PMS 2.0 1272 - More NFL Firings, Dan Orlovsky, Mike Greenberg, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

The Pat McAfee Show - Episode PMS 2.0 1272 Summary

Release Date: January 7, 2025

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Introduction to a Historic Night

Pat McAfee kicks off the episode by sharing his exhilarating experience attending a major Monday Night Raw event at the Intuit Dome. He describes the venue as a "gladiator-like" arena enhanced with "lights and lasers," orchestrated by legendary Triple H. The event, broadcasted globally to 80% of the planet, featured prominent figures like John Cena, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and comedian Michael Che. Pat emphasizes the unique blend of "insider expertise" and "relatable ridiculousness" that defines the show's appeal.

"Mr. H. last night to kick off a Netflix era was nothing short of fucking sweet."
— Pat McAfee [00:00]

Inside the WWE Raw Extravaganza

The discussion delves deeper into the event's highlights, including appearances by Travis Scott, who collaborated with WWE to create a new intro song, and a dramatic performance by Hulk Hogan. Pat recounts Hogan's fiery press conference addressing boos directed at Jimmy Hart rather than himself, clarifying misconceptions among fans.

"They weren't booing the Hulkster. They were booing Jimmy Hart."
— Hulk Hogan [10:57]

Tennessee Titans Fire General Manager Ran Carthon

A significant segment covers the latest developments in the NFL's AFC South, highlighting the Tennessee Titans' dismissal of their General Manager, Ran Carthon. Pat provides context, recalling Carthon's initial popularity and subsequent fallout with Head Coach Mike Vrabel, leading to Vrabel's own firing.

"Ran Carthon brought in Callahan, brought in Will Levis. Now all of a sudden, they're siding with Callahan... Ran Carthon is getting fired."
— Pat McAfee [19:12]

Jacksonville Jaguars' Coaching Turmoil

The conversation shifts to the Jacksonville Jaguars, where GM Shad Khan hinted at potential changes following a press conference that alluded to dismissing GM Trent Baalke if a superior candidate emerged. The panel discusses the implications of such decisions on team culture and performance.

"Shad Khan... said, 'I'll get rid of this guy if I have a better idea than me.'"
— Pat McAfee [05:53]

Philadelphia Eagles' Quarterback Concerns

Jalen Hurts' ongoing concussion protocol raises concerns about the Eagles' playoff prospects. The panel debates the potential outcomes if Hurts remains sidelined, considering backup quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee. They stress the importance of Hurts' health for the team's success.

"If Jalen Hurts cannot play... then you got to play Kenny Pickett."
— Darius Butler [52:34]

NFL Award Season and AP Voting Challenges

The episode extensively covers the complexities of the NFL award season, particularly the MVP and Offensive Player of the Year debates. Pat McAfee and his co-hosts explore the difficulties in selecting deserving candidates amidst narrative biases and evolving player performances.

"Tone's regretting it massively, having to do these votes."
— Pat McAfee [50:13]

Mike Greenberg on Coaching and GM Dynamics

Mike Greenberg, host of ESPN's "Get Up," joins the discussion to share his insights on the evolving roles of Head Coaches and General Managers in the NFL. He advocates for alignment between these two positions to prevent conflicting agendas and enhance team cohesion.

"You need the two of them to be completely joined at the hip."
— Mike Greenberg [73:16]

Las Vegas Raiders' Head Coach Firing

Antonio Pierce's brief tenure as the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach ends with his firing after a disappointing 4-13 season. The panel scrutinizes the Raiders' decision-making processes and the broader instability within the AFC South.

"Antonio Pierce will be the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders for now."
— Pat McAfee [198:53]

Jon Gruden's Potential Return and NFL Coaching Landscape

Speculation arises around Jon Gruden's possible return to coaching and the general lack of stability among NFL Head Coaches. The panel reflects on past firings and the continuous search for leadership within teams.

"Jon Gruden's name has been mentioned with some teams in conversations."
— Pat McAfee [201:35]

Cultural and Logistical Insights from Events

Pat shares anecdotes about interactions with celebrities and the intricate production elements of major sports events, highlighting the blend of sports, entertainment, and unexpected happenings that make each episode uniquely engaging.

"Michael Cole was up there dancing. Right on beat."
— Pat McAfee [05:53]

Conclusion: Reflecting on the Season and Future Prospects

Wrapping up, the hosts express optimism despite the tumultuous changes in the NFL, underscoring the importance of adaptability and strategic leadership in navigating the complexities of professional sports.

"We are living in a world where it is not a certainty that Jalen Hurts is going to be able to play for the Eagles this weekend against Green Bay."
— Darius Butler [52:50]

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Key Takeaways:

• WWE Raw at Intuit Dome was a landmark event blending sports and entertainment, featuring high-profile appearances and setting the stage for future collaborations.

