It's the Downbeat on ninety seven to one, the free Julius to call me, Oh my Julia. I'm Kevin Turner with Danny Baylis. Mike Stroy is out today, a little sick. He'll be back tomorrow, we think, although cold and flu symptoms kind of popping up around these parts this time of year. Of course, want to get into some sports in a second. First, going to give a quick update on a bit of a developing situation out in Roanoke. I like Ronoke, by the way, Ronoke's out there,
a little to the west, but still definitely in the metroplex. Oh, a good downtown situation over there in Roanoke. There is a major train de realment that's happened in the city of Ronoke, and this is south of Highway one fourteen, right along Highway three seventy seven. Three coal cars and a portion of the locomotive off the tracks. According to Madison Sawyer of CBS eleven, they are saying that Highway three seventy seven will be shut down at
eight am, and this is expected to be an all day event. So they're shutting three seventy seven down for cleanup at eight am. So, my god, if you're in that part of the world and you're traveling, look out. You might be going back to work and dealing with a massive commute, or you could use it for an excuse to just go in late. Hey traffic got me, you know, if you want to use it to your advantage. But big deal man trained dee elments have been We've seen a
few, and there was obviously big stories nationally about that. Don't think about it too often around here, but there's a bunch of trains and a big dealilmen. I don't know if ane's been hurt. No injuries have been reported, and it was they said three coal cars, but kind of a big deal there on them. Seems like a big deal. Luckily, I'm not driving on three seventy seven today, but if you are, look out train derailment in Roanoke. We'll give you more details if we can find them.
I'm seeing a couple of pictures and man, it's wild to see a huge, you know, car on this train, just to see it off the tracks. It's it's pretty nuts. And I'm seeing this happened in twenty sixteen, and that's what I'm seeing pictures of is from twenty sixteen. The derailment. Thin, I'm not seeing anything nothing yet from today, but this is fresh. This is just within the hour. Yeah, it started being reported about fifty minutes ago. Hopefully no one's hurt all that, No injury is
reported yet. Yeah, one seventy seven, Yes, goodly, Well, we're all. We'll keep you updated if we find out anything else. Also, we'll give you the latest on Epstein's list at seven point thirty. I can't wait for this skin weight on it. We'll tell you maybe that's the real reason he's not coming in today. But before we do that, let's get to this because this is gonna be Meaty's now sports all right, Saturday night not sponsored today? Well slow slow starts the quarter uh Cowboys and lines
on Saturday. Well, let's tell you eight o'clock, we're a dive into little mav stuff. Mark Cuban commented on the sale of the team, which was official over the holidays ut last night big college football playoff action? Is that game ended to run f and midnight? Get into that at eight? I can't believe you stayed up for that. You stayed up for the whole damn thing. Was it down to the wire? Yeah, because I know what text is only lost by what a touchdown. I can't wait to fill
you in on what happened. Okay, as to be sleepy, No, I'm okay. We' running a pure adrenaline. At nine o'clock, NFL on Fox, Rules analyst Dean Blandino will come in. We'll call in to you know, give us the definitive word on the ruling that shook the NFL and it really did have ramifications for three teams. Yeahs here this Sunday night, the Cowboys win twenty to nineteen after they thought they were gonna lose twenty one to twenty, but they end up winning twenty to nineteen. And we can
go a lot of different places. I think we should start with just kind of how the game went. First, they won twenty one to twenty. They would have lost twenty two to twenty. Yeah, twenty two to twenty one? Sorry, yeah, is that right? It was twenty to nineteen either way. The Lions were going for two y. Yeah, that's right, that's right, that's right, that's right. Not bad that game. I kind of sat there the whole time and went, Okay, when are
the Cowboys gonna pull away? Here? And they never did. And then it got to the point where they were behind nineteen thirteen, they score and they go up twenty to nineteen. I I I'm sorry they were up. And when I was thinking about that game though, I kind of thought the Cowboys, Okay, first of all, they're good at home, and it was a tight, tight first half is exactly what I predicted. And then I predicted that it would get to the half and they're gonna do this.
