Hour 2 - The NBA's Tanking Problem, Jason Garrett

Summary

The Dan Patrick Show — Hour 2 (Feb 11, 2026)

Episode Focus:
Dan Patrick and the crew discuss the NBA’s tanking problem, the aftermath of the Super Bowl (with a particular focus on the Patriots’ game plan), quarterback value in the NFL, and feature an in-depth interview with Jason Garrett, former Cowboys coach and NBC analyst.

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Episode Overview

This hour dives into the challenges of NBA tanking and its impact on the league’s product, reflects on the Patriots' offensive struggles in the Super Bowl, and explores major questions facing NFL teams during the offseason—especially concerning quarterback contracts. Former NFL coach and current NBC Sports analyst Jason Garrett joins the show to provide insider analysis on these topics and to reflect on his experiences with quarterback decisions in the NFL.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Super Bowl Fallout — Patriots’ Struggles & Coaching Critiques

[03:42–07:23 & 08:49–12:54]

• The crew revisits the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss, especially Will Campbell’s struggles at left tackle and the lack of in-game adjustments by New England’s coaching staff.
• Dan Patrick emphasizes the importance of players addressing the media after tough losses, citing examples of sportsmanship and accountability from past athletes.
• The Patriots’ offensive line, featuring rookie starters, could not hold up against Seattle’s defensive front, yet coaching did not adapt.
• The group speculates about what Will Campbell might have said if he spoke to the media postgame, raising questions on team and coaching responsibility.

Notable Quotes:

• "You get paid to do this... the fan bases deserve to hear something from you."
  — Dan Patrick [07:48]
• "Seattle spotted a weakness; the Patriots didn’t react. They didn’t change anything."
  — Paul Pabst [09:25]

2. The Sam Darnold “Chip on the Shoulder” Marketing Pitch

[05:04–07:47]

• The crew pitches a humorous idea for a Sam Darnold commercial campaign—a play on people always saying he plays with a “chip on his shoulder.” Todd (“Fritzi”) imagines Darnold in an ad for a chip brand, flicking or eating a chip off his shoulder after finally winning.
• The segment is light, playful, and shows the show’s signature mix of sports and comedy.

Notable Quotes:

• “It’s so simple and perfect. It will work.”
  — Dan Patrick [06:58]
• “He’ll have a chip on his shoulder no longer because he’s eating it.”
  — Paul Pabst [07:18]

3. Listener Calls & Trivia Banter

[13:23–16:57]

• Listeners call in with sports trivia (like most home runs by a baseball family), and playful banter about championship parade policies in schools continues.
• One caller riffs on endorsements for Drew Brees (“Febreze hasn’t picked up Drew Brees?”), which the crew jokes about.

4. Interview with Jason Garrett — Breaking Down Coaching Decisions

[22:36–35:42]

• Jason Garrett joins the show to dissect the Patriots’ lack of offensive adjustments against Seattle.
  • He highlights that Seattle had a tougher road to the Super Bowl, sharpening them for the big game.
  • Expresses surprise that New England didn't change protection schemes or offensive philosophy to counter Seattle’s pressure.
  • Discusses the importance of “protection plans” in high-stakes games, emphasizing adaptability in coaching.

[27:36–32:42] Quarterback Value — The $35M vs $55M Debate

• The crew debates whether they would rather have a good QB at $35 million or a great one at $55 million; Garrett is emphatic:
  “Great for 55. Those guys make such a difference... If you got one, you pay him. The worst thing is you’re paying $55 million for a guy who’s not elite.”
  — Jason Garrett [27:52]

• On why teams overpay for unproven QBs:

  • “You start to feel this pressure... from the outside. Oh, you got a guy or he flashed for you. And you really got to be in your building and evaluate it hard. … You have to be careful because the only thing worse than not having a quarterback is having the wrong one that you're paying a lot of.”
    — Jason Garrett [29:23, 31:53]

• The shifting (and sometimes panicked) landscape of franchise quarterback decisions in the NFL is discussed, with skepticism toward teams rushing into huge contracts.

Memorable Segment – Drew Brees & 'What If?'

• Garrett recounts nearly bringing Drew Brees to Miami, reflecting on decisions to pass on Brees (due to injury concerns) and instead sign Daunte Culpepper—a sliding doors moment for multiple franchises.
  • “Football history could have been different if Drew Brees came to Miami when I was coaching down there.”
    — Jason Garrett [33:00]
  • On betting on Brees:
    “The fact that it’s Drew Brees makes you think—this is the kind of guy who’s going to do everything possible to get himself right. Sure enough, he only threw for 60,000 yards after we had those discussions.”
    — Jason Garrett [34:20]

5. The NBA Tanking Problem

[43:30–51:26]

• Dan Patrick opens a conversation on the prevalence of obvious tanking in the NBA, especially with the incentive to land franchise-changing young stars.
  • “Teams are being obvious. It feels like… we’re just going to sit our team down. We’re not going to play in this game.”
    — Dan Patrick [44:38]
• Debate on whether the NBA or the commissioner can reasonably address teams that are “organizationally tanking.”
  • Examples include the Utah Jazz sitting starters, the Wizards’ ongoing struggles, and marquee players missing games for nebulous reasons.
  • “After a while, if they’re not playing, I’m not watching, and you’ve got to win me back.”
    — Dan Patrick [46:20]
• Discussion extends to the impact on the league’s business partners and what, if anything, could be done (e.g., changing lottery odds, punitive actions, qualification requirements for postseason awards).

