Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00And those of you who stayed up last night to watch the Rams and Eagles boy, you were treated to a show on the ground. One of the greatest games in the history of fantasy football, by the way, Saquon Barkley with a 50 spot yesterday. Incredible. The Rams, they fought a little bit, but they could not stop the Eagles offense. And it does appear as though these Eagles remember who faded down the stretch last season aren't doing the same this year, as they end up winning the game yesterday.
00:2937 to 20 was the final there. And now the Philadelphia Eagles are in a position potentially to get a buy in the first round of the NFL playoffs. Now, on the flip side, the Rams are certainly up against it. But if the Rams can't stop anybody on defense and specifically can't stop the running games of opposing teams, Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford say they're in some trouble.
00:54You know, really, congrats to Philadelphia. They did a good job. They did, you know, way too many good things explosive wise in the in the running game for us to be able to overcome. I thought we came out ready to go. The turnover really hurt us. Obviously, I thought, you know, when it's a one possession game, they ended up scoring quickly coming out of the half and then we were able to match it. And then it just kind of got away from us. But there's humbling nights like this in football. It's all about how you respond.
01:19I do know that this team has the capability to be able to respond and we'll get ourselves off off the mat and we'll have a good week of preparation this week.
01:27You know, obviously, look at the tape of this one, figure out, you know, you know, where to go from there as far as, you know, what you what you did wrong. How can we correct those things? Not gonna let these guys beat us twice. You know, this is the NFL, you play this game long enough, you're gonna have unfortunate nights, you're gonna have nights where you don't play as good as you possibly can. You don't ever want to get out of hand like they did. But got to move on, got to move on to the next one and give your full attention to the next team.
01:52Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles, probably the best offseason acquisition of any player in the NFL, has got to be running back Saquon Barkley. I mean, running for a lot of yards and in the process, making these moves that we never see from players in the NFL. He's amazed his head coach Nick Sirianni.
02:09Yeah, you know, he on the first play of the second half, he makes a cut that I didn't think anybody else could make. Like, he just stopped on a dime. We blocked it really well. Jordan Malata did an awesome job on the backside. Landon did an awesome job on the backside because we ran an outside zone and we were able to cut the backside off.
02:30And so first and foremost, to get into the open field, it started up front. It started on the front side, then obviously what we did on the backside. And then he made this cut that, man, he put his left foot in the ground and went around the edge and then he just hit the gas.
02:47And it looked like we, I couldn't tell, but it looked like we had some guys hustling downfield to get the blocks. But man, when you have the type of quickness lateral movement that Saquon has with the ability to accelerate and the speed to finish and the power to break it through an arm tackle, I mean, he's got everything you look for in the back. He's been awesome and he was awesome tonight.
03:14Once again, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles surging. Maybe the team to beat, though, in the NFC and the NFL are the Detroit Lions. They won their ninth straight game yesterday. They're now 10-1 on the season as they take out the Indianapolis Colts 24-6, easily covering the 7.5 point spread.
03:34One of the more exciting games of the day yesterday. Bears down two touchdowns, come back late to tie, get an onside kick. It even took this thing to overtime. They fall short by a final of 32-27. Incredible performance late by Caleb Williams and company, but the Vikings hang on to get the win.
03:52Carolina Panthers. Hey, Bryce Young had a really good game yesterday. They fought Patrick Mahomes and company right down to the wire. Chiefs 10.5 point favorites. They eat this one out with a Butker field goal late, 30-27. Key play in the game late was not the arm of Patrick Mahomes, but Mahomes running the ball late to put them in field goal position.
04:14Yeah, we expected a man coverage. They got into a type of like match zone. So they covered up our routes and I got out to the left and at that point in the game, yards were more important than getting out of bounds. And so with the three timeouts, I tried to just cut through and I think it was Justin Watson. I haven't seen the video, but I thought he got a great block. I think it was him and I was able to get down the field and get out of bounds. Kind of fumbled out of bounds, but I got out of bounds and so I got us in field goal range.
04:40Yeah, I think it's a certain times in games. I don't like it's not like a pre-plan like that stuff. It's just whenever it comes down to it and you got to make the play. I feel like I try to go out there and make the play and that's why I feel like it happens kind of later in game sometimes and in the playoffs. It's you don't want to slide, you know, you have to kind of put your body out there knowing that you can take hits and stuff like that, but we've been able to make some big runs and big moments.
05:00Washington Commanders yesterday, ten and a half point favorites against the Dallas Cowboys. Not only do they not cover, they didn't even win the game outright. The Cowboys end up winning this one by a final of 34 to 26. Washington did rally late to get this game in position to tie with under a minute to go, but the Cowboys ran back a kick for a touchdown and that ended up being the final 34 to 26 yesterday. In terms of the NFC West, it's a little bit murkier than it was 24 hours ago.
