[MUSIC] Rogers. Floyd was there and it's a little flip. A catch, a fumble by Hall and a recovery by the 49ers. Second goal, Mason bobbling it, but a touchdown. Deebo, Jetsweet, he is in for the touchdown. But an impressive start here tonight. And he may now have a one, two punch and running back. When McCaffrey gets healthy, with McCaffrey and Mason, what an impressive night. >> But like we do just getting first down, we'd be rolling. And we had those three announcements where they hurt us. But I think a lot of stuff's correctable, which is great for coaches. It's frustrating for players, because we know how close we were slash R. But no time for that, we're gonna move on to Tennessee quickly. And then we got a game four days after that. So this is a tough opener for us, travel wise and schedule wise. But no excuses, we got to play better, I got to play better. And we'll bounce back next year. [MUSIC] >> That's a shame. >> Fan Morning Show Sports at 5-9 in the fan, Ben Anis, Brent Gunning, Aaron Rodgers, surviving pass, snap number four. >> Congrats. >> He had some moments, that first touchdown drive, it felt like a million, third and seventh, just slicing and dicing. The problem is you need the football to win most football games. >> Generally speaking. >> Bear might differ, but yeah, that's true. There the outlier, Jets had the ball for 21 minutes, 20 seconds. As the lowest time of possession by a Rodgers led team in any start of his entire career. So the first full game he completes, and he didn't, I guess, complete it. Because he was replaced by Tyrod Taylor by the end, cuz the game was out of hands. We're that another guy threw eight passes and he completed the game, yeah. >> Yeah, the first game that he sees the end of. >> Okay, in uniform. >> Okay, good. >> As a New York jet, results in a loss, as Jets lose their season opener. >> I mean, till the defending NFC champions, the San Francisco 49ers, 32, 19, that's a tough opponent. He's correct and he survived it at least. >> He did survive it. I mean, literally the bare minimum was make it to snap five. >> Yeah. >> We got there. So good job. And some of the snaps after that were even good, including said touchdown drive. Did you mention? I think if you're a Jets fan, just like first, let me say, sorry, it's like it's been a rough goal, butt fumble, yada, yada, feet, Rex Ryan, everything. It's just it's been a rough goal of a Joe Nameth. We don't need to rehash it, although I kind of want you to know it's a classic thing where you say it, but you go like, Oh, I know you don't want to hear this, but here's another one. >> Here's another one. >> And another one, just the worst, the worst, the worst, but again, so again, sorry. The thing you should take out of that game, though, is if Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson could have chemistry like that, that's kind of not all that matters, but from your offensive standpoint, kind of all that matters there, Breeze Hall, whatever. But yeah, you look at that game and yeah, they lost to the defending NFC champs, the team that is the chiefs of the NFC in terms of, okay, when somebody does the thing, then we can talk about somebody else in this regard. But they also didn't have, and I know Mason looked good last night, but not having Christian McCaffrey is not nothing. Like that's a pretty big asterisk on what the 49ers are not having that guy. So yes, I look at it as, hey, not a slouch to lose to the 49ers. We're not sitting here panicking jet season over, cancel it. But it's also obviously a frustrating way to start your year. And then like you said, playing them four days short week after that. So yeah. >> I don't know if you are a Jets fan and I'm not. So I feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Jets fans, where you're so ready for everything to be a disaster, or at least you should be. >> And I can say I do know that. >> Yeah. >> Like I don't know it for Jets. >> Yeah. >> But I'm a Leaf fan. Sure, sure, sure, sure. It's been, yeah, recently more regular season success and fun to be a Leaf fan than it has been to be a Jets fan. >> Like you're not wrong, but like Mark Sanchez was in a conference final. >> Yep. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Or sorry, championship game. >> I mean, like recently. >> Yeah, but I mean that's fine. >> But during the Austin Matthews era. >> Yeah, for sure. >> For sure. >> Anyways, yeah, if I was a Jets fan, and again, I'm primed for disaster, like I'm ready for it. >> Right. >> I still say I was encouraged because okay, Aaron Rodgers has the pick, it's deflected. >> Yeah, yep. >> And God, he only completed 13 at 21 and I guess his accuracy on the short passes according to the advanced metrics. Not very good at all. Honestly, all I needed to see was that first touchdown drive. And then the second one where he does the Aaron Rodgers thing, where it says 5,000th touchdown on a free play. >> Yeah. >> Like you get that too. What was it, their third drive of the game, their first touchdown drive? Again, converting all the third and sevens all the way down the field, just methodical. That level of quarterback played, that it still exists in now 40 year old Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, okay, you got blown out by a very, very good team. Aaron Rodgers hasn't taken a meaningful snap in a year and he only took four then. It's basically been two full years since Aaron Rodgers is playing a football game. He didn't play in the preseason, and I know he said we're not talking about that. That's an excuse. If I'm a Jets fan, am I wrong to say that I would be encouraged, well, one, by the fact that Aaron Rodgers is still upright, and two, that at least it was in there, I saw it for a drive. And in that moment, if you're a Jets fan watching that drive, are you not thinking anything's possible? Now the wrestling game played out and it didn't exactly go the way that you expected or hoped if you're a Jets fan. But just seeing that drive would be enough. Like how many times did the Jets offense look anywhere close to that level of competency in the entirety of the 17 game schedule last season? Yeah, I know. There were like, there were like fleeting moments of like Mike White poking around in there. And we all got to make our like white Lotus jokes because it's the same name of the guy who writes the show like everything was been so jetsy. This was not. This was just a competent dare, I say. I know this one's like less than competent, but like, I guess they're kind of the same cromulent NFL offense. That's a quarterback that whatever you say about Aaron Rodgers and I spent the last, I spent all of yesterday's show when I was talking