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If you took away their draft pick unless you came up with something different… it's not the two worst teams.” — Dan Patrick [49:45], on possible solutions to tanking.
• “The only thing worse than not having a quarterback is having the wrong one you’re paying a lot of. So it’s probably better to take a breath on some of these decisions and let them prove it to you.” — Jason Garrett [31:53]
• “I can say I got an upset stomach. Fritzi pulls that all the time, and I believe him.” — Dan Patrick, joking about athlete excuses [51:10]

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Important Timestamps

• Patriots Super Bowl Loss & Will Campbell's Struggles: [03:42–12:54]
• Sam Darnold "Chip" Marketing Pitch: [05:04–07:47]
• Listener Calls & Trivia: [13:23–16:57]
• Jason Garrett Interview: [22:36–35:42]
  • Seattle vs. New England breakdown: [22:36–27:36]
  • Quarterback value debate: [27:36–32:42]
  • Drew Brees Miami 'what if': [32:42–35:42]
• NBA Tanking Problem: [43:30–51:26]

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Podcast Tone & Style

The episode maintains Dan Patrick's trademark blend of informed sports analysis, light-hearted humor, and genuine fandom. The conversations are candid, conversational, and occasionally self-deprecating, striking a balance between in-depth insider insight and fun, approachable banter.

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For New Listeners:

This hour provides a snapshot of the Dan Patrick Show's broad sports interests and wit—touching NFL coaching philosophy, quarterback market dynamics, audience engagement, and the confounding issues facing NBA fans today. Jason Garrett’s candid perspective as a former coach is a highlight, and the back-and-forth on tanking and sports marketing encapsulates why the show remains a staple in sports talk radio.

Transcript

[Dan Patrick]

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[Paul Pabst]

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[Dan Patrick]

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[Jason Garrett]

We're here in New York City with T Mobile for Business recording another episode of Revisionist history about how 5G network slicing strengthens trust and connections across worldwide industries.

[Dan Patrick]

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[Paul Pabst]

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[Dan Patrick]

Was an exam that I felt like I could not miss and I wasn't gonna be able to re take it another day, which would be terrible for a teacher to do something like that.

[Paul Pabst]

But let's say you were in denver and you're 11 years of age and the Broncos just won the super bowl and it's an unexcused absence. If you go to the parade, well.

[Dan Patrick]

You'Re up in the stakes. I don't care about perfect attendance or anything like that. I was always very concerned about my grades. And as big as a Bronco fan as I was since like age 7 or 8, if there was a big midterm or final or test that was going to be a big part of my grade, I would probably go to school as lame as that sounds.

[Paul Pabst]

All right. 8 7, 7, 3, DP show email address DP danpatrick.com Twitter handle @DP Show Good morning. If you're watching on Peacock or the NBC Sports Network and listening on our radio affiliates around the country, let's recap our ones poll question and then move ahead to hour two. See? Would you let slash encourage your kid to sick out in order to attend a championship parade?

[Jason Garrett]

90 of the audience say yes.

[Paul Pabst]

And should school should schools close for championship parade days? 65% say yes. You know, 35% saying no, though. Yeah. What if a teacher wants to do it? I mean, we're talking about the students. Oh, they got to have a personal day. They're going to have A cough there, Marvin.

[Dan Patrick]

That's why there's pto.

[Paul Pabst]

Fair enough. Fair enough. All right, a couple of phone calls in here. Todd, you want to give the marketing advertising campaign for Sam? So Sam Darnold went to Disneyland, and then he was serving chicken fingers behind the counter of Raising Cane in Seattle. And I know that's a really popular spot. I haven't had Raising Cane. Uh, maybe they'd like to be a sponsor of the show. But Sam Darnold was behind the counter serving up chicken tenders yesterday. Yes, Paul.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah, there's hundreds of people in line at the local Raising Canes. And then Sam gets out of the suv, goes behind the counter, and starts chopping it up with people.

[Paul Pabst]

Yes, Todd.

[Dan Patrick]

But I thought he proved he wasn't chicken, that he wasn't seeing ghosts anymore, and he won the Super Bowl. But it just seems like you want to stay away from chicken.

[Paul Pabst]

How about we set up our pitch?

[Dan Patrick]

We could do that.

[Paul Pabst]

All right. Elevator pitch, where I've only got. And you know, that's where you have the time when you get on the elevator, and then by the time you get off the elevator, you've made your pitch to the. The marketing kind of got to get.

[Dan Patrick]

To the point fairly quickly.

[Paul Pabst]

You would not do. Well, not elevated.

[Dan Patrick]

Unless. A big penthouse that could go up the Empire State Building elevator, maybe.

[Paul Pabst]

Okay. All right, so tell the audience what you told us earlier this morning.

[Dan Patrick]

Okay. I was thinking, Sam Donald obviously wins the super bowl, and we've heard all these things about all the other teams he was at, and. And, you know, seeing ghosts and everything. And we asked on. When he was on the show, and many people have asked him, don't you play with a chip on your. You know, everybody's criticizing you. Play off Sam and all that kind of stuff. Playoff Donald. So why not? Even though he denies the thing about the chip on the shoulder, this time, he doesn't. Paul, help me flush this out. This time, he does have a chip on his shoulder. A giant potato chip on his shoulder. And Ruffles or Lays or Wise or Pringles or some chip company should get involved as soon as possible and get in touch with Sam Donald's people and have him do a campaign with a potato chip on his shoulder, and they can play off the whole chip on the shoulder thing. And that's my.

[Paul Pabst]

That's your elevator pitch. All right. Wow. Paulie's giving you a round of applause.

[Dan Patrick]

It's so simple and perfect.

[Paul Pabst]

It's.

[Dan Patrick]

It's. It will work. You just silence a guy eating A bag of chips. You pan up to Sam Darnold in full uniform, and he flicks the chip off his shoulder. He goes, not anymore.

[Paul Pabst]

Black. No, he didn't flip it off. He grabs it and eats it.

[Dan Patrick]

Okay, even better.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, you can't waste a late lay's potato chip.

[Dan Patrick]

We're workshopping. That's even better.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah. So he'll have a chip on his shoulder no longer because he's eating it.

[Dan Patrick]

But then they put another chip on his shoulder because if it's lays, you can't eat just one. So now you're constantly getting more and more chips that you're showing. The commercial never ends.

[Paul Pabst]

Thank you, Todd.

[Dan Patrick]

You're welcome.

