Craig Berube Has Lost The Maple Leafs | JD Bunkis Podcast

Craig Berube Has Lost The Maple Leafs | JD Bunkis Podcast

you know, we had power play opportunities. Power play was not good. Um, it’s got to be a lot better. And to me, they played with more passion than we did tonight. I mean, that’s what it boils down to. It It looked to me like they had um way more urgency in their game, more passion in their game. That’s the difference. >> How do you explain that considering where you are at this? >> Pass those guys, not me. Welcome to the JD Bunkas podcast. Oh boy. >> I mean, he’s not wrong. Five power plays last night for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And that is one of the ways I would describe their play in general, but also on that unit. A complete lack of urgency. There was like no attention to detail, very few shots, no battles won. It was ugly. Leafs get snapped for nothing. Oof. Matthews disappears again. Knander disappears again. I got Sammy in the post game talking about how he couldn’t even watch the entire game. He’s flipping over to watch other games because he just can’t take it anymore. And now now the Bub and the locker room, the dressing room stuff is real. It’s it’s it’s no longer What was Neanderers quote earlier this season when they were scoring goals, but they couldn’t keep the puck out of their net. I would be more worried if that was the situation. Well, yeah, you just got shut out. Your power play is worse in the league. It’s humming at around I think it’s like 10% less than 10%. and you’ve got some pretty weighty contracts that are out there trying to produce for that unit. So Craig Barube delivers that last night. He also had man he was the the quotes from Bubet like ask those guys by the way they did ask those guys and guess what? Guess what you heard? A lot of the same. a lot of the same. It was uh Matthews doing the wei thing again. We this, we that. Hey, we we not we got Knander doing the that’s a tough question to one of the answers and just walking off about why they haven’t been able to be a consistent group, why this year has been tougher than others. That’s a tough question, he says. And then he leaves. So, I’m guessing that the answers that Matthews and Knander gave to the media after the game, which were that’s a tough question and a bunch of we need to find a way to compete better, even though Yeah, we’re what 33 34 games into the season. I think we’re 33. Maybe 34. No, it’s 33 games in a season. By the way, Leafs have as many wins as the Buffalo Sabres. They got one more overtime loss. Sabres just fired their GM. It’s not good. It’s It’s quite bad. It’s quite bad. Um I got Rick Bonus on later today. He has been a head or assistant coach more than anybody else in NHL history. He coached across five decades. So, I’m really hoping that he can shed some light on what he hears when a coach is saying that and what he hears when players respond that way, both on the ice and off of it. Because it’s hard to draw a line anywhere else other than these guys, they’ve given up. They’ve given up on their coach and Brad Shrew Living can hold all the media conferences he wants and talk about how Brad or Craig Brew didn’t become a bad coach overnight, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s resonating with these guys. They already seem tired of it and it’s not even two seasons into the Craig Brew experience. Um, I think this is a polarizing one for fans because you can look at it and say, “Yeah, I don’t know if this is the style of play the Leafs should be invoking. Yeah, everybody wants to be the Panthers, but not everybody has the personnel to be the Panthers. And when you’ve got a leadership group that consists of Austin Matthews and William Knander, and you’re the dump and chase team, you’re not a puck possession team. You don’t play any East West. Yeah. And you see this much of a sample of these guys looking this way where they’re not really producing, they don’t look like themselves, and they look completely disengaged, and they can’t even score when they’ve got an extra attacker. You have to wonder strategically if there’s an issue here. You see the the way that this guy’s losing his cool on the bench, the frequency in which he’s doing it. Someone who man, the first year of Bub, all we would talk about when the Leafs were struggling was, is this guy ever going to say anything compelling to the media? Is this guy ever going to call them out publicly? He was stoic. He barely ever reacted on the bench. He certainly never went to the media with his gripes about the team. And we had all these theories about it. And I thought, hey, maybe he’ll maybe he’s a little cautious with this group. Maybe he’s learned from the past. Maybe he isn’t who we think he is. But here’s what we definitely learned last night for Burube is he might not have the answers. He might not be the coach for this team, but he sees what everybody else is seeing. And that is a lack of intensity from this group. A problem that has been a throughine for them for almost a decade now. And it’s the one thing that he can’t tolerate. And when he’s saying stuff like that and when he’s being that open in terms of the power play where he says, “Yeah, I think they took a step forward, but they looked god awful tonight in my opinion.” When he’s saying things like, “Did you get enough from the top line? Did you see enough?” He says, “Quote, not even close.” And that he didn’t talk to them after the game. I think that tells you he’s at a he’s at a boiling point. He he doesn’t know what else to say. And you know, I I thought about the quote Versteig gave the show what, two weeks ago, 3 weeks ago, a month ago, I can’t even at some point during one of the Leafs lols about how if your coach is starting to just preach compete, your coach is just starting to preach you got to work harder, you’re dead. That the that the players are going to check out on something like that. That they need to have a solution as to why things are going to work. They can’t just have it be it’s on you to work harder and you work harder, work harder. Just not going to fly. But that’s why I think this is so polarizing. People are looking at it and going, I don’t think the strategy is working. The coaching might be a problem, but my god, are these guys really going to get their fourth head coach and have it be because of so many of the same problems? Do you really feel like deep down as someone who watches this team and who’s listening to the show, you just ask yourself, if they switch out the coach and they bring in Pete Dbor, right, and he miraculously turns this season around, then they’re going to be heading towards the playoffs, do you really feel like that is going to change one of the root problems with this team, which is that they can just turn it off as easily as they have without accomplishing squat outside of regular season statistics? Like is that something you feel good about? Do you feel like when Brad Tree Living mentions things like we got to change the DNA and I know that a lot of that is lip service. I know a lot of that is just the fan base needing something to glom on to and them trying to preach accountability but not really showing it because like what what is the accountability here, right? Like okay, some quotes in the media. They’ve seen that before. They’ve had this happen many times. Power play ran out there all five times. They the one time they didn’t start the first unit, they they came back on the ice in 20 seconds. Like what? Knander and Matthews are playing together, everything. So like what what has been the actual accountability with these things? I I haven’t really seen it. I I don’t know what it is. Maybe somebody could tell me. So they have this like whole DNA change that they want to put out there, but I’m guessing a part a part of that is true. They want to change the DNA. They want to be a different group. They want to be hard to play against. They want their stars certainly that they’ve paid chunks of massive money to that they’re going to show up and be engaged night to night and that just keeps not happening. So yeah, sure, bring on the fourth coach. see if it can save your season because at this point you really don’t have another lever to pull and I can’t see any reality even as much as Tree Living loves Brew and as much as he’s getting paid and as bad of a look as it is optically to be pulling this this lever as much of the added pressure that it puts on the front office once they do this because now you’re removing yet another excuse another layer for them sure do it but if you’re going to tell me and look me dead in the eyes and say no I believe in this group now. Like they just need a new head coach. They just need a new direction. It’s a the fourth guy will be the one who really gets something out of these guys that looks materially different than the off nights that we see all the time with this group over a decade. Yeah. All right. I I I just I don’t even think you can lie to yourself. Anyway, last night last night was saved because we got this incredible football game that I thought was going to be a laugher and you know, I’m a Seattle Seahawks fan and I was pretty choked. I was also playing puka in fantasy. So I was like sitting there and I’m going, “Oh, this is great. This is really fun.” Leafs get absolutely shelled and Sam Darnold’s doing his Sam Darnold thing and then all of a sudden it turns into the game of the century and the Seahawks walk it off in overtime on a two-point conversion. James Palmer, co-host of Scoop City, the 89 podcast, uh, an NFL insider for Bleacher Report. He joins me now. What’s up, brother? How we doing? >> I’m good, man. I I I was I was stoked for this one. I I thought it was the biggest Thursday night football game of all time. Um, and you’re right, there was a period of time we’re not sure it was going to live up to it, but but it did. I mean, this was the first time we’ve ever had a Thursday night game with both teams having 11 or more wins. We’ve never seen that before. The stakes could not uh really have been higher for either team considering what was at stake for their postseason. I mean, the Seahawks get themselves into the postseason. The Rams have essentially almost lost their chance of of getting that first round buy and now Seattle’s in the driver’s seat. There was just so much on the line with this game in the NFC and it lived up to it. I mean, it’s the best game of the year. It really is. And uh yeah, it it was something. And I think Sam Darnold uh I’m I might go through today and just kind of go through and like kind of everybody in the third quarter who was like Sam Darnold’s gonna Sam Darnold or Water always finds its way back to being level. like maybe I’ll start retweeting all those people cuz I’m I’m I think you have to be happy for Sam Darnold with everything he’s gone through in his NFL career to go out and get this win. >> So I I do think he’s the number one story here. >> Like you would you agree that out of the coming out of this game? >> Yeah, because I don’t think we had any trepidation that the Rams were the best team in football going into this game. I don’t think our opinion of them has changed very much. I don’t think our opinion of Matthew Stafford has changed that he’s the MVP of the league. Yeah, Puka is arguably the best receiver in the league. They did all of this on the road and I’ve been there many times in covered games and this is one of the most rowdy ones we’ve had at Lumen Field like and they did it without Devonte Adams. So, the Rams are fine. That’s not really a story in my opinion. I think the Rams are okay. I think they’re still maybe the best team in football. But if Seattle wanted to make a run in this postseason and wants to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender, they needed to find something out about Sam Darnold. And I think they did find something out. Like if you talk to people up in Seattle after that game where he threw four picks, um, everybody in terms of teammates was going like there was a reason why there was an overreaction from Durus Jones at the podium. Remember that with with the cursing and these guys knew they needed to rally behind their quarterback. They knew this quarterback has a perception of him whether it’s true or not, but we can only watch the games that in big moments he hasn’t come through. I think the this team tried to will him to do it and now he has something to stand on that he can do it on the biggest stage on these nationally televised games and these ones that matter more than anything. I think learning something about Sam Darnold and Sam learning something about himself and the Seahawks showing that they can overcome adversity and and play with anybody and I think they already kind of knew some of those things. But now I think they’re more of a a Super Bowl contender than they were before Thursday night. Well, they’re certainly more of a Super Bowl contender from the standpoint of they’re they’re in control of having that buy. And I think they have a Niners game left on the schedule, right? Uh I could be wrong about that one, but I think they have ners. >> They are. The the way this works is with them beating the Rams, they get into the postseason. >> Then they have uh I believe the Panthers next week and then they have the 49ers to finish out. If they win both those games, they’re very much, you know, they they they get the number one seed. What is fascinating is this Ner’s team that has been completely decimated by injuries. If