about Sunday looking ahead to last night going, I think Aaron Ross is probably cooked. And I can still think that, but his mind isn't cooked. He can I think he's cooked like in what you saw yesterday, do you think he's cooked? I think that all I don't think you look at him and go in week three, he's going to look completely washed up. I still have all those concerns by the time it gets cold and he's played games up more games on turf and everything starts to stack up. But right now in that game last night, no, I don't think he I don't think he looked cooked. I don't think he looked washed. And again, most importantly, the processing power is still there for him. Zach Wilson wasn't a terrible Jets quarterback because he couldn't make the throws. I mean, might have been a little part of the issue there, just a little teensy wiency one. He wasn't a good quarterback because he couldn't do the mental stuff of playing quarterback, whatever you have to say about Rogers, and I think it's pretty clear where I stand on him, given the the the wide birth of of experience he has, he is still so good at setting things up and understanding what's going to come to him. We were talking to, I think it was Trey Wingle about this yesterday, the idea of, are you a pre snap quarterback or are you a post snap quarterback? Rogers is not a post snap quarterback anymore. He's not the guy that's going to spin out of some sack and give himself an extra chance on a lot of these different plays. But especially like we just talked about it, the free play, you give him a chance where he gets to realize nothing bad can happen and I can try to fit something into some window here. He's still elite when it comes to that. So no, I don't look at him and think he's washed. I still have all the concerns about what it's going to look like, cold, old man, all that. But right now, no. Yeah, if the belief and maybe it took a hit yesterday, if the belief is that the Jets are competent, like league average to slightly above league average quarterback play away from being in contention, I think they can more than get that at a 40 year old Aaron Rogers. Did you catch this stat on the broadcast? Maybe. Do you remember? Okay, they mentioned when the Jets scored their first quarter points of the season last year? Do you remember? No, I don't remember this. Didn't come until week five that they scored a point in the first quarter. Can we compare and contrast that with the Blue Jays not like 20 like it's like they're both just awful, but somehow the football one seems so much worse. It's really bad. Yeah, it's really, really bad. And that drive did come at the tail end of the first quarter. But yeah, it came in the first quarter for that Jets team. I mean, now if this content hates just again, game on against the defending NFC champions in the San Francisco 49ers who I don't know if we can. Is the referendum still on on Brock Pertier? We don't like now that he's gotten them to a Super Bowl in a position where they could have easily won that Super Bowl against Patrick Mahone's and the Chiefs and he put up the numbers that he did was in the MVP conversation like are we done with the Brock Pertier discourse? I actually think it is he is the perfect overrated underrated guy because the fact that we keep having these arguments and there are people on either side of it. I think it just kind of proves exactly what he is that he is a perfect middle of the road. Yeah. Discipline NFL quarterback who has got a chance to play for a really, really good team. I end a really good head coach because Kyle Shanahan got I mean Jimmy G in a position where he's up double digits in the second half against Patrick Mahone's in a Super Bowl as well. Well, I know we give Sean McVay all the credit for the guy who's like pushing the buttons because it's like it was true that he would say to Jared Goff, like here's the play call. Yeah. Here are your reads. You go to this guy, then to this guy, then to this guy. So there isn't anyone. Yeah. But if anybody else is doing that, but I don't say that to say it's like he's the same coach as Sean McVay. The thing of it is that we think of all these guys as McVay creations and then Stafford's a little different obviously, but I feel that it's just the exact same thing going on in San Francisco. And the problem is, is that when the trait that you have is great is the ability to stay calm in moments that matter a ton or can cause other guys to lose their composure. That's not nothing, but I also think people have such a hard time properly rating where that trait should matter, like, doesn't matter more than arm strength, doesn't matter more than ability to read a defense. Well, kind of depends on the team, right? Yes. If, if Brock Purdy, for all we know, for all we are sorry, not Brock Purdy, Bryce Young, for all we know, he's the calmest guy under pressure in the world will never will truly never know. I don't, I don't think sorry, but we'll never know that about him. He's a 49ers quarterback or I don't know, like, I know they like jettisoned him and injuries and everything. Maybe that's Trey Lance and we'll just never know because I mean Trey Lance hasn't even played in games. Going back to like high school. Yeah, there, I mean, so much of what happens to the NFL. So situation dependent. There's so many quarterbacks that you wonder what they would have looked like in a different situation. Even Aaron Rodgers with this great a careers he had in Green Bay and the Super Bowl that he won. He was one. Yeah. I mean, the, the, the great little sliding doors is, you know, what if he had Bill Belichick? What if like he and Tom Brady just switched seats for a couple of decades? Even if Patrick Mahomes doesn't have Andy Reed. Yeah. Right. Like I know you think I'm saying that just to like denigrate them all. But that is the, that to me is the thing the NFL should count their blessings for every single day that they wake up is that those, those two lined up or got intertwined together. Cause I mean, remember there was talk early on in the KC tenure that it's like, read, he might be kind of get his Super Bowl and get, and then he's, I'm going to give up a decade and a half of greatness. I think not. Probably not. Yeah. So I actually think more than any other sport. It's where a situation matters the most. Like baseball, if you can hit, you'll, you'll find a way in hockey. If you can score generally speaking, you'll find a way basketball, maybe a little bit more just cause of opportunity, but yeah, football far and away the most. Yeah. The San Francisco 49ers made a Super Bowl with Mr. irrelevant. And then one game one, handily over the New York Jets with Mr. relevant