Full Show — September 3, 2026

0:00Wake up! Wake up! Come on, guess wake up, man. David Ha! David Ha? You muted in. Sorry about that. Hello, George. So, that was one of the best questions you've ever asked. Yeah, I'm sure it's going to get an answer just as good. This is Ha. Yeah. Okay. Ha, check me out, man. Jared Payton! Me, we want you to see this, Jared Payton, wearing his father's number number 34. Jared, man. Man, I love you on the score, man. The Ha and Payton Show. You will have on the mound for the Brewers the presumptive Saiyung Award winner. The cup bat in the bottom of the first because you do not want to miss Miz versus PCA. First of all, heavyweight fight when it comes to the series. That's what I'm here for, the cinema. There comes the tutu to Breggler. Do it on the air. Deep left field going back, Churro. That ball has gone.

1:01It's a two-run homer for Alex Breggman. Swing in a line drive, base hit to setter. Two runs are going to score. Suzuki going the third that throw there is not in time. The ball bounces away. Alex Breggman delivers. A few moments later. The ring is the better. Showing Bunt lays it down. It's going to be a squeeze to throw home not in time. A squeeze Bunt, kind of a safety squeeze. And it only rolled maybe eight feet away from home plate. But the pitcher Peterson was forced to cover home and they just did not have a chance to retire the head first slide. A Cooper Pratt. And now it's a five to four ball again. Bouncing ball toward the middle, base hit to setter. The time run is in. And we're not even halfway through the game. Here's a drive into right center of base hit. This is going to give no walkie the lead. And the pitch bouncing ball into left field of base hit.

2:04One run is in. Yellich is going to try to score and he will. And down to second, those joey ortees. And the brewers now lead nine to five. McGill working on Suzuki. Ground ball to short. Pratt will go to first. And the ball game is over. Milwaukee, after losing the opener to the Cubs on Monday night, the brewers have come back to win the next two. Get up in the morning with the Haul and Peyton show. Morning's 532-10. On Chicago's sports radio. We also, there's a lot of like Paul Schien's, David, puts his pants on one leg at a time. 104-3 this score. So I gotta get up. Good Thursday morning, Chicago. Welcome to the Haul and Peyton show. Chicago's sports radio. 104-3 this score. Yeah, that's what it was like Wednesday night at Wrinkley Field. I am David Haul along with Jared Peyton. We are here until 10 o'clock this morning talking about all things. Chicago's sports.

3:04Thank you for getting up to 5 a.m. club as Dustin calls him. Good morning, Jared. Good morning, D.H. How you doing? Ready to roll. You look good. I look better than I, I don't know if I look good. I feel okay. Bit of a bummer last night. Bit of a bummer last night. If from the Cubs perspective wasted opportunity. Wasted opportunity, second loss in a row. So how do you explain that? Baseball happens sometimes. But that's a very difficult one to understand. You go into the game and we make so much about the one-on-one matchup. We made so much about the hype with this presumptive Saiyank Award winner against the presumptive MVP. And the Miz vs. PCA was fun. A lot of fun. He walked in his first at bat. Not the home run I was hoping for. Or the bun. No. But he got on base. Or the bun. But he got on base. That was huge. But if I had told you, what if I told you that the Cubs would score five runs in front of the B.M.

4:07Five runs in four innings. And then go five innings and get one hit. And Jacob Mizorowski was on the mound. Which portion of the game do you think he would have pitched there? You'd have thought he'd be the one giving up one hit over five innings. And not the one surrendering the early lead. And yet they chased the Miz. And the bad news was the bullpen showed up for the brewers. Shut the Cubs down. Yeah, it was very shocking because I think we built this whole matchup of the PCA and Miz matchup. But then we also talked about yesterday was the how many strikeouts does he have? Remember it was over under. I think you were it was I know it was double digits that you kind of posed to me, David. So I was like, I could see this. But then thinking that maybe this wasn't a game that the Cubs could win. And just thinking about, oh, maybe Thursday. We'll talk about that matchup on Thursday. But Miz had his worst start of the year and the Cubs did not capitalize.

5:12He threw 92 pitches. 92 pitches, 53 strikes. And he did not have the command he typically has. And the Cubs blew an opportunity to win a game against the best pitcher in the national league. On a night he didn't have it. And their bullpen was better than the Cubs, which isn't saying a lot lately. Isn't saying a lot at all. But just feel like it makes today and tonight a little more urgent with Kevin Gossman on the mound. Yeah, just I think a little bit more concerning that the offense went cold late in that game. As hot as they were. Shout out to Alex Breggman though. I mean, if this is the, if this is the way you're going to kind of start off the month. And you keep going like this. Phenomenal. Oh, Breggie's red hot. Red hot right now. Can we call him Breggie when he's hitting like this? Is he Breggs? Is he Breggie? What is he? You got to call him a nickname because he had four runs batted in, two for four, and continued a torrid month. He's everything that you wanted him to be.

6:14He's earning his money. And when you look at the big picture, if you just take a step back and you look at his season long numbers, they're very similar to what he usually posts. It's just they've been so, they've been such a model of disparity. And the first half he couldn't come through in the clutch. And he was doing things like texting Craig Council about his approach back in the spring and back in May. I think it was about what he's doing to his swing approach and all the technical things and squeezing the back too hard maybe. That's a, that's a grinder mentality right there. I love that. I love the fact that I think how hard it is for a guy that is not getting the, the at bats and the approaches a little off and he finds a way to be able to figure it out and, and get it going and the relationship with him and Craig. Because as of right now, he's got something going. He is red hot locked in. So the Cubs did not get to or take advantage of getting to the Miz.

7:14They had their own issues on the mound because David Peterson, three and two thirds inning, seven hits, six runs, four walks, gave up a homer and gave way to a bullpen that didn't have it again. Daniel Pilencia, who will keep getting the ball. Craig Council said post game things, he's going to keep getting the ball. He's going to keep throwing him out there because they need him. I get it. But Jared, the big takeaway, when you're watching in the ninth inning and you see Kristen Yellich, a 102 mile per hour liner, off of Jacob Webb's forum. That was cringe worthy. Scary. It's scary because you're always in those moments, you're looking at pictures and trying to protect themselves and it's hard to when the ball is coming off the bat that fast. And so to be able to hear that, you know, the results of the X-ray is not broken. But I mean, that bruise is going to be bruised for a long time, David.

8:15We're talking about major league pictures. We're talking about guys who have blisters and they have the IEL stands because of blisters. What's he going to do about a welt on his right arm when he wakes up this morning? What does that mean to the future of the CUB bullpen if they lose a guy who has really been their MVP or their MVP are the most valuable reliever? At this moment of the season, you can't afford to lose a guy like Jacob Webb for a long extended period of time. It's not doable. So, Craig Council post game, he quickly had news and the update people were waiting for if they stayed up to listen to what the CUB manager had to say. X-rays were negative on Jacob, fortunately. He's got a, you know, he's in a little bit of pain and he's got a pretty big bruise or it's going to be a big bruise. So he's a little sore, but X-rays are negative. Who did him in the right forearm?

9:17Yeah, in the kind of the meat part of the forearm. Now, you've got meaty forearms. You tell me, Jared, how bad could that hurt, how much could that meaty forearm guy? Listen, I do have meaty forearms, but even nowadays, even if I bump into... Is that a compliment or not? It's a compliment. No, no, no, it is. But Dustin, I bump into stuff now. And next thing you know, things I start getting bumps and bruises. What a China shop. Yeah, I can only imagine how that feels. I don't even want... Getting hit by a baseball. Just, you know, having conversations with my son, these kids are throwing the 85, mid-80s, and it hurts. But off the bat at 102, I don't know how that feels because it's... Actually, I don't have meaty forearms. I can feel the bone right on my ear. You got my heart on your forearms and most people, though. That's just the way it is.

10:19Yeah. Well, the other thing about it is we'll get to... I want to get to what Cliff Floyd had to say, the marquee sports network in a moment. But the reaction that Jacob Webb had to yell at his liner bouncing off his arm, and then kind of a adrenaline-driven move. He picks a ball up and he throws it over Michael Bush's head trying to make the play at first. I just think he was so rattled by the comebacker. And then the lucky that didn't lead the more runs, but that was not what you want to do. When you take a comebacker off your forearm, you should just not throw it. And I just think that showed you how rattled he became and how bad the situation was. And really, the bullpen just for another night let the cubs down. David, I think in that moment, though, with the adrenaline going, you got to still make a play. He's an athlete. You got to try. You got to try. I mean, I get it. I hear what you're saying. I feel like you have to try. And I think even I try to put myself in that situation if that happened to me.

11:19Yeah, I'm still going to try to make a play. You, the best of your ability. 3-3-1 is exactly right. This is exactly every Cubs fan watching last night feeling this. The Cubs pitching is becoming a disaster. Who do you trust if they're pitching in the playoffs? Offense is not the problem. Offense is not the problem. The offense on a night with Jacob Mizorowski on the mound. This was a playoff pitcher. They chased him with five runs. If you just said they're going to score five runs, then they're going to go four ratings with getting one hit. You thought it'd been reversed. Well, but that's the issue here. The issue is that the pressure is, the offense isn't the problem. The pressure is on the offense with how bad that pitching is if you can't kind of trust anybody at this moment. I really like Cliff Floyd on the Marquisports Network. I think his insight and analysis is spot on every night you watch him. And he had this to say about Jacob Webb in the comebacker. When you look at the last 16 games, this is where Craig has been talking to his pressors before the game after the game's gone.

12:22This is a group you have. And if you lose Jacob Webb, it is next man up mentality. But where are you going? Danny Plessis struggling. You don't have Javier Sade here yet. So you have to figure out who's going to be the guy. Is it Rausen who when you look at his VLOG tonight, it was up 95, 96. Maybe he slides into the role. But you got to find somebody and somebody has to step up like right now immediately. Don't know who that's going to be. It's a great point, Cliff Floyd. It's a great point to reinforce and to magnify. Who is that going to be? Who's that guy? Javier Sade's not here yet. See, he could be that guy. He could be that guy. Yeah, you look at the Brewers. Ashby Yarebe and McGill. They got a nickname for them. I'm sure they called them the big three. They had the stat last night. They've combined with so many appearances and they're so unhittable and they're so this and they're so that. The Brewers have the bullpened great. The Cubs don't have that certainty for the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.

13:22Well, I think you answered your own question earlier in the show, David. You're going to keep the crack. He's still going to still roll with Plenty. He said that because he had to say that. Danny Plenty, uh, looks like a guy who has only made four appearances coming back after a long layoff. Looks rusty with no confidence. Looks easily rattled. And I just don't know where he is mentally because he doesn't have the command that he had at the beginning of the season. He's been out more than in. And now I just don't know by the time you get to the postseason, by the way, Arizona beat the Phillies. So Cubs missed an opportunity. But what state of the bullpen will be going into October? It's going to be this is going to be rough. What about Thiel bar though? Thiel bar was good. I have to say he's good from the left side. Like Cliff lead is an option.

14:22Here's another option. Justin Steele down at Iowa. Pitching in and in two thirds. And was back on the mound. I don't know if he looks like he is the goods. But this was an accomplishment in itself that Justin Steele pitched for the first time since April of 2025. You can deploy him in a lot of different ways. To 2 to angle, fastball called the third strike on the outside corner. What do you think about Justin Steele? I told you, I feel that it's an opportunity if he can get back to form that he can be a guy that can eat up some innings for you if you need him to. I just don't know. He hasn't pinched since Dustin gave me the dates since. What is it? August? It's just the steel? Yeah. Oh, it's been, it's been quite a 25 or 25, I believe. I mean, almost, almost two years, right? It's these, and again, it was only, it was only an inning in a third, but it was 30

15:22sum odd pitches, 26 for strikes. It's all about what happens this morning and then what, what happens on Friday and then what happens on, it's, it's how does he build up to that next outing, right? But it's a big moment for him. That was, that was huge for him, just both his, his confidence and the competitor in him to be able to have that opportunity yesterday. Yeah, if you're seven, eight, nine options include Javier Assad, Justin Steele, and then maybe a recovered Jacob Webb or Rejuvenated Daniel Pilencia, then all of a sudden, you're bullpen, you can see some reason for optimism, but I do think that's a big ask in a bit far to go right now. Yeah, I believe it. I think it's hard. And with the Jacob Webb stuff, I think for, it's about grip strength, all that stuff that you have to be able to do, to be able to toss in the bigs. How big is the wealth this morning when he wakes up? I think it's going to be huge. I know there's a lot of ice, a lot of ice.

16:24So the big other thing that's night that happened, and I don't know if it's worth getting into because the 5 a.m. club is up, but not everybody is yet, have to crowdsource this later. Were those audible cheers on the Marquis Sports Network and the score broadcast were those audible cheers for the brewers in the late innings? Have we, we kid about American family field becoming wriggly north when the Cubs invade Wisconsin, but are brewers fans being heard on a night at wriggly that the Cubs chased a miz but couldn't touch the bullpen and the brewers won a second and a row. Did you hear that on the broadcast Dustin? It came through. Okay. Was it just me? It did not. It was not just you. It came through loud and. Don't give them that opportunity. What does that say though? Has that happened before? Does the Cardinal fan base ever unify and tarps off and all those things? Did they ever we heard from them?

17:24Is this a first? Is this an anomaly? What are we to make of it? A one off? I don't know. Wriggly field is not where you want to hear brew crew cheers. Yeah, but you have the opportunity to make sure that doesn't happen, David. You know, you took advantage of it early on where you were getting off on the miz but that next thing you know, you went silent. Come on, man. You don't want other people to cheer. You got to put them down. You got to bury them. You got to not let them get back up. That's such a bizarre thing. They made the miz look human. The miz bleeds. He looked human. You want to talk about not taking advantage. You said that you just said a minute ago, David, about the Cubs not taking advantage of the fillies getting shut out by the dimebecks. You had that and you knew that before first pitch of last night's game and you had the miz on the ropes. You talk about not taking advantage. And now it's nine. Now the division, forget it.

18:26Forget about the division. Now it's about placement in the wildcard. Forget about the division, folks. And now it is about placement in the wildcard. And it's about bullpen management and bullpen health. Get these guys healthy. And maybe starting pitching management too, David. Maybe, maybe, I know we didn't like it before about two, three weeks ago. I was all for a six-man rotation. I think you might need a six-man rotation. You need to give guys a day off. You need to get guys ready for late September, early October. Can't disagree on that. Fatigue is starting to set in. Oh, yeah. You heard yesterday. We talked about all the different things going on and starting pitchers are tired this time of year. That was been the accepted thing in most major league teams, but especially for a team like the Cubs trying to piece things together with an injured bullpen. And now, you know, a lot of uncertainty. So speaking of missed opportunities down in Houston, the White Sox ran into another hot pitcher. Hayden-Wesnesky. Or as I like to refer to him, Wesnasty.

19:27And was he ever against the White Sox? This guy rose to the occasion. Has been very good for the Astros of late, coming back from an injury. And the Sox on a night where the Guardians lose also go down. And two to nothing with a lot of kind of sloppy play against some questionable base running. And Will Venable post game on some of the things the Sox encountered down in H town. On the first and third there, yeah, it was first and third with Tristan. You go right there and maybe you're trying to get into a run down there, but you're trying to stay out of the double play, which really hurts you. So again, hit the ball on the ground. Was one of those where Tristan did the right thing by going. And obviously, you just weren't able to do the best in the last side of runners. All right, Tristan Peters gets caught up on the bases. Drew Romo stayed in the game, wasn't pinched run for with a Zuna in the dugout.

20:28Some things you wonder about moves, mixing and match. Maybe we're bearing the lead, Jarrett. Davis Martin went five and two thirds and didn't give up a run. So while Hayden was nesky, was big story for the Astros because he went seven and gave up one hit, the return of Davis Martin might be the big headline for Sox and a night they couldn't muster up any offense. Yeah, definitely. I think for him, that was kind of the focal point. How was he going to be back in his return from the IEL and just being able to see him. It was a pitcher's duel. And you called it yesterday, David. You're going back and forth. He did enough to be able to get you to win this game. It's missed opportunities down the stretch though for the wide sucks going one for seven runners in scoring position. They left opportunities on the table last night. So yeah, they didn't hit and tonight they have a chance to salvage a split. Big start for Luis Castillo, whose last time out was not good. Whose post game interview was even worse just because he was a guy that wanted to look

21:33at what he just did as being acceptable. Didn't sound like a guy taking accountability. Ozzy Geon called them out a little bit post game. We'll find out what he has tonight. Or later today, it's a day game, day baseball, Sox and Astros in the finale, Thursday, down in Houston. So they play at one that comes play tonight and moved up an hour earlier and the scores of only local broadcast, 615. I think pregame here on the score at 530. Will you be in the building? Yes, I'm going tonight. You can even ask me to go with you. I did. You're welcome to come along. I'll find a ticket. I'm sure I can find some brewer fan who's trying to unload the tickets because they know what's going to happen. Kevin Gosman on the mount tonight. I think that's going to be. You have a ticket. I want to get one for Jack. I do have a ticket. I give you. I give you my ticket and just use my card. Yeah. Yeah. But then I wouldn't be a seat. I'm sitting with the masses. I'm sitting with the masses. We got to hang out together. I'm not going into the press box.