they win their final two games, which is the Colts and the Bears, they would walk into that week 18 game against Seattle where the winner gets the buy. >> Yeah. >> Between San Francisco and Seattle. So San Francisco’s played themselves into this. And by the way, all three of these teams are in the same division. >> Yeah. And uh so with San Fran, it’s funny because I feel like they’re the least discussed out of all the contenders, which is weird because of the track record that we just sort of there there were points of the season where they looked really bad and I did this too. I went, “Hey, windows closed. Windows closed, guys. You’re done.” And now you’re looking at the standings and a bunch of these results and saying, “Ah, KD actually looks good and healthy. Christian McCaffrey didn’t get hurt this year. They’ve had all these injuries on defense and yet they continue to find a way. They’ve still got one of the best head coaches in all of football.” Like, yeah, there’s a lot of reason for optimism there. And I’m certainly not putting that one down in pen as, oh, Seattle’s just going to win this division. Like, yeah, the worst Seattle looked all season. And granted, it’s week one. You usually throw those games out, but it was against the NerS in that first contest of the year where I think it’s the only game where they got out yarded, unless last night they they lost the yards battle, which I’m guessing they did, too. So, here’s here’s my thought on Darnold. Um, I really don’t know what to fully make of it. I’m not as confident as you where I would be going around retweeting people. Um that >> I’m doing that for Sam’s psyche. I’m not saying he’s winning MVP. I’m just saying >> in the middle of the third quarter, everybody just wrote off Sam Darnold and said, “This is the story. We know it. I bet you everybody in that press box had their story on. >> James, I wrote down in my notes for you. One of the questions was point blank, are we just fine to write off Sam Darnold?” That was literally the question. >> So, yeah. I just think the rest of the roster is good enough, right? I think the the argument always was um and I don’t say an argument I guess the the perception might have been can Sam Darnold hold this team back. This is a really good offensive line but by the way played against a great defensive line without their left tackle. This is a really good defensive line. They can run the football. They have the best receiver in football. Rasheed Shahed is starting as I talk to people finding his way. Obviously he makes a massive special teams play but they’re they’re a really good roster. And so I think that was what we were trying to change and that Sam Kim can make big plays and big moments. That’s what everybody’s curious about. I’m not saying, you know, >> you know, any anything other than that other than I I’m happy for Sam Darnold knowing his path. >> Yeah, I’m happy too. Again, like I’m a Seahawks fan. So, when I look at this, it’s probably I think in general Seahawks fans are just a more pessimistic group. I think that the way that the window closed on the Legion of Boom era with the worst loss in Super Bowl history, unless you’re a believer that it was worse that you lost 28 to3, it’s one of the two, right? depends on how you’d like to lose. >> I know last year was pretty was a pretty good beatd down. >> Kansas City took a pretty good beat down. >> Yeah, it was that was a that was a beatd down, but I’m saying like heartbreaking fashion way to lose a Super Bowl to not hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch and to get intercepted and then it turns into this like uh Russell Wilson verse the defense and all of this speculation as to whether or not he can stay. The let Russ Cook era falls apart. He ends up leaving. They go through this cycle where they’re kind of competitive, but it’s not really there. Uh, and now they’re they’re back. Like they’re they’re fully back. Like they’re in the group of contenders for me. But I have a tough time washing out everything from Sam Darnold from that game before the comeback. And I do wonder like, and again, you have to play out the result, but if Shahed doesn’t return that kick, like if that doesn’t go into the end zone with what was there like nine minutes left where it sort of saved their ass. If that doesn’t happen and then a two-point conversion that bounces off a helmet backwards and ends up in the end zone, he had multiple opportunities throughout that game after that to kind of close it out for Seattle and for to win it for Seattle. So, they get it done in overtime. That’s awesome. Like, he deserves credit for that. He deserves the flowers for it. But there was a tightening for him throughout those moments in that game, like especially on the end zone when he throws the final interception of the game where I’m just I’m not 100% convinced even seeing him convert that two-point conversion and walk it off and win the ball game that when the moment gets big and the pressure starts to happen that we’re not going to see that same face that we saw on the sideline after he threw the second interception. >> Yeah, you can continue to have that. I think it’s a process. I I think you need to continuously prove it not just to everybody who’s watching, you included apparently. I would say to yourself, I would think Sam Darnold is not done thinking that in these moments I need to play better, right? >> In these moments, I need to, you know, make sure I make more plays. I would say this also on that second interception. I was texting with an offensive coordinator. He’s like, I I I’d say 25 out of 30 quarterbacks throw that interception. >> That is that is a very very difficult thing to read. If you look at it, he comes and he engages. 91 comes and engages. Okay, he’s coming. He goes through his first couple reads. He looks this way and then comes to his second read and throws. And while he’s looking this way, the defensive tackle drops into coverage. Like that’s a very very difficult read for 99% of quarterbacks. And that was what was text to me. And it’s true. I mean, defensive lineman dropping in the NFL right now is becoming just there’s there’s just unbelievable athletes. 1015 years ago, these guys weren’t this athletic playing defensive tackle. They weren’t running, you know, 47s like at 300 pounds. Like so now you have these athletes at the defensive line to where there’s such a tendency now in a lot of these defenses to drop these guys in the middle of the picture. What you can see pre- snap is no longer tells way Pton Manning plays it and way he used to just I don’t know if that works in today’s NFL. It’s very difficult. So I I’m not giving him an excuse on the pick. He still threw the pick in the red zone, you know, and it’s inexcusable in some instances. But I’ll just say this, there are coaches in the league going like almost every quarterback throws that pick if he’s going to that second read. And so I I I I get what you’re saying. I just think this is a step for Sam Darnold. This is a step for a new offensive coordinator. I mean, I think John Schneider deserves a ton of credit for what he’s put together there in Seattle. Um I think he’s the executive of the year in all honesty. Everybody said, “Wait, you’re putting all your eggs in the Jackson Smith and Jiga basket. You’re trading DK Mechaf.” Like they saw it before everybody else saw it. Like no, this guy can be the best receiver in football. Like Mike McDonald looks like a really really great hire. They’ve drafted great. Clint Kubak has been an outstanding hireer on the offensive side of the ball. So, they’re putting something together. I agree. Sam’s not there. I don’t think he’s proven everything to everybody just yet, but I think Thursday night was certainly a step in the right direction that he proves that he could be possibly in that group. We know the way last year ended, right? Like, >> there still was the sample size of of 14 wins. I guess when I’m looking at it though, the overall feeling I still have, again, pessimistic Seahawks fan element in me certainly bleeding through is that the Rams are the better team and that you’re going to need some huge you’re going to need some huge breaks in order to beat them and that’s even being at home. Like you’re going to potentially host another playoff game against them. >> I felt like Shawn McVey was getting a lot of what he wanted on offense despite this team being built on the idea that McDonald is a McVey stopper. Like, yeah, it’s Puka Nakua, I agree, is the best receiver in football right now. He’s just completely unstoppable. But for him to have 225 yards on you when Devonte Adams isn’t playing and you’ve got Devin Witherspoon, who you invested high draft capital in where you’re bracketing him for a lot of the game and you’re telling your group like, “Let’s just not lose to Puka and he puts 225 on you.” That that’s tough for me to look at it and go, “Okay, that’s the way you get.” Like I said, the kick return and the two-point conversion that work your way, it it it works out in overtime where your quarterback comes through, but overall my feeling was watching it throughout it, like the score that ended up being Seahawks win by one. The more indicative of how I felt watching it was actually when the Seahawks were trailing by 16 points and the Rams had the ball and I was going like, “Yeah, this this kind of feels real.” >> I I get that. I totally do. I think I I to make it clear, I think the Rams are the better team. I think the Rams are the best team in football. The Rams also lost on the road to Carolina. Like you have to play the games and I do think the Broncos who are the, you know, sitting as the top seed in the AFC are a great example of all three phases matter. You have to make your kicks. They have the all, they have an allp pro kick returner and Marvin Mims who has changed the course of games for them. It’s a three-phase game in the NFL. And so I I I know we can say like a lot of things fell Seattle’s way and I truly think they did, >> but everybody goes, “Well, if they didn’t have the kick return.” Well, they did have the kick returner and they traded for the kick returner. And another move that that Judge Schneider has made that’s there. And so, you know, the Rams missed a kick. Well, you got to make your kicks. And so, all three phases do matter. And and I think that that showed its head in this game. I I do think the Rams are the better team. I just think when you look at what’s happened and the way you started this conversation with the RA the the Rams now are no longer in control of the number one seed. What do they have to do? A Rams team has to go on the road. Rams team has to play another game to finish the the regular season. Maybe if they win this game, you don’t have to rush Devonte Adams back. Maybe you have to rush Devonte Adams back. Maybe the course of the end of the regular season now is different for the Rams than it would have been if they won this game. I’m just saying a lot of things fell Thursday night in favor of Seattle. They may not have to play the Rams. The Rams could lose before Seattle. So I I just think that’s the importance of this game because it changes the trajectory most likely of both of these teams before they possibly could meet again or between now and and however far each one of them get. >> So the other interesting thing you said from this one and I’ll move on to some stuff from this for this weekend is that you have Stafford as the MVP and I agree and he didn’t really do anything in that game where you go well now you can’t give him the MVP, right? He lost, but >> he puts up the stats that he does and was brilliant through most of the the football game. >> I just can’t like when I’m watching Josh Allen and I watch this Bills team and I know he won last year. This actually reminds me a little bit of last season where I thought Lamar was the MVP last year. I just looked at the numbers and I went, man, he’s so integral to this team and I feel like he’s actually not getting his due. And Josh Allen was right there. I wasn’t upset with the pick, but it felt closer to me down the home stretch than it seemed to be by that juncture of the season where we got late and everyone had kind of decided, hey, this is this guy’s award, this is this guy’s award. And I’m watching Allen week to week and going, yeah, he’s the only quarterback in the NFL now that I feel super confident down three touchdowns is going to be able to come back and lead his team with limited options, right? Like Stafford does have Nua and I know James Cook is great and we all point to their success in the running game being an integral factor for them. But when you talk about like the things that surround Matthew Stafford, right? Whether it’s been Devonte Adams healthy, whether it’s been Buukanu, whether it’s having Shawn McVey, whether it’s having that running game with a like two two running backs that run the ball effectively versus what Josh Allen has, the record that he’s put together and what he can accomplish down the home stretch. Do you feel that that there is a a way for him to capture this if if Stafford keeps playing this way, but you know, Allen is just kind of a tier above closing out the season or that this one’s pretty much decided barring a collapse? >> Well, I don’t think anything’s decided. I also don’t think we should knock Matthew Stafford for having Puka Nakua in Devonte Adams and Shawn McVey. I mean, think how that’s a detriment to what he’s doing. Um, but I do think Josh is working with less. Yeah. If