We talked about it. I think they're gonna do this. How about them Cowboys? Thing was they induct Jimmy Johnson at the Ring of Honor, and the Cowboys are gonna come out on fire and just blow them out. Yeah, you texted that to me and Mikey did halftime of that game. We were all kind of watching it, you know, not in the same room,
but watching it together and staying connected on our phones. And yeah, I thought, yeah, it sounds like a likely scenario that they kind of playing around in the first half and then just getting the ball back or you know, on the second half kickoff and just run away with it. Not
the case, man, That thing was in jeopardy the entire way. They should have lost yeah, and that's our I mean, the big stuff from that game is that what happened at the end and the events, the chain of events at the end of the game where the Cowboys had the ball and could have really put the game away, there was a I'm gonna call it
a phantom tripping call. I believe it's on Peyton Hendersho at the tight end and they call the tripping on him, where if you go back and watch, it kind of looks like it's a Lions player who did the tripping, So it's not a good call, but it put the Cowboys in a first and twenty five position as they're trying to kind of milk out the clock here, and the score at this point is Cowboys twenty line thirteen. And when that penalty happened, I'm looking at the time that was left in that game,
and I'm seeing Danny right here. I've got it pulled up here. I think it was a little under two minutes left because that first and twenty five. Yeah, first and twenty five, they're the two minute warning. The first playoff out of the two minute warning, it's first and twenty five. Then the Detroit forty four, there's two minutes left. The Lions have two timeouts. Okay, first and twenty five. The Cowboys run a slant route to Ceedee Lamb. They get eleven yards and it's like, okay,
that's ballsy, but it's a completion. Sure, so best of both worlds. We got ten or eleven yards and time out by the lines, they have to use a timeout, and then it's second and fourteen. I think conventional wisdom would tell you, you're up twenty thirteen, you've got a good kicker, let's just go ahead and run the ball here. And and I'm sorry at that point, Danny was seventeen to thirteen, not twenty to thirteen.
Seventeen to thirteen. Run the ball here. And they run a play that breaks down and Dak ends up just launching it into the back of the end zone, stops the clock. Lions don't have to use a timeout, and they could have taken forty seconds off the clock. After the game, Dak said that was on him. That was what the hell just tappened play?
It really was. It was so confusing to everybody watching it, the booth, the players on the field, the people in the stands that made not when you saw that ball just flying out of the back of the end zone. I'm like, what are they doing? And what he said he was accountable for? What did he say? He basically Mike never asked about the play call on that, and he basically said he knew he you can't, you know, leave the leave the clock stopped. He might have been
getting MacArthur's back. I'm not real sure that's better to take a sack there, dude, that point yeah, take you yeah, I mean, as long as you're not like out of field goal range, because they're with a thirty three yard line, so you're but Aubrey, you're confident, hasn't missed all year, so you're good. Don't. As long as you don't lose like seven yards, we're good. But what that did the Cowboys then had made the decision clearly, we're gonna try to pass and get the first down.
Okay, once they threw to Ceedee Lamb on first down, We're not just gonna run it three times, make the lines, used both timeouts, and then take an extra forty seconds off the clock. But what that incompletion did is it does keep you at one fifty five on the clock. Third down, they check down to Ferguson. He gets eight yards easier field goal lines used their last time out, but the Lions are now going to get the ball with one forty five left. It's a lot and it's twenty to
thirteen, especially when the way that the Cowboys were playing defense. I mean, the oh my god, the biggest sponge prevent you've ever seen in your life. It does no matter what three plays and they were right there. It was You're hoping the pass rush would have got there or something, but they were. You're right. They did the basic build a wall on the outside, keep them inside. And the lines are like, well, yeah, but you left us a minute forty five, so we have time to
do it. Yeah. Now if we can work the middle of the field because of the fact that there's almost two minutes on the clock, let's tree gouack. If one of those play calls was a running play, or you just have an easy completion and stand bounds. Civil Matt tells you that the Lioness would beginning the ball with one oh five left and no timeout, Well that still maybe they still get in. Maybe maybe they do, but that that at that point you eliminate being able to use that big area that's in
the center of the field. Yeah, because how many times did did they spike the ball when they would run up to the line. I think at least two, they did it three times. Okay, you can't do that when you have fifty five seconds on the clock. That's just not it's not possible. You were working the sidelines, you're trying to get out of bounds and stopping the clock. But the amount of yardage that you're accumulating when you're when you're in that in that predicament, it's just not enough to get big
chunks to get down there quick enough. So, yeah, it was I think here's the thing for me, and the clock would dictate how you play that, right, But given the lines the ball back with one five compared to giving them the ball back with one oh five, they scored with twenty three seconds on the clock, which tells you the clock would have been expired.