22:34There were too many seats open. Good seats opened up last time. And that's the one thing that I thought about as the game kicked off was Dustin was talking about. Get there for the moment. First pitch. Don't be late. And I'm like, where are all the fans at? Did you see, Charlie? First row, Charlie. Of course. Yes. Yes. With the arrow, the arrow was actually pointing up to his seat. There was like an ad to forget what it was for. But the rate was the rate. It was the rate. It was up pointing up and right there in the seat is Chris Chelios. And he stayed. God bless him for the entire game. Every inning is still here. Yeah. Well, I'm still going to hang in there because Charlie's still there. Things are looking good, but Charlie's still there. Oh, it's good. Yes. I'm going to be in the building tonight. I'm hoping it cools off. Yeah. No shot. No. No, not tonight. It's still going to be hot. Bear's practice today. Good hot practice. Good physical practice. I'veMartins and Nicolas segundos I think what do you think does he put him. Does he put him outside for that or they'd go in

23:36the outside chair anything? I think you are皣 also a cancer. �� I don't think you'd need to be in the Patins' much. You need to be outside. You've gotta be outside. Yep. This is a Lesson. Water ARE We got it. Points. New discipline Texas🤔 Country orders he think do what you think does he put them does you put them outside for that or they go in the out. Is it like this physical practice today? Is there one more left? I believe so. They're getting a little break, right? They practice today. We'll find out from Big Z at 725, bread Bigs. Bigs time 725. And we'll find out, because they have, they get like the holiday off. They get to barbecue like the rest of us as well. Yes, they do. They're gonna get a long break and you're gonna come in Tuesday morning complaining about the Bears not practicing Dustin. That's gonna be on brand for you. I know it. It's gonna be like, oh boy, I hope everybody enjoyed the weekend. The Bears haven't practiced since last week. Yes. We've got Dan Hot practicing today. Am I right, Dustin? As usual. Thank you. We have Bigs time to 725. We've got Tommy Hottie V. Oh my gosh, he's a 825.

24:38We need him for two hours. We have Tommy Hottie from 825 till 10. Not really. His Clay Harbor is in studio at nine o'clock. My buddy, our buddy from the Chicago Sports Network. He will talk Bears. We have a lot to get to. Kind of the Gordon Wade Inn with the video from his trainer yesterday. That's gonna be fun to consider. We're gonna talk cobs. We're gonna talk socks. We're talking Bears all the time. Jared Payton is here. I am here. Dustin and Brandon are here. It's on Payton. Back with the Pick 6 on Chicago Sports Radio. 104 3 this score. It's Pick 6 with Haw and Payton, where we debate the top six sports stories of the day and then open it up to you. The Chicago Sports Fan. Call us at 312-644-6767. Or you can tweet your thoughts at Haw Payton. Pick 6 with Haw and Payton starts now. What was worse? The Cubs scoring five against the Miz and losing or Jacob Webb,

25:40bruising his right arm, and possibly being unavailable for the rest of the season out of the bullpen. X-rays were negative on Jacob fortunately. He's got a, you know, he's in a little bit of pain and he's got a pretty big bruiser. It's going to be a big bruise, so he's a little sore, but X-rays are negative. X-rays negative, so what was worse? It was the right forearm. Yeah, and the kind of the meat part of the forearm. Sorry, Craig. What was worse? Well, the meaty part of the forearm is not the forearm. You want part of the forearm. You want to hurt. You don't want to injure any part of the forearm or any part of the right side for a pitcher. I think Dr. Counsel, find X-rays are negative. Don't know if the Jacob Web, that wakes up this morning will feel like he can pitch this week. Hopefully he can pitch this month. I don't know. We're not supposed to say that, but how can we speculate?

26:41I don't know, but I suspect this, with cup pitching and injuries this season, aren't we all conditioned, interfering the worst? Don't we expect more bad news from Palencia to go down a long list of guys, Cabrera, who? Exactly. He's coming back, right? He's coming back. We're gonna Craig talk about that yesterday. Yeah, his blisters healed. But I feel like Jacob Web put himself in a position or Christian Yelich put Jacob Web in the position with 102 mile per hour line drive off his meaty forearm to be suspect the rest of the season. So until we get good news, I'm gonna assume bad news. And now I don't know what happens to the ninth. And I'm not encouraged, there is no silver lining that Jacob Web has not been great in the last 10 days. I still think he overall has been reliable

27:42and was part of your presumed big three. You know, we talk about the Brewers Big Three with Ashby, with Yeree Bay, with McGill. The Cubs ideally were had Palencia, Zephyr John and Webb. I don't know that you trust you, the one of the Cubs Big Three. And now it's even harder to say that because of Jacob Web's injury. So I think that was tougher than losing to a Brewers team even though you chased him is with five runs. It's 605. And we gotta take counsel in his word. It's 605 on a Thursday. Losing to the Brewers when you had the Miz have career worst, career worst things happened to him. And you couldn't hold on, you couldn't take that, that is worse this morning. If Web's arm was broken, the conversation would be different. But at 605, in a minute it'll be 606, we don't know what is going on with his arm. He seems like a tough guy.

28:43He seems like a tough guy. There's enough ad villain enough ice. I don't think he's gonna be afraid. I don't think is, I mean, we're worried about, where are we getting a month or pitching again? I mean, you almost sound like Kyler Gordon's injury here. I mean, is he gonna have to make a TikTok, David, for you to be okay? Is that what's gonna happen? Pictures are delicate flowers. I don't think he's a delicate flower. We're gonna have to ask Tommy Tottie how delicate Mr. Webb is at 825. I'm split with this. It's hard for me because, yeah, you had the miz on the ropes and you couldn't capitalize. That right there is, the way that that game started, I was thinking that this offense was holy cow. Like, this is an opportunity for them to get a dub, but also to get after him. And with his worst outing of the season, they couldn't capitalize to me, just a little concerning. So where the offense went flat as the game went on. But when it comes to Jacob Webb, Dustin,

29:45it's a part of your grip strength is a part of your spin rate. So how you can grip a baseball? A lot of that comes from right here. So I just don't know from your form. I don't know how long that goes, right? And so for these guys that like to throw the breaking balls and all that stuff, that might take a little time. Not saying it's the rest of the season, but I think it's going to take some time to let that forearm here. Could it be the meteor, the forearm, the more intense the injury is? I don't know, but have you ever, have you ever got hit here and then tried to grip something before? It's hard to do. Have you? Yeah. I mean, trying to hold a foot, but I don't have the meaty forearm. I mean, I've taken some shots. All right, Papa, you know, I haven't had my spin as yet today. Haven't had it yet, but it probably sounds like it. Cause I'm awake. Let's go, baby. Let's go. You know, I actually thought it was going to be my first question to him. We just need a little corn cob pipe.

30:45What was your evaluation of the return of Davis Martin for the white socks against the Astros? And is it too early to start wondering about magic numbers? I was pleasantly surprised with Davis Martin and his return back. I mean, five and two thirds, give it five hits, no runs, one walk, three strikeouts, 80 pitches, 55 of those are strikes. So I love seeing that you come back off the IEL, you start to feel like yourself a little bit. It can always go one way or the other. You could be rocky. You could have a rough start. But for him, he, to me, was the player of the game gave the the white socks an opportunity and a chance to win that game last night. And no, Dustin, I don't think it is. I don't think it's too early. What, how many games up 20, 20, was it magic number 21? Magic number is 22. 22? Hey, I don't think it is. Why not?

31:45Let's have some fun here. Let's have some fun. There's still a first and division. Let's go. I'm down south side as you know what time it is. It's never too early. If you're a white socks fan and to your enjoy this. Yes. You know what, I'm not enjoying as a cubs fan this morning. I'm seeing that the brewer's magic number is 14. Oh. 14 is the brewer's magic number. Davis Martin last night through three innings, 28 pitches, 21 strikes. He looked good. You, you're dying as a fan for somebody like this. He went into, he went deep into that game on his return, right? He's not got as many miles on that arm as other guys because he missed some time. And you're looking for somebody to be that guy. And you know, the guy you traded for who's supposed to be that guy throws this afternoon. Tonight, this afternoon would be really nice to see Louise Castillo look like a guy who's owed $30 plus million last year and is looking like a guy

32:46who can take the ball and game one of a playoff series for you. That would be a welcome sight because what's happened down in Houston as the socks, unfortunately, they've lost two or three right now, is that Sean Burke has responded after an eight walk outing and looked like the guy who is a top or the rotation starter. And last night, even though the bats didn't show up, you saw Davis Martin look like the guy he was through the first three months of the season, a top of the rotation starter. OK, so if that has elevated the standard and reset it where it was the first half of the season for White Sox starting pitching. Now, Louise Castillo goes out. And if he meets that standard, you can see why the socks have optimism with their one, two, and three guys, which is in the playoffs. All you need, I mean, you need three starters. Anthony K could fit in here and there. Sean Newcomb could fit in here and there. You know, we're grand tailor could fit in anywhere.

33:48So Davis Martin, five and two thirds last night, was significant in terms of return. Because you talk about Awees and injuries and all the things, the blister surfacing. I don't know if Davis Martin went on the IL because of a blister or because he had a tired arm. Whatever the case is, it worked. As for magic numbers, absolutely. You're right, JP. They've got 23 games left. And they're feeling like Taylor Swift. 22 is the magic number. 22. That's retainable. That's unbelievable. And that is something that you want to talk about embrace and enjoy because this has been a special season. It's been so magical. They're giving out magic wines Friday night at the rate. I'm going to talking necessarily about a pick six or something like that. That's the voice of Brad Biggs. Biggs time, 7.25 this morning with Haw and Jared Payton.

34:51In his annual feature, the four letter networks, Dan Graziano speculated that he wouldn't be surprised if the bear is traded for a defensive end, but didn't say before the season or during. Do you think Ryan Poles will pull that trigger if so when? Well, I love these kind of stories that speculate and leave people wondering. And I know that's an annual thing. And it gives national guys reasons to pose possibilities based on conversations. They may have off the record with executives and coaches. Dan Graziano is doing his part to contribute to the speculative nature about what happens next with the bear's roster. But I look at it this way. You want to name names? I think I'll name names. If they'd make a trade before Labor Day, or if you recall, one Saturday morning in 2018 over Labor Day weekend, the bears traded for Clill Mac and changed their season. Clill Mac in 2018 coming to Chicago changed that year.

35:52The bear's going to have a good season. I don't think they need to make that kind of a deal. If they do, you hear the name Josh Sweat. You hear the name Josh Sweat rumored to be or linked to the Packers. You don't want that if you're the bear's. You don't want that. So maybe you get involved just as a block just because I know his limitations. He might be too expensive. But I think Josh Sweat is a name I thought of when I saw that from Graziano. Now, if you go into the season and you get near the deadline, obviously Max Crosby keep an eye on that. If the Raiders start two and five, like they're likely to, because they just named Kurt Cousins a quarterback, and they overdrafted Fernando Mendoza, and they've all kinds of problems. Maybe they move Max Crosby. But yes, I do believe that it would surprise me if the bears by the end of the season haven't made a move to supplement a pass rush that needs a boost. Well, they need a boost.

36:53There's no doubt about that. Here's my problem with this Ford Letter Network report and these kind of reports in general. Is that that report specifically did not mention a name other than the names of people on the bears? We know who's on the bears. We're looking to add people to the bears. That's what we're looking to do. And what's going on with Booker? Where is Booker? When is Booker going to, if you don't have Booker for a significant amount of time, if Booker ends up on the Pupp somehow, or something like that, and he's not back until week five, then you have to do something, right? Because are you going to get all this pass rush from the interior? Is Dio ready? Do they believe in Dio? Because David, after that report came out, which is about 20 hours ago right now, seven hours ago, Dan Graziano, the Ford Letter Network reports, the Cardinals of Old Teams,

37:53they're not interested in trading sweat, whom they paid $7.2 million option in bonuses before the season. Oh, so which one is it? Well, let's get question four. Brad Biggs, 725. Yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to go with, I do believe that Ryan Poles makes a move. I just don't think it's, soon. I don't think it's before Carolina. I don't think it's before week one. I think a lot of this stuff is, he hears a lot of noise from outside of that locker room in Halles Hall. And I don't think he is, I don't think he's moved by well, and now I have to make a move because I hear all the chatter. I think what he's going to do is, and he understands that, that that room, when it comes to getting after the quarterback, the guys that are in that room, it's not finished. He's going to make a move, but he's going to do it on time. I think he's going to watch the first four weeks of the season and see how this thing plays out. And so to Dustin's point, I believe that they,

38:57they know a little bit more about Austin Booker, and if then we do, because he's probably going to be ready, because if not, I think they would have a little bit of concern when it comes to getting after the quarterback. I'm not sure if Dio is going to be ready, but I do know he's going to be motivated. So I think the first three to four games, it's going to be an audition. He's going to be watching and making sure. And then by that time, if things aren't right, and this team's all right, then I feel like it's an opportunity. Do you think that Dio with Dang Boe can have the kind of season that he was paid to have last year, but didn't, I can't be, no, I, there's, there's too many question marks about him coming back off of injury that I don't know what kind of player he's going to be. And I've seen a little bit of him, but you still have to be able to be effective and be the guy that, that they paid you to be, you need to be available for the whole entire season. That's it. That's it. And it, and it's hard. And we, I wish I, I wish I could look into my crystal ball

40:01and say he's, he's going to be ready to go. But Achilles, I've never had that type of injury before. D H, I don't know what that's like, but the people that I know that have had it, it's hard. And it's hard to trust your body again. And to be as physical and go as, go as hard on the, on the field all the time. So I, there's, I don't know. Help make a move. It's just not going to be as fast as probably Bears fans want him to. If you got any best answers, some of these questions are Dennis Allen. And, and we're not going to hear from him for another couple of weeks, I would imagine. This is going to be another good question from Brad Bigg. So again, joins us at 725 this morning. Dennis Allen had this to say about Jalen Johnson's preseason progress. More specifically, the last two weeks, you know, when you talk about really the, the, the joint practice against Cincinnati, his mindset going into the joint practice versus Tennessee, I've seen a guy that's really kind of taken a, a, a step forward. I think he himself probably feels more like himself.

41:02And I've been, I've been really pleased with what I've seen out of him in particular over the course of the last two weeks. I think his leadership has started to, you know, kind of come to the forefront a little bit. And, and that's needed, you know, we need him to play at a very high level for us to be successful. And I think he, I think he understands that. I think he accepts that challenge. I think he's looking forward to it. So how much could a strong season from Johnson go towards helping a bear's defense that needs its great players to play? Well, great. Huge. Having a, a motivated and healthy Jalen Johnson, I think goes a long way. And you can hear it in the voice of DA. He's like, he's, he's one of those other guys that is a football lifer who doesn't just say things, the say things behind a mic. He's very intent with what he wants from his guys. And to hear him talk about those joint practices and that Jalen

42:03starting to look like himself again, that, that gives me hope. Because David, we, we look at this team and we, we watch this team all the time and listen, you want everybody to be great. But what you need is 11 guys, especially on that defense to be good at what they do. But also an added bonus, you need three guys on that defense to be great. And if Jalen Johnson is one of those guys that is going to be great, man, that solves a huge, huge problem. Because that's locking down a guy on that defense army on that offense who, excuse me, who's your number one wide receiver. And you can kind of know that, hey, he's got this on this side. It's locked down on this side. And he's playing well. And when he's playing well, man, he's, he's, he's one of the best. But we didn't get a chance to see that. And it was caught off due to injury. And I know he fought his way back. But if he is that guy, it helps out Dennis Allen and what he can do defensively as well as they try to figure out some other

43:05holes that are still on that defense. Yeah, I mean, if you can't get to the quarterback, you're better be able to hold up in the back end of the secondary. And Jalen Johnson, what did he say earlier this year, David? Like, I'm, I'm in a contract year. I'm putting out tape for everybody. So he's definitely motivated. And you love, you love when players are motivated by their paychecks. I didn't like it when he came into camp. And that was the first thing that we attributed to Jalen Johnson, the fact that he was putting things on tape. And he worried about the 31 other teams and all of those things that made him cast him as a little bit selfish. And yet I understand in retrospect what he was saying, maybe motivating himself, but I think you can accept it better now because you know what he did? He backed it up. He came in talking big and then he's backed it up. And I do think Dennis Allen went out of his way to point out that Jalen Johnson not just making plays and being technically

44:06sound and looking like the guy he was pre-injury, but he's been a leader that they need. And let's face it, even though he's a proble caliber player and maybe the best player in his position on that defense for the Bears, you can never hear enough praise or it's good when coaches build up their guys publicly. Number one, because it's good business. And secondly, it's good for the confidence. It reinforces things that are going positively for Jalen Johnson. So I like this development. I think that Jalen Johnson, if he stays healthy, can offset some of these other weaknesses that the Bears have on their defense, including a pass rush, including lack of depth in the secondary. You have a cornerback that can really erase half the field with the best receiver. It's a different game to call if you're Dennis Allen. So that's the key thing. And that's the most important thing because the Bears have a difference making cornerback and he's playing like it and

45:09backing it up. I want a selfish Jalen Johnson. You want him out there proving that? I want him selfish. Yeah, I want him to do. You're a contract here. So guess what? If we're getting your best, you might not be here. I get that. But if you're out here giving your best, oh, man, I'll take that any day. Cornerbacks are different breeds. They are. They're saying he's dudes. They're going up against the other best athletes, all the football. Also realize what's going on here. You've got 3.5 seconds that you want the quarterback to hold the ball for, right? Yes. And if you have a cornerback that is covering the intended receiver more times and not, and he has an extra split second of coverage, and he doesn't have that window open, all the sudden your quarterback is holding the ball a split second longer, which gives the Austin Booker's the Diode Angles and the Montess sweats more time to collapse the pocket and get in the way. And think about the receivers just in the division that he has to go up against. I mean, this is.

