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Big Cat
Hey, Pardon my take, listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. On today's Pardon My take presented by DraftKings, we got a twofer and we've got a very special guest. He is hopefully going to be offensive rookie of the year Tyler Schuck on the podcast. I mean, we knew it, but it just further confirmed he's the man. Absolute man. Great interview with him. We talked to our good friend Andy Staples to get you ready for the college football semifinals on Thursday and Friday. We're going to talk coaches in out hot seat, cool throne FAQs. It's all brought to you by our friends at Slim Jim. When you feel like you've had enough and you're ready to snap, snap into a Slim Jim instead. Slim Jim's iconic snap turns any moment of annoyance into satisfaction. We're going to need these Slim Jims for playoff football, for energy, for. For Max, Hank, myself. This is going to be if. If we get annoyed. Snap into a Slim Jim. We love meat, and Slim Jim is the ultimate meat stick to satisfy your meat cravings. Available in multiple sizes to match your hunger. Can't go wrong with the OG long stick. Looking for something more? Try a monster or savage size. Or load up on the short sticks for your meat stash at home or at the office. When life makes you want to snap, snap into a Slim Jim. With its bold, meaty flavor, iconic spice, and signature snap, Slim Jim is the smoked meat stick that helps you reclaim the moment and snap back at the world. Snap into a Slim Jim. Grab one today. Everywhere snacks are sold. Okay, let's go. Hey, football guy.
Hank
Patino.
Tyler Schuck
Aw, Harry.
Hank
Yeah.
Andy Staples
Bar and my T. Yeah.
Big Cat
Welcome to part of my take, presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Wednesday, January 7th, and PFT. This is our least favorite show to do every single year. We say this with a heavy, heavy heart, but we've got to talk about firings in the NFL.
PFT Commenter
It's tough because, you know, these guys are people. They've got families. They've got kids that are in schools.
Big Cat
That's a hell of a stain on your shirt.
PFT Commenter
They need to check. I know. I spilled some serious coffee.
Big Cat
I was. I was. I was listening to you be serious. And I looked over.
PFT Commenter
I was. Well, I was gonna.
Hank
I was gonna give me neutron hair today.
PFT Commenter
I was gonna twist it. Anything else?
Big Cat
What do you got for me? I don't know.
Max
We got. We're trying to get a zoom in on this thing.
PFT Commenter
Here, the same.
Max
Just keep talk.
PFT Commenter
Say I was. Listen. Okay, so here's what happened first thing this morning. I was eating ass.
Big Cat
Right?
PFT Commenter
Got a little stain Stew Fighter.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
No, we were doing a commercial shoot this morning. I was drinking Stella Blue coffee, highly spillable coffee. Not to trash the brand Big Cat, but the most spillable coffee I've ever had. Just came. Came out the corner of my mouth. Dude, problem. I had a mouth problem this morning. I had a drinking problem this morning. But let's listen. There's a lot of coaches out.
Big Cat
Let's get back on track.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, it's a sad day. My coffee staying aside. These guys have families. They've got children that need to change schools. They're gonna have to maybe sell their house. They might take a hit on the house. Some of these guys just moved in a year two years ago, bought four million dollar houses. Might flip them for 3.8 PFT. This is a, this is a really hard day for a lot of people.
Big Cat
I. I'll say. I'll say the worst part, because all that is, you know, it sucks. But some of these guys might have to go get jobs as coordinators.
PFT Commenter
That'd be tough to take a step back. Yeah, you know, there is, you know, everyone's looking for like the hot young name, right? There is a name out there that I think these teams should consider for head coach. And he's not a hot young guy.
Big Cat
Okay.
PFT Commenter
He's a hot old guy.
Big Cat
Okay.
PFT Commenter
What about Pete Carroll? Pete Carroll, former Seahawk world champion, super bowl champion.
Big Cat
He's been out of it for like two or three years now.
PFT Commenter
Out of it for a while. He's young at heart. I think he would be the oldest coach in the NFL. But you talk about a guy that's younger in terms of his personality, energy level than Most of these 30, 40 year old guys out there. Someone should give a look at Pete Carroll.
Big Cat
Yeah, I agree. So, all right, let's go through them. Okay. John Harbaugh got fired at the end of the show. So we taped the full show, but we talk about John Harbaugh getting fired at the very end. Let's start with the Raiders. They, we don't know who coached them this past year. Looking for a new coach. John Spytek, Tom Brady, Mark Davis. The big three, as I like to call them, are looking for a new coach.
PFT Commenter
Alex Guerrero.
Big Cat
Yep, Alex Guerrero. We have. The Cardinals have moved on from Jonathan Gannon, which not to say we, we knew this was coming, but three years ago when he did shots. Pew, pew, pew, pew. Explosives. That was the moment that it all ended for him. We had the firing of Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland, which we've said for a while doesn't really make sense because he's a very good coach and proven correct. It feels like he's interviewing for every. Every job right now.
PFT Commenter
He's beating him off with a stick.
Big Cat
Yeah, we had the firing. We obviously know Brian Dabel already was fired. We had the firing of Brian Callahan earlier in the year. So the Titans and the Giants are open. And then Raheem Morris, which happened Sunday night. So right now, as we're sitting here and recording this show in the middle of the afternoon, there are six job openings in the NFL. What do you think? And I want to. I want to rank the jobs after this, but what do you think the final tally that we will get to?
PFT Commenter
I don't know if we're going to get too many more because Mike McDaniel right now down in Miami, he is participating in the interviews for the GM that they're going to bring in. I assume that the first question would be like, how do you feel about moving on from head coaches?
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Like you. You want to figure that out right off the bat or.
Big Cat
Yeah. Mike McDaniel's sitting in the meeting.
Tyler Schuck
He's just.
Big Cat
His first question is, do you like me?
PFT Commenter
Yeah. What do you think about my pants?
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Are these pants, Coach pants?
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
So I don't know if the Dolphins are going to move on from McDaniel. The other guys out there. I don't know that.
Big Cat
Yeah. Todd Bowles, possibly now three time NFC south champion.
PFT Commenter
If you ask Todd Bowles, if you think he's going to be fired, He. He says that he has deserved another shot at this because you can look at his track record in terms of winning the NFC south. And that speaks for itself. I don't. I think he. I would say he's more likely than McDaniel at this point.
Big Cat
Okay. So Todd Bull's the other name out there. We don't know what's going to happen with John Harbaugh. If there's a discussion that's going to happen there. I also was going to say the. You can't rule out some of the playoff teams. Correct.
PFT Commenter
There is some smoke about Matt LaFleur.
Big Cat
There's always a little bit of smoke about Sean McDermott. There's been smoke this year about Mike Tomlin.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
So what would be. Will you say over, under seven and a half and take the under. I, I think we're gonna get at least one I think we're gonna get.
PFT Commenter
I think we're gonna get one more.
Big Cat
One more. Exactly. One more. So over. Under is six and a half. We were taking the over. Yes, I think that's fair. The Glazers move different. That's. I saw a bunch of people saying that they just move different.
PFT Commenter
Well, yeah, they do.
Big Cat
They were just saying that we actually had Jay Glazer on Wake Up Barstool. He said that they move on different timelines.
PFT Commenter
So Todd Bowles, I think probably should be fired.
Big Cat
Yeah. Zach wants him gone. I think when you've lost Zach, you've lost everyone. Everyone.
PFT Commenter
In terms of playoff teams like McDermott, if they get bounced in the first round, I could see the Bills possibly wanting to move on from that. But if he gets to. To the next round, I think he would probably stay.
Big Cat
Yeah. So what would you. What would you guys say is the most coveted job right now in terms of all the openings? You can make the case the Raiders, because they have the number one pick? I would say probably not. The Raiders. I'd say as crazy as it sounds, like maybe the Giants or the Titans.
PFT Commenter
Maybe the Titans.
Big Cat
So Max is the Falcons are up there, but here's why. The Falcons, I don't know if I would love that job. They have two quarterbacks that they don't feel good about either, and they're spending a lot of money on it. They don't have a first round pick.
PFT Commenter
They did rework Cousins deal today.
Big Cat
Okay.
PFT Commenter
And I think it makes it easier to cut them if they cut them before the end of the league year.
Big Cat
So the question is, do you believe in Michael Penck? Has he shown enough for you to believe in him? I think. I think the answer is maybe Giants or the Titans, as crazy as it sounds, hand up.
Max
Didn't know they didn't have a first round pick.
Big Cat
Yeah, they traded to the Rams.
Max
Remember, it's on me. I got to be better.
Big Cat
Yeah, that's okay.
PFT Commenter
So the crazy part about the, the Falcons is yes, they have a quarterback, but also they got that quarterback without the owner knowing they were going to get that quarterback. So you don't have the classic case of interviewing guys that will be like, I love this guy, I can fix him. Bring me in to maximize his talent. Because I don't think Arthur Blank has that die hard connection with Michael Penix like a lot of guys do.
Big Cat
So it's, it's essentially a question of do you believe in Fernando Mendoza, Cam Ward or Jackson Dart? And that would be your pick.
PFT Commenter
I think. I think maybe The Titans. I think the Titans might be as.
Big Cat
Crazy as it sounds. I think I might agree. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Raiders.
Big Cat
You think so?
Hank
Yeah. Tom. And a first. First overall pick qb.
PFT Commenter
You do trust Tom Brady as a talent evaluator guy and an owner.
Hank
Yeah.
Max
And you could be getting more picks with Max Crosby.
PFT Commenter
Hank just. You just said that you trust him as a talent evaluator guy.
Hank
Trust me, my life.
PFT Commenter
Okay, with your life. Max, can you please pull up that DM that I sent you?
Big Cat
Oh, no.
PFT Commenter
Earlier today.
Big Cat
You fall for a trap or this early in the show.
PFT Commenter
Let's just see what Tom has to say. Talent evaluator that Hank trusts with his life. What does he say here?
Big Cat
Matthew Stafford.
PFT Commenter
Let's turn the sound on.
Big Cat
Stafford, your mvp, or do you want to give it to the fellow Patriot, Drake May? Yeah, I mean, look, I don't get a vote. I. I mean, I think, Matt, what Matthew Stafford's done this season has been absolutely remarkable. 46 touchdowns.
Andy Staples
That's, you know, for any quarterback, that's a dream season.
Big Cat
So he's been spectacular.
Andy Staples
Drake May, on the other side, has.
Big Cat
Done some incredible things with Josh McDaniels.
Andy Staples
In their first year together. Drake's got a long career ahead.
Big Cat
I'm sure he's gonna have many opportunities. You know, I would say Matthew Stafford, trust him with your life.
PFT Commenter
With his life.
Andy Staples
As a talent evaluator.
Hank
I do trust him with my life as Whatever.
Big Cat
For that fast.
Zach
I didn't know.
Big Cat
No, that's fine.
Hank
Listen, the.
Max
The.
Hank
I know there's been a lot of discourse, and then maybe there were some errors made in. In the discussion on Sunday night, and I've thought about it more, and I started to look up more stats, and then I realized stats don't mean regular season awards. Don't mean we don't play the game for regular season awards.
Big Cat
Well, I will back you up in this.
Hank
That Patriots don't have any other Pro Bowlers.
Big Cat
I. I do think.
Hank
No, no other MVP has ever done that.
PFT Commenter
But. But he's not. But he's not the MVP yet.
Max
Yeah.
Hank
No, I'm saying. No, no, he would be the first. He'd be the first.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, that's just.
Max
Never mind. Continue.
Big Cat
What?
Tyler Schuck
What?
Max
No, Max, that's just an argument against him being an mvp.
Hank
No, every other mvp, but he's not history has played with another Pro Bowler.
Big Cat
Okay, but.
Hank
So if he's able to put up those stats without another Pro Bowler, that makes his case that much more interesting.
Big Cat
Got it.
PFT Commenter
I think when. Max. But he might be saying, is that MVP is Typically like raise the talent level of those around them. High enough to get.
Big Cat
By the way, Christian is a Pro Bowler. He got voted for the Pro bowl this year. So he does have at least one other on the roster.
Hank
Got it. Yeah.
Big Cat
Well, I'm just saying.
PFT Commenter
Okay, so now, now Drake may could potentially win mvp because he does have Pro Bowler on the roster.
Hank
Okay, listen, like I said.
Big Cat
Is it. No MVPs. Never had a Pro bowl on that.
Hank
I told you stats don't matter.
PFT Commenter
And I'm not.
Hank
I'm not. I'm not a stats guy. I'm retired from stats on the year the.
Big Cat
Wait, it's January 6th, dude.
Hank
Yeah.
Max
You also just gave a stat 30 seconds.
Hank
New Year's resolution. Yeah, you can't have New Year's resolutions.
Max
So we're start. Starting now.
Big Cat
Now. No more stats. He has more stats.
Hank
No, I'm just.
PFT Commenter
But what about all those stats?
Hank
You can't spend the last 10 days.
Big Cat
I'm done with Max.
PFT Commenter
Hank, listen, I know for a fact that you spent the last couple days looking for stats. Just get rid of all of them. Just do one final dump of stats.
Hank
No.
Big Cat
Give us a couple. No. Clean up a couple things that you maybe screwed up on Sunday.
PFT Commenter
0 Pro Bowl.
Hank
Teammates on offense. Sorry.
Big Cat
Okay. There you go. Well, I mean we're doing stats. We got a couple.
Hank
49 instances of QB winning MVP. No, because. Because the Mahomes is the only recent MVP to win a championship. It doesn't happen often. Yeah, I think it's Mahomes then before that it was like Troy Aikman. Are you so, so not winning an mvp? Bulletin board material. If we win mvp. We should. We deserve to win mvp. But if we don't, it's a good thing too.
Big Cat
I agree.
PFT Commenter
For a young quarterback, if you get wins in the playoffs, that is the end all be all.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And this is where Drake May has the opportunity to take that next step.
Hank
Yep.
Big Cat
Hank, are you a little worried that I don't think a coach of the year has won the super bowl since. For the last 20 years.
Hank
So. Yeah, don't give us that either.
Big Cat
Okay. Okay, so recuse yourself from that as well.
Hank
Yeah, I don't. Awards mean nothing. This is a team. It's a team sport, team game only. Only award that matters is super bowl champion.
Big Cat
Okay.
PFT Commenter
All right. So Big Cat, to the original point, I think the Titans would still be my number one.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Because I do think that Cam Ward showed enough at the second half of the season if he. He did all that without a coach.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I Don't think that Mike McCoy was ever really coaching the Titans.
Big Cat
Yeah, I, I, and, and so the, I, I would say Titans are Giants, obviously. Joe Shane's thing probably leans more towards the Titans. I think Tom Brady will eventually figure out as an owner. He's also a new owner and that's always a scary thing, new owners meddling. I mean, Michael Jordan owned a team and it didn't go very well. Like, there's, there's a little bit of a. I did it so I can, I know how it's done.
PFT Commenter
He signed Michael Jordan.
Big Cat
That's true. That's true. The, the, the reports are coming out of the dysfunction in the Raiders. I, I think Pete Carroll is going to take a lot of the fall, though. He's, Pete Carroll's connected in the media, so he also is going back. I didn't realize his son was the offensive line coach. I watched a video of his son. His son has like undertaker eyes.
PFT Commenter
Wait, so Pete, how old is Pete Carroll's son?
Big Cat
Like 40.
PFT Commenter
Okay. Yeah.
Big Cat
He has undertaker eyes. That's what I watched this video where he was just, he was doing Undertaker. I don't know if he was doing it on purpose. Google it instead.
PFT Commenter
Every time something like this happens, it's like, you know, you do kind of rush to the media. You read the post mortems, you read all the ugly stuff and whoever can get their word out there the fastest, that's the person that is going to be believed.
Big Cat
It happens very quickly. Yeah. Brennan Carroll. Google Brennan Carroll in YouTube. He's got a crazy beard now, but yeah, I didn't realize that his son had such a high job, but. Yeah, that we're not even going to talk about Pete Carroll because he didn't coach.
PFT Commenter
No, he didn't not coach the Raiders. Also, Belichick had his son on the staff and they were pretty good.
Big Cat
Watch this. Watch his eyes. Watches, Watches. You watch it. Watch his undertaker eyes. It's crazy. I don't know how that guy can coach offensive line when his eyes look like that. No offense, if he has an affliction or something and I don't know about. But undertake is Undertaker eyes is actually something that people can have. I'm not sure, but either way he keep, he kept doing that where you could just only see the whites of his eyes. See it.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, he's got, you know what he is? He's a long blinker.
Big Cat
Yeah, he is a long blink.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, yeah, long blinker. He resets.
Big Cat
You can't have your offensive line coach be a long Blinker. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
No, Naps is right.
Big Cat
Isn't like a big part of football. Like, we never blink.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. That's. Mike Tomlin cut off our eyelids. That's what I would do if I.
Big Cat
Was like, yeah, so. So that. Yeah, that whole thing is going to. We're going to get some more stories about that. But yeah. So Titans, Giants, some combination. I mean, the Browns did have a good draft last year, but I also. I don't know who. What do you do with that quarterback situation when you show up?
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Andy Staples
I don't know.
PFT Commenter
I think that the Browns. It's almost like you'd want to promote Jim Schwartz to being head coach because at least the defense is good.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And then try to find a good offensive coordinator to work with that. I don't think that you want. I don't think that you can hire somebody new in and then necessarily plan on keeping Schwartz running the D. Yeah.
Big Cat
I also like people. People have asked, like, why do you guys think Kevin Savants? He's such a good coach. He won a playoff game. I know he was not there because of COVID but he was. It was his team and his game plan, his season. He won a playoff game for the Cleveland Browns. That's a Super bowl in my mind.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. Listen, he. It was a road game. He did the game planning.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And he worked in practice that week. He had Covid. So he was in his basement. I give that. That win. Not necessarily to Stefanski. Baker Mayfield won a road playoff.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
For the Browns.
Big Cat
But that's a credential. Like, you put that, like. What did you do? Oh, you know, the Cleveland Browns. We want a playoff game.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. And when was he hired there? 20, 19 or 8.
Big Cat
Yeah. 18 or 19. He's been there five years. I can't do the years when we go from 19, 20, 21.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
Neither can I. Fucking. It sucks. Can you guys. No, None. None of those years makes sense.
PFT Commenter
So, yeah. 2020 to 2025. I think that's six years. I think that's a six year tenure. That, to me, is a very impressive bullet point on his resume that he was able to be the Browns coach for six years.
Big Cat
Yeah. Cause right before that, the 10 years before, I'm going to guess I don't have it in front of me. So the 10 years before Stefanski, did the Browns have what, six coaches? Seven coaches.
PFT Commenter
Let's pull that up right now. How many can you name off the top of your head?
Big Cat
Hugh Chadzinski. Petten. Hugh. This is bad. Freddy Kitchens. Yep.
PFT Commenter
Who is Pretty well.
Big Cat
That's farther back. Butch Davis. This is bad.
PFT Commenter
Butch Davis might not have been that far back.
Big Cat
That might not be.
PFT Commenter
Okay. I'm pulling it up right now.
Big Cat
How many, how many from 20 from before Stefanski 10 years back.