That's an easy way to look at it, I know. And Troy brought that point up too, like, there's your forties forty seconds is the number we're kind of watching here, because those are time that you could have taken now that easily. Asta McCarthy, right, sure, And Troy is so great at passive aggressive comments. Yeah, well the game should be over
right now. He didn't care. No, he does not care. I think those guys took a little bit more money and I think they kind of don't like it at ESPN kind of don't like Monday night football any They kind of don't like it, asked to stay on it. Yeah, they took a lot of money. Van Pelt after the game. Yeah, they're getting ass games every Monday. They took a new job, thought it would be
rosy, and then they're kind of like ass games. Ass games. Uh. So the Lions get in, they score a Monroel Saint Brown, who's awesome, and it's twenty to nineteen and they say it'll for two. So here's what happened. According to the NFL Game Book, it'll tell you that Dan Skipper, a guy weirdly who I met in Jeff Kavanaugh's backyard. Long story, reserve offensive tackle Dan Skipper reported in as eligible. Now, for
those of you that don't know, I will quickly do this. You can report that you're an eligible wide receiver and you're basically shifting the offensive one a little bit differently, and you have to do that because you have to tell the defense so they're allowed to substitute and know who the eligible receiver is. It's common sportsmanship and courtesy and it's in the rules. So the ref says that number seventy, Dan Skipper reports in is eligible, which would make left
tackle Taylor Decker ineligible. Correct. The Lions run a gimmick play and it is a pass to the left tackle Taylor Decker, who is uncovered, uncovered and ineligible, and by uncovered, the receivers off the line of scrimmage. Well, if the receiver's on the line of scrimmage, then he can't be.
The receiver was not on the line of scrimmage. Taylor Decker was eligible according to what the Lions said, and a lot of he said, she said, going on, well, he said, he said, he said, going on the ref And if there's video evidence of this, now, the ref just messed up because Taylor Decker of the Detroit Lions goes to the ref first and says, I'm eligible. He points at himself, says he said it. Also, there's slow motion video footage of Dan Skipper, number
seventy going I didn't say an F and word. I didn't say an F and word. I didn't say an E, F and word, so Dan Skipper. And if you watch the video evidence, which didn't come out until after the game, where you see all this from up in the press box, Dan Skipper looks a little confused when he runs out there. I think he's probably on purpose too loud for the refs to go, number sixty eight
is in? Is eligible? Okay? Kind of two out at that time, so common to just go, hey, defense, here's the eligible guy. They just said that number seventy was eligible instead of sixty eight. They got him mixed up. They got a mixed and they told the defense the wrong thing. And I don't I think Skipper was just a little confused about where to line up. Skipper was not going out there to talk to the ref. He might have been going out there to act like he was talking
to the ref. But if he didn't say word to the ref and the ref says that seventies eligible, okay hmm, but seventy didn't say anything, then the ref messed up. Now, the other take on this is maybe don't run a trick play like that and put the game in the hands of the referee, which I kind of agree with. But also this is common, and I think the evidence from postgame tells you that the Lions were in the right. Here here is their meatball head coach Dan Campbell after the game.
Yeah, the explanation he got out to two point seventy reported. Did Decker report as well? Yeah? The explanation was seventy reported, and they need to announce that if both players report, two people can't report. I don't want to talk about it, right. I explained everything pre game to a t Okay, I did that. Okay, So he explained before the game. Very common. If you have any trick plays that you're going to run something that the refs need to know, you would tell them before they
get before the game. Okay, just so they're not for this specific situation. I think that's I mean, a you lost. Another reason why they were furious about this is because he said I told the ref before the game. Now hold that for a minute, because I want you to hear Jared Goff after the game, because I thought this was pretty good as he kind
of walks through it. What I do know, and I don't know if I'll get fine for this, but I do know that Decker reported I do know that Dan Skipper did not, and I do know that they said that Dan Skipper did, so it's unfortunate. Now, in the pool report after the game, which is where one media member is gets to sit down with the head referee, and it's all done from people in the Pro Football Riders
Association, they switch out this duty. Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Warning News sits down with Brad Allen, the crew chief, and Brad Allen basically says that, yeah, he says the opposite of what Jared Goff just said. Well, LA seventy reported so sixty eight was not eligible and the lines are like no, and Taylor Decker number sixty eight in this case. What he was asked about, it goes, I just did what coach told me to do. I went and reported like all of this is just a ref screwing
up. Yeah, and it changed everything now, I mean, it is not redeemed the it is not forgive the sins of Dan Campbell that followed this. Oh my god, no it doesn't. And look, man, I I don't even know why he wouldn't just tie it up initially. Yeah, because there's a five yard penalty and they moved the ball back to the Sinne I'm talking about before this trick scenario even manifested the way it did. I mean, look, dude, just kick the extra point. Take your chances