46:10Yeah, we'll get into that later. Who's the best receiver in the division. That's a great debate, even though Justin Jefferson, I think, is at the top. And then there's everyone else speaking of defensive backs. Yesterday we heard from Kyler Gordon. Oh, no, wait, we didn't hear from him. But we saw him in a video. We will talk about next. The pick six continues. It's Han Payton Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score. Welcome back to pick six with Han Payton on 104 3 the score. I think a pick six Kyler Gordon's personal trainer, foot doctor, Mo, same guy who helped out Jalen Johnson in his rehab released a video Wednesday that showed Gordon making explosive cuts, looking healthy. What's your reaction? Or do you have Kyler or a team? I understand if people do, it is a the story that won't go away. But it is important because of the state of the bear secondary. And frankly, the contract extension he has yet to really start earning. So when you saw that video making the rounds on social media

47:14on Wednesday, this is how I interpreted it. Because it looks like Kyler Gordon cutting and throwing down a weight. And then he's running doing drills. And he's looking quick. He's looking sharp. He's looking fast. And he's looking healthy. This to me, my interpretation only, was Kyler Gordon giving the bears the middle finger. A day after Ryan Poles called him out publicly and questioned his toughness and alerted everyone to his lack of readiness and put him on blast. And this was Kyler Gordon's response, which I suppose some people will look at. Oh, this is the good news. Look at him. Doesn't he look healthy? Doesn't he look good? You know what would look better? Kyler Gordon in a football helmet and shoulder pads, not on a grass yard in shorts and bare feet, making cuts, because it looks like he's healthy.

48:15You need Kyler Gordon on the field practicing the way that Ozzy Trapilo was practicing, trying to get himself back from an injury. Ozzy Trapilo isn't going to his personal trainer and says, let's put this on TikTok. So it makes everybody alert and aware of how healthy I am. If you're healthy, join the team. Join the cause. You're paid handsomely to make a difference, to make an impact, to make an appearance, show up, show up. And I think that you are fine in showing us how healthy you are. But now you can tell us, without answering questions, I have more. So yeah, great. He's back, but I'm not that impressed. I think the only one that has Kyler Gordon fatigue is potentially the head coach of the Bears Ben Johnson. That's who has the, I don't have fatigue. It has a big impact on me enjoying my Bears games. He's a very good football player when he is on the field.

49:17Now, David, did this help the player, or did it help the team? Is there a time stamp on this video? Was that in April? Was that in May? Was that yesterday? Like when was that video yesterday? That was yesterday. If it was, we don't know. We don't know. We have no clue. So if it was yesterday, if it was yesterday, this helps the Bears. Like you look good and get out there. He's making their point for them. He's making their point. Right? I have more, I have more, watching the video. I have more questions. And that was one of my questions. Is when was this video taken? We have no clue. And so I would, I'm not going to call it fatigue. DH, I'm not calling it fatigue. It's more of like, I don't even know if it's availability fatigue. Because that's what he hasn't been. He hasn't been available. I want him to be on the football field. I want him to play.

50:17I am rooting for this young man. He makes this Bears team a lot better when he's on the football field. But the constant back and forth between the GM talking about, well, I don't even know if he's going to be able to play. Like this, it's the back and forth. I didn't need a video. I probably needed him in front of a microphone talking about how he feels. More than watching a video of him throwing the weight down and moving because he looks good. So the question to me is if you feel that good to be able to do all this stuff, why aren't you playing? The only thing that leads me to, and hurts me to say this, is that he doesn't want to be here. That, that, that's the only thing that makes sense. Also a pretty big distraction. Yes. And, and, and going into this season, that's what we've been talking about regression and being complacent and all these other things.

51:18Like you don't want all that. You want everybody on board to win the ultimate goal. And if you're healthy enough to be there, which we don't know because I haven't heard that, I haven't heard that with words come out of your mouth, all we, we got a video of you working out, which makes you look like you, you're ready to go. Ruthie Polinsky also raised an interesting point yesterday and on the Chicago lead at CHSN. At what point if it continues to be a distraction, do the Bears consider contract, conduct detrimental to the team and make a move to, can you suspend a guy like that? Can you put him on a list where he's not a distraction or available? I don't know where this is headed, but it's not in the right direction. I hope not. Right, because you need him. You need him. He's a good football player, man. It's good. Ah. Yeah, I mean, I think all those are really good questions. That is the voice of Tommy Hadovi. We're gonna talk Cubs pitching with him at 825 right here

52:20with Haw and Jared Peyton College football enters week one tonight. With Illinois playing UAB before this weekend's Northwestern hosting South Dakota State Notre Dame, playing Wisconsin at Lambow Field. locally, nationally, what are you looking forward to the most this college football season? For me, I just love that football's back. I'm excited about tonight, man. I got Illinois play at UAB. Got a new quarterback and trying to figure out Brett Belema and watch this team as they still try to climb, I think. I mean, it's UAB. I'm not gonna say it's, you got to win this game. And you got to find out if your offense and your run game is ready to go because in a few weeks, you know who should, you know he get a chance to be able to play? Ohio State. So I'm looking forward to kind of seeing how the Align I play, but also too. This just seeing everything with CJ Carr going up against

53:23that Wisconsin defense. That's kind of like their calling card so can they hold up? I'm always looking forward to that. But Northwestern Saturday against South Dakota State, South Dakota State dropped 70 points in week zero. Really? 70. Oh my. Yes. That's a problem. I'm just saying. So don't call my, this could be their FCS program that knows how to win. I just, I hope the cats can get out on the right foot. All right, come on really, it's not even close. It's close. I say it's close, but Saturday night and Sunday night clear the calendar. Let's go. Saturday night you got Clemson LSU, you got Tigers, Tigers. I believe I heard on the four letter network that this is the highest credentialed game in the history of LSU stadium.

54:24I mean, they play Alabama. They play Georgia. This game because of Lane Kiffin, because what has gone on? Hopefully the game can live up to the pregame hype of this one. Hopefully. But then Sunday, come on. Lambo Field, Wisconsin Notre Dame. Could it be any better than that? I would love just to go hang out in the parking lot and listen on the Odyssey app probably and listen to the game. You wouldn't do that Dustin. Drive the Lambo. Yeah. I've been up there a bunch. You hear a chorus of Bear Still Suck. You know, will that, see, that's interesting. They will that break out with that crowd. I don't think so. I think that's going to be a 60, 40 Notre Dame crowd at Lambo. If not 70, 30. Tickets are ridiculous. I heard for that game. I know. Ridiculous. This is a great way to get the college football season going. And it starts tonight with the, with the Alina and Northwestern. I'm excited like, like Jared said, football's back and I'm here for it. Football's back.

55:24The Alina with Caten Houser and Brett Belema, they're on the way to a nine or 10 victory season, you think? They should be. Yes. Northwestern Saturday. Okay. They cannot lose to South Dakota State. They can't. I'm not saying they're going to just don't sleep on them. Don't sleep on them. You can't sleep on anybody. If you are the wild cats and David Braun, I do, I think they'll be ready. I'm curious about the Chip Kelly offense and the Chip Kelly effect on the Northwestern offense and the big 10 Chip Kelly's back. I know he was just here from Ohio State and UCLA, but he's at Northwestern for a reason and the reason was to revolutionize that offense. So I'm curious about that Sunday night, Lambo field steeped with tradition, a great venue. Lambo field has always reminded me of Notre Dame Stadium having lived in South Bend for 11 years and been to that cathedral, the football cathedral for many a Saturday.

56:24Lambo field reminds me of the same type of place in the same type of setting because Green Bay and South Bend are places that are built and revolve around football. This CJ car, a real Heisman candidate is Marcus Freeman, the best coach in the country because I think Notre Dame has a chance to be the best team in the country. I've got preseason final four. Notre Dame, Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, come on now. I don't have the you. What are you talking about? November 7th. You already know what time it is, Dustin. I don't want November 7th to get here any quicker than it needs to. I'm not trying to speed up the year. But November 7th. I'd be remiss if I did not mention that my hurricanes are coming back. We are going to make a run. I'm just letting everybody know. And I would be lying if I said I didn't omit Miami for a reason. Okay, so that was intentional too. All right, when we come back, the athletic had an interesting survey that released yesterday.

57:24You never believe what one of the six executives pulled in honestly, who they thought was the best team in the NFC. We'll talk about it next. It's the extra point right here on Haundt Payton Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score in with the extra point painting. It's time for the extra point with Haundt Payton. Come out for the extra point on 104 3 the score set at this extra point. In an annual survey, the athletics Mike Sando pulled six NFL execs who anonymously ranked the top teams in the NFC with a consensus putting the Rams on top and one of the six picking your bears number one. What are your top five NFC teams? I was surprised you see the bears ranked first by somebody, but that tells you how outside of Chicago, assuming it was from outside Chicago. There is some level of respect for Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. The athletics top five was Rams Seahawks Eagles Cowboys Bears.

58:28My top five, very similar, but I don't get the Cowboys. I don't get the Dallas love. My top five Rams Seahawks Eagles Bears 49ers. 49ers. 49ers. I've got three NFC West teams in the top five. I think the Eagles are just a shade better than the bears. They have more dependable defensive weapons. Up front, the bears are there because of their offense, not because of their defense, because they have a couple of elite players and defense that could step up and make a difference. Lions and Cowboys right behind them, but I have the bears in my top five at the NFC, which means they can be in the final four, which means they can be playing for a chance to get to the NSC Championship game. What you got Dustin? Well, I find this question really fun and tight on time, I guess, to a certain extent. How big of a fact, and maybe there's something to talk more about later, Tay Show or

59:28Tomorrow's, or even next week, the Rams and 49ers a week from tonight will be playing in Australia. The teams are handling this trip very differently, and I wonder the effect of the loser of this game, long term, they could be that one loss plus the flight back plus the next game. All the sudden, that team could be on a landslide in the wrong direction. Those are your top two teams, and don't forget about the defending champion Seahawks. Those three have to be in your top five. I sure hope it's the bears. The Eagles, but only because they play in a bad NFC East. I mean, David, what of the Eagles? Remember the last time the bears played the Eagles? Yes. You want to talk about a commitment to the run. You want to talk about an offensive line, like, coming out party, their defense, to get pushed

1:00:29all over the place, playing on roller skates or ice skates, whichever one you want to look at. Taylor, who is pretty good? Who is? Jalen Carter. Yeah, you know, who's pretty good, Joe Tune. That is true. Both of those are true. I mean, I hope it's the bears. I just think that division is so tough. The NFC North is so tough. It's so rough and tumble. You're hoping to get one road win. Thank you. You get one road, the team who gets one road win in that division is going to win that division. That's what I'm glad that it's the NFC North is tough. Because you better be battle tested if you want to find a way to be able to get out the NFC and get to a Super Bowl. So yeah, I look at, I read the article and it's just amazing to me that how execs and other people outside of this city look at the bears organization. And I know we have a lot of question marks about this team, maybe on the defensive side. But it is. A lot of this is led by Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and the young talent that they have at his disposal

1:01:34on the offense with the skill position players. So yes, love that. My top five teams, Rams, Seahawks, Eagles. And this is why I left because you had bears at fourth. I have the 49ers there just because I think the talent's still there and they got a really good head coach and I got the bears at fifth. With the Packers Cowboys kind of right there underneath them trying to figure it out. The 49ers, I think, depending on the health of Bosa and Kittle, if they're back, I think you're right. I think they might be among the top three teams if they can stay healthy because of the talent because of the coaching. I wonder if people still doubt the quarterback for questioning him. But I do think that's a really strong five. I don't get. Can you help us understand? What is it about the Cowboys that people are looking at and saying, oh, they're going to be much better. That's a top five team. I don't get it.

1:02:35I have a hard time with that because we know who the Cowboys are. I mean, they might have a fast start and then next thing you know, they start to fade as the season goes on. They should be better in that division. Come on, no? Well, that division helps their record. I know. Like you should, you should be failing at the end of seasons and running out of gas. You should be running away. Speaking of that division, though, you're going to have to talk me out of this idea I was having when I was looking at the league yesterday, trying to figure out who could be a surprise team. I didn't like where my instincts were taking me and that was toward New York and wondering if the Giants might be the surprise team in that division, given how much talent they have on defense, given my respect for John Harbaugh, but I have serious reservations about Jackson Dart, but I think the Giants could be a team in a bad division that could make a little noise, especially with OBJ back. Is that crazy? He's that could be a factor. He's a little bit, not a huge major factor, but I still think he could be a factor.

1:03:40Still got some juice left. Are the Giants a team that can win eight games? Should there be an eight and nine pesky bond? Yes. That's rude. Somebody else's playoff aspiration. Yes, they can. I think so. Jackson Dart just has to be smarter when it comes to taking care of his body. He likes to run the football. And in this league, when you do that, you open yourself up to injuries, taking big hits, can't do that. And that's a big part of his game. Do you consider the Bears a top five team in the NFC? Do you think they are capable? As we sit here, a little more than a week away from week one for the Bears and Panthers down in North Carolina. Could you envision them finishing the season in the NFC championship game or playing for a chance to get to the Super Bowl? Do you agree with that one NFL executive who said anonymously, the Bears are the best team in the NFC? So we heard from Dennis Allen on Wednesday. And I think he was very interesting. Well, listen to what he had to say next.

1:04:41It's Peyton and Haw, Hawn Peyton right here, Chicago Sports Radio, 104-3-The-Score. Good year, morning, starting with Hawn Peyton on 104-3-The-Score. You've been doing this for a while at this point. Just based on kind of going off of that question and the off season that you had the success you've had thus far, do you still believe your best playing days are ahead of you? I don't know, I feel like I'm just going to start it if you ask me, but I do feel like that. Welcome back, good Thursday morning, Chicago. You're listening to the Hawn Peyton show here on Chicago Sports Radio, 104-3-The-Score. Got a little Taylor Swift in the background. That's your girl, right? That's your girlfriend. That's your... You kind of made them viral. You would viral because of them. I did. Didn't get a chance to go to the wedding though, but it's okay. You're big, Swiftie. I was for a little bit. Were you invited to the wedding? Yeah, no, I wasn't. I was hoping I would because I took that video, but... Maybe that's why you weren't invited to the wedding. I can't... I knew they wanted proofing. I can't wait.

1:05:42No, that jumped it off. That was like the big moment. Yeah. That was a big moment. We're having fun here this morning. We're talking Cubs, we're talking White Sucks, we're talking Bears. That was Deandra Swift on Wednesday at Halles Hall talking about just what he did last year and the expectations that arrived this season and he begins a year, expected from the running back for the Bears. We talked about possibly him playing for his next contract because of the way that the running backs have been rewarded throughout the national football league. Maybe that's something we'll talk to Brad Biggs. Biggs time, 725. We're going to talk Bears this hour. Jared, we were... Before the break had the extra point and we were asked about where we have the Bears ranked. What are the expectations for this season and maybe people have thoughts? 312, 644, 67, 67. How good is this team? Text us, call us, let us know. I think a lot of the confidence and a lot of the answer will come from how good this

1:06:45defense is. Dennis Allen is somebody that I believe had a pretty good year last year. But when we talk about Dennis Allen, what do you think is his strength? It isn't so much a guy you look at and you think of like Vic Fangio or for me, I'm speaking about my own interpretation of this. It isn't like a schematic approach where you get an advantage where he's going to confuse the quarterback. I think Dennis Allen is just a football life where they get some most out of his players by knowing how to push the right buttons on a regular basis and every week he's got an ability to reset, recharge and start again. He's very consistent and that consistency and that experience is what he offers and lends Ben Johnson the most. Yeah, it's the latter. What he brings to the table for the guys, he's a player's coach. The guys that are inside of that locker room at Halles Hall and the defensive side, they all love him. They want to play for him, they'll run through a wall form and I think it's a way that he

1:07:46communicates with his guys. He talks to them in a way where he will be hard on him. He's going to be demanding of them to get the best out of them, but also too, just really just also knowing more about them off the field. He really does. I think he spends times with these guys off the field, gets to know them, their families and I think for them, it brings a comfort level for these guys saying, oh, he's all the way bought in, not just on the field, but off the field. And he was asked obviously about the big trade this week. The Bears come in the training camp and the biggest question that I had and I think a lot of people also had was about the defensive line. How impactful will it be? Can they stop the run? Can they get to the quarterback? Especially the defensive interior where they lost Andrew Billings. They have Grady Jarrett who's 33 and then Jervon Dexter who started 19 games for them last year, but maybe some people are pointing out not 19 most impactful games.

