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- [00:00]
A
What it is. Welcome to planet Tyrus. This is my underground lair. See, we still got the gold. We'll work on some more accoutrement if I ever am in this situation again. But we are remotely, remotely doing my podcast today with the incredible. One of my favorite people that I have had the pleasure of meeting a couple times, the great coach Steve Mariucci. Those of you who remember him from Detroit, his days of Detroit Lions, he. His days coaching some of the most iconic football players in the history of the NFL with his time with the 49ers. And of course, you can see him on the NFL Network every Sunday, I think Saturdays too, sometimes. But he's a real fun guy to talk to and you guys are really going to enjoy this. Now what? For those of you who don't, obviously you were one of the. You were one of the more charismatic coaches. I think that's a fair assessment. You wore it on your sleeve out there, especially being in a football city like San Francisco. There's a. The bar is very high there. And then you kind of resurrected the Detroit program. I think that's a fair assessment. What, what was your inspiration to get into coaching? Because that's not something that, that a lot of guys that normally just. That's their thing, you know, it's either they played ball or were you a playbook guy? Like, what was your, what was, what was your path?
- [01:29]
B
So I, When I was growing up, Tyrus and you probably had the same experiences. You grow up and there's some people in your life that, that make a difference there. Somebody that you really respect or admire or you want to be like or whatever that is. And outside of my dad, my dad was a coach. Okay, Was a wrestling coach. He boxed and wrestled at Michigan State. But anyway, he was a high school wrestling coach. So I grew up as a coach's son. But the, the outside of my parents, the people that influenced me the most, that I loved the most were my little league baseball coach, my fifth and sixth grade basketball coach, my high school football and basketball and track coaches. Those kind of guys were like, God darn, these are stud people. I want to be like that. Okay. And so Tom Izzo and I grew up together in a small town in Iron Mountain. You know, he's over there at Michigan State.
- [02:22]
A
Oh, yeah, he is Michigan.
- [02:24]
B
We wanted to be coaches. We, we went to college, went to Northern, the Northern Michigan University, and we went to a Division 2 school just like you did, man. And so. And we, we wanted to be school teachers and coaches and, and that's at a young age, I felt that's what I wanted to do. And then our paths were different with Tom Izzo and I because he. He ended up at Michigan state for over 40 years now. And I bounced all around the place, all around the country at different colleges and different. Different pro teams for 30 years. So different. Different careers. But we both knew that we wanted to be a coach pretty early in life, really.
- [03:08]
A
And both of you are one of the, I would say, most respected coaches in your field. I don't think I've ever heard really anyone say anything bad about X's and O's when it came to you, which. And you were at two very. Just talking about your professional career. You are at Joe Montana's 49ers. And then with the exception of maybe Barry Sanders and Megatron, Detroit just kind of was one of those things that was. It never really got. They had moments that. But they never were considered like a powerhouse. Like, now they have a little bit of success, but they were always, you know, one in this. Oh, and this, you know, three in this. Six in this. Which. Which was tougher for you, dealing with the pressure of having to win in. In San Francisco or trying to build something from the ground up in Detroit. Because those are two very different paradoxes.
- [04:02]
B
Two different. Two different things completely, but nevertheless, both stressful. And I'll tell you why. In San Francisco, I was hired from University of California at Berkeley. I was only there one year. I was intending to stay there for a long time, but then Eddie DeBarlo and Carmen policy grabbed me. By the time that you're coming over here, it's like, whoa. And you mentioned Joe Montana. He's a good friend of mine right now. Steve Young was my quarterback when I was there, but Jerry Rice and all of those guys, I mean, like, what. And talk about pressure. Because they had won five Super Bowls already, right? And Tyrus. We won our first 17 home games, regular season home games, over the course of two and a half years. And you drive home. You drive home and listen to the talk shows and you feel like you're an idiot. I mean, there's just still so much criticism and so much scrutiny and evaluation. Well, we should have done this. We could have done that. I don't know why we didn't pass on third and two. I mean, it's like nonstop. Because the expectations, right? Are so. Damn.
- [05:09]
A
Yeah. It's super bowl or bus never fulfill.
- [05:11]
B
Or please everybody unless you just keep winning super bowl trophies. That's a good. That's a Good problem to have. You definitely prefer coaching a good team with high expectations. Okay. In Detroit, that's hurt the game.
- [05:25]
A
And across the board where one of the things that bothers me as I, as I watch and like I said, football, NBA, Major League Baseball, the media has lost respect for having a good team, having a great team. If you don't win the super bowl, you're not a loser. You know, it just drives me insane the way that the media, the media and sport, which is. I always think it's funny. It's. The guys on the field are the reason why you're able to have these careers where you get to sit and critique everyone most of the time with no on field experience to fall back on a lot of. Mostly. And it's constant. Like, if you're not Tom Brady times two, you're not any good. Like, you have a. A team every year. Like, I think if, if I was a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, I wouldn't have a lot to complain about because you, you make the playoffs literally every year. You got a chance to win it every year. You know, you. It's a good. You don't walk around with your head down because you didn't win, you know, five Super Bowls. Do you think that's hurt the, the sport that there's so much emphasis on you have to win a Super bowl or unrealistic expectations for young athletes?
- [06:34]
B
Yeah. And I blame my. One of my heroes, one of my idols for that. You know what? Vince Lombardi. I got all kinds of books on Vince Lombardi. When I grew up, I was a Packer fan. I don't know if you can see this right here. Take this off the wall. Hey, you know that little kid is right there? That's me. I'm nine years old. I'm getting. I'm getting autographs from Willie Wood, Herb Adderley, and L. Wow. All right. They wore different numbers because Lombardi thought that George Hallis was skunk in their practices. All right. So I love the Green Bay Packers. I still do. All right. He. But Vince Lombardi said, you know, the second place is the first loser.
- [07:16]
A
Yeah.
- [07:17]
B
And it's kind of stuck in our minds you're still a loser if you didn't win at all. But then I, Then I say, on the other hand, that's why in the Olympics they give a silver and a bronze medal. I mean, there's, there's something to be said about being really, really good and not having the top pedestal. Right. And so. But that's our. That's That's. That's America, man. Everybody wants to be the best. Right.
- [07:39]
A
And. Right. Yeah.
- [07:40]
B
And that's. That's a good quality to have. But I agree, the being really good and not winning at all sometimes is still. Is still satisfying in a certain way. Not everybody can win it, you know, and.
- [07:55]
A
No.
- [07:55]
B
And that's what makes it be pretty damn good.
- [07:58]
A
Yeah. You know, I was thinking about now you made. When you made the transition from coaching to the NFL Network, and I'm. I could be mistaken, but you might be the longest tenure there or you're giving them a run for the money.
- [08:11]
B
Second, because Rich Eisen was there.
- [08:13]
A
This one's first. Yeah.
- [08:14]
B
Network. Okay.
- [08:15]
A
And.
- [08:16]
B
And I was still coaching the Lions. And then. So I'm. I'm going on my 21st Super Bowl. By the way, that was fun meeting you on the red carpet last year.
- [08:25]
A
Oh, yes, it was very funners. That was good.
- [08:27]
B
I can't believe you grabbed me. Hey, let's go.
- [08:29]
A
You bailed me out because I did not want to talk to half the people there. They were a little weird. And I was. And I saw a football guy that I knew and respected, and I was like, mariucci. Yes, sir. Sir, you got a second? You know, and luckily, I.
- [08:41]
B
You come in this year. San Francisco.
- [08:44]
A
I don't know if I'm gonna do it or not. Like, Fox kind of tripped. I'm not a interviewer, and they promised I wouldn't have to do interviews. And next thing I know, I was on the red carpet, and I'm like, I'm a fish out of water. It was a. It was. I'm glad I got through it. I got lucky. I got to speak to some really cool people like yourself and. And Jerry Jones. But for a lot of the young kids, when they came up, I didn't. I was like, I had nothing to. I had nothing to ask them. You know, I was just like. When I see them, I had absolutely nothing to ask them. I was like, you know, I'm looking for legends. And, you know, it was nice. Was. Kittles was cool. He was really cool. But I was happy to see the guys, the coaches and stuff. Those are the guys I want to talk to, because you've been in the network for a long time.