[Paul Pabst]

Hopefully somebody can get this to. I know his parents listen to the show. So Sam's parents. Maybe you could tell Sam we. And we're not going to take a fee. You know, this is our gift to Sam for winning. Okay. No, we'll take the chips.

[Dan Patrick]

Okay.

[Paul Pabst]

We'll take a bag of chips or two. All righty. Let me see. We'll get a couple of phone calls in here. The Patriots had exit interviews yesterday, and, you know, I thought Will Campbell handled his himself quite well. I would. I want him to talk after the Super Bowl. I do. And, you know, I bring this up usually, you know, after these losses where somebody doesn't talk. And I said I was there when Bill Buckner had the ball go through his legs. And he did every interview. Eckersley when he gave up the home run to Gibson, Mitch Williams when he gave up the home run to Joe Carter, Rodney Harrison when you had the helmet catch. Like, you get paid to do this. This isn't college. You get paid, and, you know, the fan bases deserve to hear something from you. And Will Campbell did not want to talk after a terrible performance against Seattle, but he did talk yesterday at the Patriots press conference.

[Jason Garrett]

Just wanted the night to sleep on things. Hopefully y' all can forgive me and we can move past it. I know myself, and if I would have spoken after, I would have said something that I didn't need to say. Obviously, you know, I was picked high, paid a lot, so people expect a certain thing, and I expect more myself. So whenever I don't perform, I don't expect, you know, everyone to be like, it's okay, buddy. I mean, obviously it sucks, but it doesn't suck for anyone more than it sucks for me.

[Paul Pabst]

So that's Will Campbell, the Patriots left tackle. And when you have a rookie left guard and a rookie left tackle, it tells you something about the right Guard and the right tackle that they didn't switch them when they knew they were having problems. Because even as bad as Will Campbell was, the guys on the other side weren't better than him. But give credit to Seattle. Seattle spotted a weakness. The Patriots didn't react. They didn't change anything. They didn't have somebody else over there helping or chipping or any of that. Or, you know, a lot of times you go after the guy who is coming after you. This was always a philosophy against great defensive players, is don't go away from them, run at them, and kind of use their athleticism against them. They didn't do that either. Yes, Eaton, what do you think Will would have said that he couldn't say that? I don't know.

[Jason Garrett]

Need to be said.

[Paul Pabst]

I. Now, I would have followed up by saying, can you give me an idea of what you would have said? Because then after that, he says, because I. If I, you know, I don't expect.

[Jason Garrett]

Everybody to be like, hey, don't worry about it, buddy. And it's, you know, like Paul said, it's a country song, but it sucks for everybody, but it sucks worse for me. Or something like that. He says at the end.

[Paul Pabst]

But, like, what would he have been?

[Dan Patrick]

Like, I'm terrible.

[Paul Pabst]

I don't belong here. I'm the worst player on the team.

[Jason Garrett]

Or, like, what would he have said.

[Paul Pabst]

That didn't need to be said in that moment? I think he might have said, I wish that we would have adjusted, that we would have done something different. I wish I could have gotten a little bit more help. Obviously, I'm dealing with an injury. A lot of people wondering why he didn't get any help. Yes. He wouldn't have been alone in that. I. I mean, I felt bad for him because if you let that, you know, blitzer have a free run at you and he's just standing there and all of a sudden, you know, he's the Kevin Bacon character in Animal House.

[Dan Patrick]

All is well.

[Paul Pabst]

He gets run over.

[Jason Garrett]

Remain calm.

[Paul Pabst]

Yes. And I just thought, help this kid, because if you don't, it doesn't matter what Drake May. It's hard for me, really, to distinguish how good of game Drake May could have had with a little bit of protection. Just a little. Now, I didn't think they have enough offense to score 20 points, but he did throw for, you know, 250 yards in the fourth quarter. Now, granted, you might say that's garbage time, but I just. I was shocked that Josh McDaniels didn't do anything. Adjustment I wonder if Bill Belich would have done something different there. And maybe it's not fair to bring that up with Mike Vrabel, but you got a long halftime, it's three times longer than a normal halftime. You couldn't come up with any kind of game plan. They're like, hey, it seems to be working.

[Jason Garrett]

Let's just stick to the plan.

[Paul Pabst]

You know, they're going to get pretty tired after a while. Running in and tackling Drake.

[Jason Garrett]

Yeah, these three and outs, they're real, really wearing down the.

[Paul Pabst]

Hell, yeah. Paul and I think we said this yesterday.

[Dan Patrick]

29:13 Looks really bad for the score, but 9, 0 at half, it was not out of hand at all, scoring wise.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah. Yeah, that was what was surprising. You kept doing the same thing and I kept going. At what point like I thought Seattle would be like, are they trying to trick us here? They're. They're letting us just run in there and, you know, knock their quarterback to the ground. Yeah, See, I think, yeah, this, this off season is a real character test.

[Jason Garrett]

For some of these guys.

[Paul Pabst]

For Will Campbell, how does he come back next year after that being his last game there? And Drake may, you know, what is he coming back to? You know, that's. You're really going to see if these two players specifically, are they the guy or not, based on how they rebound from this. Yeah, we'll talk to Jason Garrett about this. He'll join us in 10 minutes from now. Drew Brees will join us little more than an hour from now. Couple of phone calls. David in la. Good morning, David. What's on your mind?

[Dan Patrick]

Good.

[Paul Pabst]

Good morning, Dan.

[Dan Patrick]

You know, going back to teams abandoning one location and fan base for another, let's not forget that Oklahoma City was not the first city to steal Seattle Thunder.

[Paul Pabst]

See what I did there, Fritzi?

[Dan Patrick]

In 1969, the Al One Trick single season Seattle Pilots flamed out after a.

[Paul Pabst]

Season to become the Milwaukee Brewers. All right, well, thank you, David. You know, Seattle Pilots, bad uniforms. Stephen Burbank. Hi, Steve. What's on your mind? Hi.

[Dan Patrick]

I just had a trivia question kind.

[Paul Pabst]

Of in line with the teammates, you.

[Jason Garrett]

Know, growing up or whatever, but this.