1:08:46He was there, but he was really there. And Dennis Allen addressed the idea behind the Jervon Dexter trade Wednesday at House Hall. And is Connect connected with them, but maybe perhaps broader with Dexter's exit over the weekend. Where's your confidence rooted in the group you have at the end of the day? Yeah, I feel really confident with who we have on the defensive line. I think the style that we want to play, I think we've got guys that can do the things that we want to do. And I felt like all along, I felt like that was probably our deepest position group. I felt like we had a lot of guys that are NFL caliber football players and you can't keep all of them. But we feel good about where we're at. So they went with the quantity over quality approach. Not that Jervon Dexter added a ton of quality, but he was a guy that Ryan Poles had drafted, they had invested in and they were not going to pay for a contract extension. But Jervon, they went out and they added layers of defensive lineman rather than specifically

1:09:48the Dexter Lawrence type. They didn't go out and overspend for a defensive tackle. Is it I feel like I might have to flip my tune just a little bit when it comes to to this. Because I know sometimes this is coach speak. When you're behind a mic and you're you're talking to reporters and you have to give confidence to a room, especially if that's a defensive line. Yeah, I agree with you, David. They did kind of go out and try to bolster the room with different guys, but not the the marquee names. But I think you and I have had this conversation before where they're we're banking on a coaching staff to be able to coach these guys up. And if you look at what DA did last year, you talked about what he meant for that defense last year. Now he has some new pieces to the puzzle to add that they're going to coach up. Is it wrong for me to have these questions about the defensive line when I do have a lot of confidence in this coaching staff?

1:10:48Well, I think no, because it's still in the NFL about the talent more than is the coaching, isn't it? You still look at you've got to have the playmakers so your coaches can get the most out of those guys. That's where the questions are. You know, is the good news of the bad news? We had the debate on Monday that Kaden, Jaden Loving and Jordan Van der Berg made the 53 man roster. One was a six round draft picked. The other was an undrafted free agent. Then they bring back Lynch. And on Wednesday, Dennis Allen was raving about the most impressive defensive tackle who can tell you a street who happens to be 30 years old on his fifth NFL team. Right, honestly, I think he was the most productive tackle we had throughout the course of training camp. You know, he's got the suddenness and the explosiveness off the ball that we're looking for to create penetration and disrupt the line of scrimmage. And he's really taken to the things that Jeremy, Bill, Zach, all those guys are coaching

1:11:54and how we want to play that position. And I think he's been productive throughout the course of training camp and hopefully we'll be able to continue that. So I think that's where some of the expectations are being tempered because of the faith and guys who are journeyman NFL players. And yet their players at the Bears are trusting to make their defense good enough so they can be a top five NFC team. And we're going to play the 847 just texting and is Dennis Allen on the hot seat? No. No? No. No? On the hot seat? You can only do, you can only work with what you have. Sounded like in the offseason that his boss, and that's not the general manager by the way, that's the head coach Ben Johnson put him on notice. And he kind of, when we got to, like, the voluntary portion and then the organized team activities, and we first heard from Dennis Allen this year, he said that he spent a lot of time reflecting

1:12:57looking in the mirror. I'm just saying, if every game is 30 to 28 and the Bears are winning, I think he might be on tilt. Okay. It might be hot. My only issue is that you have to work with what you have. So yes, okay. Well, now I'm conflicted now because I'm talking about coaching guys up if you believe in your coaching staff. So yeah, it kind of goes back. Well, put it on the coaching staff. So the question is a valid one because of how much faith they've invested in that part of the job and that part of the equation. They're saying that they are putting it on their coaches to get the most out of the talent. So if the coaches aren't getting the most out of that talent, who's they were, they were too, right? They were too scheme focused and they weren't enough coaching focused. That's it. That's it. That was the just, that was it just to, what Dennis Allen? What's he saying is that, you know, we got to caught up and trying to pick the right time to, you know what, go get me someone that can get after the quarterback.

1:13:59Okay. That's the thing. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like Ryan Poles isn't on the hot seat. Dennis Allen might be, get to the quarterback and nobody will be, nobody's seat will be one. But we know, but we know what we, you have to work with what you have. Look what he has. Look, look, look what we're talking about. Dennis, one of the biggest question marks of this defense is getting after, and Ryan Poles did not address it in the way that he probably should have in this off season or in the draft. Well, you look what he has, but you more importantly look what he doesn't have. And you're right. And Ed rusher, opposite Montess wet. He doesn't have Kobe Bryant, the free agent, Sinie that is out for the season. And he doesn't have Kyle the Gordon who's busy making TikTok videos because showing people how in shape he is. So you better hope. And now Kobe Bryant being out, you got a rookie. Another rookie right next to him, Dylan Thienham in like, you might have a rookie. Hi, I have 312 6464 67 67. What do you think of the Bears defense and how much pressure maybe Dennis Allen is feeling

1:15:01Keith is on the road to start the conversation with Keith. Welcome to Hawn Peyton. Hey guys, sorry about that. Call the other day my grandchildren and my car are near were distracting me. They paid so I'm sorry I was all broken up when I was suggesting. So I'll answer your question here in a minute, David, but I want to go back to Kyle Gordon. My point with Kelly Gordon is this I don't believe that his video was anything more than him showing that he is in shape. And I want to go to I want to go to Rocha Johnson last year with Chicago Bears, who was nothing more than running up and down the field on part returns and kickoff returns. And never saw the field at all. And now he's RB three. So my point goes to this is this a kiss in the ring type thing where for whatever reason he's not that the bears are controlling this message when it comes to Gordon. And is this Gordon showing saying no, I am ready. They're just not putting me on the field. So that that's my point to that. I hope it's true or not, but something's off because if he's healthy, something doesn't make sense.

1:16:06Thanks to you, Gordon said. Can I ask you another question? Sure. OK, regarding the bears this year, I have them as seven win team. And to all the points that you guys just talked about defensive line, the core of this team last year. And I don't know if this is really debatable. I think this is really true. The core of this team last year was this they created turnovers, which got the ball to Caleb and his Caleb was a Sunday and his relationship with Johnson was getting better. The bears made some miraculous comebacks throughout the season and the playoffs. That's not in play right now based on where they are in the back end of this team. And if they don't have a pass rush, they're going to be playing games in the 30s. And quite frankly, I'm kind of scared about the fact that they're going to be on the wrong side of those games because of that reason. I'm hope I'm wrong. I'm really rooting for this team that does Sunday get better. But I think the question's on defense. As to what the patents, your point, I don't think that, you know, until that's shown.

1:17:10I can't see this team, you know, being given this top five ranking because there's a lot of questions on defense. And I hope they will be answered. Thanks Keith. Good phone call. I really appreciate it Keith. There's there's so much there. So he, but when it comes to the kissing the ring, that whole part, if Kyler Gordon was healthy and ready to go, I don't think that they would be holding him out. I don't think so. The bears are stopping him from participating. The bears are inviting him to take part. Yes. He's declining to RSVP. Yes. This, that was made pretty clear the other day, right? Yes. Ryan polls, all but confirmed the fact that, all right, we're ready. It's not us. It's him. It's, you know, it wasn't anything. And there's no ambiguity there. And to Keith's point as well about that, the back end of that defense and without a pass rush, the issue also with that defense was being able to stop the run at times last season. So there, that's another added thing to this whole entire dynamic of how this defense gets better this year with when you and I are trying to figure out, is there more talent on that defense this year than there was last year?

1:18:24I don't think there is. So that's that's that's one of the problems. I'm not sure how the bears got better defensively. They got healthier with Jalen Johnson. They're expecting more out of Montess wet. Grady Jarrett will be more available, but I don't think talent wise. OK. This is a better team. One more, I got one more question for you. If, if you had Kobe Bryant healthy and collar Gordon healthy on the football field, does it does it change? Yeah, I think that's a better argument. OK. Then I think I understand what they're going for. So maybe you can't hold them responsible put them on a hot seat because of injuries. So that is another conversation. Let's go back to the phone lines. Freddie is on the Odyssey app. Freddie, welcome to Haun Peyton. Good morning, guys. Everything good. I'm just wondering can we trade badgen for a edge rush? Because we're going to need it real bad. And another thing is the league really like only on offense only and we're forgetting defense the whole league. Not just the best because it seems like everybody wants to be on offensive minded only now.

1:19:28I'll hand up guys have a great day. Thanks Freddie. Appreciate it. You know what? Yes, at this first of all, no, you're not getting your trading types of agent. No, no, no, that's not happening. That's not possible. We've already had this conversation. He's he's too valuable to the beer. The Bears can't force. He can they can afford that on the flip side for years. That's what we've been talking about though. We literally have been talking about trying to figure out how to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to offensive play in the NFL. And now we actually have it. But on the flip side of what this organization has been known for for years, which is defense. Now we're struggling a little bit. I believe that when you look at. Yeah, the Tyson Bayesian situation, they're not going to they're not going to move him. For in a Max Crosby deal, that's not viable because Vegas has answers a quarterback. Josh sweat, but Arizona does not. I don't think you're going to give up Tyson Bayesian for how long you're going to keep him on the bench for the next decade and pay him $5 million.

1:20:36Now you're exaggerating. Nobody said the next decade. I said the next year. You keep him this year. You don't if you have designs and getting deep into the playoffs, you have to protect yourself against an injury to a quarterback that is pretty durable. But you never know. Dustin, what if you traded Tyson Bayesian a Labor Day for Josh sweat and then week one Caleb Williams twists an ankle and he's out for four weeks. And now you turn in the case. Well, that's why you pay Ben Johnson what you pay Ben Johnson because I wonder out loud. Right now if Tyson Bayesian is with any other team in the NFL, if he got that contract that he got that he earned with the Bears, because that's how much I think Ben Johnson is able to get out of these quarterbacks. Well, that's true, but there's a hypothetical. Well, it's all hypothetical. But the it's not hypothetical when you're considering it with the Bears. He's great right here.

1:21:36We have a conversation about trading him for a past rush of day lack. I don't think they're willing or I would be willing to do that. I don't think I would be willing to do that. You want to deal in the future because if you make a trade for a past rush, you're talking about the present and you're prioritizing that. But don't you have don't we have to take advantage? We meaning the bears. Don't we have to take advantage of the window of Caleb making quarter and quote, cheap quarterback money? I know he said it's not about the money, but at the end of the day, he's on the line. He's going to be in line to make $400 plus million in a contract extension. I don't think he's going to take $200 million so that the bears can lie. It can back him up with a whole bunch of great weapons. I don't think he's going to do that. I think you have to wait. I don't, you can't make a decision like that, like right off the bat. I feel like it goes back to my conversation earlier in the pick six is like, they're going to, he's going to make a move at some point. It's just going to have to take some time.

1:22:38I think that he wants to be able to see how this team plays in the first four to five games before you say, okay, now we got to make a big decision because we're not getting that production from somewhere. Great conversation. I think it's fun to have these hypotheticals out there because it tells you the bears are in a position to make them relevant now because they are relevant now in the NFC and maybe in terms of super bowl consideration, you wonder where all this is headed and I wonder what our next guest thinks. It's big time. Yes, it's big time right here. We'll talk to Brad Biggs from the Chicago tribute next on Hall and Peyton Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score. Yeah, whatever. The Brand Biggs. Bigs Time. Bigs. With all in Peyton. Bigs Time. The Bigs report with Brand Biggs. Bigs Time. Bigs. His name is Brad Biggs. Brand Biggs talks football with you.

1:23:39Welcome back, home page, Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score time now to go out to our plumbers 911 hotline plumbing emergency. Call 1-833-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-1-1-1. Local 130 plumbers get the job done right the first time. Time for our football man for the Chicago tribute valued friend. Long time contributor to the station. Brad Biggs. Morning, Brad. Morning, boys. What's going on? So you've got it all. You wrote the column. Kyle Ligordan is a man of mystery. We saw him on a video on Wednesday, Brad. What's the status of Kyle Ligordan? What should we expect? And what do you think about the way this all has gone down? Well, like when you see a social media video of the guy doing a little bit of a workout, I wouldn't get terribly excited like some bears fans have. Because I mean, that video was like a half step off of a day's time love video for starters.

1:24:40Right? Like, he had a helmet. I've been texted back and forth with a guy that's in the front office for another team for a couple of weeks. Occasionally on a variety of topics as we do. And Kyle has been one of the topics for a while. And I sent the thing to him yesterday. And his reply was nice back yard. So what bears fans would have reason to get optimistic about is if Kyle Ligordan was in a bears uniform with a helmet on working out on the practice fields at Hollis Hall and they're quite a ways off from that, right? He's on the public. So he can't practice until at the very earliest week three. He's not eligible to play in a game until at the very earliest after the first four regular season games. So I just entire spectrums wide open for Kyle Ligordan.

1:25:44He could make a healthy return and be a major contributor to the defense this season. Or he could never set foot on the field. It's just so weird, Biggs. When you look at this whole situation, saga, how it's all gone down. But with him being questionable and on the pop list and not coming back until probably week five at the earliest. And then Kobe Bryant injury as well. He got rookies on that on the back end of that defense. Should bears fans be worried about this bear secondary as they head into the season? But maybe a little bit. The game, Lewis thing, significant loss, right? Because he was the most expensive, free agent addition. The Kyle Ligordan thing, they've been bracing for this since the spring, right? He literally didn't do anything on the field in the spring either.

1:26:45So they had to know they were going to be in this kind of situation. I'll say what I said a week or two ago, two, three weeks ago, under a sold here is how Jalen Johnson has looked this summer. And Dennis Allen talked about those improvements yesterday and the reasons that they're excited about how he's looking. If you're going to say what's the most important out of these three outside corner, nickel, or safety, if you get an elite one, it's an outside corner. So Jalen Johnson's look good. I think Tyreeke Stevenson's had a decent summer, but you got to be careful with him because what's the, what are the coaches and everyone else involved told you about him all along? It's a consistency issue with Tyreeke Stevenson. So can he carry it from, you know, today's yesterday was Wednesday. Can he carry it from Wednesday to Thursday?

1:27:47Can he carry it from week one to week two and so on? You're going to have some question marks, but you take any defense in the league and you take the potential top nickel forum and you take their ice-paid safety out of the equation. And I think there's going to be reasons to have at least a level of concern. Xavier Woods, he ought to be able to fit in, right? Yeah. Yeah. Guys got, guys got what? 120 starts across the league over the past nine seasons. Is he going to be this guy that was a ball hawk for you? Well, he hasn't done that to this point in his career, but I think they can get steady play out of him. It's big time here on Han, Peyton Chicago Sports Radio 103, the score. We haven't talked you since the Jervon Dexter trade was made. The Bears are putting a lot of faith in a position group led by a guy who's had the most impressive camp. He's 30 year old, Contavia Street on his fifth NFL team.