• AFC South instability persists with the Titans and Jaguars undergoing significant management changes, reflecting broader challenges in team leadership.

• Philadelphia Eagles face critical decisions regarding their quarterback due to Jalen Hurts' health, impacting their playoff ambitions.

• NFL award season complexities highlight the subjective nature of awards and the influence of narratives over pure performance metrics.

• Mike Greenberg emphasizes the necessity of harmonious relationships between Head Coaches and General Managers to foster successful team dynamics.

• Las Vegas Raiders' workflow showcases the rapid turnover and high expectations placed on NFL Head Coaches.

• Jon Gruden's potential return underscores the cyclical nature of coaching careers in the NFL and the ongoing search for effective leadership.

• Cultural anecdotes from events illustrate the intertwined nature of sports, media, and entertainment, enriching the show's content.

This episode of The Pat McAfee Show offers a comprehensive analysis of recent events in sports, particularly focusing on the NFL's dynamic landscape, while interweaving entertaining personal anecdotes and humorous exchanges that resonate with both avid fans and casual listeners.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this big Tuesday, January 7, 2025. This sports program starts now. Football. It's wonderful, and obviously we're in the biggest time for football that there is. College football playoff semifinals are just a few days away. Super wild card weekend also on the other side of that. And if you want to look outside the football world, some historic shit happened last night on Netflix in the Intuit Dome that I was lucky to be a part of. Monday night ra was broadcasted to 80% of planet earth last night. Have no idea how many people are watching, but I do know it was quite an experience to be inside of that lovely building over there. I don't know how much Ballmer spent on that thing. I don't know what was reported, what was actual. I got to use some of the toilets that he put in there, and I got to experience the gladiator like, feel with the way it was built. And obviously all the lights and the lasers and the show that that man put together. Mr. H. Last night to kick off a Netflix era was nothing short of fucking sweet. It was an honor to be there. Michael Cole was throwing his fastball. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was throwing his absolute fastball. John Cena was there. Our high chief, Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Man, I tried my absolute best. Chee Chu was awesome, obviously. Good response from the crowd. Obviously given his daughters here the people's championship title that Muhammad Ali's widow graced upon him during a WrestleMania run in the entire thing. It was a magical night. The stars were out. There were so many people there. Michael Che was there, obviously. Dog from Saturday Night Live. I love that, man. Fluffy was there and Michael Cole was excited about that. Yeah, Topanga was there, obviously. Thank God Topanga was there. That was wild. That was a crazy scene. Seeing boy meets world right there to the left. I believe all the who's who of sports media was there. The heads of Netflix were there. The heads of TKO group were there. There was a lot of money in that building last night, and it was an honor to be Travis Scott, maybe my new favorite human on earth. Just walking in there, blowing some vitamins and sage around with fiend playing. I believe he created the new Intro song for WWE, Travis Scott, 10 time Grammy nominated. Yeah, I mean, he is incredible. Obviously, he's got the shoe game on. Absolute luck. I told him yesterday. I said, hey, in the Thunderdome, there's like 11, 12 guys that work there. We got about 45 pairs of Travis Scott Cactus Jacks. Okay, so, like, we appreciate everything you do him with the Hardcore Championship last time. I think. I think in his mind he did win that last time, as he should have, and they should just give it to him and say, hey, Travis, you are the Hardcore Champion. Obviously yeeting all over the place with this drone shot that they were doing all night. Was fantastic and it was an honor to be back in there, man. Legitimately an absolute honor. And what a start. I have no idea what they do next week.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, good question.

[Pat McAfee]

I have no.

[Ty Schmidt]

Tough to talk.

[Pat McAfee]

I have no. That from the rumblings that I'm hearing is there's going to be a press conference here in a matter of moments to address one of the situations that took place with a beer conversation. Yeah, I'm getting a little insight in the ear here from the back room. We'll see how that goes. Maybe we'll hear from Hulkster. The toxic table is here at Boston. Connor at Ty Schmidt. Big night for Monday Night Raw last.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was incredible right from the start, too. I mean, you kidding me? Roman Reigns solo. Sokoa off the top of the, you know, show to start it. I was pumped about it. Some of the marks in the office weren't. But then Cena coming back. What a promo from him. I mean, basically it was non stop entertainment and no problems at all from Netflix. Like, it looked fantastic. There was no connection issues, anything like that. It was awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you. What do you say?

[Darius Butler]

No, I was going to say, like, quality. Like it. It looked unbelievable, right?

[Boston Connor]

Just like the cameras.