you look at who’s more like 100% more valuable maybe to to the success of the team, Josh has to be Superman the rest of the way out. The team’s, you’re right, the team is not as good. Um, I think James Cook is a really good player. I think he’s one of the best running backs in football. I think they have the best maybe tight end duo in football. They have a top eight slot receiver in football. They’re missing an outside threat big time. They want the best offensive lines in in football. defense is a a problem. Yeah. Um and an issue specifically against the run. I think Josh has to be Superman the rest of the way out. And >> I think he has the ability to do that. I certainly do. I think he might be looking right now and going, “Wait a minute. There’s a chance I don’t have to go through Lamar Jackson. I certainly don’t have to go through Patrick Mahomes. And I don’t have to go through Joe Burrow. He’s the best quarterback in the AFC that’s still playing that most that might still be playing football. And Lamar hasn’t been himself the whole second half of this season at all. And I think Josh might be looking at it going like this is the opportunity, right? This is the opportunity here. Like the parody in the NFL is showing its head this season. And there’s a lot of new players that are that are in there where you go, do I trust Drake May or Boicks or Justin Herbert? I I haven’t seen it before. It’s the same argument we were saying with Sam Darnold. Like if you haven’t seen it really before in the big stage, it’s hard for a lot of fans and a lot of evaluators to trust it. I We’ve seen it from Josh. I’ve been at all those games. You know, I was there running sideline to sideline in the final game, final seconds against against Patrick Mahomes where he did everything to win that playoff game and and came up short. And so, I do think he can narrow this gap certainly. Um, and can he win it? I I think he can. I think there is a there is a way that that could possibly happen, but I don’t think anybody has played better football at the quarterback position for the duration of this season than Matthew Stafford. If that’s the statement, I don’t think anybody’s even close, honestly. Okay. >> Um, to what Stafford has done for the duration of this season. I know the final stretch matters. Hell, the final stretch matters for a lot of these owners that are looking at their coaches these last couple of games and so there is more value on these last several weeks certainly and I think Josh has a chance to to possibly pull it out in in that sense. But where we stand right now for the way the season has gone, Josh has laid some a couple of duds. Honestly, they’ve been an up and down kind of season. Um it’s been a weird year in Buffalo. >> Yeah. No, I agree with that. Okay, so he doesn’t have to go through Kansas City. Before I ask you about a couple of the biggest games, >> you are an insider and yeah, you very plugged in guy. >> This this Chiefs thing about Mahomes potentially not coming back this year next year. It’s it’s kind of like pure speculation, but yeah, the injury does happen in December. It is an ACL. You’ve got guys like I saw Robert Griffin on a show talking about how if he had advice for him and if he could do his career over again, he wouldn’t have rushed back from the ACL injury because he never quite recaptured the guy he was and didn’t feel like himself probably until closer to 18 months. And you know, everybody’s different. I know Mahomes is not the type, I’m guessing, that if they’re telling him, hey, we think you should relax, you should probably take us some extra time and be cautious. Like if he’s on the football field, he probably feels like, yeah, I can win with just about anybody. But they’re way over the cap. They’ve got Kelsey agent out. They’ve got a coach who’s very old and he’s coming off this injury. Have you heard anything on, you know, whether or not this team is going to be more willing to take a step back in order to take a step forward by essentially I don’t punting feels strong on a season, but not playing not being urgent about the situation with Mahomes going into next year. >> Yeah, I think you do have to look at it from the long-term sense of you probably have Patrick as your quarterback for the next decade, right? Um, and you have to make sure that that’s into your equation. I also know, and Cincinnati is a perfect example of this, where you still only have a certain number of seasons with these unicorn type players, which I really kind of call them like the four horsemen. Um, honestly, like they’re just unlike anybody else with with Allen, Burrow, Lamar, and and and Patrick. And so, I think you weigh both of those. Obviously, I I know their medical staff very well, and I think they obviously will be cautious with Patrick. I think slowing him down is going to be a very difficult thing to do throughout this. I was I I remember being outside the Chiefs locker room when he dislocated his kneecap and he wanted to come back into that game when he dislocated his kneecap like like if it shows you kind of how Patrick’s wired and he came back in an unbelievable fashion. Um if you remember he only missed I think two games I want to say maybe three after the dislocated kneecap. like they had to like, you know, fight tooth and nail to to keep him off the field and even off the practice field as he wanted to come back as quickly as possible. I do think that’s going to be a challenge. I think Patrick’s going to >> the way his honestly the physiology of his body is I don’t know. I’m no doctor, but I’ve been told this by by the training staff there. It’s just different. It’s just his ligaments are different. Things are different within him. It’s It’s fascinating. Um and so we’ll see what role that plays in the ACL and the LCL. So, it was a little more complicated than just a clean ACL tear. Um, I agree with you that yeah, I I guys do not feel right like really 18 to, you know, the next season honestly. Um, to where they feel fully like themselves. I remember the last time the Chiefs needed a reset and I was sitting there with a bunch of cardboard cutouts uh down there at that stadium in Tampa for the COVID Super Bowl and and you saw Patrick running around for his life, right? like and and they had no offensive line and they knew specifically we need to fix this and Brett Beach did a very good job. He threw all his resources at protecting Patrick and what did they do? They drafted Creed Humphrey. They drafted Trey Smith. They brought in Joe Tuni. Whole interior of the offensive line was completely transformed and the way they went again. I think this is much more complicated. You mentioned being over the cap. I think they’re like $43.7 million over the cap for next year. Only the Cowboys are are further over the cap than than Kansas City. So structurally in terms of where they are financially has to change. You have to sign one of the best corners in all of football and Trevor McDuffy which we know the quarterback market has skyrocketed over the last year. You have to get a defensive line that’s much much deeper. You know Chris Jones is probably not what Chris Jones used to be. I think he’s still had a pretty good year, but he’s playing more snaps than he’s ever played. Like he’s exhausted at 31. So how do you get deeper at at the defensive line? How do you, you know, find a way to get a running game going? Does Patrick really trust fully Xavier Worthy, Rashi Rice, and and these other receivers? Like you’ve seen instances that maybe that wasn’t there. He’s coming off of his worst statistic season of his career. Yeah. >> And so >> there are a lot of decisions. And I didn’t even mention Kelsey. And so there’s a lot of things that need to happen. I do think um Brett Beach is one of the better, more aggressive general managers in this league. Um >> I don’t think Andy is going anywhere, but my understanding has always been Andy’s never really going to tell anybody until it happens. And so that’s kind of always been the belief that I’ve had where Andy just one day will just go, >> “Yeah, I think it’s it’ll tell ownership and and he’ll hang it up.” Um, but I think >> No, I don’t think so. I I think he will just decide and and I do think they have a plan in place. Yeah. >> Um, so you’re right. I I think this is a fascinating season for Kansas City. And the other part that nobody talks about is and this was very similar to Brady. There’s so many parallels between Mahomes and Brady’s careers, but he has had a very weak AFC, I mean, West for this seven-year run of AFC Championship games. Denver was searching for a quarterback that whole time. The Chargers were always going to charger for some one reason or another, and it was the Raiders. Now, you have, you know, Jim Harbaugh and and Justin Herbert really, you know, I got 10 wins right now. You got, you know, what it looks like a great recipe and a really good team between Bo Knicks and and Shawn Peyton. I think the path is now more difficult for Kansas City moving forward within the division. Brady had a very weak AFC East for a lot of that time, right? Um now I think there’s a lot of things that are very different for Kansas City. There really are. >> Yeah. No, that’s that’s a really really really great point that’s being overlooked. And yeah, even think about the Chargers. Most people have them written off this year because the offensive line issues. Well, that’s only going to get better. Harbaugh is probably going to solve for that. And when you look at them moving forward, it’s like, oh yeah, no, they’re they’re not at the end of this. Neither are the Broncos. that they might be on the precipice of their competitive cycle. So, by my account, the the beauty of this weekend and the the rest of the season is that you get these like prove it games, right? And that’s what we talked about with Darnold is yes, it’s a step, but he didn’t do quite enough for me where I go, oh yeah, he he proved it. He can definitively beat the Rams in a way that I go I’ll sleep well the night before a Sam Darl playoff game. Right. >> Yeah. You did not have a good time with this Thursday night game. >> No, I did not. I was miserable. I also I also watched the local hockey team get completely embarrassed and it was like one of those things where you’re settling. I was playing Bukanu in fantasy. All kinds of different things were h Yeah, it was not great. Um so I got three games here that I think are the ones that matter the most and I want to do like the which one of them do you think is the biggest prove it game? Like the team that you’re most focused on in terms of they can maybe change your opinion about something Patriots Ravens, Broncos Jags or Packers Bears? Which one of those games do you think involves two teams that have to quote unquote prove something the most? >> So, I have to pick one game out of these. >> Yeah. One game out of those because I think there’s a case for literally every single one of those teams. >> There is. That’s Yeah, that’s why it’s a good question. Um, I’ll be at Broncos, Jags. Um, and I think the Jags feel like they’re the most disrespected team in football and nobody pays attention to them and they love embracing it, right? They they love it. Um, and nobody’s paying attention to them. And you know what? If they beat Denver, there still might be a chance nobody’s paying attention. Uh, I would honestly say >> I’ll give them respect if they do it. >> Yeah, I I totally I’ve been I’ve been like talking about him on all these shows. I’ve been writing about like I I think Liam Cohen’s done an outstanding job and I think we’re seeing a different Trevor Lawrence right now, but I think if you really look at it, I would say it might be Green Bay and Chicago. I I think to me that that’s the one that stands out. I I understand all three of these. I think I think this this is a great question and my head’s going, but >> the Packers were a legitimate Super Bowl contender throughout the course of this season and leading into this season. They were the only team in the NFL last year that had a top five offense and a top five defense and then you go and get Micah Parsons and you think that’s going to put you over the edge. I think everybody wants to see, okay, what is Jeff Hafley and this defense going to do without Micah? Like he was I was at that game. He he was really starting to find his way. These one-on-one meetings with Halfley and the different ways that they were deploying him and he was so much better against the run in Green Bay than he was honestly uh during his time in Dallas. And now it’s can you prove it to to to still be this Super Bowl contender without Micah Parsons? Can Jordan Love take that step into elite that everybody’s been waiting for over the last maybe year? I don’t say two years, three years in the system as the starter. But I think everybody goes, “All right, third year in the system is usually when you take ownership of it.” And Laflur’s been saying that to to Jordan Love that this is, you know, your time and does he take that next step? I think there’s a lot of questions there. Hell, like there’s questions around the league right now about Matt Laflur. I don’t know why. He’s an outstanding football coach, but they didn’t give him a contract extension before the start of the season. His last year of his contract is next year. So, you would have to make a decision after this year. Expectations in Green Bay are very different than everywhere else. And so I think there’s pressure on the coach, the quarterback, um the organization as