Speaker 1: All start to you want to present off the bench
with Jacob Hester and T Bob Abert. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah, off the bench with Jacob Hester and T
Bob aber.
Speaker 2: I got to come off the pitch.
Speaker 1: Now here's Jacob Hester and T Bob a Bear.
Speaker 3: Well it's not Jacob Hester or T Bob a Bear.
Taylor Sharp sitting in the host chair, Matthew Musso on audio,
Cassie on video, and uh, here's something fun to keep
track of today since everyone is off. I am in
the host chair. Musso audio producing for AFR. Muso in
the host chair, I am audio producing. So we're flip
flopping a little bit here today, and you know we're
both in for a long one. Cassie here as well.
How's everybody doing this morning?
Speaker 4: That's what I was about to say. Cassie's gonna be
in the video chair for both of those shows.
Speaker 5: Oh you're a video for al Far Oh yeah, akay,
Well look at us, we're all we're all pulling.
Speaker 4: We're holding down the entire station today, literally holding down
the entire entire station.
Speaker 5: I get here this morning.
Speaker 3: Power went out over the week in because well, power
goes out here whenever there's a moderate breeze, so I'm
assuming the storm Saturday night took the power out.
Speaker 5: Every computer had to be reset it.
Speaker 3: Guys, we're starting to show off wonderfully, but look, we're
going to have a good time. All of us are
going to be running on fumes on AFR, so be
sure to tune in there.
Speaker 5: Bringing the interergy yeah, because I'm sure that.
Speaker 3: Show is going to be way more interesting than this one.
Want to kind of layout what we're gonna do today.
We're obviously gonna talk Saints Raiders. Harold Perkins announced his
decision on his future. He did that on Friday about
right at the time AFR was about to start. I
want to talk NFL head coaching changes, possible openings, where
the Saints rank on that. At eight o'clock, we're gonna
talk LSU versus Baylor. We're gonna give a final look
at the Texas Bowl because as you know, that game
is occurring tomorrow.
Speaker 5: We're gonna have Zach Naggy.
Speaker 3: He's gonna hop one talk the latest with ls Portal News,
me and Musso. We're gonna kind of pick the College
Football Playoff Round two games. Is our final look at
CFP round two LSU basketball men's and women's both got
big wins yesterday, weekend winners.
Speaker 5: At nine am, Devin.
Speaker 3: Snow is gonna hop on and tell us why the
Saints and Pelicans stink so bad. Then we're gonna close
this thing out as we do every day with ask
the bench. As I mentioned, I do wanna, I do
want to start here with Saints and Raiders. Uh so,
why don't we go ahead and get this thing started.
Speaker 1: It's time to get to work courtesy of Tiger Labor
and Staffing where they can help take care of screening, training,
pay roll and more. Now for starters.
Speaker 3: All right, So Saints and Raiders played yesterday and you
know you looked at this and well, to be quite frank,
it was a battle of NFL bottom feeders this year.
The Saints came into the game five and ten. The
Raiders came into the game just three and twelve. Game
obviously in New Orleans, and it is a game that
everyone thought, Hey, if the Saints are going to win
one the rest of this season, the Raiders game is
going to be it. Because you got a Bucks team
coming up that are playing as good as anybody in
the NFL. If the Raiders coming in. They've went from
Gardner Minshew to Aid and O'Connell to Desmond Redder, now
back to Aid and O'Connell, and really, outside of brock Bowers,
they haven't had a ton of weapons to work with
all season. Well, your final score yesterday the Las Vegas
Raiders twenty five the New Orleans Saints ten, which, first off,
the Raiders have now won back to bad games. They
really don't want that number one overall pick. The Giants
apparently don't either. We'll get into that a little bit
later on. But it's a game that you really thought
the Saints had a shot at getting. But what ultimately happened, well,
it's the same problems that have haunted this team all
year long came back to bite you in this game.
You couldn't stop the run. And when I mean you
couldn't stop the run, I mean a mere Abdullah, the
Raiders running back he played in his one hundred and
forty first NFL game yesterday, had never had a hundred
yard game.
Speaker 5: Well, he had never played the Saints defense.
Speaker 3: Because he finally got to the century mark for the
first time in his NFL career. To show you again
how bad that run defense was. The Raiders had not
had a hundred yard rusher all season. Again, thanks to
the Saints, they accomplished that feet as well.
Speaker 5: It really wasn't Brock Bowers.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, Brock out a solid game because
he's too good of an athlete to completely shut down.
He had seven for seventy seven yards. Like you did
about as good as you could on Brock Powers, you
just couldn't stop the run. To show you just how
bad it was, the Raiders ran for one hundred and
fifty six yards. The Saints ran for eighty one, and
the Saints are the ones that got out to the
early lead. You saw the trick play. It was the
pitch to Kendre, the pass back to Spencer Rattler. He
throws it all the way down the field to Foster Moro,
which if there's a bright spot in this game, it
probably is Foster Moro. He had a heck of a game.
He's had a few of those here down the stretch.
But you were also horrendous on third down defense. Now
you look at it and you can say, okay, well,
you know the Raiders were ten of eighteen on third down,
a little over fifty percent. They're one of the worst
teams in the league coming into this game on third
down efficiency, and it was third and eight, third and nine,
third and twelves and you could not get off the field.
On the flip side of things, the Saints one for
ten on third down conversions, So you couldn't run the ball,
you couldn't stop the run. You were awful on third down,
and you could not convert on third down. That is
a recipe for disaster. And when you watch the game,
you could just feel it. There was no jews in
this team. I mentioned they got out to the seven
to nothing lead, but what ultimately happened. The Raiders are
going a little bit of a run. They make it
thirteen sep I know that if you were sitting at
home like me, you saw thirteen to seven and you said, well,
that's the ball game. The Saints have no shot at
coming back in this game. And that's ultimately what happened. Now,
the Saints left a lot out there. They had some
drop passes, they had a lot of penalties, but blocking
remains a huge issue for you. Spencer Ratler was under
duress all day long, and we'll get to him just
a second and It wasn't just your pass blocket. You
couldn't run block, you couldn't pass block. And this is
against a raiders of defense that I mean is kind
of middle of the road. They're kind of a pedestrian defense.