[Pat McAfee]

Christmas games. Just like the Christmas games on Netflix. It's like, damn, this is a. This is a clear picture, you know, because the Paul Tyson fight. Mike Tyson's name is gonna, you know, ring all around the world, you know, And I'm not saying that that doesn't happen with wwe. And Triple H obviously booked that thing for the entire world because the entire world is watching. So you saw some big names, massive names of the past. Undertaker makes an appearance. He loves the Texas Longhorns, by the way. Love. He loves Texas Longhorns. Why are you doing that to the Longhorns? He says to me. That's the first thing I said. What are you talking about? Are you talking about. Just for whatever reason, this thing just goes up here and then it just has to do one of those. He goes, stop doing that. I need you to stop doing that. And then his wife, Michelle McCool, she goes, Every time you do that, he goes, well, come on, Pat. Like, he. Tank was a little bit upset about the whole me picking against Texas. He's not the only one. I picked against Penn State all year. I picked against Notre Dame all year. I picked against Texas all year. I picked against Ohio State a couple different times. And they're obviously the four teams that remain. And I think the Texas football team needs to know they got a dead man, an American badass that is willing to throw haymakers for their team as they go forward. This was awesome. He stops right here, actually. I don't know if they show it. And he. Yep, hand up this guy. Then he looks at me. The hook em right there. That was what he just did right there. Hulk him. And I have been told that maybe he hadn't been on that bike in a little bit. Really? Yeah. Maybe he hadn't been on the bike.

[Ty Schmidt]

In a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

That particular bike. And it was a tight. It was a tight tunnel on the way in and the way out. Obviously the dead man's gonna perform. He was on the first ever Monday Night Raw that was broadcasted on TV 32 years ago. And obviously he's on the first Raw that was being streamed globally on Netflix. Him, Bruce Prichard, who's obviously still a massive force in the wwe, Big old brain in the world and Shawn Michaels were the three guys that are still with the company that were with it then. And obviously he was celebrating that. All Triple H, Nick Khan. They should be incredibly proud of themselves. What a night. And next Monday's in San Jose. Can't wait to see what you do. Good luck. Yeah. I didn't know anything was happening. I had no idea Travis Scott was coming out. Had no clue that was happening. And then obviously the whole situation happens on top of the commentators. I'm like, this is awesome. I'm in the middle of this thing. This is awesome.

[Ty Schmidt]

Cole got up there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Michael Cole was up there dancing. Right on beat. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

He really nailed.

[Pat McAfee]

9 year NFL vet. There is Jay Butler. Did you expect that out of Cole to be that?

[AJ Hawk]

I expected that. Respect, nothing less. Cole, he decided that you were back. Hey, come on, get up.

[Pat McAfee]

Get up here.

[Tone Diggs]

Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

He was out there for oh cop's sake. He did. He forced me up on the desk. I didn't want to do it because I'd stopped doing that because I thought it was a little bit too much. Yeah, I was doing a little bit too much. His life alert.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

His apple. Watch.

[Ty Schmidt]

It works.

[Pat McAfee]

I was like, hey, slow down, bud. They thought he died because he was eating so hard. Legit. It happened multiple times throughout the show. This was the first time that happened. I think his heart rate just remained up because then later I think it was CM Punk, Seth Rollins. He was in the middle of calling something and his watch is going off again like, you're gonna die. I'm like, yo, need to potentially. You need to potentially get that checked. The dap up the bag clean. And then that one. That's the one. That's the one. And remember, Michael Cole wanted me to make sure I told everybody, let's go to one half of the Hammer Cowboys, Bubba Gampino in the back. What he say? He's a rap icon. Is that what Michael Cole said?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, he kept referencing the Sugar Hill Gang. He was big with the Sugar Hill Gang. That was who. He said it 25 times in a row.

[Pat McAfee]

You literally did after the.

[Boston Connor]

Make sure everybody knows I'm big with the. The rap game.

[Pat McAfee]

I think he said, yeah, he said, I'm beloved by the rap community is what Michael Cole said. He's. I'm big in the rap world. I'm a rap icon. They say Michael Cole, his arm looked.

[Boston Connor]

Like the inflatable wavy arm guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's like kind of his thing. And then him following through like this one here. I told him, I said that looked very natural. Look like. Look like you've done that a lot of times. He goes, member of community. I'm a rap culture icon. He literally. And then he would pull up tweets. This is after the show. We're hanging out, waiting for our cars to come pick us up because they're stuck in LA traffic. Don't even want to get into it.

