. So it's Lions teams not unbeatable, but that would require the Packers to be able to win the games that they're supposed to win, which is this game against Miami Dolphins. So I believe this is a big game.
Speaker 2:I believe this is a huge game not just for the division but also for momentum, the Packers coming off of a good win, not a great win, right, we haven't seen this team play great yet. They played a good game against the 49ers. I don't think they played a great game. I think there's still things that they can get better at. But that you take wins, how you get them 38 to 10 is a blowout win, you like that.
Speaker 2:But there's still things that make me nervous a little bit about this team. It's a great, it's a great win, but I still think this team has not played to their full potential yet, which is scary. Which is scary because if you think about it through that lens, as an opposing team, and you're like, okay, the Green Bay Packers currently are sitting there at 8-3 and they haven't played their best game yet, what does their best game look like? What does this offense look like? Because Jordan Love hasn't played to what I think Jordan Love can play to yet. I don't think he's played to that point yet. So when he plays to that full potential, what does this offense look like? Because then that moment, when they hit that stride, I think it's a juggernaut. Then I think they're a team that can go toe-to-toe with the Lions. Then I think they're a team that can go punch for punch with just about anybody.
Speaker 2:So I think it changes this team, and around this time last season actually, this time last season they played a game one of the most watched games ever, I think against the Lions national television and just kicked the crap out of them. And then all of a sudden, this Packers team turned a corner and they took off and they rolled the rest of the schedule. They went into playoffs, they went down to Dallas, blew doors off Dallas, went to San Francisco, had more than enough chances to win that game against the 49ers and get to the NFC championship game, fell short, but that's okay, it was a young team. We didn't expect them to get that far. Now we have an expectation right Now. We have an expectation from what we saw to what we think this team could be. Now it's about taking that next step and being that team.
Speaker 2:So I think this game right here against a Dolphins team who's kind of surging right now, this is a game where you make a statement. You make a statement in this game in your house, make a statement go play the Lions at Ford Field. I mean, who knows, who knows what could happen in that that game there. So I believe this is a big game, a huge game for the Green Bay Packers here coming up tomorrow night. It's actually I saw a report. It is the youngest NFL team versus the oldest NFL team. That's interesting. The average age on the Packers roster is 25 and the Dolphins is 27. So that's, I mean you're talking about a lot of youth, right, a lot of youth for the Green Bay Packers going up against. I mean they're not like they're that old on the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's kind of like. Yeah, you would think they're like being the oldest team. I was going to think like 33 is the average you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It seems really low. Man, I'm older than the oldest team.
Speaker 2:You're old in the NFL right now. Just think about that.
Speaker 1:You're old in the NFL.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you couldn't even make the Packers roster. They'd kick you, they'd cut you.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:Just because of your age, not because of your skill set. Because of your age, you're too old.
Speaker 1:You're too old to play with the young guys. All right, You're too old.
Speaker 2:Unless you're a freak of nature. Basically, you're out of the league at this point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great, it is, it's nuts, it's nuts.
Speaker 2:What they running backs are there. They're dispensable until they're not. Until you don't have a running back as Dallas. Until you don't have a running back.
Speaker 2:Then it's like maybe we should have a good running back at this point here. So I mean, hey, let's look at this game, let's look at some of the keys that we have heading into this one. So my biggest key for the Packers defense is I look at the Miami dolphins and I'm looking at the weapons right, I'm looking at Hill and I'm looking at waddle and I'm looking at the Packers secondary and I'm saying, oh crap, jair Alexander is not playing in this game. So it's going to be how do Halfley, how do the Packers, slow down the explosive plays that the Miami Dolphins are going to try to rip off on you? Because Tyreek Hill, jalen Waddell, those guys can ball out. We know Tua can sling it, we know he can, right? I mean a lot of people forget about that. This guy can sling a football around. So it's going to be what do the Packers do against those two in this game? You're going to have to have guys like Valentine step up. There's going to be guys like Eric Stokes who step up in this game and try and limit what these guys can do. What does Halfley do defensively, scheming up for this game. That's like okay, we got to help our guys out. We got to help our guys out. I think that helps. I think that help will come if it does on the front, putting some pressure onto trying to get them off his spot, trying to make him run a little bit, get him out of the pocket. Get him out of the pocket uncomfortable, not able to make those big throws, make him have to dump it off, do those little things in this one. So that's kind of where I'm looking there.
Speaker 2:One of the big keys for the Packers will be watching Hill and Waddle in this one. The Dolphins enter this game as the third lowest tackle grade in the PFF grade. So they are not good tackling right. They're not good tackling Josh Jacobs. He forced 15 missed tackles against the 49ers last week and you gotta in this game it's going to be the same kind of combo Josh Jacobs, the other playmakers for the Green Bay Packers, making guys miss and making big plays happen right. Not by Jordan Love slinging it 40 yards, christian Watson whoever it is getting it in space, making a move, breaking a tackle, getting out there, josh Jacobs running downhill making a move, making guys miss, just like he did against 49ers, and breaking off some big plays. So that's something they've got to take advantage of.