And you looked completely lost. Now, sure you had only
udo in there for Lucas Patrick, But does Lucas Patrick,
of all people, make a huge difference in this game.
Speaker 5: I don't think he does. Then we get to the
drop passes.
Speaker 3: Spencer Rattler honestly played about as well as he could
have under these circumstances, even when he did get out
of the pocket, even when he escaped pressure. You got
to do a better job of catching the ball. Now
you have no names out there receiver. I mean me
and Musso were basically the fourth receivers for this team.
No Chris Olave, no Rashi Chiheed.
Speaker 5: We know all that.
Speaker 3: Cedric Wilson's been a huge disappointment this year. You don't
have anybody to throw the ball to. And that's why
I think Spencer Ratler was probably as good as he
could have been under these circumstances. I looked at his
stats in the first half and I was a little
bit blown away. He went ten of twelve for one
hundred and forty six yards a touchdown, no turnovers. Now,
that last pass of the first half was an intentional throwaway.
He was rolling out trying to find something and threw
it out of the back of the end zone to
give GROUPY a chance to come in there and kick
the field goal to make it thirteen ten at halftime,
which he ultimately did. So you have one incompletion, one throwaway,
you're ten of twelve fo one hundred and forty six
yards in a touchdown, and it's a three point game
in halftime, and you're thinking, okay, you started out hot
with seven nothing, getting the long touchdown on one of
your earlier drives. The Raiders they knocked out thirteen points
in a row. But you come right back, You cut
into that deficit before halftime, and you're at home, you
have the home crowd behind you.
Speaker 5: It was a complete one to eighty. In the second half.
Speaker 3: Ratler really struggled, but again the Raiders defense stiphened up right.
They they got after him a lot more in that
second half. The Raiders sacked Spence Ratler four times.
Speaker 5: In that game.
Speaker 3: You sacked eight and O'Connell one time in that game,
you made aid and O'Connell look like a competent NFL
starting quarterback, which he most certainly is not. Eight and
O'Connell in this game twenty of thirty five two and
forty two yards and two touchdowns, and even when you
got pressure on him, he was able to escape it.
Speaker 5: You didn't tackle well.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's there's not a whole lot of positives
to come out of this game. If you do have
some positives, here they are again. I thought Spencer Rattler
did about as good as he could under these particular
circumstances because he was under duress all game. His receivers
did not bail him out. And there's been a lot
of discussion on Spencer Rattler. Can he be the quarterback
of the future?
Speaker 5: Can he not be?
Speaker 3: At times we've seen him make great plays. At times
we've seen some stinkers. But just think about what he
has to work with right now. You're starting running back,
even though I question whether he should be. Is Kendre Miller.
You spent a third round draft pick on Kendre Miller.
He is the highest draft pick of any of your
skill positions. In terms of players you drafted, you didn't
draft Moro Tipton, wasn't drafted Cedric Wilson, you didn't draft
Spencer Rattler himself was lower than a third round pick.
Your best skill position guy in terms of draft capital
you invested in. Is Kendre Miller as a third round pick?
What rookie quarterback is going to thrive under that system
when there's absolutely no weapons to throw to. You got
your third string running back in there, and you have
a makeshift offensive line in front of you that's frankly
not that good even when they're fully healthy. I don't
put a lot of the blame on Spencer Ratler. Did
he make some bone headed throws? Sure he did. He's
a rookie that was drafted late in the draft that
has had to play a lot more than you thought
he would with no weapons around it.
Speaker 5: Did he make some nice throws? He did.
Speaker 3: He made some flash players where you're like, Okay, maybe
there's a little something here. I'll go back to the
Foster Moro touchdown. If you watch that, they pitched to
Kendre Miller to the right, Miller tosses it back left.
Speaker 5: Sus Spencer rattler.
Speaker 3: He's got Juwan Johnson on a crossing out right there
for about a twenty yard game. But Rawtler wants to
go for the juggler. He wants to take that long pass.
Not many guys out there can make that throw across
the field into the corner of the end zone. He
dropped it into the bucket to Foster Mora, who was
an excellent throw. It's probably the best throw I've seen
him make since he was a rookie. So you have
that going for you. He had the late interception in
that game, but he was just trying to make a
play and at that point it didn't really matter because
you're down by fourteen just under three minutes to go,
and your defense can't stop him anyways. At that point,
that didn't matter. Another positive that I want to point out,
and if you look at the stat sheet, he didn't
light up the stat sheet or anything like that. But
Clyde Edwards Laira got into the game. He had three
carries in this game for or He had five carries
for twenty yards. We average four yards per carre. And
this is a guy that has been with your organization
for less than two weeks. Now, and it's awful to
say five carries for twenty yards is by far the
best of any of your running backs. He had five
for twelve. Jamal Williams said he had five for twenty.
Jamal Williams two for twelve. Kendre Miller just three carries
for three yards, which he was supposed to take advantage
of this opportunity, right. Alvin Kamara has been down for
two weeks. All you heard Kendre Miller say was well,
you know, I wasn't really heard. It was Dennis Allen
keeping me out. Okay, here's your shot. Go take advantage
of it, Go grab this job. He has not done that.
He's looked really bad in two games as that bell
call running back. He was ultimately replaced late in the
game where they were just rolling with Jamal Williams because
Clyde probably doesn't fully know the playbook yet. Jamal Williams,
you're most trusted back right now because Kendre Miller's just
not making it happen for you. But clad edwit Zilarira
got out there five carries twenty yards. He had a
nine yard run in the first quarter where he looked
really strong. Because this is a guy like a first
round pick. He's had a thousand yards rushing in this league.