[Darius Butler]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

We're almost locked into Los Angeles for 15 hours because they shut down the airport because crazy stuff. Biden was taking the tractor. Another round. Yeah. Okay, so they shut down. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Hunter, we were talking, was he hanging out with.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy shit. I don't know if Hunter was there. I believe this is. I believe it's Mr. President. Big, big guy. Joe.

[Darius Butler]

Joe Biden, the big guy.

[Pat McAfee]

I believe. I believe is what I was told. Joe. 8:40 local. I get a text message, hey, you need to get the plane by like 9, 15 or you're not gonna be able to get out of here until 1pm tomorrow. 15 hour lockdown. I said, excuse me, the car is. I don't even know. Our car's stuck in traffic. Not able to get into a dome. Cause there were 17,000 people there last night. 17,000 people acted in that place. It was magnetic. But la, obviously, 17,000 people in one place. It's gonna Be tough to kind of get that whole thing. They're like, you need to get over there right now. They're shutting the whole place down. I'm like, what do you mean they're shutting the whole place down? Shutting down the airspace, shutting down the ground because there is a massive VIP government official coming. So I'm like, can you get a heads up how I got 40 minutes to get to a place that's 20 minutes away? My car's not even here. So obviously 9:30 was the time that we were supposed to get to the airport. We get in the car finally at the intuitum at 9:34. So that ship has sailed. I thought I was going to be there. I thought I was going to get home at 8pm tonight. I thought I was going to be able to take off until 4pm because it shut it down. Shout out to Karen. Plane lady made some calls. Wheel deal. I don't know how much I paid. I'm assuming it's going to be a pretty hefty fee. But we got on that plane and we just waited for a time. And then shout out to air traffic control over there, too. Just kind of letting us out, you know, over that entire thing. But, yeah, I was almost trapped in Los Angeles for 15 hours because they shut down the air. I didn't know that. That just happens, I guess.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah, Makes sense.

[Pat McAfee]

Supposed to happen today. They just moved it up to last night. They're like, yeah, hey, this is how this goes. Sorry about it. You're. You want to go see your daughter? I don't care.

[Boston Connor]

No, I like that. Cole kept offering to catch the 1am flight to Houston with him.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that was his big thing. So we're having. We're having a couple cocktails afterwards, waiting for these cars to get in to pick us up. And I'm like, I think I'm stuck here. And he just keeps pulling up tweets saying that he's an icon in the rap community. Look, look, look. He's doing. He's. See, look at me. Look at me. And then he saw the high five. He was like, nailed it. Like, Cole was really proud of himself. He had a great night. I'm like, I think I'm stuck here. He goes, why don't you go? We'll go to a Renaissance with steak. Kay. We'll have a couple whiskeys. And then you hop on my plane to Houston. Then you can get a plane from Houston to Indianapolis. I said, why the fuck would I do that, Cole? He goes, you want to be stuck here. I'm like, so I'm stuck in Houston, then what is kind of the whole story here? He goes, I just want to hang out with you, man. Okay, if you don't want to do that, that's fine. All right, all right, all right. Well, it's great to see you, Cole. We got out of there. It was an awesome night. Legendary night. And I am getting a heads up that one of the stars of last night's show is actually doing a live press conference. Let's. Let's head over that right now. I believe Hulk Hogan is doing a live press conference to address everything that happened last night.

[Hulk Hogan]

Hello and welcome to this press conference that I've called the day after arguably the greatest day in my professional career. Last night. Tens and tens and tens and tens and tens of millions of people watch the Hulkster bring the house down on WWE Raw to usher in the Netflix era in the Intuit Dome. It's the greatest night of my life. With that, I'd like to open it up to a couple questions.

[Pat McAfee]

That's good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hi, Mr. Hulkster, this is Peter Pens from the Mark Times.

[Hulk Hogan]

Yeah, I can tell. You look like a mark, son.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you. I appreciate that. I guess a booing was actually trending on X last night. I wasn't sure if you had any comments about the almost negative opening that you received when you were out on the stage, sir. Thank you.

[Hulk Hogan]

Well, yeah, if you think those were booze, I could tell you're a mark.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Hulk Hogan]

I've been doing this a long time, kid, and you get used to the Hulk hoogen. Now, I will admit, I heard a couple boos smattered across the crowd. And I'll be honest, I had no idea the people in LA hated Jimmy Hart the way they did. They took one look at him with his stringy hair, stupid sunglasses, and the way he was half assed waving that flag around and I should have expected it. Those liberal marks out there can't stand a MAGA champion like the Hulkster. But again, they weren't booing the Hulkster. They were booing Jimmy Hart. Everybody loves the Hulkster, dude.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean.

[Hulk Hogan]

Next question. What are we doing here?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, Mr. Hulkster.

[Boston Connor]

Bill Markington, South African Times.