Speaker 2:In this one For the Packers, you've got to like I was just talking about Waddle and Hill there you've got to defend that quick pass. Tua loves to get the ball out fast. He doesn't want to hold on to it that long, he's going to want to get that ball out fast. Defending that fast, quick offense for this Packers team is going to be big. They've got to be big. They got to be able to kind of limit what they can do quickly there. Because when he gets at the waddle and hill there, that's when you got to worry, because the fact of the Packers having to make open field tackles because those guys and when you do get opportunities, you got to make them tackles, because if hill waddle, they get an open space, they break one or you know they make a move and get away from a guy. That's dangerous. That's dangerous Cause all those guys can run and they can make some moves in the open field. So you got to watch that out.
Speaker 2:Protecting Jordan love, that's a big one. Protecting Jordan love, chop Robinson. That's a great name, chop. I love that chop Robinson. He's got 22 pressures in the last three games, 22 pressures on quarterbacks. That's impressive. So chop Robinson. They got Goliath's Gamble down there. He might be older, but this guy can still move up the middle there, so you got to keep an eye on him there. Zach Soler there he's got 27 pressures on this season.
Speaker 2:This is a defensive line you can get after a quarterback. So it's going to be a lot on, and they're not afraid to blitz from the second level either. They'll bring Jalen Ramsey. They'll bring just random guys, guys from the linebacker, core, safeties, corners, whatever it is. They'll bring them. So it's going to be a lot on this offensive line for Green Bay, helping Jordan Love out, protecting his blind side, keeping him comfortable in that pocket in this one, which they've done well this season. But can they do it in this one? Can they do it against a pretty good front from this Dolphins team? So we'll see it there Dolphins their first and third down conversions with Tua in the game.
Speaker 2:So don't look at the stats without Tua, with Tua their first and third down conversions. I don't count the rest because it just was terrible with what's-his-name Huntley was down there. It was just terrible With Tua their first and third down conversions. So the Packers defense has got to find a way to force some short first downs and second downs and then force some third and longs and try to get off the field because this is a Dolphins team who can convert very good. They are very good at converting on third down. So you've got to keep an eye on that. If you are the Packers and then defensively the Dolphins are fifth on third downs, they are fifth. I mean, offense is first on third downs, defense is fifth. The Packers.
Speaker 2:Look at the flip side. First and second down. You got to be able to get something. Get Josh Jacobs going, dump a ball off or whatever it is. Get close to the sticks, make it third and manageable, make it happen. So some of those third downs are going to be big. Third down conversions will be big for the Packers there and a big one for me is spread the ball around. Tucker Kraft, I believe, has got three catches in the last three games. This guy is a dynamic, tight end with three catches in the last three games.
Speaker 2:Can't have that. Spread the ball around to the boys. Spread the love around. If you're Jordan Love in this game here. Spread the ball to the playmakers. Let them do their things. Those are makers. Let them do their things. Those are some of the big things that we're watching there.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, also, you gotta limit turnovers. You can't afford turnovers in this game. You can't. Don't give the dolphins any extra time. Don't give the dolphins any extra possessions in this game. Forced turnovers don't turn the ball over yourself. Those are some of the big keys in this one. No costly penalties, man oh man, those pre-snap penalties, they, they cleaned it up last game. Continue forward with that. No pre-snap penalties, or limit the pre-snap penalties in this game here.
Speaker 2:And we're going to find out if the Dolphins can ball out in the cold. Right, the biggest thing was can the Dolphins play in the cold? We saw Mike McDaniels earlier this week. He said he was going to carry ice cubes around his pockets and throw them at players there to try and get him ready for the for the cold game there. So I mean, we'll see. We'll see if that helped him out there.
Speaker 2:But, aaron, this injury report before I flip it to you with your thoughts on this Packers and Dolphins game there. The injury report for the Packers is not good, it's not. It's not what I wanted to see here. So we see Jair Alexander is out for this game here, kind of expected after a short week. He's still dealing with an injury on his knee so they're not going to see Jair out there. Edren Cooper is out for this game Linebacker for the Packers.
Speaker 2:He's been great for this Green Bay Packers team. He's out for this one and Romeo Dobbs will miss this game with a concussion. So you're losing Romeo Dobbs in that passing game. He You're losing Romeo Dobbs in that passing game. He's a big one. He's that third down guy. He's that guy where you throw it to him in traffic and there's a pretty good chance he's going to bring it in. Who's going to be that guy? Who's going to step up for the Packers in this one? That's the million-dollar question here, because Romeo Dobbs has been that guy.