Speaker 5: But what happened.
Speaker 3: Injuries piled up. Then a guy by the name of
Isaiah Pacheco gets you drafted by the Chiefs, really takes
over that job from Clyad Edward Hilaira. And then Hilaire
had been out all this year. You know, he dealt
with PTSD because of the issue that happened here in
Ben Rouge back in twenty nineteen, right before the twenty
nineteen season occurred. Clyde's been through it as far as injuries,
as far as mental health, as far as losing his
starting job. He's back here in Louisiana, in New Orleans,
and maybe that's kind of the one thing I want
to watch going forward. In this last game with the Bucks,
I don't think you have a shot of beating the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are playing a lot better than
they were when you first met, and you were playing
a lot worse than when you guys first met. Get
Clyde edit zilair involved a little bit. Can you bring
him back again?
Speaker 5: I get it.
Speaker 3: You gave Alvin Kamara's money. He's been excellent he's getting
a little older. KENDRAI Miller certainly doesn't look like the answer.
Clyde editds Hlair can be a cheap option for this
team moving forward. Give him a one year deal next year,
see what happens. Give him a proven deal if nothing else,
he could be a solid back to spell Alvin Kamara,
who has a lot of wear and tear on that
body right now. Also, the free publicity that LSU got
in this game. Me and Musso, we're talking about it
before we came on. Are Foster Moro had a really
good game, three for forty seven and that thirty yard
touchdown catch. Obviously, Clyde Edwards, Hilaireir got in there. Calevon
Chason had a sack. Terrace Marshall had a big catch.
He was a twenty eight yarder down the sidelines. He
high pointed the football. He did a really nice job
on that cause I would have liked to have seen
them target him a little bit more.
Speaker 6: So.
Speaker 3: LSU got a lot of free publicity. Spencer Ratler he
wasn't terrible, and Clyde Edwards h Laiir got in there.
There might be something there for the future. Outside of that,
there's not a whole lot you could take away from
this game. I think that you always talk about the
interim bomp, right, and you saw it for the first
three weeks. Darren Rizzy came in, he started winning some games.
Everybody said, oh, well, it's already better than Dennis Allen.
The interim bump has gone. This team his regress now
the past two or three weeks, that spark you had
from Darren Rizzy, he's gone. I don't see how he
has retained this offseason.
Speaker 5: I didn't think so.
Speaker 3: After the loss to the Packers, the thirty four to
nothing blowout on Monday Night football, then you lose to
a Raiders team at home who you really should have beaten.
I mean, that was the one win you had left
on your season. I mean, in my opinion, they don't
have a shot against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They're probably
going to finish the season five and twelve. I don't
see how Darren Rizzy gets the full time job. But
that's just a few positives in a season filled with
a lot of negatives for the New Orleans Saint Sorry,
we're gonna take a quick time out when we get back.
Harold Perkins made an announcement on Friday about what he
plans to do with his future.
Speaker 5: Is he coming back to bad Rouge? Is he moving on?
Speaker 3: We'll talk about that next here on Off the Bench
one of four five ESPN Off the.
Speaker 6: Bench Go to All Star Toyota of Baton Rouge dot com.
All Star Toyota of Baton Rouge your one stop Bakler's shop.
You need to buy new You want a Toyota ser
u veicle where you still get excellent warranty.
Speaker 5: You need a rinse?
Speaker 2: What about Lee Scene? I never thought it would leave,
you know, and then I went in there and I
had a number. So just is the budgets that I
can afford right now? I had a Polation Camry for
three years and it was great. It was great andn't
even better. I upgraded to a Seeing Him minivan. If
you have not seen the See Him minivan, guys, you need.
Speaker 6: To so whatever it is though, you want to truck, hybrid, anything,
go to All Star Toyota Baton Rouge today.
Speaker 7: If you're going to watch the Tigers play in College
Station in Columbia and Fayetteville in Gainesville, I don't know
why you qu Gainville, but if you did, you could
rin a Toyota for that trip, something bigger than you
currently have, something smaller, something better on gas mileage.
Speaker 5: Whatever it is, they have it available.
Speaker 7: Check it out online all Star Toyota vanirugs dot com.
Speaker 8: Welcome back to the best morning.
Speaker 1: Sports show around sorta, it's Off the Bench with Hester
and t Bob.
Speaker 3: All Right, Welcome back into a Monday edition of Off
the Bench. Taylor Sharp sitting in the host chair for
Jacob Vester and Taba Bay Bear or Jake.
Speaker 5: Probably on a plane right now.
Speaker 3: He's headed out to cover the college football Round two
playoff games. I'm not sure which one he's covering this weekend,
but he will be there. And t Bob, well, if
I told you, i'd be lying to I don't know
where the hell Tybob is, but he's not here. We
are here. Instead, I tease the going into break a
little bit. Harold Perkins has made his decision on what
he wants to do for his football future, and on Friday,
about three o'clock in the afternoon, he announced that he
is actually returning to LSU for the twenty twenty five season.
This makes a lot of sense to me because if
you look at his college career, where realistically would Harold
Perkins get drafted. Not only is he coming off of
a major injury, but he's kind of a guy without
a position right now, if that makes sense. Now, we
all saw him in twenty twenty one, right it is
his freshman year. I mean he just or twenty twenty two,
he burst onto the scene. He had seven and a
half sacks, seventy two tackles, he had an interception, and
people thought, well, this is the best defensive player in
college football.
Speaker 5: Now in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: Three, moved him more towards that middle linebacker spot, and
there was there was mixed results, right. We saw some things,
we saw some things we obviously did not like, and
then they kind of moved him back to the edge again.