a whole when they really made some moves out of their norm to get themselves over the hump. They don’t draft receivers in the first round. They don’t make big splash trades. They did both of those this year. And so I think there’s a lot of pressure with with Green Bay in terms of are you still going to be able to make this run that everybody expected you to make. And then with Chicago, I mean, they’re sitting second in the NFC right now and there’s a chance they don’t make the postseason. Like that’s how wild this this this whole thing is. I think everybody wants to know if they’re believers in this team and is Caleb Williams going to make enough growth in the back end of the year to to make them a legitimate kind of contender. I had this conversation with Kurt Warner last week and we were just talking about different quarterbacks and he was like, I need to see Caleb make the the layups. There’s there’s throws there. There’s guys open. Can he do it on time? He’s playing under center and he loves playing under center to all accounts that I’ve been told. Um, but can he get that, you know, get that next step to just make some of these inter intermediate and easy throws and take what’s given to him? Um, there’s, you know, there there’s some questions there. And can can this Bears defense continue to just rely on turnovers somehow to find their success? So, I think I’d pick that game um as the one where we’re really keeping our eye to going is that, you know, >> that’s what I have. I I have I had the same answer >> as >> makes me feel better about it. Well, to me, they’re the two teams. If I have to isolate it and say who has the most to prove, it’s these two teams out of all of them for a lot of the reasons that you just outlined, right? Like, and it looks like Christian Watson’s going to play and he feels so important to that Packers offense, but you’re you’re right that these are two teams that depending on the result of this game, we’re going to feel very different about them. And like the floor is lower for both and the ceiling remains to be kind of murky in terms of wait, are they as good as everybody else? The Parson’s injury certainly changed things and especially when you think back to like how effective he was in that last Bears game. So what’s it going to look like now without him? But if I had to pick one team, I would say it’s the Jaguars because you’re right, they are doing the nobody believes in us, nobody’s talking about us, we’re getting all this disrespect. The Broncos just came off of this terrific win. You know, they ended the Chiefs season and then they win last week in a fashion where they’re down against the Packers. They come back. Bo Nicks was amazing. I said he was Bon Knicks made me feel differently about him from that one game. That was the game that I’m looking for from a quarterback that’s like approved something. He diced them, James. And so for this one against that Broncos defense, if Trevor Lawrence has a game like Bon Knicks had last week against the Packers defense, that will change my perception of the Jaguars more than I think anything else can happen out of all of these teams. If they go out there and lay an egg, everybody gets to go, “Yeah, see that’s why we didn’t talk about you.” But if they go out there and they beat the Denver Broncos after the the season that they’ve put together, which was questionable at the beginning because of the way they were beating some bad teams, but now like I think they’ve got the biggest individual stakes as a team, while Packers Bears is the biggest prove it from both sides game. >> Yeah, I I agree. And and I think everybody has waiting for, you know, waiting for Trevor Lawrence. He’s been this guy where it goes, you know, maybe he was just this great college and you have to remember he was one of the biggest >> like this when he was coming to the NFL, it was very much like an Andrew Luck type thing. You know, Andrew is Andrew was in another world. It was like I’ve always been told by evaluators it was like John Elway then Andrew Luck. Like those were the can’t misses of the last like 40 years. Um even more so than like Pton Manning. It was just it was just unbelievable. Trevor was pretty close to that that that tier when he came out and it just hasn’t come together. Obviously, there’s been the Urban Meyer. I was there for a lot of it. The the turmoil there and then the you know, Doug, he started to put it together that one year, right? They make that run and they they actually could have won in Kansas City. Um and it ended up coming up short and then that fell apart and now he’s leaving. Everybody’s just going, is he just this middle of the road guy? Is that what Trevor Lawrence is? And I think everybody’s just had one eye going, we know the talent is there. like is this ever gonna happen? Is there ever going to be a coach that unlocks it? And he’s coming off what three straight games now of over a pass rating of 100. Yeah. Um which he’s never done before. He’s not turning the football over. I’ve been told that Jacobe Myers is a massive part of this and hence the contract he just got of three years $60 million last night because he is a veteran that Trevor needs. This team leads the NFL and drops and so that’s not helping a quarterback either that that’s that’s sometimes questioning himself. Um, and so he kind of opens up this entire passing offense. They run the football more. I think Trevor has had, you know, obviously a couple of big wins this year. And so I I think that’s the team that that that I think everybody just is so hesitant. It’s almost the way you are with the Seahawks. Like it’s like everybody’s just like, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.” Yeah. With the se with with with this Jacksonville team. But I mean, since Jacobe Myers got there, they’re second in the NFL in scoring, only behind the Rams. They’re they’ve had seven straight games, a franchise record of 25 points or more. Like they’re they’re putting points on the board. Um I think this is this is a huge game I think for Jacksonville for anybody to even really believe that they’re a legitimate contender in the AFC. >> Totally agree, James. I know you got a super busy day, so I really appreciate you spending this much time with me, man. Uh enjoy the games this weekend and yeah, happy holidays to you. >> Oh, you too. Appreciate you having me. Yeah, it’s it’s a it’s a wonderful one. Hey, we got Saturday games this weekend. I mean, come on. It’s it’s uh >> family stress is that it’s it’s like you know you’re getting around your family, you’re seeing everybody and all of a sudden you’re like, “Yeah, sorry. I got to I got to watch a million different football games.” That’s before the college. >> I love that my wife loves football. All right. >> Lucky you. Again, James Palmer, co-host of the Scoop City and 89 podcast and NFL Insider for Bleacher Report. Uh we’ll see you in the new year, man. Thanks. >> Yeah, I appreciate it, buddy. >> Yeah, take care. Uh so, yeah, the Jags I actually do think are kind of Seahawks AFC where it’s a great record. It’s a pedigree quarterback who has not really answered questions throughout his career. It’s a defense that’s been balling. It’s an offensive coordinator that probably doesn’t get enough credit. But yeah, the the quarterback’s got to do something in a convincing fashion for people to feel like, yeah, there’s a there’s a drastic shift here. The the only game we didn’t get to that I’ll just mention briefly is the Patriots Ravens game. And this one means the most in terms of the standings, right? Because the Ravens need this game essentially to get into the postseason. Yeah, they’ve still got a path. They could win out the last two, I think, and beat the Steelers and still get in. Steelers could lose this weekend to the uh the Detroit Lions, which yeah, very very much in play. But they at least built some positive momentum, the Ravens in that game against Cincinnati. They weren’t playing very well. It was like zeros for a long stretch of the game. Then it kind of broke open. Cincinnati didn’t score and a couple of big spots, big opportunities that they had. But the Ravens have looked off all year. And for the Patriots, you just lost in embarrassing fashion to the Bills and now you got to go on the road and face Lamar Jackson if you want to prove that you are not just like a fraud that walked through the regular season and got one lucky win against Buffalo. Yeah, this is pretty important for you, too. So, great slate. Terrific slate. But yeah, I still don’t fully believe in Sam Donald. Anyway, you can subscribe to this podcast, leave five stars. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram, JD Bunkus, because again, I’m going to be off for essentially two weeks. So, if things happen, uh that’s where my reactions are going to be. Quick break, and then I want to talk about the uh the bargain bin Raptors. So, yeah, Rick bonus coming up in a few minutes. Keep asking people to look inward on the Maple Leafs. Like sure, you can want the changes and I agree that it’s reaching a point where you probably want to be able to do those, but gets to the thing that I say all the time. I don’t think mistakes are bad. I think mistakes are actually good. You learn the most from your mistakes. You grow from your mistakes. But when you have those repeated mistakes or those repeated problems over and over and over again, it becomes exhausting on the people around you. And that’s the Leaf star players in a situation like this. It would be one thing if you were able to write this off and go, “Well, we’ve never seen anything like this before, so it’s got to be the coach.” But for it to happen already under three and for Buru to be the one that came in here who was supposed to be effort intensity accountability and for none of that to be shining through right now. That’s that’s a tough look for this team. Anyway, um the Raptors are in every trade rumor. It’s I don’t know what to make of it other than I got two little thoughts. One is that I believe that they want a deal. Okay, like who doesn’t love a deal? But they are the Black Friday shoppers, buddy. They’re they’re cruising around on Cyber Monday and they want to know if something is they don’t want to buy it if it’s 15% off. They want to buy things that are 50% off. Clearance rate sales. >> Store closing >> stores. Yeah, exactly. Hey, Hudson Bay is done. Come in here and just basically grab things off the shelf because by my count, they have in this week alone from more than one person by by my count three different insiders. Oh, no. Sorry. Four different insiders. Four different insiders have linked them to Claxton, LaMelo, Sabonis, AD, and Giannis. >> Yep. >> And Nick Richards we could throw in there. Sorry. And Gaffford. >> Yeah, I forgot. And Oh, yeah. Gaff. >> Every center in the league. >> If you play basketball professionally, >> you are on the Toronto Raptors radar according to the league. And like Mark Stein, who is a very respectable NBA insider, he’s putting it out there that yes, the Raptors are absolutely the team that’s engaging on Anthony Davis. Shams has thrown in that they’re looking at him. Fiser has thrown in that they’re looking. So >> I know the LaMelo scared you. >> Well, all of them scare me. What are you talking about? You think like none of this is good. Even Even Giannis, I would love Giannis. And I’m not afraid to say that I would absolutely trade Scotty Barnes to get Giannis Tentacumbbo. Even given the age gap and the way that to me Scotty Barnes is playing great this year. I know the numbers are not oh my god they’re so materially different what this guy has done in the past. He is eye testwise to me becoming more of a leader. He’s one of the better defensive players in the NBA and he’s he’s growing. He’s growing as a personality, a player, all kinds of different things. So I’d be reluctant to do it. But if if your team is built this way where you’ve got all these guys and you’re capped out and you’re looking at the situation and said, “Hey, if you’re going to move your draft picks and young assets and try to go for it, then go for it with a guy, you know, don’t go for it for LaMelo or AD or Sabonis.” So, uh, yeah. Uh, who was the other guy? The Phoenix guy. >> Nick Richards, >> right? Nick Richards, otherwise known as Marley’s reporter. Nick Richards, not to be confused. >> Yeah. No. Yes, that’s right. >> With Marley’s reporter. No. Uh, backup center for the Phoenix Suns who are pluckucky this year. >> Uh, two things. One is yes, they want the deal and they did this with Brandon Ingram. So, this appears to be a Bobby Webster thing is if he can get you to throw something in, if he can go get a diminished asset, he wants to try to build the Raptors that way. Draft and development, that was an early thing with the Raps, but make a discount trade. The Kawhi Leonard path basically is what this team now perceives as their identity. And not that everybody doesn’t want a good deal and that there’s a price for everyone, but if they’re grabbing Brandon Ingram, who sat out there for a year and a half in the trade market until his value went to the floor and of course of course so Raptorsy that they end up trading a pick that looks like kind of a nothing and then becomes a something, right? That was the Kelly Olen trade where people went, “Oh, it’s not really anything.” And then it turns out to be Walker Kesler or the Thaad Young trade where they’re like, “It’s actually just a it’s it’s this. It’s barely a trade and it turns out to be like a pretty