The Press Box - 'This Week in Ringer Sports' (Dec. 18-22, 2017) (Ep. 407)

Episode Date: December 23, 2017

This Week in Ringer Sports features 'The Bill Simmons Podcast' with Mike Francesa on Jimmy Garoppolo (00:50), 'The Ringer NBA Show' on the Houston Rockets' hot streak (4:06), 'The Ringer NFL Show' on the L.A. Rams' and Jacksonville Jaguars' Super Bowl potential (9:32), 'Ringer University' previewing the Rose Bowl between Oklahoma and Georgia (14:55), 'Ringer FC' on the future of goalkeeping (20:00), and 'Against All Odds With Cousin Sal' on a special holiday gambling prop (23:40). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to this week in Ringer Sports. I'm Liz Kelly bringing you the highlights from the Ringer podcast network. This is actually our last roundup of 2017, but we'll still have some new podcasts going up next week like the Bill Simmons podcast and the Ringer NFL show. On the site, we are almost done with our year in review package, but this week we've added our favorite sports moments of the year, broken into two parts, one for each half of the year, and the best things about the 2017 NFL season so far. And tons more on the Ringer.com. Okay, first up is football. The Jimmy Garoppolo era in San Francisco has been as good as advertised, with the QB going 3 and 0 as a starter. On the Bill Simmons podcast, Bill is joined by the legendary New York sports radio host,

Mike Francesa, and here they discuss the QB's early success. The moment he got the job, I picked them every week. And I'm with you. I couldn't understand this is a league that all we hear every single year since forever is you can't win unless you have a quarterback, and there's never more than 8 to 10 quarterback. and here was one that was available and for whatever reason

either nobody believed or the Patriots didn't want to trade him within the AFC or they were holding on to him because they just didn't believe that 40-year-old Brady would be able to play and once they saw he could play, what do you do at that point? Because you can't franchise Garapolo and pay two quarterbacks

$30 million. And he's just sitting there. I think he hit on all of it, Bill. I think he hit on all of it. I think they waited to see if Tom was still Tom and he is. He's probably going to win the MVP. Yeah. So he's still Tom. They couldn't pay two. And then they sent him they love, which are the low 30s are the Belichick's favorite because he thinks he's getting a one and paying for two.

So he loves those. They'll turn it into something good, but they gave up a special player. They knew it. And this guy turned into magic. I mean, this guy, when he got back on a bus after his first game, the team gave him a standing ovation. I mean, they knew right away what they had. And this guy, to go to a team that's 1 and 10 and win three straight games, is unbelievable.

And if he ever wins this game this week, that will be an amazing achievement because this team matches up so well against his team. If he can be the difference in this game, I'll tell you something. You're looking at something really amazing at the end of the season. To turn it, you don't usually see teams lose as much as they do and then win late.

Minds me a little bit of what Bill did his first year with Bledsoe. They went one, you know, they went, they never won, and then they won their last four games, actually set things up for the second year, you know, winning those last four games of Bledso's first year. Very rare the teams like go one in ten and reel off a bunch of wins. You stole my thunder because I was going to mention that Pats team because it's one of the only times I can ever remember it happening where they were terrible. There was just a shred of hope because Bledso was at that point the prodigy still. Parcells was involved.

He was bringing his dudes in. And when they won those last four, I think they finished the season five and 11. but I felt like they were 12 and 4. I was so excited. It was like, oh my God, we have hope for the first time. It was unbelievable. And you're getting it. Right now, I bet you there's nothing but euphoria in San Francisco.

They know they have, they know they've turned it around, they know they hit it big, they know they're going to be good. And you watch, so many people will pick them next year to go to the playoffs. Another team on a winning streak is the Houston Rockets who have been on a blistering run aided by the return of Chris Paul and have positioned themselves as a frontrunner to challenge the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference. On the Ringer NBA show, Kevin O'Connor and Chris Vernon talk about what has made them so potent.

Listen, it stands to reason that they are having this amazing season. They are this offensive juggernaut, but also their individual players are just littering almost every damn category. It's crazy what they have been able to do. Obviously, I was dead wrong about, is it, you know, Give it time. Let's see if it's going to work.