And a lot of people will say, oh, he was
terrible in twenty twenty three. If you look at the numbers,
seventy two tackles in twenty twenty two, seventy three and
twenty twenty five, same number of tackles for a loss
with thirteen one interception. Each year, you'd seven and a
half sacks as a freshman. You had five and a
half sacks as a sophomore. So once you moved him
back to that edge position. His numbers in twenty three
are really similar to what they were in twenty two.
It's just when you saw him at linebacker, you could
tell that he was out of place. Then this season
you wanted to try him in that star role, right,
the role that Major Burns ultimately took over. We really
only saw him there for one full game, and before
he really got started, he has the injury. He's done
for the season. The reason I mentioned Isaiah Simmons and
why this makes sense for Harold Perkins to come back.
If you remember Isaiah Simmons, he was still out on
that those Clemson Dabbo teams that won the national titles,
and everybody said, hey, he can play linebacker, he can
play safety, he could rush off the edge. It doesn't
matter where this guy plays. He could make an impact.
You look at Isaiah Simmons, He's been in the league
for five seasons now. In twenty twenty one with Arizona
Cardinals probably his best year. He had one hundred and
five tackles, he had four tackles for a loss, and
he had four sacks. Then the next season he followed
it up ninety nine tackles five tackles for a loss
two sacks, So like, Okay, he's got a little bit going.
He's never had over fifty four sacks any of the
other three years that he's played. And the reason why
is he's kind of in that tweiner role a lot
like a Harold Perkins. Perkins needs to find one position
and stick to it. Now, a lot of people want
to put him back on the edge. When I get it.
Freshman year, he was excellent. He was your edge thresher.
Two problems. One, he got schemed out of games. Me
and Moose were literally just talking about this during break.
As good as he was in the Arkansas game, the
very next week, you saw Alabama say, okay, you're on
the left side of the defense. We're running all of
our plays to the right. Oh you're lining up on
the right. Well, we're just gonna go to the left.
And they completely schemed him out of games, and essentially
he was a non factor, and he disappeared in those
big ball games with teams that knew how to scheme around.
It's part of the reason you moved him to inside.
You said, hey, if he's in the middle of the defense,
it's harder to scheme around him, which on paper is
a good thought. He just never really looked comfortable at
that puremidle linebacker spot. So where can he play this year? Again,
a lot of people say edge, but you're also really
good at edge. All of a sudden, sure, you lose Swinson,
you lose Saveon Jones, you lose to Shaan Womack, who's
going to old Miss Gabriel Releaford showed a lot of
flashes as a true freshman. Then you signed Jack Piebar,
and you signed Patrick Paydon, and you signed Jamari Butler
from Nebraska. All of a sudden, you have four guys
that you believe could make a big, big impact on
this team at edge Rusher. I'm not saying don't blitz Perkins,
but there are bigger needs left to fill that I
think Perkins can help you, mainly the star position. A
report came out this weekend that reportedly Major Burns is
not with the team in Houston, so it doesn't look
like he's going to play in the bowl game.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 3: Obviously, Harrol Perkins is not going to help you in
the bowl game, but there's a spot up for grabs
at the star position. You would initially think JV and Toviano,
But just a few weeks ago Brian Kelly said, hey,
we have moved JV and Toviano to safety permanently. I
think that's his more natural position. Let him learn that
position instead of moving him to safety and then moving
him back to nickel. We saw it with Say Dryan. Now, look,
Say Dryan, A lot of people say a lot of
different things about him. But I gave sagea pass up
until this year because Sadryan came to LSU as a
five star safety out of necessity. He made him play
nickel for two years. Then you actually had him moved
to corner. He had never really played his true position
until this season. Now we finally saw it. There were
some mixed results, But what would have happened if SA
Dryan would have played safety from the jump? I like
Harrold Perkins ad Nickel, not only because we had seen
him play there and he showed flashes. There's a big
hole there with major burns leaving. And here's what you
can do in that star role in Blake Baker's defense
if you need an extra pass rusher, Well, just screwed
him up a little bit. He can blitz off the
edge from the star position. You need him in coverage.
Back him up is a third safety. What about linebacker?
You need a three linebacker set instead of a two.
He can scoot and he can cheat inside a little
bit and play that spot. He can play all of
those hybrid roles from one true position at star And
you may say, okay, well if you line him up
and blitz him off the edge, what happens? Then you
can move a jv in Tooviano or a Joel Rogers.
We'll see what he asked. Juwan Johnson was the number
two star in fall camp behind Major Burns. They wound
up moving him to offense at a necessity. He wound
up moving him back to defense, and he didn't play
a ton, but he's certainly a guy that's athletic enough
to do it. There's options there, but the star position
very much up for grabs. And it's one that when
I see Harold Perkins, that's where we see because what
do we talk about college football is expanding. You have
the no huddle offenses, right, you get the ball in space.
Haryl Perkins was a great tackler out in space, as
good as he was and rushing the passer. A lot
of people forget he wasn't bad in pass coverage even
as a true freshman. When he had that interception in
the Auburn game, which really helped you seal the deal.
It was the it was the fake play with a
Koy Moore that I'm sure every Lshue fan loft to see.
After more transferred Perkins, he kind of cheated up a
little bit, looked like he was gonna blitz at the
snap of the ball. He bailed. He was right there
for the ball. I mean, he's got the ball skills
to do it. He's got the size, he's got the speed,
he can blitz off the edge, and we've seen him cover.
I think out of all the positions on the field,
Star is that spot where maybe he could make the
biggest impact. Because of all the things we just talked about, right,
I don't think he's got the natural ability to play
that safety role.
Speaker 5: I think that's a little bit too much for him.