[Hulk Hogan]

Who let this guy in? Get him out. Get him out. I want questions from real Americans.

[Boston Connor]

Brother Ulster, Bill Bazaranth, Top turnbuckle.

[Hulk Hogan]

Do you publication.

[Boston Connor]

Do you think anyone booing last night has ever tried a real American beer? And after they try a real American beer would ever boo again?

[Hulk Hogan]

Listen, I don't want Someone trying a real American beer who's gonna boo. I just mentioned it. I'll mention it again. There's goddamn liberals out there. They can have their Bud Light. Those aren't real Americans. Those aren't my real Americans, dude. The only Americans I want drinking real American beer are real Americans. The Bible Belt, the Midwest, anywhere where people don't bow down to Joe Biden. And they certainly do out there, brother.

[AJ Hawk]

Wow. Mr. Hoaxer. Dexter Bennett from the Daily Gimmick while listening to. Trying to listen to you through the booze. Heard you talk about a 40 year run and how long you've been. John Cena been on his last run. Any thoughts on you maybe going on last one? And who would you like to go up against if you were to do that?

[Hulk Hogan]

Yeah, sure. I got a couple thoughts. The Hulkster would love to run through just a who's who of the WWE roster. Give me Kofi Kingston. Give me Xavier Woods. Hell, give me Trick Williams. You can bring his ass up from nxt. Maybe some of the old guys, dude. Godfather. See ya.

[AJ Hawk]

Wait, there seems to be a. I'm not done yet.

[Hulk Hogan]

Farouk. I'll get in the ring with his ass too. Ahmad Plumber. You want some? I'm not scared of the Pearl river plunge. Any one of you guys can take a seat.

[AJ Hawk]

Is that it? That's the end of your list?

[Hulk Hogan]

Oh, I could go on and on, brother, but I'm gonna end it at Mania with the high chief Suey Ooey Lala tui atiwate. I want you, Dewey. I want you, Dwayne, in Vegas at Mania. Two nights. Hell, I'll beat your ass back to back. It'll be the biggest Wrestlemania ever, dude. Does that answer your questions from the mark Times or wherever the you write for?

[AJ Hawk]

Thank you.

[Hulk Hogan]

Thank you. Yeah, I'm out of here. I'm gonna go drink some real American beer. If you're one of those jackasses who was booing Jimmy Hart last night, fuck you. You don't deserve real American beer. I'm gonna go find some real Americans who love that genuine refreshing pilsner, dude.

[Pat McAfee]

All right.

[Hulk Hogan]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, so that settles it.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Feels like Hulkster understands what happened last night. Yeah, booed. I don't know if the the journalist understood if it was booed or booing was trending number 12 last night, but when I looked at it after the show, it had 18,000 posts on booed for the Hulkster. But I'm happy he clarified it because he was there. We weren't in his position. It was booing towards Jimmy Hart is what he said. Which makes a lot of sense now that I kind of think about it. But in there, there was a chance it was Hulk. I never really thought about that as well. Ty. He got a little unhinged in there a couple different times. Is he okay, you think?

[Darius Butler]

I think. I'm assuming the Hulksters just jacked up. I mean, he mentioned it. Last night was one of the.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[Darius Butler]

And this is a guy who's done everything there is to do in the wrestling business, but last night, arguably the. The biggest night of his life, he's obviously launching his. His new. His beer, which is delicious. I can only assume.

[Boston Connor]

I've.

[Darius Butler]

I've never actually tried it.

[Pat McAfee]

Would love. But you will.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, I absolutely will. But I. I mean, I get it. You know, you get out there and. And people are throwing shots at you saying, Jesus, his whole clothes, his fastball. No, the Hulkster has not lost his fastball. And that makes more sense. I'm glad he cleared that up.

[Pat McAfee]

That's.

[Darius Butler]

That's what it had to have been. They were booing Jimmy Hart.

[Pat McAfee]

They weren't.

[Darius Butler]

They weren't booing the Hulkster. There's Hulkamaniacs everywhere.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, he obviously knew that there was a narrative getting built quickly, which is why he had this emergency press conference, I assume. Hopefully we'll get a chance to get Hulk Hogan on the show, not only just via a press conference, but the list of guys that he said he would take on seemed. And that was a good follow up question by the journalist from the Daily Gimmick, I believe was the name. It seemed to be a little bit of a trend there, you know?

[Darius Butler]

A little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. A little bit of a trap.

[Boston Connor]

I'm excited to see the Ahmed Johnson match.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I don't think.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, is that who.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think he said Ahmed.

[Darius Butler]

I'm pretty sure that's not his name.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Are we sure that was the Hulkster?

[Boston Connor]

What do you mean?