awful deal. So, I don’t think this is an awful deal because Brandon Ingram’s balling and god, where would the Raptors be without him this year? But yeah, I’ve said you’re not a rebuilding team and you should be trying to compete for a championship if you’re trading away first round picks. And so, they’re if they get a deal, okay, people are going to shape it as well. Look at the price. My thing remains with all of these moves, do any of these guys actually put you in title contention? Are you gonna win an NBA championship with the group of players that you’re trying to aim for here? Like in again in a vacuum if you swapped in Anthony Davis to this roster and you didn’t have to remove from it. I think there’s a case that you could make that they’re the best team when healthy in the Eastern Conference and that they could beat the Knicks and that they would be a tough out if everything’s rolling. Although I watched AD last night, >> he’s not the same guy, man. >> That’s why the discount is there. But it’s like >> he stunk. I think he started 0 of six or 0 of seven from the field. I I was flipping around and that made the because I was like, “Oh, cool. Cooper flag versus the Pistons.” And it was kind of a fun one to have on the the recall when I was flipping off of the Seahawks Rams game. >> He’s honestly not much of a difference from Purleunk in terms of just like not being mobile. >> Well, and the thing is yeah, he looks stiff. He looks old. And >> I think it was S. >> Mhm. >> Who posted the don’t make don’t let history repeat itself with Germaine O’Neal. And there is a lot >> there’s a lot of Germaine O’Neal vibes >> to an Anthony Davis trade. LaMelo is a complete non-starter for me. I’m not interested whatsoever. I just don’t think he’s a serious human being. I know you love him. I know that Gen Z is obsessed because they see him shoot a 1 foot three and throw behind the back pass and they say like, “This is our guy. This is our champion. We love him. He has the most Instagram followers.” >> The shot creation he would create. The downhill penetration obviously is what >> what are you giving up? >> Because that like again all of these trades require a thing to go out the door. So, if you’re the Toronto Raptor, are you going to trade RJ Barrett >> and a pick to get LaMelo? >> I would. >> Yeah. That’s insane to me. >> Yeah. Really? >> Yes. You think so? >> You don’t think it raises their level >> to what, man? To win a championship. You think that at the end of the year they’re presenting the Larry O’Brien? I >> and they’re all sitting around the deis, right? You’ve got you’ve got all the stars are out. It’s it’s Dirk Ditzky and Steve Nash and Blake Griffin and then you’ve got Charles Barkley and Shaq and Ernie and Kenny and they’re all standing there going everyone killed the Raptors for the LaMelo Ball trade but here he is. Uh your final Bill Russell finals MVP come on down LaMelo Ball. Like I actually don’t think we have enough of a culture set for LaMelo Ball or Trey Young or John and none of those guys yet. This is really the first year of that culture building. Like I I’ll I’ll say that. But LaMelo would be an upgrade. >> I just don’t Okay, >> I don’t know if the upgrade is worth it. I don’t know if you’re a chip. >> Crazy deal. You’re getting a crazy deal. Fine. Grab somebody. Do it, I guess. But this I’ll say it again. This feels so Rudy Gay to me where it was, well, what else are we going to do? We’re going to make the playoffs. It just doesn’t feel top ceiling directionwise for me personally. Anyway, quick break. We’ll talk to Rick Bonus. So, we’re talking coaching today. Who better to do that with than a man who coached more games than anyone as an NHL head coach and assistant over five different decades. It’s Rick Bonis. Hey, Rick. How you doing, man? Great to have you. >> Good morning. Doing great, thank you. How are you? >> I am well, but also like, yeah, this is a this is a bit of a tricky morning for the local hockey team. Yeah, I know you saw the Rube comments. So, I’m going to start with that. Like, he gets he tells the media that he doesn’t like the passion that they played with last night, that they got basically outco competed. And then when they go, “What do you put down to that?” He says, “Ask them and nods to the dressing room.” There was some other fiery quotes as he has in there, but yeah, you as a guy again, five decades behind benches. When it gets to that point where you start saying things that openly to the media, what is the read to you? Well, I I’m sure and I always say we’re not in the locker room. If you’re not in those pregame meetings or the day before practice and uh the morning skate and those meetings, you you don’t know exactly what is being said. I’m sure Chief has probably addressed that issue with them prior to the coming out after the game. uh the lack of passion is just you know you as soon as you see it you have to address it and I’m sure it’s been addressed before but um so I all you all you can see is he’s frustrated and eventually if it’s being addressed eventually it does have to come from the players and it does the coach can only do so much you can bring out he can bring up the points we need to play harder we need to play with more intensity we need to play with more passion you can keep bringing those points up, but eventually it does have to it falls on the players and it does have to come from them. It has to come from the leadership group and then the rest of the team has to follow. Uh so we all know how hard Chief played the game. I’ve got a ton of respect for them as a man and a player and a coach and we know we know Tree is doing everything he can behind the scenes to help everybody there. But man oh man eventually that’s what it comes down to. How hard are the will are the players willing to play and to win games and it when the team plays with a lack of passion. I only watched a little bit of the game last night, but you’re going into that game in Washington after they’ve had a terrible road trip and they’ve been having a great year again. They are on a great run. They go to Winnipeg lose 5-1. Go to Minnie lose 5 nothing. You know you’re going to get a great game from the Washington Capitals before that puck is even dropped and you better be ready for it. So, I think that all plays a part into into Chief’s little, you know, his frustration with his team. >> Yeah. And even to compound that for the Leafs, they came back against Chicago the game before, but they did it in a fashion where they’re down to a Blackhawks team two nothing that’s missing Connor Bard, missing one of their top defenseman, and looked lackluster for a lot of the hockey game and sparked a bunch of conversation around the city uh and from their media about the effort level from the team and they still came out flat. And and I’m glad you mentioned the you can preach the effort, you can preach the the passion piece of it, but eventually it does come down to the players. The the reason why I think this one is a little bit more troubling. Well, there’s there’s actually two reasons and one of them is because of a conversation I actually had with you. But the first one I’ll start with is I had Christopher Ste on a couple of weeks ago. He’s a good friend of the show and he mentioned how when you’re a player and the coach starts preaching just about effort, effort, effort and we’re not getting enough passion, we’re not getting enough effort. That that’s a troubling sign because you as a player are going, “Well, what are we doing in terms of like our strategy? What are we doing in terms of the things that we need to do to get better?” And if you have to be preaching to your players that they need to work harder and that becomes a theme in your dressing room over and over again, that that becomes a real problem. And I’m curious if you had the same read as a coach. Well, first of all, your your comment on strategy people talk a lot about adjustments. Well, you know what you 90% of the time the first adjustment that you have to make is the work ethic and the passion that you play with. You can go and change X and O’s, but if there’s no passion and there’s no drive behind it and there’s no energy behind it, it’s it it’s not going to work anyways. So the first adjustment play teams have to make and players have to make. All right, we got to put more into this. Then we can talk about strategy. And the only time you really make adjustments is when you’re when you go into a game and and they’re executing everything you’ve asked them to do >> and they’re doing it and it’s still not working. Okay, now we got to make some adjustments to what we’re doing. But the f again the first big first adjustment most teams have to make, we got to dig in here. We got to get passionate. We need, you know, the 20 guys dressed tonight. We got to dig in harder and then then then the X and O’s can you can change the X and O’s and you can change the strategy. But until you get that, that’s just again that’s just, you know, you’re looking for you’re trying to find different ways uh to take away from the focus on the passion, on the work ethic, on the compete. You can watch a game. I already watched a little bit right last night as I said and right away I could tell, okay, Washington’s right on top of their game. Toronto’s not. Yeah. >> And you could see it right from the television. And so when you see that, okay, Washington’s going to win. He’s going to most likely win this game. And that being said, I was also watching the Buffalo game and they were terrible in the first period. Terrible. Uh they had three shots on net, six shot attempts. Um so they were terrible, but as the game wore on, they they got more into it and they got going and they end up winning the hockey game. So you can start slow, but you better recognize quickly that okay, we’re not on top of our game. Let’s dig in here. Let’s get going harder. So, you give Buffalo credit because they they fought back and they found a way to beat Philly last night. >> Um, but again, you can see early in in the games if which team is on top of their game and which team isn’t. And then it’s the coach behind the bench. Let’s go. The players on the bench. Okay, we can see it. Let’s get going here. Let’s start competing hard. Let’s dig in here a little bit. Let’s get our noses dirty a little bit. Right? When it’s done going, somebody’s got to go out there and cause a little emotion, right? Go to the net. So, you knock the goalie over. Whether you knock a defenseman over and you have a little scrum, now you’re into the game, right? Somebody’s got to drag them into that fight when it’s not going. And Buffalo last night, they they they had a couple of scrums around the g, the goalies, and all of a sudden, they’re into the game. And when this not going, the players on the bench like the coach can say, “We’re not going. We’re not going.” Somebody’s got to grab the bull by the horns and just go out there and take a run at somebody just to get the emotion. Upset the other team. Let them know we’re not just going to roll over here and die. We’re going to fight back. Doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game, but it does mean you’re going to push back a little bit. Uh so again, when I say it falls on the players, a lot of times you can’t keep pointing fingers at everybody else, man. It’s that’s not going to work. Yeah. >> Right. You got to look at you. Somebody’s got to grab it and somebody’s got to go out there and dig in, get some scrums, get some battles going. And I’m not talking about fighting at all. What I’m talking about is playing the game harder. Yeah. And getting in the other team’s face and showing them, all right, we’re we’re Yeah. We haven’t played well, but we’re going to fight back here. Somebody’s got to drag the team into the fight when it’s not going well. >> Yeah. Well, that’s one of the biggest problems right now is that, you know, you’ve coached against this Leafs team and you’re aware cuz they’ve kept most of their core together now for quite a long time. It’s been nine seasons and there’s too many times where that doesn’t happen where what you’re saying is a guy goes out there and is, you know, does something to upset the other team, a guy who just engages in a way that all of a sudden gets everyone going. This season in particular, there are way too many nights where that just doesn’t materialize. And especially from their Yeah. their leadership group who Bubé basically called out a couple of days before. He said that like their leadership group needed to be better and they’ve responded with two games like this where they’re not dragging the team into a fight. And what concerns me, my second point to you about the the two things, right, is last year I talked to you about uh actually the successes that the Maple Leafs are having structurally and defensively and with the new system. And you mentioned that your second year in Winnipeg was actually the season that you felt best with your group because they had the full off seasonason. They had played under that system for a full year and the guys came back year two and were more bought into it and were executing at a higher level. Now the Leafs are in year two of Breub and I was kind of expecting a little bit off of what you said is hey they’re supposed to be more comfortable with it. There is a lot of continuity. Sure there’s new faces. Yeah, they lost Mitch Barner. They’ve dealt with some injuries. Who hasn’t in the NHL, right? Like it’s a condensed schedule. teams, the guys are dropping