Speaker 3: And then again, going back to your depth, all of
a sudden, it outside lineback Jack Pieburn, Patrick Paydon, Jamari Butler,
Gabriel Relevant and those guys are going to be battling
each other for reps. Do you really want to stick
Perkins in there? Because a guy like Perkins, you stick
him at that pass rushing role. He's not going to
be an every down player. And that's what you saw
from him as a freshman. Again, I mentioned how his
numbers were similar from twenty two to twenty three. The
reason it seemed like he made such a bigger impact
as a freshman it is because he wasn't an every
down player, but when he went in there, he made
the most of it. In twenty three, the overall numbers
were similar, but there weren't as many big plays right.
There weren't as many splash plays and these key moments.
I want Harold Perkins on the field as much as
I could possibly do. I think the best route to
that is that the star position filled by Major Burns.
Speaker 5: Now. Look, we'll ultimately see what they do.
Speaker 3: I think spring football is going to tell us a
lot about where they like Harold Perkins. But I think
this was a great decision by him to come back,
because again, two years ago, everyone said, hey, this guy's
going to be a first round pick. I gotta tell you,
I don't know where Harold Perkins gets drafted because you know,
he's he's had some mixed opinions of it in the
last two seasons, and he's coming off of a major
injury the cost in the r season, and he probably
goes fifth round, fourth round if he comes out this year.
Speaker 5: He had absolutely best.
Speaker 3: There's a great decision for him to come back and
increase his draft stock and a huge win for Brian
Kelly and Blake Baker to strengthen up that defense and
hopefully put a player in a huge position of need
heading into the twenty twenty five season. All right, look,
we're gonna take a quick time out when we get back.
Bill Barnwell recently put out a list of head coaching
openings in the NFL.
Speaker 5: Now he has nine.
Speaker 3: Now these are ones that have either already came open
or ones that he believed could come open. Where he
ranked them, Saints not surprising more towards the bottom of
that list. We'll talk about it and we get back
here on Off the bench.
Speaker 8: Off the bench, back to sportstock.
Speaker 7: Maybe off the bench, I go to your good Wood
dot com, Your good would dot com men's sexual wellness.
I always say you of life without fear or embarrassment
because you shouldn't have to.
Speaker 5: You don't have to.
Speaker 7: In fact, there's answers to the questions. You just gotta
go to the website. Because you go to the website,
you can find a full list of services that they
offer over at Goodwood. You go to the website and
you can book your appointment right there, look discreetly if
you want to, right there on the website. But again
the tagline is true, you can live life without fear
or embarrassment. So this is something that people deal with,
but you have to get it dealt with, and that's
what Goodwood is going to do for you. So again
you can book your appointment. You can find pricing all
that on the website. The website is your Goodwood dot com.
The number two to five four GD would Goodwood your
Goodwood dot com?
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back into off the band. Just surprising
Jacob Hester Goodwood ad there. I appreciate moosover pulling that
one and not one where T Bob accuses me of
having a rectile dysfunction when uh, I appreciate a lot
more from our guy, Jacob Ester, who is working hard.
Speaker 5: I could I couldn't find that one. I was trying
to find. I couldn't find it. Yeah, it just didn't
didn't up there.
Speaker 3: You know, Team up has this uncanny ability, as you know,
to just kind of put me down by any means necessary.
So for example, he he'll be like, hey, are you
limp like Taylor go to Goodwood and then the trash
rangers work. Do you have trashy neighbors like Taylor will
get trash rangers and then Pinnacle the out door. Do
you have an annoying neighbor like Taylor? It always talks
to you. We'll just build your fence higher. I'm like,
te bom, I'm just sitting here, man, like what are
we doing?
Speaker 5: But I appreciate the Yeah, I know, I know nothing
about that. Taylor.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you ever listening to the Afternoon Show,
I I yeah, I don't.
Speaker 5: I don't ever know. No never.
Speaker 4: Uh, it doesn't happen at all from three to six.
Speaker 3: Well you're you're you're one of the lucky ones. Yeah, yeah,
all right, so look it TA is that going into
break there? Bill Barnwell for ESPN. Uh he put out
on ESPN dot com last Thursday. He he predicts nine
head coaching openings now for what it's worth all nine
of these are probably not going to come open, Like
I'm not here's the Dolphins on here, I'm not sure
the Dolphins come open. And then the Raiders have won
back to back games. We'll see what happens there. The Giants,
they just won a game. What do they do with
day ball? What do the Jags do? They won yesterday?
But here's what he does is nine teams and he
goes best to worst. The best team he has as
far as potential head coaching openings is what would be
the most desirable too candidates is the Jacksonville Jaguars. That
makes a lot of sense, right. You have a quarterback
under a big contract, but you have a young quarterback.
And while Trevor Lawrence the last year year and a
half or so has really struggled, you saw that really
good second season from it. He took the Jags playoffs.
They had a come from behind victory over the Chargers.
He was able to advance in the second round and
almost won that game as well. So we know Trevor
Lawrence can get it done when everything around him is working.
You also have Brian Thomas Junior, who set a Jags
franchise record. He's a thousand yard rookie receiver. Travis Eten's
a young player, Tank Bigsby's a young player. Both of
them look really good in that backfield, So you have
a lot of young, solid pieces to work with. Jacksonville
makes a lot of sense in a really winnable division.
Speaker 5: I may then he has the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: I don't think the Dolphins job opens up, but again
for obvious reasons, that one's intriguing as well. Devon Ah Chang,
Jalen Waddle, Tyreek Hill. We don't know how much longer
Hill's going to be there, but he's there for right now.