- [09:23]
B
Did everybody know you? Tyrus?
- [09:24]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And the fun part was most of the media did, too. Boom. There's Tyrus.
- [09:29]
B
Are you kidding me?
- [09:30]
A
Yeah.
- [09:30]
B
There was a lot of Jerry Jones, America's. America's Team, that series on Netflix. Did you see it? It's Unbelievable. You gotta watch it. Yeah.
- [09:42]
A
So what do you miss the most? Like, because, I mean, again, one of the things I like about you, let me read. When you're on the NFL Network, is you're still coaching. I feel like you're, you're, you're coaching up or coaching down or being. Your criticism come from a place of coaching. So I, I think it has more depth to it than somebody who's just running their mouth or just saying, oh, this guy's not good, or he shouldn't be in the league. You're very like. I always feel like the coaching hat is always on. Is that an accurate depiction when talking about it? Or you're, or you're doing the X's and O's. Was it a big difference or change?
- [10:16]
B
Here's, here's the difference. And you know this. Being in television, when you're the head coach, you can talk as long as you want. Man. If I want to rant for two hours to the team, I just do it.
- [10:26]
A
Right, Right? Yeah.
- [10:27]
B
Or, or say go in after practice, whatever. It can be long or short in television. You got, you got somebody in your ear and you've got 30 seconds to make a point. So when you have 14 things to say, you better pick the best two and say them right. Yeah, that's. That was a huge difference for me. To be concise and to be, to have an abridged version of your opinion because you can't talk all day long. If you notice Tyrus, every, Every football set, and not everyone because, Because Amazon has this change from that. Okay? But every football set over the years has had, you know, a quarterback and defensive player, a receiver, a receiver, a coach, a host. You know, for, for NBC, it's Tony Dungy. For Fox, it was Jimmy Johnson forever. For cbs, it's Bill Cower. Right. Rex Ryan over there at espn, and I'm with the network, I'm the coach. So they want to have a difference, a different viewpoint from offense, defense, quarterback, and coach. So, yeah, I'm supposed to be the coach. You know, now the NFL Network, we're a little different because we, we screw around. So I can't believe they pay us to do this sometimes because we dress up like stupid things and do a lot of crazy things and. But we want to be different than all the other shows that all the. Just talking heads straight across the board. We do a lot of silly things.
- [11:48]
A
Well, it's supposed to be fun. You're. You're talking to people who are, who worked hard all week and they're, they're looking forward to see their team play on Sunday. It doesn't always need to be pinstripe ties and, you know. Yeah, breaking it down. Nas Charismatic. I think that's one of the things that when you look like you're having fun on television, the viewer is having fun. And you know, when you, when you come off negative, and that's, for me, it's a big. And again, it's, we live in a world of panels, we live in a world of two year points. But the spontaneousness and, and the. I think when you, I think you still see you have love for the game. You're not a burnt out coach who's on TV collecting a paycheck. Like you still have a love for the game. And how do you maintain that for so long? I mean, you never get bored with it. There's never a time you're like, oh man, I'm good on football.
- [12:40]
B
And in thinking of that, I started playing football in fifth grade and many of us did, and then played youth football, played high school, college, and then, and tried pros and wasn't good enough. And then started coaching. So 30 years of coaching and now 21 years of TV. So I owe football everything, right? I mean, it's, it's, it's what I've done my whole life. It's, it's put food on our table. Right. And it's so to, to not love, it would be just too fake. I could, I could. You could never survive and earn a living if you don't love what you're doing. Right?
- [13:20]
A
Right. Yeah. Or at least not be. Reach the heights that you reach.
- [13:24]
B
And the funny thing too is when I went to college, Northern Michigan, I tried to quit. I tried to quit my first training camp because it was so hard. And I was, I don't know, six, seven string. And I said to my dad, pick me up. I don't, I don't like it anymore. And there's no way I'm going to play here and I can do without it. Come and get me. And he, he drove up, he drove up and he said, get back in your dorm room. And he said, let's talk about this. And, and he's essentially saved my life because there's no way, I mean, if he would have let me quit if my dad was soft. And he said, he said, okay, come on home, we'll figure something out. Or my mom, I don't know. I don't know what the heck I would be doing because staying another day, I stayed. And it went through the tough times and then you come out the other end somewhere, somehow. And it was so beneficial that I had a strong, strong parents that didn't let me quit so easily. And, you know, the moral of the story was just because times are tough, you can't just throw in the towel, right?
- [14:28]
A
I can still remember my whole life, I can still remember the dread. Why I could smell the morning grass at 7am stretching, knowing that Antelope Valley is this. Yeah. No, this was courts. Now, when I got my high school, when I was not in trouble, we had a coach came in named Coach Remy. And he was a fitness monster. Like he. You couldn't just be big on the O line. You had to be in football shape. What. And what. We didn't understand what football shape was before that. So his thing was, if you're truly in football shape, you can do 25 up downs, four quarters, then go practice, right? And you had to build up. So you do your stretches and you do stuff. And then you. You sitting there and it was always doing the butterfly and then you go to put your hamstring up. And I would always. Whenever my helmet hit the ground, there's that sound with your ear pad when you hit that ground and then you smell that grass. And that's when the terror would start to overcome me because I was like, I'm not going to survive. And it's the high desert. It's already 85 degrees and we still got to do practice drills, scrimmage, but we're about to do four quarters. And it started out you had to do 10 and. And then each day added one and one, and then, then it was 25 and you had to do 100 at the end of. And this is when you were. This is 2A days, not now, where it's like half a day. It's changed a lot, which I'm. Hey, listen, technology, it should change. I'm not complaining, but I do think there was a hundred. It was a hundred kids that tried out. When we got to around 19 up downs a quarter, we were down to 48 kids. They just. And. And then we became dogs. We became something different. Then it was trying to beat everybody, see who could get up faster, you know, and it just, it changes you and that, not that. And I think those guys that quit will. And that's what football is necessarily about, making it to the highest level. Because the lessons you learn about yourself while you're playing ball will carry with you forever, if you're willing, if you're willing to grind it out. If you're willing to push yourself further than you can go, you might be crying while you're bear crawling the first week trying to get through because every time your knee hits the ground, you got to do an up down and you're wearing white practice pants and you can't lie, you know, but you, you. When I, when I can remember those things, I, I'll laugh or if I run into an old football buddy, we don't remember the games anymore. Don't remember the college games, don't remember the arena game, but I remember the up downs and the practices and the 225 test because I remember the fear. And then when you did was just elation. You were just on a whole. But then you felt like you could do anything. And I think that is why football means so much to so many men. Whether you got the honor to play on Sundays or not is irrelevant. If you played high school, if you played popcorn, there's lessons that will go with you. And you don't always know when they will be there for you, but it's amazing when you do. And you're like, that's that football mentality. I'm. I'm gonna be the first one in the last league. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna work out when I'm tired. I'm gonna show up to work on time when I don't feel like it. I think those are things that. And again, you have to have great coaches or good coaches or consistent coaches, which I was very lucky. Every one of my position coaches or coaches that I got to spend time to, I still am in contact with, which is because they, they are pseudo dads in a lot of ways. And for some of us, they were the only positive male role model that we had in our life. And disappointing your coach was for me was horrible. The last thing I, I missed the block. I wasn't mad. I missed the block. I was mad if coach saw me miss the block, you know, and so those lessons when you. There had to be guys that, that I'm sure the list is long, but the guys that were. That you've coached that maybe you were like, I don't know if this guy's gonna. Has the mentality, I don't know if he's gonna make it. And they just bought into your system and surprised you. Who would you. If you. Is there one particular ballplayer that stands out to you? They're like, I don't think this guy's Gonna cut it. And he just. Or he was a problem and all of a sudden you just see him develop under you. And then whether he ended up being an all pro or not or just an all pro human being. Is there a guy that stands out to you or a couple? I'm sure there's a long list, but.