The ultimate test will obviously be the playoffs. But in terms of regular season and their success, I know you are super high on them. And you had that thing pegged because they are a frigging juggernaut. You know, I think with Houston, right? Last night, they trailed by eight with like 10 minutes to go. And then they went on a 37 to 8 run and won the game by 21 points. And Houston, it seems like every game, you know, during the streak and maybe even

And some of their losses, it seems like, they have a moment where they just, just rip the other team, where they just go on an absolute tear offensively. And then they're in their half court defense with Capella, anchoring with Areza and Tucker on the wing, you know, and Paul up top, really setting the tone for that team where they just cannot be stopped where they're getting stops offensively and then they can't be stopped offensively. that the team just has such upside within games, within possessions, that there again, it's like we said with Kobe, like we said with Kevin Durant, they collectively are always in games. They're always in a game no matter how far they're down. And that makes them a threat, right? That gives them a chance to be the team like the Warriors in the playoffs. Doesn't mean they will, but they have a shot at it.

And they are just an absolute joy to watch. And they're only going to get better, man. Chris Paul and James Hardin and Sullivan played a lot of games. games together. Those guys are still going to learn how to play at a higher level together. When I was watching them last week against Charlotte, I started tweeting some things out because I'm watching the game. They had one point through about three minutes and 40 seconds, almost four minutes into the game. They had one point in the first quarter. And I'm watching. I'm like, wow, this is crazy, right? Like, when was the last time they went four minutes scoring a point,

right? They ended the quarter with 38. 38. And I went and did the quick. math and that means for the last whatever eight minutes of the quarter they scored four point three five points per minute the rest of the way like which is just outrageous so i tweet i tweet this out and i get in this discussion with uh duncan smith who covers the detroit pistons and he he tweets me and he says something to the effect of like we very rarely have seen anything like this offensively we have never seen anything like this. I went and pulled it up. We really haven't. As of this morning, they

have had, through at least the first 29 games, the best offensive team in NBA history. Their offensive rating is 116.1 so far this year. Second is the 86-87 Lakers. Third is the 16-17

Warriors. Fourth, 91-92 Bulls. Fifth, 87-88 Celtics. They're seriously the best offense ever through 29 games, which is just absurd. 52% of their shot attempts are threes. So over half of their shot attempts are threes. They're not only a dominant offense, but they are such a unique offense.

They're so, it's so different watching Houston compared to every other team. And it'll be interesting to see, I mean, obviously teams are shooting threes at a league high rate historically this season with around 34% of shots being. three-pointers. And I wonder, at what point do we see a team kind of replicate exactly what Houston's doing in terms of their shot distribution? Or will Houston always be a light outlier? Or are they kind of the blueprint for how teams will build moving forward? I'm not sure. I mean, it's hard to say. Like, there's been teams historically that shot a lot, a lot more threes compared to the rest of the league, like some early Sonics teams, the Celtics in the early 2000s, obviously the Suns.

there's been other teams that have taken a lot of threes, but Houston is doing it at such an extreme level. I wonder when other teams start just following what they're doing, or is it because, you know, Houston has the ability to do it based on their personnel. But that's, if you want to play that style, you're going to build that way.

I'm interested to see. Okay. This is one I'll tell you when they will. When they're in the finals or they win a title, that's when people will. Otherwise, there will be enough people out there that say, when you get to the highest level, like last year,

where they had this serious refusal to take anything in the mid-range against San Antonio and they ran up against a team that was willing to just totally run them off the line all the time and that's what they dedicated themselves to, that unless they can do it and pull it off at the highest level by playing that way, people will not go all in to replicate.

Going back to the subject of the NFL, The regular season is coming to a close these next few weeks. And the Jacksonville Jaguars and L.A. Rams have surprisingly positioned themselves for a potential deep playoff run. On the Ringer NFL show, Kevin Clark and Robert Mays discussed the two teams' Super Bowl potential. There's two games left in the season. How crazy is it that the Rams and Jags could meet in the Super Bowl? Is that realistic? I mean, it's crazy if you're looking at it through the eyes of September.