PFT Commenter
Okay. From before Stefanski. So we're going to go 2009 to 2019. Okay. The man. Genius. Eric Mangini.
Big Cat
Yep.
PFT Commenter
Pat Shermer. Rob Chudzinski. Mike Petton. Hugh Jackson. Greg Williams. Dr. Heat.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Freddy Kitchens.
Big Cat
Okay.
PFT Commenter
Greg Williams, I believe was interim.
Big Cat
Seven. Seven coaches. Seven coaches in the 10 years prior.
PFT Commenter
So the fact that Stefanski lasted six years, that's like winning two Super Bowls in Kansas City.
Big Cat
Yeah, it's very impressive.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I think, I think he's a very good coach. He dealt with a lot there. I think I might have said this on Monday's show, but I want, I want him to at some point in his career, get to a point where he can. He can feel free to do an on the record tell all interview about everything that happened in Cleveland.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Behind the scenes, you could blame him for part of the Baker stuff. I always got the impression that he was more of a Baker guy and he wasn't the main reason why, why they ended up going with DeShawn over Baker. But Jeff Dlo told me yesterday that he was a big part of that decision. So I still think that that was mostly an ownership choice to bring in Deshawn. And then Stefanski was like, yeah, I mean, you sign my paycheck, so, yeah, if you. I think he's a good quarterback, you can give him a contract. And then the ownership was like, sure thing. Okay, we're going to do 200 million guaranteed. Is that cool?
Big Cat
Yeah, the. Well, that, that was. The other thing about Kevin Stefanski is you never heard, like leaks from what you would assume would be Kevin Stefanski's camp. He never complained about any of this. You never saw a report being like the, the. The front office and the coaching staff or at odds. It was. He kind of just sucked it up and dealt with it.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
So that, that you take a lot of credit for that. Jonathan Gannon. Yeah, he's out. Are we worried about. Are we worried about the, the Sirianni coaching tree?
Max
I, I think Steichen's a good coach.
Big Cat
Psychon. Well, he's. He's getting. He's staying and. And so is Chris Ballard, who we talked about. I don't really know how. Chris ballard. It's incredible. Ms. Ursay did a press conference and said they're going to have urgency.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, she's keeping her eye on him.
Big Cat
Yeah, they're going to have some urgency. I also saw Dan Dakich's recap of the press conference, and I. I had never heard this. I don't know if it means something, but he. He was criticizing one of the reporters for not asking a good question. He said, whatever happened to the great American penis?
PFT Commenter
Oh, I think he's mad that. That missource is a mess.
Big Cat
Oh, okay. I just. I didn't know.
PFT Commenter
I think it's like chicks.
Big Cat
Where is the great. Should we do like a. Maybe a documentary? Searching for the Great American Penis.
PFT Commenter
The Great American Penis.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
There's a couple options out there.
Big Cat
You find that documentary. I don't know. I can't remember exactly the phrasing he used, but I believe it was Great American Penis.
PFT Commenter
Great American penis. You could go with, I think Lenny Kravitz has to be up there.
Big Cat
Yeah, I would imagine. Leo.
PFT Commenter
Leo, probably. Well, no, yeah. I mean, what.
Hank
And see, he likes.
PFT Commenter
He likes the younger side.
Big Cat
Yeah, well, yeah. White privilege is real. Analyst rips into. Yeah, this is. Carl Hearsay. Is unfit to do anything, much less run a professional football team. She did have the unfortunate issue of when she sat down, she did drop her pen out of her ear and it looked. All right. Click on that real quick. I just want to see. It's. It's like a minute in. Go to a minute in. She's ranting. I'm telling you, Carly, you're sick. I wouldn't. I wouldn't let her be a producer on my radio show, much less run to close. Good for her, though. I mean, white privilege is real. I mean, she, you know, happened to marry into the lottery, so now she gets to run an NFL team. But if I were her agent or one of her friends that told her the truth, I'd say, don't ever get in front of the camera again. Because that was asinine. The only thing worse was Stephen Holder. My God, Stephen Holder started asking a question. 30 seconds later, he. After fawning and giggling and acting like a 12 year old girl, he finally said, well, this is probably a dumb question. I mean, what are we doing here in Indianapolis? Aren't there no adult males with the great American penis? No adult males. The great American dockage. Dockage. His place in the take ecosystem is very necessary. Yeah, I said it many times.
PFT Commenter
I'm glad that he's there. Yeah, I'm glad that he's there. The great American penis. The guy that was asking Caitlin Clark like You got the keys to that.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
He's a indie guy.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
That. He might have the great American.
Big Cat
He could have. He could have too big of a great American penis.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
Yeah. Okay. So any other news? Any other firings, hirings? Hank, I saw your tweet. Oh, no.
Hank
All about Cliff Kingsbury.
Big Cat
Yeah, well, pfd.
Hank
I mean, it's your team.
PFT Commenter
Why'd you say, oh, no?
Hank
It was a report from my sports update that said Jane Daniels is among the offensive players who are not happy with the team's decision to part ways with Cliff Kingsbury.
PFT Commenter
Okay, so this is from Ari Miro.
Big Cat
We respect him as a journalist for Jordan Schultz.
PFT Commenter
I don't. I don't really know too much about this guy, Ari Mirov. Memes. Can you tell me what. Is he good? Does he know what he's talking about?
Big Cat
He's Adam Schefter, sleeper agent.
PFT Commenter
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Memes and him have a Jordan Schultz. Jordan Schultz. Okay. I'm okay with Cliff being gone. I wasn't upset at all, really. I think that Cliff. He had a great season last year, but if you look at the numbers from that 2025 season or 2024 season, that's kind of an outlier in terms of his career. Like, his offenses have typically been, like, 15th to 28th in terms of yards, efficiency, points, and last year, they were all, like, top seven. That was the one that jumped out. It was a tough year. Like, everybody got hurt on the offense. So I do understand, like, maybe giving him a little bit of slack, but I feel like it's a good opportunity to get somebody better than Cliff. And what I'm seeing out there is a possibility.
Hank
My own nose about the Jane Daniels part. How do you feel about that?
Big Cat
Yeah, he was talking about that.
PFT Commenter
I mean, I'm glad that Jaden and Cliff had a good relationship. I think that that says a lot about Jaden. I think that if you get along well with your oc, that's a good sign, not a bad sign, right?
Hank
Yeah.
Big Cat
But then getting rid of him, I think that's what Hank said.
PFT Commenter
I think he's a big boy. He'll be able to get over. He'll find a new friend okay, And I think it'll end up being okay. I. I would like to see Dable. I think Brian Dable will be a great offensive coordinator in D.C. and there was a report that came out that said that Day Ball fired our former offensive line coach with the Giants at the end of the 2023 season. So in addition to Cliff and Joe Whitt Jr. Our defensive coordinator. Those two guys were fired today. Our offensive line coach was also fired today. And that was a surprise because our O line was pretty good this year. So firing that guy was like, wait, what's going on? That's the guy that Dable apparently didn't get along with in New York. So that makes me think we might be getting Brian Dable, which I think would be an awesome hire. I think he's a great. I, I've said for a long time that like, I think he could be a good head coach one day too. But in terms of like an offensive mind, I like Dable a lot. I think we're probably going to look at Joe Brady might look at either lafleur.
Big Cat
Kites are out of name for you.
PFT Commenter
Yep.
Big Cat
Mandegy.
PFT Commenter
I'm going to pass.
Big Cat
Okay. He is.
PFT Commenter
He's going to get a head coaching job.
Big Cat
Maybe.
PFT Commenter
I think the Titans are. Are strongly considering Matt Nagy.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
But no, Hank, I, I am not in the oh no category. I like Cliff. But when all. Here's how I can tell it to you. When I saw the news that they were moving on from Cliff, I was not upset about it at all.
Big Cat
That's good.
PFT Commenter
So I'm like. And now Max wants him. Max, you sure?
Max
I'll take anyone.
Big Cat
You'll take anyone.
Max
Now we're gonna. Patula is gonna figure it out for the playoffs.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Max
Yeah.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
It is funny though, like if you look at the, the Bears commanders and we've. We've talked about this before. That game against each other. The last two seasons has been almost identical.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Commanders end up 5 and 12. We beat our, our historically superior division rival in the last game of the season to start the new year.
Big Cat
To get a worst draft pick.
PFT Commenter
To get a worst draft pick.
Big Cat
That's what the Bears did last year.
PFT Commenter
It's. It's really the same thing.
Big Cat
We do not play next year.
PFT Commenter
That's good.
Big Cat
Yeah. So we have. So maybe we could just go our separate ways and have good years together.
PFT Commenter
Maybe we both go 12 and 5.
Big Cat
Next year at the same time. We have good years.
PFT Commenter
I'd be pumped with that. I think that Mike McDaniel I again, I don't think he's going to get fired, but I do think that he needs a bad cop. They're. They need to hire bad cop as.
Big Cat
The GM he needs or a defensive coordinator that's kind of a hard ass like Brian Flores. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
I always just root for that to happen because it'd be so funny. Like I know it would never happen, but Josh McDaniel going back to the Raiders because the Raiders still pay him like he is on the cheap. He could be the head coach again.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I think he's going to go to Dallas because the Cowboys fired Eber flu.
Big Cat
Yeah, Eber flu. Had. I saw there was a. There was a. I think it was in DVOA, Aaron Schatz's stat. The Cowboys had the fourth worst defense in the last like 40 years. Yeah, pretty impressive. Yeah, pretty. Pretty impressive. But yeah. So it was a tough day again. Lost some coaches, get some new ones. It does feel weird having this hiring cycle. It doesn't feel like there is that like flash name or like even, you know, Ben Johnson, Liam Cohen, Mike Vrabel, obviously those guys have had good years. So we look back at it. But going into last year, Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel were like the big sought after names. This year it's a lot of just defensive coordinators. And then Clint Kubiak who I was, I was. Someone was talking about Clint Kubiak and saying he, he's not. He's a very good coach. He won't wow you in the interview. So he might be one of those.
PFT Commenter
Okay.
Big Cat
So he might be one of those guys that's not doing enough in the interview.
PFT Commenter
I want to know what these interviews are like. Yeah. How nitty gritty do you get with a coach? Like is it. Is it like coach, oh, where he rolls in with his binder.
Big Cat
Got to.
PFT Commenter
And like how to establish winning culture. A full plan. Yeah, I know that like retread coaches that get hired for a second time. A lot of times they'll spend the first five hours of the interview going line by line. Here's every, every place that I fucked up in my first tenure and I promise I won't do that again. Because owners love a guy that points out their own mistakes are like I love this guy has. He just screams accountability.
Big Cat
To go to go further on our sports ology talk on Sunday night, we would. Any team that would like to hire us to be part of their interview process for an upcoming coach, we are here and ready to do it. Because I actually think we do a good job. We would, it would. The first question would be down 14 late score touchdown. Do you go for two? Second question would be, hey, your team, you're in charge of the uniforms. Do you go with the alternates for a big game against your division rival late in the season?
PFT Commenter
Yeah, there's a lot of ping pong.
Hank
Tables allowed in the ping pong tables.
Big Cat
Big one.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Well, the real answer that would be, is there a ping pong table there already? And then the answer is, you take that out and if there's not, it's like, I'd put one in.
Big Cat
Yeah. Or. Or a question like, hey, if you. If you make it to the super bowl, what color Gatorade are you going with? And if they say, what's that question? Like, oh, clearly you haven't envisioned yourself in the Super Bowl.
PFT Commenter
Okay, Thursday Night Football, you have a tough loss on the road. The whole team's flying home. Do you fly on the jet with them, or do you go out to a bar and then finger a 25 year old?
Big Cat
Good question.
PFT Commenter
I would like to know the answer to these things before I hired a head coach.
Big Cat
National anthem comes on. Are you crying during it? And how many tears?
PFT Commenter
Are they real tears?
Big Cat
Are they real tears?
PFT Commenter
Are you or. Or you or a farming force?
Big Cat
Do you have children that you can use as a human shield if you ever get in a fight with fans? Yeah, like that.
PFT Commenter
This is things. Yeah, it's things that every fan base wants to know.
Big Cat
I.
PFT Commenter
Listen, if I'm the Giants, I would hire Stefanski tomorrow. I really would. I think that he's going to be a very good head coach.
Max
Those lot, those were. You were hoping for yeses for those answers. What, the tear, the tears and the child thing.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Max
Okay, good.
Big Cat
Yeah. You want yeses? Sirianni's a really good coach.
PFT Commenter
You like using human shields?
Max
I like winning Super Bowls.
Big Cat
Yeah, Sirianni's a.
Max
What do you know about that, little boy?
PFT Commenter
Well, I've won a Super bowl, Max.
Big Cat
When?
PFT Commenter
1991. Look it up.
Max
You're so old.
Big Cat
Max was dead then.
PFT Commenter
Look it up. Look it up. Look it up, fat man. Yeah.
Tyler Schuck
Well, how old were you?
Hank
I was six years old.
PFT Commenter
I remember. I remember my dad got a six pack of Coke that came in the Redskin super bowl commemorative cans, and we kept that right above my dryer in my laundry room for the next, like, 15 years.
Big Cat
Get it nice and warm.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I thought about drinking it every day and I never did something Max would never be able to do. There's a reason you don't have Max. You wouldn't even be able to have a. A can of soda from the super bowl last year.
Max
You probably just didn't get it because you couldn't reach it.
Big Cat
No, Max wouldn't be able to have a can of soda because you'd have to have two.
PFT Commenter
That's true.
Big Cat
Yeah. You couldn't reach it.
Max
I said, he couldn't. He didn't get the soda.
PFT Commenter
I was six and it was on a shelf above the dryer.
Max
You probably still can't reach it.
PFT Commenter
I could. I could reach it now. I definitely could reach it now.
Big Cat
Yeah. So we're ready for any team that wants to hire us. Ready to go?
PFT Commenter
I think we knock it out of the park.
Big Cat
Yeah, absolutely. Do you play for the point spread? Easy question.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, like, basic math stuff. Like, what. What is a two score lead? Do you care about score gummies? No. Okay, Good guy.
Big Cat
Fumbles. Is he going into the dog?
PFT Commenter
Yeah. How big is your doghouse?
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
How do you get out of the doghouse?
Big Cat
Like that. We got it. Are you. Are you thinking about maybe not having a kicker?
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
Down for that.
PFT Commenter
Like, do you hate kickers? Is that's a key one? If the answer is yes, then, okay, you can be the head coach. You're gonna have to have a kicker.
Big Cat
Acronyms on the fly. Yeah. Give us some acronyms. Yeah. I think that would actually go a long way because that would. That would have stopped the Bears from hiring Matt Eberfluss. When he says the hits.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
And the. And the T in the in or nose? It was hits. And the T in hits was the ball. The ball.
PFT Commenter
You know what I would like to see? I would like to see. This would be very funny if Kyle Whittingham got a head coaching job in the NFL right now. So he retires from Utah, gets hired by Michigan, and then gets hired in the NFL.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
On one season.
Big Cat
Yeah. Okay. Do we have anything else from the NFL? We're gonna do our full preview, obviously, for Friday's show, the college football semifinals. We're gonna talk to Andy Staples. Does anyone have any picks they like? I kind of like Ole Miss plus.
Max
Three and a half.
Big Cat
I think it's gonna be a field goal game. I think Miami's better, but I just. That doesn't. That feels like they're gonna stick around in that game.
PFT Commenter
I kind of like the under in Oregon. Indiana.
Big Cat
Yeah, that one makes sense.
PFT Commenter
I like that a lot.
Big Cat
That one makes sense. Indiana just is reloading, like, on the fly. Kurt Signetti is just so goddamn good.
PFT Commenter
We have a college player, a trader, the University of Texas. Oh, so it was Arch Manning's roommate. What's his name? Parker Livingston.
Big Cat
That makes perfect sense.
PFT Commenter
Parker Livingston is going to Oklahoma.
Big Cat
Oh, no.
PFT Commenter
Turned his back on Arch. Yeah. Tough to see.
Big Cat
We do talk about DJ Lagway with Andy Staples, but the one thing we didn't mention is Gus Malzan is just. Every time he sees a recruit, he just says it reminds me of Cam Newton.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
So they, they had, they had D.J. lagway like the, the, the report was that D.J. lagway went and visited with Florida State and Gus Malzahn said seeing Cam Newton comparisons from Seminoles OC Gus Malzahn. And then there's a report from last year. Gus Malzan, K.J. jefferson is physically the closest thing to Cam Newton that I've had.
PFT Commenter
I love it.
Big Cat
So every, every guy, every quarterback, he says like Cam Newton.
PFT Commenter
I love that.
Big Cat
And it probably makes him feel awesome.
PFT Commenter
It works.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, that definitely works. Hank here' Brief update. Just got off the phone with one coaching agent who said the commanders may get a better coach at offensive coordinator than one of these teams with a vacancy. Get at head coach. That's kind of cool.
Hank
That's awesome.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I just don't, I just don't know what the oh no is about.
Hank
Congratulations.
Big Cat
He just three don't know.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
You have no more stats for us.
Hank
No.
Big Cat
You're out of stats.
Hank
Where? We moved on.
Big Cat
We moved on from stats.
PFT Commenter
Are you off old numbers?
Zach
No.
Big Cat
I will say that it does feel like the NFL MVP is probably the least important of all the MVPs and trophies because it's become only quarterbacks like Heisman, you can still get a Travis Hunter or devonte Smith was the last running back or last non quarterback to win MVP was Adrian Peterson. And I feel like the year that Cooper cup had the Triple Crown, that should have been him. When it was finally like, all right, this. What are we doing? This is just, this is not a, this is not an award that more than three guys can win every year.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. So I, I don't know who would be this year. There wasn't really like a standout. Matt Stafford had a great season. Drake May had a great season.
Big Cat
Bijan.
PFT Commenter
Bijan McCaffrey. A lot of great running backs out there.
Big Cat
Yeah. They have no chance. They should split it up. It should just be quarterback of the year.
PFT Commenter
JSN and then mvp. Yeah.
Big Cat
Good luck, Hank. The votes are already in, so it's, there's actually no reason to talk about it.
Hank
Yeah. We don't need luck. Where we. I, I think we want to lose.
PFT Commenter
You want to lose in the playoffs?
Hank
In the MVP race.
PFT Commenter
Oh, okay.
Max
When do we find out?
Big Cat
The super bowl week. Remember Josh Allen night?
Max
Yeah. All right. Josh Allen.
PFT Commenter
You're pumped for Josh Allen, are you. How are things going between you and Shane?
Hank
Things are going Good. I. I love Shane. I love chopping it up with him.
Big Cat
The word on the street is so. So Shane is our graphics guy. He's a super fan of the Chargers. And you. We heard him on Sunday night. Maybe not state his case eloquently, but he also is not in front of the camera much. But the word on the street is you told. You left the office yesterday for a few hours and told Shane, do not move. And then he did not move.
Andy Staples
That's.
Big Cat
That's. That is mental ownership at his.
Hank
That is not what happened.
Big Cat
You should actually do one of those videos, you know, that people do with their dogs, where they put treats out and then leave the room. Leave a treat out for Shane and leave the room and see if he takes it.