- [19:00]
B
Well, you just said a mouthful.
- [19:01]
A
Yes, I did.
- [19:02]
B
I was just trying to. When you were talking there, Tyrus. I'm trying to envision a 350 pound guy doing up downs in 100 degree heat. That must have been kind of fun, huh?
- [19:12]
A
Well, a lot of shirts got changed that day. And then you go to the water trough and this is when the coaches would. You had the water thing and the little sprouts.
- [19:21]
B
You had a tougher task than the kicker and that little skinny guy over there. Right, because.
- [19:25]
A
Oh, our kickers had to do it with us.
- [19:28]
B
Yeah, yeah. But they were pushing £300.
- [19:30]
A
No, no, they were a buck. Oh, five. And them. It was fun.
- [19:33]
B
You're. You're so right about. I've said it a million times about football in general. Not everybody can play football. Right. It's not, it's not for everybody, but for the guys who. Not just the pros or the college. It's such a small percentage of people who play football. I love high school football. Friday Night Lights is awesome to me. And even some of this youth football too. I don't like kids playing when they're really young.
- [20:01]
A
Yeah, I'm with you on that.
- [20:04]
B
I've been 15 years on the Player Safety Advisory Panel for the NFL. And what's the main thing right now? Concussion concussion protocol. Right. And so we've changed in the game, changing rules, we're changing how many. How much you hit in practice and during the season and train all of it. And we found that when the younger kids start beating their heads against each other at fourth and fifth grade, that that could have some ill effects. Right. Later on. And so. So I'm a proponent of starting tackle football a little bit later. Anyway, you mentioned about how many life lessons you can learn from this damn sport. And it's. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And it's not just learning about yourself and how, how far and how tough it can be, but you push through it. It's about being accountable to that guy right there because he's counting on you to do your job and you're counting on that guy to do his job. And so the teamwork. There's so many lessons in terms of football has so many different kinds of positions. You're not the same as the tailback or the corner. No, linebacker. You're all mentally different, physically different. You come from different places in the world and have different ideas about everything. Religion, politics, all of it. All of it is different. Right. But then you get in the locker room and then you say, have one common purpose. Is that to kick somebody's ass. And it brings people together like no other. Even. Even the fan base. And so there's. I just. I just think football is such a good thing for. For America. And think about it. You think other countries can have football?
- [21:38]
A
No.
- [21:39]
B
I mean, there's an Italian league over there and they play a little in. In Europe, but there's some American players and American coaches over there. Right. But it's. It's. You have to make such a commitment for football from. From the number of players to uniforms, to expense to fields and coaches. And it's a huge commitment. Only America can do that right now. And so just love it. You talked about, you know, I coach when you coach for 30 years in college.
- [22:06]
A
Yeah. Like I said, I'm sure there's a long list of guys, but there's a.
- [22:09]
B
Lot of guys, man. Let me show you a picture. I got pictures on my wall.
- [22:15]
A
I love it. Yeah, this is great. I've been checking it out the whole time.
- [22:18]
B
Look at this. So look at this picture right here. So that's a timeout. We're taking a timeout. Right. And who's in there? Well, young Rice sitting on his helmet, you know, like, hey, don't sit on your helmet. Damn it. Okay.
- [22:32]
A
Yeah, you're not allowed to do that.
- [22:34]
B
Then there's to right here. Then there's J.J. stokes from UCLA. There's the goat, Jerry Rice. This is Mark Harris from Stanford. Okay. This is Greg Knapp, God rest his soul. He got hit by a guy that was distracted driver and got killed him on his bike before training camp. Here's Ty Dittmer. He won the damn Heisman Trophy.
- [22:54]
A
Yeah.
- [22:55]
B
So this is a. This is. This is just a timeout. And. And it's. And it's. You sit in there and go, like, I'm talking to these guys. And. And this is awesome.
- [23:05]
A
You know, you're not just talking. They're looking to you for answers.
- [23:09]
B
Look at me. It's like. And I'm just thinking in my mind how damn lucky I am to be around these guys and sharing the same sideline. And it's. And it's such a. That's why football's Such a cool sport. And you know what? Not everybody wins at all. And then the guys, you know, there's a, there's a balancing act between individualism because some guys have contracts with incentives. The more I catch, the more I get paid.
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A
Right.
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B
The more right tackles I make, the more I get paid. So there's a little bit of selfishness that's, you know, that weaves into their contracts. I wish more contracts would say if we win the division, you get this bonus.
- [23:46]
A
Yeah. More team oriented based stuff. Yeah.
- [23:48]
B
Like coaches contracts. Right.
- [23:49]
A
Save quarterbacks and running backs a lot of money on watches for their old linemen.
- [23:54]
B
Exactly. Yeah. I mean I think these quarterbacks, hey, wow. I know quarterbacks who have taken their guys to Jamaica, bought Rolex watches, bought trucks. But shotguns by, I mean, for their line, it's just the lineman, man. They don't buy them for the kicker, they don't buy them for their receiver. They buy them for the lineman. Right.
- [24:14]
A
As they should. No one cheers for us. You know, when he throws that, when he throws that 50 yard bomb to the receiver and everyone's cheering or like he couldn't get two steps back who wasn't for us. So, you know, we're not pretty, we're not. We weren't sexy, but we, we. But also I always laugh because they always talk about how smart the quarterbacks were. And I'm always saying, just so you, the average lineman knows what everyone's doing. He knows what route the receiver's running, where the back's supposed to be. So when goes wrong, it's going to be the center or the guard or it's going to turn to the guy and be like, where were you? Like, they, that's the, you know everything. Because it's all going to go on you and no matter what. So you might as well know what everyone's doing. So you know who to holler at in the locker room at halftime. Like, hey, you keep missing your chip block, bro, there's going to be a problem. So. But again, you only get that way through hard work. And then again, as I was, I'm dyslexic. Football helped me a lot. When I first started football, the co my coach had to write an L and R on my arm. And he was like, because I go in the right, he like, I had those Newman gloves. He's like, took the end. He's like, l. R Understand. Like, because in the moment, publicly, right now.
- [25:24]
B
Huh?
- [25:24]
A
Yeah. Oh yeah. Hey, listen, my dyslexia has taken me a long way I see things differently, and I think it helps me a lot on tv because everyone's thinking one way, and then I say something completely different. So I always say one point.
- [25:35]
B
What you just said. When, you know. You know the Wonderlic test that they. They take with the college kids coming out in the draft to get ready for the draft, The Wonderlic scores that we all use. When I say we all are talking about the National Football League teams for evaluations for college kids coming out, typically, the quarterbacks have the highest Wonderlic scores in general, but the offensive linemen are right next to him. And what you were saying, they got to be. It might not be, you know, GQ models, but they're smart. Okay.
- [26:09]
A
Yeah. Yeah. You know what's funny is during the whole period.
- [26:12]
B
Call them. We call them, and then they've gotta. They gotta be nuts, right? All of them. I had a guy, Tyrus, I. He wasn't as big as you, but pretty damn close.
- [26:20]
A
Kevin Gogan, he was to go.
- [26:23]
B
He was once on Sports Illustrated with some guy's leg in his teeth, as the dirtiest player in the National Football League goes. He was like 683-40- and he was absolutely crazy.
- [26:38]
A
No, he. He was with the Niners. I was with the Cowboys, too, for.
- [26:42]
B
A little bit, I think, with the Cowboys before us. And then. Yeah, I grabbed them when I was with the Niners.
- [26:46]
A
Yeah, no, him and the Beast, they were. Alan was another one. I got to work out with him a couple times.