But at this point, when you look at this team, would I give the Jaguars? is a longer chance. Yes, only because the Patriots are in their conference. And the Steelers. But why can't them? AJ Boyer and,

yeah, AJ Boyer and Jalen Ramsey are at the very least, two of the top five cornerbacks in the NFL. There are so, I mean, Calais Campbell is

defensive player of the year candidate, full stop. Malich Jackson is really good. I mean, they just, I don't know. I wrote,

I was writing today about the Jaguars defense a little bit on a story that I wrote for the ringer. And, you know, so many times we do the, is it the defensive line or the defensive secondary making the other look good? And in Jacksonville, it is objectively both propping each other up and creating an elite defense. And that's when defense has become really fun. It's the most complete past defense just from a top to bottom personnel

standpoint that I can remember. I think that they're just in recent years. I feel like that the, um, the, the Broncos defenses were right there. You know, I think you could probably make the case that they were better just because the linebackers were really good too. I mean, that's when Marshall was playing extremely well. And then you know, obviously, you have the rushers with Miller and Ware and the guys inside were playing

well too. And they have, they have, they have Malik Jackson on a on a cheap contract. Yeah, they had Malik Jackson inside as well. I just feel like the past rush package for Jacksonville. When they get Campbell, Jackson, and Gokwe and Fahler on the field at the same time, followers played fine. He's by far the worst player in that

group. Like the fact that in Gokwe, might be a better pass rush. He's not bad. He's not bad. And Cleas Campbell is the defense player of the year candidate. I mean, it's unbelievable. And well, Ramsey and boy, or mostly Ramsey on Sunday, actually, they pretty much gave him Hopkins and let him go.

I mean, Hopkins had 80 yards and a touchdown. He also had four catches on 13 targets. I mean, it's ridiculous how well these guys are playing. And then, you know, Barry Church gets the pick. And Barry Church is a good player. The fact that Gibson is just not even talked about. about, even though he's playing extremely well. I mean, that's how you know you have a really good units off the bottom.

Yeah. I mean, the Rams are not as complete of a defense, but they win. If you were saying who is like her to get to the Super Bowl, I would pick them for two reasons. Number one, just the quarterback. And number two is the conference. And those are the only two things I think really differentiate them, except for the fact that the Rams don't have just an incredible shutdown secondary like the Jaguars do.

But I'm just, I'm impressed as hell at both of these teams. And I definitely, definitely can see them, either of them in the Super Bowl. Yeah, absolutely. I think that the Rams have a better chance is because it feels a little more wide open. You know, we'll dig into that a little bit here soon. But I think that overall, you know, their defensive recipe is different. They don't have as completed a team. They also have Wade Phillips.

They also have Aaron Donald. You know, there's one game rucker and just the best defensive coordinator in the NFL. So it's just not this blanket suffocating, you know, 11-man unit, but they do have the pieces to just completely dominate a game, which they did on Sunday. And then you go to the other side of the ball, and it's incredible. I just thank you so much, Sean McVeigh, for breathing life back into Todd Gurley. Like, of everything else you've done, I think that is the most beautiful. And I will hand you your coach of the year award in person. I mean, there's no other person you can give it to at this point. This is one of the greatest

turnarounds in the history of the league, let alone for this season. Offensively it is. Yes. It's the greatest turn around of all time. Yes. The biggest turnaround in the history of football, just anecdotally, I'm not saying I buried Todd Gurley, but when you see a guy like Todd Gurley's struggle in the way he did,

I think he had under four yards per carry last year. I just didn't expect him to ever be Todd freaking Gurley again. Because I just, you know, when running backs start to slow, they typically don't pick it back up, especially when he was that athletic his rookie year. And what they've been able to do, it just goes back to how harmful. And I don't mean that in any way,

except realistically, quite frankly, how harmful Jeff Fisher was to the league. There were three guys on his roster in the summer of 2016 who will be starting playoff games at quarterback this year. And all of them looked bad under him. You have to take away the Jeff Fisher. of the league out of there. And beyond that, I mean, I just,