Max
Zach was a third party, so we can ask Zach.
Big Cat
Can you explain what happened?
Hank
I would just like to say that.
Big Cat
Let's just hear what's actually anything. No, come on, Zach. You gotta say if I saw.
Zach
If I saw anything. I did see one guy. One guy was heading a direction and was just like, hey, I'll see you guys. See you guys tomorrow. Shane, I'll be back. Maybe was the quote. I might be saying this wrong, but.
Hank
It may have been like, I did not tell Shane. He has to say Zach is correct.
Zach
I think your eyes may have said it, though. Like it was conversations, 80 body language. And there was like a sense of asserting dominance.
Big Cat
So he. He said, shane, I'll be back. And then Shane did not leave his post. I might have said Shane did. Did stay very. It was so to the desk ever since.
Tyler Schuck
It was.
Zach
I don't even think Shane got up.
Hank
It was again like it was. It was just me, me, Zach and Shane yesterday holding it down in the corner. And there was a lot of. A lot of, you know, friendly banter between me and Shane. You could call it. I would call it.
PFT Commenter
And it was chain call it that.
Hank
I think so. I don't know. I don't. It depends how tough he is. Like, it's. It's.
PFT Commenter
That sounds like it's big.
Hank
No, it's war. This is war. And I. I did get up. I was going to run a couple errands. It was. I was. I would say that I was. It was so obvious that I was joking and Shane knows I like to joke. And there's a lot of, you know, sarcasm and stuff.
Max
I do not think that Shane knows that.
Big Cat
Guys being dudes.
Hank
I said, zach, I'll see you tomorrow. And then I said, shane. And I kind of stopped and said, I Said, I'll be back in a little bit. And then I left. I didn't tell him he had to stay.
Big Cat
And how long did he stay? About two hours.
Hank
I came back and I felt bad because I was like, oh, like no one else was. I. I was like, you left your.
Big Cat
Child in the car.
Hank
When I came back, there was no one in the office. And C.H. was at his desk. Like, oh, no. I really hope.
Max
How quickly did he leave? When you.
Big Cat
Oh, no.
Max
I mean, that is just. Just proving mental dominance.
PFT Commenter
I didn't tell him he had to stay. Is that mental dominance or is that, hey, I'm your boss.
Big Cat
I never said he had to stay.
PFT Commenter
I'm going to abuse you psychologically.
Hank
I never said he had to stay.
Zach
The power dynamic is.
Hank
Yeah, I never said he had to stay.
PFT Commenter
Agreed.
Big Cat
Zach, your eyes said it. That's. That.
Hank
That's. That's a subjective thing. And Shane, if.
Big Cat
Wait, Zach, did you stay too because of the eyes? No.
Max
Well, he told Zach he could leave.
Hank
I'm not there, but I'm not like telling people.
Big Cat
What do they say?
Hank
I said, zach, I'll see you tomorrow, Shane. I'll be back in a little bit. I was just updating him on my plans in case he was curious.
Zach
Yeah, I think if Hank got back at 9:30 last night, he'd still be there.
Shane
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Listen, I. I give Shane permission to. To physically retaliate against Hank if he continues these mind games. After the show on Sunday night, I texted Jerry o'.
Max
Connell.
PFT Commenter
I was like, hey, we. We.
Big Cat
Yes. He bailed.
PFT Commenter
We need your help. We need your help with Shane Shock. Because he's Shane. He's never been in a scenario like he's before Jerry. He's just locked in on the Jaguars. I don't know what it is. Jerry's just like, hey, I don't think.
Big Cat
The bracket has gotten to Jerry.
PFT Commenter
I think his response was, hank needs to be worried about the Jaguars.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Hank
Okay.
Big Cat
He's just high on the Jaguars. Big time Jaguars. But yeah, no, I don't think Jerry will be here on Sunday.
Hank
No, of course not.
Big Cat
Why you say of course not?
Hank
Because he's all talk. He's a fraud. Can't win a championship. And he says he's coming to the office all the time. Never does. Fact or fiction?
PFT Commenter
The more Hank starts to hate Jerry, the more I like him to manage our team next year, the closer I am to giving him a contract and just sending it over.
Big Cat
Mm.
Hank
But factor fiction will never come here.
PFT Commenter
Fiction.
Hank
Okay.
Max
Jags Pats will be here.
PFT Commenter
No he won't.
Big Cat
Just so he's focused on the Jazz.
Hank
Still won't be here.
Big Cat
He's focused on the Jack's.
Max
Pats will be here. Unless he's in a different country.
Big Cat
Yeah, South Africa. Okay, let's do hot seat, cool throw, and then we'll get to our interviews. We got Tyler Schuck and then Andy Staples. Hot seat, Cool Throne is brought to you by. Pizza Hut. QBs already say hut constantly in football, so Pizza Hut is getting in on the action. Pizza Hut is challenging quarterbacks to say pizza before hut during a televised game. Will it happen? If your QB says pizza before hut, your city gets a pizza party. Tag your QB and use hashtag pizza before the hut. But no need to wait for that to happen. Don't forget to order Pizza Hut before the first hut is yelled. Who's most likely what quarterback is most likely to yell the. The pizza before the hut. Raji. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Yeah, that would be good. That would be really good. I'm trying to think what quarterback.
PFT Commenter
I could see Josh doing it just for the people.
Big Cat
Yeah, I could see Bryce Young should do it. Do it for us, Bryce. Yeah, do it. Do it. Order Pizza Hut's biggest pizza before the biggest games. The big New Yorker for just $10@pizza hut.com the app. Hank. Hot seat, Cool Throne.
Hank
My hot seat are stranger things fans.
Big Cat
Oh, no. Why?
Hank
There's been.
Big Cat
They.
Hank
And it's. It's just online theories. It's just kind of like fans. You know, I think it was a decent finale. I think people were relatively okay with how things happen. But obviously when you have a show this big, there's die hard fans who are never going to be happy with it no matter what. And there's been some die hard fans who have made up theories that there's gonna. They've convinced themselves that there's a secret episode that was filmed and that the finale wasn't the finale. It's a setup for the finale that's still coming.
Big Cat
Oh, so there's a. There's a secrets conformity gate.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. This is like normal. It's like. Yep, Taylor Swift. Which is like they're.
Hank
They can't accept the finale.
PFT Commenter
They create a new universe for themselves where, like, they're actually gonna fix everything that. Don't worry.
Hank
Yeah, don't worry about episode eight. Episode nine's coming, guys.
Big Cat
Yeah, this is. This is.
PFT Commenter
Which is.
Hank
I just feel bad because that's like, they're just.
Max
You have to apologize if. If there is an episode if there's.
Hank
Episode nine, it will be unbelievable. I, I'm, I am fully on board. Like, I saw the theories and was like, this would be so sick.
Max
I'm obsessed with the theories. I, I watch every single one of the videos.
Big Cat
It's, it's awesome.
PFT Commenter
I feel bad.
Hank
So that's where it's like, I, I will put my hand up and I will give credit where credit's due. It will be one of the greatest moves ever pulled off. If they do it, like 100%, I don't think they're going to. And I think it's just going to make fans sadder. Like you're going to be sadder mad, right? It's going to make you more mad about how things ended.
Big Cat
This is where the Internet is a problem when it comes to watching tv. And listen, it's, I mean, people like to talk about what they're consuming, whether it be sports, tv, music, whatever. So it's like not a problem that people are finding like minded people to talk about it. But it's kind of like Game of Thrones, which, you know, the finale, the last season wasn't great. But I think when you get so into these shows, you then make up theories on what's going to happen and when it doesn't match, you get mad and there's awesome.
Hank
Well, that's what happened to me with Game of Thrones. There was so many awesome theories that I had kind of gotten my hopes up for those theories happening. And then when they don't happen, you're like, well, fuck this.
Big Cat
Yeah, like when I watched the Sopranos live and when it was happening, I know I'm old, but when it, I remember with my roommates, we were sitting in, in college watching the finale, we first thought our TV broke and then when it rolled, credits were like, okay, cool. And that was that. Like, yeah, that was interesting. But like not, you know, oh man, I'm so mad. I was mad that my TV broke for a second. But yeah, you just watch the show and then kind of move on with your life. But this, this becomes like a how we want it to be. And then if it doesn't match that, you get upset about what you had decided it was going to be.
PFT Commenter
And a lot of times the theories that people come up with are better than the writing on the shows. And then you're like, right, why couldn't they care about the show as much as I care, A random viewer care about the show, right? And then you get upset about.
Big Cat
I, I'm worried about you.
PFT Commenter
I did.
Big Cat
I'm worried about this.
Hank
With severance, I'm also, I'm also like, I 30 believe it's gonna happen.
Big Cat
Yeah, it's a cool thing to believe.
Hank
The theories are convincing and it would be exciting. So, like, I'm kind of. I'm not letting myself get my hopes up.
Big Cat
But, like, it would be fun.
Max
I would.
Hank
I would love it if they did it.
PFT Commenter
I would kind of love it if they didn't because this would make me feel so justified for bailing after season two.
Max
No, I want to believe it's so bad. I've seen everything. There's. So there's.
Big Cat
So what's the. The best explanation for it to be real?
Hank
The best explanation. Spoilers, I guess.
Big Cat
No, don't say it.
Hank
I won't. I'll try to say with no spoilers, the best explanation would be that I.
Max
Can do a couple that won't have.
Hank
Simulation and that there's still more to come.
Big Cat
Okay, Max, what do you got?
Max
Netflix Korea posted something and if you comment a certain, if you comment like a certain thing, like a, like a dice pops up and it's. And that dice means something. I saw one person say that there's a lot of movie theaters that have. That are not. That don't have a lot of listings on Thursday because they think that. That on. On Wednesday or I guess today when you're listening to this, they're going to announce all of the Thursday showtimes for the second finale. Apparently for the first finale, they gave everyone a $20 voucher for concessions. These are all just things like one TikTok I've seen on each one. I haven't fact checked any of these for the record.
Hank
And.
Big Cat
But it's.
Hank
This is where it's like, it's either option one is bad writing and option two is an extra episode, but they fans have found a lot of like, plot holes and things that don't make sense in the finale. And they're hoping that the reason they don't make sense is because it all ties into the extra episode.
PFT Commenter
I'm just thinking about, like, so it's.
Hank
Like either it was written badly and they just missed some things.
Max
There's all. Or there is a little bit of like the end of the world people. Because I've seen more theories that are like, if we don't get an extra episode on Wednesday, then the docu. This documentary that is coming out of the last season in a week is actually just going to be a last episode that it's going to turn in to the ninth episode.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I mean, I'm just.
Max
Oh, yeah.
Big Cat
It's.
PFT Commenter
I'm thinking of. I'm thinking about our grandfathers and our great grandfathers that fought In World War II, like, storm the beach at Omaha, liberated Europe from the Nazis trying to take over the world, and then thinking, like, this is what my great grandchildren are going to be fired up about.
Big Cat
Yeah, well, they're going to have the freedom to go to Netflix Korea and get the dice.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
The. The other thing I'll say is that it's impossible to end a show. I actually feel bad. Like, this is why I'll. I'll never. My promise to you is I'll never make a hit show because I wouldn't want to have the burden of ending.
PFT Commenter
I don't want to make that. That promise.
Big Cat
Okay. It's hard.
Hank
Breaking Bad.
Big Cat
Okay.
PFT Commenter
Mm.
Big Cat
Task.
Hank
Limited series. I like that.
Big Cat
I mean, limited series is, I think, a little different because that's, like. That's all within, you know, eight episodes. Right.
Hank
If they wanted to, they could have extended it, like, for. Shows get greedy.
Big Cat
But you understand, like, the. When you start a show, when. When some of these shows start, they don't know if they're gonna be at season two, three, four, or five. And then it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. They're like, fuck, we got to figure out how to end this.
PFT Commenter
I've created such a problem. It's almost like a different skill set being able to wrap things up than it is to be able to get started.
Big Cat
Right.
PFT Commenter
It's like in baseball, you have to have a closer.
Big Cat
Right.
PFT Commenter
Vince Gilligan, I think he might be a closer because Breaking Bad.
Tyler Schuck
Close.
PFT Commenter
All these Better Call Saul had a good ending to it, but it's hard.
Max
Pluribus, season one was.
Big Cat
It's hard. It's hard to end a show.
PFT Commenter
He might not.
Big Cat
Severance. I'm worried about how they end. Severance.
Hank
Severance is cooked.
Big Cat
It's gonna be hard. Very, very difficult to end. They wrote in a way that everyone is happy about.
Hank
They wrote Severance for. For one season.
Big Cat
Exactly. That's what a lot of these are. No one writes these shows for, like, you know, oh, we're going to have eight seasons of it.
PFT Commenter
I also think that a lot of, like, TV writers, they. They almost get imprisoned in their own shows. The show gets so big, pressure gets so immense on them that they. They start to, like, resent their audience to a point.
Big Cat
This is why I'm never going to do it.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
I promise.
PFT Commenter
I. I agree. I'm never going to write a hit show.
Big Cat
Yeah. Maybe we just don't want to finish it.
Andy Staples
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
You don't want to do that.
Big Cat
Yeah. And if I do write a hit show, I'll just never finish it. That's what we should say.
Max
Season book, on the other hand.
Shane
That.
Big Cat
Yeah, that's coming. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Are your cool throne?
Hank
My cool thumbs. The Four Aces.
Big Cat
Oh.
PFT Commenter
Oh, yeah.
Big Cat
I hadn't heard of them for. In a while.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Hank
Yeah. Well, big, big signing.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Hank
They traded Harold Varner to the Smash, and they signed Thomas Detri.
Big Cat
Oh.
PFT Commenter
So who are the Four Aces now?
Hank
Thomas Detrie.
Big Cat
Thomas.
Hank
Thomas Peters. Double Thomas. Dustin Johnson. Patrick Reed.
Big Cat
Did we ever talk about the fact that Brooks is just back in the pga?
PFT Commenter
I don't think he's back in the pga. He decided he's not returning to Live.
Big Cat
So he's going to be back in the pga.
Hank
I don't know.
Big Cat
Why. Why wouldn't he?
Hank
I think he might just chill.
PFT Commenter
He might chill.
Big Cat
I kind of want to go back. I hope he'll win majors again.
Hank
I hope he's back in the. In the PGA as well. He can still compete in the majors, so I think he'll do that and just chill. I don't know. I hope he's back in the pga.
Big Cat
But I want him to play in the PGA so that he can win the majors because I feel like playing just in the majors is hard to. To win.
Hank
He won a major playing live. So did price.
Big Cat
Which one?
Hank
P.J. his last one.
Big Cat
Because he was already at lift.
Hank
Yeah. Yeah.
Big Cat
Oh, okay.
PFT Commenter
So the LIV lost Brooks, and then Bhatia turned them down. Yeah. So this is what happens with Live when you get away.
Hank
They got Thomas Detri, though, I feel like.
PFT Commenter
But they get away from their culture of having 54 holes and you're allowed to wear shorts. Next thing you know, they're wearing pants. They're playing 72 holes. It's like, what?
Hank
Wait, they're wearing pants now?
PFT Commenter
Yeah. Hank.
Big Cat
Oh, my God. Are you not a live head?
Hank
They have to wear pants.
PFT Commenter
I. I think.
Tyler Schuck
Are you living?
Hank
I know this. I know the 72 whole thing. That's whatever. But if they had to wear pants now, that is.
PFT Commenter
This was a year ago. Pat Perez said that shorts are now off limits on the live golf tour.
Big Cat
What?
PFT Commenter
That's just not true. You're the biggest live head we got, and you didn't know that.
Big Cat
What? All season? Yeah. They wear pants all season last year.
PFT Commenter
Huh? They lost their culture. They lost their soul.
Big Cat
Hank, did you watch any live?
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
And were they wearing pants?
Hank
I guess so.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Mm.
Big Cat
Yeah. It's over. It's over.
Hank
Shorts are allowed with conditions, though.
Big Cat
Oh.
PFT Commenter
If you're. If you got jacked up legs.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Hank
90 degrees or above.
PFT Commenter
Oh, okay.
Big Cat
Okay. Pft. Your hot seat cool to run?
PFT Commenter
My hot seat is Trey Young. Trey Young, because it looks like he is asking. Demanding to be traded from the Atlanta Hawks, and the Hawks are also trying to trade him. So I guess this is like a mutual parting of ways.
Big Cat
Yeah, it feels like we've. Feels like Trey Young, after maybe year two or three, this has just always been heading this way.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, he had that one. He. Where he, like, finished right on Ben Simmons.
Big Cat
Yeah. The year he beat the net, was it the Knicks? Yeah, he beat the Knicks in the first round of the Sixers in the second. Yeah, that was. And then. Ever since then.
PFT Commenter
But there will be a team that tries to put him as. As, like, the centerpiece of their offense, and then they're going to realize, oh, he doesn't play defense. Okay, let's see if we could trade him again. Yeah, I think he'd be good, like, complimentary guy for sure. He'd be like. As long as he is firmly the number two on that team, LeBron's gonna.
Big Cat
Try to get him.
PFT Commenter
You think so?
Big Cat
That. Well, no, just. I was thinking LeBron just so that way people can stop saying it's Lucas team.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, that's true.
Big Cat
He's like, well, it's Trey Young's team, too.
PFT Commenter
Just get nobody that plays defense.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Then my cool Throne. I was gonna do the live tour, but I'll pivot. I'll say, my cool throne is hockey. Hockey is back in a big way, and it's making new inroads in other markets.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Because of the success of Heated Rivals. So I have not seen Heated Rivals.
Big Cat
I've seen.
PFT Commenter
But I can give my recap from somebody who has not seen Heated Rivals.
Big Cat
Of Heated rivals, I've seen 20ish minutes spread out over three episodes. Like, five minutes. 10 minutes. Five minutes. Which would be when my wife was watching and I was in the room.
PFT Commenter
So essentially, the premise is like, what if Sidney Crosby and OV were gay their entire careers?
Big Cat
And then. But also, Connor McDavid also is gay. Okay. But he's not dating them.
PFT Commenter
And then OV and Sidney Crosby moved to a cottage.
Big Cat
Yep.
PFT Commenter
And. But they were never allowed to talk about their relationship.
Big Cat
And Connor McDavid wins the cup. So this is fiction. Right now, Connor McDavid wins the cup. And when he wins the cup, he looks around as everyone is partying and welcoming their family onto the ice. And he's like, I don't have a family. And then he says to his ex boyfriend in the stands, come down. I want to smooch you.
PFT Commenter
And that guy's played by Ryan Whitney.
Big Cat
Yeah. Okay.
PFT Commenter
And all right, so in this reality, who is the top? Who's the bottom with OVI and Sid?
Big Cat
I don't know the answer to that.
PFT Commenter
Okay.
Big Cat
Because I didn't, I don't, I don't know.
PFT Commenter
It's got to be ovi, right?
Big Cat
I have no idea. I, I, I, like, I said, I watched. I saw like maybe 20 minutes total of. I think it's six parts. I don't know actually how long it is. I know I saw none of the finale.
PFT Commenter
Okay, so that's our recap of heated rivals.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
But apparently everybody's watching it.