like flies all over the place, but for them to be this ineffective playing the way that Bubet wants them to like and and a lot of it having to be effort that does that scare you in terms of the the message now not resonating through to the guys and the relationship that you have between the coaching staff and the players. >> Is it the is it the message or is it the buyin? Like where’s where’s >> But I’m saying like isn’t that a problem too? Like there’s a problem. >> I know what you’re saying. >> Yeah, I I know what you’re saying. So again, there’s a we all know, okay? But you can sit here and say, “Yeah, there’s a lot of hockey left and we can get this going.” But man, when you’re not in a playoff spot and you got teams ahead of you, that that time is now. That time is not January, February, right? That time is now. So, they’ve been called out a little bit the last couple of games. I see that. Uh now, and now it’s on the players. Okay, let let’s show that we do have the passion. Let’s show we do have the energy. And I did watch that game against Chicago and they weren’t they weren’t into it at all for two periods and and they weren’t. Then all of a sudden they score and they get going again. But as as the season goes on and you know this as well as anyone, it gets harder and harder. And when you’ve got to climb over a couple of teams to get into that playoff spot and preferably get into that top three because then you know you’re going to make it. It’s a lot of hard work and it’s a lot of compete and it’s got to be consistent. It can’t be there at one night and two periods here and two periods there. It can’t be there. You got to get back into that fight for a playoff spotlight. It starts now for me. And you’re going into the Christmas break and then you’re going to get into January. Uh and it it gets harder and harder to win games and everyone’s banged up. So, excuses, the injuries, every every team this year and has had a ton of injuries and every team has lost key guys. You have to fight through it. You can’t sit there and say, “Okay, we’re losing him. we’re missing him. It and probably going to be result more and you don’t win as many games as you would if you had your full lineup, >> but that doesn’t mean you don’t compete. That doesn’t mean you don’t work. That doesn’t mean you don’t bring passion to the game. It puts more emphasis on that that okay, we got to dig in here. And again, you with the injuries, you’re not going to win as many games, and that’s understood. Okay? But that’s no excuse not to work. That’s no excuse not to compete. That’s no excuse to go out there and give it your best for your teammate. Like I always look at it and say like you’re sitting beside those guys in the locker room. I’d be afraid to let them down. I I would and as a player and I wasn’t a very very good player, trust me. But I was a good teammate and I try to do my best every day when I went out there and that’s what they now they that’s what they need. They got to look at I don’t want to let you down tonight and we’re all in this fight together and I’ve got to carry my weight and I’ve got to get more involved and I’ve got to work hard. I’ve got to compete. Don’t sit there waiting for someone else to do it. Right? It doesn’t work that way. It works when you got, okay, I’m going out there and I’m going to do something to wake this team up. I’m going to do something to carry the weight and turn the momentum around. And again, it’s not the outcome of the game, it’s the process. Nothing works until they take care of that process. process all starts with passion, with compete, with intensity, and playing with a little chip on your shoulder. You look at Florida, and I talked about this last year. When Florida’s on their game, they’re nasty, and it’s so you don’t talk about grit. Talk about being nasty. They’re going through people, and it’s how the game has to be played at times. You have to have a little nasty string in there. That’s what wins games. That’s what turns the tide. So, at times, man, you just got to be a little get out of your comfort zone. get out of the step outside the box and get a little nastiness in your game. >> Can you be that though when your leadership core doesn’t have that as a primary component of their game? Like it’s it’s easier for Florida, right? Because you’ve got Pachchuck, you’ve got Eklad, you’ve got players that are your, you know, main guys that are mean, Sam Bennett, that they’ve got that streak to their game. And even with you in Winnipeg, right, it’s like Shifley is no treat. Like he’s going to be mean. He’ll be able to engage a game physically. Um, yeah, >> with the Leafs top guys, there’s nobody that’s part of their main core that I would describe as someone who goes out there and is a nasty player. And I I don’t know if you can have you can replicate what Florida has in terms of that element of your game if it’s not coming from the top down. If it has to come from the bottom up, >> they want to stay on the cup. No. Then you have to make changes to the way you play each player, not just the bridge. keep changing the pieces. Each player has to, okay, if I really want to win, I got to change a little bit here. I’ve got to dig in a little bit more. I got to get out of my comfort zone. And I’m not going to sit here and wait for someone else. It has to come from the room. It has to come from them. So, it doesn’t mean just because they haven’t done it. They can’t do it. They have to be willing to make changes to the way they play. If your ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup, you haven’t competed in the right times, you have to make changes to the way you play the game. So you’re not letting the guy down you’re sitting beside. You’re not letting the guy down when the other four guys in the goalie when you go on the ice with them. You’re not letting them down. You’re helping them. So that doesn’t mean they can’t change. Just because they haven’t done it doesn’t mean they can’t change. They haven’t won. They have to change. If they want to win, you want to win the Stanley Cup, then you got to go through Florida eventually. And you’re not going to beat Florida unless you’re as nasty as they are. >> So in terms of the way that they play, right? Um, yeah, there’s a reason why they’re preaching a lot more effort because Buru is a north south coach who wants to get pucks in deep and create possession off of Yeah. turning the other team over on the forche and cycle the puck, create an opportunity, hold on to it there. Leafs all season have been talking about more puck possession, more puck possession, and they’re they’re really not getting it the way that they’re playing. And if you’re the coach, because you mentioned already that you can change the X’s and O’s, but if you don’t already have the buyin and you don’t have the compete and the effort, then you haven’t even really seen your strategy play out. But at a point like this where your possession numbers are down to the point they are, and your top guys are not going like Rick, they got $32 million on the first line and they got outshot 7 nothing last night, even strength. Like no bueno, man. They got two shots from Knander, one from Austin Matthews. Do you as a coach have to make those kind of decisions on the fly of okay, you know what, maybe our whole team can’t play the same way? Maybe I am going to have to adjust what I’m asking for or from a line when the only way that they can get their offense is going to be something different. Like having different lines play different ways. >> Well, each player has their individual strengths and weaknesses. You have to let your players play to their strengths. There’s no question about that. You got you do. And but that doesn’t mean they play and hurt the team the way they play either, right? So we all want to see our players make plays. There’s no question. But if there’s not I think when they’re not there, they’re not there. You have to recognize that they’re not there. When you’re on top of your game and you’re fe freewheing, yeah, go ahead. You’re making tons of plays. But you’re not going to have that every night. And the opposition is not going to let let you do that every night. the opposition is going to know who’s on the ice and they’re going to make it harder for you. That’s where the individual has to make. Okay, I’ll take what they give me. That means I have to go north and chip it in and go to work. Well, okay, then we do. And if they give us room to make plays, make the plays. Every player has a different skill level and skill set and you have to let them play to their strength. There’s there’s no question about that. That’s what got them there. But there also has there’s there’s onus on the player to recognize when he can and cannot make plays. And if the opposition is focusing in on you, then you’ve got to make some changes to the way you play. They’re not letting you play your game that night, that ship, then make some changes. Know when to dump it in, know when to chip it in. Just be, you listen, a chip in off the boards. Sometimes that’s as effective as a direct pass. It is. Let the guy skate into it. And um so you’re going with north and you are going with speed. You don’t always have to make direct plays. You can use the boards. You can chip it to an area behind them as long as someone’s skating into that area and you’ll get possession on the puck. It’s the same as making a direct pass. But those are adjustments the players have to make on the ice. Okay, I’m not feeling it tonight. I’ve got to try to tr play a more simple game or I’m really feeling it tonight and I’m getting room. Then I’m making plays all night. So again, that’s the onus on the players to recognize when they don’t have it and to to just adjust during the course of the game. And again, Matthews and Neander, they get a lot of they get a they get the best defensive players from the other team. And when you’re on the road and you don’t have last change, sometimes you’re not going to make a lot of plays. They’re not letting you. So make some adjustments to your game. Get skating north. And again, if you you chip it in the right spot, you’re putting pressure on them. Maybe you’re not making plays, but you the puck is put in the right spot and we have pressure going to the puck. You’re not you’re not going to let them make plays and make it hard on them. And that’s the adjustments the players have to recognize when they’re on the ice. >> When you see a coach losing his cool over and over and over again on the bench and he’s coming off of a season where he wasn’t losing his cool very often. What does that tell you? >> He’s frustrated. Everyone’s frustrated, right? He sees what they are. He sees the potential of the team and it gets hard when you’re standing back there behind the bench and and you know your players are capable a lot more of what we’re seeing. It is it’s awfully frustrating and like I I’m an emotional guy like Chief and you get back there and it’s not going. It’s tough just to stand there and say nothing, right? Because then you don’t feel like you’re doing your job. You got to push them a little bit. And listen, if the coach is seeing it, the players are seeing it. And if you don’t, sometimes if you don’t say something in those situations, the players are saying, “Well, you know, he’s letting us get away with a a lack laxidasical effort.” So, if the coach responds back there, and every coach responds back there, the players are seeing that, too. It’s not like the coach is seeing something the players on the bench and the ice aren’t seeing. The players see it, right? And if you don’t adjust it, address it, then the players are well, he’s not into the game tonight. So you, the coach has to be into the game, too. And he’s got to let them know what he sees and he’s not seeing. >> Yeah. Uh Rick, again, thanks so much for making time. It’s always a pleasure getting to pick your uh pick your brain. Thanks for doing this. >> Anytime, guys. Thank you. >> Be well. Uh I think that’s a great place to leave it because that’s what I’m frustrated with almost as much as anything. And that’s part of the reason why it’s so hard for me just to say, “Well, you dumped the coach and you change the you change the way that you play and give them a fresh voice, blah blah blah blah blah.” It’s only been a year and a half, not even, of Craig Breub. But what he said there about the player seeing it and the coach seeing it and trying to be on the same page. Why is it that in a season where again you are second last in the Atlantic, you’re with the Buffalo Sabres that your coach is speaking with urgency and reacting with urgency and losing his cool and getting pissed off behind the bench, but you don’t see that with the players. Where’s Austin Matthews looking pissed off? Why is it that Craig Barube goes to the podium and says that the effort wasn’t good enough and says that the power play what was god awful speaks with strong language but that you can’t get that from the the players. Where’s the honesty from those guys in terms of the way that they’re playing? Because again like Knander hit people with a it’s a tough question as to why they can’t string things together consistently. Matthews hit everybody with the we we we even though it’s like hey man you’re making 13.25 and your line got shelled last night or during that game. So what about just you? What do you have to do as a leader? As the leader of the team where is your urgency? Where is your anger? Where is your frustration? You can turn off