05:30The Seahawks end up beating the Arizona Cardinals 16 to 6 yesterday. Seattle wins, they cover and now all of a sudden who's going to win this division? Who knows? It may not be the San Francisco 49ers without Brock Purdy. They do not come close at Green Bay. 38 to 10 the final as the Packers surging toward the playoffs and San Francisco probably has to win out. We'll see if Brock Purdy ends up playing this week. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins are headed in the right direction.
05:56They dismantled the New England Patriots 34 to 15. Patriots scored a couple of late touchdowns to make this game closer than it would appear. Mike McDaniel, the head coach, likes the way things are going and trending.
06:08I think it was another game where he's found a way to improve the way that he plays the position throughout the game.
06:23In previous years, we've just spent a lot of time talking about the most monumental thing that you have to overcome as a quarterback is playing the position regardless of the ebbs and flows of motion. Not changing how you play based upon positive or negative results and letting every play stand on its own.
06:50Since the Buffalo game, I think he's really taken a step forward in that direction. Him playing at the level that I think he has the last couple games was a feat in and of itself because it's become more of the norm and not the exception.
07:15One of the bigger upsets in the NFL yesterday did come in the Titans-Texans game. Houston had every opportunity, by the way, to win this game in the end, but it is the Titans picking up a rare win, 32 to 27, over the Texans in Houston.
07:29By the way, the New York Giants made a quarterback change and looked more of the same. Buccaneers smashed them, 30 to 7, the final in that game. The Harbaugh Bowl is tonight. Ravens and Chargers, Ravens' two-and-a-half point favorites.
07:43Also, New York Post reporting an offseason baseball signing. I haven't seen a lot of these yet. You see Cucucci, the Angels, three years and $63 million. That looks to be the case.
07:54Also in college football, Quinn Ewers looks like he's avoided a major injury as Texas is trying to get themselves into good position in the college football playoff. They end up beating Kentucky. Ewers probably going to play this week.
08:07Three losses for Alabama. They end up losing again. This time it's to the Oklahoma Sooners. In all likelihood, Alabama on the outside looking in for the college football playoff.
08:17Same could be said for Mississippi. They lose to the Florida Gators, final 24 to 17 on Saturday. Kansas Jayhawks with another upset. This time it's against the Colorado Buffaloes as the buffs were looking to get in that college football playoff, still to be determined, 37 to 21.
08:33And the wildest game of the college football weekend, Auburn beats Texas A&M, 43 to 41. It required four overtime periods to get to the end result there.
08:47Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. We've got Pat Evans in the house from Legal Sports Report. Oh my gosh, is it possible that sports betting is not coming to Missouri?
08:56We're going to dive into that as we begin the show here. That's not what I wanted to start off the show with. What I do want to start off the show with, Pat, is Happy Thanksgiving coming to you and your family. Are the plans in-house this year, out of house? I know usually you're on the road, I think, for Thanksgiving.
09:10Yeah, well, thankfully, my parents live about a mile away, so I'll be at their house this year. And, you know, being a Michigander, we're really excited about the Lions, who, of course, play every Thanksgiving. And this year feels a lot like the Cubs in 2016. I'm a big Cubs fan here in West Michigan.
09:26And so, I don't know, 10 and 1. They looked real good yesterday, even with all these injuries. They keep next man up mentality, and they're really crushing. So I'm excited about the Lions, and that's what I'm going to be doing on Thanksgiving.
09:38Yeah, 1230 Eastern, 1130 Central Standard Time, first game of the day against the Bears. All right, so now let's dive into the latest in sports betting. And let's start off with Missouri. As they passed to legalize sports betting, there was some discussion that, by the way, by December 1st or December 15th, that it could actually go live. But now, all of a sudden, we're hearing rumors of a potential recount. Was the vote that close, Pat, that this could actually go through and go the other way?
10:04The vote was insanely close, and I think that's what you're focusing on right now. Thankfully, when you dive into it, it doesn't look like there's going to be a recount. The opposition party that, of course, started with a lawsuit to challenge the validity of the ballot initiative, and then a giant campaign that was the most ever spent against a ballot initiative in Missouri, has kind of fallen back.
10:28They've told local media that they won't be asking for a recount, even though it does appear to be in the margin of error to allow for that. So I think we're in the clear at this point, but it is kind of a unique thing because of how close it was.
10:42On Election Day, we said, okay, it's passed. The Secretary of State, they didn't exactly say it passed, but the Winning for Missouri Education, the campaign behind it, did come out and declare victory and everything.