1:28:49The group was, I think, deep enough they believe because it includes a six round draft pick and an undrafted free agent. What do you think about the faith they're placing in this defensive line without now, Jervon Dexter? Yeah. I mean, because the grade sort of goes against what you think about in the NFL when you're giving up a big guy to get a little guy and Clark Phillips, the cornerback is the little guys, you know, five, nine, a buck eighty five, especially a big guy in Dexter who's been a durable performer for you. Previous three seasons, he had missed only two games that was back during 2024. So he's always out there, but I just think it was sort of a scheme fit. And yeah, they've been excited about Contavia Street and Gallimor, they think it's going

1:29:50to, you know, it's not going to be one guy still in a role. It's going to be a collection. They're going to, they're going to need to come at opposing offices in waves with those defensive linemen. So you'll get your opportunity to see Van and Berg. He loving is in the mix if he's active and they're going to try to keep him fresh and be disruptive, but Dexter is going to be angling for a big payday, which durable defense of linemen. They're going to get theirs. So I like the idea that the Bears make a move now because you're not going to get a compensatory pick for your, your bond Dexter when you're a big player and free agency, which everyone always expects the Bears to be. So you get a little something for them now and you see what some of these young guys can do. Brad, there's a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball and there's only one football

1:30:54to go around for Caleb Williams to throw it to all these guys. When you, when you look at, at Loveland, you look at Bird and we know that they're going to hopefully take next steps in their career. Where do you see Roma Dunes a fitting in on the offensive side? Well, I think he's, he's going to be a big piece of it there because we go back and look at how the football was being distributed last year before it didn't say foot injury and, you know, the ball, the ball was going through him on that offense that, that's the way it felt to me and I think the numbers backed that up. So I don't think Caleb's going to take this drastic turn and just start throwing it to Bird and Loveland and Rome's sort of this forgotten third option and I'm not saying those other guys aren't going to get the ball more, but, you know, what they've, what they've got to redistribute is the targets and touches that DJ Moore had a year ago and so I think

1:32:03everybody gets a piece of the pie, but, you know, Ben Johnson's been very, you know, pleased with, with how Rome's looked lately. And if he can be that contested catch sort of big physical ex-receiver for them, I mean, there's going to be no shortage options for him in this offense as well. You're right. There's only, there's only one football to go around, but there's going to be enough for these guys to all feel like they're getting their opportunity to make a difference. Brad, we're both old enough to remember. Every day weekend, 2018, the Bears make a surprise deal for Kilo Mack. I don't know if Ryan Poles is scouring teams, rosters and looking at possibilities for trades for edge rushers at this stage of the preseason. I'm not sure if he's going to continue to do that as we get near the trade deadline. Are you hearing anything about speculation surrounding a guy like maybe Josh Sweat,

1:33:04who the packers were poking around and now there's reports out of Arizona, he's not going to be traded. There might be other guys out there. How would you assess the possibility or describe the possibility of the Bears being involved in trade talks for an edge rusher? Well, I think Poles have proven to us that he's going to always explore the options that are out there and at times he'll be aggressive. At the Cardinals want to do anything in year one with their new head coach, they've got to keep the guy that had 12 sacks for me. Here we go. They really do. The Cardinals are going to have a boatload of cap space next year as it is, I believe. It's not like they need to clear the deck. If Sweat was available, it would not be cheap. You're talking about a guy that's close to 30. I think you'd be talking about another complimentary guy.

1:34:07In a big picture, when you look at, okay, what's the tier of edge rushers out there? He's kind of like a Montess Sweat, right? You don't have that lead dog, would he make him better? Yeah, would they have just an enormous amount of money tied in as some guys who probably aren't topped to your past rushers? Yeah, I would they react next year then when his pay goes up, I don't know. But I think they'll take a look at everything. And if there's a guy out there that makes sense, maybe they pull the trigger on it. Like one thing to keep kind of working their way back to is the marriage of coverage and pressure. And if they're better on the back end, so we'll see in the first couple of weeks how it's coming together. Well, bigs. Coming into this season though, it's just seemed like they were going to go with what

1:35:12they had already. What they had on the roster already. So when you look at the names on this roster, who do you think could be the biggest force opposite of Montess Sweat? Well, it's probably got to be Booker, right? Like that's what you're kind of hoping for. And he's got a growing injury that's not too serious. We'll see what is available. He has come week one at Carolina. But I think Booker based on how he played in the second half of last year in postseason, he looked like a guy that was certainly flashing a little bit for him to be what they need. He's going to have to be better, right? You can't get a repeat of 2025 for a player that's in year three. And that's just not going to work. So he's going to have to raise his game. What they're, I think what they're telling me is they think they're going to get more interior pressure from a wave of defensive tackles.

1:36:14And that might not turn into a sack production necessarily, but it doesn't have to, if it's something that helps create a sack for another player. If it leads to a quarterback hit, if it leads to the ball coming out early, they need to apply more pressure. And there's just a whole lot of ways you can evaluate that beyond just sack totals where they need some more sacks too. All right, Brad, before we let you go, got about a minute left. I want to ask you about this. You know how I feel about the Bagen C. You know Tyson Baygent went 16 to 17. Can't trade them. Okay, I'm out. Are they taking calls? I know you can't trade them. I don't want to keep them. I want to keep them. I want to keep them and whatever. Do you think they're taking calls on Tyson Baygent? I don't think, I don't think teams, as we sit here right now, what, you know, somebody, a couple of teams kick off the team and let kick off the season, unless than a week now.

1:37:15I don't think anybody's trying to trade for a quarterback right now, but he made a finish preseason with a bang. That looked great. It's something you're always going to answer the phone because you got no idea. What, what they're going to be offered you, but I don't think it is, but he's trying to acquire a quarterback as a starter right now. We've seen some teams swap around some deck chairs at the back end of their depth chart at the position, but who's saying, hey, well, let's, let's bring in a starting quarterback right now. I don't, I don't see that happening. Great stuff, Brad. Appreciate it. We'll talk you soon. Have a great day, guys. Have big football man from the Chicago Tribune, Beijing. Don't be here. He's going to be here. Ain't going nowhere. And Russia, probably not on the way. No, going to wait a little bit on that. This might be the roster. This might be, I think Brad's right though. I think they're thinking about getting that internal pressure that can actually set things up for, you know, helping guys out and maybe add into some of the takeaways as well.

1:38:19Well, one thing he said is worth exploring and it's something that Dennis Allen said yesterday about Jalen Johnson, the marriage between coverage and pressure. We need to talk about that next because I think it's worth hearing and amplifying what Dennis Allen had to say 3126446767, how do you feel about the Bears defense? Let us know. It's Hawn Payton, Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score. Welcome back to Hawn Payton on 1043, the score. Specifically, the last two weeks, you know, when you talk about really the joint practice against Cincinnati, his mindset going into the joint practice versus Tennessee, I've seen a guy that's really kind of taken a step forward. I think he himself probably feels more like himself and I've been really pleased with what I've seen out of him in particular over the course of the last two weeks. I think his leadership has started to kind of come to the forefront a little bit and

1:39:23that's needed. We need him to play at a very high level for us to be successful and I think he understands that. I think he accepts that challenge. I think he's looking forward to it. Welcome back. It's Hawn Payton, Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. Thank you to our CHSEN audience. I'm casting joining us this morning until 9 o'clock. David Hawn, Jared Payton, new morning show here until 10 talking bears right now. That was Dennis Allen reiterating just how important Jalen Johnson, let me rephrase that. A healthy Jalen Johnson is to this defense because much like we look at the offense and Caleb Williams ability to elevate the play of everyone around him, receiving core, the offensive line with his escape ability. A cover corner that is elite can mask a lot of ills on a defense with holes or a spotty

1:40:25pass rush or whatever the case may be. And what you heard from Dennis Allen yesterday, I believe, Jared was, he wasn't trying to present it as hope, but I think you could view it as hope that maybe this bear defense isn't as limited as we think because if Jalen Johnson returns the form, that will help the pass rush. Yeah, it locks down one half of your defense and one side of your defense where you get an opportunity for him to sit there and go up against the opposing team's number one wide receiver and that he can manage because he's a top tier guy at his position. Now it gives Dennis Allen more opportunities the way they scheme things up and coverage wise where it kind of solidifies that you're good on this side, but I think the leadership part of it as well. He's out here playing well and just by listening to Brad Biggs in the last segment, talking about the exact same thing like he's look good.

1:41:26And this is what you need a healthy Jalen Johnson. If you have that, that's just a huge bonus for your defense. Big Ziva spot on and I think what you look at is Jalen Johnson playing at an elite level in the secondary. If Montess sweat couldn't win his share of one on one and gets to the quarterback because of Jalen Johnson's coverage ability, then all of a sudden, you may not have the takeaways you had last year. Last year may have been a little fluky in the number of takeaways, but this year you can get more sacks. You can create more pressure. You can be more efficient defensively if you get your elite players playing at that level on a consistent basis. Yeah, I want pressure where we're seeing it now and what they've kind of shown us with the moves that they made with the way that they're going about this is that their pressure is going to come from up the middle. And a lot of that's going to come and hopefully free up Montess sweat to have some of those one on one matchups that he's going to have to win. Midway Jimbo makes a good point on the text line 7773 says, we don't need names. This defense is now built in DA's image.

1:42:27He ready to be shocked, I guess. The Bears had the slowest worst coverage team in the NFL last season. They've gotten faster at every level. It's arguably the defensive line that is currently the best unit. I would argue that. I don't think it's the best unit. I think it's the unit that has maybe the most depth, but it's a committee. I don't think it, but I don't think it has a standout. I think it has a lot of guys who are going to be comparable as they come in waves. I wonder how many defensive line regress they active on game day. He might be right now. Right now. Just because of where where this is it. I would say if you were, if Kobe Bryant was healthy and you, he's not healthy. I know I fought. He's not going to be your all season long. I understand. He's gone. I forgot. So that's why I'm saying right now, he midway Jimbo I think is right, but there's still some some questions that need to be answered on that defensive line. And we will see. We will see. The tape does not lie, David. It will cause Dennis Allen to do what he committed this off season to doing.

1:43:30We've heard from him, you referenced the quote earlier in the off season about just how he needs to commit himself to being a better coach this year. We had a lot of discussions, you know, this off season about a lot of different things. And one of the things that we identified was, you know, me, we, we focused so much on installing all the skiing last year, you know, because it was brand new. And we do have a high volume of things that we carry in the defense. And we focus so much on that that we lost some of the lost side of some of the fundamentals and techniques that it takes to function to do those things. And I don't think we were as fundamentally sound defensively as we need to be. So how do we have to coach it better? Now, let's, let's minimize how much we're focused on the scheme. Okay. And let's focus on not what we're going to do, but how we're going to do it.

1:44:31And I think that's how we're going to improve. That was me, Jared. And he's pointing a thumb at himself. I need to be better. I need to do more. I love that approach. And you've seen it play out. I think in training camp. It's the only way that this defense gets better is him looking in the mirror saying, what do we need to fix? I need to coach better. And if you do that, which I have a lot of confidence in this coaching staff, and especially on the defensive side of the ball, that DA will get it fixed. He's Jared Peyton. I'm David Hall. We are hot and Peyton here at Chicago Sports Radio 104, 3, the score. When we come back, time to talk baseball. How bad was Wednesday night for the Cubs? They lost the game. Did they lose a pitcher in Jacob Webb? We'll talk about it next right here on hot and Peyton on the score. On the 1043, the score. McGill working on Suzuki. Ground ball to short. Matt will go to first. And the ball game is over. Milwaukee, after losing the opener to the Cubs on Monday night, the Brewers have come

1:45:33back to win the next two. The final tonight, 9-5, Brewers. X-ray for negative, Unjaco. Fortunately, he's got a, you know, he's in a little bit of pain. And he's got a pretty big, I don't know, Brewers are, it's going to be a big Brewers. So he's a little sore, but X-rays are negative. They're doing the right forearm. Yeah, and they're kind of the meat part of the forearm. Welcome back on this beautiful Thursday morning in Chicago. It is the hot and Peyton show right here on Chicago Sports Radio 104, 3, the score. David Hodg, Jarup Peyton, the guy with the meaty forearm. What do you get to meaty forearm? What do you get to meaty forearm? What he flexed for? Yeah, I know, Crick Consel said the meaty part of his forearm, you can relate to that more than most people. Yeah, but they get meat on the forearm. That had to hurt. Oh, it did hurt! Come on up. Yeah, which is about 2 miles per hour. Like, yes. And then, then trying to make a play after that. And probably being in shock that the ball is coming back that fast at you.

1:46:35fast at you. I don't care if you're a big league pitcher or you're just a local kid playing in a ball. A ball coming that fast at you, you got to react. Well, it was injury added to insult because the Cubs, they solved the miz. They handled the miz. The presumptive, sigh young award winner did not have his best night. In fact, it was his worst outing of the season. And the Cubs jump all over Jacob Meserowski for five runs and four innings. And then they manage a measly hit the rest of the way against a brewer's bullpen that locked it down. Locked it down in a way the Cubs bullpen has not. All right. So I was more surprised that they jumped out on the miz like they did. But I was also surprised as well as that once the game went on that the offense went stale down the stretch. That's what I was not. I thought this was going to be a back and forth, back and forth. Milwaukee just had a little bit more juice in the tank.

1:47:36Cup offense is weird. It's feast or famine. They hit. They lead everyone in home runs and then they jump off and outsprag when drives in four runs and he goes deep and all of a sudden then the bat's go silent. So half the game, it was great. The other half, it was silent. It was it it was a microcosm of the season offensive. Okay. But you were hopefully you're hopefully getting more from your starting pitching. But this bullpen has been a little shaky. So a lot of that pressure as is going to be put on this Cubs offense to be able to get it done, which is something that I don't know is how how tough that's going to be for that. Well, it's going to be very difficult because the bullpen is not performing and we'll talk to Tommy Hyde via 825, the Cubs pitching coach and friend of the program, a regular here. I looking forward to that conversation even though it will be a difficult one. Where is help and is it on the way? Could it be eventually in the form of Justin Steele who pitched an inning and two thirds at Iowa last night

1:48:37gave it one earned run struck out to two two guys. But more importantly, aside from the baseball, it represented a human triumph. He had not been on the mound since April of 2025. That's huge. Can you envision him though coming back? Craig Council said I think during the afternoon show or maybe it was pregame that Justin Steele probably has a couple more outings. But the Cubs only have 22 games left. Can he be a guy that is a factor down the stretch out of the bullpen? I don't love the story. Love the comeback. Love the triumph. But I don't know how much you can count on him. David, I just it's putting a lot on a guy that hasn't pitched in a long time. And you're asking to come back not in any starter role. But if he if they do see improvement, he'll be able to help a little bit because that's right now. This pulpit they need help. They need help because over the last 12 games, these are the stats. 42 thirds innings. They've given up 40 hits. Overall,

1:49:37the earned run average collectively is 6.2 with 15 walks and wait for it. Nine home runs off-releaf pitchers in the past 12 games. One of those guys really struggling, Daniel Polencia. He obviously isn't the pitcher we remember from last year. He isn't the pitcher that we saw during the World Baseball Classic. And you have to understand that and maybe give him some grace. The Cubs are also going to continue to give him opportunities. He was bad last night. Maybe worse than he was the night before. That's a debate. Maybe not. But Craig Council nonetheless, I don't know what choice he has, but to keep putting him out there. And that's what he said after the game. We need Daniel, you know, the results have not been good. And you know, the best thing we can do is to get him back, get him out there as much as we can. Well, this was his first time pitching the back to back day, but that's that's going to happen. And so, you know, we just got to keep getting there. He's we need we need that we need our bullpen guys to get out. And Daniel's,

1:50:40you know, one of the key guys we need to get going. So, you know, we're going to we're going to keep putting him out there. Is that the best thing they can do? 312, 644, 67, 67. Do they have other options? Daniel, where? Polencia looks like he's just the night before he was struggling with command and composure. And he had a block and it seemed to he lost it last night. He had the awkward pickoff move. And then he they had to come out to look at him because it looked like he strained a muscle. Well, I understand where we're going with this. But who where we going? I don't know. Well, you you want you. It sounds like it sounds like you're saying why did Craig go back to him last night? I wonder. But who else is there to go to? And I do I agree with Craig. Because I think the division now is completely out of reach. And Daniel Polencia, when right, is really good. I mean, David, we could play 10 drops between the two of us about gasoline,

1:51:44and all of our respect for Daniel Polencia, right? We could do that. So if you just if you then if you were to just ship him off to Iowa, let's just say, who you bring it up? Is there is the cavalry coming? I heard this on the afternoon show yesterday. Spiegel brought this up. This great research about last year's MLB postseason and guys participating in massive high-leveraged situations that were not good and or not even with the team until September because they had to be right. That's baseball. Is that guy? Who is that guy? Right? Is it council? Does that guy exist? Well, he could. I don't think it's Jackson Wiggins if that's what you're getting. Well, I say like Jackson Wiggins can't control his pitching. He's walking guys. You can't afford to walk guys in the postseason. You'll freebies. No. Well, the brewers have tried and true battle tested Ashby, Yerebae, McGill. And they had the numbers that said basically when they pitch, look at the winning, look at the ERA, they collectively could be the best trio in terms of a bullpen

1:52:47that you're going to see. I don't know. The cups don't have that. No, they don't have that, but the keep going back to Pilencia though. I mean, that's what he Craig has to do. I just don't know. I'm what does it. I don't know where where that help is coming from. What is it almost like? Is it almost like is a running back? You didn't get you didn't get three yards on the first touch and then on the second carry you fumbled the ball. Are they not supposed to give you the ball back? You got to give the guy the ball back. So you got to give Pilencia the ball back, right? I'm sure you fumbled once or twice. Yeah, it's on YouTube somewhere. Okay. Just don't find it. Don't find it. Yeah, I feel like I get that part, but at some point though, yeah, it pitching a little bit different because you have, if the command is not there, you're not syncing your pitches, then now it becomes an issue and you have stats and numbers over that over your last couple of starts where that seems to be an issue. When your ERA is that