- [26:53]
B
Barry Allen.
- [26:53]
A
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [26:56]
B
He bench. Everything.
- [26:58]
A
He benched. There was some controversy. But listen, when you can put £700 on your chest and a guy puts two fingers on it, I don't think you should. You don't have that argument. You know, I got as. I got as high as 6, and I'm. I was good. You know, I retired after pounds. Yeah. But nowadays, the guys with all the. And these guys were. That's the one thing I. Alan never wore the suit. You know, the. All the suits and stuff that. Yeah, yeah, Coach. There's some chicanery going around with some of these big bench presses. They wear, like, a bodysuit, and it, like, it pulls everything in so, like, you can, like, snap it up a little faster or whatever. Alan was doing this stuff in a tank top. Like, there was no. It was just straight up. I was always natural. A lot of guys, you know, it's harder for linemen to get into big, big numbers because we have longer arms. Right. So you got a little short guy who just has to go like this, like, like that. Except for. Well, we saw what Mandami did. But the bench press stuff.
- [28:02]
B
Did you train harder in WWE than you did in football? Train different?
- [28:06]
A
Yeah, because I learned from my mistakes, from trying to get by on anger and talent. One of the things that, that I wasn't, I was coachable, but I was defiant at the same time. Angry in football? Yeah, I played, I played football angry. For me, that's how I, I was getting it out. All the things the world I couldn't control was coming out on the guy in front of me. So while. But then off the field I was very unfriend. Like, like I didn't form long lasting friendships because my life, everything was always moving around, moving around, moving around. So when I was on the field, I was a great teammate, but when everybody wanted to go out, I never wanted to go. So I was always kind of alienating myself and like coaches dinners I never wanted to go to, like, just a lot of knucklehead stuff. And then when I started getting looks, when I remember the first time New York, I'll never forget New York jets scout came to practice and I thought he was there. Look, we had a running back named Mark Yuli who ran like a 4:2. He was a big guy from Miami. And I was like, oh, he must have a look at Mark. But Mark was over there and I was like. And then my coach said, you know, if you ever shut up and stay low, this guy be taking me to dinner every night, you know. And then it came to the part where I started getting looks and I even got a couple letters. And then my attitude just changed from like, hey, this is an opportunity to, oh, this is going to happen. And that's when you don't, when you don't have guidance in your life, when you don't have a strong family, that's when you got to really rely on your coaches. But at that point, my coaches were like, we're not focused on what's happening when you leave here. If that's going to be there, it's going to be there. You need to focus on what's going on here. And one of the was good enough to learn. I could cut corners at practice and still throw guys around the field, you know, and those. But guess what? The guys in the league aren't, you know, and I had that. And I, I took things for granted and was very arrogant, angry, was trying to be, you know, Tupac the football player, you know, like just so many, so many different things. When I Look at it. And then I got a real, real taste of reality. So I had a missed call from the San Diego Chargers in my dorm room and didn't get an agent. Didn't. Didn't even know what I was going to do. And the guy called me back. He left me a message and it was on Friday. I didn't call him back until Tuesday.
- [30:49]
B
Oh, geez.
- [30:50]
A
When I did, guess what he said? He said, son, this. We had a spot. It's not there anymore. And, huh.
- [31:00]
B
What year was that?
- [31:02]
A
Let's see. 95, 96. The Chargers were good. I think they had just got. They either the year, that year they were going to the super bowl, but. Or maybe the year before. But I know best was the thing. But there was a position coach that had saw me play against Portland State. And although Portland State had whooped us, I think was 56 to 3, their all star nose guard that I got drafted. He got zero tackles. I ate him up pretty good. So I started getting attention, you know, but the worst thing for me was getting attention when I was.
- [31:36]
B
The moral of that story was return your phone calls promptly.
- [31:40]
A
Yeah. And don't, don't believe your own hype and don't think that you're, you know, and because here's the thing I learned real quick about the NFL. It's a track meet. They don't stop for anyone. For every one of you, there's a hundred guys behind you without the problems. And then of course, I chased it. I played, got calls from every Arena Football team and was going to sign with Toronto Argonauts. I remember that. And then it was. I had to get a job at a strip club or something like that to get. Because linemen, they didn't want to waste. They're. They only, they only signed receivers from the state, so you had to like, try to get some. Some shitty visa citizenship. It was like all this, all this stuff. And then there was this NIFL league that said, hey, look, you can just work on online stuff. And. And because Arena Football League, you had to sign a deal to where you couldn't leave in the season. So if you got a call from the Redskins and you're playing on an Arena Football League, they're like, nope, you can, you can go the workout afterwards. I'm like, you're out of your mind. Like, I would be on the first thing smoking. So I chased it and finally I got to Louisville, Texas, and everything seemed to be going in place. I got picked up by an agent. I had to work out with the Bills and then we had a call back and then so we told Toronto to no thank you. And then there was I think Quincy Carter was the quarterback for the Cowboys. And then O line. A couple of scouts from over there were looking at me and then things were going like I was like, hey, I might be able to turn this around. Would have been breaking a lot of rules. And then the craziest thing happened. I was doing a workout. I ran probably the best 40 I'd ever. I think I ran a 5 one that day. Everything was going great. I was in great shape. I had been training with my buddy Martin Simmons who was a center for University of Colorado, rest his soul. He was also like we were a bunch of misfits that all had potential but had done something stupid. Not to the point where like no team would touch you, but just up here you weren't. We weren't good. And he had to grow up a lot. He had to grow up a lot. And ruptured my appendix in Dallas, Texas. Didn't know it, didn't think about it and it almost killed me. So I had to have emergency because I didn't know what it was. No, we didn't know what it was. And it's a non football injury so you're not going to get any money or anything like that. And when they cut the, when they took my appendix out, I had a lot of nerve damages that went down into my, my leg. So and I'm trying to. And I get a call from I think it was Charleston Swamp Fox's arena football team like and they're like hey, we're not going to. You don't have to sign a deal with us. You just play as many games as you can and then when they call you you can go. So I didn't, I went down there didn't even tell them about the appendix. And within was it three games started bleeding inside drop. My drop step was gone. Couldn't lost feeling in my leg. And then at that point I realized that party was over. But when you look back on it you that could have been my golden ticket to be a miserable human being the rest of my life. To be that close and it all gone. And I could have blamed it on everybody in the world. So when I got to the wwe I'm like this is not going to be my. I'm not going to make the mistakes I made with the NFL because the fact that I even got a look says something and then I get a second look at another thing which is 1% of 1% to do. But like I was like all the football work ethic that I had and forgot about, I put in to the wwe. So when I started going with Rob, John Cena's trainer at Hard Knock south, that's basically you try out for that to work to earn the right to work out there. And that's where I pushed. All my numbers went up. I mean we, all we did was wrestle, watch tape, train, repeat. That was it. And that's when I kind of found my ground. But I look back and I think, man, if I just would. But when you're young and you don't have guidance and that's what I always talk to the. Whenever I talk to young athletes. Listen to your coach. Even if he sounds wrong, he's right. Don't listen to aunts and uncles and, and agents and all these other or ex players. You got to listen to the people that know and you got to listen. You got. It's, it's. Sometimes a coach is brutally honest. The coach told me, he's like, I don't think mentally you could handle the pressure of the NFL. He goes, I just think you're just too much of a loose cannon. I think, you know, when someone tells you that you don't want to hear that or if they do tell you that maybe they're challenging you to be better. So you kind of wisdom and experience, you got to have failures. And if you're able to pick up failures and turn them into a wonderful wrestling career, in that wrestling career, when that starts to. You look at that door. My body hurts all the time. I don't want to be 50 years old. Wrestling and gymnasiums across the country, you know, because NFL is the only thing. When it's over, it's over. There's no senior league in the NFL. Baseball, you can play basketball. Wrestling, dudes wrestle to their 60. It's horrible. I think it's horrible. But going into, hey, you know what? I was the smartest lineman on my line. I, I could call, I call plays for the quarterback. Quarterback got nervous, I'd flip it, you know, come up to the line, he would be. They moved me from tackle to guard because they said since you know everything so much, you can call the up downs.