Big Cat
It is, it is a big show.
PFT Commenter
And I did see an article the other day. Like, is hockey poised to, like, double their audience because of the success of heated rival? I, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, say no.
Big Cat
You never know.
PFT Commenter
But you never know.
Big Cat
You never know. Okay. My hot seat is Dan Campbell because in a press conference after the season, he, on Monday, he gave himself a freaking F. I like that. Great on the season.
PFT Commenter
I like that. Disappointing.
Big Cat
It's a freaking F. He said. So that's good.
PFT Commenter
I, I seriously self accountable. I seriously think he might fire himself.
Zach
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And then like, make himself interview for the job and determine whether or not he's improved enough.
Big Cat
He said, not good enough.
Hank
We didn't get in.
Big Cat
We underachieved. So not good. I'd give myself a freaking F. That's, that's not good. It's gonna be a hard pill to swallow watching these teams in the playoffs, I think. Which team do you think? I think the, the Lions are probably the number one team. Hardest pill to swallow watching the playoffs because they do feel like the Vikings, J.J. mcCarthy got, you know, hurt and kept on getting hurt. The Falcons have been eliminated for long enough. The Viking or the Lions really just had to to win a couple of those games on the stretch. And the NFC's so wide open. Yeah, they, they, they feel like the number one. Damn, I wish that we were in.
PFT Commenter
The dance, that they should have been there.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Falcons.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
They probably have a few games this season that they can look back on.
Big Cat
Yeah. Yeah. But the fact that they've been eliminated for so long, like the Lions had, they were that Steelers game.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
And then, you know, they win that Steelers game and then the Vikings game on Christmas Day. Max Brosmer was terrible. And they lost the game.
PFT Commenter
Ravens, too, Probably Ravens.
Big Cat
Definitely.
PFT Commenter
Tyler Loop probably won't look at a football for the next, like, five months.
Big Cat
Definitely Ravens. Definitely Ravens. All right, then. My cool throne is Monday Night Football, because we had awesome Monday Night Football last night. Shout out Montana State in the. What is it? Fcs. FCS finals against Illinois State. It was an awesome, awesome game. Illinois State with a brutal, brutal loss because they had a fourth and one with a minute left and their offense was crushing Montana State in the entire second half. They had a fourth and one. They decided to try to kick a field goal, get blocked. It got blocked. They went to overtime. Then they got a field goal or an extra point blocked in overtime. They lose by one. I think I saw the stat. They've been to the national championship twice in the last 10 years or 12 years, and they've lost by a combined score of three points. So brutal for Illinois State, the Red Birds. But Montana State was awesome. They had a guy named Dane Steele. That was cool. They also had a guy named Taco.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. Taco Dowler.
Big Cat
Taco$.
PFT Commenter
And his twin brother, Kaden Dowler.
Big Cat
Yeah. The story goes that he saw Taco Bell and he said, I want that to be my name.
PFT Commenter
I love that.
Big Cat
And then he said, there's also a. I read another article that said his dad said, what do you want for breakfast? McLean. That's his real name. And he said, my name's Taco. And then his brother said, my name's Burrito. And his brother went by Burrito for six months. And then he just kept on going by Taco.
PFT Commenter
Well, it's actually perfect because Kaden doesn't eat sugar. He, like, really watches what he puts in his body and then Tacos. Just Taco.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
So it ended up working out for him.
Big Cat
It was an awesome, awesome game. And shout out Montana State. It's. It was very, very fun to watch. I was like. I got home on Monday. I was like, what? What do I do now? There's no football.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
And then turned on that game. Brock Osweiler on the call.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, it was good. It was a good game.
Big Cat
It was fun. It was fun. Good football. Okay, Zach, my hot seat this week.
Zach
Is going to be the everything apps AI platform. Grok.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Zach
Grog is just putting everybody in bikinis.
Big Cat
Boys. Yeah.
Zach
Are your feeds infected with. With Grok too, or.
Big Cat
No?
PFT Commenter
I've seen some of that. Grok also was doing some not great things with pictures of kids.
Zach
Oh, Goodness, I. So I admit I missed that. That's probably way worse.
Big Cat
I apologize.
PFT Commenter
Grock got off the leash.
Big Cat
Little pro tip that I did a few days ago. Blocked Grok. And it's a lot better now. That's my experience, is a lot better online. Not seeing every other tweet, being like, grock, take this girl's shirt off.
Shane
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Do you think that maybe at some point in the future, once Grock becomes all powerful and runs the world, it's going to be like, hey, this motherfucker blocked me. And then it's going to punish you.
Big Cat
That's fine. I'll live with it then. But I. If you are. If you're like, this is getting weird. A mutant. A block of Grok did wonders for my viewing experience. I've talked about before. I've muted words online like the. Any political word.
PFT Commenter
Just.
Big Cat
I don't have. I don't want to see it. I don't. I don't need to see it.
Tyler Schuck
I want to.
Big Cat
I want to talk about sports online.
Zach
Yeah, they're doing like regular people naked. And then sex workers are going double naked. They're like, make me more naked.
Big Cat
That's like, they're. Are we seeing, like, their liver and their inside.
Zach
I get.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Zach
Like organs, nervous systems, things that. Such.
Big Cat
That's a mess.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. Let's see that uterus, baby.
Big Cat
That's crazy.
Shane
Out on Grok.
Big Cat
Yeah, out on Grock. Okay. And then your cool throne.
Zach
Oh, my cool through this week's gonna be Logan Paul. Are you guys familiar with Logan Paul's purchase Pokemon card a couple years ago?
Big Cat
Yes.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Zach
So he, like three, four years ago, spent like 5.3 million, and then now it's up at a golden auction. So he's finally gonna cash in and make a decent return on some Pokemon cards.
PFT Commenter
Good for him.
Big Cat
Oh, good for him. So he's making some money. He's gonna.
Zach
He's gonna. He's gonna. They got it up. Gold auction for 40 days, and it's rumored to be like, between, like, 7 and 12 million valuations.
Big Cat
Christ.
Zach
They were saying that Pokemon cards have outperformed the S and P like 3000% over the last, like, several years.
PFT Commenter
Who's buying it? Like, who's out there spending 12mil on a Pokemon?
Zach
Oh, I've got. No, I pulled up the auction to try to get a little more information. Like, a little while ago, there was 18 bids total. So there's like at least 18. Maybe. Maybe one or two guys go back and forth. Or 18 people willing to purchase.
Big Cat
Isn't the isn't the answer. Asia.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, Asia.
Big Cat
Asia's buying the Pokemon.
Zach
The country rich Asian guys. That would make a lot of sense, I think.
PFT Commenter
So are we still doing the NFTs?
Zach
No, no, I think empties are dead.
PFT Commenter
Anyone have those in their portfolios?
Zach
I got one on me, but it's worth about 93 cents.
Big Cat
I got one, but I lost the password. It was like the double authenticator. Write down this password. Lost it almost immediately. Got gifted to me.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I've got the chase down block. Alex Caruso. Chase down block from the playoffs.
Big Cat
Yeah. NFTS always just felt weird to me. I didn't. I didn't really understand them.
Zach
But then you see a tweet, it's like, hey, I just made $11,000 on this photo of a penguin. And you're like, I want to make $11,000 on a photo of a penguin.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, you don't even need to introduce the photo. The paint.
Big Cat
Just.
PFT Commenter
I get $11,000?
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
By clicking a few. I can do that for you, man. Sure thing. I. I was convinced that they were going to be real hot when I saw Paris Hilton on Jimmy Fallon. Do you remember that? And she was telling him about. About the community.
Big Cat
It also.
PFT Commenter
She was super excited to be a part of.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And Jimmy Fallon was like, yeah, no, I. Yeah, that's a great community. And I was like, well, these guys are geniuses.
Big Cat
It also went exactly, like, correlated with COVID and everyone being at home trying to find a get rich quick. It's like, oh, yeah, this makes sense. We're all bored.
PFT Commenter
Me and Big Cat took our salaries and bored apes for four years.
Big Cat
Did not help. Did not help. We had no money. Okay, good. Hot seat, Cool throne. Everyone, let's do our interviews. We got Tyler Schuck, Andy Staples. Before we do that. DraftKings NFL playoffs. Let's go. DraftKings Sports Record officials sports betting partner of the NFL makes every moment feel bigger. A running back cuts through the line. A strip sack flips the field. A tight end hauls in the kind of touchdown grab you'll talk about for years. Postseason games shift Fast, and with DraftKings live betting options, you can stay right in the moment. Plus, DraftKings has your back with early exit protection. If the player in your eligible NFL prop bet goes down at any point in the first half, you will get paid in cash. New customers bet just $5. If your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets instantly. DraftKings Sportsbook Every drive, every play, every moment. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Now use code take, that's code take to turn 5 bucks into 300 in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Cracker Barrel is home to all the more country anytime. That means buttermilk pancakes whenever you want them. Homemade classics like chicken and dumplings. And a country store full of fun finds. Swing by and visit Cracker Barrel today. Okay, Here he is, QB1, Tyler Schuck. Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very, very, very special guest should be rookie of the year. It is Saints QB1, Tyler Schuck. Tyler, first of all, thank you for all the excitement you've given us in the end of the season and thank you for coming on. Let's start with the most obvious question we need to ask. At what point did you know in your career or life that you had a tough last name to pronounce?
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, probably kindergarten. Whenever. Nobody, none of the little kids could pronounce it. I'm like, it's, it's fucking shock. I don't, I don't know what, I don't know like that and, but no, I mean, it should be everything but shuck. And I think it works here because you got shucking oysters and all those things, but once you learn it, it's kind of hard to forget it.
Big Cat
Yeah, we, we had a theory and you could tell me this is the dumbest theory ever, but like, if your name was easier to pronounce, you probably would have been drafted in like the top 10. But there was probably some, some NFL scouting rooms where guys were scared to say your name because they're like, they don't want to be seen as a non ball knower if they try to say like Tyler show or something.
Tyler Schuck
Who's this show? Shug. Shug. Yeah, I think that's a great, I mean, that's a great point. Yeah, maybe a few years younger, maybe a couple letters off the last name, it might be, might be a little bit richer. So I don't, I don't know. Well, it worked out though. I'm happy I'm here. And with the last name as well.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, yeah, obviously you had, you've had a great rookie season. Like Big Cat said. Everybody on this podcast, I think, except for Zach, supports you being rookie of the year. I think that that is a no brainer. At what point did you realize, like, I can do this, I'm good enough to play in the NFL?
Tyler Schuck
No, that's a good question. Because it just doesn't happen right away. When you come in and you're learning a new offense, you're coming in with guys you haven't even thrown the ball to. And I mean, that's kind of the theme is like, you. There's new faces every single week. And you kind of have to hit that point where, you know, you trust your reps, you trust your process, you trust your preparation. And I think whenever it was the, the second week of the season, I was, I was obviously a backup then, but on the scout team, I had a. For two weeks, I had a 70% completion rate and scout team, you know, that's obvious. Most often worse than the game. You know, you're getting the worst. Look, the pass rush is in there. And I was just trying to be super intentional about just keep getting better. And I kind of knew whenever I'm going against Demario Davis and Justin Reed and Alante Taylor and Chase Young and these guys and, you know, I can have some success. I knew I was gonna if I could keep getting better, have that sustained success when I got my opportunity. And yeah, I think just that's kind of been the fun part is getting better.
Big Cat
It's. It's been awesome to watch. How do you throw such a catchable ball? Because it is so catchable.
Tyler Schuck
I learned from a young age. I came into college and backing up Justin Herbert and he would, he would fire that thing. And always in those QB circuits, you know, I was like, man, I. I got a strong arm, but I'm like, I'm not going to try to do that. Because he sometimes, you know, he would, he would burn it in there and we'd have some drops. So once I kind of got, you know, older and bigger, I was like, you only want to throw it as hard as you need to is kind of the rule that, you know, me and my quarterback coaches talk about. Is this you trying to. We're trying to complete the pass. We're trying to get yards after catch, throw it as hard as you need to. And sometimes that changes.
Big Cat
Yeah, because it is like when we watch it, it's. It. It's obviously everyone in the NFL, every quarterback that's playing in the NFL can throw, you know, a great ball, but there is something about the way you're throwing the ball that it just feels like it kind of floats almost into your receiver's hands. And we love watching it.
PFT Commenter
It's beautiful. Yeah, the spiral. You have a very shockable spiral.
Tyler Schuck
You like my balls?
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I really like your balls. Do you have a favorite ball? Like, what's your, what's your best ball that you had this year?
Tyler Schuck
Probably my right one got inflamed a little bit when I took a hit. And it's good now, but usually the ones and other ones are. The ones with the laces are cool too.
Big Cat
Yeah. Have you had a welcome to the NFL hit where you're like, oh, that one. Who hit you the hardest this year?
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, Byron Young. Almost broke my jaw first start on the Rams. He came the little ghost move, went underneath and hit me right on the, the chin strap and I couldn't close my jaw for a week and I had to get like needles and that was, that was, that was a good one because I was. You didn't see that one coming. I mean, those, those pass rushers on, on the Rams are elite.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. Do you have, do you have a, like, in seriousness, a favorite pass that you threw this year?
Tyler Schuck
Oh, man. You know, I would say this last game against the Falcons, there was a clip and it wasn't, it was a touchdown, but it got called off for offensive PI. And it's kind of a BS call. And it was just I slow, like I slid over, stepped up, you know, kind of threw like a no look and got hit right in the face and got popped pretty good. But it was just kind of a full circle moment because I remember a rep, the same play, the same rep in training camp, took a deeper drop, tried to maybe spit, run out the top end of it, wasn't moving up and threw it away. So I think it was just kind of the last game. And, you know, whenever you take a hit, you throw a touchdown. It's a pretty good feeling.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Obviously the, the entire season didn't go as a lot of the guys on, on the team probably would have hoped for the Saints. But you guys were trending up in the second half of the year. What were the vibes like around the locker room? Because I know that if, if you're having a bad season, it can be a tough place to be. But with that kind of like second half spurt, I'm curious to know, like, what was the, what was the level of optimism? Like, how, how, how pumped up were the boys going to practice game day for that second half of the season this year?
Tyler Schuck
The, the vibes were, were immaculate for sure. I think the best part about it is that we were just, we were having fun together. You know, I think the locker room music, coming out to practice every single day, like the Juice, you know, it's, it's a long, it's A long season in the NFL. It's a long. Those are long days, especially when you're preparing. And I think the biggest thing I learned is, you know, you put in the work, you put in the time, but if you can have fun doing it and you're here collaborating together and we're making the most of it, then it makes your job easier, and you often have success that way. And I think just the leadership that we have here, the coaching staff, coach. Coach Kellen's done a really good job, and I think it kind of showed that way, and we can kind of continue to build off it.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Was that weird in that. That final game, playing that. Obviously the Saints don't have anything left to play for in terms of the postseason, but that game meant a lot to Panthers fans and to Bucs fans. Was that weird having, like, the expectations of a rival fan base on your shoulders?
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, it was. It was pretty strange. Kind of hearing the. The Bucks say your name in a breakdown or like, you know, talking to. Seeing other fans talk about, you know, the game. And, I mean, we wanted to win because it was the Falcons and it was, you know, it was the last game. We want to finish strong, but it just kind of puts a bad taste in your mouth. Obviously, we want to. Wanted to finish it the right way, but kind of glad everything happened. You know, we finished strong that latter end of the season, but, man, wish we could be in the playoffs, though, for sure.
Big Cat
What would you say to, like, Bucks fans that didn't actually buy into Tyler Shock? Like, we have one sitting in the booth right now, Zach. He's a Bucks fan, and we're like, hey, dude, you're okay. You got Tyler Shock. Like, he's gonna do it for you. And he's like, I don't know if I want to root for Tyler Shock. And kind of. He kind of fucked himself.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah. You Zach?
Big Cat
Yeah. There we go. Zach, would you like to say something for yourself? Shuck.
Zach
You, too, man.
Big Cat
Oh, nice. Yeah, there you go.
Tyler Schuck
I'm just kidding. You seem like a good guy. I'm a huge fan of you guys. But no, I don't know. I mean, I understand, man. I understand that you're. You got to rep your team. You gotta, you gotta. It's kind of a division rival game. You don't want to root for some certain guys. But I will say I feel like we got a really good division. I know the record hasn't reflected it, but I feel like the. As far as rivalries go, intensity of the games is pretty Fun.
Big Cat
Yeah. I had a question about your college career and like, your football career. You went to college for a really long time. You basically. Most people go to college and get, you know, are doctors. You went to college for a very long time. You jumped around Oregon, Texas Tech, then Louisville. Was there a moment in your, like, travels where you're like, this is never going to be my. I'm never going to get my break. I'm never going to become the guy that I know I am like the starter and get that shot.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, I mean, there's. That. There's a human element for sure. Whenever, you know, you have some of those bone breaks. Whenever I was at Tech and a lot of it's just kind of freak deals and, you know, there's the chances and, you know, you see all the, to the statistics of, you know, making it to the NFL, all these opportunities, and I, I kind of knew I had, you know, the, the belief in talent, the will to kind of keep going, but when you're not on the field and sometimes it's out of your control, it's really tough. And you kind of have. I just having that mindset, having, you know, my, my wife, my support system, my coaches, the trainers, like, they carry you through all that stuff and. But yeah, I mean, I wasn't planning on going to college for seven years. I'll tell you what, I was hoping for the three years and. And out, just like everybody. But, I mean, I wouldn't be here without it because of what I was able to go through from a mental standpoint, having to. To play in different offenses, learn, you know, fighting through adversity that way, being able to kind of speak a different language and just kind of come out on the other side of it. And it kind of prepared me for a lot of these moments in the NFL.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. And you mentioned your wife. Congrats on. On the baby. You guys are having a baby?
Big Cat
Let's go.
PFT Commenter
When is it due?
Tyler Schuck
February 16th. That's coming right up near Mardi Gras, man. So it'll be. It'll be interesting. Trying to get down to the hospital.
Big Cat
Yeah, yeah.
PFT Commenter
Do you, do you have plans to go to Mardi Gras?
Tyler Schuck
They're in the works. They're in the works. I gotta, I gotta make sure she's okay with it. The week prior, there's. I mean, as I'm Learning, there's like 47 parades and party. I don't know which one I'm gonna go to or try and go to, but I think we might be Able to get on a float?
Big Cat
Yeah, yeah, Gotta get on a float. We gotta get a guy that could probably get you on a float. No problem. There's.
Tyler Schuck
There's a bunch of people trying to try to help out. Get it. Get it done. But I'm excited, though. I've never. Never been. But obviously it hurt us. Amazing.
Big Cat
You're so. So the. Congrats on having a upcoming baby.
PFT Commenter
The.
Big Cat
You have your dog who was famous for the NFL draft. Is the dog a boy or girl?
Tyler Schuck
It's a girl.
Big Cat
Okay, good. Because, like, your dog was getting a little handsy with your wife. Were you? Your dog kind of stole the moment on the draft.
Tyler Schuck
I know.
Big Cat
That was crazy. Are we. Did we have a talking to with the dog after for people who don't remember a big one. Golden. Yeah. Jumping up and just going crazy.