at quarterback in an undrafted running back in Jordan, Mason, just tearing it up for 147 yards. Anyways, they're good. That's not a surprise. I was just going to say for the Jets, like if there ever was a time to prove that you are one of these competent teams, it's the schedule they have coming up. Like they got the Titans. Yeah. That's a road game. Then you have the Pats at home on a Thursday night or who? Okay. Want to know? Yeah, I know. And that defense is nothing to sneeze at. No. Like second half a last season. They were the best defense in the NFL. But I think if you're a good offense, or if that's what the Jets consider themselves to be, then you have two good units as opposed to the Patriots. One good, good. Although like the Jets defense didn't exactly, no, cover itself in glory. Yes. No, this is where I am more willing to say, yeah, 49ers are a machine and I think it doesn't matter as much. The McCaffrey's not there. I don't so much do that with the defense because they've taken some hits. I still think that offense is just a machine, especially with them. You know, I know he wasn't as big a factor last night, but like keeping Ayuk and not trading him there and just with the weapons, weapons, weapons everywhere. I have a hard time holding someone to account for not being able to shut down the 49ers. Yeah. A lot of teams held to account. I think that's the way all of them this season will probably play out for a very good does have Cisco 49ers team. So anyways, yeah, Aaron Rodgers is fine, didn't overwhelm one way or the other. At a certain point though, if the wins don't start to accumulate. Because of, I mean, everything building to this point in the season, because there was a loss year last year, because it's like, Aaron Rodgers is 40 and if he's capable of above that. 41 in December. Yeah. If he's capable of average to above average quarterback play here, like how much longer will that continue? I would make the argument that no coach is more on the hot seat as far as a potential in season firing than Robert Salah, right? Like there is, there's some coaches that could be out of a job without some serious deep post season runs. Mike McCarthy is cooked if they don't at least get to, I don't know, an NFC championship game you would think. I do love the theory of Jerry keeping him there strictly is a new shield, but you're not wrong. You're not wrong. Like Matt Eber flu's has a rookie quarterback. First overall selection. He's not going to be fired in season in his first year. I mean, who's the other guy that's going to be fired in season? Those guys that at the end of the year, I mean, Doug Peterson maybe, but he's got the bonafides of being a Super Bowl winning head coach. Robert Salah, the career record for him is now 18 and 33, and yeah, yeah, yeah, Zach Wilson at all. And they won game one without Aaron Rodgers in overtime, he gets about so what? Like where has he proven that he's a capable NFL head coach? And now we got this season where we got the Mike Vrable and we got the Bill Belichick just sitting on the sideline. Doesn't it feel like the perfect scenario for Bill Belichick? And maybe not in season for him to drop in because like, I think if you want Bill Belichick, the whole reason or part, the main reason you want Bill Belichick is that culture setter, hard to like set a culture dropping into a season in the middle of it. But boy, doesn't that, we would finally get the thing that I've been curious about the entirety of Aaron Rodgers career, like what if the greatest head coach of all time Bill Belichick combined with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time? What would that look like? Yeah, it's fascinating. You know, normally I think you're right and that if you're bringing in the culture setter guy, you would want to obviously do it off season, although, and you know, this is unfair as terrible at his job, generally speaking, as Robert Sal has been, it's unfair to link him to like Urban Meyer, but they brought in Doug Peterson and was like, Oh my God, there's an adult who knows what's going on here. Yeah. This is incredible. Now it hasn't exactly led the jags to a path of glory, but I think there are other issues that play there than who exactly is the head coach. I could see that happening. There's apparently been some scuttlebutt of Belichick being linked to the Giants as well. You could easily see them making a change. Now that one's interesting because if you remember, Belichick was the guy who sent the text to Brian Flores being like, Oops, wrong, Brian for Giants now head coach Brian Dable. So I wonder if he has that info because he just has a connection with the front office or there's a familiarity. I mean, Belichick has relationships with every team in the league just having coached as long as he does. You're not wrong, though, in terms of first coach fired, I pulled up the odds. Yeah. He's he's. He's number one season. He was number one. Mike McCarthy. Second. Ebert Flus. Third. You nailed it. Dennis Allen, Nick Sarrier and Brian Gable. Those are the other guys poking or poking around. I mean, I could see Sarrier and I guess during the season as well if they're going to carry over from what we saw at the end of last year, but I mean, small sample. That one pretty. Honestly, just one game and I say, one, Barkley makes all the difference game or one guy. What if they could have just what if when the Giants were cooked last year, we just went European soccer and they took him on like a loan agreement before they were going to buy him as in free agency. The Eagle season would have turned around right there, honestly, just what he did for them. And you're right. One game we shall see. I'm not. I'm not exactly ready to put them all the way back with the 49ers yet, but yeah, that's a completely different kettle of fish. If that's if you if they make a change with the Eagles there, I think that's a completely different cut. Like that's your variable team to me. Yeah. You can see it making sense for Belichick as well, but it's like doesn't for able kind of match that of he's got that machismo. He just did the thing and I don't mean just coached. It's like he just got a team that is miles worse than the Eagles in the Titans to what it could be between the Eagles and Patriots and the Super Bowl. Wouldn't that feel just icky? It would be tough walking past the statues of Doug Peterson and Nick Foles to go into work. I think me personally, but when you have six rings, is it easier? I don't know. Everything should be everything should be easier with with six rings. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if you were a team and I guess it does kind of depend, but like, wouldn't it be able way ahead, a bell check, the age thing. God. Verable, I just, I cannot for the, do you know how many times I had to reread the internet? Not believing that some team didn't come to their senses and hire Mike for able in this last coach. I, every single time, you know, I'm bouncing around. It's the first weekend of NFL football. It's a lot of like, Oh, right. He's here. He's there. This guy's coaching here. I just kept looking for Mike Verable and was dumbfounded when I couldn't find him. Because again, I read it a thousand times. I knew it to be true, but but assumed it would be like, and now coming into, I don't know, AT&T stadium after I have fired Mike McCarthy. Here is Mike Verable. It's just, it floors me that he didn't get scooped up. Yeah. And Verable did a lot with not very much at the quarterback position. Right. It can't be said that Bill Belichick has ever really overachieved with below average or average quarterback. Yes and no. He like the cam Newton season 11 games of Matt Castle is his quarterback and Matt Castle is not a complete. They missed the playoffs that year. Right. I know. God, that was so heartbreaking for me. I'm a Patriots fan going into the great melting pot of a university dorm room where like, you know, it's in Ontario. There's a lot of leaf fans in there. It's like, okay, Jay's pretty common. Although it was in Windsor's, there's a lot to just right there. I am sitting down ready to just bask in Patriots greatness while I just in your face. All of my new friends and university first week sitting down in common room watching him go down to heap. I was as surprised as I've ever been. And then I went, okay, except not because they miss playoffs with 11 wins. Yeah. So that's the other part of this that is always, it's like, can Bill Belichick at 60, whatever years old he is now, could he do that with Matt Castle? Honestly, I think the answer's probably no, but he did. He did do it in just like in the peak of Brady's prime in the peak of Belichick's prime. He did it losing the man at the very start of the season and was able to immediately pivot. Castle proved himself competent as backup secondary guy elsewhere. But God, this why it's the best of eight because there are these little slivers on any side of it. We do it with the Brady of my homes and everything to where you can easily kind of see, see what you want to see. Like it's a bit of a Rorschach test. Yeah, I just, I just viewed this jet situation as the one with the fastest ticking clock here and the team that's more relevant than sorry, Dennis Allen and the saints. Yeah, you don't have staying power in New Orleans. You'll be fired. Yes, I am able and the giants who are like one of two, like hit the giants and the Panthers. I feel like the only two teams that we can definitively say are awful. I was ready to say that with the Patriots and then they'd be, no, they're not and it makes sense going back to last season in the way the defense played. Yeah, it was just weird because they traded like Jude on right before the season was one of their better defensive players, but also we should, we should remember in football, how weird it is that you could just lose an upset, unless it's quarterback, you can kind of paper over just about anything. If you're able to draft well or, you know, develop internally, it's, it's remarkable. Yeah, the, those are, those are far and away the two teams like the Panthers out of playoff contention already. All right. X, X, X $200 million in free agency, it doesn't matter like hey, hope it's worth it. Probably guess what? Probably will be because he's going to sell the team or like his grandchildren wear one thing for the moon or something. Yeah. So we'll see. I mean, the Jets, I'm not out on them just as I was not in on them because they won week one against the good bills team despite losing Aaron Rodgers, speaking of Aaron Rodgers. Yes. The first time, I don't know, was there announcement before yesterday? I didn't see this. I, I didn't see this until you said it to me. Okay. Producer Jeff has a party. He's nodding his head that he was, he was aware of this because, you know, he's, he's a radio producer. So he's got to go everywhere. Literally everywhere. It was every sports story that's ever existed in the second that it happened. Tricks, I think. Yeah. Anyways, so there's the Netflix, Netflix quarterback series, which has various different quarterbacks and they've been struggling to, I guess, find some this year. I don't, I actually haven't paid attention to, to who's on it this year. I watched the first season of it. That was fun. I, I really enjoyed watching Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins on that first season of quarterback. Apparently Aaron Rodgers is so above it all and again, Patrick Mahomes was in the quarterback show on Netflix. This vintage, Aaron Rodgers has his own Netflix documentary, which is coming out in the middle of December. They dropped a trailer for it yesterday, which is just Aaron Rodgers on a private jet. We're like, you can barely hear him. It's like the noise of the jet is so loud and it's him talking about percentages and they throw up like a little graphic about, Oh, he's wrote here and that's a 40% completion and you hold over there 80 and then what do you do? It's just about making those assessments in the moment. And then some other dude who's like, this guy's, he's a genius, brilliant God. So again, understand what trailers are. Okay. Yep. Trailers are a piece of media to entice you to watch either the movie or the show that it might be one of the, the best moments of the, the movie or the show, right? There's oftentimes the trailer gets you so amped up for a movie and then you go into the movie and you're like, Oh, well, that was the one good moment of the movie. So it's quite possible that what they showed, what Netflix released of this Aaron Rodgers documentary is the best part of the show. I don't know who that's for. I honestly have no idea. There's no part of what I just watched in the what minute and a half little snippet of the show that makes me say, well, there's something there like I, I got to set my Apple calendar for December 17th or whatever it is. Yeah. Are they hoping I hate watch it? That's actually the best I could come up with. I, the anytime, anytime documentary starts with athlete and again, hey, doesn't start this way, but it's like it is the way it is perceived or we are meant to perceive it is like, here's the trailer. Here's what we want to show you. It's like the world's most insufferable man in a private plane mumbling about how smart he is backed up by his genius whispering buddy to tell us all