Speaker 2:Kenny Clark was a full go on Wednesday. There we did see. Let's see here. Josh jacobs was a full go. He's just more of a rest kind of thing. He had a big workload against fortnighters. He's more of a rest. Isaiah mcduffie was limited at practice, so the linebacker core is kind of getting shady for the greenback packers here. Xavier mckinney was a full go. He was did not practice on tuesday but it was for a personal problem there. So he did not practice, but he was a full goal on Wednesday so he's expected to play. And then Josh Myers was a full goal center there for the Packers was a full goal on Wednesday there, so he's questionable. For Sunday, rasheed Walker was a full goal so he most likely will play. Elton Jenkins will most likely play.
Speaker 2:I mean, aaron, you look at the injury report. I Jair Alexander sucks because you want him out there with Waddle with Hill Edgerin Cooper stinks not having him in the linebacker room, especially with Isaiah McDuffie questionable. But Romeo Dobbs is the one when I look at the third down numbers and I'd have to pull up a list with who is the Packers leading receiver on third downs? But Romeo Dobbs is that guy where you throw it to him and he's going to haul it in, like Jordan Love loves to throw it to him on those short yardage situations where he's just trying to beat off the first down there on a little slant route. That's his guy. Now, with no Romeo Dobbs, that makes you nervous against a defense who is fifth on third downs of season. So little nervous there. But hey, that's okay. Aaron, what are we thinking about this Dolphins-Packers game? What are you seeing heading into this one?
Speaker 1:It's interesting like you bring up I mean this Dolphins defense is pretty good. It's one of those defenses that doesn't get talked about a lot. I know in years past it was always the Ravens defense or Tampa Bay's defense. There's certain teams out, like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's defense always gets talked about. Cleveland's had a pretty decent defense. You know the last few years, things like that. But I'm looking for, like Josh Jacobs, like this is an interesting game because you bring up the fact they statistically like they're not a bad defense but they don't tackle well, which is it doesn't make sense, right? Maybe if they could tackle well they could be like a top three, like top three, top five. You know they're right around the seventh mark in a lot of categories or overall and things like that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I mean I'm looking for Josh Jacobs to just break, like you said.
Speaker 1:I mean if he can break tackles, you know, and that always sets you up. I didn't realize. I mean he's only behind Saquon and Derrick Henry right now. So he's third in the league in rushing pretty quietly out. So he's third in the league and rushing um pretty quietly. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like not many people are talking about and I'm a big josh jacobs fan, like, uh, you know his whole childhood story like guy was like what, living in a car at one point, um, and stuff. So like that's just a soft spot for me. Like I've I've always liked the guy and you know, even in in the with the raiders and you know being such a bad team. Now, coming to green bay, like you look for him to kind of assert himself in this game and kind of you know, play some smash-mouth football. Like you know what I mean. You be physical Like the Dolphins offensively they're not like a, they're a more finesse team. So if you can kind of feed them up on defense, it's just one of those things psychologically I think. Playing to some teams, um, now with Tua. I mean the guy is a 73 percent. I know he hasn't played that much, but 73 percent completion percentage on the year, that's crazy. Like I doubt that is going to stand all year long. I mean even you know, like I said, he missed, uh, quite a few games there, but like just I mean he's throwing the ball well, they're coming coming off three straight wins, packers two straight. So both teams, I mean you would think, are just playing. You know, pretty well at this point, as far as, like a matchup standpoint, you know, neither team's like struggling to kind of figure it out. Like they're both playing well. So yeah, it's currently a three-point spread for the Packers. I'm still a little surprised by that. I thought it would be a little bit more. I think this was the Thanksgiving matchup just last season or maybe the year before down there in Miami or something like that. I could be wrong on that, maybe it was a different, I don't remember. But yeah, I mean yeah, regardless, I think you know this game 66% of the public's on the Packers.
Speaker 1:I look, I mean I just assume that the Packers are going to be the better team for 60 minutes, like that's kind of how I look at it. I mean maybe the Dolphins make some splash plays over the top. I mean Tyreek Hill hasn't had a great year but you know, you got to understand he didn't have a quarterback really until Tua came back. So it's going to be interesting, I think, top to bottom. I'm never a huge Dolphins. Like you know, I don't really ever fall in love with this Dolphins team. With Tua he's a good quarterback but he's never like great, and then that's kind of my reservation there. But I mean they surprise you sometimes too. Like they can drop 40 on people, sometimes out of nowhere. So you don't take them lightly.