You do have the two wist situation, though, what does
his injury history look like? What is his future in
the NFL? At three, he has the Bears. I get
it right. Whatever you think of Kyle Williams, I personally
do not think that Kayler Williams is going to ultimately
be the long term answer for the Chicago Bears. I
have made that about as clear as I can possibly
make on this show multiple times. But you have a
young quarterback in an offensive minded coach like a Ben
Johnson or someone along those lines, say Hey, I can
develop this guy, I can help this guy Win. You
have the receivers on the outside. You got the savvy
Vett and Keenan Allen, you have DJ Moore, and then
you got the exciting rookie in Roman Dunze. You have
all the weapons needed on the offensive side if you
shore up that defense. I can see it. With the
Chicago Bis, their issue is their tough division. I mean,
they're going against the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and
Minnesota Vikings, who all look like could possibly be the
best teams in the NFC, and they're all in the
same division. There's the Patriots, who do they move on
from Gerrod Mayo for a year? You do have Drake May.
Drake may has looked really good at times this year,
a lot better than most thought he would this early
in his career. Then there's the Giants, which I don't
know about. The saving grace for the Giants is they
had a good defensive line and elite neighbors Tyrone Tracy.
Both of them went over one thousand yards this past
Sunday and they are both rookie. So you have two
rookie weapons on offense that you know are going to
be there for the foreseeable future. And right now, they'll
run pretty cheap contracts. Can you get the quarterback situation right?
Although Drew Lock five touchdowns yesterday and a must have
a game, he was excellent. Then come the Tennessee Titans
at six. Then he has the Raiders, which we'll get into.
Then the Jets at eight, the New Orleans Saints at nine.
Obviously the Saints have a lot of issues, right we
talk about it, the worst cap situation in the NFL. Now,
you have a lot of veteran leaders on this team,
but they're all getting older, right to Mario Davis thirty
five years old. Cam Jordan, he's over thirty four years old.
Tyron Matthew, he's getting up there in age. We just
talked about Alvin Kamara. You gave him a big contract,
but how many more years left of this version of
Alvin Kamara does he possibly have? You do have some
exciting young weapons. You have a Rashid Jhahib, he's coming
off of the season Indian injury. What about Chris Alvey,
He suffered a heck of a lot of concussions. What
does his NFL future look like? There's so many question marks,
I mean, really, outside of Talasa Fuaga, Brian berci, A Lante, Taylor,
Paulson Adebo. I mean, there is a ton of question
marks on this team, all of those guys who are
young and exciting players, but it's not enough to build around.
Speaker 5: And again the cap situation, what.
Speaker 3: Realistic big time free agent can you bring in in
the offseason. Whichever head coach takes this Saints job is
management's going to have to explain to them, hey, or
they're going to have to explain to management, hey, my
first year is a Mulloch first year, nothing but a
trial run. Let me get this thing going in the
right direction. Year two is the year where we're really
going to start competing, because the Saints are not just
the year what now for better or worse. The front
office for the Saints has shown to have a lot
of patience, have shown to give guys longer leashes, longer
leashes than they probably should get. So that's intriguing to
a head coach. Something else that's intriguing to a candidate.
A really easy division. I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
are going to win this division, especially with what Jayden
and Daniels and the Commanders did to the Atlanta Falcons
last night. But you Baker and the Bucks who they're
a good team, but they certainly have their flaws. What
are the Falcons going to look like with Michael Pennock
Junior moving forward. I know a lot of people are
going to say Michael Pennock has looked excellent. Look I
don't look into rookie performances that much because it's hard
to play quarterback in the National Football League.
Speaker 5: These guys are going to struggle.
Speaker 3: I don't think Michael Pennock has looked that good, and
that certainly does not mean that he can't get better.
Keep in mind, this is his second start. He's done
things needed to win the game, but he's made a
lot of mistakes.
Speaker 5: I get it.
Speaker 3: The interception he threw last week wasn't his fault. There
was one that was dropped. It was his fault. He
threw a pick last night, should have thrown two. More So,
there has been a lot of positives with Michael Penick Junior.
There's been some negatives as well. Jury is very much
still out on a guy like Michael Pennock Junior. Are
there any teams less desirable though than the New Orleans Saints?
Speaker 5: I bring that up because obviously.
Speaker 3: Look, the Saints have their issue, worst cap situation in
the league, tons of dead money.
Speaker 5: Most of you superstars are in the twilight years of
their careers.
Speaker 3: But in no way do I think the New Orleans
Sayings are a worse job than the New York Jets. Look,
we laughed at Woody Johnson too weeks ago, right when
it came out that, oh, he didn't sign this guy
because his Madden rating wasn't high enough. He's got his
son's brick and Jack which brick phenomenal name for someone
to be in a front office position. These guys are
making decisions for him who wants to go there? But also,
Aaron Rodgers looks.
Speaker 5: Like he's done. I think he's done.
Speaker 3: He actually got replaced yesterday in the game by Tyrod Taylor,
and Tyrod Taylor was a lot better than Aaron Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers two picks yesterday. The Jets drop another game,
and again I've talked about it. Aaron Rodgers has a
run out of people to blame for the shortcomings lately
in his career. He won a Super Bowl with Mike
McCarthy in Green bat He never could replicate it, So
what does he do. Oh, well, Mike McCarthy's the problem.
I want Matt Lafleur. Matt Lafleur comes in. Can't win
with Matt Lafleur while I'm out of here. I want
to him pick my team. I want to go to
the New York Jets.
Speaker 5: This is the team.
Speaker 3: This is the coaching staff that I can win with. Well,
if you can't win with them, your head coach winds
up getting fired. Well, that's no big deal. That was
Robert Salazs fault. That's not Aaron Rodgers' fault. Robert Sala's gone.
You're worse with him? Are you worse without him than
you are with it? Right now, Zach Wilson and Sam
Darnold have better winning percentages with the New York Jets
than Aaron Rodgers does. Rodgers is running out of people
to point. But let's say they move on from Rogers.
Let's say Aaron Rodgers retires. I doubt you're keeping Davante
Adams at that point. He is an aging veteran on
a big contract. His boy Aaron Rodgers isn't there with him.