Sean McVeigh is awesome, full style. I just love him. I love them. What they've done is just, it's unbelievable. I mean, it's literally unbelievable. And obviously, we talk about the effect, there's the personnel has changed everything else, but it's just impossible to overstate the job that he's done

and where it stands in the history of the league. I mean, it's just, this is something monumental that we've been able to watch. We're also getting close to the college football players. have semi-final matchups. They're about a week away. And on Ringer University, Ben Glickman and Roger Sherman break down the Rose Bowl matchup between number two, Oklahoma,

and number three, Georgia. The biggest matchup you might say in this game is like, Oklahoma's offense versus Georgia's defense, which is boring. But we're going to talk about that soon. Really, it's going to be like whether Baker Mayfield's, like, ego and confidence and ability to get upset at things can overtake, like, one of the best defenses of the country. Yeah, well, that's what he did against Ohio State.

That's what he did against TCU. When Baker Mayfield gets angry, he just becomes in sort of like an all-encompassing force. Grows 500 feet, fire spits out of his headband. Look, if you would have watched college football this year, you know everything that Roger is saying. It's not hyperbole, but actually factually correct. It's good stuff. So let's actually get into it, though. So you're excited about the stylistic clash.

I'm pumped just to see if Baker can take that next step towards becoming. Yeah, towards baking. Georgia in this game. But I figure it does make sense for us to sort of go one side of the ball together, see really getting down into the nitty gritty of this. Who really has the edge? So let's start with Oklahoma. We're talking about Baker Mayfield. What do you think is the real key when Oklahoma has the ball sort of in determining whether the Sooners are going to be successful or not? So, I mean, again, it's just an awesome stylistic matchup because you've got Oklahoma definitely

the best passing game in the country, number one, in passing S&P. plus, Georgia, possibly the best passing defense in the country. They're number two in yards per game allowed. They're allowing 158 yards per game and number two in the nation in yards per attempt, just 5.6 yards per attempt. So they shut down every passing game they've really faced. But then again, they are in the SEC. They haven't really played a team that throws the ball this much.

Really, their only game against a team in the top 50 of yards per game of passing yards for game was against Missouri. And Drew Locke actually looked pretty good in that game for Missouri. He threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns on just 23 attempts. So

you've got to wonder whether Georgia's passing defense has been so good because it's so great and they have all of the things you need to be a great passing defense or whether it's because they haven't been playing the type of team that throws the ball like Oklahoma does.

You know, you talk about all the exceptional defenders on Georgia's defense like Roquan Smith, but Oklahoma is going to try and make it so that no one player can stop them. They're going to, you know, they have a bunch of good receivers. They have the best tight end in college football on Mark Andrews. They throw to their running backs. They've got everything going all across the field on offense, and I wonder if Georgia can stop them. Genuinely curious. Yeah, no, I'm fascinated by the same thing. George's past defense is really, really interesting to me.

For the same reason that you said, they rank at the top of every category, but they haven't played that many good quarterback. So I actually went through, I like doing this, I actually went through and wrote down every quarterback that they've played so far. So I'm just going to rattle these off real quick for you. The best one is probably Locker Stidham. I think those are really, so let me just get into it. Yeah, sure.

Appalachian States, Taylor Lamb, Notre Dame's Brandon Wimbush. Samford's Devlin Hodges, Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald, Tennessee's Quentin Dormody, Vanderbilt's Kyle Shermer, Missouri's Drew Locke, Florida's Felipe Franks, South Carolina's Jake Bentley, Florida's offense, just the mention of it will make Roger laugh. Auburn's Jared Stidham, Kentucky, Stephen Johnson, and Georgia Tech, which doesn't pass the ball, but Take Juan Marshall. And that's it, and then Siddom again in the SEC Championship game. I went through that.

I would say that they've played four good college QBs, Wimbush, Nick Fitzgerald, Stidham, and Drew Locke. But only two of those are really good passing quarterbacks. Wimbush is primarily a runner and Fitzgerald is primarily a runner. But I think Notre Dame did throw the ball a lot in that game, though, right? I would need to see the stats. I haven't had a chance to dig fully back into that one. But against Locke and Stidham, Locke through four touchdowns, like you mentioned. Stidham, the first game they played through for three touchdowns and no picks.