[Pat McAfee]

Right there.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, we sure are.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think so.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

What do you mean?

[AJ Hawk]

I just. I just wasn't sure. I was looking. He sounded like him, you know, look. You know, look like him. AI. You got to make sure these days.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, and I guess we didn't. You're right. I mean, I didn't think about that. Not being Hulk Hogan. Yeah. Wow. That was Hulkster. Did we hear his music? Cause I am a real American fight for the rights of every man. When I played last night. Oh, pop the pop. I was looking straight. That so I'm looking right across the ring, right down the tunnel, right before the arena sees because there's a little bit of an extender there. The way they had that set up was sick because the wall was right behind it. And I think the shot of High Chief turning around and then that wall of people behind him with his. I mean, it was so sick. And then CM Punk did the turnaround and look at that camera that was there. And then they zoomed out. There was just people everywhere. But there was a time where they're walking through that tunnel where nobody in the arena sees it. And Jimmy Hart was swinging as soon as he got in that tunnel. I'm watching and I just see this flag coming. I'm like, here we go. And then as soon as they get seen by that place, Big Hulk Hoogan.

[AJ Hawk]

Chapter on Netflix for it.

[Boston Connor]

Hoogan.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Crowd Hooganing, I believe is what it said.

[Tone Diggs]

Great.

[Pat McAfee]

Nonetheless, magical night. Real American beer. I can't wait to try it. I can't wait to try it. The fact that it got a partnership with the WWE is crazy. That's first time WWE has obviously ever had a partnership with a beer. I cannot wait to see how that all goes. And everything on WWE is up and up. I cannot wait to be a part of it going forward. Now, speaking of going forward, Tennessee Titans are going to have to find a new general manager this morning. The latest firing in the NFL firing cycle. Here is Ran Carthon, general manager of the Tennessee Titans. If you do recall, his reign started with him walking into the Tennessee Titans building and everybody that works for Tennessee Titans coming out and giving him a standing ovation. Remember he and Mike Frabel a couple years ago. Then he fell out of favor with Mike Vrabel. And then Mike Vrabel got fired. We signed with Ran Carthon. Ran Carthon brought in Callahan, brought in Will Levis. Now all of a sudden, they're siding with Callahan. Callahan was sticking around. Ran Cathon's getting fired. And this is from Jake and Ball, who I would assume is a. Oops, sorry. I get choked up about this because the AFC south is in such disagreement. I assume he is a Tennessee Titan fan. 2022, the Tennessee Titans sided with Mike Vrabel and they fired John Robinson, who traded A.J. brown away on draft night. If you all remember that. 2023, they forced the marriage Ran Carth onto Mike Vrabel. Hey, we're going to sign Mike Vrabel. We're not going to take any of your input on who the general manager is going to be this is going to be the guy you're going to like it or not. Then they side with Rancarthon. They fire Mike Vrabel, who's now being talked about for every head coaching job. Obviously after consulting with the Browns. Then they let Ran Carthon pick Brian Callahan. It's going to be my guy. Callahan brings in his dad. Obviously they're going to turn it all around now in 2025, they signed with Brian Callahan. They're fine. Rand Carthon, she's kind of one of these, you know, just kind of one of these down there. And somehow after looking at this, I don't think anybody would say that they're in the worst position in the AFC south at this exact time. I think.

[AJ Hawk]

What?

[Ty Schmidt]

No way.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think so. I genuinely don't think so because they're just fired. Boom. Let's go down to Jacksonville. Now, Jacksonville, Shad Khan was doing press conference via zoom with Balki, who's been the general manager through multiple different eras down there in Jacksonville. If you do remember Balki, the fans dress like clowns going into the stadium to say this is clan town, the way Balky is running this entire thing. Balky has remained the general manager for the Jacksonville Jaguars through a lot of different coaching cycles. Continuing right now, here's Shad Khan talking about the future of the next head coach and their wants. With Balky or without Balky? Kind of. So I'd actually like to go back to this question.

[Mike Greenberg]

Shot, back to you.

[Pat McAfee]

I know you noted that if this.

[I]

Head coaching candidate was to say, hey.

[Pat McAfee]

I think the medical needs to be reevaluated, the health and wellness, if they.

[I]

Were to say, I would like to.

[Pat McAfee]

Reevaluate the front office and the general manager, what would your response be?