- [36:52]
B
Quarterback.
- [36:53]
A
Yeah, you're, you know, and then the quarterback come up and I'll be like, flip it and I'll hear you. Sure, flip it. You know. And then so that mentality, being in the books, being in the film room, then I use that football skill set in wrestling, film study, working out, being on time, being there, except without the. Without the arrogance, being humble, remembering what it felt like to hear, sorry, son. Team's full click wasn't even a goodbye, you know, well, remembering that, that lesson from whomever that scout was for the San Diego Chargers. Thank you, sir, because you changed my whole outlook on life. That was. That was a painful experience, but it carried forward. And then all of a sudden, Greg Gutfeld asked me to come on a comedy show to make some jokes. Now, I was always the dude in the locker room making all the jokes. I always had something smart to say because of the lineman. And I was bigger than most of the guys that I made fun of. And then all of a sudden, that turned into that quickness and wit that was on the field, that was in the ring, is now in a chair. And the chair doesn't hurt. Ring in the field hurt. So. But how am I there? Football mentality. Had I not played football, never would have made wwe and I most certainly probably wouldn't have ever done with Fox News. I'd probably be sitting somewhere in Dallas, Texas, still blaming the coach that didn't give me a job for my life. And we see it all the time. You see guys that can't let it go. And so for me, the failure in football, as painful as that was, because there was no plan B for me. I went to college to play football. I got my teaching degree, so I had something to fall back on, but I went to college for football. And when I got into trouble in junior college and because I didn't take sats or acts, because I was homeless at the time, and when I got these big schools wanted to give me, oh, you got to sit out for a year. You got to get. You got to take this, you got to take this. You got to take this. And my coach knew me, my offensive line coach, he said, I am worried about you being out of football for a year in California. University of Nebraska at Carney can take you right now. You can go right into spring ball. The NFL will find you go. Because at least I know in Nebraska you're going to be safe, you know. And for his resume, it would have looked a lot better with. If I would have went to usc. It would have been better if I wanted to went to byu, although I wasn't doing the whole. I went to a couple of the classes and I was like, yeah, this Mormon thing's not for me, but. But to be. Or Clemson or Oklahoma, you know, you get the fancy wax letters and you're, you're feeling so great about you're going to be a D1 ball player. And then they're like, you didn't take SAT or ACT, so you got to take these core classes. You got to take this. So you're going to have to do two semesters. Then you know, you can get a scholarship. And at that time I was sleeping on couches. So my online coach. The best thing for you is you get a dorm room, you get a meal card and you get a chance to play ball. That and Nebraska, University of Nebraska Carney has the same facilities as the University of Nebraska. So you have no excuse. And they did. Their weight room was phenomenal. When I saw their weight room, I was like, I'm in nice. Yeah. Oh, phenomenal facility in the Midwest. I would tell any kid, the West Coast, North, east, south, go play. Go learn to play ball in the Midwest. Now obviously, you know, because that's a lineman talking, you know, because I like playing in the cold, my sleeves on, off. But the football mentality has been to this day. Like my son is 64 and he's playing baseball. His strike zone's getting bigger, but he's already getting, you know, when's he going to play well, because he was the big kid growing into his body, putting him on the football field as a, as a former coach, I thought was a bad idea. Like play baseball, work on your footwork, do jiu jitsu. Then when we get to high school, ninth grade, you can try out for football because by that time you're the same size everyone else. Because they want to put him in where he's the size of 12 year olds and he's 10. He's gonna get smoked. You know, he's 12 and they want to put him with 14 year olds. He's gonna get smoked. So I was like, football will be there. If that's your path. It's not your path, then it's not your path. You know, but speaking. You got me all fired up talking about football.
- [41:15]
B
I'm in awe right now of how excited you are talking about football.
- [41:18]
A
I always love it. Always love the game.
- [41:20]
B
You just like, are fired up.
- [41:22]
A
Yeah, I am. Well, speaking of fired up, do you ever miss being on the sideline since we, we went there? Do you ever miss making the calls?
- [41:32]
B
Yeah, of course, of course. You know, the things that you love most. And I think you'll, you'll get a similar answer with most coaches. What do you miss? You miss being in the, in the arena when there's 70,000 people going crazy. Whether they love you or hate you, you just love it. You miss the camaraderie you have with the guys in the locker room and through thick and thin. Right. You love that. I, I miss some guys more than others. You know, you as a, as a position coach, you know, when I coached quarterbacks in Green Bay, you know, I'm coaching Brett Favre, and in, you know, the quarterback, you get close to them, you know, because you're living a small, your family, you become the head coach. You can't get close to every guy. Too many guys. But yeah, I miss, I miss the relationships with the, with the players like that. I don't miss. I, and you miss the challenge, too, because nothing's easy, right?
- [42:35]
A
Yeah.
- [42:35]
B
Whether you're a good team or bad team, there's. It's nothing's easy about it. What I don't miss, I didn't, I didn't like dealing with the media so.
- [42:44]
A
Much really, that you're so damn media.
- [42:48]
B
It's like, now I'm one of those guys. And so that's why, that's why when I'm on air Tyrus couple weeks ago, couple weeks. I don't, I don't bash people. I don't criticize people very often at all. I, I, if, if they're rarely corrected, I, I will say, you know, he'd like to have that throwback or, or he's, he's got a ways to go or they've got to put more talent around, whatever, because I don't know why. I just more, I'd rather compliment a guy and, and talk about his future and potential and, and he's getting better and work that he's got to do, then bash him to kill him. You know what I mean?
- [43:31]
A
Well, that's what, that's what coaching is.
- [43:33]
B
Wired that way just to criticize these guys, because I know so how hard it is like to be a quarterback in the National Football League. You mentioned it earlier. There's only half of them out of the 32 that start that are franchise quarterbacks. Okay? There's 8 billion people in this world, and there's only a dozen or dozen and a half guys in the whole world that can do that job.
- [43:58]
A
Right.
- [44:00]
B
Then there's the other guys that might be a step down. They're trying to be that. They're trying to keep their job. They're trying to prove themselves. And you know what? They're pretty good. There's not a lot of people like that either. So for me to say that guy sucks and he's terrible and get rid of them is really unfair to the sport because he's already in such an elite category, right?
- [44:22]
A
Yep. The fourth string guy was the best guy on the field, wherever he came from. There's not. There's no guy in the NFL who's just on because he has a good personality. The 12th guy on the bench in the NBA will can dunk on anybody else around him. Like, they. That's what bothers me about the media, and I agree with you so much. They talk about these guys, they bring them down to a level where they. If they're not Patrick Mahomes, there's a problem. No, no. Patrick Mahomes is a once in a lifetime guy. If you're a fan, each team gets one. The 49ers got lucky, they got two. You know, but, like, very rarely do you see a guy that transcends the game, and the media loves to do that. And that's one of the reasons why I watch you, because I know I'm going to get analysts and. And you're going to give the player dignity and respect because they've earned that. Whether you. Whether they score 20 touchdowns a year, they never get out. They're on special teams, their sacrifice and accomplishment. Every one of those guys had to go through hell to get where they're at. And for every one of them, there's. There's guys like me who were close but not close enough, and then there's the guys who thought they were, and somebody finally had to tell them, you know, saying, life is funny that way. But when people, When I see people on the media and it's. It's everywhere. I don't do it on Fox either. I try very hard. Now, I make jokes about stuff, but, like, I won't go after someone just because I have a difference of an opinion. I think that's. It's. I think it's just cheap tv. I think it's. It's like a cheap shot. It's like a leg whip, if you will, where you just attack somebody. Because that's easy. It's so easy to point, to talk trash about somebody. You could be like, oh, wow, those great. Those gold curtains around you are terrible. You know, you could just find. You could find anything to attack people on. It's hard to point, like, what you're saying, build around him, do this and that, because then you also give the fans hope. Like, if I was like, I'm. I was a diehard New England Patriot fan, My whole life and we always lost. And I remember when they played the Bears in the Super Bowl, I had to get on that school bus after I talked all that stuff. Now Irving Fryer and Brute Armstrong and, and I was running my mouth about they were going to do this and they were going to do that.