[Paul Pabst]

Is baseball and it's what players that they were father, son or brothers. And this, this is not for Dan Patrick, because I think Dan would get this just for the Dan brothers or father, son that have the most combined home runs. Oh, yes, Polly.

[Dan Patrick]

The Alou family.

[Paul Pabst]

Nope. Got any, Any answers over there?

[Dan Patrick]

The Griffeys?

[Paul Pabst]

No, I think it's Hank Aaron and Tommy Aaron. I knew I knew Dan would get it because he's a Hank fan, and I think Paulie's right.

[Dan Patrick]

You guys are going to win an.

[Paul Pabst]

Emmy before Dan retires. You heard Stephen Burbank on tape. Let's go.

[Jason Garrett]

All right.

[Paul Pabst]

Thank you, Steve. It might be after, hopefully not posthumously, you know, the death of the show, not the death of me. But if that happens, then you guys can go up and, you know, you can receive the honor in. In my mate, in my memory. Just don't let Todd talk too much. Like everybody gets to say something that seems fair. All right. I still like my idea that if we win, we all get up there and we all talk at the same time, and nobody's going to understand what we're saying, but we all get to say what we want to say in the 30 seconds there. So it'd be like.

[Jason Garrett]

And my mom is.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah. Really?

[Paul Pabst]

No. I would get up there and I go, oh, thank you. We'd all just like to, you know, say something. Just a little bit of something.

[Dan Patrick]

Really.

[Paul Pabst]

Hell with the mothership. What? And then we would go off stage. What? Junior in California. Hi, Junior. What's on your mind? Hey, good morning, Dan.

[Dan Patrick]

Five nine to a skinny, fat 200 pounds.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, I was calling with the teammates.

[Dan Patrick]

Out in high school, John Peterson and Devonte Adams.

[Paul Pabst]

Apollo Alto High School. Yeah, we were looking at those who played the same sport because, you know, when you talk about Matthew Stafford and Clayton Kershaw, one play football, one played baseball. Oh, you knew that one. I did. Have you heard that one? I didn't know if you'd heard that one. Yeah, they did. With same high school, Tyler in North Dakota. Hi, Tyler. What's on your mind today? Hey, Dan.

[Jason Garrett]

Thanks for taking the call.

[Paul Pabst]

Hey, just piggybacking on on Todd's marketing pitch, and good timing with Drew coming on. How come Febreze hasn't picked up Drew Brees? I'll bring it up. Drew's not afraid to represent a product, though. Not at all. All right, let me take a break. We'll talk to Jason Garrett. Why didn't the Patriots change? Yes, Todd, there's also Breeze Airways.

[Dan Patrick]

Right. Breeze Airlines. You could do that one, too. You get rid of the fur.

[Paul Pabst]

So we will talk to Jason Garrett about.

[Dan Patrick]

Wow, I saw what you did there.

[Paul Pabst]

I gave you a whole lot of credit for Sam Darnold, and I love that.

[Dan Patrick]

And I interrupted you as you're getting ready to go to break. I didn't have to say it at that moment.

[Paul Pabst]

No, because once again, you could have told me privately. And I would say, hey Todd, bring it back.

[Dan Patrick]

That seemed to be the moment. We were just talking about Febreze, so I threw in breeze at the risk of interrupting.

[Paul Pabst]

You going to take a break? Jason Garrett will join us next here on the Dan Patrick Show. Be sure to catch the live edition of the Dan Patrick show, weekdays at.

[Jason Garrett]

9Am Eastern, 6am Pacific on FO Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

[Dan Patrick]

Stigatz here. I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow and I have brought it here to iHeart. I'm also doing a live radio show from 3 to 5pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house. It's called Stugats Co. Live, which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports, a lot of phone calls.

[Jason Garrett]

I love you guys show.

[Dan Patrick]

It's one of my favorites. A lot of interaction, guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some of the things that you could expect from Stugouts Co. And Stugats Co. Live. So listen to Stugats Co. Live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review Stugats Co. And God bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today and you can check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. This month, iHeartRadio is celebrating the stars of the 2026 Winter Games. Training out of Carlsbad, California, Kaylee Humphries is the definition of a track legend. Already one of the most successful bobsledders in history, she returns to the driver's seat for Team USA with her eyes locked on the podium. Navigating the twisting ice at 80 mph requires nerves of steel and perfect precision. As the reigning Monobob champion, Humphries is back to show the world that she still owns the fast lane. For more Winter Games gold, search olympics on the iHeartRadio app hey, it's Jason Smith. Ready to tackle your financial goals? With webull, you don't have to sit on the sidelines. Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, Webull puts you in the game with powerful tools that help you make the moves. You want to Trade stocks, options, ETFs and more, or play the long game with cash management and retirement accounts all on one platform. Webull's intuitive app pairs advanced analytics with real time data so you can read the defense, adjust your strategy and stay in control. And now meet Vega, your personal AI market assistant ask questions like Analyze my watchlist or what's the outlook for this stock? And get real time stock analysis, volatility insights and fundamentals that turn complex signals into plain English. Want a wider view of the field? You use portfolio X ray to spot trends, manage risk and optimize the performance of your portfolio. So stop punting your financial future. Join Webull's community to discuss markets, trending topics and ideas with fellow investors. Download the Webull app today on mobile or desktop Web U L l or visit webull.com and stay ahead of the game. Webull Financial LLC member SIPC FINRA Investing involves risk. For more information, visit webull.com disclosures Are you a fraud paying American? It's a fact that one in four honest, hard working, tax paying Americans has been a victim of identity theft With Lifelock Identity Theft Protection though, if your identity is stolen, they fix it guaranteed and get you your money back. Last year the IRS flagged over $16 billion in refunds for identity fraud. That's billions of dollars that could come from your salary, overtime or second job. But this year you don't need to stay a victim. LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second for your personal information and alerts you to threats you could easily miss on your own. And if your information does fall into the wrong hands, only LifeLock has US based restoration specialists who are backed by the million dollar protection package. Because this tax season, fraud paying American is something no American should have to claim. Visit lifelock.com iheart and save up to 40% your freedom. That's 40% [e-mail] iheart terms apply. Insurance may all seem the same on the surface, but having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm as the leading auto and homeowners insurer in the US State Farm is there how and where you need them, whether it's in person, with a local State Farm agent, on the phone, online or through their mobile app. Don't take a chance with insurance coverage that may not meet your needs. And don't settle for insurance that may only be halfway there. Stop living on a prayer and get State Farm like a good neighbor. State Farm is there Picture chicken nuggets in your head. Okay, now forget them because Taco Bell's crispy chicken nuggets are here and they're nothing like the nuggets you know, all white meat chicken coated in tortilla chips for that signature Taco Bell crunch.