that he's a genius. Oh my God. Be more insufferable. I didn't think it could get any worse than when he went to his ayahuasca cave or whatever it was he was doing and then proceeded afterwards to give a quote about this is just one of the general quotes. I don't know if it's the inflammatory quote, but anything in this building that we're not doing to win with winning purpose needs to be reassessed. Everything we do has the half a purpose to bleep and win. If it doesn't have a purpose to do that, it needs to get out of the building. Aaron Rodgers, passcard, please. Yeah, I'll take the passcard. Please don't know. No, seriously, give it to me right now. Mr. Hippocrates, Mr. We got to make sure we're always focused on football and he, he's too good at to your point. He's too good for Peyton Manning's Netflix series, by the way. Yeah. You're like, good. Yeah. It's Peyton Manning. You guys are a lion. I can't stand the guy. But yeah, it's like, I would think Peyton Manning is going to kind of take care of the quarterbacks a little bit in all this. Yeah. God, just he's, he's so insufferable. Go back to your darkness cave, but, but like if I'm being honest, occasionally pop back out to say things like this. I could get him. It's great content. I love it. I love them for that. The timing of the release of this thing is interesting too. It's going to come right between week 15 and week 16. Great. That's insane. Those aren't important weeks in the NFL season. We all know it might not be if the Jets defense looks like it did yesterday. Yeah. Well, the good thing is though, is that it's like, you know, there's not two other teams probably stronger than you and your division that you will be scraping and clawing with hoping to like to get out for a wildcard spot with in the midst of Aaron Rodgers look at me documentary coming out. Yeah. Whatever, like does he hear himself speak? Like, you know, we always have that thing. It's such a thing when you start this business of you'll hear tape of yourself. You go, Oh my God. Do I? That's what I sound like to other people. Like, you know, does someone should do that with him? Just clockwork or install him in a room and make him watch himself talk for however long it takes before he figures it out. No, you're, you know, like you're a hundred percent right, he would love it. Yeah. He probably doesn't love being the only AFC East team without a win after week one jets on one bills, Patriots dolphins, all picking up a win in week one, we'll talk more NFL course later on in the program. But when we come back, blue Jay's lose, is that a good thing? Also, it looks like Nick Robertson going to do the thing that we all expected him to do. Sign as deal as a restricted free agent and be in the mix on the left side for the Toronto Maple Leafs when training camp starts that and more Nax is the fan morning show continues Ben and his Brent Gunning sports at 590 the fan. Good morning show sports at 590 the fan, Ben and his Brent Gunning. So blue Jay's lose yet again, really impacting that national league wildcard picture is the Mets stay in the third and final wildcard spot in the national league by just a single game over the Atlanta Braves. Blue Jay since that 16 game stretch in which they won 10 games highlighted by seven of them coming against all seven in the seven games that they played against the Angels. There are four or nine in the 13 games since against all above 500 opponents. Some of those teams are only barely above 500 now, this is Red Sox, they've fallen on hard times, but they're still in the mix. There was never, I don't think a really honest debate that was ever going to happen this offseason about how good the blue Jay's actually are and how close they actually are and how little the tweaks need to be to get them back to contention. But at least I will say there is like a spin zone opportunity here with the poor record that at least there is just no debate. There's not like past and tired horses, there's not, hey, this, they had an incredible run of power and here they are, there are even 500 against those teams are slightly above and hey, look at the if the blue Jay's had just gone full on youth mode at the beginning of the season. What does it look like? There were 162 games for nine in the 13 games against good teams. All right. That's stamped at home. Yeah. This team stinks. No, it's perfect. It is absolutely perfect, including the fact that some of the guys, including the ones, I think most of us are highest on had their moments against said good teams, right? Like Horowitz had the big game over the weekend against the Braves. Yeah. I think that that's what you want to see there as well is that it's kind of perfectly threading the needle here where, you know, your starters are kind of getting them back a little bit, but not so good that, you know, you're sitting here pulling your hair out about what was going on at the beginning of the year. And again, also not so good to a point where you go, maybe Chris Bassett's actually 31 years ago. No, he's still the age that it says in baseball reference in the back of his baseball card. I think it's perfect that the way this is gone. Now the Vlad of it all is something you continue to want to see there. Oh, is going to come back and obviously there's going to be a lot read into that in terms of how much can you take out of 12 games or 10 games or whatever, whatever it ends up being. But no, they've totally thread the needle perfectly here, including again, like nobody likes losing, but tight game last night, you're right there until the end again, like I know you again, like you blow the game and it's your bull bed and it doesn't shock her been there before. Brian Servin has a pass ball and say, okay, Brian Servin, not going to be here next year. That's right. Not our problem. In the Mets to gain. So yeah, actually, honestly, I didn't really think about it that way until you set it up, but on kind of all accounts there, even again, even yesterday, it's like doesn't go well. But if I told you the Blue Jays had a bullpen game where they allowed three hits, like just like there did other things happen. Of course, the bullpen, it's nine innings. Yeah. I don't know one of those guys like kind of starterish, Yarbrough, whatever, yeah, three hits against a team that's fighting for a playoff spot right now legitimately in one. Yeah. So again, like I think you have to look at that is great, perfect baseball is weird. Yeah, it's it's weird enough that yeah, if the opposite had happened, that that wouldn't have been the most surprising thing in the world, like if they had been pretty good against these above 500 opponents and got themselves closer