Tyler Schuck
She. She is the epitome of whatever we're doing. She's doing as well. So she was laying down for the whole day. You know, it's our just hours kind of waiting. And then she got the moment. Everybody was cheering, so she had to. She had to get in on it. It's pretty selfish of her, but, I mean, she's part of the fam, though. She's. It was. It was probably one of my favorite moments of all time. Just.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Tyler Schuck
Of what she's meant to us. And I mean, obviously you have dog. You know, you're a dog owner. Yeah, well, no, it's. They're the best.
Big Cat
Yeah, it was very funny. Clip.
PFT Commenter
Does your dog need a chew toy?
Big Cat
Oh, yeah.
Tyler Schuck
I've heard. I've heard. I think she does. She does. She needs to. Especially during fireworks. I don't know if you guys have heard the New Orleans lore about fireworks shelves for New Year's Eve, but if it sounded like freaking Vietnam here, dude, and she was losing her mind. So we could use some of that.
Big Cat
Oh, yeah, we got you chew toys. For sure.
PFT Commenter
It's an extremely soothing chew toy. Like, dogs see this thing and it's their best friend. Your dog will probably fall in love with it. Yeah, my dog did. So we can. We can get you shipped one of those, right? We can take care of that, Tyler.
Big Cat
Definitely that happened. Hey, Chris Olave had an incredible year. Has he at any point, like, just whispered in your ear, like, thank you for saving my life? Because he. He was healthy this year. I hope the blood clot thing goes well, but, like, the. The. He was. He was healthy and it was a lot of catchable passes and not passes that he was getting crunched over the middle. Was there any point where he was like, dude, I. Tyler, you. You did everything for me?
Tyler Schuck
I don't know if he said those words, but, I mean, I will say our connection and our friendship, that chemistry is pretty strong. It's only gotten stronger. I mean, you go from, you know, not throwing him any passes to not getting much reps, and you're kind of thrust into it, and we just kind of hit it off right away. And, I mean, it's hard not to throw him the ball as well whenever he's getting open all the time. And he said he's such a great dude and obviously glad he's okay. You know, that really sucked, losing him, you know, selfishly for our team, but. And for him obviously wanting to finish the season, but he should be good. And I know he's gearing up for another big year.
Big Cat
Yeah, it was awesome to see him because he's such a good talent, and it was like, you know, obviously he had some bad luck the last few years, so it was cool to see him, like, just pop off. And you guys have that connection.
PFT Commenter
What was your. Your mentality like going into the season? I know a lot of guys that get drafted if they, you know, don't get off the board in the first round, they're like every team that passed on me, and they kind of carry that with them. Did you have any, like, resentment? Like, did you think that you should have gone higher?
Tyler Schuck
No, I was. I. I truly was. Was excited to be in New Orleans, you know, going throughout the entire draft process, the situation kind of a hand, even before I knew, you know, Derek Carr was going to be there, just the coaching staff with Kellen and us and. And just kind of the newness of it, the excitement of it, that was intriguing. But, like, like I said through my journey in college, I understand that you only get so many opportunities, and people don't owe you anything, man. You're not. Oh, you don't. You're not the greatest dude ever. You don't have to act like you're the best thing ever, and you got to earn it every single day. So I was thankful for the opportunity, knowing I was going to go take advantage of it, and was just happy to kind of be here. But it's part. It's part of how life goes, how the draft goes. There's so much craziness. I mean, you look at this time last year, I probably wasn't in on anybody's draft board, so, you know, who gives a. Yeah.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Do you think that you would have gone in the first round. If you didn't have that one throw at the combine that, that went viral, the bad one. Like, do you think that some teams actually just saw that one throw and they're like, all right, we'll move on to the next guy. Let's bring up.
Tyler Schuck
I don't know. I didn't know if I was ever going to Recover from a 5 second iPhone video clip after somebody dared me to do a pocket movement throw. And I said, all right, it. Let's do it. And it was, it was awesome, man. I mean, it was pretty funny. Just to everybody's reaction, I was like, that was like the sixth rep. Yeah, he wasn't even on and somebody paid me 100 bucks to do it and jokes on me. I did it.
Big Cat
So.
Tyler Schuck
But I, it was, it was awesome, that whole experience. But I think maybe you maybe had a little bit less eyebrows raised for the fans. Like, yeah, one throw. Trying something out.
PFT Commenter
You. You want to explain? Because I feel like it's been, it's been long enough that a lot of people might not know the story behind that one throw. It was a viral moment. It was a throw. You were, you were doing it. Like somebody dared you essentially to, to make this type of throw, and then that's all people saw from your combine appearance.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, I know. Super dope, super cool. I mean, it was literally just a coach talking about, hey, this is your last rep. Like, let's throw a little pocket movement, try and throw it on the run or something. Try and make it. Have some fun with it. All right, cool. And I was also off like three C4s at the time. Just lit up, lit up for my 40. Just running like a 4:2 or something.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Tyler Schuck
And it was, but, yeah, it was, it was fun. I, I get it. I learned from it to, to not do any viral moments as much as I can as far as combine. But that's. I go back to. And I was telling all the, the coaches, everybody, like, that's. That's who I am. I'm going, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to make mistakes, but I'm going to come right back and keep ripping it. You know, I'm going to go out there and. And learn from it and keep going. And. Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't really a huge deal at the time, but it was pretty funny afterwards.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
What was Brock Purdy like as a little league baseball player?
Tyler Schuck
Wow, that's a, that's a deep cut.
Hank
Yeah.
Big Cat
You played eighth Grade with him.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, man, he was. He was solid dude. He was, you know, like in middle infielder, you know, he. He's kind of like how he plays in the NFL. He doesn't have. He's not the tallest. He wasn't. Had the strongest arm, but he would just make plays. I mean he was a great dude. It was a lot of fun kind of growing up with him and then playing each other in high school had a lot of those rivalries and I still got to. I still owe him some revenge at some point, hopefully. But super happy for him and his journey just because of. I mean, that's unbelievable what he's been able to overcome and kind of consistently be great at.
Big Cat
Yeah, this might be the new. You know, Clayton Kershaw just retired. Matthew Stafford, he's hopefully going to play for a couple more years, but we need a new. Like these guys played baseball together as little kids, so maybe it's the Tyler Shuck. Brock Purdy.
PFT Commenter
Do you have pictures, Cody?
Tyler Schuck
I do. Cody Bellinger as well.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Tyler Schuck
Play him and his little. And his younger brother Cole grew up with those guys. He's a beast. A couple others, but yeah, for sure. Brock and I can. I can get you guys some for probably.
Big Cat
Okay.
Andy Staples
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. It would be fun to like highlight that. Yeah.
Big Cat
Yeah. Just on every broadcast.
PFT Commenter
Okay. We'll put a giant watermark on it. So whenever they put it on the.
Big Cat
Broadcast, it's part of my day. We'll actually just Photoshop you guys in. Like you're literally. Was just part of my take.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
That was your jersey. Yeah. That'd be awesome.
PFT Commenter
So. So what. What's it like now for you? Like you mentioned you're at the facility right now. When do you get to take some time off?
Tyler Schuck
I mean, usually around this time of year. That's when things kind of start slowing down after you do your exit meetings. But I'm going to be here in New Orleans just kind of continuing to. To hang out. You know, obviously I got my baby due soon. We're going to have them here and so I'm excited to kind of take a little time and just explore the city. Really. You know, I've been kind of go, go, go for the last year and being able to kind of hang out and be in the community is going to be really cool. But yeah, no big off season plans. I'm not going to Cancun or anything like that. I got a. Only. Only got to keep. I got to keep working. So I'm kind of excited to stay here. And grind.
PFT Commenter
I love that.
Big Cat
I saw. I saw online a video you said you can. You can back a boat down a launch ramp with your eyes closed. Have you done that?
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, I have.
Big Cat
You can do everything. You're Tyler Shock.
Hank
I shouldn't.
Big Cat
I shouldn't be. I don't know why I doubted you in that question.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah, man, I. I've done it a few times, man, growing up, and I think whenever we were in college, I was kind of the. The handy. The handy boat backer. Downer.
Big Cat
Yeah. Wait, so you. Are you. You like the. The guy when you go out on the lake, like, you're the guy who's. We can all rely on being, like, if we get in trouble, like, he's the. He's the boat. He can fix the boat for sure. That's.
Tyler Schuck
I don't know about fix the boat, but that's. I think, driving the boat. I'm the captain now. I can. I can do that for sure.
Big Cat
I love. That's a huge. That's a huge asset. Like, everyone needs one of those guys.
Tyler Schuck
Like, you got to have a boat friend. Yeah. That's honestly my goal, and probably the only reason I'm playing the NFL is to just own a boat one day.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
You might even get two boats.
Big Cat
You know, you could do other things and still own a boat. I mean, you went to college long enough. You should have gotten a boat right away.
Tyler Schuck
Should have got a doctorate on how to fix boats or something.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. When you were in college, did you, like, weigh your nil offers? And you're like, I could take the nil deal for the boat or I could take the money to get a ring for my girlfriend and propose.
Tyler Schuck
Well, shoot, dude.
PFT Commenter
That.
Tyler Schuck
I mean, that was a whole. Another story. They were like, I got the ring for free. I was like, I just got a. A discount. And back then, nil wasn't a crazy thing as it is now. And you only. I remember you get, like five grand. And I thought I was like, the richest dude ever. And it's such a cool. I kind of. Because I had both sides of it, you know, three years of knowing Il then going into it, and. But, man, I wish I would have stayed at Texas Tech a little bit longer with. With how well they've been doing on that front. And. Yeah, it's crazy. It's kind of crazy world we live in now.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. What's that? Like, when you transfer schools, do you keep, like, the. The clothes and the merch that you got from Oregon or from Texas Tech or you make the Change. And you're like, I'm throwing all this stuff out.
Tyler Schuck
No, I got. I got. I got a gear from all of them. That's kind of the best part is, over time, I've been able to kind of just rekindle those. Those relationships, you know, with the fan bases and everybody and. And obviously going back to Eugene and the whole support staffs there. They're. They're awesome. They do a great job in Texas Tech. A lot of my former teammates are still there, the coaching staff, and then obviously recently at Louisville. So I feel like, you know, I got three homes I can at least, and the people there that you can go represent. And that's. That's kind of been the cool part about it. Obviously, you'd want to. To be at one school for, you know, three or four years and have a glorious career, but I think, like I said, everything happens for a reason, and having all that gear at home. But there is a few Goodwills I know in Eugene and Lubbock that have gotten some donations, though, for sure.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
Tyler, I want to make a deal with you. We've made this deal with our good friend Josh Allen. I think we might have made a similar deal with Joe Burrow as well. But here's the deal. So let's say we're. We're. We're Tyler Schuck. Guys. This is a Tyler Schuck podcast. We're going to talk about you nonstop. We're going to pump you up. What number would you feel comfortable if you signed a contract for, let's say, $150 million? You buy us a boat.
Tyler Schuck
You'Re saying, how much money would I have to get?
Big Cat
Yeah, you tell me what you feel comfortable with.
Tyler Schuck
That's a great one. I. Can we go. Can we go boating together?
Big Cat
Yeah. Yeah. No, we'll christen it together. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I can even take it one step further. You can buy the boat for us, and then the boat can live.
Big Cat
You can have it with you.
PFT Commenter
Like, you could have cust. Primary custody of the boat. We just get, like, one boat trip a year on the boat. Yeah, but it's our boat.
Tyler Schuck
Money or you pay me.
Big Cat
No, no, we get to name it. And then if we're ever in the area, we get to, no questions asked, go out on the boat.
Tyler Schuck
I love that. I would say any amount of money. I think.
Max
Hopefully.
Big Cat
Great.
Tyler Schuck
Hopefully that. Hopefully another contract one day and. And we'll make it happen.
Big Cat
Okay, so if you just sign another contract, you're gonna buy a boat, and we get to name the Boat, and then you get to keep it. But if we ever want to go on it, we just have to go.
Andy Staples
To your lake or whatever.
Big Cat
Yeah, I love that.
PFT Commenter
Yes. Supervised visitation weekend.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah.
Big Cat
That's great.
PFT Commenter
With our boat.
Big Cat
Yep.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Tyler Schuck
Oh, man.
Big Cat
We got a boat. This is great.
PFT Commenter
This is. That was a great negotiation on your part, Tyler.
Big Cat
I can't wait to tell my wife we got a boat. And she'll be like, where? I'd be like, New Orleans. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
If. If we have a bad weekend gambling, can we. Can we sell the boat?
Tyler Schuck
It's gonna be a fanboat. We're gonna go.
Big Cat
Yeah. What are we gonna do with that? I don't know, but it's fucking cool.
PFT Commenter
I. I mentioned our Bucks fan. Our Bucks fan here, Zach, he had some. I. He's been kind of lukewarm on you, Tyler, and I. I'd like to give him the opportunity to explain himself why he wasn't like a full shuck guy like the rest of us.
Big Cat
What's going on, Tyler?
Zach
How are we doing today, man?
Max
How you doing?
Zach
I'm doing not too bad, man. I know we got off on the wrong foot with the shuck and the. But we can. We can reel this back.
Big Cat
We.
Zach
No, I just, you know, division rival. You were throwing some catchable passes, and I just didn't want to live in a world where the Saints might have hit on a quarterback. I would like to continue to exist in that world where they have not done that. So if you could just throw less. I need a bad season from you next year, Tyler. Is that cool? Can we lock that in?
Tyler Schuck
No. Why don't you give you some new glasses, man? Are those blue light glasses or.
PFT Commenter
Those are.
Zach
All right, now we're astigmatism attacking.
Big Cat
This is crazy, right?
Tyler Schuck
Me and you would be. I mean, just use your eyes like a man.
Big Cat
Okay.
Zach
I got bad eyes. We're both two dudes that have never won the division. We both got some stuff to work on.
Tyler Schuck
I know. I. I think we're gonna. We're both gonna get better. I will not oblige your request. It will be denied.
Zach
That's understandable.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Tyler Schuck
And I think we can have some. Some fun, you know, duels in the future.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Zach
I'm looking forward to our next duel.
Big Cat
Yeah. Max, do you have anything for you? Max is a day one Tyler Schuck guy.
Max
I was a big Tyler shuck guy from this one time. I saw a guy post your highlights on Twitter, and I was like, this is my guy. Took offensive rookie of the year, right When I saw that video. And then you just continue to perform. I just want to thank you for everything that you've done for the shuck community. We are strong. We are strong in this shuck community. And I. I believe in your future. I believe in the future of shuck.
Tyler Schuck
You just seem like a good guy, man. I don't know what it is about you, but you just seem like a really good dude.
Big Cat
Yep. Because he's sitting next to that. Yeah, he's sitting next to that scumbag Four Eyes Zach.
Tyler Schuck
So I really do appreciate that, though. That's. That means a lot.
Big Cat
Yeah. All right, I got one last question. Roback question. R H O-B A C K.com promo code. Take 20 off your first purchase. Q Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code take so incredible year.
Shane
We're.
Big Cat
We're hoping offensive rookie of the year, you're going to be on a float in. In Mardi Gras. You gotta. You're gonna get to do. You know, I feel like everyone in Saints fans have. Have really embraced you. Have you thought at all about, though, meeting our coworker Ben Mintz? Because you're gonna have to do that. He's kind of. He's kind of like the number one guy in the south overall. Have you thought at all what you're going to say to Ben Mintz when you meet him?
Tyler Schuck
No. No, I haven't yet. That's a. That's a great. That's a great point. I need to. I need to start doing some research. You guys got any recommendations on. On what I should say to him?
PFT Commenter
I think you just say, hi, Ben. And then he'll just talk for a while.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
And then you're just like, cool.
Big Cat
Yeah. Or you could just be like, hey, Ben, have you ever been to a Widespread Panic show? And then just let him go? That's all.
PFT Commenter
Now, he will definitely get you on a float if you want to. Yeah, if you want. He's got all the connections.
Big Cat
It's gonna cost you. Probably some random, like, ads that he's gonna make you do, like cameos and stuff, but he'll get you on a float.
Tyler Schuck
I love it.
Big Cat
Yeah. No, you. You really. You don't need to meet him. It's that. Well, you do need. Yeah, you will.
PFT Commenter
You will need to just.
Big Cat
Absolutely. Well, yeah, one time.
PFT Commenter
We love you. That's my final question. We love you. We'll send you a chew toy.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
What's your dog's name?
Tyler Schuck
Murphy.
PFT Commenter
Murphy.
Tyler Schuck
All right. Okay. From the movie Interstellar.
Big Cat
Oh, love that.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Hank doesn't understand that. No. At all.
Tyler Schuck
He doesn't know ball.
PFT Commenter
No.
Big Cat
All right, Tyler, thanks so much, man.
PFT Commenter
Before we get to Andy Staples, he's brought to you by body armor. I'm drinking a body armor right now. I got the orange mango right in front of me. Been sipping on that, getting hydrated. And I also had one of their flash IVs. You know what? That saved me New Year's Day. Started the day off with the body armor flash IV. It delivers faster, longer lasting hydration with over 2000 milligrams of electrolytes. No artificial dyes, flavors or sweeteners. Get some of those and other drinks. So whether you're training, traveling, or just feeling the heat, work hard, hydrate hard with body armor flash IV and grab yours today at your local 711 convenience store. And now, here's Andy Staples.
Big Cat
Okay. We now welcome on a very, very, very special guest. He is our good friend, college football reporter. It is Andy staples from the On3 network. You can hear him with Ari Wasserman Every single day. It feels like my podcast feed just has you guys popping up every day. I guess there's no real off season in college football anymore. But we do have the semifinals coming up. We wanted to talk to ball with you. So let's start with the game you're going to be at. The Oregon versus Indiana. Never in a million years did you think Indiana was going to be here. If you told someone 10 years ago, but they're not only here. They are the best team left, in my opinion.
Andy Staples
Yeah. And it's interesting because this is the first time in, you know, since the 14 playoff era started that I felt like all four teams have a legitimate chance to win the national championship that are left in the, in the semifinals. But I think you'd have to call Indiana the favorite. I mean, they've been the most consistent year long. They've played the best and the biggest games all year long. And that goes back to, to when they went to Eugene and beat Oregon. And what I think is interesting about this game though, guys, is, is Indiana is probably playing at a higher level than they were when they beat Oregon. But Oregon has definitely evolved since they lost Indiana. Like, they had some injuries that they had to overcome. They found some players that they could rely on through that process. I feel like they're a more evolved team than the one that Indiana saw. So I actually think this, this feels like as good of a matchup as the first time around. Maybe even A little bit closer, and I think the spread pretty much bears that out.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
So, real quick, Andy, we've been talking for the, you know, majority of the season about how maybe Ohio State was better than Ohio State last year. And then when Ohio State lost, we thought about maybe walking that back. But maybe. Maybe Indiana is just better than Ohio State last year.