Speaker 1:I think, like I said, I think the Packers are the better team. It's in Lambeau, I just think, for 60 minutes, both sides of the ball. I think they figure it out defensively, like I said, they'll probably give up some shots, but I think they do enough to win this game. It just I think, like I said, I just keeps kind of saying it, but top to bottom they're, they're better in my opinion, and this Dolphins team really hasn't like been a complete team, you know, with Tua all year. So you never like, I just feel like he's due for one of those games where he'll. He'll kind of crap the bed out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:So it's, it's an interesting. It's not like I don't get. It's not like I'm like oh my God, the Packers are going to blow them out. I don't think that, and I could even see it. There's a way the Dolphins can win, but I think the Packers have too much for the Dolphins to account for, especially, like you mentioned, I mean the receiving. If these receivers get on track tomorrow, it's hard to because you never know. It's not like they key in on, like the Dolphins key in on Waddell and obviously Tyreek Hill. It's just to be expected.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's going to be big on the Packers is to control that time of possession. Control the football in this game. Do what you got to do. Don't try to get fancy with it. Stick with Josh Jacobs. Let him do his thing. We know about his yards after contact. He's one of the best runners in the league when it comes to that, I mean, and like you mentioned there, he's third behind Derrick Henry and Saquon. He's right there. This guy has been nothing but fantastic. So get him the ball. Let him do his things. Run some.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm good with the slow, methodical drive. If you're moving the football, I'm good with it. Put Jordan Love under center. Run a little play action. Do you got to do? Move the football, and I mean limit what the dolphins are able to do on offense, limit to them to a select amount of possessions there in this game and win those possessions. If you are the green bay packers, the red zone is going to be big. Right, the packers have struggled in the red zone this season. They got to be good in this game. They were good last time out against 49ers. What do they show us here against the dolphins? There should be a good one there. Um, I take the Packers. Right now the spread's at three and a half. I'm going to say the Packers cover it. I think they cover it. I think they win this one by a touchdown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think kind of the same thing. If this was in Miami it might be different, but I think that plays into it too, and Packers is a better team. So I'd that plays into it too, and and packers is a better team. So I'd say, yeah, I'm right there with you. I think by by a touchdown it feels about.
Speaker 2:Right, I like that, I like that one there. So let's flip script here. We got enough of the packers there. I like the packers in this. One should be a good one here. Can't wait for tomorrow night for that game. It's a 720 and it's getting late, right, I just ate thanksgiving. I'm kind of you know stuff. I'm trying to trying to stay awake to watch this game. Now it's. It's one of those. It's one of those kinds of games.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but be grateful you're on the. You're in the midwest there, because it's eight o'clock. Every time we have, I know that stinks.
Speaker 2:That really was that really was stink. I agree with that one. I can agree with that one, but let's look at the rest of you. We got a couple more games here we want to talk about. We'll do the Thanksgiving games, but we'll also look at the Friday game there. We will not preview the Sunday games until Friday on the show here when we come back. So, Aaron, what are you thinking? Bears-lions at Ford Field. Lions favored by 10.
Speaker 1:I think everybody's on this bandwagon, because the lions just beat the crap out of some people, some teams. I mean we saw, you know, a couple of times. Now I wouldn't be surprised if the bears like every time. I think that, though, then the lines do go off Like it's hard to like. Think you know they're going to slow down anytime soon, but I mean it's a division game. I know it's in Detroit, but would I be so? I think you know they're going to slow down anytime soon, but I mean it's a division game, I know it's in Detroit, but would I be? I mean, look at what the Bears did with the Packers a couple weeks ago. Division game, I get it, you know it was in Soldier Field, I get it, but it was a one-point game. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:So are the Packers like a million times worse than the Lions? No, I think they're comparable. So would I be surprised? The Bears team? You just don't know what you're getting either, though. It's just thrown together mess, basically, and you know Caleb Williams has a hard time behind that offensive line. Detroit can get after the quarterback too. That's like their defense isn't like amazing, but, like you know, they have a guy that, can you know, a pick on almost like, just like your guy with with the Packers they're just grabbing picks out of thin air and then they do have a decent pass rush. So especially bringing over uh, shoot that guy from the Browns, I'm blanking on.
Speaker 1:Darius Smith. Darius Smith thank you.
Speaker 2:He just wants to beat the Packers. That's the only reason why he went there.
Speaker 1:He wants to beat the Packers, that's the only reason why he went there.
Speaker 2:He wants to beat the Packers, and he wants to beat the Vikings too, because both of them wronged him in some way.
Speaker 1:So now he's going to have drum balls I don't know, he's crazy. Yeah, that's kind of who you want. Though, on a D-line I mean a psychopath on the D-line. You know you'll take that. Think the lions win this. I mean I'd be surprised if they drop this game. But do you think it's closer than 10?
Speaker 2:like 10 a little I think it's a possibility, like I liked what the bears have been doing with the new offensive coordinator. Uh, he's kind of simplifying the game for cale williams. I think it's gonna be tough, because dan campbell got embarrassed last season on thanksgiving by the green bay packers and he said that he circled a lot of games going into this year. I really do. I know he probably circled the Packers game because he wanted to get back at him, but I really do wonder if he circled this game against the Bears on Thanksgiving because he's like ah, we got to show the nation that that's just a fluker and we can take care of business on national television on a big day.
Speaker 1:I think he's that type of guy national television on a big day.
Speaker 2:I I think he's that type of guy like yes 100 his game in dallas.