to 500 that wouldn't have indicated that they're close to anything, but it would have actually put them in a position to be in a conversation for a playoff spot right now. The Minnesota twins have lost four straight. The Tigers who stank the Tigers are no good can confirm Red Sox are no good. Can I give you a stat to back that up? You remember the Blue Jays and their eviscerating of the White Sox? Yeah. Red Sox four and three against them this year. Yes. Everybody else in the American League Central is like just above 500 on the strength of going like 12 and one against the White Sox. So yeah, and the Blue Jays even in the worst part of their season went five and one against the White Sox. Tigers, Red Sox and the Mariners who have the greatest pitching staff on Planet Earth but can't hit. Of all time. Yeah. They're all like not just in the mix. They're right there. They're all three games back in the twins for that final wild card spot in the American League. It's a turtle race. You do not have to be good to make the playoffs. Blue Jays were just so bad that they've eliminated themselves from contention and have been eliminated for months and months and months. It seems. But yeah, they're they need a complete overhaul. They need a guy like Anthony Santander who hit his 40th home run of the season. Man. Okay. Well, actually I'm not going to ask you a question because this is like I would be leading you to the answer here. It's okay. I'm gullible. It's okay. If you want to go for it. We could all agree Anthony Santander would be an amazing app for the Blue Jays and free agency, right? I agree. I would agree with that. Yeah. A little concerning that he's having a career year in his age 30 season. Yeah, in a contract year, but whatever he's always been a guy that's hit for power. Yes. Not 40, but yes. Yeah. This is career high in home runs, but he's always been a guy that is hit for power switch hitter would make a whole lot of sense on this Toronto Blue Jays team. Spencer Horowitz right now has an identical OBS to Anthony Santander. They both have 826 OPS is 21st in all base, not baseball. Now, of course, Spencer Horowitz didn't start the year with the Blue Jays. He does not qualify for like a batting title, but that's and you know what, OPS isn't the be all end all. Nope. It's a pretty good measure though of statistical success you're having offensively. It means something like if you have an identical OPS to a guy that's going to get paid, he's going to make career defining money this off season must be said, you're having a pretty good season. Spencer Horowitz also now has tied a career high in home runs with 12 in only 81 games. He's never done that in the minor leagues. I get 12 as a career high across a minor league season where he played like a hundred and thirteen, a hundred and twenty games. He's never hit more than 12 in a season. Because 12 this season have come with the Toronto Blue Jays. I talked to, we talked to Dan Shulman a couple of weeks ago about hey, what is the bar of somebody that you would acquire in free agency or trade that would force your hand into playing Vlad a little bit more at third base and mixing and matching and maybe he spends more time at DH like a first baseman that is giving you offense. Where is the bar for that Christian Walker? It seems like he belongs, oh, that, that kind of guy, if you can get that guy, okay, you live with the imperfect fit at one point is Spencer Horowitz that guy. So if you think it's concerning that Anthony Satanda is having a career year, but his career year comes off the back of like having proven it at the major league level, how do we feel about a guy showing up and having his career year? Because as you said, that's kind of what's happening from a power standpoint for Horowitz. The other thing I pull up is baseball savant page and maybe this is something that is repeatable. Maybe this is who he is as a hitter, but he is in the 93rd percentile for launch angle sweet spot. So to me, and again, like maybe I'm misreading this, that means not as he's squaring it up perfectly, but all the conversations we're having of Vlad of like, how come he hits the ball so hard and it never goes more than in shop the earth, Horowitz has been the exact opposite of that, he's hitting it at the exact perfect angle every time. Now, again, if that's his swing, I'm sure there's some element of repeatability in there, but if you told me a guy is having a career year and he's in the 93rd percentile on the stat that would I would think lead a long way to hitting a lot of home runs. That's concerning for me. The thing with Horowitz that I keep ended, it's the first base of it all. We talked to Ben Nicholson Smith yesterday, he was kind of, you know, pushing him away from second base. I think there's a fair way to kind of phrase it a bit. I don't know that you want him there. I disagree. This team has, you're clearly going the other way of it's not the defense and pitching team anymore. Be the hitting team. Give me Spencer Horowitz's second base and go find a third baseman if you want. Go find a first baseman and turn Vladie into your third baseman. Go find Anthony Sautan der and have him in a lineup with Spencer Horowitz and Vlad and whatever. That's the way, that's the place I keep coming to on this. Yeah, it seems more and more evident that, that Spencer Horowitz is going to be a part of this Blue Jays lineup and especially if they're facing a righty on opening day next season and it might be more than just found money for a guy that's going to have a high on base percentage high batting average, a guy that maybe has found his power. So he wouldn't be the first guy in baseball history to just like figure it out how to hit home runs. Like Jim Tomi. I remember that the stories about him in the minor leagues was like a line drive gap to gap guy and then, oh, figured out how to hit the ball over the fence turned into a Hall of Famer. I'm not saying Spencer Horowitz is a Hall of Famer, but the idea that, yeah, one of the 45 different Toronto Blue Jays hitting coaches has found something with Spencer Horowitz and a guy that understands that the only thing that had kind of like separated him from being a more everyday major league player was the fact that he plays a position where it's a premium power position and he hadn't really shown the power and he's maybe he's figuring out. He had a career year and an interesting point in his career, but he wouldn't be the first guy to have a career year. No, he wouldn't. You mentioned Tomi there's just like just 600 away. Yeah. 612 for Tomi, 600 or 600 away for Horowitz there. So Leafs training camp, fast approaching, and we get to break