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[Dan Patrick]

And it works. Crispy chicken nuggets from Taco Bell. A brand new classic at participating US Taco Bell locations for a limited time only while supplies last Seton.

[Paul Pabst]

Do we have a new poll question for hour two. We have the two from hour one.

[Jason Garrett]

That are still up there about taking the day off.

[Paul Pabst]

Okay. Would you encourage your child to sick.

[Jason Garrett]

Out in order to attend a championship parade?

[Paul Pabst]

90% say yes.

[Jason Garrett]

And should schools close for championship parade days?

[Paul Pabst]

65% say yes.

[Jason Garrett]

They should.

[Paul Pabst]

Jason Garrett, Football night in America's Studio analyst, former head coach in the NFL, joining us. I watched the pregame and you were pretty confident where you thought Seattle was going to win by double digits. Why were you so confident?

[Jason Garrett]

I just thought they were so much better. You know, when you watch the film of them all year long, you know, there's something about the gauntlet that they went through in the NFC west that was interesting to me. You play San Francisco three times, you play the Rams three times. You know, they win 14 games in the regular season, they're impressive in the playoffs, the defense is dominant. Sam was clean throughout the playoffs. And you know, I don't want this to come out the wrong way because it is hard to win a game, let alone win 14 games. But Buffalo's road all year, excuse me, New England's road all year long was not nearly as challenging. You know, Buffalo was the only team they played with a winning record. And you know, I just feel like at the end of it, Seattle was, they went through the gauntlet. They were more impressive and I just think top to bottom, they're a better team.

[Paul Pabst]

Help me understand, knowing what Seattle's doing, your left tackle is drowning. And it doesn't seem like you're changing your offensive philosophy at all. Why.

[Jason Garrett]

I was surprised, you know, New England's approach, you know, the challenges were going to be up front. We said it before the game that I just don't know if New England's offensive line can block Seattle's front. And they couldn't block them when it was a four man line. And they didn't handle the pressures very well at all. And what was interesting was they were not challenging pressures. It was a single DB coming Witherspoon. It was strong dog meaning a mic and nickel Sam coming. These aren't complicated pressures. And it just didn't seem like New England had any answer for it. And for me, you go into the game and you say, okay, let's Try to do this, and then it's not working. I was just surprised they didn't try something different. Hey, getting empty. Get the ball out of his hand quickly. That's something they've done. Certainly chipping those guys and changing up your protections is something you could get to. And. And Josh McDaniels is as good as they get. I mean, trust me, he's in his 10th Super Bowl.

[Paul Pabst]

But.

[Jason Garrett]

But as that game wore on, I was surprised they just didn't try something different to alleviate it. And I was also really surprised they couldn't handle what appeared to be pretty basic pressures. They looked a little bit lost out there.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, I'm surprised. And of course, you know, you have forgotten more football than I know. And I'm going, can't we just bring some help over there? If you're going to go back to pass, then have the opportunity to pass. You know, I don't know what's going to happen after you throw it, but at least give him the opportunity to be able to throw the football. And I really thought they would subscribe to the Tom Brady playbook where it's just out of his hands quickly, and therefore you neutralize that and then maybe you get, you know, 5, 7, 10 yards, you keep some drives alive. I thought they abandoned the run way too early. And if I'm noticing this, and I'm a novice, I mean, Seattle's probably going. I don't think they're going to change anything. Let's just keep doing what we're doing.

[Jason Garrett]

Yeah. The number one thing when you're putting these plans together, and again, Josh knows this better than anybody, it's, what's your protection plan? Okay, that's every week. But then particularly when you're talking about their offensive line going against that Seattle front, and you said it, you know, what are the answers? Let's get it out quickly. Part of What New England's DNA has been for 25 years is let's use empty and let's get the ball out of his hand. Five protectors, but we're going to give you quick answers. Boom. Figure it out, throw it to the best matchup, and let's see if we can move it that way. The other thing to do is you start bringing people in. You have a tight end, you have a back, you chip and hammer on. The issue for them was particularly the left hand side, you know, rushing on Campbell. But, you know, you do those things by bringing extra people in. You have seven protectors, eight protectors, in some cases, nine protectors. Where you're just, you're loading it up that way and just didn't seem like they did a lot of that. And you said it. The best way to alleviate the pass rush is you run at them. You make them be run defenders first. And they weren't able to do that either. But, you know, let's give Seattle credit. You know, they've been really, really good all year long. And you say, okay, let's run it. They're the third best run defense in the league. You know, they cover really well on the back end. They pressure you. It was going to be a challenge. And that's why we said that going in Seattle is better. But again, I'm not so sure New England did enough to adjust and give their quarterback and their team enough chances in that game. And we saw it, we saw it throughout the game.

[Paul Pabst]

Jason Garrett from Football Night in America. Would you rather have a good quarterback for 35 million or a great quarterback for 55 million?

[Jason Garrett]

Great for 55.

[Paul Pabst]

Oh, not even close.

[Jason Garrett]

Yeah, great for 55. Those guys make such a difference. You know, why did the Rams have a real good opportunity to beat Seattle?

[Paul Pabst]

Because they paid Matthew Stafford.