And the other thing that these guys had in common is they hit on a lot of big plays. Lock through two different 63-yard touchdowns in that game against Georgia. Missouri's defense is not super impressive, so Georgia rolled past them despite the fact that locked through for four touchdowns. Stidham, all three of his touchdown passes in the game that Auburn beat Georgia, all went for longer than 30 yards. So Georgia against these upper-tier quarterbacks has been susceptible to the big play. And like you said, I am really, really curious to see now they're going against a quarterback who's better at making big plays than anybody else in the nation. And it's, yeah, it's just a fascinating matchup. Now switching over to soccer, we've got Ringer FC this week, where Ryan O'Hanlon, Micah Peters, and Donnie Kwok talked to former professional goalkeeper, David Priest, about the future of goalkeeping.

In the NBA, I don't know if you follow it at all, big men centers have started shooting three-pointers to make themselves more useful. they used to sort of just rebound and play near the hoop, but now they started shooting threes. And every sort of kid that plays basketball who's talented and is over seven feet, over six, six, eight, they now grow up shooting threes in a way that they never would have done that 15 years ago. Do you see a kind of a similar shift happening with keepers where like your 12-year-old keeper is not only just, you know,

working on his reactions and his positioning and his claiming of crosses, but also working on his distribution. Do you think this is a thing we're going to sort of see take over the goalkeeping position as we go forward? Yeah, I think, like I said, to start, it's taken far too long and far longer than I ever thought for keepers to adapt the way they have. You see them now. I mean, Manuel Noyes probably is there. He certainly wasn't the first goalkeeper to play like this. There's been history's littered with goalkeepers who are comfortable with the ball, who used to be outfield players.

but the way the goalkeeping is coached now you find a lot of sessions now handling has become a smaller percentage of that shot stopping has become a smaller percentage of that and it is to do with you know you've got to play with your feet a hell of a lot more and I think certainly when I played for four years in Denmark and as soon as I went over there

I was I was introduced to all of the passing drills, all of the keepball drills that we did, all the possession drills. And it helped me a hell of a lot. Just because it's just through repetition, you're doing it all the time. And I think it's now that the keepers who are coming through now, they've had that from a young age and they're more comfortable with the ball. And as much as it is about technique and passing and the range of passing, it's about

mentality as well. Most goalkeepers of any level, if you give them a ball and the training pitch, they will more or less be able to find passes like that. But it's when you're under pressure and you've got the bravery and the right mentality to be able to do that and stay calm and pick these passes out under pressure. That's probably what more than anything, more than any of his skills or his talent, it's down to his mentality the way he is. Right, because I mean like you, from that vantage point,

you had the entire game in front of you, but you're also the last line of defense. Yeah. A lot of people When they're under pressure Your head goes down You focus on the ball You know the best players play with their head up And they can see everything

And it's a bit of cliche Saying that time slows down for them Because they move the ball Manipulate the ball To places where It takes further for the opposition To come and close you down And gives you a little bit more time

But you keep your head up And you can see those options So it's It is about him being more like an extra outfield play. And he's kind of said he used to play left back. I mean, it's not an unusual thing for goal keeps the start as outfield players at all. But certainly gives them advantage.

We're ending this week's roundup on a very festive note before we wrap up for the holidays in a Christmas themed clip from Against All Odds. In our last segment, Cousin Sal and the degenerate trifected debate, a fictional gambling prop, including the legendary Mariah Carey Christmas jingle. Here's one. This will put you in the holiday spirit. Combined points scored in every bowl game from now until the end versus the number of times you will hear Mariah carries all I want for Christmas between now and 26th of December. Mariah minus three and a half.

Harry, you know this song by heart. You took a picture of it on the radio on here and you sent it to us. What are you saying? You're going with Mariah? Listen, I know this is sort of quite the facetious type of wager going on here at Mariah minus three and a half. But, and what is it going to be? I think it's like seven bowl games. And if you go 50 points a game for 50 times.