[Mike Greenberg]

My response would be how would you improve it? And then if it is credible, you know, I mean, you. You want to do it?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. This guy right here, they come in and say he got better idea than this guy. Shit, I'm ears are wide open, brother. Balky's just got to sit there and hey, it's just you and me on a zoom right now. It's kind of uncomfortable situation. But what I think I heard from Shot there is we keep Balky around because he's football guy in building. But if somebody comes in here and presents a better idea, who's going to be reporting directly to Shot Khan, Remember, that is the the change. Now, coach is not directly reporting to Balki. Both are directly reporting to Shot Khan. So if somebody comes in Here with a good idea. Sure. I'll K guy right off the Zoom. I've been hearing what everybody's been saying, how's this guy around? And my son Tony is chief football strategist. He still has a job, too, obviously, get rid of Doug Peterson. He might be happy about that. If you go back to a couple of the press conferences. But when you think about the AFC south with this situation, which. What's going on in Tennessee Titans, obviously, whenever they fire Vrabel, we all go, what? What? What? Now they're find a gm, keeping the coach. It's just another, how's the culture going to get set? And then Indianapolis obviously hanging on to GM and head coach eight years into this thing. It's not working. You got to think, if you're the Houston Texans, you're sitting very pretty. Debuffs.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously they're in the playoffs, hosting a playoff game. And, you know, TJ Stroud didn't play up to the level that he played last year, but yeah, you're sitting. You're sitting pretty right now if you're a Houston Texan or if you're a Houston Texan fan. Now, the rest of the division is an absolute shite show. Right? And we kept. We kept the. The GM and the head coach here. Fans aren't happy about that at all. Obviously, we see what's going on in Jacksonville, to him in that. In that moment, in that situation, being on the Zoom with Trent Balky right there, that's very, very awkward. But I am kind of. I. I respect the fact that, okay, if you got a plan, you got an open plan. I'm open to hear it. You know, what is. What does Aaron say? Open to everything connected, attached to anything, attached to nothing. Yeah. So obviously, you know, Shahid Khan is on that same page. So. Yeah, that was.

[Ty Schmidt]

I also saw that.

[AJ Hawk]

That was great.

[Pat McAfee]

I did see that guy.

[Ty Schmidt]

His Zoom name was.

[Pat McAfee]

Have we been calling him the wrong name?

[Ty Schmidt]

I think, but she said, should I.

[Pat McAfee]

I had pronounce a couple. The Eyes Silent Highnesses. High Chiefs. Oh, yeah, the Eyes Silent man. I love the oo's. I absolutely love. I try to pay as much respect as possible anytime I'm announcing any name. But if that thing is getting put right in front of me just with one day notice, that's gonna be tough for me to get. I do apologize. Like Nico Iamaliava, pay respects. You know, Tua Tanga Valoa, pay respect. You know, all try my best to get it right. Last night, there was a Couple. I mean, I had to write down the notes.

[AJ Hawk]

You too. Good.

[Ty Schmidt]

So fair enough.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you know that the Rock became the High Chief Saoli because it was bestowed upon him by his Highness High Chief Malaya Toa Tuna Mafili ii.

[Ty Schmidt]

I know now, of course.

[Boston Connor]

Nailed it.

[AJ Hawk]

It's a good name.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't last night on the show as was coming out of my mouth. God damn it.

[Darius Butler]

That's not right.

[Pat McAfee]

I just disrespected the entire island of Samoa.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's tough.

[Pat McAfee]

And he's the high. He's the highest of high. So I do apologize for that. Shahid Khan, though, did say I'm open to anything here. Yeah, this guy's currently here. Could be gone. I mean, this guy could be gone. I respect that. Yeah, I appreciate that.

[AJ Hawk]

I respect. Obviously it's very, very awkward, but. And you look at what Balky's done. Like he signed. He's definitely signed some good players. Obviously this draft class with Brian Thomas Jr. He's been great. Direct taking Walker one overall. You sign your quarter. A lot of these GMs and head coaches, it's about hitting on the quarterback. That's. That's the situation going on with Carthon out and out in Tennessee. That's why he was fired. He tied his hitch to Will Levis. Obviously that has not worked out. So now you're going to get a new guy in there. You got the top pick. You got quarterbacks here. So you have to hit on that quarterback. Jacksonville, they have a quarterback that they paid the second contract to. They have some other pieces now. You look at that, he's good, right? You look at that player and now he's kind of like how we saw say probably Derek Carr, like Kirk Cousins a few years ago. Like that would be like the barometer of what an average quarterback is and what we're seeing right now. In my opinion, average quarterback getting paid, you know, huge sums of money, which is just kind of the nature of the business. But I wouldn't say he's. He's not bad. He's not good. He's average. But he has the tools and the talent to be a good quarterback. When you talk about Trevor Lawrence, I.

[Pat McAfee]

Wonder what coach is going to go down there legitimately. I wonder what coach is going to go down. Let's go. 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Tone who's being linked to the Jacksonville Jaguar?