[Jason Garrett]

He's just an elite player. I mean, this is a rare, rare football player. And so all those things we're talking about getting the ball out of your hand quickly, handling the pressures, identifying the looks. I mean, this guy does it in his sleep and then he can throw the ball like it's nothing. So go back in the history of football. There's been 60 Super Bowls. Now look at all the super bowl winning teams. Typically, typically, they have a great quarterback. Look at all the dynasties in the history of the NFL. It's great. Head coach. Oh, by the way, elite quarterback is in the hall of Fame. So to me, it's a no brainer. If you got one, you pay him. The worst thing is you're paying $55 million for a guy who's not elite. That's where you run into issues.

[Paul Pabst]

Any names you want to name? No, not at all.

[Jason Garrett]

But, you know, you get, you get to that point where you say, he's our guy and oh, hell, we gotta pay him. That's where you make the mistake. You gotta believe deep down that this is an elite player who's gonna make a difference for your team.

[Paul Pabst]

But why do these teams. I never would have extended Kyler. I never would have extended Tua. These are all things I said in real time. CJ Stroud. I'm not extending him. I mean, I'm going to make him prove that he is an elite quarterback. Here we just jump early. Why?

[Jason Garrett]

No doubt. You know, you start to feel this pressure, you know, from the outside. Oh, you got a guy or he flashed for you. And you really got to be in your building. And you have to evaluate it, and you have to evaluate it hard and say, okay, is this guy really the guy we want for the next 10 years leading our franchise? And just because they haven't done it yet doesn't necessarily mean you say no to that. You know, a lot of people say, oh, he hasn't done it, he hasn't won yet. Well, okay, you have to pull back. And independent of those results, say, is this our guy? Has he demonstrated the intangible quality, great leader, tough, all of that. Does he have the physical ability to make a difference? You know, the great Ron Wolf line on Brett Favre? Does he tilt the field? You know, if you're going to pay a guy $55 million, he better be a difference maker. He better represent everything you want. Your organization, and I agree with you, I think they jumped the gun too much on these decisions.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah. And you start to look at the off season here. Is Pittsburgh going to bring back Aaron Rodgers? Would you bring back Aaron Rodgers if you were coaching the Steelers?

[Jason Garrett]

Well, if I were Mike McCarthy, I think I'd be better inclined to answer that question. You know, he was with him for so long, as we all know. So I think that adds a little bit of a wrinkle to it. I thought, I thought Aaron did a great job, you know, helping that team get to where they were. But again, when you're bringing in a new coach and it's a new regime, okay, do we want to start over? You know, maybe it's Aaron Rodgers for a year, but you draft the quarterback high and say, okay, we're going to do this Patrick Mahomes thing, you know, like Alex Smith was going to. Was he going to keep the seat warm for our quarterback who's coming in the future? Maybe it's that decision. But I don't say automatically we're kicking him to the curb. He's been too good throughout his career. He was too good this year. And then the connection with McCarthy is an interesting wrinkle to it, but you have to have a plan going forward.

[Paul Pabst]

But I look at Miami, I don't know what their plan is. Is it Quinn Ewers until they maybe find their quarterback? Is, is Bryce Young, is he a big time. Let's extend him quarterback in Carolina, Minnesota. That seems to be a mess Pittsburgh, big question mark there. Arizona, big question mark there and there. There's a lot of things that need to be answered here. I don't know if they will be, but that's just a, you know, a few, a handful of teams.

[Jason Garrett]

Yeah, I agree with you completely. And like I said, you know, the only thing worse than not having a quarterback is having the wrong one that you're paying a lot of. So it's probably better to take a breath on some of these decisions and let them prove it to you. If they come back and prove it to you again. Okay, you know, the evidence is there, but I do think you have to be careful because the obvious question and the reason you asked me in the beginning is if it's 55 or 35, what are you doing with that $20 million? And are you able to build a defense like Seattle built? Because you put your resources over there. You need to put your quarterback in an environment where he can have success. So if he's taking all the money and you're not paying linemen or playmakers or defensive players, it's going to be harder for him to have success. So you better believe in the guy.

[Paul Pabst]

We got Drew Brees coming up next hour.

[Jason Garrett]

I'd pay him.

[Paul Pabst]

Well, you can't pay him now because that. That arm is gone. But I know you crossed paths with him. You spent a lot of time with Drew Brees at certain points, didn't you?

[Jason Garrett]

Yeah, we did. You know, football history could have been different if Drew Brees came to Miami when I was. When I was coaching down there. But, you know, things all work out the way they do.

[Paul Pabst]

But how close was that, that he was going to play for Saban?

[Jason Garrett]

Oh, I think it was really close. You know, we went to. We went to New Orleans on Wayne Huizenga's plane, and, you know, he and his wife came back with us. We had an amazing dinner. You know, it's easy to say now, but we all. We were in on. On Drew Brees, obviously. And, you know, ultimately it came down to a medical decision where they said he had a 75% tear of his rotator cuff and he wanted X number of dollars guaranteed. And, you know, I'll never forget, we're not going to do that, you know, and, you know, who's the one that said that? The same.

[Paul Pabst]

Who said that?

[Jason Garrett]

Say it again.

[Paul Pabst]

Who said we're not going to do that?

[Jason Garrett]

Our coach was the guy who ultimately.

[Paul Pabst]

Said, okay, so Saban said, you're. We're not going to give him what he Wants?

[Jason Garrett]

Well, I just think it was a bigger decision. You know, he probably discussed it with the doctors and with ownership and where he was physically and all of that. And, you know, my contention all along is I get it. I certainly understand it. But I bet on certain guys coming back from injuries more than others.

[Paul Pabst]

And.

[Jason Garrett]

And even though it was a severe injury to Drew, the fact that it's Drew Brees makes you think, huh? This is the kind of guy who's gonna do absolutely everything possible to get himself right. And sure enough, he only threw for 60,000 yards after we had those discussions.

[Paul Pabst]

62,000, to be exact. But you guys took Dante Culpepper. Wasn't. Wasn't he a medical risk as well?