I don't think you hold on to Davante Adams. And
then if Davanta Adams and Aaron Rodgers are gone. Does
Garrett Wilson want to re sign with your team? Now
you have Breese Hall, you have Braylan Allen, so you
have two really solid pieces as far as running backs go.
Speaker 5: But I mean that is that enough?
Speaker 3: Because if you lose Garrett Wilson, Vante Adams and Aaron Rodgers,
how desirable does that job become? And you can say, okay, well,
their roster top to bottom is younger than the New
Orleans Saints and they're paying less money. That is very true.
I've mentioned it that the Saints have these aging superstars.
At least they will have a veteran presence ast, they
will have leaders in the locker room.
Speaker 5: The Jets right now don't have any of that.
Speaker 3: And let's not forget the massive expectations that it takes
when you're the head coach of a team that's in
New York. I mean, look at look at the short
leashes that they give all these coaches. I talked about
it for better or Worse, Mickey Loomis, Gale Benson in company.
They give coaches long leashes, maybe longer leashes than they deserve.
It's kind of the opposite of the New York Jets.
So with the New York Jets, Aaron Rodgers' career, I mean,
I don't see a resurgence coming anytime soon. What do
you do with Devonte Adams? Can you get Garrett Wilson
to re sign? And all the pressure and all the
expectations come with coaching Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets,
you don't have that in New Orleans.
Speaker 5: New Orleans is certainly I think they're two years away.
Speaker 3: But if the front office and management of the New
Orleans Saints explained to a coaching candidate, hey, you have
two years where you're not going to be judged, rebuild
this thing you're judged off of year three, I think
the Saints could be a could be a better spot
than the New York Jets. Going back to the Easy Division.
As bad as the Saints are, that division is not
world beaters. The Panthers are terrible. The Falcons, we don't
really know what their future looks like with Michael Pennick junior.
The Bucks have found in their answer a quarterback with
Baker Mayfield, but they saw a lot of holes on
that team, including the defense, which has really gotten worse
as the season's gone along. And then on the flip
side of your the Jets, are you better than the
Dolphins right now? I don't think so. You obviously have
to go through Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, who
look like they're going to control that division for the
near future. And we just talked about Drake May and
how much promise he's shown with the New England Patriots.
That is a really tough division, and right now the
Jets are kind of looking up at everybody, so more expectation.
You don't know who your leaders on that team are
going to be, and a lot tougher division. As bad
as the Saints are, I don't know if they're hands
down the least desirable opening out of the nine. But
the point is the Saints are obviously not going to
have They're picking the barrel right. If the Jags comes open,
I do like that job better. If the Giants comes open,
I certainly like that job better. The Bears is already open,
I like that job better.
Speaker 5: As well.
Speaker 3: As tough as that division is, we'll keep an eye
on it though. We'll hear things, you know, rumblings of
where they're leaning for what it's worth. Mickey Loomis this
weekend said he wants to hire a head coach that
he knows. Now, if you're like me and you saw that,
you said, well, Aaron Glenn, that's probably you right there.
I'm sure Saints fans would have mixed opinions about that.
I think you could do a lot worse than Aaron Glenn.
But you know, there's guys out there that Loomis knows
that we may not even be thinking though right now.
So it'll certainly be interesting to watch as a Saints'
coaching search continues. All right, we're going to take a
quick time out when we get back, we're going to
look at the NFL playoff picture. Obviously the AFC, who
the favorites are in that conference is pretty much said Stone.
Speaker 5: There's about two or three teams at the top.
Speaker 3: The NFC looks a lot different right now, and it
had some mix ups after last night results.
Speaker 5: That's all coming up here on Off the bench.
Speaker 6: Off the Bench, trash rangers dot com. Trash rangers dot com.
You need local, reliable waste removal here in South Louisiana.
Take out the tailor if you will, Uh, well, look,
if you live and live centercension. You get to make
a choice on your residential trash pickup, so like Taylor
can choose trash Rangers, get them red cans, and experience
a better level of customer service, give a damn reliability
everything than he's ever had before. And that's because they
are your neighbors, Okay, so they understand. They work like
they're part of the community. They send you text the
night before it's your pickup day, so you never forget again.
Speaker 5: That's the extra mom, And it's everywhere, and if.
Speaker 6: You're a business owner, you're on the same level service
against what anywhere in the listening area.
Speaker 5: They got it for you. Go to trash Rangers dot com.
Trash rangers dot com.
Speaker 7: And also check out the website because we do have
Christmas coming up, so the Christmas Holidays, you're gonna have
you extra trash. But don't worry, they are going to
still pick up your trash.
Speaker 5: He just moves a day.
Speaker 7: Behind where it originally was. They're also to think about
Saturday's trash Rangers back Out.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the ninth ranked morning sports show in America,
Off the Bench.
Speaker 3: Welcome back into a Monday edition of Off the bench.
We're just here for today and then we have I mean,
Cassie have New Year's Eve ofl if I got Matthew
Musso does not.
Speaker 5: Cassie doesn't have New Year's evol Wait, what do you got?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 8: I got it.
Speaker 7: I gotta work.
Speaker 3: Preakame only one in this room that does not have
to work on New Year's Eve.
Speaker 5: I think so. Look at that. My day is beginning
to turn around already. Guys.
Speaker 3: Anyways, look, if you're not aware of what's going on
in guarantee, right now we are pretty much skeleton crew.