1:53:51high, like high, it's like, what are we doing here? By the end of the season and we're almost there, 22 games to go. I wonder if Zepharjian, Pilencia and Webb, who I'm not sure is going to be available for a while. We don't know. The x-rays were negative, but the well is going to exist and the pain will will will be there, right? Yeah, there's so it's hard to know when he's going to be able to pitch again. Could it be Thielbar? Could it be a guy that people wanted to DFA? Could it be, you know, one more, what, you know, he's going to squeeze that rag and there's last little questions. That Craig is going to go to Caleb Thielbar and Ryan Rallison because there's a left handers. But you're talking about the question you ask about Matt Spiegel addressing Craig Council, talked about it during the afternoon show. Who is it that doesn't isn't here now that could contribute later? Well, Edward Cabrera, Justin Steele, Javier Sade, there's your three pictures that could have live arms by the time the playoffs arrived. And how often did Bruce say

1:54:51and you and Bruce, but it heads on this about the use of Edward Cabrera down the stretch, right? I know. I know. I tell me Bruce was right. He has the potential to be right. Yes, I know. Okay. You are a score. Let's go out to the phone lines. 312-644-6767. Tell me how wrong I was. People out there. Patrick is in Logan Square. Patrick, welcome to Han Payton. Hey, Patrick, we lost Patrick. Oh, man. Patrick. He's unholded and he's ready to make a great point. But that is a possibility. And I think when you look at where the Cubs are as a pitching staff, you do have to consider any and all options because I do believe, Jera, even though there is a wild, I think inconsistency with the offense, which can be streaky, can carry your time 17 to 3, then all the home runs and look at August. But the offense is good enough, I think, to believe that it could take you a long way in October. The bullpen isn't not now. It doesn't have to be a whole,

1:55:55the whole collective of things for you to have success. You mean you talk about having your first three pitchers for a series and then you need your offense and a defense. And the one thing that that this team has done all season long and what they're known for is as their defense offensively, we know they can be streaky. But if you don't have your starting pitching on point and your bullpen on point, I just don't know how far you can actually go. 217-TEX-IN. If you're looking for blame for the bullpen, blame Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins. The only thing they've done in the offseason to address it have been big fails. Phil Mayton and anyone else, counsel was behind the eight ball from day one. I don't know that I want to blame Jed Hoyer right now because I think at the deadline, there was a feeling around baseball and certainly in this studio that the Cubs won the deadline. They went out and they got two starters. They are impactful. We're going to see one of them

1:56:56tonight, Kevin Galsman. Clay Holmes is the de facto ace of this staff. Ryan Zepher John, Craig Counsel alluded to this during the afternoon show, I believe. Coming from Anaheim to Rigley Field, going from a team that doesn't care about winning to one that's in the midst of a pennant race can have an effect on certain guys. Ryan Zepher John has not been the same pitcher since he came from the Angels of the Cubs. And that could be contributing why? Maybe the stage is a little big so far. He can maybe adapt. I'm not giving up on him yet because he's got electric stuff. He just hasn't been as effective. I think it's hard when you make that move. I think most times when you see someone actually making a move at the trade deadline, you think that a new opportunity, new settings, it gives you a different vibe. But I think the vibe is a little different because of the expectations that are always put on the Cubs and on the North side and what it means to be able to play inside of Rigley. I think there is something that goes with that a little bit, David, when it

1:58:00comes to the expectations and a little bit of the bright lights. You're listening to the Hawn Payton show. We're the new morning show here at the score 104 three. And we're going to be on until 10 o'clock. And obviously you want to keep it here all day long because the Cubs, this is the only local broadcast for tonight's game pregame coverage at 541 pitch 615. And it's going to be heard at 104 three. The score in the Northwestern Medicine Cubs Radio Network, Zach Sabin's pregame. You're going to see a match up between Kevin Gauzman and Logan Henderson. On the TV side, it's interesting because it's a national broadcast. The White Sox are playing this afternoon and it is a national broadcast. When was the last time? We were unable to find this because I don't know if there was ever a time. When was the last time both the Cubs and the Sox were on national television on the same day in September or at all? I don't know if I can give you those numbers. Fourth and never would be my guess. I would think ever. I'm just that's how unusual this

1:59:04pennant race is. The White Sox are down in Houston. They played the Astros in the finale of that series. They were shut out last night, two to nothing. Not a great night for fundamental baseball. Tristan Peters caught in a tough spot on the bases. You had Will Vennable not with his finest hour necessarily could have been pitch running for Jerome O. You have a team that got a very good outing from Davis Martin. Davis Martin, five and two thirds, shut out baseball. Couldn't ask for anything more for him coming back and make this start last night. Gave you an opportunity. He did. Gave you an opportunity. That's just we're cold. That's we're cold. Moona, Maricame continues to be in a slump. I like what Aussie suggested. I think I think you got to move down. Move them down. I just think it's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure trying to get your mind right and feel like you have to produce when you can slide back in the order and feel a little bit more comfortable. I think that would help. You know, they have to feel good about their pitching though. This series,

2:00:08Sean Burke was good last night. Davis Martin returned and today Castillo has a chance to go out and be the pitcher. They know he can be because he's due. Last couple outings a little shaky. So if they salvage a split out of this series, they would I think welcome that. So I did some research for you. So the last time that the Cubs and the Y-sox were both featured on national television in September was September 27 2020. That was the shortened season, but they played each other. Yes, that's it. But that was when they played each other. When they played two separate games, I don't know if that's ever have a great research brand. You're amazing. That's fast. That's right. Let's go out to the phone lines. Jeff has been listening and waiting patiently on the Odyssey app and has a thought about the Y-sox and Will Venable. Jeff, welcome to Hawn Payton. Hey, good morning, gentlemen. David, you kind of hit on it. Sure, Will Venables better than Pedro Grafal. But we really don't know how good he is yet. Things that I noticed from that game,

2:01:09and it's been happening too much lately, you said, Pinch Hip or Drupal. Okay, they don't Pinch Hip or Drupal when there's a runner on third. He gets a walk. Then you have to pinch run form. He doesn't pinch run form. And then he gets to suck or well, then there's the contact play. He don't run a contact play when there's nobody out in the infield is in because the ball is going to get to the infielders quicker and you're going to have a hell of a time trying to score. If it gets by him, you're scoring anyways. There's no reasons to do a contact play there. And then Rommel gets to second. Why are we not pinch running form when he's on second? That base hit by Maracami was not right at Cam Smith out there in the right field. It was to right center. He had to go get it and then Drew Rommel cannot score from second. That's a big blunder. And finally, well, you got Nukem in. Nukem is great. Nukem has been a godsend to this bullpen. But he's through 30 something pitches in one inning and you leave him in there to face a right hander

2:02:10with the game on the line when you have Grant Taylor in the bullpen. And I know they were going to use Grant Taylor because he warmed up in the ninth inning. So just bring him in earlier. Take care of that. You had a game that was zero to zero. You had to play for the one run that late in the game. You needed to play for the one run. He did not. A manager probably doesn't lose you too many games. A manager doesn't win you too many games. But a manager has to put you in the best position to win games. He has not done that lately. And this, I don't know if it's going to cost him a manager of the year. If they win the division, I'm pretty sure he's winning the manager of the year. But he's got to be better because we got it. We got to win these games. These all games all matter. Today you're going against Houston's best pitcher probably. You should have known that the night before knowing you're going to have a tough time today and get that win last night. You have a good one. Great call Jeff. A lot of frustration there on the white socks. They can still salvage a split today this afternoon on CHSN. The Cubs, they can salvage a split as well.

2:03:11Tonight with the starting pitcher Kevin Gossman, what do we need to see from him? We'll ask Tommy Hadovi, the Cubs pitching coach, that and many other things. Next on Hawn Payton Chicago Sports Radio 1043 this score. Pitching coach Tommy Hadovi of the Cubs. We're in the blue pullover. Tommy Hadovi pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs. You're transitioning from being a player to kind of getting into base. I'm on class. Was it a Boston EU? Saber metrics 101? Yeah. I was a finance major in college and an economic minor. A lot of it was too. I'm going to refresh on my e-con knowledge. And I'm going to do it in the baseball courses. It's like one of the best things ever. There's just a lot of trust there with Tommy. We know he's such a hard work. He puts in all the hours and really really knows what he's talking about. And it comes to pitching. Tommy Hadovi breaking down the starting rotation and bull pin on the north side with Hawn Payton. I'm here for one reason. I want to help these guys get better and win one of win baseball games. Tommy Hadovi on 1043 the score. Welcome back. It's Hawn Payton Chicago Sports Radio 1043 the score. Time now to go out to our plumbers 911 hotline.

2:04:17Plumbing emergency call 1833 plum 911. Local 130 plumbers. Get the job done right the first time. Always a pleasure to be joined by Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hadovi. Good morning Tommy. How are you? I'm doing all right guys. How are you? Doing well. Thank you for joining us. Rough night last night. You got an opportunity to salvage the series tonight against the brewers in the finale of the four game set. Let's start with Jacob Webb. That was hard to see. I it was immediate and Craig Consul said after the game X-rays were negative. How bad is it and how how do you replace a guy with that if you have to? Yeah, I think we're kind of at that point where we've got to see how he feels in response today. He's next two days. Count said last night the X-rays were negative. That's extremely positive. But anytime that you're throwing arm, no matter how there's no broken bones, but there's always

2:05:19going to be something underlying there that we got to deal with. He's a tough dude. He's a guy that's battled some stuff in the past. He'll be back here quick. It's just need to see how these next few days progress and we'll we can get him back out there. I think he's he's being extremely important to us and he's covered so many big high leverage moments for us. It's back down the game. So definitely optimistic with the first sign. We need to see how he's dealing today, obviously. Tommy are Daniel Pluintia's issues more confidence or mechanical, you think? Well, I think sometimes I go hand in hand. I think right now, honestly, I think it's a little bit more of a confidence thing. He wasn't feeling great mechanically. I think as he was getting back during his rehab and trying to get things in sync and some of that does translate into not having the concerts of driving the ball where you you want it or you expect it to be in the past. So

2:06:27I do think for him when he's right mechanically, he's driving the fastball through the top of the strike zone and getting the slider down. And yesterday we did see some flashes of that, but then he did get a left the heater down in the zone for the singles. So he's a guy that needs just needs more consistent reps. And we're going to continue to give him opportunities to work through those things. He's shown that he could be a dominant reliever in this game, showed it in the post season last year and during the season, showing that WBC is just getting back to that guy right now. What's the approach with Ryan Zepherjohn and how much do his struggles have to do with just maybe being as simple as going from a team that really wasn't playing many high leverage games to a team that's in the midst of a pen and race with you know how rigly field is and you know what it's like to be a cup. Yeah, I think originally it's that onboarding process of what what are your strengths? What do you lean on in big moments? And for him, you know, most of the season, it was

2:07:31that sweeper in the forcing and so you know, establishing that is kind of his his focal point, you know, when catchers are getting to know you, that's what they tend to lean on the most. And when you look at Zepherjohn, you look at his mix, he really does have four pitches. He has a sinker. He can also throw and he's got this kind of downer gyro slider. And I think as catchers are trying to get in the flow of the game calling component of it, when he's pitching high leverage situations, you want to lean on, you know, quote unquote, his two best pitches the most often. You can't you can't blame any of them for wanting to do that when he's getting thrown in those situations. What makes him really good though is the fact that he can mix those other two pitches in it at a high clip and and kind of keep hitters off balance being able to use that sinker and deridey to protect the sweeper and things like that. So I do think there was some component of just getting in the flow with the catching group and making sure that, you know, for a pitch calling

2:08:32standpoint, everybody was on the same page. And then from a delivery standpoint, he had kind of shifted on the rubber about, I would say about three weeks before we got him just trying to create a little bit different angles. And he was starting to see just some mechanical things who were popping up that weren't there before from that shift. So just kind of getting from us on the coaching side, getting him, getting to talk to him and understand what he's trying to accomplish with the delivery and how we can help and support that. And you know, his stuff is electric. He's he's going to punch out a lot of guys. He's going to pitch some high leverage or moments and get and get a lot of big outs. He just had gotten hit by a few mistakes. And we're really excited about the way stuff is trending and how important he's going to be for us. Tommy Javier Assad's name keeps popping up on this show. He's had several trips between Iowa and Chicago. My question is, how is he handled that? And

2:09:35and and when do you think we could see him back here? Well, I mean, he's handled it amazing. He's he's a special special person, special human. Does everything you ask works works as tale off no matter where he is. I've saying his praises on here a ton before and that that that's not going to stop because I know who hobby is and how hard he works. And yeah, I mean, I think, you know, hopefully there's a chance we see him up here soon. You know, with with the option, there's a certain amount of time. Yuck obviously have to wait. But you know, he was able to go down and get two starts in where you could build and get stretched out to about 75 pitches. So still some things we need to work through obviously. But you know, for hobby, he's done everything he can and and and we'll do to help this to him. Do you want my Cubs pitching coach Tommy Houdvi here on Holland Payton Chicago sports? One or four three, the score Tommy obviously yesterday tough loss because you get to the

2:10:36miz and you think it think good things are going to happen. And so in Chicago, it's a it's kind of a letdown. But meanwhile, there was a big moment for the Iowa Cubs that I think affects you in a way everyone does everyone in the organization. Justin steel back on the mound for the first time since April 2025. Inning and two thirds gave him an earned run 36 pitches two strikeouts one earned run and you got to feel like just him being on the mound represented something special. What's realistic to expect from Justin steel? There are only 22 games left. But might he be somebody provides an option in the bullpen? Well, I think, you know, it's just a special day in in total for just for Justin and the journey that he's been on the work he's put in. It's been it's been a long stretch. You know, it feels like it's almost been a full two years since he's been able to compete, you know, in in the game at any level and to see him do that and and get through it and compete

2:11:37and get back to himself was was fun to see. I haven't had a chance to call him yet today. Obviously, it's early, but I'll connect with him today at some point and just kind of get his sense of how he felt like it went and knowing Justin and how much he's he's a competitor. He's kind of wanted to have, you know, better results, but it was just so cool to see him out there again and competing and and he'll have, you know, the fun part for me when you have this guys go through a long rehabs is now it's like getting getting your mindset out of rehab mode. So how you feel, how how your recovery is and to back to like, okay, what could I have done better from a competing standpoint, you know, getting back to controlling the running game and and doing little things like that that you don't really think about when you're going through that rehab process. So really, really encourage and fun to see him out there competing and then yeah, I mean, I think we're kind of leaving everything open and they would just him. You know, we don't really know how these next

2:12:41few weeks are going to go. He needs the pitch. He needs the log innings. Like I said, he hasn't thrown many innings now since, you know, the beginning of 2025. So it's been almost two years. So he has competed at a high level. So just just need to get him on some consistent work and a consistent routine and just kind of see what we have. Tommy, last time we saw a show to him and I go on the mound, he gave up three home runs. That's been kind of the case for him this season. How do you get him back on track and what's the plan for him? Yeah, I mean, he's the big thing for me. He's got to keep mixing his pitches. I think there's games where he feels really good with the fastball or really good with one pitch and and will lean on it. And that's great. I want a love our guys to have confidence in what they want to do and confidence in their in their pitches. But that also when when pitches get overused, I think you saw it last night too with Danny.

2:13:42Danny's got an electric fastball and the night before he gave up a home run a slider and it was a little hesitant to throw it last night. But when you throw seven fastballs and then it back to hitter. I mean, they're they're major league hitters are really good. They're going to they're going to make adjustments. And I think with Shoda, the importance of being able to mix his off speed, not just a split, the slider, the curveball and the sweeper all in helps protect the pitch that you feel really good about, which might be the fastball and and sense for that game. I felt like it was a little fastball heavy in that game. And when that happens, the execution rate has to be high. It just has to go up and and that's because the larger for the air comes down. So I think I think for Shoda just continuing to mix his pitches and feeling confident and working on the other the other three breaking balls to help protect those two two pitches that are really good for him, which are the split and heater. So Clay Holmes and Kevin Gosman have been here just a little over a month, maybe maybe exactly a month. And Clay Holmes looks like he's asserted himself as

2:14:46a top the rotation started, maybe the ace of the staff. Kevin Gosman big start tonight for him. And he has been more good than bad, but I just curious how much we talked about it when the trades were made and the acquisitions were completed about how you find that balance between offering information that you may have from a new set of eyes to letting veterans kind of fall into a rhythm. It seems like they both fallen into pretty good rhythm, Tommy. How much how rewarding has it been to see those two guys have the success they have? Yeah, it's been, I mean, they both have been great additions for us. They both have kind of helped stabilize the rotation. And we've leaned and leaned heavily on and asked a lot of guys to do a lot of work there this year. And I think we're at that point now where it almost feels like they've been here all year. You've we've gotten to know them well. They've acclimated themselves with the team with the coaching staff, training staff, everybody around. And now it just kind of feels like we've

2:15:47been doing this for a while now. And conversations are changing. They're less about to get to know you, they're more about how can we get better, how can we work on this? Both of them are hungry for information and then want to learn and continue to grow. Gos is actively wants to keep working on on a slider or a version of a slider to help pair with that fastball and splitter. He's thrown one, you know, over the years and variations of one over the years and knows that it's important as a two-pitch pitcher to have a third pitch that you can trust in moments to keep guys on us. So that's where the conversations are now. And to me, that means there's comfortability there. There's guys that feel like they belong in a group and it's definitely what it feels like when you get the whole, you know, the whole group together and the guys together, they're talking baseball and they both have been outstanding additions. Quickly before let's you go. Is Edward Cabrera close?