[Jason Garrett]

He was. He was. And that was the tricky part of it. And it's a little bit to our discussion that we're having right now about quarterbacks. You know, just because we weren't able to do the one thing didn't mean we necessarily had to do the other thing. And Dante was an amazing player, but such a big part of his game was his movement. You know, he threw 39 touchdown passes two years before that, but so many of them were him knocking guys away, running extended plays, rocking to the ball down the field. And he had a severe knee injury, and he was not able to move like he was earlier in his career, and he just wasn't the same player. And so, you know, in that situation, you say, okay, we can't have Breeze. Do we necessarily have to do this? Maybe it's better to keep the slate clean for now and then go make the best decision going forward. And we chose not to do that.

[Paul Pabst]

You had a great season. I enjoyed the super bowl coverage as well. Thank you, as always, for your contributions.

[Jason Garrett]

You're the best. Thanks so much for having me.

[Paul Pabst]

Thank you, buddy. Jason Garrett, football night in America, and former Cowboys head coach partner Notre Dame football as well. Sam Darnold's in that sweet spot. You don't have to worry about that for another year at least. But, hey, if he has another great year, you have a playoff run. Now all of a sudden, Sam will be 29 years of age, and Sam would probably be saying, how about 50, 55 million? And he will have earned that. That's where I think people. We give up on quarterbacks really early. And, you know, for a variety of reasons. A lot of times that quarterback goes to a bad team, you get bad habits, bad results, and confidence is shot. Then all of a sudden, you get kicked to the curb. Then you got to rebuild Your confidence. Then you got to show that you can be a good team player. Then you get your chance, and then you go and then you get that $35 million contract. I mean, Baker Mayfield did this. Obviously, Sam Darnold has done this. And I hope this is a pattern for other quarterbacks who get kicked to the curb. Get that opportunity. Don't price yourself out of being on a good team. I mean, Sam, on a good team, I can have a B quarterback and I can have an A defense. And my special teams were A plus. And I got a coach, the first coach in NFL history to call all the defensive plays while being the head coach, Mike McDonald, and he's not even 40 years of age, so almost the defensive side of Sean McVeigh's offensive genius. You get that with Mike McDonald getting that coach. I know we talk about getting your quarterback, but getting that coach, really, really important. We know that, but I don't think we spent enough time on. Did we get the right guy? Like New England got the right guy. Everybody would agree Seattle got the right guy. And there's other coaches around the league where you go, you know, Gerard Mayo didn't get the right guy. Yes, Marvin.

[Dan Patrick]

So if Sam Darnold goes on a run for the next maybe four or five years, people won't even remember that he was a Jet. They're going to remember, man. Remember Sam Darnold played for the Seahawks, say if they make it to another super bowl and he plays good football for the next five years in Seattle.

[Paul Pabst]

No, they'll remember because jets fans will lament the fact that they let him go. So it'll. It'll still be there. We'll. They won't remember that he was a backup in San Francisco or he was on the scout team in Carolina, but they'll remember that he played for the jets because we won't let the jets fans forget that. Yes, Paul, you're all.

[Dan Patrick]

You're kind of both right there because it'll be a footnote that he's a Jet. But the more success Darnold has, the more the he came from the jets and overcame the jets will be replayed and replayed with every story about him.

[Paul Pabst]

All right, let's take a break. We'll get to more phone calls coming up. Drew Brees in the final hour. We're back after this.

[Jason Garrett]

Fox Sports Radio has the best sports.

[Paul Pabst]

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[Jason Garrett]

Catch all of our shows@fox sportsradio.com and.

[Paul Pabst]

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Now that the NFL season is over, we kind of go what's been going on in the other sports here. College basketball, the NBA, NHL, getting ready for baseball with spring training, the Olympics going on. There's a problem in the NBA and that has to do with tanking. Now normally you'll get maybe one or two teams tanking for the opportunity to get somebody special like Cooper Flag or Victor Wembanyama. And you've probably got three or four players in college basketball this year who will come in and contribute right away. And AJ Debanza is probably going to be a guy that's going to contribute. I mean Utah would love to just keep him in Utah and that would be tank worthy. And I think Utah is building something. You know they got Lori marketing and they got Jaren Jackson Jr. The third as well. I think they're playing four bigs. You got ish Bailey. Ace Bailey. Who's Ish. Ish Smith, Wasn't he?

[Dan Patrick]

Yes.

[Paul Pabst]

I think he was traded more times than any other player in history or played on more teams.

[Dan Patrick]

Ish Smith, I think the most teams in NBA, yeah, 14 or 15.

[Paul Pabst]

So Ace Bailey out of Rutgers, you got him. And if you're tacking and maybe you get one of these guys and maybe you got something there. But teams are being obvious. It feels like, like we're just going to sit our team down. We're not going to play in this game. Okay. Like, back to back. Now, I understand if, if. Let's say I'm a catcher and I've got a day night double header and I'm going to catch both games. Okay. I'm asking a lot of you. I don't know if, you know, private planes, good training and food and health, and you got to do back to back. We're like, oh, my God, back to back. Yeah, that's part of the job here. And I don't think you can guilt players into wanting to play. I just think we're past that. It's a. It's a different generation, and maybe they're just being smarter, that, hey, you know, the way we play, the physicality, athleticism, everything about this, you know, I need more breaks. You know, LeBron's missed, what, 18 games, won't qualify for first, second, third team, all NBA, first time in his career. So even a guy who takes care of himself as much as LeBron has, you know, they're. They're all fallible. Yes, Marvin.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah. And I think there's a difference between tanking and just being sorry. Like the Washington Wizards, they're not tanking. If that was the case they've been taking for the last 20 years. They're just not good.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, but they could be. This can be an organizational tank that we're going to bring in players that aren't very good, and then we sit them like. I don't. Is Trey Young playing?

[Dan Patrick]

He's not.

[Paul Pabst]

Okay. I mean, this guy was averaging, what, 27 and 10. I got. I don't know, like, after a while, if they're not playing, I'm not watching, and you got to win me back. And I'm. I'm an NBA fan for 60 years, but after a while you're like, who's playing? Imagine you go to the spurs game, now you got treated to Victor Wembanyama, but It's like, no LeBron, no Luca. That might be the one time that you're going to Go. And you're going to take the family to see them. Yeah, Seaton. I think it's important, though, that we.