the robot stuff for a minute. I know everybody’s so terrified, but it’s like the funniest thing in all of this is that their non-reactions are eliciting a larger reaction from the public and the media than if they were just honest. Like it’s not working anymore. It’s not working. The dismissiveness and the the idea that you can just brush these things aside and go like we’re trying to figure it out as a group or we people are sick of it. So yeah, Rick obviously he’s a coach. He was a longtime coach. So he’s going to see things through Brew’s lens more than he’s going to see it through Austin Matthews’s lens, which is why he’s saying things the way that he’s saying them. Like you’re not going to be able to even understand your system if you don’t have the buy in. And these guys don’t really seem to be too bought in. I don’t see Austin Matthews as a terror on the forche this season. Knander had one good forch check in that game and it drew a penalty and then he disappeared doing that for the rest of the game. And again, these guys had five power plays. They had so much time to possess the puck and get their offense and be dangerous. And what did it look like? Lazy. They You have an extra man out there and you’re losing puck battles. you have an extra man out there and more open ice and you’re just flipping blind passes to nowhere and dropping pucks behind you and going, “Oh, there it goes.” So, yeah, if you’re a coach, that’s got to be the most frustrating. Play to your potential. They’re not even close. And that’s the other thing is people don’t even know really what the potential is because they haven’t seemed to have been bought in for the entirety of the season in terms of playing the way that everyone agreed they wanted to see them try to play. They had years of being the puck possession team. They had years of, hey, play how you want it to be. Everyone thought, hey, you know what? Maybe give this a different look. See if their star players could engage in a different way. And so far, no. So far, not even close. Not even like laughable to say close. I not even the biggest defender would come out with something like, “Oh, well, you know, I really liked this and that and they’re getting like no, there’s there’s no development.” So, one of the biggest gambits, not that’s a stupid way of putting it actually, but one of the ideas behind bringing in Birub and getting them to play this style of hockey was what Rick said thereof, putting players outside of their comfort zone and stress testing them in that way. And one thing that seems to be becoming fairly definitive throughout this process and this season and especially if it continues to go this way, because sure, you can turn things around. There’s always that caveat, but you ask these players to be pushed outside of their comfort zone. Most people looked at them after a long sample and said, “Yep, Keith can be a good coach and there was some a lot of good there in the regular seasons.” And I think that he evolved as the years went on. I also think that he didn’t get enough credit for being a taskmaster as someone who did hold those guys to account and who did want them to play a certain way and who was actually and is a guy that I’ve always heard is someone who actually needs to dial it back at times with the amount of information that he gives somebody because he is hyper intense and he is hyperfocused on the details. But you brought in Brew saying, “Yeah, we want these guys out of their comfort zone.” You push them out of their comfort zone and what you’re seeing is they’re not willing to do it. They don’t look like they’re invested in trying that. They want to go back to the comfort zone. They want a comfy comfy comfy zone. And that should worry you more than any type of strategy when it comes to what you think the coach is doing and whether or not they are getting enough possession because of what he’s drawing up or whether it’s Mark Sevard’s fault because he’s running the power play. the buy in and the checking out of the group, the lack of passion, the lack of intensity that they’re showcasing when they’ve been asked to play harder, that should worry you because guess what? Hockeyy’s hard. Winning is hard. And so when things have gotten more difficult and they’ve shied away from it and then they haven’t been able to say anything that shows you a measure of accountability, that’s more telling to me than anything that’s going to happen with a coaching change. JD Bunkus on Twitter and Instagram. Reach out anytime. Subscribe to this podcast. Take a quick break. It will be missed. So, one last thought on the Leafs and then we’ll get to what we missed because during the break I kept thinking about it more because it’s bothering me. Everyone you know for the most part has had a bad boss or a boss that they didn’t agree with. Sometimes those bosses do get fired. Sometimes their strategy is piss poor. Sometimes you being in it, doing the job with them not doing it, your perspective is wildly different and it’s harder to buy in to those things, which is potentially again, we’re guessing, but it’s hard not to go to that when you see what you see, right? who who right now would honestly say that they don’t think that the Leafs have checked out at least to a certain degree on their head coach. Maybe the relationship isn’t broken, but it certainly seems fractured when Bub is saying, “Yeah, I haven’t spoken to them yet.” And he’s calling them out in the media before he goes and speaks to them personally. When he’s chewing them out on the bench the way that he is, where he’s starting to talk about the leadership core, when he’s starting to say that they don’t play with enough passion, intensity, and to go ask them those questions. Yeah, I would say that the relationship is at the very least strained. Is your natural reaction as a person to just quit your job or, you know, quit on the job but collect a paycheck? No. Usually, not if you’re a good employee, not if you take pride in your work. If you take pride in your work, you try to still put your best foot forward in spite of things, controlling what you can control. And ultimately, that’s what I think is so funny about this conversation is the players control almost all of this. You don’t think that if Austin Matthews wants to freewheel a little that he has doesn’t have the ability to do so, making $13.25 million and the captain of the hockey team? Yeah. My guess is that he c he can do what he wants. You don’t think Knander has free like his entire career? Yeah, I think he has the ability to do that. Where’s your pride? Where’s your pride as a player? Where’s your pride as a human being that is judged on what you do for this short period of time as a professional athlete? That’s what drives me crazy more than anything else in all of this is like we keep firing these like side excuses for these guys when in reality you’re the problem. It might be the coach not being great. He might not be a good coach. Yeah, he could have. Who knows? You won a Stanley Cup. That’s better than any of y’all. But whatever. If you can’t show up to work every single day and at least try and you constantly have to be harped on by multiple different groups of people to show up and give your best, that says something about you, man. That says something about you if it’s going on for nine years. Sorry. It just does. This is more about the players than it is about Craig Barube even though he’s going to take a ton of slings and arrows and people are going to question him and they’re going to question the power play strategy. All this different stuff. It’s like get five power play opportunities, you get three shots. Like shut up with it’s the coach and it’s the only that like come on. Come on. Absolutely. Come on. Please spare me. I’m begging you. And you do. And and yeah, like we overdo it with the media reactions sometimes. And I would understand if I was them like daytoday having to deal with all this and talk to these groups over like yeah like what about your effort like gh this again. I get it. It would be annoying but at some point like a game like that where you get shelled for nothing and you’re bottom in the standings and it’s getting close to Christmas. There’s not a a part of you that just wants to go you know what I just this isn’t good enough for me. I I got to look in the mirror. Where is that? Why is that always absent? That seems like a cultural issue that is more deep-seated than the head coach. Sorry, Anyway, the other thing too is, you know, I’m off for a little while, so I’m I’m not going to have a chance to talk about this, but you know, people aren’t buying tickets. They’re not selling out every single game. They sold out every year for 13 straight seasons. This seemed like the most impenetrable market in hockey when it came to people still buying stuff when it came to the Toronto Maple Leafs. You like it didn’t matter how long they sucked. You were still getting Leaf stuff under the tree. You still wanted to go to a hockey game. It was still a treat to be able to do that. This is this this fan base right now where people are at, they’ve had it. This is not and if you’re Keith P, you got to be noticing this. And what I I don’t know if this culture can be salvaged with this current group. And I’m talking top down play like GM, coach, players, everybody involved in it. It’s getting to the point where it would be refreshing just to see everything be different. Now you go, you know what? Scrap it. Scrap it all. You tried to basically band-aid it by bringing in Tree Living and bringing in a new coach and you got a bunch of the same, if not worse, band-aid uh but they they they’re going to have to do something to get people to care because people are just pissed. They’re annoyed. If you got Sam McKe turning the TV off during games, you got problem. If if you’ve got the secondary ticket market what it’s at right now for Leaf games, you got a problem. And you got a team that’s not really making anybody want to show up. You got a team. You You’re going to leave your Netflix. You’re going to leave your cozy couch. You’re going to go walk out in the cold, head down to the arena, sit in more cold, pay 20 plus bucks for a beer to watch that. That slop. No thanks. Pass. Hard pass. Anyway, I hope it turns around over the holidays. But I am I well it’s very clear I’m not very overoptimistic. I think when you show you are who you are at some point you are who you are. Everybody can change every you got dig in all this different stuff. Bon yeah okay had a lot of chances to dig in here fellas. It’s a lot of opportunities to dig in. So yeah, I just I I just can’t believe that the idea that well if you bring in Pete Dbor like oh well certainly his voice the fourth voice around them will suddenly teach these guys what it means to be a player and be invested and care and be transparent like yeah that’ll that’ll that’ll do it. Anyway, Armen, it’s the holidays. It’s time for cheer. It’s time for Mary. What what did we miss? Um, sorry. I was just going to follow up with uh, can I ask you quickly, do you think the Jay’s Let’s Go Blue Jays chance will last all season if the losing continues? It felt so novel at the start of the year. >> No, >> but I’ve been hearing it pretty much every game now that >> Yeah, of course. No, again, people are pissed. The the booing that you saw on a Tuesday night, >> like, man, this this market is starved for a winner. The fans are not the problem. There is no issue with the fan base whatsoever. Are are there toxic elements to every fan base? Sure, I’ve said this before. When you have a club and everyone’s allowed in, you’re going to get some jerks. Duh. That’s what being a sports fan is. It’s not going to be perfect, but in terms of like the impact on the team, like, no. There’s nothing that I’m looking at and saying, “Well, this is the reason.” Like, when people do the run of town or they’re exhausted by the the market, it’s like, “Okay, cool. Go get somebody who won’t be.” Because I’ve heard from enough players, including Ster two weeks ago, where there’s guys who love the pressure that comes with playing in Canada. There’s guys like Gary Roberts who I’ve spoken to who said, “Yeah, man. This kind of kept me in check and I felt like I had to show up every night.” And for a lot of these players, they don’t feel that same urgency or those same pressures to show up for the fans that care every night. Anyway, what do we miss? >> Uh the Toronto Tempo, Toronto’s WNBA franchise revealed their first two jerseys this week. >> Yeah. >> One’s a white, one’s like a Bordeaux color as they called it. Uh do you have any thoughts on it? Did you like the jerseys? Do you think people will be rocking them soon? >> I don’t know what colors they are. I feel like it’s the Kim Kardashian dress thing when I look at all these. Like that looks burgundy and then I see other ones that look purple. >> Looks redder than it is. I feel >> I I don’t I I just can’t tell what they’re actually what they actually look like. >> Like so. Okay, this is the craziest part. Is that the powder blue? >> No. >> Okay. >> Powder blues are a tertiary color. It’s I’m guessing the third jersey they reveal. cuz I I just keep seeing people talk about powder blues and I I kept looking at that going, “What are we talking about here?” Anyway, I just I actually So, I’m taught to kind of hate these colors because I’m a Carlton Raven and our rival is the Ottawa Gigi’s and these are the color schemes. >> But secretly, >> those colors are fire. I love those colors. Yeah, I