I'm in the host chair, Mussa in the audio chair,
Cassie and video on AFR, Musa in the host share,
I am on audio, Cassie once again on video. So, guys,
we going to have a lot of fun. We might
be delusional during the last hour of AFR. We'll see
where Musso takes that show. We can't make any promises
because we are running on fumes right now. But look,
right now, before we hit that top of the hour break,
I want to talk NFL playoff Pitcher last night and
obviously had a lot of shakeups because the commanders clinched
a spot the Atlanta Falcons, to the dismay of a
lot of Saints fans, I am sure no longer control
their own destiny for the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
All they have to do next week is beat the
New Orleans Saints. They will clinch the NFC South. So
when you look at the AFC, there are three teams
that have really stood out all year long, and it's
kind of you your usual suspects, right The Kansas City
Chiefs at fifteen and one, which is just disgusting. The
Buffalo Bills, who won again yesterday in dominating fashion over
my favorite quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. And the Baltimore Ravens with
Lamar Jackson. All three of those teams elite quarterbacks, really
good defenses, and can run the football. Those are kind
of the three that are fighting right now. Anybody who's
gonna pick anybody to come out of the AFC is
probably going to pick one of those three teams. The NFC, however,
a lot different. I mean, you look at the Philadelphia Eagles.
They've looked really good at times, but a lot of
people still don't trust Nick Sirianni. Jalen Hurts has had
an up and down year, the Lions are the best
team win healthy. But to kind of paint a picture
of how injured the Detroit Lions are right now, they
have twenty one players on aisle are twenty one, So
as good as Jared golf is, as good as Saint Brown, Laporta, Gibbs,
everybody on that offense is. Their defense is beat all hell,
and you have some injuries on the offensive line as well.
Can they hold up for a playoff run because they're
already super injured. What about the La Rams, They're getting healthier.
They're nine and six right now, have two games left
the Cardinals and the Seahawks, who are both trending in
the wrong direction. Kopp is back healthy, even though he
completely disappeared this weekend. Stafford's healthy, The O Lion's getting healthier.
You got Kyen Williams, you got Blake Korum, Pukaakua. He's
showing that last year was not just a flash in
the pan, that he really is an elite NFL wide receiver.
And you have Sean mcvett with Matthew Stafford, who've already
won a Super Bowl together. They know how to win
these big games together. To me, that's a team to
watch off for Moose, Like for the NFC right now,
who is your favorite to come out of this conference
because somebody's got to win the damn thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think it's the Philadelphia Eagles. When
all said and done, you get into the playoffs. They're
gonna have the best player in the playoffs in Saquon Barkley,
and that matters. And he's shown now that he doesn't
necessarily need Jalen Hurts, and Jalen Hurts will be back
obviously at some point in the playoffs, at least we think,
and that just has another dimension of Barkley's game. But
I mean, the guy just went bananas again yesterday with
Kenny Pickett back there. So I like their defense an
awful lot. That's always been a strength to them. This year,
Saquan is just a big difference maker before the injuries,
I would have told you the Lions, but you gotta
have depth in the playoffs and they are just going
to be lacking that severely.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then your backup quarterback is Teddy Bridgewater, who has
been there man about long enough to be handed the playbook.
If look as good as Teddy's been as a backup quarterback.
I mean, he's kind of one of those guys you're like,
you don't want to play on words on his last name.
He's the ultimate Bridge guy though. That's what he's been.
He hasn't played in.
Speaker 5: A year, though.
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't really know what we're going to
get from Teddy Bridgewater. No, obviously, he's still staying in
shape and all that, and he's smart enough to where
he knows the game. But if Jared Goff goes down,
I don't know what this team looks like because you
have a hindon hooker who hasn't played. You obviously didn't
feel confident in or you wouldn't have brought in Teddy
Bridgewater and a backup quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater hadn't played
football and over a year. The Detroit Lions scared me Again.
I look at the Rams. They're getting healthier. They're probably
going to win that division. But I'm with you on
the Philadelphia Eagles for also, it looks like they're going
to have home field advantage at least for most of
the NFL playoffs, at.
Speaker 5: Least for the first round.
Speaker 3: That team and that stadium is hard to beat, and
they're a team that travels well for all the reasons
you just mentioned. Their defense is a lot better than
it was a year ago. And you have sa Kwon Barkley.
He's one hundred and one yards away from breaking Eric
Dickers in single season rushing record.
Speaker 5: And I hope he doesn't.
Speaker 3: I hope they give him the ball thirty forty times
next week, whatever it takes to break that record. But
to Moos's point, like you're winning without Jalen Hurts and
Canny Pickett went down yesterday, Tanner McKee, their third string quarterback,
comes into the game throws a dime to aj Brown
for the touchdown. This team right now is showing that
they were able to overcome injuries. I think they have
a little bit more depth than the Detroit Lions because
of all the injuries Lions out.
Speaker 5: Eagles have a few.
Speaker 3: But if they can get Jalen Hurts back, all of
a sudden, they look really healthy. Detroit's more than just
one player away. I mean half of their defensive starters
are out. You have an injury on the offensive line,
David Montgomery's been in and out of the lineup. How's
that going to look? And then I think you saw
have a lot of question marks at your secondary receiver
outside of Amen Ross Saint Brown, because Jamison Williams, He's
had injury and turns throughout his entire career.
Speaker 5: It's something to keep an eye on.
Speaker 3: Is as dominant as they say the AFC is, and
it is, It's a little top heavy right now. I
think out of those top three teams there's a pretty
big drop off in the NFC right now, there's about
five or six teams. I could look at and if
you told me you thought they were gonna win the
whole thing, I'm not even batting an eyelash.
Speaker 5: I might.
Speaker 3: I might roll with it. That conference is wide open
right now. We'll see who takes control of it.
Speaker 5: All right. That's going to do it.
Speaker 3: For hour number one and hour number two, we're gonna
have LSU Baylor Texas Ball. We're gonna talk portal with
Zach Naggy. That's all coming up on the other side
of this. Stay tuned two more hours of Off the Bench.
You're on a Monday edition. You're on one oh four
five ESPN Beton Rouge
Speaker 8: Off the Bench