Speaker 1:When he routed him that was like personal, that was a personal we're routing you today kind of feeling and I just this detroit team, like if you I've watched clips from them from the locker room like yeah, every team seems close-knit, but like I really feel like they are. They bought all the way into what dan campbell said, yeah, and like when you have that and like you know a team obviously with what, you gotta have talent. If you don't have talent it doesn't get you that far. But I mean they're 10 and 1, like I just look at it like it's in detroit and that's like a you know thanksgiving tradition that the lines on, on, um, on thanksgiving there. But I just I think he gets them up for pretty much every game. It'll be surprising when they come out flat. I don't see it here. I mean maybe one of these games down the stretch they do. But yeah, I mean it's just I could see it too.
Speaker 1:Like you said, chicago's simplifying the offense. I think it looks better for Caleb. It's easier for Caleb. He's not processing eight million things at once, his head's not spinning. But I mean Detroit is just like far and above the better team. So it's tough to say that. You know Chicago is going to pull this off. We've seen crazier things. It's division which you know you start thinking, oh, maybe there's a way. But I mean Dan Campbell, like you said, he's probably circling just about almost every like. He's probably just screaming in people's face non-stop anyway. So he's a, he's a psychopath him and zedaria smith.
Speaker 2:They fit well together like those two are like bread and butter man. They just go together well. So I mean, I like the lions too. I think the lions will win that game. I just I. I do think it's close. I, I do think it's close. Maybe it is 10. I could see it being 10, but I don't think that it's a blowout. I think the Bears will keep it close. They have a good defense. The Bears have a good defense. I thought they played well last week against the who'd.
Speaker 1:They just play last week the Vikings I thought they played well against the Vikings.
Speaker 2:Now that's Sam Darnold. But you cannot sit here and tell me that, Jared, okay, I'm not going to put Jared Goff and Sam Darnold on the same area code. But I mean I think the Vikings. You know, I liked what the Bears did last week. I liked what they did against the Packers too. So I'm going to say the Bears keep it close. But I'm going to say, around that 7-10 mark there, I don't think it's a blowout, I don't think it's like 21.
Speaker 1:And if it is, it's because Dan.
Speaker 2:Campbell wants it to be, and that's just what's happening. So I to win that one. Uh, here comes the dumpster fire of the day tommy devito and the boys from new york, the big g's, heading down to that. Are they heading to dallas? Yeah, they're heading to dallas.
Speaker 1:They're heading down to dallas, always in dallas.
Speaker 2:It seems like always taking on them. Cowboys. Cooper rush I'm gonna be honest with you. I was impressed last week with what dallas did with cooper rush. I think mike mccarthy did. I mean he coached. I mean he coached the game well. He coached the game well against the Commanders. Now, the Commanders did beat themselves up in that game, but I kind of liked what the Cowboys did and they looked a lot better in that game.
Speaker 2:So I mean, this game I'm going to take Dallas. I don't. The Giants have nothing. They have nothing to look forward to. And you have your locker rooms torn apart and Malik Nabors is like, why did you get rid of Daniel Jones? He's not the problem. Like, and it's, they tore that apart. They tore that locker room apart and that is their problem now. And it's they're bad. They got to lay in it at this point here. And I'm going to go with the Cowboys and I think it's this locker room will just turn against the Giants in this one. I think they're going to come out with some uninspired football and if there's going to be a blowout on this day, I think it might be the Cowboys over the Giants.
Speaker 1:It very well could be. I see that too. Now, once again division game. I get all that. But I actually thought the Giants would show something with DeVito last week against a Bucs team. That's been very up and down, not great, you know, and especially with all the injuries and they got I mean, they got blown out of their own building Like they got. That wasn't even a game at any point. I thought like I just thought DeVito would have something. You know I'm not saying yeah, I'm not saying Daniel Jones was completely the problem, but he's played awful too. But man, I mean devito took a couple hits in that game last week and I'm like dude, there's no way he's lasting. You know the rest of the season like this and him, you know they they throw mics in front of his face. The other day I heard him talking about how he's like yeah, I'm sore, but you know who isn't after a football like he was trying to cover it up, but that guy got absolutely like just demolished against the Bucs.
Speaker 2:He might not be playing. He might not be playing in this one.
Speaker 1:I didn't hear possibly questions. I didn't hear a definitive anything.
Speaker 2:They said it was 11 hours ago. As reported, he is a long shot to play Thursday against the Cowboys with a forearm injury, so it's looking like Drew Locke is actually in line to make his first start of the season for the Giants. What a disaster.
Speaker 1:I I mean my goodness they should have turned to drew lock to begin with. I see there's so many opinions on that, though it's like were they trying to lose out, like, but they paid drew lock five million, so why are you gonna get five million?
Speaker 2:I mean, that's why is he listed as your qb2, if you're gonna skip over top of them when you get rid of QB1. And it's just so stupid. That's the Giants in a nutshell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean when you think the Raiders are badly around, this might be the worst organization.