2:16:50I mean, Edward's getting closer. He's going to throw again tomorrow in Iowa. We had that one ending outing the other nights. I think it was Tuesday night. I'm just keep getting him reps. We're going to try to do a simulated, you know, one plus, I think tomorrow where he comes in the middle of the naning and it has to go back out trying to just expose him to what a normal majorly reliever, you know, would have to do. And then also making sure the finger responds to that. It goes are important things, but he's obviously going to electric arm and would be big for us to get back. Great stuff, Tommy. Hang in there. All right, guys. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Tommy Hottie of the Cubs pitching coach talking about pretty much everybody in the bullpen. We talked to him about every starter and every bullpen lots of questions because the Cubs bullpen has struggled and that's been a big part of the last couple of weeks. But one thing about Tommy Hottie, he does not shy away from any issue and any question. No, just great insight though, just by giving us what we are looking for. I think what the fans are looking for as well for a lot

2:17:51of questions they have. What did you hear and what do you want to see with the back end of that bullpen? Do you trust Palencia? Are you worried about Webb? What about Zephyr John? And could there be another one, two, three punch coming out of the bullpen for the Cubs? Three, one, two, six, forty, four, sixty seven, sixty seven. Let us know what you think about Tommy Hottie. We had to say, it's Jared Payton, David Haw, it's Hawn Payton right here Chicago Sports Radio, 104, three, the score. Welcome back to Hawn Payton on 104, three, the score. We were pitched his first outing last night, he pitched one inning and so he'll be back out there, did the check Friday or Saturday for another outing and probably like to get him at least two more outings and then we'll kind of evaluate where we're at and how he feels and some shorter stints and how he's recovering and we'll go from there. I think Justin's, he's got to be fired up right now, he's pitching tonight in Iowa and I'm just one I'm happy for Justin as much as he's pitching in

2:18:51all in a real game and it's not a Chicago Cubs game, it's an Iowa Cubs game but when you've missed as much time as Justin has, this is a really big day for Justin so I'm happy for him today that he's going to go out there pitching. Now, having said that we do have to understand he's missed this significant amount of time and I think he is a healthy pitcher right now, I think but he's a pitcher that hasn't competed in almost two years. Welcome back it's Han Patent, Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score, thank you Craig Council, thank you for that sobering reminder of as much as we love the story of Justin's steel and the path that he took to get back to the mound last night. We've talked about it now a couple times, one to be great, Justin's steel, last week of the season, the Cubs are fighting to that hold on to that number one wild card spot and here comes Justin's steel in that ninth inning or the eighth inning or the seventh in a high leverage situation strikes

2:19:55out the side or retires get some key out as an outgetter. I think that it's a lot to ask and as much as the narrative is irresistible, got to throw some cold water there, I think I got to check myself, the reality check every now and then it's good, Jared I think you got to, you love the story you fall in love with the the journey and with this in this case I think the Cubs, the Cubs if he does contribute great but I don't think it's something they can put themselves in a position to count on. We talked about we love the story, it's a great story and we want the story to keep going on. I think we were just enjoying this ride of seeing what Justin's steel and just making the the his way back and doing his thing and doing what he loves but I do believe you would be putting a lot of pressure on that and a lot on him to be able to come back and think

2:20:58that he can be effective for a team that is struggling in an end. And I think you heard that from Tommy Hottie. Yes, that's what maybe throw the cold water. Yeah, it's more of the story like let's just I'm happy for him and then listening to Craig coming back from break. It's a great story. It doesn't seem like this is a part of the plan. They're trying to maybe readjust people's expectations. Yes. Because him being on the mound for his career and for I think his place in organization represents a victory in itself. Now can you play fantasy baseball and your wildest imagination? See him coming up to face Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the wildcard round at Riggly Field and striking up both of them in an eighth inning to kill a Philly Rally. Now that's fun to consider. I also think it might be folly. I just don't know how realistic it is. Earlier earlier in the show you were you and I were having the conversation you were talking about Ryan's every John but you weren't giving up on him. But listen to but listen to Tommy and what he

2:22:03was saying it gives me a little bit more confidence that it's there. It's there. It's just you got he's got to figure it out. Yeah, I think that was good to get Tommy out of his perspective on that because he's somebody that when you look at just the results and we're not dealing with him behind the scenes we're not we're not working with the shape of his pitches and the all of the things that go into a modern day pitching coaches approach to getting the best out of every guy. Zephyr John is not somebody I've given up on yet. I also think that it's interesting of the two guys that we heard Craig Council reference coming in and we asked Tommy how to be about Edward Cabrera will be in a position to contribute and I think should be put in a spot to count be counted on. He can be a high leverage guy. He had a blister. But that was the whole that was the whole plan from the beginning was he to be one of those guys. But now he's going to be coming out of the bullpen or so it seems not not as much pressure to be you know that's how I would feel about it. That's why he's going to have to look at it. He's going to have to work his way. I think

2:23:05so the addition of Javier Saad maybe is early Saturday the return of Edward Cabrera. Ideally, that's going to have to maybe help offset what I think could be the loss of Jacob Web indefinitely. I don't know we'll find out later today when Craig Council meets the media about just how sore or damaged Jacob Web's meaty forearm is. But I think it's going to be a little bit. It's going to take a little bit. That swelling is not really going to come down overnight. It's going to take a while. So I don't know if we got any close to the answer in the question Dustin about what guy not on the Cubs current roster is going to contribute in a meaningful way in the bullpen later this month. I don't think we got you an answer. I'm waiting. I could lean Cabrera though. Does that does that count? I think I think it comes with the team right now. Yeah. I guess Cabrera would be the only logical answer. I don't know anybody. I know I'm not with the team right now technically. Assad. He's in Iowa. And I think Assad on September the 5th needs to come

2:24:08back not as a starter, but as a reliever. You don't you don't need Javier Saad to start in the regular season except are we worried about is anybody else worried about the Cubs missing the playoffs? Oh my gosh. What? Take a look at their schedule. Take a look at it. It ain't going to be easy down the stretch. David. They're not winning the division. Are they going to make the postseason? That question makes me want to talk football. And that's what we're going to do next. He's playing harbors here. Stop avoiding this. I'm not avoiding it. It's a real thing. I'm looking at the clock. We're we're going to. It's not our friend. It's not our friend. Clay Harbor is he's here to talk bears. Do he joins us next in studio on hot patent Chicago sports radio 104 three the score. What times I actually saw a clock over time for play harbour. It winbly stadium 90,000 sold out crowd London. And for some reason my heart's beating get out of a limo to go date some girl. What's first off what's wrong with you football analyst for Chicago sports network. Fulmer NFL play not a quarterback. I'm a tight end, but I've watched a lot of tape. I've been in

2:25:12meeting rooms with Tom Brady. Been in meeting rooms with Drew breeze. I've been in meeting rooms with Michael Vic. Quarterbacks know what they can do and what they can't do. And I know what a quarterback can and can't do. And when you're supposed to expect them to be able to be successful. Clay Harbor with Haagen Peyton on 104 three the score. Welcome back happy Thursday morning. You're listening to Haagen Peyton Chicago sports radio 104 three the score. Jared Peyton David Haugh here until 10 o'clock. And we are pleased to welcome in my colleague from the Chicago sports network man about town and a guy who does a little bit of everything on a lot of different teams. Clay Harbor. Hey Clay. Thanks for having me and I got a little boned pick. I don't know if that was Dustin, but I thought we were done with the bachelor entrance here man. You know come on. You told me it was fine. It was great. It was cool. It's okay. It's okay man. Hey, own it man. Yeah, you got to embrace it. Embrace it. I've been trying to run away from this thing for probably 10 years now since I did it. But no, it's fine. It's fun. We get like new now we can

2:26:13get like color analyst work on Northern Illinois football, right? And I you football, baby. Let's go Huskies. Let's go. Yeah. And Illinois State and the ISU camp. Yeah. You have a lot of games. Yeah. National runner up. So I want you to keep track of how many games you call this year because you're going to be a lot of them. And then the state championships this year for the IHSA as well. You're a busy guy, but you also immersed in Bairdom. So you know what's going on at House Hall. And this week I would call it a saga. And it's ongoing. And we've talked about it before on the big pro football show. And the Kyla Gordon saga took another turn on Wednesday when he released a video of him working out and looking fit and cutting and doing things and showing explosiveness in a way that doesn't depict a player who is injured or even hurt clay. That seemed to be to me early in the show. I called it a middle figure to the Bears who a day earlier had Ryan Poles essentially call him out publicly and label him

2:27:18soft. What did you think of what Pol said and the way that yesterday Kyla Gordon responded? I think this is Kyla Gordon sending some form of a message. I'm not sure what that message is because if you're healthy, you would figure that he would be ready to play. So it's interesting. It's something so much. You got to decipher. It's like a code message. I don't know what he's trying to send JP because obviously the Bears need him at slot and slot is one of a five to rank my top positions on the Bears roster that I'm worried about right now. It's slot corner. Okay, I think Malik Muhammad is going to have a good career. You got to realize this guy played 95% of his snaps at Texas at outside corner. You guys know how difficult that is to move inside the NFL and he's going to take time. I hope Bears fans give him that. It's going to take time for him to become a good professional slot cornerback. I think Don't think him in that he played a little bit in there. He's you see the range. You see the speed. You see he's picking up things in his man-to-man coverage this preseason. It has not looked good. So that is a position that they really

2:28:22do need help. If Kyler Gordon is healthy, you're going to want to put him there. We all remember Dennis Allen's opening press conference when he comes here. I'm looking forward to see Kyler Gordon. This guy can do a lot of things. He plays in the run game. He's physical. He can cover. I don't understand the message he's trying to send. He does look healthy. Obviously there's a big big difference between posting an Instagram video running and playing football, but it's confusing and I think there's just a really big disconnect between the team and him. But Clay, it's hard. How do you kind of mend this fracture that's between the player and the organization? Because when you listen to Ben Johnson talk, it's like, I don't know that guy. To me, there has to be some type of trust factor here. The Bears are hoping to trust him. And at the moment, they just can't trust him at the moment. Yeah, exactly. JP, he's going to have to build some trust. He's going to have to get out there. He's going to have to start practicing. He's going to have to show that he's bought in, that he's willing to do whatever

2:29:26it takes to get on the field. I don't think that's something that he's willing to do. And he's one of these guys. It looks like he has these outside trainers. And you know, you get into trouble when you work with these outside trainers because they might see things differently than the training staff that this organization pays a lot of money to make sure that these players are ready to go are okay. And they will tell you when they are ready to go. There's a lot of money invested here. There's a lot of imaging. There's a bunch of stuff that goes on here. And when there's a disconnect, it makes the GM and the coach really, really concerned. I've heard this before in guys that I do know where they do have that outside outside team that's working. But that outside team is working hand in hand with the team at Hallis Hall. That's not doesn't seem like it's going on. That's not happening. And that's that's the problem. Not only is the that it's an issue between the his team and the team that he plays for. It's also between him and his organization. I just don't see how that fixes.

2:30:27I don't think Clay, you spent nine years in the NFL. I just wonder how common that divide is among players who I know you played several years ago, but I think in the last 20 and I've covered the bears for the last 23. I can remember this as far back as 2006-ish, seven-ish. There were players who had their own teams and their own people they trusted and then they had to integrate that with the teams training staff. So there's going to be conflicts of interest and maybe but seldom do you see it gets at this point where it's played out as publicly as this has become. It's strange and when you when you hear polls saying I don't know if he's going to play for us again this year. I hope and then you see Catergordon post a video like that. That's a huge disconnect because to me that video looks like he's at least close polls are saying I don't know. So for me it feels like there is something else going on here that I don't think we know. I'm not sure exactly what that is if it's just the confidence in his body. If he if it's just he thinks he's more injured

2:31:29than the bears do that seems like something that this has really been blown out of proportion if that's the case. So for me I feel like there's got to be something else going on here because firstly JP is you know NFL coaches and GM's if a player is injured they don't they don't give you a lot of grief for this. They know this is a physical sport. This is tough. Players are going to get injured. They're not going to go out and say hey you got to get on food. They're going to let you get back but the disconnect happens when maybe he's not doing the recovery right. Maybe he's going somewhere else and he doesn't feel like he's at a point to where the team does. What it seems to me. Said he doesn't want to be here. That's what it seems to me. I mean just flat out honest because if you did you would you would be back you would be around more. I just doesn't seem like he wants to be here but okay I get all that. Understand defensive line though has changed a little bit and so you you have some you got Bannonburg six round pick you have some

2:32:32undrafted guys they got rid of Drone Dexter you kind of saw that meaning that Ryan Poles felt good about the guys that he actually has inside of that room moving forward. What was your take on Dexter's departure to Atlanta and the guys that you've seen that are still in that room. I get both sides of this take and I don't mean David went at a little bit on the big pro football show which makes sense. You got a guy that has played a lot of football for you at six acts last year five sex the year before and he's guys got good pass rush. I look at Dexter he's big he's six foot six he's a good look he's that first dude off the bus tie issues standing up he's got a little wiggle too or he can get that pass rush to get him one on one you know what he can't do at six foot six he can't stop the run when you're six six inside there it's hard for you to leverage and just watching this year's preseason tape. I posted a couple clips on X of Drone Dexter getting pushed over five six seven yards on a double team he doesn't anchor as well is loving or vandenberg he doesn't

2:33:33can take me straight even Neville Gallimore that's not what he does he does other things good but he can't anchor the same way these guys can so that makes him a you know it makes it so he doesn't fit Dennis on his game. I told David this I think maybe on the day that it happened it was more of his pad level you look at the other guys that you name they get off the ball pad level is low the one thing with Dexter always came up too high which goes to your point getting push back a little bit and when let's guys put their hands on your chest and your numbers to move you back guys he was I get it he wasn't a good run stuff or necessarily because he didn't have the body type I get it that there were times where he wasn't the all pro caliber probo caliber defensive tackle that you wanted to see I guess I pushed back a little at you Clay on the big pro show was because number one he did show up every Sunday number two he's a second round draft pick that you are discarding dismissing giving up on and the number three thing is that you don't have

2:34:38you're not dealing from a position of strength I understand that they like their depth I understand they want to come at the teams and waves but when you have a position group where you can add a six round draft pick and an undrafted free agent and a journeyman in Contavia street who is on his fifth NFL team and you're happy with that okay good luck but I do think there's some risk involved in getting rid of a player that was as durable as as Jervin Dexter was last season this is this is why I like this this is because they they are watching the film and the tape and they're saying I don't care who you are I don't care where we drafted you does this make Ryan polls look good you think he wants to get rid of your vandex or the last thing he wants to do is have Chicago say you just got ready your second round pick you can't draft anybody that's that's why I'm laughing over here with a smile on my face because you know what it's a new regime and the big dog upstairs Ben Johnson he's watching going snout what I want you just the mode and Ryan polls I'm just I'm

2:35:40just saying we're gonna give I believe in my heart he's the one making someone making all the money he's the one probably making all the decisions what he wants see now when you put it that way I will I will say this you don't get the sense in watching Jervin Dexter even though we did show up 19 times that he has it same sort of maniacal focus that Ben Johnson brings exactly he is not that same type of guy and here's my jade loving story I told you guys I was gonna tell you um you know I go to lifetime fitness downtown Chicago I didn't know that I never talk about your workouts JP this shirt isn't that tight this is my arms is big okay this is just you know I'm saying I can't look at the four anyways meeting this is a real story a couple days ago I think was it yesterday was it two days ago I'm on the treadmill I'm doing my normal treadmill walk I walk up hill I do uphill forward and I go flip backwards for a minute I do this for 30 minutes it's tough cardio if you guys are looking to get in shape out there try it out but here's the funny part I'm walking in my forward session I turn around I flip on the treadmill do my backwards session

2:36:44I just see a big body on the on the on the stair master right behind the treadmill it's jaden loving on the bears off day stretched in sweat this is true story that yesterday two days ago I'm getting old on the stair master on the bears off day in lifetime fitness getting extra work in on the stair master I did like a quadruple take and he looks at me like I'm crazy I just pretend like I didn't see him I'm like that's jaden loving and I go and ask my boy from lifetime he's a trainer Josh I was a Joshua Josh do you know who that is he goes yeah that's jaden loving uh kid from the bears I go okay I'm not crazy that's the type of guy that says this is an off day you just make the bear team do you ask him to work out too no I I was just impressed I left I left him alone but that's the type of worker that you want if you're the bears and to go back to decks are real fast okay David said he's not good against the run okay I obviously I can tell you but this add some context JP pro football focus David loves him I know it's not the end all be all he had a 44 run defensive grade that was 108 out of 134 qualifying interior defensive