Andy Staples
What do you think possible in Indiana? I mean, the reason Indiana is so much better than Indiana was last year is they kept everybody who mattered for them and then upgraded a quarterback. I mean, you look at the guys they kept. These are all NFL players that are going to, you know, they're going to be drafted in decent positions. They're going to be productive NFL players. I think because a lot of them started at jmu, no offense. Pft. But. But because a lot of them started at PF or at jmu, that people just don't realize how good they are. And I had people in the off season, and I'm a. I'm to blame for this, too, because I didn't look at it as closely and say, oh, they're bringing Elijah Surratt back, they're bringing Omar Cooper back, they're bringing Carter Smith back, they're bringing Aiden Fisher back, they're bringing Tyreek Tucker back to bring all these people back. And it. These people were really good last year. They then stack on top of that, more experience, and they get a huge upgrade in Fernando Mendoza, quarterback. And that's what happens. And then you also have some guys, you know, guys that Signetti recruited to Indiana, like Charlie Becker, who've come into their own this year.
Big Cat
Do you think that the public college football fans have. Have finally reckoned with this? Because I. I was. We were joking. Like, before the Rose Bowl, I made a massive wager on Indiana because I was like, this is an insane line for a team that is better than Alabama in every single facet. And it's because they have Indiana on their helmet and the other side has Alabama. But I feel like that one kind of woke people up, like, oh, shit, this isn't some fluke. I actually, like I said, the way Kurt Signetti's got this team rolling right now, it reminds me, yes, of Saban, but really, the. The Michigan team two years ago, where it's like, it might not have the flashiest, fastest guys on the outside, but what they do in terms of never making mistakes, being in the right position at all times, always being ahead of the chains, like, they're just playing at such a perfect level of football.
Andy Staples
Yeah, I. I Think it's a good comparison to the, the 23 Michigan team. All I'd say is it's a 23 Michigan team if they had three NFL receivers on it.
Big Cat
Yeah, yeah.
Andy Staples
And that's that. That's what it is. And beating the out of Alabama, I think is what woke everybody up. I think it's what made everybody understand. And I remember we were picking Indiana to, to cover that seven point spread on my show. And I had some Alabama fans in my mentions going, what are you doing? And I remember Saban saying this on game day. Like he's like, my golfing buddies just can't understand why Indiana's favored. And I go back to the Signetti quote. He said, you guys can talk about the mystique, but our guys know what they see on film. That was the nicest possible way he could say we're going to beat the shit out of this team.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
And because everything that Indiana does well, Alabama matched up poorly with like, Alabama can't run the ball. Indiana takes teams that can run the ball and makes them not run the ball. So, like, you knew Alabama was going to be able to move the ball at all on the ground. It was all going to be on Ty Simpson and the receivers who sometimes they, they came through and sometimes they didn't. And against an Indiana team that again, does not really make mistakes. Like, it's interesting because Alabama went down 17. Nothing at Oklahoma. I was at that game, saw them come back. But when Alabama fumbled in the second quarter and Indiana just goes down the field and throws to Charlie Becker right before the half to go up 17 like it's over, there's no chance. It's not the same game.
Big Cat
Right.
PFT Commenter
Right.
Big Cat
And now this game, I do feel a little different. I think Indiana is better, but I don't think it's every single facet of the game like it was in the Rose Bowl. Oregon, like you said, has evolved. How do you, like, what are the paths for Oregon to win this game? And also I think Oregon might already have a leg up because Dan Lanning made Kurt Signetti laughter in the press conference before. And that was like, oh, shit.
Andy Staples
Soft.
Big Cat
Yeah, he got him to crack. Like, I didn't know Kurt Signetti could laugh.
Andy Staples
I, yeah, I, I just think back to the Kurt Signetti face when Alabama's doing the weird Ty Simpson hide him as the personal protector and then run the freeze play. Yeah, like that. I've, I've tried to adopt that with my kids. That's the enough of this shit face. And it's it's hard, it's hard to pull off unless you're Kurt Signetti.
Big Cat
It's 100% authentic. That's why I love him, because he's, he's very similar to, you know, a Jim Harbaugh where it's like he's just a football psycho. And if you, if you think that he's thinking about anything other than football, you're wrong. Like he doesn't care about what people are saying on social media. He's thinking about football and that's it. Yeah. Yeah.
Andy Staples
So Oregon is going to need a big Dante Moore game. Like this is going to have to be the Dante Moore game because Indiana is going to limit you in the run game. You still have to try to run and I think Oregon can do that. I love Noah Whittington. He runs so frigging hard. But I think Indiana is probably going to limit you there. You're going to need Dante Moore and then Decoran Moore who's, you know, star, five star freshman. You're going to need players like that to make wow plays Kenyan Sadiq. They're tight end. There's nobody like Kenyan Sadiq in the whole country. He's, you know, £240, but runs like a really fast corner. You have to get something out of the guys that you have that nobody has an analog for. And Dante Moore is the big one here. I feel like win or lose, I have to ask Dante Moore this question. How do you feel your decision is going to affect memes? I'm really worried. I was listening to the Monday episode. I'm very worried about memes. If Dante Moore goes back to school. Because I mean, yeah, in most cases if you're going to be the first or second pick in the draft, you should definitely go. But if you're trying to avoid being a Jet, it might be worth staying at school.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
But then the counter to that is like you, I'm more worried for. For more. If he goes back to school, what memes would do to Moore, like, that's really what he should be.
Andy Staples
I've heard some of the threats in past situations, so yeah, I would worry about that too. But I don't know. He's got some pretty good protection on that offensive line.
PFT Commenter
That's true. If you're the second overall pick, I think it's pretty clear you have to go to the NFL. Like that's money. That is. Yeah, you could get some money in nil going back to school, but second.
Andy Staples
Overall pick, you gotta take one of the few places. Cause I did the math on Ty Simpson's choice. It's one of the few places where you still make more money if you go pro. Like, you really do need to be a first round pick.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Andy Staples
As a quarterback.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. So obviously Dan Lanning is also a football psycho. He's. He's crazy, he's insane. I. Whoever wins this game is going to be favored in the national championship. I think it's.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
It's fair to point out that while Indiana looks super impressive against Alabama, Alabama is not a very good football team. They're not a, they're not a complete team. This isn't the Alabama of the past. And Oregon appears to be a much more formidable opponent. So I, I do feel like whoever wins this is going to end up being obviously the favorite to win the, the national championship in the other game. I'm very, I'm intrigued with, with Trinidad and how he's going to stand up against this Miami pass rush. Because the defensive line for Miami is. They're violent, they're fast, they're strong, they're insane. Trinidad was able to have his way with Georgia because he could. He danced around a little bit. He avoided the pressure. If he's able to do that against Miami, I don't know that Miami's able to outscore Ole Miss. I don't think that their offense is built for that. But how do you see that shaking out with Trinidad and then the beast up front for Miami?
Andy Staples
See, I think if Trinidad can do that, and I do think he's. He's capable of it, that you may get. You may see a shootout here because I think Miami actually can score quite a bit on Ole Miss if they need to. They're going to have to turn Carson Beck loose and then you're going to get the. Do you have the Carson Beck interception game?
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Andy Staples
Question. But Trinidad feels like the one quarterback left who can escape, make things happen. And part of it is their receivers at Ole Miss are so good that they'll, they'll get open and they, they know those scramble drill situations so well that when he starts moving around like desean Stribling and those guys, they know where to go. And so it's tough if you're Miami, like, you can cover as well as you want, but Ole Miss has really athletic, tough receivers that are going to, you know, just play some backyard football once Trinidad starts moving around. And you know, Miami's dealt with this in the playoff already with Marcel Reed, but Marcel Reed still tries to do more stuff in Structure and Miami end up sacking Marcel Reed seven times in that game. He got. And he slipped him a couple times, but. But really they kept it under control. Marcel Reed, though, tries to keep things in structure. Trinidad Shambliss does not care if the play is in structure or not. He's. He's the, the one where it's not even the one where he runs straight backward and then throws the, the, the pass where I think Kewan Lacey caught it. It's the one before that where he was dead to rights, escapes the sack. I believe he switched to his left hand to pitch Ford. Like he just has instincts that none of these other QBs have.
Big Cat
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I'm fascinated with this game because I think Miami is. Is kind of in that machine category where if they can dictate how the game is played in terms of like, hey, if they can play with the. If the game stays tight or if they have a lead and they're able to kind of bully you, whereas Ole Miss, I think they're going to try to push the pace. I think they're going to have to try to neutralize the defensive line for Miami by just pushing the pace. And if they can get up on you like Ole Miss defense has actually kind of been pretty good the last like month and a half. And so I, it's one of those that you said it to start like all four of these teams can win the title, which is so awesome going into this Final Four.
Andy Staples
Since that first Georgia game when, when they didn't stop Georgia at all, I think Ole Miss's defense has played really well. The one thing just to watch for, watch for when Miami lines up in the pistol because in this playoffs against A and M and against Ohio State, that's when they're running. The coaches on. On Twitter tend to disagree on what it's called. I'll go with what the Miami people call it. They call it duo. Duo is a pretty common run concept where you. You've got two double teams where you have a, you know, guard and a tackle or tackle and tight end firing off at once on one down lineman and then one of them is going to scrape up and hit the linebacker and they've been running that out of the pistol and they do a lot of different other stuff with it. But that has been devastating in these two games. That has been devastating. Texas A and M devastating to Ohio State. And I asked James Brockermeyer, their center, about it after the A and M game and he said it's actually, it's yes. We've got these good players up front like Francis Malinoa, the right tackle for Miami. It might be the best player not named Trinidad Shambliss in the game, but he said it's also, their receivers are so good. And like, I went back and there's a play in the, in the Ohio State game where they bring C.J. daniels, the receiver, in as an insert, and he just crushes a linebacker, and it's like, oh, I didn't know you, I didn't know a receiver could do that. But that's what Miami does. Everybody buys into the blocking piece of it. It's not just that offensive line. So if they line up in the P pistol and they're gaining significant yards, they're going to control tempo. If Ole Miss can hang, and Ole Miss has some big dudes on that D line that make it hard, maybe a little bit harder, to get off that double team and get to that linebacker. If Ole Miss is stuffing that, it's going to be hard for Miami.
Big Cat
Yeah. Are you rooting for Miami personally so that you can keep your. Steve Spurrier, Florida, you know, most recent first time national champion, which goes all the way Back to, what, 96 still alive?
Andy Staples
I, I, so I get that question in the mailbag every year. Who's going to be the first, first time national champion since the 96 skaters? I was a human tackling dummy on that team. So, yeah, there's a little bit of pride there that I had nothing to do with that. Danny Werfel and Lawrence Wright, all accomplished, but I want some new blood. Like, I am fine with that. And, and I've answered Oregon in every one of those mailbag questions. I would have, like, I would have never guessed Indiana when I was answering it three years ago. And Ole Miss fans will say, hey, We've got the 1960 national title, but that was a Football Writers association of America 1. So this is, this is the big one. So, yeah, I think there's a really good chance we're getting one of those. I mean, I, I think Miami is built the way you need to be built to win a national championship. But again, so, so are these other teams. So, yeah, I think it'd be fun. Like, like Oregon's the one that's been kind of hovering, circling around it. They played for two national titles in the last 15 years, so I feel like they're the ones that have gotten the closest. But, yeah, it's, it's good to see new blood. And, I mean, I got sick and I'm sure, everybody else did. Of the same four teams running the sport for 15 years. It was getting boring. This is not boring. This is awesome.
PFT Commenter
No, this is great. What's going on with Ole Miss's coaching staff this week with the, the offensive coaches? Like, I know that, that before the playoffs started, it seemed like LSU and Ole Miss were going to play nice. They were going to get their entire offensive coaching staff back for the duration of the playoffs. Then this week it felt like there was some, I don't know, some disagreements. Maybe it wasn't that cut and dry. So what's going on with that?
Andy Staples
Well, it looks like Charlie Weiss Jr. The, the offensive coordinator and Kevin Smith, the running backs coach, will still be coaching, coaching Ole Miss. And, and from everybody I've talked to, as long as Charlie is calling the plays, there really won't be any sort of difference. Pete Golding talked about this earlier in the week where they have a ton of analysts. You know, a lot of the game day roles and practice roles are being filled by people who the players are very familiar with, who've been, you know, working with the players all year. So I don't know that it's going to look that different. It would look markedly different if Charlie wasn't calling the plays. Yeah, but he, he's going to be calling the plays. I, I really don't think it's going to look that different.
Big Cat
Where do you think Lane Kiffin's mentals are at right now? Because I think, I think he was rooting for Ole Miss against Tulane and that was, obviously, he got a little bonus out of it. It was good for, you know, his team and he's got, you know, guys on the team that he cares about all that stuff. I think in his heart of hearts, he thought, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to be the gracious guy here and be like, hey, they can coach for Ole Miss because they won't beat Georgia. And then they beat Georgia and now we're one step away from a national championship. There's got to be a little small part of him is like, did I screw this up a little bit?
Andy Staples
I think so, too. And especially when Trinidad Shambliss, who, if he gets eligibility for next year, will be at Ole Miss. Kewan Lacey, the running back, made a deal on Monday night to stay at Ole Miss for next year. I think Lane thought he was going to get some of it. Now. Lane may get Sam Levitt at quarterback at lsu, so that would be okay. And we'll, we're recording this On Tuesday. Nothing's happened yet. It might have even happened by the time this show comes out. But I do think it's exactly what you're saying, Big Cat. Like, I don't think he thought they could get here.
Big Cat
Right.
Andy Staples
And I think the reasoning probably, if you're, if you're Lane Kiffin was, well, they couldn't beat Georgia with me, so how could they possibly beat Georgia without me?
Big Cat
Right.
Max
And.
Andy Staples
Maybe Pete Golding was built for this. I mean, that's the thing. Like, Pete Golding would not have been the guy. I think Pete Golding thought he was going to be the next Ole Miss coach. I think he thought that when he took the D.C. job a couple years ago, but I don't know that he would have been the top of the line. Let's say Ole Miss had missed the playoff and Lane Kiffin had gone to lsu. John Sumrall probably would have been the first name on the, on the search Mince. He was trying to get him Florida job.
Big Cat
Yeah. Mincy was trying to get him.
Andy Staples
Yeah. So Pete Golding so far has been awesome. And against Tulane, he didn't have a lot of high leverage situations. He had a ton against Georgia and he did a better on field coaching job against Georgia than Kirby Smart did in that game.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
He made better choices than Kirby Smart.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Do you think that, do you think that's also in part like Lane Kiffin leaving might have been one of the best things to happen to this Ole Miss team as far as going on a playoff run because they've been under the microscope for the last couple months. The narrative has been like, your coach left you. He didn't think he could get it done here. That does add a little bit more fuel, like a little bit more like us against the world mentality. For, for the Ole Miss players. Do you think that might have boosted them over the edge?
Andy Staples
It certainly seems to have galvanized them. It certainly seems like there's a little bit of, okay, you didn't believe in us and we're going to show you.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Andy Staples
What we can actually do. And they have. I mean, I was not surprised that they were hanging with Georgia, but the way they, they finished that game off, I mean, they can beat anybody else in this tournament. They can win the national title. And I think that's. When you go back to the Lane Kiffin decision, it really kind of boils down to what do you think this program ceiling is? Because LSU ceiling is clearly a national title. Do you think Ole Miss a ceiling is national title because if it is, they're going to offer you the same amount of money.
Big Cat
Yeah. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Maybe Lane was right. Maybe the. It wasn't a national championship contending program while he was there.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
But then when he leaves, it's like, yeah, this guy can win. Sure.
Big Cat
I did see the stat that. That the only SEC coaches that have more playoff wins than Pete Golding or Kirby Smart and Nick Saban. Now. Now obviously that status skewed because there wasn't, you know, winning two playoff games used to mean you won the national title and that was it. And Sark, I think, has Caleb won too? And he.
Andy Staples
No.
Big Cat
You, like tied. Yeah. Like Sark has two wins, so he doesn't have more.
Andy Staples
Yeah, but he's one at Alabama.
Big Cat
But it's still funny that he has. Has. There's only two guys. It's Kirby Smart. I was shocked too, with that game. Kirby was very like. It just was very. Not Kirby Smart. Like where the. The end of the game, he just made a couple decisions that feels like it caught. Like run the ball at the end of the game. Run the ball and you. And you probably win the game. And don't go into. You know why I can't. I can't remember if they blitz or if there was just one. There was no safety help on that. On that big pass play. It just felt like there was lapses that Georgia usually doesn't have.
Andy Staples
Yeah. The third down call, which I would assume was a Mike Bobo call. Their offensive coordinator because Kirby and Mike Bobo played together. Kirby trusts him completely. Mike Boba is a lightning rod for Georgia fans and always has been, going back to his first stint as Georgia's OC, you know, 10 years ago. But I do think that third down call is going to haunt them.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
Because if you run that ball, there probably isn't enough time for Ole Miss to get down and kick that field goal. And you're probably going to overtime. Now, you still might lose in overtime, but at least you have a shot.
PFT Commenter
How much. How much time are the coaches for the remaining four teams spending in the portal right now? Because you have to be active. Right. Like for like Miami. You got to start thinking about who your next quarterback's going to be. Same with, with Oregon, Indiana. I think they've got their guy now. Right.
Big Cat
They got like seven Indiana guy, Josh.
Andy Staples
Hoover, the TCU quarterback. So they're. They're already set. But like, how QB is it?
PFT Commenter
The schedule just doesn't make any sense to me. It doesn't. Like, you've got guys that are playing for national championships and they're also spending, you know, what amounts to be a full time job building the team for next year as well. How is that being divided up now?
Andy Staples
Well, it's the coach's fault because there were some people who wanted the transfer portal because they were going from two transfer portal windows to one. And there was a group that wanted it moved to the spring and they said, okay, just eliminate spring practice. We'll have NFL style OTAs May and June. It'll be fine. Most coaches didn't want that last year. Most coaches said, I want my team by January. I want to know what my team is. That's why this is going on. That's why they're having to pull double duty like this. I am genuinely curious to see what coaches say after having gone through this process. If they're, if they're going to say, you know what, maybe the spring thing is a better idea because it makes a lot more sense. And that's just not, that's not just me being selfish, not wanting to do the free agency part of it and the, the playoff part because, like, I gotta be honest, like our show this week has been all Portal, right?
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Andy Staples
Because there's only four teams left playing. Everybody else is interested in, like, who are we going to get?
Big Cat
You guys are the NBA now where everyone talks free agency.
Andy Staples
I envy the Ian Rapoports and the, and the Adam Schefters of the world who can do free agency when there's nothing else going on.
Big Cat
Yeah, yeah, the NFL does do it, right. That there's, you know, there's one week where there's free agency and there's no football games going on. Who is there any, has there been any team, speaking of portal, who stuck out so far in the portal and you're like, oh man, they're, they're serious and they're doing stuff.