in overtime. Your defense has been absolutely man handling the Cowboys, and the Cowboys have had no I mean, not that it would matter in overtime, but their left guard was hurt too. Tyler Smith was not going to be like their chances. I was thinking that the whole time, like, just kick it because the Cowboys left guard is out now, but you've got a chance to do a little damage in overtime. Maybe, but you know, maybe he didn't trust the defense. Why their defense was incredible. I thought
they were playing pretty well too, really well. Well. I was wrong, though. Do you want to hear his explanation. NFL figured some stuff out after that Buffalo game. Dude, I think they did. They really did, and that's a problem going into the playoffs. But more than that, here's here's Dan Campbell. Here's why he did it. I tell you what, I want my coaches to take emotion out of their decisions. I want them to be very calm. I don't like I cannot stand the coach
who can't help himself and runs on the field. Sean McVay drives me nuts. It's almost like he was running going for two again, just despite the referees. Well, you know what, you screwed us on that, We'll show you. We'll do it even five yards further back. Kick this out. Seventy reported sixty eight six. Here we go. Yeah, can you just explain the you know, the mentality to go for two there at the end. Obviously he wanted to keep the game in your hand and you try
to win it. I told the offense that we were we were going down one forty one left, We're gonna go down to score and then we're gonna go for two and finish this game out. I told him that, and so that's what we were doing. And being backed up that didn't change anything. When you get backed up to there to the seven in from the two point played, did you think at all we were going for the win? Okay? He just like and all the media is just like, okay,
I'm not gonna ask coul Kogan any more questions anymore. I got like, he looks like he wants to punch me. I'm not asking any more questions because at the seven yard line, Micah Parsons jumps off sides, so they go have to just have to this goal. So from the four yard line the lines go for two and run a play where, honestly, if Jared Goff could wait a little bit longer, he had laporta wide opening the end
zone on the slant route. He misses the out route. He had the guy there too, and Jared Goff just made a bad throw because Cowboys pressure was in his face a little bit, and the Cowboys escape twenty to nineteen after the world thought they had just lost. And even though Micah was barely off sides on that play, it had no effect on the play. I don't even know if Goff knew that he had a free play. I don't know there. I don't think he did, but that would would have ended
up a failed attempt as well. Yes, yeah, the couch, I mean they got to stop, that's the thing the cowboy. Yes, the Cowboys got to stop two times in a row after getting him backed up to the seven, and then I guess what the three and a half once the penalty was enforced. It just wasn't a good look for Detroit at all.
It was not a good look for Dan Campbell man. I God, when you're at the seven, dude, okay, what if there'd have been a holding call instead of a you know, an ineligible receiver and then they're backed up to the to the twelve. Yeah, you know he's still gonna do it. I mean, what is the what the problem? What's the maximum wage? You know, how far back do you go before you all right, we'll just kick it and tie it. The odds have been he's so
damn hardheaded. He could have been on the fifteen and still try to go for it. The odds are like, I mean, I don't know how much it decreases. It's not much, you know, from two to seven. But one thing about all that too, like the whole I'll run through a through a wall for this dude thing. That's all great, and that's good and you like it, but also, dude, at some point right there, kick it, tie and the other team you've been wearing out a
little bit and they're left guards out and you know that's a weakness. It just seemed like all too easy of an equation. I'm pretty aggressive when it comes to football, too, Okay, So I'm I like when guys are going forward a lot on fourth down, and I think it makes a lot of sense sometimes, but boy, sometimes things come to play. Like dude, I don't know if he knew that Tyler Smith would not be returning. I don't know that, but it was pretty clear Tyler Smith was not returning.
And that's a big part of the Cowboys in a big weakness that you probably could have attacked and maybe got in the winning overtime. Either way, doesn't matter. Cowboys win currently the two seed because the Eagles lost to the Cardinals, and the Eagles are in effing mess right now. They're gonna be in But we were talking about, Hey, we're on a crash course for
taking on the Bucks in Tampa Bay and wildcard round. Now the Cowboys are going to host if they win the Sunday are going to host the first round playoff game. Their opponents look like it could be green Bay if the Packers beat the Bears, could be Seattle if Greenway was to lose. There's a lot we can get into. Yeah, let's get into that in about an hour from now at eight thirty, we'll hit all of this stuff Dingu's Morning
News. We'll also we didn't even talk about the halftime ring of honor festivities and wild wireless Mike Jerry Ceedee, Lamb's day. Good lord, we've got to look at that as well. So much more to discuss from Cowboys lines. We'll do that definitely at eight thirty five, but coming up next,
Kevin Turner has the scuttle butt, and boy the stories are abound. Yes, Danny, what better way to start off the year than by finding out which celebrities we're doing terrible things at Epstein Island on ninety seven to one, The Freak