2:37:51line and he's dang near on the back of the of the boat there this guy was not good at the run and then let's look at the bears rushing numbers they gave up 134 rushing yards of game 27th in the NFL five yards of carry what's two runs of five yards of carry that's a first down 29th in the league a 29 runstop win rate which is 27th in the NFL rushing the passers are privileged if you even want to rush the passer you can give up five yards per carry so give me some guys that can clog some holes and a lot of defensive line play comes down to desire I mean you need to have the traits you need to have the strength you have to have the leverage and all the technique I get it but you have to to begin with have the mentality and maybe that's what is the most indicted thing about Javon Dexter is that they in essence labeled him by trading him a guy that doesn't meet the standard that way yeah that's that's how it looks it looks that way and that they believe in all these guys and believe in a guy like great you're that's going to be there and

2:38:54actually be serviceable for an entire year which you're asking a lot of a guy that has a lot of miles on him look at all the guys that Ben Johnson has brought in they're all the same type of players they're maniacal football players it's like he said if you take football away from the guy these guys what else are they going to do and like Dennis Allen sent his press conference yesterday I guess effort is a talent and you look at loving you look at Van and Berg you look at even James Lynch they cut they bring him back these guys were given all types of effort James Lynch not the most talented guy he say that I see him he said he said that he said that sounds like a billboarder t-shirt it should be and James Lynch line up at nine technique JP I see him at six I see him at three I see him it knows I go how are you going to get rid of this guy who's giving you effort he's pressuring you he just gives you a lot of versatility so I know people haven't heard of Neville galmore they haven't heard of Can't Avia Street obviously Van and Berg's becoming a folk hero already in Chicago but when you see these guys effort their pad leverage their stance their get off it was much better

2:39:58than Jervon Dexter and guess what he was on a contract next year he wasn't even a B here so let's get a fifth round pick let's get a cornerback that can maybe help in the slot even though he's never played slot in the NFL I looked up the numbers he's played like 10 total snaps NFL he played in college that's a different game when you play slot in the NFL first college I get that they're gonna pick on you but would you feel more comfortable having that instead of going with a rookie yeah because he's actually had some experience and last year I think he played in one game because he torn his triceps or his pack or something like that so you're it's some give and take here but he is a guy turned on a little film Phillips I think he's got good shawty area quickness he's a guy that you could you see the traits where we get playing side he's five nine he's probably a little small for outside but he makes up for it with his competitiveness and that's what the bears like all right so we heard from Dennis Allen yesterday and obviously the defensive line is full of guys that are either overachievers or they like the mentality you we know what he thinks about Jalen Johnson because I thought that his compliments were intentional and also I think they probably

2:41:02landed very well on a player that every now and then doesn't mind hearing house how much he's needed as a leader and in that secondary where are you on Montess wet how realistic is it to expect him to take a step forward this year and increase his sack production you've seen him in preseason yeah I training camp where where is Montess wet damn I've been telling you the same thing about Montess wet for the last three years since we've been working together and I think Montess wet is a solid good solid professional ed rush or he's gonna set the edge he's gonna give you some sacks he's not a guy that you really have to double team chip and they if you watch it tape people say oh he's getting chip because there's nobody else in he's not you're not double team you're not shipping them not even sliding to him that much if I turn the film and I you know watching it like a tight end and I see sweat I go okay he's solid you know if I turn in the film I see microparasins I turn the film I see miles Garrett I turn the film I see some it's not even close right so I think sweat is a solid defensive end ed rusher he's a guy that I think his ceiling is 10 sacks I think you can

2:42:06get there solid ed rusher six foot six long arms we know Dennis Allen like so big guys that can tie their shoes standing up but he is not a guy that is gonna carry a defensive line group to a bunch of sacks he's gonna be a solid ed rusher all right we got to talk about tight ends because the tight end in residence is in the building clay harbor here from the Chicago sports network and big profile show we'll get to more of the roster more of the bears keep it right here on haunt Peyton Chicago sports radio 104 three the score play harbor with haunt Peyton on 104 three the score so there was a skill set with him that we liked and I continue to see him develop and but the thing that that gets you the most excited is just how hard he plays and and look I effort to effort to talent and and he's got that welcome back it's haunt Peyton Chicago sports radio 104 three the score that was Dennis Allen those were the words he ordered that clay harbor

2:43:06quoted in the last segment I love it effort is a talent it it's a skill to put forth the kind of effort to exert yourself every day consistently in the way that coaches demand and jaden loving is an example of that but I think as you pointed out before before the break they have a defensive line in full of guys like that because that's what they were seeking and ultimately they're gonna have a roster full of guys like that because that's what they're going to want yeah and I think going back to my football career and David you at Ball State JP you and NFL in college like for me the hardest guys I played against the guys that hated going against were those effort guys the guys that got the pad leverage the guys that got underneath you the guys that were relentless it didn't stop you knew you're buckled up your chin strap and those were gonna be some hard days like I know there's talented guys you play against me say you're probably gonna give you a few tough

2:44:08but I would rather play against that guy than the guy that you know is just bring it 100% every single play and here's the other two other two things about these defensive tackles Jordan van and berg jaden loving I don't know how they got where they were because you know you watch their film these guys are players on the field JP you can see so many traits athleticism then I go and I look up everybody knows about Jordan van and berg his razz relative athletic score the second best out of 2300 combine invite ease for defensive tack why look up loving I go this guy's got to be pretty good too he's 18th all time this guy at 310 pounds ran a 478 40 a 162 10 which is insane 33 reps of bench press had a 35 inch vertical at 310 pounds jumped 9 3 in the broad jump in a 715 that's a tight end that says that's a wide receiver running that that three cone these guys are freak athletes with size and they give effort though the right type of guys you talk about in

2:45:08the in the film room they're picking things up why would you even think about getting rid of young guys like that that you have control of for four years yeah you want to you want to be a good team your practices better be harder than the games just very very simple every place that I've ever played where practice it doesn't matter the talent that you had but you want guys giving maximum effort all the time you want practices to be harder than the games when you get there becomes easy and to have those guys that are pushing that tempo it's some of those guys that aren't the drafted guys the guys that are six round picks that are pushing other guys saying holy cow this guy's trying to make it I got to pick up my game and so that's where that whole everything's and that's what Ben Johnson is clearly looking for that's football character yeah and I think they have it are they're getting more of it throughout the roster they certainly have it let's switch to the offensive side of the ball I think Braxton Jones's football character is high it's one of the

2:46:08reasons why he started as a rookie it's why the one of the reasons he's come back from the injuries he's he suffered I think he's a guy that obviously want to point out he's a weak link on an offensive line fine but he's likely to start week one Clay how has how would you describe the way that offensive tackle competition which you've played close attention to has evolved and as somebody who was very high on Gedrick Will's early in camp what happened to him was it just the early flash was it something that he because of the injury couldn't actually make us a strong enough challenge how did you see everything unfold to start with Gedrick Will's I thought it was just the consistency factor because he would make a play that's maybe the other tackles couldn't make you see the first round pedigree and I would see it but then consistency he would be extremely laid off the snap count he'd give up sack so it was just it was like this give and take toward you would see it for five straight plays like man this guy can play left tackle I've played play with a ton of left tackles Jason Peter Ryan Ramcheck Winston Justice a bunch of guys and he was one of those

2:47:13guys I'm like this guy can play and it just the consistency never came I think he'll get picked up somewhere I don't know if he'll be in Chicago on a practice squad and I think we haven't seen the last of them obviously it shows you guy the former first round pick to come in in a battle for a job it shows you he is the right type of guy and as far as Braxton Jones is concerned I think we forget last year with Theo Bennett it the Bears went five and two with with Braxton the Bears went three and two when he was hurt with a broken leg they've won with these guys before so they can win with them again especially when Braxton is better he beat out Theo in the competition so I understand why people have this concern about the left tackle but also you gotta know you're with Ben Johnson and when you were the coach like him and I've been with say Josh McDaniel's when I was with the Patriots they're going over every single match up in the in the game so okay we know our left tackle is gonna have a tough match up this week we're going against the Texans when they had JJ White you know we got to make sure we give him some extra help Ben Johnson knows every

2:48:17match up he knows what his men his players can and cannot do he is not going to put Braxton Jones on an island against who they playing the first week they they got the Carolina Panthers they just signed Jayden Phillips Jaylen Phillips they're not going to put him on an island against Jaylen Phillips much because they know this is a tough pass rusher we don't want Braxton to put us in a bad position well you know what you can do you you use help man 13 personnel you could bring a running back down the chip help out a little bit before they get into the route so definitely having a guy like Ben Johnson you know he can scheme around having some issues there and match up problems speaking of match up problem so I said yesterday on this show that I think this is the year that we see Colston Loveland turning to a superstar how good can he be and also that whole entire tight end David's role in his eyes right now because he knows I'm the I'm the leader of the Colston Loveland fan club here in Chicago and JP I've said it once he said it twice Colston Loveland is so special especially in this Ben Johnson offense because firstly

2:49:21holistically every tight end has a similar skill set there obviously Colston's is a little bit more advanced and they're receiving but they all block they all can pass block run block especially they're good on fitting in their double teams you can put them on the front side of zones you can put them on the front sides of powers that it helps your your play action passing so much because a lot of these tight ends that are actually receivers you go to Zach Hertz guy played with you go to Evan Ingram you go to some of these these receiving tight ends Travis Kelsey you think you're putting Kelsey on the D in front side of run play no not if you want to get blown up three yards D you want to put them on a power you ain't getting no movement there from Kelsey Kelsey wants to split out he wants to run you maybe you shift them back side you arc release them to a safety you come up with ways to maybe pull out a defender or get rid of them Colston Cole in Sam Roush even Sam Roush watching the tape are all physical blockers but that makes it so much more difficult for a defense because now you got to make that choice JP are we going to put the big personnel in or are we

2:50:25going to put the the nickel in if you put the nickel in they're going to run the ball down it thought if you put the big personnel in Colston leveling is too fast and Ben Johnson what I've noticed he's moving him around a lot he's shifting him he's motioning he's starting him in a half back at full back motion to the left motion to the right side motion him to X or Z sometimes people think you can guard a tight end because you know he's going to be on the line of scrimmage right or left it's going to be easy to jam him get him in some traffic Ben's moving him everywhere he's going to be a mismatch nightmare for defenses can you imagine what it's like for defensive coordinators as the season goes along you see all this movement to try to figure out okay how do we stop this and then it's crazy to think about it's crazy and let's look back to that packers game when they came in and they they had three tight ends in the game the packers all they're going to try to run this one because Ben Johnson will run it on thirt down on two-point inversions and they bring in their big package and then Ben goes okay let me split Colson out to the left outside packs for super and run a fade stop which first of all for a tight end that's 255 pounds

2:51:31trying to fade stop you know the degree of difficulty there and to be able to have the ball skills to turn around and make that catch that's that's insane I haven't and it worked so you're going to have a lot more of that the guys moving around a lot and that just shows you how much he knows this often so they kept four tight ends Hayden large going on injured reserve but they have three they trust they only kept five wide receivers but that was partly because of the versatility with Khalif Raymond and also Xavier and Thomas the other night on the big football show in Clay's corner you designated Xavier and Thomas as the winner of preseason maybe the bear who made the most cover the most ground figured it really and literally because of his 97 yard touchdown reception in his first play as an NFL player why do you think that Xavier and Thomas can make an impact this year so I'm going back so I'm I'm talking about from the day he was drafted until now right Xavier and Thomas you remember the discourse oh they reached on this guy this guy was

2:52:34a seventh round or he's a sixth round or he's a gadget guy maybe he can return punts he's vellis Jones the re-coming of valus Jones David you remember I went out to the first rookie mini-camp I came back and said this guy can play wide receiver you can tell right away when a player can catch the football if he's a natural hands catcher looks then it's just effortless for him and that's just the first thing I saw I go he's good in and out of breaks he's a natural hands catcher like David played safety because he wasn't he couldn't catch the ball clean so Xavier Thomas can't hold him back oh great safety because he couldn't catch the football but Xavier and Thomas from seeing where he started rookie mini-camp the routes did you you saw that route where he looked like he he pressed a turbo button ten times on that stop and go that wasn't the only one the one that impressed me the most was the was the slant route when he he wiggles gets inside presses vertical breaks across the face inside catches the slant get some yak and I go this dude looks like

2:53:36a real real threat as a receiver and then who's he look like when he's returning kicks and I'm getting carried away David hated that I said that's what everybody's saying I'm so sure he just looks I'll just say this he looked really good catching punts in throughout all of camp every day I was there he didn't drop one punt or kickoff okay I love how excited you are about my cousin so my family I love it how much of an impact can he have on this squad this season you think on the offensive side that's the tough part right because you got Rome you got Luther you got Colston then you got Cole commit obviously got Cleaf Raymond Johnny Walker was one of my guys that had an underrated training camp this guy is smooth he six three great balls skills caught everything you can see put an extra time with Antoine Randall if he's on another team he might be a number two receiver at least number three here he's looking at like a four or five but this guy can play

2:54:38so Ben says he loves getting figuring out how to get every ball he's gonna have to figure out ways to get saving them ball and I think what you're seeing is they're starting to trust him more that was my only question you see the ability you see he can catch you see he can run can they trust him to line up okay you're gonna be slot now now you're smocining here shifting here Ben loves to confuse defenses and do that you got to have smart players Xavier on the smart player he's a guy that believes in football I think it's gonna be tough for him to overtake Cleaf Raymond early but I think at some point as much as I like Cleaf Raymond had an excellent camp the guy was was lights out you can't teach four to eight and the four to eight shows up on film like that explosive with vision you're gonna have to get him the ball somehow last thing let's get into the safety who is the rookie who is the guy that I wanted them to draft and they did Dylan Thiniman has had maybe some mixed results in the preseason there've been times where you see those instincts that were on display at Oregon and earlier at Purdue they're all the athleticism you see what the bears saw whether

2:55:42it's a combine or the private workouts struggle a little bit against the Titans and had some issues maybe in play recognition how quickly could he make an impact and how susceptible is he to making some rookie mistakes here's what I've seen this is my thoughts on Dylan Thiniman I've watched and studied a lot of safety you know tight ends we play against him a lot so we have to look at him I think when he's back there deep as a deep safety the guys got some very incredible range he's got uncommon speed that gives your cornerbacks a lot of confidence if you have a guy that you know has got the range to run out and if you get beat on a deep ball he's gonna be there he's got that he's got that that's important he's a smart guy he's gonna get physical in the run game he's not afraid to tackle he's not afraid to hit anybody the questions I have is if he gets caught in man coverage I think his man coverage right now isn't what it needs to be I think that last preseason game I saw him three times four times he didn't have that play over the top or he deflected that ball going for carnell tape thought that was a good play but in man to man coverage when he

2:56:45drops down in the slot he was guarding a tight end I think three times during camp I'm thinking okay you know he's playing in his colson leveling like this is he's gonna get easier matchups during the season but it showed up again I think he'll get better he'll figure it out he'll be able to see when a tight end stems you inside you don't have to jump inside he's probably saving room for the now side breaking route he's gonna learn that you know college you don't teach you as much you're kind of running the spots and a failure tricking these guys with your releases your stems get a little wiggle at the top and I think he's got to get better at that so I think the range when he's deep I think the run game help being able to be a guy that goes in there and fit people up he's not scared of contact but the man to man coverage skills is where I see him needing to improve and tackling you think is a good enough tackler I think he's I think it's good enough tackle I think yes he got ran over a couple times in camp I remember one played Dandrie Swift trucked him and stepped in his face mask and just kept going and I was like oh my gosh I'm glad this isn't this isn't on film somewhere because that's one of those you ain't gonna live down but he's willing

2:57:49I'm not saying he's gonna deliver any bone crushing hits here but he's a guy that is going to throw his body in there you know he's a little bit undersized but once again he's one of these Ben Johnson type guys that are just manic about football football is everything he's not going out he's not doing it he is studying tape he's making sure his body right his entire life is football and playing safety and in my history those guys have a very high level of reaching their full potential and his potential is really high once he cleans up a few things great stuff you got a game Saturday no game this Saturday then I got 13 straight Saturday wow you did quite a barn burner last Saturday didn't you 79 and nothing Illinois State over St. Francis interstate rivalry right there Brock's back on his revenge tour after finishing second in the FCS Brock's back is back let's go so it's Clay Harbor thanks for being here appreciate it guys we come back it's time for transition with Rahimi and Grote Leila and Mark will join us next on on page Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 this score