Speaker 2:The worst part is I don't even hate them, like I don't even pray for their downfall. Like this is just terrible. I mean, yeah, you're an Eagles fan fan, so you got different opinion on that one. But like I don't even hate the giants, like I don't sit here and pray for their downfall, like the yankees or dodgers or anything like that. Like, yeah, they're just the giants and like it's just, I mean, after saquon and all this other crap, it's like, oh my god, like you guys, like I would fire everybody. I would fire everybody.
Speaker 1:If I'm the owner, I'm firing myself and and the thing is like, because I listen to a lot of like the Michael Kay shows out in New York. I just love that show and they cover New York sports, so I'm like I'm kind of plugged into that all the time. But what they were saying about, you know, dave, brian Dable is like he talks, like he has his job secured. You know they're basically, you know this sounds like their long-term plan is they're going to let him pick a quarterback. If it doesn't work with that quarterback, then they go elsewhere. But I don't know. I mean they make the playoffs. That what? Two seasons ago, not even last year, they beat the Vikings. Credit to them, they found a way. Then they get absolutely demolished by the Eagles. It wasn't even a close, it wasn't even a game, it wasn't a game at all. And then last season's a struggle with Daniel Jones in there. They make the mistake of signing him long. It's just. I'm not saying that Brian Dable should be safe or should be fired, I should say, but I don't know how you can feel that he's. I mean the GM too. I mean it's just everything is broken, like ownership, it seems, because the GM was like oh, I'm going to have hard or I think it was the owner in the hard knocks that said I'm going to have a hard time sleeping if Saquon goes into the division. I don't even think he said the Eagles at the time, Maybe he did, but one of those things. But I mean you let Saquon go.
Speaker 1:I don't hate that move for them just because, like, if you're looking at it like you got to build the, they had no offensive line. I mean Saquon ran behind no offensive line his whole career till now is my argument. They just can't seem to build a team. So it's like you can't. You can't ever, even if you get the right quarterback let's say they had Jane Daniels this season Do they look that much different?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I mean they might look a little better because they had basically no quarterback, but it's like the jet. It's literally like both New York teams are the same way, like their defenses aren't bad, they have no offensive line, and then the quarterback's questionable, like it's just broke. Every building a team, fundamentally, is broken and I don't know. I mean they could be a long way away. They're not that the Cowboys are much better, but they, because I mean their whole defense was banged up at one point. I think Parsons is back this week, but I mean no, dak, it's just I don't know. And then on the flip side of that too, what do you think about? Like McCarthy, I mean Jerry Jones is like yeah, there's no'm, like he might coach himself back into a job If, if Cooper Rush can pull off a couple more games here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think you know Jerry Jones has kind of taken a step back. He's kind of just letting this thing go. He's like you guys, do you? Let's see this thing play out. And I think that's the best thing in the world, because now it looks okay. It looks okay. It's not going to look great.
Speaker 2:This team has a lot of holes. They have a lot of holes on defense, they have a lot of holes on offense, but yet it's looking better under Cooper Rush. Now, what does that tell you for Dak Prescott? I don't know that tells you. That tells you a lot of things there. But I mean, it does. It bodes well.
Speaker 2:For Mike McCarthy I didn't think that he was the problem at first. I think that they have a lot of questions they need to answer in the offseason there. I don't know if firing Mike McCarthy is going to be the answer to that. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I think they have to address needs like the running back room. I think they have that dowel there. I think he's a good piece. Maybe he could develop into a good back if you do bring in some guys around him. We'll wait and see, right.
Speaker 2:But I think this is a good step in the right direction for the Cowboys and a win against the giants. I know it's not, it's nothing major, right, but a win against the giants. You have the bangles next week, then you play the Panthers, then you play the box, then the Eagles, then the commanders. You could realistically win three out of your next six and you're sitting at a final record of seven and 10, losing Dak, losing your starting quarterback, and going through all the crap that they went through this year and not having a running back and everything like that. To finish seven and 10, it's a building block for next year. So you move forward with it. So I don't think it's a bad position. Plus, if you sneak one out, I mean, what tells you that the Eagles don't rest guys come week 15? I don't know. Or week 16, whatever it is, I don't know right? Or the commanders? What if they're already lockstep in a playoff spot and they go into that week 17 and there's nobody playing for the commanders over there? Well then the Cowboys might win that football game. So then you're sitting at eight and nine to end the season.
Speaker 2:That's not bad at all. I mean okay, okay, like you end the season. Not good in Cowboy standards. But the way that it started, the way that it was going to finish with that kind of record, you live with it. Plus, I mean, you got the Bengals who, if you can score four, if they score 40 points and you can score 41, you might win that football game because their defense sucks. So you might be able to do it. So that could be a possibility in that one too. So there's there's a lot of games that the Cowboys can win, yet I think it's heading in the right direction. So I kind of, if you're a Cowboys fan, you might feel a little bit better moving forward here. This season's a wash. You move on off of it, but, lucky for you, you got enough money. You can probably go out and find somebody and fix a little bit of the problems there.
Speaker 1:What percentage of their fan base still thinks they can win the Super Bowl this year?