No, no, not seven. I don't take the Mariah minus the three. It's not seven. It's every bowl game. There's probably 30 left, right? Every bowl game. Okay. I'll still take the over.

I'll still take Mariah minus the three and a half. Yeah. Because, to be honest, I love that song. I love the song. I play it everywhere. It's on like nine different serious radio stations currently. When it's on, Tate, I just crank up the volume. I put down the windows.

I said to start. I just, I just, I just, I just, I just, just go crazy for the time lately. Also, not exaggerating, not lying, when I go to the gym, and I'm in the steam room sweating out what I can do to try to lose weight, and nobody's in there, oh, I crank it in there and I sing to it in the steam room by myself. What do you mean? At the gym? Miami minus three and a half all day long.

At the gym, you crank this? At the gym, I crank it in the steam room when nobody's in there. Do you have an iPod or something, or you just, they have... Yeah. Oh, okay. All right, interesting. On my phone, I just crank the music, it's fine. Are you worried someone else...

Is your iPhone still working, Harry? That's a lot of heat there. It's okay. It's all right. If it's a break, I'll get Ken to buy me a new one. Tade, I need to remind you, you wagered on this man. in an athletic event. I know.

He's singing Mariah. Sting who let you know. Singing Mariah Carrey Carrey to himself. All right, Parley, Kid, what do you say, Mariah, or points scored in the bowl games? Now, this is an interesting one. I had to really do the math.

We have 33 bowl games left. 1,860 points are going to be scored in these bowl games. I think it depends on what we talk about, like, you know, hearing this song. I think I hear this song in my head, like, all day long at this time of the year. That counts. And it just kind of, it's on repeat, on repeat, on repeat. The only Christmas song I'll really listen to from start to finish is the little drummer boy by Bing Crosby.

That's my personal favorite. This one, if I do hear it, I'm turning it off. But it does come up all the time. And so, you know, Mariah Carey went to our rival high school. Oh, that's right. You remember that Harborfield High School here on Long Island. Didn't your dad teacher? Right.

I mean, there were rumors that I used to date her. That was totally false. Remember that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Forget about that, but she was, you know, she went to our rival high school here. But I, so I think, well, this is a tough one, Sal, because really we do hear this song hundreds and hundreds of times. But I'm going to go with the real action here. There's going to just be too many points scored in these ball games. These bowl games are going over from here on out. Take the ball games, more points. All right. I think you just issued a challenge. to your girlfriend, Mariah.

Brother Bride, do you agree with the Parley Kid? We have it split so far. Yeah, I guess I agree with them. But, you know, I'm not going out of my way to listen to this. I'm probably Scrooge around here. I avoid Christmas songs at all costs. If it comes in on the radio, even if I'm with my daughters, like I'll just shut the music off.

I'll go to, like, a sports station. I know I'm so bad. But even so, even when I do that, you can't escape it. It's on commercials. It's just everywhere. I feel like I'm walking in the city and I hear this music. So, I mean, there is still a good chance I could hear this 350 times a day over the next six days. But I'll go with the slight under on this one.

But like Harry was saying before, we know he's listening and working out to this song every day. That's not a lie. That is not a lie. It actually is very, yeah, that's 100% embarrassing. But it's true. This is double you. Wow. Wow. You're out.

That was a good one, Harry. That was a good one, Harry. I don't know. In Harry's defense, you try going to a public sauna and not hearing this song. It just doesn't happen. No, Parley, kid, I'm with you. More Bing Crosby, more Nat King Cole, Springsteen, Santa Claus is coming in town. I'll even take a little wham now and then.

I don't care. How about do they know it's Christmas time? You know, tonight, thank God. it's them instead of you who was stuck with the family singing along with Mariah Carey for the last 15 days. She's holding a gun to every program director's head. I'm taking Mariah, 1863 and a half spins that you'll hear between now and December 26. Okay, that is the roundup for this week and for the year. You can find the full-length versions of all these podcasts and, of course, subscribe at the ringer.com slash podcasts.

Thank you all for listening to this and all of our other content and I'll be back the first week of January. You know,