- [46:39]
B
Bruce Armstrong at Louisville when I was, when he was in college, that was.
- [46:42]
A
I had every one of his football cards, every one of his football.
- [46:47]
B
Great guy.
- [46:48]
A
And Jackie Slater had every one of his.
- [46:50]
B
He was a tight end for us and made him into a tackle.
- [46:53]
A
Yeah, well, he was, had some of the best footwork ever. Slater, same thing. Slater played until he didn't want to anymore, which is amazing.
- [47:03]
B
Jackie was there. Yep.
- [47:05]
A
And Duvall Love.
- [47:07]
B
So are you still a Patriot fan? Do you like this Drake May kid?
- [47:13]
A
I like the, the team as a whole.
- [47:15]
B
He's awesome, man.
- [47:17]
A
I think he's, I, I, I think the defense haven't figured him out yet, so I always wait. But I think he's pretty, he's pretty good. They're definitely paying attention to him now. I think he kind of snuck up on everybody. I think the teams weren't scheming for him. Now the test is going to be now when they have the meetings. He's the top of the, he's the conversation. So we're going to see probably in the Next. Is this 8 and 2 thing, is it just schedule or is it now now the time where he's going to start getting keyed on and stuff like that. But just the fact that New England's in the conversation. We're in first place. I'm pinching myself because after Tom got divorced from, from, from his coach and went and went to Florida.
- [48:05]
B
Okay, good. No, no, no.
- [48:07]
A
That's none of my business. All I cared about is Tom. The football player is a saint. But when he left home and moved to Florida. Because that's kind of what happens when parents get divorced. Mom stays with the kids and dad has to move to Florida to get a job. But then, you know, as New England Patriot fans, we're seeing pictures of dad smiling in the sun make, you know, and then he wins the Super Bowl. That to me from, that's kind of, I think that super bowl is the most consequential of Tom Brady's legacy because he did it without. You can't, you can't say, well, it was the system. Well, it was. Oh, he left and went to a place.
- [48:44]
B
That was huge for him. Yeah.
- [48:46]
A
What do you, and again, to be so successful at the pro level, you yourself included, to go back down to college. Do you think that's a really tough adjustment for a coach? Because especially today, I mean, more so now.
- [49:02]
B
So I, I did that and I, you know, I was with the. I was with colleges. Usc, Louisville.
- [49:09]
A
Yeah.
- [49:09]
B
Cal State Fullerton and then Cal. Anyway, then I went to the. Coaching the packers and then I came back to college as the head coach at Cal. Okay. And then I went to the Niners. College sports was different then. 10, 15, 20 years ago is extremely different than it is now. I don't know, Tyrus, if I could coach in college right now. And I, And I, I'm all for, I'm all for players getting compensated, you know, because they bring a lot of. In the big schools. They bring a lot of revenue for university.
- [49:44]
A
Yeah. And also the NFL is not promised. So I agree with you there, but I do think it's handled.
- [49:50]
B
Tyler, this. So right over here, Brock Purdy, right? He was Mr. Irrelevant. He was the last kid drafted when he came out the quarterback for the Niners. And he was on his baby contract, his first contract. Rookies don't make as much as they used to. They have a rookie salary cap right now, rookie pool. And so he was making like $954,000 a year. Okay, it's not chump change, but for a starting quarterback that's in the MVP race and they got their team to the Super Bowl.
- [50:18]
A
Yeah.
- [50:18]
B
Contender. That's nothing. Okay, this was last year. Now, there were three dozen backup quarterbacks in college that were making more money than Brock Purdy.
- [50:31]
A
Yeah, that's a problem.
- [50:32]
B
We say that again. Three dozen backup college kids were making more money than Brock Purdy. Now, as a coach, team building is what you want. You know, you don't treat everybody exactly the same. I didn't treat Jerry Rice the same as some walk on free agent guy, okay? Because he earned his respect, he earned his stripes. But for one guy to make bazillions and one guy to be starving, you know, just all he has is his scholarship and he has to figure out how to fly home for Christmas. You know, it's, it's, it's hard. And then the transfer portal, are you kidding me? These kids can be at one place, get a bunch of money from some booster and then bolt the next year or the next semester and go someplace else.
- [51:14]
A
Integrity and accountability out the window.
- [51:16]
B
That's why you're seeing the savings of the world. And the Kzyzewskis and the Roy Williams and the Jay Wrights and All those kind of old school guys that, that were, the coaching was really important. The school was academically was really important. The chance of winning a championship is important. It's out the window because now it's about, what are you paying me? If this school gives me 50 grand more than that school, you're out of luck. I don't care how good you are, I'm going where the money is. It drives me crazy.
- [51:47]
A
Yeah. And well, because it goes against the fundamental values of football, which is dedication, integrity, you're there, you know, like you put the time in, you earn the right to be on that field. And there, there needs to be a scale. I don't, I don't think one guy on your college team needs to be a multimillionaire and the rest of the guys know it's a team sport. You make it to NFL, you can get your individual money. I, I think the team makes a revenue and you divide it up, you know, because then guys would stay because you got, the team wins, we win, the team loses, we don't win. I think you can do it. There's a scale, you know, quarterbacks, linemen, whatever, it can be done the right way. And then if a guy wants, if one guy's selling jerseys more than the other guy, fine. That's your money, bro. That's your money. You know, you get jersey sales or whatever, but across the board I think you could do that. And then you, and you back it up, you support it with academics. If you've got a, all conference tackle who's a straight A student, then yeah, maybe his scale is a little higher than the guy next to him who's a C student in the JC transfer. You know, like there's, there's, there's levels to it. I think you could be done right sometimes. I think it was thrown out there like that for this in fact to exactly happen. So where then people be like, see, told you this was a bad idea. Because I feel like there wasn't much behind it in terms of structure. And football is the one game where structure is everything, Everything.
- [53:08]
B
And the lawyers want on this one because the right to work, you know, and you can make your money this and that, but, but you're right. If they just have a governing body, some kind of board or a commissioner or whatever that is, where just like in the pro sports, they set rules, there are contracts, there are limits, right, with salary caps and, and the good guys get the most money and the other guys get some money, but it's not out of Control. It's. Right now, college sports is the wild, wild West. The NCAA really needs to look at itself and. Or somebody needs to look at them and just say, hey, this is BS Right now. Let's get it straightened out.
- [53:42]
A
All right, well, before I let you go, I'd be. I'd be a complete idiot if I didn't get some predictions from you, so. All right. Okay. Are the Bears for real?
- [53:53]
B
This. These questions are not for all the gamblers out there watching this.
- [53:56]
A
No, I don't. I don't. I don't gamble. I'm a horse, Dad. I don't gamble.
- [54:00]
B
I don't either. The Bears are better than expected, and I think Ben Johnson's getting a little bit more out of Caleb Williams now, and they're gaining some confidence. And yeah, they're going to. They're going to be the spoiler. I don't think. I don't think they're a Super bowl contender just yet, but I think they're a possible playoff team that's going to screw up somebody season. Yeah.
- [54:21]
A
Do you think this is fun? I'm just, I'm playing. I'm talking football with you. Like, I'm on the network right now, so I'm going to enjoy this.
- [54:28]
B
Okay.