[Jason Garrett]

Sort of separate people into some categories, maybe because Trae Young is 27 years old.

[Dan Patrick]

LeBron is 41.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah. But I don't know what Washington's doing with Trey Young, because you trade for him and I. I mean, is he going to be out the rest of the season? Anthony Davis, they traded for him. I think he's a healthy scratch the rest of the year or coming back from an injury. They're deciding they're just not going to play him. I don't know what the. What the commissioner can do. I mean, we've been down this road. We're going to continue to go down this road. The regular season doesn't mean anything. And I go back to Greg Popovich, and he talked about that because he didn't care if they, you know, were in first place or fourth place. He didn't care in the standings. He just wanted his guys rested to win championships, and that's what they did. He accomplished the goal that they set out to win a championship. Now, we may not like along the way that, hey, we're got a road trip in Miami. Hey, Timmy. And you know, Parker, why don't you guys stay back here? Like. And that's when the commissioner find him, like, a couple hundred thousand dollars. Yeah.

[Dan Patrick]

Paulie, there are so many stories about this in just the past two days. Our buddy Chris Mannix of SI wrote one yesterday, the Utah Jazz were in a game where they were up three points to start the fourth. They set three of their starters for their entire fourth quarter. So they're doing everything they can to lose the game. And they won that game.

[Paul Pabst]

Was that against Miami?

[Jason Garrett]

Yes.

[Dan Patrick]

And three starters, when a three point game sit.

[Jason Garrett]

Yeah.

[Dan Patrick]

That means it's obvious you're not competing in that game.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, but I don't know what you can do about it. And look, you know, NBC and Peacock paid a lot of money for the NBA. You know, we got inside the NBA. We got Charles and those guys coming to the mothership. I mean, people are spending money, and, you know, what is the product that you get to go see? That's the unfortunate, you know, unfortunate part of this. And look, when I came up with the suggestion to the Commissioner, how about 65 games to qualify for postseason honors? Like, can we motivate them monetarily? I don't even know if that matters, but you'll get a guy who, hey, if I make first, second, third team, all NBA, this kicks in. Or I can't, you know, qualify to win the MVP unless I play in at least 65 games. Well, I don't think you can be the MVP if you don't play in 65 or more games. But the NBA's got a real issue here of probably five to seven teams who were tanking right before our very eyes. And I don't know what you're going to find them. You're going to take. Well, you can't take away their. If you took away their draft pick unless you came up with something different. But, you know, it's not the. The two worst teams. I mean, I remember when the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks had a coin toss and the winner got Kareem Abdul Jabbar. It was just a coin toss. And the Suns got Neil Walk. I mean, that. That's what it was. It wasn't like. And maybe they were tanking back. Yeah.

[Dan Patrick]

Who won that trade? Dan? Break it down.

[Paul Pabst]

I'd say, well, and, you know, I'm gonna say, Kareem, you got him at his peak. Yeah, I think Kareem won that. But it was a coin toss. Now you have the lottery, and then Dallas wins the lottery with Cooper Flag. Like, you're just. You're trying to figure out how can we do this and be fair to everybody here without rewarding the teams that are just flat out tanking. Marvin, you got a suggestion here?

[Dan Patrick]

Not a one. Because so say, look, Lucas out. But Lucas been out like he's legit injured. He hasn't played in a week and a half. So what do you do there?

[Paul Pabst]

But I don't know if Giannis. How hurt he is unless it's his feelings. And, you know, they don't want to get him hurt because they want to trade him in the off season. I, you know, these guys stay out a lot longer than I remember players staying out. And how do I tell if you're lying to me? I can say I got an upset stomach. Fritz, he pulls that all the time, and I believe him.

[Dan Patrick]

I do pull that.

[Paul Pabst]

But you do it in a convincing.

[Dan Patrick]

Way, a very convincing way.

[Paul Pabst]

Unfortunately, yes, Marvin.

[Dan Patrick]

But I might give Giannis the benefit of the doubt, more so than someone like Kawhi, who's known for sitting out Giannis there. It's never been a real thing of him staying out for long stretches of time.

[Paul Pabst]

I don't know. This calf injury is staying with him. And that would be buyer beware.

[Dan Patrick]

He's in his 13 season.

[Paul Pabst]

Yeah, okay. But, you know, I got to factor that in if I'm trading for him, right? I can't get him and all of a sudden he goes, ah, calf muscle. Oh, okay. Don't they have calf. What? What's the term? Todd?

[Dan Patrick]

I heard calf management. Taking load management. Just taking out load and putting a cap in there.

[Paul Pabst]

What are they, farmers? You know, ranchers. We got calf. Good times, good times. Drew Brees, first ballot hall of Famer, will join us and talk about getting the news. More of your phone calls as well. Two hours in the books on this Wednesday. Final one coming up. Tires matter. They're the only part of your vehicle that touches the road. Tread confidently with new tires from Tire Rack Whether you're looking for expert recommendations or know exactly what you want, Tire Rack makes it really easy. Fast. Free shipping, free road hazard protection, convenient installation options and the best selection of Continental tires. Go to tirerack.com dan see their continental test results, tire ratings and reviews and be sure to check out all the special offers. Tirerack.com the way Tire buying should be.

[Dan Patrick]

It'S football season and now you can get anything you need for game day delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost. Almost anything. You can't get a running back, but baby back ribs. Yes, Uber Eats official on demand food delivery partner of the NFL. Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com switch and now T mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits. Plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required. So have you heard the story about the prescription plan? With savings automatically built in, it's where.

[Paul Pabst]

A family of any size can feel confident the cost of their medication won't hold them back. Go to CMK Co Stories to learn how CVS Caremark helps members save just by being members. That's CMK Co stories.

[Dan Patrick]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Paul Pabst]

Guaranteed Human.