Speaker 2:Every one of them, every one of them Like 80.
Speaker 1:There's got to be at least.
Speaker 2:Everybody but the team and Mike McCarthy. That's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because their fans are like man.
Speaker 2:I don't know Jerry's still in this world where they're winning the Super Bowl this year, they're still playoff contenders at this point. They would have to rattle off every single game at this point to be playoff contenders. So we'll see. I mean, maybe maybe cooper rush leads him to the playoffs. I don't know, that'd be wild. That'd be wild. Cooper rush does that. They might as well get rid of dac and just move on with cooper rush he's.
Speaker 1:He's not a bad bat like I would take him as no no, he's not bad at all.
Speaker 2:now for me I would have started trey lance, just see what he was, just for the heck of it. But I mean, I get it. You want to play Cooper Rush too? He's a good enough quarterback. He gets the job done. He's not an everyday starter.
Speaker 1:They have that Yankees mindset they're never out of it Even though they are out of it. Basically, we're too prideful to play Trey, Because Trey Lance might look horrible.
Speaker 1:And we know Cooper Rush won't look horrible. So it's like, okay, that's the safe pick and you got to. I mean, I don't know, I shouldn't say you got to feel for Trey Lance. Maybe he's just got to be better. But like man, the guy was a first-round draft pick with 49ers. You know, you think he'll be dangerous out there. You know he gets kicked to the curb to Dallas, Never gets like where be QB2 somewhere? I don't know, Like maybe this is it for him, like soon. I don't know, I just that's a Completely agree, that's a great situation for him.
Speaker 2:I'm right with you there. I'm right with you there. So we got our last one. This is going to be the Friday game there, the weird, surprising Friday game there. We have the Raiders and Chiefs are going to be squaring off 2 o'clock on Prime Video on Friday. The Chiefs are favored by 13 as of right now here, no Gardner Minshew, aiden O'Connell starting in this one. I am going to take the Chiefs to win this one, and they just might cover the spread.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, I was watching a clip from earlier with Masonason crosby and mahomes and man like mahomes was being such a cry baby. I I'm not at mom's hater, I'm by no means, but man, it made him look like you know the b word for lack of a better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think if you're talking about same video I'm thinking of, then he turns around and lights the world on fire too.
Speaker 1:So no, he does, but it's a bear and you get it. Yeah, no, he's a. He's a animal as a player, but like him just crying about stuff, I'm like dude oh yeah yeah, like I can do it.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize he did that. Like, to that extent I'll put it that way. But, um, yeah, I mean the, the raiders man that's up there with carolina, as far as a dumpster fire this year, I mean they are god awful, they are just, they are pitiful. Honestly it sucks, I really do feel. That's one thing I do feel for, because it's like you know, you get your team ripped out of you in Oakland. You know they go to Vegas. They're not good.
Speaker 1:Like I'll be curious to see if this Brady thing, you know, has any effect. The ownership thing, like does he make them better? Like thing, like, does he make them better? Something like you know, does his influence with anything? You know, I don't know if he'll have roster influence or something, but they, they're a lost cause at this point this year. I mean, who knows going forward, antonio pierce, how long does he last? Like it, there's so many things broken again with them. Um, and it's the chiefs. I mean, you know, I know they lost the game, but it's like, like they don't skip a beat. I know it's division, but it's yeah, they should be able to pummel them without really any problem. I would think.
Speaker 2:No, no, I think it should be a pretty clear-cut finish in that one there. The Chiefs should be able to pull that one out. So we got a good little slate of games tomorrow there on Thanksgiving Got a good slate of. We got Badger football coming up on Friday there, taking on Minnesota for the Axe 11 am for that one there. That is, that's weird. Friday 11 am for a football game that's weird. That's hard to get the boys up for that game. But Luke Fickle's got to because that is a huge game, not just for what's going to happen with the rest of the season getting bowl eligible, but for the program's future moving forward in our opinions there. So we got that game coming up. We got Packers, dolphins 720 there, nbc, peacock and Universo I think that must be the Spanish channel for it. I have no idea, that's just what I see there on ESPN. So we'll see how that one squares off.
Speaker 2:Should be an exciting day of sports tomorrow. College basketball, lots of games going on. College basketball, some good games so far. A lot of ranked matchups, a lot of tournament play there. So good stuff all the way around. Aaron, anything else you got to wrap before we wrap it up here uh, don't, I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I, I kind of like the idea of friday football, though I wish, I kind of wish, uh, they'd do that a little bit. You know, just sprinkle it in there, why not? But then I mean not Friday at noon, that sucks because you know this week's an exception. But yeah, I'm for that idea. Black Friday I know the NFL started doing that a couple years ago, the Black Friday. But you would think, I mean they'd pick a. I don't know, I guess you didn't know what the Raiders would be, but like I mean you kind of do, though it's like even I don't know they could have picked a or like moved the game like a couple weeks ago. You know, just that would have been cool to see. Like a better matchup on a Friday. I don't know, dolphins-packers on the Friday or something. Yeah, then you have two Thanksgiving. You still spread those out, I don't know. Just give me something else. There's got to be some NFL games this weekend that were better.