- [54:28]
A
You got. I think the Detroit Lions are the diamond of that division still Green Bay, one week they look like they invented the game of football. Next week they can't. They call the wrong play. Is it still Detroit? Green Bay, Bears, The Vikings? I think the Vikings made a horrible mistake letting Darnold go, but, you know, because they had the young kid. But I, I don't think they're. I think they're a little ways away, in my opinion. But that division, to me, seems to be the most highly contested from top to bottom.
- [54:59]
B
It's probably the best division. Yes. Because the Vikings are pretty Damn good still. J.J. mcCarthy, you're talking about. He's. If he stays happy, he's only playing.
- [55:08]
A
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, I don't, I don't know why they had to rush that. You know, like, it's a weird thing when you have a kid with potential who has a tough injury, you sign a free agent who plays. I mean, you're. Jefferson had a career year. All your receivers, you were, you know, best record in the league. So, you know, playoffs. Gotcha. It happens. But then to just completely just walk away from it, I thought was a little. But again, I'm not cutting those checks either.
- [55:32]
B
You know, they were going to have to pay the kid, a lot of money. Sam Darnold to stay. And then that keeps JJ McCarthy on the bench for how long? Like Jordan Love or Aaron Rodgers. They just weren't willing to do that. And here goes Sam Darnold over to Seattle and they're kicking butt. He's playing like he did last year.
- [55:46]
A
Yeah, I use Seattle. I, I, they're, they're scary. They are. They might be the most complete team. You know, I keep going back and forth because I'm still, I still think Buffalo is going to figure it out. Kansas City's still going to be Kansas City. I mean, it doesn't matter. I mean, because they, they don't really start playing. They don't really start playing until week 11.
- [56:11]
B
Huh?
- [56:12]
A
Kansas City doesn't start playing till week 11.
- [56:15]
B
Yeah, the real season starts really, you know, like Thanksgiving and on, and then, then it's, then it's serious. Okay, but the Baltimore Ravens, you know, they got all banged up. They were missing seven starters on defense for a while, plus Lamar Jackson. Now all of a sudden, they're getting healthier.
- [56:31]
A
Look, they put hands on Minnesota. I mean, that was. I, everyone was expecting that. I was watching and I was surprised by that. All right, so let me get. Who comes out of each division in the super bowl this year, do you think?
- [56:44]
B
Who are each division?
- [56:46]
A
Well, who's going to play for the afc? Who's going to be in the nfc? Who's playing in the Super Bowl?
- [56:53]
B
Come on, man. I can give you some choices. I don't know the team in the afc. I think it's going to be somebody like either the Ravens. The Chargers can tease you, and they can be pretty darn good, too, at times. You're talking about. Let's see here. Let me look at some other. I don't know if Pittsburgh is that team or not. You know, they're kind of up and down, right? New England's got the best record right now, but they, like you mentioned earlier, they only beat the Bills and the Bucks. Every, all the other Wins were against sub 500 teams, right? I love the Buffalo Bills, but sometimes they just, they, they just disappoint, right? They got Josh Allen, and he's a beast. And I don't know if he has enough weapons. Be honest with you. Let's see. The Denver Broncos are better than expected, right? But they're good on defense and inconsistent with Bo Nicks at quarterback. Don't count out the Chiefs. Chargers, yeah, that's, that'd be it in the afc. The nfc.
- [58:00]
A
That's Kind of a flip of coin, right?
- [58:02]
B
I like the Lions like you do. That's a good, young team. That's a really good young team. I'd like to be Jared Goff. He goes to the super bowl with the Rams, and then they go, well, you're not exactly what we need, right? We're gonna go get Matthew Stafford, who I love to death, and he wins the super bowl for them. And they. And they traded all this stuff and threw Jared Goff in the mix, and now he's gonna end up with the last laugh because he's. He's on a heck of a team. He's like an MVP guy again. And they're young. They're not going anywhere.
- [58:34]
A
No, they're not going anywhere, I think. And they've been a little beat up, too, huh? Detroit's been a little beat up, too. They're starting to get the guys back.
- [58:43]
B
They had, like, 16 guys on IR last year.
- [58:46]
A
Yeah.
- [58:46]
B
Defense. And they. They found a way to win some games, and now they're doing it again. Dan Campbell's doing a hell of a job. He, you know, he bites kneecaps and everything. He's a tough guy.
- [58:54]
A
You know, he's a fight. You know what, though? But I. I bet the players love it.
- [58:58]
B
Absolutely love it. You know, the Niners would have had maybe the best team in the league had they not been so damn banged up with Nick Bosa getting hurt and Fred Warner and Williams now their first round pick. If they, if they lose. Christian McCaffrey, it's a wrap. But he's. He's the beast.
- [59:15]
A
I think Mac Jones is playing really well, too.
- [59:17]
B
That's the, that's the talk right now. Because Brock Purdy's toe injury, the turf toe injury, is healing and he's practicing and it's like, do we. Do we change quarterbacks? Because Mac Jones is really getting it done. He's really looking good. He's a good kid. I have a Down syndrome. Football camp that I, that I. We host over here in San Jose at Valley Christian High School. And Matt came this year with some of the other 49ers. He was so good with those kids. He's. He's just a gem. Love the kid. Who else in the nfc? Forget about those Rams. Yeah. Matthew Stafford's an animal.
- [59:53]
A
The Eagles are still the Eagles. They've been a little banged up. Free agency, I think, hurt them a little bit. They lost a lot on defense. A lot of guys went and got paydays. Rightfully so. You win the super bowl, go get your payday, Cowboys Phillips.
- [60:07]
B
That helps them. And they talk. Brandon Graham then out of retirement. Come on, we need your help, man. Yeah, they're trying to load up for a run and they got a chance to do that. Yeah. Yeah. They're playing against the packers the other night, right. And the packers are the team that proposed a rule change to eliminate the tush push. Right. So playing against. Right. They're playing against the Eagles. It's the tush push ball. And sure enough. Oh, yeah, the Eagles. Tush pushed them.
- [60:33]
A
And that's a tough. I mean, just that nose guard's got to be a forklift. You know, that's. You know, that's the. You got to get underneath everybody. You would think, instead of complaining.
- [60:46]
B
Everybody else, though, it's. It's amazing.
- [60:48]
A
And that's just your O line. Their O line's doing something that no one else is doing. They're doing some kind of crawl bench. Some. They're dragging. They're pushing sleds on all fours. They're doing something. They're. Listen, I guarantee you there's something because it's changed. Both centers are doing it. So that means. Because Kelsey, he retired, the new guy's in there is the same thing. So there's something. They're training coach. Their weightlifting coach. There's something that they are working on. They're. The little niche that they found. They're digging. They're doing. I wouldn't be surprised if they're doing bear crawl drills with. With 315 pound weights dragging behind them. They got something up. I wouldn't tell anybody either. But because it's just. It's as basic football as you get. You can't cheat that you're getting underneath and moving the guys in front of you. The other part is the only thing I was. The only argument when I look at it would be because I know when I. The few times I had to play nose guard, I had an annoying linebacker who would always try to shove me into the center. So. But it would knock me off my. I'd be like, what are you doing? He's like, well, you call it a pile and I can make the tackle. And I'm like, don't push me anymore. Like, don't touch me, because it was driving me crazy. And then once we figured, I was like, all right, if you're going to do it. So if I thought maybe defensive guys need to start pushing their nose guards underneath because that's what's happening. Center's, you know, you want to tush.
- [62:08]
B
You want to push tushes from both sides.
- [62:10]
A
Yeah. The other side is the fact that your quarterback can squat 750 pounds. That also is a big.
- [62:15]
B
You know what, the guys pushing them from behind are a tight end and the running back. And they're pushing, you know, so they go, would you, if you were a coach, if you were an offensive coach, Tyrus, would you take all the biggest son of a guns you have on your football team? Defensive tackles, big guys. I need 350 pounders and put them on your offensive line to snap the ball and push. Push. Would you put the biggest guys on the team?