like I like those a lot. Those are excellent. But I just again I I don’t actually know what colors they are because they put them out in this like weird Instagram filter and then I’ve seen pictures of people wearing the stuff online and it looks just totally purple. I I >> No, no, it’s not purple. >> It’s Cabernet and a glass. Let me just see it on the floor because I at this point I’m lost or I I had a genuine with those ones that I I wasn’t sure if there was like a powder blue element to the the white the white maze where I went, “Oh my god, I I thought color blind like I’ve seen green. I’ve seen red. I I I didn’t think that this was a problem for me.” And then maybe for a second I I actually lost confidence in my ability to see color based on those uniforms and the rollout. >> Am I on like night mode on Twitter or something? >> Yeah, it’s it’s there there’s some like Yeah. Do you have a preference between Toronto or Tempo in the front? Cuz first I I like Toronto more, but then I thought about it. I was like, for more of a country thing, Tempo probably. >> I don’t care at all. That does nothing for me. I think that the CIBC logo is obviously way too big. >> So, do they not have does that advertiser not have a chance for the easiest PR game ever right now? because everyone looks at that jersey and I get these are like hardcore negotiations of you. This is too Gen Z of you to be like they’ll get >> I literally didn’t see this on Twitter at all. >> I know. I’m saying that this is the thinking of a Gen Z. It’s like they’ll get this huge PR win. It’s like no, they won’t. They’ll get it’s only a hard like a very hardcore small group of people that are thinking this. Ultimately, your brain is going to check out on it. You’ll adjust and you won’t think much and they’re going to get their ad forever. So, no, I don’t think so. Anyway, >> lower it a bit. I’m not saying take it off. lower it and minimize it. >> Hey, guess what? They’ve already printed them all. So, no, it’s not. It ain’t happening. They’re not going to go, you know what? All the >> They’re not on sale yet. So, maybe they haven’t printed them. >> Yeah, but they of course they have. >> Of course they have. You think that there’s just like there’s a factory somewhere where they they ain’t working on those that those aren’t done. They don’t have boxes and boxes ready to ship. Get out of here. Come on. What do we miss? Uh what what’s next? >> Let’s do some Christmas stuff. >> Sure. >> Since it’s your last show of 2025. Mhm. >> Um, I wanted to start off with the classic. I know this is a little corny, but is Dumb and Dumber a Christmas movie? >> I’ve never even heard that before, but >> you’ve never heard that take? >> Uh, Die Hard. >> Die Hard is the classic one that been argued for like it feels like decades now. But how about Dumb and Number? No, >> I don’t I Here’s the thing. Think about it. >> No, we’re skipping these questions because I hate this one. Uh, I don’t care about what is and isn’t a Christmas movie for like I watch the Trailer Park Boys at Christmas with my brother and sports. And so it’s like whatever is a Christmas movie to you, it’s fine. If you watch Die Hard every Christmas, great. They run it. So like I I I find this these topics to me are exhausting. Like not you specifically do this. I mean like in general when people do like pineapple’s not a topping, you’re like >> it’s actually the dieh hard cloth. You’re right. >> Yeah. It’s the die hard version of that car. Like if that is one of your things that you do, I think you have zero personality. Like you’re just you’re you got nothing going on in that brain of yours because you’re just rattling around like for years about the same like that. >> Like if that’s in your bio. >> Yeah. Just Well, no, but just Oh, that’s awful. But yeah, um I’m trying to think about how we do like I see this come up on other shows where they’ll do it every Christmas and they’re like this Christmas as I heard a Christmas like how many years of this you got to endure before you just find as Kangelo’s wife would say a new slant. Like for the love of God, who cares? Who cares what anybody thinks about any of that stuff? What’s next? >> Okay, this year I’m really trying to learn this. Okay, >> I’m trying to learn how to wrap gifts. >> I’m dead serious. It’s not easy. My gifts look crumpled by the time they’re under the tree every single time. And my sister goes off. She’s putting ribbons making it look so pretty. And then it’s like when we go to open my like our presents, my family, it’s very obvious which ones are mine. Let me put it like that. Yeah. >> So, do you know how to wrap? You’re telling me? >> Yeah. I’m not doing them like your sister. >> But listen, >> they’re not like a just throw it in the bag with some >> No, the bag is the greatest invention that ever happened for most people. Like most men the bag is in fact you know >> they charge something like a dollar or two. Although now with inflation I don’t know I didn’t buy any bags this year because you end up getting like leftover bags. >> Oh yeah. >> Like at my mom’s house she just has so many that I’ll show up usually for Christmas and be like where are the bags? I’m using your bags for Christmas to just fire the whatever gifts into there. So yeah, the bag is a huge, huge, huge development and they should charge way more for those things because families are getting crazy runways out of them and they were charging way too low at the very beginning where it was like a dollar to not have to gift wrap. That’s great. Um, yeah, I don’t know. I think that for me, but what I will say about the wrapping, uh, the wrapping is so much nicer than the bag. Being able to like actually open a gift and go through the wrapping and take it apart, >> like that’s part of the gift. Yeah. So, as much as I am on team lazy, and don’t begrudge people who bag it, because I’m bagging stuff, I’m I’m bagging things this Christmas. This is Oh, they’re gonna be bags. >> You’re going bag. Yeah. >> Yeah, I will. But the like the effort that you put in, even if it’s a trash wrap, is nicer than the bag. A trash wrap beats any bag any day of the week. I don’t care how it’s wrapped. At least you took the time and effort to get the scissors out and put it down. And >> brother, are bad. Like, I’m not kidding. Yeah, I know. What do you mean? >> Family friends come over and they make comments. >> Yeah, maybe >> we’ll wrap this. >> Maybe you should take like a second. >> I mean, I tried last year to do like YouTube videos and I’m just not an arts and crafts guy. >> I like that you treated you treated gift wrapping like it was a a kitchen sink. You went to YouTube for it. Okay. >> I tried. >> Yeah. All right. What’s next? >> How about opening the gifts? Just before we move on from Christmas, do you guys just do the classic open Christmas morning >> and do you go by each person? Just whatever’s closest to the tree. >> How do you guys do it? >> Turns. >> So, it’s like, okay, all >> We used to do the Christmas elf thing like one person was in charge of being the gift giver, but that dissipated over the years. Now we’re old. Like the families, you just pass around the gifts. You go, it’s like your turn to open one, your turn. Is are people doing it a different way? >> Yeah, I’ve heard. >> Closest to the tree. I’ve never heard that. It’s like when you’re sitting there, it’s just like, okay, this one and then the next one open. You don’t >> I will I think that open gifts at the same time is a kids thing. But I disagree with that. >> If I have a take on opening presents, I don’t think everyone should open their gifts at the same time. >> Definitely agree. >> It’s a >> Yeah. Part of the pressure, right? You’re like, you take some time. >> I love this. >> You give someone a gift and you want them to be able to appreciate it and for other people to take it in and be able to comment on the gift. If you’re all opening up at the same time, to me, that’s bratty. That’s That’s brat behavior. That’s young kid. Like, you can’t get them under control. But even then, like, >> it’s Christmas morning. >> You got to Yeah. You got >> a lot of effort. So, you got to open presents individually is my only real strong gift opening take is >> a family that everybody just shows up at the tree and starts ripping gifts and opening up whatever’s there for them. And some people pass. Yuck. That’s disgusting. If I if I was dating someone and we went to one of those Christmases, I would be like, I don’t know if I can marry into this family. >> I think you guys are too selfish. I can’t trust you in a foxhole if your families all open up gifts at the same time. Sorry. I I know there’s going to be some people listening to this that do it that way, but that’s no good. >> One of our own colleagues told us told me this this week that >> his family takes whatever gifts are theirs and they each go in like a corner of the room and start opening. Yeah. Insane, >> dude. >> No, >> that’s why I asked this question. I was like, “Oh, everyone does this.” Like way different. >> I’m not afraid to say that if that’s what you do, your family is trash. Your your family’s trash. There’s no way that that’s a thing. That’s a horrible, horrible, horrible thing. That’s the definition of ruin. That’s like, listen, Christmas is obviously something that is people are like, “Christ become too material.” And you go, “Yeah, obviously.” Like, clearly it’s that >> every holiday. >> Yeah. But that is actually the definition of pig consumerism where you just get a pile of things and go to your own corner and open stuff up and don’t even show. No, no, no. I I’m not about that. >> And the last one, do you guys just open it before breakfast? Like first thing you guys do when you wake up kind of thing. >> Yeah, kind of. Everybody gets up, has a coffee, and >> takes their time, sits around the tree, enjoys it. Yeah. >> And then Yeah. has this slow kind of quiet morning and then I disappear for the whole day to watch sports with my brother. Yeah. I I just immediately basketball. >> Yeah, exactly. I’m like, “All right, first game. All these guys are going to be sleepy. I bet the under on the first game.” >> Too bad the Cavs are playing the first game this year this Christmas. >> There’s a couple good like pretty much this is going to be more of a family Christmas. I would guess is like here’s if if my sister wants to throw on a Christmas movie. She has more of a shot than in years past >> given the slate of there’s some weak NBA games and the NFL schedule is brutal. So >> yeah, depends on whether or not I’m in my fantasy football championship. But again, I played Puka Nakua last night. So the odds of me making my finals in fantasy are bottom of the barrel. And I sat Kenneth Walker, which is the worst part of it is he had a great game finally after he had three weeks in a row where he combined for I think nine fantasy points in my league. So I sit him and then he goes off for the Rams. I’m like, “Ah, cool. That’s good stuff.” All right, Kyle Managi. Guy’s name I can’t say. You better ball, baby. You better ball against the Packers because otherwise Papa looks stupid. Anyways, what’s next? >> Sneak one more in here. U Whimo recently announced plans to expand into 12 major cities, mostly in warmer climates, but they are considering Toronto. It does seem like Whimo is going to come to Toronto. >> What do you mean consider? Oh, I thought this was a done deal. >> Not a done deal. They have to go through regulations and stuff. That’s going to be the major hurdle. I don’t know how that’s going to work. Whimos are self-driving taxis, just in case you’re not aware. wondering if you’ve sat in a Whimo before and would you order a Whimo here if it was a bit cheaper a bit cheaper than Uber. Are you comfortable taking a self-driving car? >> So, this is way too complicated of a topic for me to be addressing on a sports show uh and especially in a succinct matter. What I will say is uh there is a novelty to it that is kind of fun and I know people are interested in them like when they go to LA and they can get picked up at the airport. Mhm. >> Uh there’s also a lot of theories and I know that people are in the city are working on it in terms of having lanes that are for autonomous vehicles because of their ability to just basically cut down on congestion because of them being able to read one another. This is clearly the way of the future. But yeah, I don’t know. There’s there’s something pretty icky about the idea of people losing their individuality with being able to drive a car. And there’s also a like a lot of people drive cars for a living and trucks for a living. And I’m not really sure what is supposed to happen to those people when we’re taking all of this away and pumping in the Whimo stuff to begin it. So yeah, what a horrible way for me to end this show. Um, happy holidays to everyone. Merry Christmas. Uh, I can’t wait to be off for essentially two weeks. So I’ll see you when I return. Yeah. Heat.

JD Bunkis and James Palmer of Scoop City break down the Seahawks-Rams OT thriller before former NHL Head Coach Rick Bowness joins the show to discuss the current state of Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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0:00 – The Leafs’ Brutal Loss
9:55 – James Palmer
43:16 – Raptors Crazy Trade Market
51:27 – Rick Bowness
1:25:42 – Toronto Tempo Jerseys
1:28:43 – Holiday Chat

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Craig Berube Has Lost The Maple Leafs | JD Bunkis Podcast

#Hockey #NHL #MapleLeafs