10:56But as we've come to find out more and more now that elections aren't done on Election Day, of course. And so last week, there was a deadline for all these voter jurisdictions to submit their finalized vote counts to the Secretary of State.
11:13And it dropped from almost 5,000 votes above a winning margin for the ballot initiative to fewer than 400 votes. And that's how close it got as more and more jurisdictions submitted their final results. It did come back to almost 5,000 in a margin for the ballot initiative.
11:36So I think we're in the clear. But boy, that is a close election if you think about it. I mean, I think it's 50.07%. And it did, of course, need 50% to surpass the count that it needed. So yeah, crazy close. And hey, it does seem like it's not going to get a recount, though.
11:58So the Missouri Gaming Commission is hard at work, I'm sure, getting everything in order, getting the application process going. And the operators, I'm sure, because there haven't been any launches lately, very excited to get into the show me state.
12:12Yeah, definitely. So we'll see if it happens this year or next. All right. So now let's get into a very small market for sports betting.
12:18Wyoming, let's dive in next year. I'm seeing an article over on Legal Sports Report about a possible expansion, maybe some horse racing and some other casino expansion talk as well. What's the latest there?
12:30Yeah, so earlier this year, the legislator said, hey, we need to get a good gambling study to see what we can do to better improve our gambling market here.
12:40And as we know, as we've talked about at length, the next kind of phase of gambling expansion in the US now that sports betting is in pretty much every market that it will be is online casino.
12:51And yeah, a lot of this gaming report, which was turned in last week, focuses on kind of how to make it a better horse racing state, including simulcasting its races out of the state and increasing their historical horse racing kind of ecosystem, which, of course, is slot machine like machines that are based on historical horse races, which is just bonkers to me in the first place.
13:18But there was also kind of a lot of talk about online gambling expansion. It does say, hey, this is probably a good way to make a lot of tax revenue.
13:25It won't cannibalize anything, which that is kind of the key takeaway for other states that you're seeing a lot of things like Maryland last year, a lot of concern from the brick and mortar casinos that an online casino market would greatly hurt their revenue.
13:43And so that's kind of a big takeaway from this report. I would expect some legislators to introduce online casino legislation sometime early next year in the early session and see if it gets anywhere. We'll see.
13:56It is a very small state, to your point, the small state in the union by population. And so, you know, really, it's not too big of a market mover for anybody, but, you know, it's still something and we'll see.
14:10But just a little quick note, too, on the online casino cannibalization thing, that is also kind of reemerging because in New Jersey, this was last month was the first month online casino revenue or handle surpassed brick and mortar casino revenue handle.
14:28So that's kind of a note and people are like, wait, maybe it is an issue. So that's going to be something to watch in the future and kind of see some analysts and how they're taking that number in New Jersey.
14:40And finally, what would happen if sports betting was legalized in the state of Texas? I saw this study that you guys posted over at LSR.
14:49I mean, the numbers are pretty staggering here, if I'm not mistaken, their projection is a potential 32 billion dollar industry with a B. I mean, Pat, that is huge. How can't Texas get this done?
15:00I mean, that would be probably the largest market. I mean, I think at this point, that is the largest market of sports betting that would be in the US. And yeah, it's just I think that's the takeaway.
15:11Eilers and Crycheck was commissioned by the Texas Sports Betting Alliance to do this kind of market research. They first did it in 2023. Then they came back and did it again. And yeah, they increased their potential, their estimated handle by 43%.
15:27And that's based on things like the ramp up of Maryland and Ohio, how quickly those markets matured. That's kind of how they came to that conclusion, along with a few other things. And yeah, I think what that says is this is going to be a market that the focus is turned to.
15:43Of course, we've got some states that are very close that very likely could legalize next year, if not the following year with Minnesota, Georgia, even Alabama, we're hearing a lot about kind of some rumblings there.
15:58But Texas, with the potential to be the largest market, you're putting a lot of spotlight on that. And I think the market is going to look at that even harder than they have been. Of course, we know that 2025 is very unlikely because of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who's been very adamantly against gambling.
16:20But, you know, you got to lay the groundwork. And the sports book, the industry has already done a lot of that. But I think with this report, we'll say, hey, we got to really double down on that and get this live sooner rather than later, even if that is 2027.
16:34All right. Makes a lot of sense, Pat. All right. Well, Pat, you and I will see each other, I believe, next week back here on the show. I know Thanksgiving is coming for you and for me, too. Great to have you back here on Newswire. Thanks for coming on.
16:46Thanks, as always, Craig.
16:49Thanks, Pat.