- [62:38]
A
Not. I would put the guys that can stay the lowest. So I probably. That's a lot to ask for a big six, eight tackle. But if you got a couple of six, three, six, four centers and guards, because all they got to do is get down and crawl, that's the other thing too, is you, if you were going to do that, to put it. Low pad wins. Football is very simple game. Low pad always wins. You can be the strongest guy in the world, but if you're catching like this, you're going to get stood up. So nose guards got, I think the defensive tackles and nose guards, they got to put their helmets have to be on the grass. They need to be breathing in turf. They have to get so low because if you eat that center up, they're done. It's just no one's, whatever they're training, whatever they're doing in Philly to get those centers that snap off the ball and that low and getting that much power generated from them. And again, the center's probably squatting 600, 700 pounds. Your damn quarterback squatting 700 pounds. You can't, you know, if your quarterback's not doing it in the weight room, then he's not going to get that kind of push. Jalen hurts is a beast in the gym. It makes up. It makes up for some of his. You know, you can say maybe he's not the. The greatest pass. He's a Super bowl mvp, so kiss my ass. But the, the point is, like, he's so physically strong. Whenever they criticize a guy who's won a championship, I'm like, stop, okay, stop. You can't take it away from him. But when you have a quarterback, I think that's the secret to that. The reason why they do it so well is that he is uniquely different with his leg strength compared to other quarterbacks. And he doesn't get beat up as much. And I think just because he's just. He's just a beast. So I would have a. I would maybe teach a running back how to do that. If I was playing with Baltimore, I'd be like, hey, Henry, how do you want to take a snap? You know, because he's another guy with tremendous leg strength, and I think that makes the difference. I would. I would go small guys up, not some. You're not a small guy if you're 6 3. But I would take. It used to be like, where's Wool Fork when you need him? You get a couple will Forks in there and get underneath that stuff. You're gonna. It's. You couldn't do it to him because he was this. But he was solid, you know, but he was this high off the ground. So in my opinion, it's just getting those guys that can get that low. But again, I don't think the tush push is effective without Jalen hurts. I think he's the X factor because he's so damn strong.
- [64:56]
B
Okay, I buy that. Yeah. So, I mean, for you watch.
- [65:00]
A
Sure.
- [65:00]
B
Why? Why? When I'm watching you on Gutfeld, you got your leg up. You got your leg up like this. And you got your. You got your.
- [65:07]
A
My pant leg. Okay. That's a huge.
- [65:10]
B
Like this. What. What is that?
- [65:11]
A
That. That is from ball. That is from playing football. That's from playing football in the 90s, in the 80s, bear.
- [65:20]
B
And one has pants on it.
- [65:22]
A
I don't know how it happened again. Dyslexic. And my football coach used to get on me because I would forget right and left sometimes when I would get nervous. When I first started playing football, I was terrified. Like, I was. I went like I was just a dog chasing the tire. And it would be like, 23 dive, and I'd come off the ball and be like, three is left. And then, oh, shit, you know? And then. So. And then a coach got pissed at me and wrote right, left, and then I just started at practice. I would always put my right pant leg up. So I remember this is right. So it just kind of. It was just a weird little thing I did. Just one of my quirks. Because I would be in my own head. Because when you first play and you know this, when you first play, you're terrified, you know? And then you. Then you go from terrified to like, this ain't so bad to. Then all of a sudden you're having conversations like you're at. Like, you're at a buddy's house on the field. Your confidence builds. You understand the game more. You're more confident, your body, your footwork's better. So for me, I would just. I was. I always either had my pant leg up or a towel. Like, the receivers had towels. I always had a towel on my right side. Because if I ever got in my own head, if I was so focused on something, I'd grab the towel and be like, up, right, going right. Okay, okay.
- [66:34]
B
I want to know, though, how that has anything to do with talking about Nancy Pelosi or somebody on.
- [66:38]
A
So what happens is that's my comfort. I walk around the office all day with my pant leg up. And it's just. I've always been like that. Ever since I played ball, I was wherever I get. I. My legs aren't the same color. I've been doing it so long, so. And it drives my wife absolutely insane. She hates it. So we. She likes to call me about five to 10 minutes before I go on air. Sometimes I don't know if you experience this at all, but, you know, to talk about some first world problems, and I'm like, can this wait for 40 minutes? And then I'll, you know, give you all the attention. I'll talk to you about why doordash didn't come on time. So, you know, and. And trying to make solutions. And I didn't even think about it because normally I would just pull it down. And because I was on the phone, I wasn't paying attention. I went out and I did the show. Didn't realize it, but then when I got. When it aired that night, social media with the conspiracy theories about why my pant leg was up was so insane that it was everything from where I was signaling to conservatives to start training in the hills for a revolution. That was my favorite one. It was all this crazy stuff, and I just didn't feel like telling anybody, like, so just run with it. But it's as simple as that. It's just something I've always done. And a lot of the guys that I played ball with, we always report. Plus, we always were in sweats. We weren't rich kids, so you had to. In the 90s and the 80s, you didn't. You didn't bedazzle. You just did something different. One pant leg up, all of a sudden your sweatpants is cool. You know, like, it's. All of a sudden it's not sweatpants from Kmart now. It's, oh, he's got his leg up. He's cool, you know, or, you know, you show off your. The Long socks in basketball, because that means you could shoot long distances. So it was just a silly athlete thing. And then for me, now that I'm a. I'm an old man now, and then I'm starting to do the. I got the paying the bill walk from a lifetime of playing football and wrestling. The pant leg is all I got left. I can still pull it up.
- [68:34]
B
All right, I. I didn't know that. I don't know if anybody knew that.
- [68:37]
A
No. No. So I hardly ever tell anybody. I always laugh. I always like to hear the conspiracy theories drove Judge Janine crazy. She would, like, pull your damn pant leg down. Grow up. Stop being a kid. And people will come up to me like, hey, like, what's that? What. What does it mean? And I'm like, your life is so great that you have time to worry about what I'm wearing on my right leg. Like, what a wonderful life that you have, that you have time. You know, things are good. The lights are on in your house, everyone's got food in their belly. And I'm happy to tell you the reason why I wear it this way is because. Okay, that's good. Means a lot.
- [69:14]
B
Yeah.
- [69:15]
A
But. And my. None of my kids do it, so it didn't pass down. They all think. They all think is ridiculous. But, no, it's cool. Sometimes it's better. Sometimes it's better to be yourself and.
- [69:26]
B
Be a little crazy.
- [69:28]
A
Sometimes it's better to be yourself than be cool. Because as long as my paneling's up, I know I'm ready to go. And I just started, and then now it's become a. It's become a trademark. So maybe I'll mess with everyone's mind and switch it up. I'll left leg up, right leg down.
- [69:42]
B
Blow it all up, Whatever gets me.
- [69:44]
A
An Emmy, you know, Theories, for sure.
- [69:46]
B
Like, you're going to quit or whatever.
- [69:48]
A
Yeah. Sir, it has been an absolute pleasure. Absolute pleasure. One of my favorite.
- [69:54]
B
Hey, I hope I see at the red carpet at the super bowl this year, too. Make sure you grab me. Okay. If you do.
- [69:59]
A
Yeah, a thousand percent. Like I did last time. I was so happy to see you because it was like, influencer, influencer, influencer, hall of Fame coach. Yes, sir. I want to talk to him. Like, I just. I had nothing to say to Tik Tok. I was like, no, I don't even have that stuff. So I don't even know what. I didn't even know you guys watch sports, so that's one thing I did learn a lot of people go to the super bowl and they forget there's an actual game going on, so. But no, it was an absolute pleasure and thank you for doing this today. Really appreciate it.
- [70:29]
B
And it's a pleasure getting to know you better.
- [70:31]
A
Yep. And I look. I look forward. Look forward to your predictions this weekend. All right, man.
- [70:37]
B
Have a good one. Okay, Tyrone, you too.
- [70:38]
A
Thank you so much, sir.
- [70:42]
B
Sam.