Speaker 2:Well, that gets into the argument. A lot of people have had over the years with the Lions on Thanksgiving or the Cowboys on Thanksgiving all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's tradition.
Speaker 2:And it's tradition and everything like that, so we keep them on there. That's the way it's got to be. So I mean, mean, aaron, what are we doing tomorrow for thanksgiving? Got any big plans for thanksgiving there?
Speaker 1:yeah, no, not really. Um, my family doesn't get together like they used to, so just doing like a friends, like I, I hang out. You know a close friend of mine, um, he's a giants fan, so I'll be, I'll be poking fun at him pretty much all day. He, he doesn't. He hates the eagles but loves saquon, so he a little split. I told him, just ride it out a couple of years with Saquon, and you know. But he won't do that. So, yeah, just with some friends, that's about it, nothing, you know. See a little bit of family, but not not the whole thing. But how about you? What do you got going on?
Speaker 2:Heading over to the in-laws to eat some. I don't even know what's on the menu. I have no idea. Probably turkey, I have no idea. Right, when I go to my grandma's, I always know what's on the menu. She cooks the same darn stuff every single year. It doesn't change. She's a very generic old lady, all right, and she's great for it. She's very great for it.
Speaker 1:Nothing more to add, but when I go, you know what.
Speaker 2:It's great when I go know what's going on, so I guess it's a surprise. It's a surprise, but lucky for them. I eat just about everything except for peppers and onions, so we should be pretty good on that. We should be pretty good on that end there. So, aaron, anything else we got to wrap us up here before we ended here, juan soto is still not signed, so we'll see where that they're.
Speaker 1:They're saying before the winter meetings, though, so they're saying like december 8th or 9th that we'll know.
Speaker 2:So I I mean thanksgiving day would be clutch because nobody at espn outside of the like secondary people will be working. So if somebody does them on thanksgiving, oh my, that'd be wild. Like adam schaff, they're still going to report it and everything like that. But like all the big name, like producers and everything like that, they probably have off until next monday. So nobody would be able to talk about off until next monday.
Speaker 1:So nobody would be able to talk about it until next monday oh, man, and and listen to this real quick before we get out of here. You're right, though that would um once. So the yankees have now op or up their offer, so whatever it was before they. And there's all this talk about like, oh so they're not gonna, nobody's gonna know the idea, or no one's going to know the offers at all, like there won't even be an idea. So now there's all these rumors that the Mets will just give some like crazy, like there will be like $80 million over everybody else, which that would be kind of just like madness. I mean, at some point is it worth? I guess it's worth it when you have, when you're Steve Cohen and you just have money to burn. I guess it's worth it when you're Steve Cohen and you just have money to burn, but I don't know.
Speaker 1:Like what I just said, though, the Yankees increased their offer, and it's also reported the Yankees have touched base with Corbin Burns and Max Freed. I always want to say Freed there, but Max Freed. So, man, if they get like Soto and Burns this offseason, I'll be sick, I will be absolutely disgusted. I mean that is. I mean they're even in talks with Bregman too. So I'm like I mean they can't get them all, though. Hopefully they only get one, hopefully they get Soto again, run it back and have the same, like they didn't win with Soto. So it's like I just I don't like seeing the fact.
Speaker 1:I mean I like seeing the fact they increased their offer because, sure, throw it all at Juan Soto. But I don't know, this might does he just? I think you said last time he ends up in New York. It's one of the New York teams, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I really do think so. I think the Dodgers kind of just sold it there with Blake Snell. So I think it's going to be one of the New York teams will add on Juan Soto, but it crazier things than happen. Crazier teams have stepped up and made money and, you know, flip money out there. So we'll see what happens there in the Juan Soto front there.
Speaker 2:But from all of us on the show from, you know, my wife, who writes some of the shows for us here, to Hunter doing the hockey report, from Aaron to myself, we wish, we wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. We hope you guys have a great day, drive safe, be careful out there, and we hope that you guys enjoy the Packers kicking the crap out of the Dolphins on Thanksgiving night. Nothing better than that, right Badgers. Hopefully they get a big win for us on Friday there, friday morning, and we will be back on Friday afternoon to talk about that Badger game, that Packer game, the Badger basketball game coming up on Saturday there, the NFL slate for the rest of the weekend, the college football slate for the rest of the weekend. We got a whole mess of things that we're going to be talking about on Friday. It's going to be a great show. We can't wait to be talking about it on Friday here.
Speaker 1:A lot of wins.
Speaker 2:Hopefully we're talking about a lot of wins and it's going to be a great day on Friday there. So with that, for Aaron and myself this has been Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. Thank you all for tuning in tonight. We hope you guys have a great rest of your night and Thanksgiving tomorrow. But until we talk to you guys again on Friday, see ya, thank you.