Andy Staples
I mean, it's Indiana again.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
Like, you heard Josh Hoover going from TCU to Indiana and he's the one that Tennessee wanted last year. And they, so they also when Parker Livingstone, the receiver who was Arch Manning's roommate at Texas, who had a very good year this year, he decides to go into the portal. First visit lined up Indiana and I'm like, oh, they're going to put this dude with Charlie Becker next year. They're going to just slice and dice people. Like, I think Signetti is set to keep this rolling. Kentucky's interesting. Will Stein, the new Kentucky head coach, he went hard after Sam Levitt. It looked like they Might have a shot to get Sam Levitt. They're out of the running now because on Monday night they flipped Kenny Menchie, who was the Notre Dame backup this year. He was going to go to Nebraska. Now he's going to go to Kentucky. But clearly Kentucky is taking big swings. So watch out for Will Stein, because we don't know what he is as a head coach yet, but we already know he's. He's pretty aggressive in terms of player acquisition.
Big Cat
I saw that because our. Our good friend Will Compton was very upset because very upset. The, The. The backup quarterback for Notre Dame decided to take more money and leave where he was committed to, which Will is right. You shouldn't do that.
Andy Staples
Well, don't commit in the first place.
PFT Commenter
Right.
Andy Staples
You know, if you're not ready to make a decision, just say you're not.
Big Cat
Right.
PFT Commenter
Exactly.
Big Cat
There's more. There's more important things in life.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, that's dirty. Yeah. What about, what about your boy DJ Lagway? What's. What's he up to? I know he visited Florida State. They're like, they're selling them the weirdest things.
Andy Staples
Like after watching, you know, the Florida people just coalesce around DJ Lagway for multiple years during his recruitment, and then he has the really good end to his freshman year. And. And to see DJ Lagway smiling as he walks around with my Norfolk on Florida State's campus was wild. But he's not, he's not going there because. Because they got their quarterback. They got Ashton Daniels, who was Auburn's quarterback at the end of this year, Stanford quarterback before that. So he's going to Florida State. DJ Lagway now, looking at other places, it sounds like Nebraska may try to bring him in for a visit. Yeah, it sounds like Virginia's looking at him, too. So it's. It's interesting. As these dominoes keep falling, you wonder where these guys are going to go. Because, like, we've talked a lot about Ty Simpson this week, the Alabama quarterback. He has not announced any decision. His agent said he's still contemplating it sounds like he would like. He kind of like to go pro. But really, you. You need some. Some guarantees because there's a lot of money if you are an experienced, accomplished, veteran quarterback. And we don't know if Oregon's going to need somebody. The assumption is Dante Moore will leave. So they may need somebody. Tennessee needs somebody. Miami, as you mentioned before, still needs somebody. So that could be a ton of money out there. And, like, if you want to make more than $3 million next year. You have to be a first round pick. If you're not guaranteed to be a first round pick, you're going to make more money in college as that type.
Big Cat
Of player, which is crazy. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I've got an idea. I think that there should be an incentive for college players to not enter the portal. The portal is great. It, it serves its purpose. And I, I'm in favor of players that might, you know, they go into a situation, things change. They want to maximize. If it's their earning years or their development, they want to, they want to transfer, I think that's fine, they should be allowed to do that. But if you don't enter the portal, why not give a player that never once enters the portal an extra year of eligibility to play?
Andy Staples
Oh, it's like a, it's like a Larry Bird exception, except with eligibility.
Big Cat
Yeah, it's that or I had the. No, obviously you can't stop guys from making top dollar, but when schools start paying out of their own pockets, having it be that if you transfer, you go back down to freshman level. So if you stay at the same school, the money goes up and up and up. And then the minute you transfer, it's like, okay, you're back at the starter level of what the school guys.
Andy Staples
These rules, everybody you know comes up with these things. And then of course you have the lawyers to shoot them down because they. Violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. But here's the thing. When the SCORE act, if you watch college football this year, you saw those stupid commercials, the SCORE act, which were basically lying to you about what it was. All it was is they wanted to turn back the clock 20 years so that all the old people who kept all the money before could continue to keep all the money. But, but it didn't even get a vote in the house. It didn't even get on the floor in the house for a vote. So it's not going to happen. So you have a lot of people who run college sports that are now going, you know what all these people who've been telling us we need to do a CBA with the athletes. Maybe we should.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
And guess what? If they ever do, which I think they're going to have to, then they can have all sorts of real rules that can actually be enforced. So you could sign a three year contract where you cannot leave. You can sign, you know, you can have a transfer rule that says you have to sit out a year or a transfer rule that says you get one free one and then you have to sit out because. Yeah, I mean, some of this is ridiculous. Like, I'm seeing guys who are trying.
Big Cat
To go four for four.
Andy Staples
You know, four schools in four years or five schools in five years. It's. It's ridiculous.
Big Cat
Somebody.
Andy Staples
Somebody sent me a text this morning. It's actually one of our mutual friends. I'll tell you later. But this is a. There was a player who started his career at Vanderbilt, and then he's moved to four different schools since then. And he's like, imagine if your son had a scholarship to Vanderbilt and then left because the three schools after were not nearly as good as Vanderbilt. Imagine if your son had a scholarship at Vanderbilt and then just left and then went to these schools. And I was looking for another school.
PFT Commenter
I texted about.
Andy Staples
I'm like, I would have a heart attack. An absolute heart attack.
PFT Commenter
I do think there's a way to just incentivize not going to the portal without violating the Sherman Antitrust act, though. I think that would be interesting. Just like, encourage. If you want to leave, you can leave. If you want to stick around, here's an incentive.
Andy Staples
Yeah, positive incentives aren't. There's nothing wrong with positive incentives. I think you're right. I think now the eligibility stuff is getting fought in the court system right now. So I don't know if you could do that, but there's probably a way you could do a cash bonus or something like that. I mean, they. They can make any rule they want.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Andy Staples
As long as it doesn't, you know, I violate the worker's right to make the most money.
PFT Commenter
I do think that there's a CBA coming because we saw with Utah, private equity investment in Utah Athletics essentially taking over the program. I don't think that that money would be spent if they didn't have some assurances or some. Some Runway that they were aware of, knowing that there would be a cba, things would get a little bit more stabilized in the future. So they can kind of forecast, all right, this. We might not just be lighting all of our money on fire.
Andy Staples
I wouldn't assume anything with college sports, because the thing that has always been the case is there's nobody really in charge now if there ever gets to be a super league, which, again, that seems to be where things are headed, which I'm not sure I want, because I like the more diverse group of schools and teams in there, but it does seem to be headed that way. Then you probably would have some sort of centralized leadership. But that's the thing. Like the Big ten In the SEC are the two big dogs right now. They want to run everything. The problem with centralized leadership is there's one commissioner, and if you're Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the sec, Tony Petiti, the commissioner of the Big Ten, there's a chance that commissioner's not you.
Big Cat
Right.
Andy Staples
And so you're going to try to cling to as much power as you can.
Big Cat
We need to like, like, we need to figure out a way to. We should just do it like old school. It should be like we make like a Manning Mary. Like a. Look, no, no, you got to do the Big Ten in the sec. So like Mary like a breeze. And then that child becomes the commissioner of, of the SEC Big Ten.
PFT Commenter
But they become. Yeah.
Andy Staples
Yeah, yeah, of course, of course. In the wedding, somebody who's currently in charge will kill everyone.
Big Cat
Yeah, I want, I want a boy prince commissioner. That's what I want. I want a 7 year old deciding how the future of college football. And it's a Harbaugh Manning.
PFT Commenter
It's a Harbaugh Manning. And yeah, they, they just look at like a school like UCF and give a thumbs down and the school just gets executed in front of everybody.
Big Cat
Damn it, that would rock. If we had a hardball Manning running.
PFT Commenter
Everything, they could just have Sankey and. And what's the. The other guy's name?
Andy Staples
Tom Crean is married to.
PFT Commenter
To Jim Harbaugh.
Andy Staples
Jim and John's sister. Do they have daughters?
Big Cat
Nobody.
Hank
Yeah.
Big Cat
But yeah, we can get that.
Andy Staples
True.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
It might just be Tom Crean. Tom Crean might just be the commissioner. I'm down for that. I love Tom. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Just overarching. Not just NFL, not college, just the sport of football.
Big Cat
Yes.
PFT Commenter
A basketball guy. All right, so who are your picks this weekend?
Big Cat
Oh, my God.
PFT Commenter
I.
Andy Staples
So I, I am on record as picking Miami and Indiana. Miami just because I, I love the way they play the line of scrimmage. I. I feel like they can control tempo in this game. I'm tempted. There's a Miami fan in my mentions who, who's still yelling at me even though I have picked his team to cover because he's mad. Because I keep saying they're. They're trying to limit risk with Carson Beck, and I almost want to flip my pick to Ole Miss just to piss him off because I'm like, dude, stop whining at me. It's clear they're trying to limit risk with Carson Beck.
PFT Commenter
Yeah. That's why when you said like, they might just turn Carson Beck loose, I don't I don't know that you want to.
Andy Staples
They're going to have to. If Trinidad goes crazy, they're going to have to and take their chances and. And that's fine because obviously Malachi, Tony, CJ Daniels, they've got some good receivers. Beck has been good in big games in the past, but he's also had games like the Louisville game this year where picks have cost them, so they're trying to limit that. But I've got Miami, and then I have picked Indiana because I cannot keep picking against Indiana. I think I decided trying to. Oh, the Big Ten championship game, that was the last time when they beat Ohio State, I'm like, I'm not picking against them again. I'm just done with this.
Big Cat
Yeah. All right, Andy, last question. Roback question. Rhobac.com promo code take. You're wearing it right now. Roback.com promo code take Q, zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, everything. Robo promo code take. I don't know if you heard our take. Got us in a little bit of, you know, some fan bases. Not really happy with us, but assess this one.
Tyler Schuck
Okay.
Big Cat
Michigan kind of beat Ohio State again this year.
Andy Staples
I did hear that.
Big Cat
Okay. There's a little kernel. I don't actually think it, but then there's, like, when you play it out, there's a kernel of truth. And then PFD correctly pointed out that Michigan has had a better month.
PFT Commenter
Better month. Better month.
Andy Staples
Locked into the right coach.
PFT Commenter
You can say luck or you can say the divine karma of a Michigan man, whichever one you want to go with. But I. I think that's. You can't argue against that, that Michigan's had an excellent at least last two and a half weeks.
Andy Staples
They've definitely had a better. They definitely had a better December than Ohio State. That is for sure. 100%. I do not think that beating Michigan this year cost Ohio State anything. I don't think that Ryan Day was putting so many eggs into the Beat Michigan basket that he suddenly forgot that he needed to beat Indiana. I think they just ran into a better team.
Big Cat
Okay, then the Miami game. Let's just play it out. What happens in between Indiana and Miami game? Ryan Day finds out that Sean Moore was beating Ryan Day. He beat him last year while doing all this other stuff, like half chubbed up on Indian Instagram, and he's like, oh, my God, crisis of confidence. Am I even a good coach anymore?
Andy Staples
It's possible. I think we'd have to ask Ryan Day that, but I have. I Mean to, to your point. I have said this about Michigan since all this happened. Like if they somehow fell ass backward into nine wins with all that going.
PFT Commenter
On, I know they now have a.
Andy Staples
Competent adult in the room. What the hell are they going to do? It's like set the bar for Kyle Whittingham at 10 wins or more immediately.
Big Cat
Yeah, it's bullshit. They went, they went from utter chaos. Winning a national championship, everything, all the noise which I think every Michigan fan would, would trade in a heartbeat to then disaster and Kyle Whittingham, it's. They just lucked into it. It's incredible. Like they, they have gotten the best coach out.
Andy Staples
But if Kurt Signetti didn't do what he did, Kyle Whittingham would not be hired. Like Michigan would never even think to hire a 66 year old.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
In that situation they'd be going, well, we need to find somebody who's going to stay as long as Bo did. No, you don't. You need somebody who's going to win right now.
Big Cat
Yeah.
Andy Staples
And that's all these. Kurt Signetti, I love it on the show we call him the destroyer of excuses. Like there, there's no excuse you can make that Kurt Signetti does not just puncture their balloon. Because any coach who now says, and Lincoln Riley's big on this. Lincoln Riley's been saying this for four years. Well, you know, there was a lot.
PFT Commenter
Of work to do.
Andy Staples
Had to rebuild that roster. I don't know if you caught Lincoln Riley after the, the bowl lost to tcu. He's like the window's now open, right. Four years later, the windows open. If your guy's not getting it done by year two, you blew the hire. Yeah, that's it. In this era, you blew the hire. If your guy's not good by year two.
PFT Commenter
Now on the other hand, maybe Kurt Signetti is just that different where he's. He's actually going to ruin every other coach.
Big Cat
I do think that's. There's something about.
Andy Staples
There is that too. But I will point out that there's. There's been a lot of. Of really good coaches and most of the ones have you have noticed the improvement within the first couple of years and especially now, you don't need to wait three, four years. But if you've got a coach begging for patience, that's a coach who knows he's already cooked.
Big Cat
I do think there's a little bit of Kurt Signetti as bitcoin and every other school that is in that Indiana, what Indiana was is a Shitcoin, where people are going to throw gobs of money at it being like, why can't we have that? And it's there might be only one.
Andy Staples
Hired at Michigan who is proven who has gotten it done at that level, who, who took a team from the group of five level to the Power conference level and built it into something that could win that power Conference. Like now he gets to do it at Michigan with even more resources than he ever had. And I don't think somebody that age would get that shot unless you'd seen Signetti because, look, I don't know how long Signetti is going to do this. It may only be five more years, but it's going to be a hell of a run for Indiana while it's happening.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
All right. Andy, you're the best. Love seeing you and have fun at the Peach Bowl.
Andy Staples
Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
PFT Commenter
Andy Staples is brought to you by Chevy. Football seasons here. Whether you're grinding through the week or gearing up for kickoff, there's one ride that's always game ready. Chevy Silverado. The Chevy Silverado is a longtime partner of part of my take. It's her favorite truck. It's all about grit. From job site to tailgate, Silverado lets you show up strong and tackle any task. It's built for the hustle, ready for the game. Silverado is America's most dependable full size truck. For J.D. power 2025 award information, visit J.D. power.com awards so y' all know that.
Big Cat
We'Re big fans of Cracker Barrel. And this holiday season, I will be sat at their table with a big plate of country fried turkey. And Brandon, I'll be right there with.
Andy Staples
You and I'll check it off my Christmas list in the country store while I'm at it.
Big Cat
It'll make a nice holiday tradition. Oh, that's so cute of you.
PFT Commenter
Enjoy all the more holiday traditions only at cracker barrel.
Big Cat
Okay, FAQs. Hank is peeing.
PFT Commenter
So we're gonna.
Big Cat
Wait a second.
PFT Commenter
He is. Hank's been working hard. I think we should give him a break.
Big Cat
Yeah, we should give him a break.
PFT Commenter
Also on Thursday night, halftime of the college football game, we will be awarding the low man trophy to the nation's top collegiate fullback. So tune in for that. It's gonna be on our live stream at halftime. I'm very excited. We got the trophy right here. It's beautiful. The greatest trophy in all sports. Hank, welcome back. How's the p?
Hank
It's good.
Big Cat
All right, FAQs.
Hank
Hey, PMT boys with 2026 finally here. What steps are we taking as a group to take care of ourselves not only nutritionally, but mentally?
Big Cat
Wait, what was that?
Hank
It's important to have a healthy life, work, life balance so aws like myself can enjoy this content for years, maybe decades to come.
Big Cat
I actually appreciate that.
Hank
Genuine question. Yeah.
Big Cat
Keep us, keep us healthy.
Max
How? What would we do mentally?
Big Cat
Mentally.
Max
That was a question.
Big Cat
What are you doing mentally?
Hank
Breathing exercises.
PFT Commenter
Meditation. Meditation.
Big Cat
Oh, I got one, I got one. I'm, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna retire. I think I'm gonna retire the coffee memes in the morning because I realized that I have to grab my phone first thing in the morning and I kind of want to try to start waking up and not grabbing my phone first thing.
PFT Commenter
Doing a cleanse.
Big Cat
Yeah, well, just like I, I realize it's a bad loop. What, what was that? Max, what do you say?
Max
It's hard because the alarm.
Big Cat
I know, but it's a bad life loop of like you get, you wake up and then you immediately are just scrolling your phone. It's like, that's not how you should wake up. So I've been thinking about it. Maybe I'm just gonna do coffee memes every now and then when a funny one comes pops up. But I, I've been thinking about it.
Max
I've heard about these mats that you could get.
Big Cat
The what?
Max
They're, they're these like electromagnetic mats.
Big Cat
Are you me, man, we need to get on those. I, I felt better.
PFT Commenter
It is, it's good for the beta brain waves, the alpha brain.
Max
That's probably it. That's probably how we're gonna help our mentals.
PFT Commenter
I, I, I think that, like, by getting physically more in shape, our mentals are going to improve too. Yeah, I think that's a big thing. I do feel better when I exercise.
Big Cat
Yeah, me too.
PFT Commenter
I'm going to try to, I'm going to try to exercise in the mornings.
Big Cat
30 minutes a day is what I've been doing.
Max
Yeah, I've been ripping exercise in these past like eight days.
Big Cat
The, what do you guys think about the, the phone thing though, in the morning? I think it is a problem. I feel like it's a problem to just be laying in bed and just grab your phone and then all of a sudden you're like, like, where did the first 15 minutes of my day go? I've just been staring at a screen.
PFT Commenter
It is true. Because then you, you start to open up all the apps to check your first morning stuff and Then you're just in bed looking at your phone, and.
Big Cat
It just becomes like a kind of a bad loop cycle. Like, I kind of want to just see if I can just get up. Like, my kids go to school at 7:45. I cannot look at my phone till 7:45.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Zach
It's supposed to be, like, incredibly bad to, like, start a day with the phone because you're just going straight for the dopamine hits right away.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Zach
Like, have your attention span.
Big Cat
All right, so I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna. I'm gonna maybe sunset the coffee memes and try to start doing this. And ice baths. I'm gonna do ice baths.
Hank
What is the most starstruck you guys have ever been when either conducting an interview, someone coming to the office, or just meeting someone at an event?
Big Cat
I have one off top my head.
PFT Commenter
Starstruck.
Big Cat
I mean, Mark Davis in Vegas, we were. We were buffoons.
PFT Commenter
We were chasing him around.
Big Cat
We were. And we shouldn't have been starstruck, but we were. We're like, holy, holy, it's Mark Davis. Couldn't believe that hair in person.
Hank
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
We're. We're chasing him around malls in Las Vegas being like, Mister. Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis. We come on our podcast.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
It was a nice throwback, though, because it did make me feel like we were 30 again, like, just trying to scrape together whatever guests we could possibly.
Hank
Get on the show.
Zach
Big time.
Big Cat
Yeah. And, like, there's moments that I wish that we were. It is an unfortunate part of this job is, like, getting slightly jaded because I always think back about when PFT and I went to McGregor, Mayweather, and we sat next to. To Barry Pepper, who is the sniper, and saving Private Ryan. And, like, we're, like, hitting each other. Like, dude, that's the sniper.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
But.
PFT Commenter
But for real, that was a sniper.
Big Cat
That was sick.
PFT Commenter
Saving Private, right? That dude's awesome.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Boomer.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
First time I met Boomer. Big time. Star struck for that. Big time.
Big Cat
Starstruck. That was. Yeah. Like, doing a little Luca Brzzi when he, like, standing in the room before he got there.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
Hello. Schwam. I would like to give you this gift.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Big Cat
Of some salami and cold meats Brady.