down meaningless preseason games and get the conversation about like, hey, do these performances impact lineup decision? How dare you every single time the Leafs put on the sweater that says honor, pride, courage on the inside of the back. It matters immensely. It does say that? How dare you? Yeah, it does. Inside, like right, like here on the collar where it would like be a shirt tag kind of. Yeah. I don't know if the new ones have it, but I know there are several in my closet that have exactly that on it on a pride courage, which if any other team had that on their head, go, come on, get over yourselves, but it's the Leafs and we don't have to. I mean, you say it in my eyes, barely stay in my skull, but okay, very good. According to reports, the Nick Robertson saga, if you want to call it that, is about to come to an end. A lot of courage so far. I got to say a lot of pride in himself. He's a man of honor. Apparently. Kevin in the sweater, he fits. Apparently Craig Ruby sat down with Nick Robertson and assured him that he would be given every opportunity to compete on the left side where, you know, you got a Bobby McMahon and Matthew Nye's and I don't know, Connor Doer, like floating around there. Maybe Max Domey, if he's not playing center, but if he's not then new, who is, then maybe Connor Doer is a playing center and Div Camp is like third lines, anyways, he's been assured that he will have an opportunity to compete at left wing in this Leafs lineup, which should have been obvious to everybody. And that he is, no worries here, he's going to put pen to paper on his restricted free agent deal and return to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 24, 25 season. Let's start with this. This is the most embarrassing trade request, like hold out type thing in the history of all pro sports. That's a little extreme, but like, and I guess we even have recent history of this exact scenario playing itself out with Rasmussen Dean and him reversing course very quickly. He came after a couple of injuries though that like did, that kind of, it solidified the fact that he had a real opportunity to have an increased role on this Maple Leafs blue line. None of that happened for Nick Robertson, but like nothing changed as far as his opportunity on paper. And all of a sudden we have a very quick reversal of tune. Okay, so a couple of things is I need to know what Craig Brubey's arms were doing when he talked to Nick Robertson. It was very important. >> Just stipulating, man. >> Well, no, it was very important in the dialogue with Bitch Marner that they were crossed. Like we took that to mean like, he's being stern or whatever. So I heard they talked, I'd like to hear like posture involved. It's like did Nick Robertson slouch, was he standing up straight? So if we're going to do posture, if we're going to do body language analysis for everything, let's try to stick with that. Now in terms of the, is this embarrassing? No, is it embarrassing the other way if a team says, I don't know, like what happened with the Leafs last year where, hey, Willie, you don't think Willie would have gladly signed at 11.5 or whatever he ended up at on September 1st or the exact same day Austin Matthews did? No. And you know what? He went out there and performed and he got his money. And do people look at it as a capitulation? Yeah. They also look at it as the business and the way things go. This is just the other side of that. Nick Robertson looks at the team, the Brad Shoe Living's building. And is there a world where he can compete and be a part of it? Absolutely. Is there also a world where, I don't know, 20-some-hot NHL teams would probably give him a better opportunity to actually showcase that for himself? Yes, it would. He made the request. The only reason we know about it is because he's a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I guarantee you, these types of things happen in other markets where guys maybe not right publicly. Maybe not right into camp. Yeah. Where it's, hey, buddy, he hasn't signed his QA. What's going on there? Why is this, what's happening? This is all part of the negotiation. Every single time when a team holds a player's feet to the fire and we love them for it, what do we say? It's a business. You got to do what's best for you. It's a business. It's a business. Now, if Nick Robertson comes to camp and is sulking and has more to say about this, then I think we can get into the category of embarrassing. But guess what? I expect Nick Robertson to show up, be a good soldier, talk about how, oh, that's the business. I let my agent handle all that. Happy to be here. Okay, good. Move on. It boggles my mind that in the player empowerment era, and I know when we think of that, it's like LeBron James and not Nick Robertson, but that the player is just using the leverage he has. And then he ran out of it. And guess what? He doesn't want to sit on it. I mean, that's to me, part of the embarrassment is that it's like Nick Robertson's like, yeah, get me out of here. Hey, everybody else. I'm available. I want out of here. And everybody else is like, that's cool, man. That's good for you. That's great. Why don't you become an unrestricted free agent and maybe we'll give you like the veteran minimum or whatever. But like, yeah, we're not bending over backwards to get Nick Robertson and we're not giving up anything to Brad for living to a wider big Robertson. I think it is a massive missed opportunity by somebody in this league to not have not have done something via trade, but just given Nick Robertson $1.25 million for this season, that is in no compensation offer sheet. Yeah. And then just say, okay, like Brad should have been, do you want him at one, two, five or not? Yeah. If you are again, but he couldn't get that. Like he was. No, no. That's embarrassing. That part of it. That part of it, I will say, is embarrassing. That part. But the trade request part to me isn't like, you know, like not to not to turn this it, like, bring Goudro into all this. But like, you think the blue jackets might need a little scoring and you'll top six there. Right. And they wouldn't want or a flyer or again, like, how about the flyers there there, one of these rebuilding teams ducks too many young forwards, probably. But if you're one of these teams that's going nowhere and you're the, I mean, like you brought up the goals per 60 a ton in terms of what he's saying on the Toronto, I believe five on five goals per 60 behind a guy I like to call Austin Matthews. I have heard of both those guys, one of them a little better than the other. But yeah, that's the thing I keep looking at. So that part of it, I think that's fair to say it's