Hank
Adam Sandler, KG together.
Big Cat
Adam Sandler, kg was that. That was Sandler. Sandman.
PFT Commenter
Sandman.
Big Cat
Big time is big time. All right.
Hank
I don't really understand this question. This question popped into my head the other day, seeing you guys in the gambling cave. What is the most universal thing that you guys do March Madness bracket. Have a fantasy team. Download the Masters app. It doesn't have to be sports, but curious to see what you guys think.
PFT Commenter
Like, the most normal thing.
Big Cat
No, the thing. No. Like, guys in general all do, fart, eat wings.
PFT Commenter
Fart on ourselves.
Big Cat
Bracket is up.
Max
Bracket is up there.
Tyler Schuck
That's harsh, man.
Big Cat
Is everyone very high up there? It's very, very high up there.
PFT Commenter
I'm trying to think super bowl squares.
Max
Because you don't even need to be a sports fan. People just fill out brackets just because everyone in their office is filling out a bracket.
PFT Commenter
You put anything on a bracket. Brackets are fun to look at. They're nice. They're. We should do our presidential elections via brackets.
Big Cat
Oh, here's one.
PFT Commenter
There should be. Yeah, like, 32 different names, and then you have to beat everybody.
Big Cat
The. I don't know. I know I do this every time, but try to get the perfect pump at the gas station.
Hank
Oh, yeah, Yeah.
Big Cat
I do that every. Yeah, I try to get it right on the zeros.
PFT Commenter
Mm, that's a good one.
Big Cat
That's one. That's, like, never. No one was taught. No one taught you to do that. That's just an innate thing that all guys have that they lust after.
PFT Commenter
Mm. Are you guys the same way that when you're. You're doing the volume on your tv, you like to stop at an even number? No, no, no, no.
Max
The gas pump. I. I just put the thing on where you can just hold it there so I can go sit on, like, sit back in the car.
Big Cat
Lazy.
Tyler Schuck
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Like you're saying you'll just put up, like, a 63 on volume.
Big Cat
Never that high.
PFT Commenter
But is there a number that you stop at?
Big Cat
I usually stop in, like, the 20s.
PFT Commenter
How loud are your speakers?
Big Cat
Pretty loud. It depends on the game, too.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I mean, I'm all. I'm living between the 50s and the 70s.
Big Cat
Oh, yeah. What are you. What are you at?
Andy Staples
That is so loud.
Big Cat
That's very loud.
PFT Commenter
Maybe I need better speakers.
Max
Do you have a sound bar?
PFT Commenter
I, I, I listen. That's a point of contention, but I.
Big Cat
Feel like that's really. Like, I'm in the 20s, 30s, 30s at most.
PFT Commenter
I got shamed into not having a sound bar a couple years ago by Bren Walker. And so, yeah, I didn't have a sound bar. And he was like, you don't have a sound bar? How do you hear the sound without a sound bar? So I was like, sure.
Hank
Blasted to 97.
PFT Commenter
I'll buy a sound bar. So I got a sound bar. But when I was purchasing the sound bar, there's a great deal on the sound bar website where you could get an open box, one that already been bought and returned for, like, 50%. So I bought that, and then that doesn't work. And then I just got ashamed and never bought another soundbar again.
Big Cat
Sounds like you should buy a sound bar.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I need a sound bar.
Max
So my sound bar came from Hank.
Big Cat
What are you guys living in? What numbers?
Hank
Oh, yeah.
Big Cat
11.
Hank
I feel like 17. 17 is like, my lucky number. And I feel like that I usually am around there where 17 is normal. And then I'll go higher, lower.
Max
Mine doesn't have numbers. It's just like. Is like louder or quieter.
PFT Commenter
But if you were to assign a number on the.
Big Cat
What do you mean?
PFT Commenter
On the meter?
Max
There is no number.
PFT Commenter
Like, how full is the meter?
Max
It. Because. Because it's on, like, it's connected to the sound bar.
Big Cat
It.
Max
It doesn't have numbers.
Big Cat
Do you guys have the number on your battery on your phone? Yes. No, I didn't forever until I.
Max
It's way better.
Big Cat
I saw that I. Someone, like, it went viral the other day. Being like, pick which one you do is like. I didn't know that was an option. That made me feel stupid. But now I have it.
PFT Commenter
I could probably use that.
Big Cat
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I'm shocked when your fingers over.
Big Cat
Oh, sorry.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I need that. Yeah, I need that big time.
Big Cat
One swipe. I'm. I've been doing. I. I converted a week ago.
PFT Commenter
That's pretty good.
Big Cat
Now I feel like a idiot for never being that.
PFT Commenter
I need to get it. I. I gotta get.
Big Cat
Yeah. Because there's nothing worse than seeing your battery on your phone in that, like, middle zone and being like, oh, I definitely have, like, 60, and it's really 40. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
I'm always swiping down from the top right corner so I can see the number. It lets me see the number when I do.
Big Cat
We're gonna save you some time.
PFT Commenter
I like that.
Big Cat
Okay.
Hank
Bless me.
Big Cat
Bless you.
Hank
What will Max do for Big Cat if Bears beat the Eagles twice the year and go on to win the Super Bowl?
Big Cat
Max will do for me. I don't think anything. I think I'll just be mad at me.
Hank
What is that?
Max
Yeah.
Big Cat
We got to focus on this weekend.
Hank
Yeah.
Max
This is one weekend at a time.
Big Cat
This is a one weekend at a time situation.
Max
Packer packers, good opponent. Niners, good opponent.
Big Cat
Got to focus on this. This weekend.
Max
Have there been. Have there been plans put in place if that does happen? Maybe.
Big Cat
Well, we were just Focusing on this.
Max
But we're focusing on this week.
Big Cat
Focusing on this weekend. Will we go to the game if it happens? Yes, but we're focused on this weekend.
PFT Commenter
We have.
Big Cat
But.
Max
And we're not. We haven't even talked about next weekend and if we would go to the game or not.
Big Cat
Right.
Max
And that we probably would.
PFT Commenter
Or where you would park.
Big Cat
Yeah. Yeah, we did talk about where we parked.
PFT Commenter
You haven't. No.
Big Cat
You haven't.
PFT Commenter
I did not hear that.
Max
We did not talk about where we would park to try and get out as soon as possible so that we can make it back to the show.
Big Cat
Yeah. Would be a banger. Pmtv. If we were to do that. That.
Max
But we haven't talked about that.
Big Cat
We will not talk about it. Okay, last one. That was the last one. Okay. Good show, boys. Numbers. This is. It's crazy. He doesn't do it anymore.
PFT Commenter
I know. 160.
Big Cat
We'll do 11 to the guy who says 11 never pops up.
Hank
22.
Big Cat
41. 30. 99.
Tyler Schuck
Put 66.
Big Cat
Shane, do you have another speech for us?
Hank
69.
Shane
I don't have a speech. No.
Big Cat
Shane, give it. What? What happened? Hold on. Let's pick the number then we gotta ask. 59. 59, anyone? No. Shane.
Tyler Schuck
What's up?
Big Cat
You heard the earlier part of the show.
Shane
I did, yeah.
Big Cat
Did he. Did. Did. Did Hank make you?
Shane
No, it was. It was this. The whole situation was a little coincidental. He did say that thing. But I had a. Like a week ago, I scheduled an apartment tour for 4:30. And I was gonna pick my girlfriend up before at 4. I was always gonna leave at 4. It just so happened that Hank left at like 1 and like came back. It was like 1 1:30. It came back at like 3:55. And when I saw Hank, I had my coat on already. So I was already like.
Big Cat
Were you tethered to the desk?
Shane
No, I was walking around, kind of pacing a little bit.
Big Cat
How are you feeling after Sunday night? You did not.
Shane
I would like to clarify my. My thoughts if possible because.
Tyler Schuck
Please.
Big Cat
Speech.
Shane
I was a. I was A little speech. You know, I was nervous in here.
Tyler Schuck
Had the.
Shane
The blood boiling. I was just. Just kind of.
Big Cat
What?
Shane
Not making a lot of sense.
Big Cat
What. Keep going. Right.
Max
I was.
Shane
I wasn't making.
Hank
A lot.
Big Cat
This is all.
Shane
This is all.
Big Cat
Why was his blood boiling?
PFT Commenter
Okay.
Big Cat
This is.
PFT Commenter
This is.
Shane
This is all I was trying to say. Okay. It. It isn't like an unknown fact.
Big Cat
Pft did this to you?
PFT Commenter
No, Hank did.
Shane
Okay.
Max
Shane's wearing the rings also. There we Go rings on it Is going on.
Big Cat
Try to get PT to say, you got this.
Shane
It isn't a mystery. Like, the last two Chargers playoff games, other than, like, the Falcons super bowl loss, were, like, the two most embarrassing playoff losses in NFL history. Or not NFL history, but in recent history. Anyway, what I was trying to do.
Big Cat
What line.
PFT Commenter
Do to sanction your line.
Big Cat
Line. Say your line.
Max
Just do your line.
PFT Commenter
What line?
Shane
What is happening, man? I don't know what the. Is going on.
PFT Commenter
Hank is with you right now.
Big Cat
Direct. Say you're lying. Jane, continue.
Max
Okay.
Hank
That'S my line.
Big Cat
Okay, All I was trying to do.
PFT Commenter
What's my line?
Hank
You know what his line is?
Big Cat
Got this. Shane, take off your head. So what's the line For a second.
PFT Commenter
All right, run it back.
Andy Staples
This is insane, man.
Big Cat
Every.
Shane
Every Chargers fan in the world is destroying me right now. I'm just trying to. Just trying to plead my case for what I was. What I was going for.
Big Cat
Shane, continue. What is it?
Max
Shane's getting so angry right now.
PFT Commenter
Let him.
Big Cat
Let him. We got to figure out this line.
Hank
You guys can do this. I know you can.
Big Cat
Headphones while finishing while.
PFT Commenter
Run the conversation back.
Big Cat
Hank.
Shane
All of us in here played high school.
Max
Wait, wait, wait.
Big Cat
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, wait. Hank, hold on, hold on. All right.
Max
Shame.
Hank
Hold he Rambl. Last one you say. Love you guys.
Big Cat
Oh. All right.
Tyler Schuck
Go.
Big Cat
Put your headphones back on. Put your head.
Max
Put your headphones back on.
Big Cat
All right, Go ahead. Go ahead.
Max
Okay.
Big Cat
All right, Shane, this is your big speech.
Shane
Yes.
Big Cat
You're ready to go.
Andy Staples
This is what I was trying to.
Big Cat
All Chargers fans.
Andy Staples
This is for Chargers fans.
Big Cat
Chargers fan.
Shane
Yes.
Hank
This is.
Shane
I'm trying to explain what I was going for. Obviously, it wasn't successful.
Hank
Okay.
Max
Y.
Shane
We all played high school sports.
PFT Commenter
Love you guys.
Hank
We.
PFT Commenter
Also. Happy birthday to Rand Paul and Blue.
Big Cat
Ivy Carter and James Winston. You got the Jameis Winston. He texted James Winston on his birthday.
PFT Commenter
Yep. That was.
Big Cat
That's the pft.
PFT Commenter
That was huge.
Big Cat
Incredibly.
Andy Staples
All right, all right, we have breaking moves.
Big Cat
Breaking moves, Breaking moves. John Harbaugh and the Ravens have parted ways. Oh.
PFT Commenter
Oh, okay.
Big Cat
So we gotta do a little of that somewhere at the beginning of the show. Okay.
Max
I think we should do it right now.
Big Cat
All right, let's do it right now.
PFT Commenter
All right.
Big Cat
So you're have to wait a second. Wow. I mean, we. We've kind of felt like this was coming a little bit.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, it's been weird, and it felt.
Big Cat
Like a Lamar Harbaugh situation. They were never going to get rid of Lamar. This was a true loser. Leaves town. Steelers versus Ravens.
PFT Commenter
So Harbaugh to Michigan, Kyle Whittingham to the Ravens.
Big Cat
I, yeah, that makes sense.
PFT Commenter
No, I mean, Kevin Stefanski, there's a, There's a new number one opening.
Big Cat
Yeah, this is. I, I. It makes sense to me in the fact it's a very, like, Andy Reid situation where I know Andy Reid had a bad year his last year in Philadelphia, but. But at some point, the message does not hit anymore.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, he's going to make somebody, some other team very happy.
Big Cat
So this is. Yeah, this is the number one job by far. By far.
PFT Commenter
By far.
Big Cat
Like, not even close.
PFT Commenter
That's like the most stable front office you can go to. They got the castle.
Big Cat
Yeah. Wow. Okay, now it sounds stupid. People are going to be listening to the beginning of the show being, like, you guys said, Titans and the Raiders. Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Whoops.
Big Cat
I mean, we're saying it right now. We're talking about it right now.
PFT Commenter
Yeah, I, I didn't know. I didn't think that this was going to happen. It felt like it's, it was maybe something that could occur, but I thought that the Ravens just would keep him around just because of inertia, just because, like, it's worked for so long. But that's what happens. And if you have, like, a good franchise, you get the expectations, you miss the playoffs. All the. That was happening before, that was kind of in the background, becomes a much, much bigger deal.
Big Cat
I feel like we're going to now see the Ravens, like, all the players and be like, we feel like new mission. All that in the off season. It might be time to buy stock in the Ravens. Yeah. Should I call Stavi real quick? Yes. If we can break the news to him. That would be incredible. If we broke the news to him. Okay, here we go. Shane. Just one more sec. Okay.
Max
Shane's gonna get his time.
Big Cat
It's gonna be after we record, but it's. He's gonna get his time. I don't think he's gonna pick up. He's a Hollywood actor. He's a big Hollywood actor. There's no way he picks up. It's too bad. Your call has.
PFT Commenter
Memes. How do you feel now about Aaron Glenn?
Big Cat
Oh, get him out.
PFT Commenter
Get hardball.
Big Cat
Get him in.
PFT Commenter
Yep.
Big Cat
Get him out. Get him in.
PFT Commenter
I think there's probably a couple teams right now that would like to fire their coach and hire Harbaugh.
Big Cat
Oh, yeah. Like, instantly. You should get rid of them. Shouldn't even be a thought now.
PFT Commenter
Do you think that Harbaugh, like, what happens if you fired Aaron Glenn and then Harbaugh chose another team?
Big Cat
That'd be okay. Then it just opens yourself up to other opportunities.
PFT Commenter
Do you think Aaron Glenn will be fired?
Big Cat
No, because they gave him a five year contract and Woody Johnson's a cheap. Are you. Hank, are you worried at all the John Harbaugh is now going to help Jim Harbaugh on the coaching staff? Another set of eyes.
Hank
No, no.
Big Cat
Shane, are you excited that John Harbaugh is going to help Jim Harbaugh?
PFT Commenter
No.
Big Cat
Oh, okay. All right. Well, Shane said his piece.
Max
No. Shane, now you go. Shane, now you go.
Shane
Is now now the time bolt up?
Big Cat
Yeah. Let's go. Okay. Let's go. Shane.
Shane
Okay, all I was trying to say.
Big Cat
You gotta do this.
Max
Keep going, keep going. Power through, power through.
Tyler Schuck
Okay.
Shane
All I was trying to say was that the last the two Chargers playoff games.
PFT Commenter
Love you guys.
Max
Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. I'm gonna need a power through.
Big Cat
I'll go number three. I'm gonna go 11. I also need a graphic of this hardball.
Hank
This is a workplace harassment.
PFT Commenter
Also. Happy birthday.
Big Cat
18'S been hot.
Max
Shane, go real quick. Oh, Shane, go real quick.
Shane
Okay.
Big Cat
High School, it's a podcast. Do you think you got rings on?
Shane
Do you think the 2004, the Red Sox, do you think they did not think about the year before when Aaron Boone walked him off? Do you think Peyton Manning didn't think about the Seahawks super bowl when he went later on against Panthers? Of course I wanted to use these moments, these embarrassing moments, these like historically, like in the last few years, the two worst playoff losses. I want to use these moments as fuel to fire the boys up. Like we always say, start of the championship dvd. Like, those are the moments, those two losses, those awful losses. Like, you got to use that. And you gotta like, you don't think Herbert hasn't thought about that. Like it's a chip on your shoulder, monkey on your back. Like, use that and fire yourself up and beat these.
PFT Commenter
That'd be crazy.
Big Cat
The Red Sox. The Red Sox are trying to break 100 year curse.
Tyler Schuck
To be fair.
PFT Commenter
That'd be crazy.
Max
Charger trying to break a curse too.
Big Cat
Yeah, but just do four interceptions against Texans. That was well said.
Shane
That was.
Big Cat
Well, love it.
Shane
That'd be all I was trying to say.
Andy Staples
That'd be like, love it.
PFT Commenter
That'd be a long dvd. If the start of the. The Chargers DVD was like halftime against the Jaguars compilation.
Shane
All the bad moments, Marlon McCree, all of them start of the championship DVD.
PFT Commenter
You know what you need to do, Shane. You gotta get. Philip Rivers should sign another one day contract with the Chargers now.
Shane
Get him at oc.
Big Cat
Fuck it.
PFT Commenter
Fire them up.
Max
Yeah.
PFT Commenter
Yeah.
Hank
I'm down.
PFT Commenter
Love you guys.
Big Cat
Well said, Shane.
Hank
Great job, Shane.
PFT Commenter
Good job, Shane.
Andy Staples
It's the holidays, y'.
Tyler Schuck
All.
PFT Commenter
And there's nowhere with more comfort, warmth and great last minute gifts than at Cracker Barrel.
Big Cat
I'm all about their cinnamon swirl French toast right now. It's a gift all its own. But yes, they have more clothing, candy and home decor for everyone on your list. Have you even started? Find all the more holiday joys only at Cracker Barrel.
Date: January 7, 2026
Hosts: Big Cat & PFT Commenter (Barstool Sports)
This episode features a packed lineup centered around the NFL’s Black Monday coach firings, a detailed preview of the upcoming College Football Playoff semifinals (with expert guest Andy Staples), and an in-depth interview with Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough. It also covers breaking news on John Harbaugh’s firing, the perennial challenge of NFL award debates, and the evolving landscape of college football. Interspersed throughout are the crew's signature humor, spirited arguments, memorable quotes, and FAQs from listeners.
Start: 02:07
Start: 63:08 (1:03:08)
Start: 90:46 (1:30:46)
Start: 11:02; revisited throughout, 34:36
Start: 41:23
Start: 129:04
Timestamps: After [143:00], and referenced throughout retrospectively
Notable Quotes
Maintains the high-energy, irreverent, “inside-the-locker-room” PMT atmosphere, with jokes layered on serious football talk. The episode features the hosts’ trademark blend of nostalgia, heated debate, sharp sports insight, and subversive humor.
This episode delivers a comedic yet nuanced breakdown of the NFL’s coaching carousel, playoff stakes, and the emerging power in college football. With an upbeat rookie QB, an expert CFB guide, sharply opinionated hosts, and hilarious recurring bits, it’s got something for both sports diehards and casual fans.
For more PMT, subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.