embarrassing, but I have not for the life me understood people getting so up in arms about Nick Robertson requesting a trade. It's I will be up in arms with all my leaf brethren. If he comes to camp, but he's soaking and he's whining. Guess what? Ain't going to happen. It's not going to happen. Do you believe there is actually a huge opportunity for him to play on the left side? Like now the max patch already thing's still floating in the window there. Yeah. Yeah. Like potential. I'm wondering it's so it's so such big news and crossed over into Charles Davis's world. It's huge deal for my half captain. Yeah. I think the opportunity that's here for him is kind of predicated on the way the Leafs want to roll things out. I have been a believer not that they'll necessarily do this, but this is the best opportunity they're ever going to have to do this to just truly split up the big four. And if you have a, let's say it's like, Marner and Tavares on your second line. You have Matthews with, I don't know, Domie and Nye's or McMahon or somebody up there. And then you have William Nielander on a third line, but it's a third line that's more meant to drive offense. There's an opportunity for Nick Robertson on a line like that. But if they're going to do a old school NHL top six, bottom six, then there will be opportunity in the fact that yes, Nick Robertson will get games and he will be able to play. But I also, I don't think Nick Robertson's parents or Nick Robertson himself, whoever in the world is supposed to have the most belief in him thinks he's ever going to thrive on a like third line grindy line in the NHL. He's got to be, and is the power play split up? Are there two units? I think those are the two things. I mean, to me, that's the number one thing like, because he wasn't even on power play too, right? No, he like occasionally would get a sniff, but very. He had one power play goal last season. I mean, is it incumbent on the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brad for Living and Craig Barube in a season that will once again, no matter what the record is, result in the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. Okay? Feel pretty safe about that. No. Even though the Atlanta, this is the year that it's like the senators and the Sabres? Okay. You're spoiling the topic for next week. Okay. No, no, no. Leafs will be in the playoffs and I know it's so important. The seating and sure, would it be nice to win the division one year? No, because you don't know if that happens. That's going to be like Sydney Crosby and the Penguins or something coming for vengeance and blood or whatever. No, it doesn't matter. Just get in whatever and then the real season, sure, sure, sure, sure, but like, yeah, there will be time for experimenting. Is it incumbent on the Toronto Maple Leafs if these reports are correct and Nick Robertson signs up and he's a good soldier, that they do give him a more legitimate opportunity, not in the preseason, cares. Nick Robertson is going to play a ton in the preseason. Nick Robertson has had great preseason before, okay? Is it incumbent upon Craig Baroube to put him in a situation where he can succeed, whether that's a top six role or getting some some power play time during the regular season to start the year? No, no, he's not, he's not owed anything. Like I can feel that he is like within his rights to request all this stuff, but let's also not get too crazy with that line of thinking that Nick Robertson is owed anything in this world. But isn't this report suggesting that, hey, Nick Robertson, part of the reason he's come around to this is that, well, one, like nothing's out there for him, and that's the biggest reason. What choice do you have? It's either play for the Toronto Maple Leafs or don't play. And that seems like you're not levy on ballot, and even levy on ballot ruined his career. Not what you want. So like, let's just take it easy here, like you're going to play, so why not play, but part of the reason, or part of the reporting was also that, hey, he's been assured by Craig Baroube, he'll be given an opportunity and for a guy that played 50 plus games in 11, but like no power play time, like, doesn't that indicate that he's going to be given at least at the outset an opportunity? I don't think so. I think Craig Baroube just goes to Nick Robertson. Can you count? And he goes, yeah, like not that high, but pretty good, yeah, I could get up to triple, maybe up to a thousand, take me a while, but just count the bodies on the left side. The opportunity is there just from lack of numbers. But I don't think Craig Baroube, you know, promised him he's going to get X, Y, or Z, or power play time, or in a certain number of games. I think it was one, just also the conversation of if you're Nick Robertson, you understand what you are as a player and Brad your living wants the biggest, baddest meanest hockey team he can have. And Craig Baroube, generally speaking, big, mean, tough hockey teams, I just see him going probably not the team for me and they probably feel the same way. So I think that conversation was just Craig Baroube going, hey, we're not done. We both know what you're thinking here. I'm going to give you a fair shake and maybe believes it, maybe he doesn't. But I think fair shake just means what he's got in camps the last time heading into it. The only reason he didn't break camp last year is because he could go through wafers where he didn't need to go through wafers. Exactly. So here we are. Yeah. I get it. I understand the defensive limitations of the player and also his, his measurable. So I guess I also know his size. But there is a point where it's like, oh, well, the scoring is just overwhelming that it doesn't matter that you're a defensive liability. You just keep shooting it in the net, which he did in like such a, and it was going back and looking. It's not like he had some outlier shooting percentage season. He was like 14%. No, he just shot it a ton when he was on the ice for 11 minutes. That's why if they spread it out across three lines, it makes a lot more sense that he'd have an impact than if it's kind of top six, bottom six. All right. When we come back, Boba Shadd, I guess, is going to play major league baseball games before the end of the season. He's going to start a rehab assignment today with Buffalo, but that's all secondary to him finally speaking out and taken a page out of the book of his buddy, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. saying he wants to be a blue J for the rest of his career. Do you believe him? That and more next is the fan morning show continues, Ben and his friend gunning sports at 590, the fan.