[Boston Connor]

I haven't heard anybody yet. I know that, that the Bears. The Bears are bringing the entire. If you've coached or even thought about coaching the Bears are bringing you in. So are the Jets. I haven't heard anyone requesting interviews yet or otherwise.

[Pat McAfee]

Look, Kellen Moore, Todd Monkin, Joe Brady, Liam Conan, Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Patrick Graham, Bob Sala. So basically all the names in the carousel are kind of getting interviewed by everybody. I think the Detroit Lions. Zoom interviews for Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson are happening, I believe this weekend, Thursday through Sunday or something like that. And then the in person visits isn't until the division around the NFL wanted to make sure that was the case. So good luck to all these people getting the jobs. Joining us now is a man who has a job of being on television 247 during the football season. Text me from his wife's phone this morning. Interesting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Odd.

[Pat McAfee]

It was, it was very weird, but he got his phone back. This guy loves eating adversity for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He'll even create adversity for himself. He'll say, hey, how do I stir up some shit for myself? Let me grab a microphone, let me say something. And he does that every day, doesn't he?

[Tone Diggs]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But he'll step right back into the batter's box. And that's why we love him. Ladies and gentlemen, the face of espn, Dan Orlovsky.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

What'S up?

[Pat McAfee]

How are you, buddy? Good to see you got your phone back. I'm happy for you. An adult figured that whole thing out.

[I]

Long, long 24 hours. Part of it was nice not having a phone and constantly being attached to it. And part of it was like, hey, at some point I need this thing to work, so I prefer you not to facetime my wife anymore though.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah, that was an interesting situation when I'm FaceTime with a number I do not have saved in my phone, by the way, I got a text from a number I do not have saved in my phone saying, this is my wife's phone. If you need anything, text this number. And I'm like, who? You know, who is?

[I]

But what happened was like yesterday my phone stopped working at like yesterday 1 or 2 o'clock. But I would randomly, occasionally get like a text message would show up on my Apple watch, this whole thing, but the Apple watch also wouldn't work. So I saw that you had texted along with some other people, and I'm like, all right, Pat. You know, some people I chose not to respond to just because I don't need to really get back to you right now. You were the one of the people that I was like, I should probably get back to them.

[Pat McAfee]

So, man, I feel good about that. Thank you for that. And you did have an excuse not to answer anybody. You know, that's what I like. Whenever my phone just shits the bed. It's like, sorry, what do you. Yeah, what do you want from me? So I appreciate you getting back in, finding any means necessary. Did the phone company tell you that the phone decided to quit because it was a part of so many bad takes? Is that something?

[I]

It certainly hit me with the you need a new phone thing, but I don't think they. I don't think they said the latter part. I thought that. I think you made that one up.

[Pat McAfee]

I did. No, no, no.

[I]

What take do you disagree with or don't like?

[Pat McAfee]

I saw what you did. Shannon Sharp about Sterling Sharp. That'd feel pretty good. That'd feel pretty good. Yeah. Yeah.

[I]

But I didn't know Shannon was going to say that. I had. I had gathered that information for myself to use, and I had absolutely no idea that Shannon was going to make that comment. And so right when he started first talk. First started talking, I was like, oh, my gosh. Because I had gotten that stat from Hembo two hours before I had texted himbo, has there ever been a Triple crown receiver not make the playoffs? And he responded back with Sterling Sharp, 1992. So I was like, all right, great. I'm going to use that at some point today. And then when he started first. First started talking, I was like, oh, my gosh. He just opened the door for it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah. Especially whenever you're getting dunked on all the time, it's nice to windmill one back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, so, yeah, way to go, Daniel.

[I]

I don't feel like I get dunked on all the time, though, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Of course. Of course not. And we just keep the phone off. You never know. You know, like Bill Burr said something about, you know, if you don't open any apps, do you know if you're canceled? And then you just kind of go about your life when you don't have.

[I]

Did I get dunked on yesterday?

[Pat McAfee]

I assumed it.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, no, I think yesterday, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Has been elsewhere.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You're actually. You're on a little bit of a streak right now. Yeah. Yesterday, potentially 10AMaybe tomorrow, you know, maybe headache from now, maybe tedious from now. You know, in this entire thing, we're just talking about the AFC south being in complete disarray. Ran Carthon got fired this morning from the Tennessee Titans, but they keep Callahan Jacksonville. Jack, just learning that. Okay, sweet. Jacksonville Jaguars fired Doug Peterson. They keep Trent Baalke, but Then Shahid Khan on a zoom call says, I'll get fucking rid of this guy if I have to. If you have a better idea than me, I'll get rid of this guy. Then you talk about the Indianapolis Colts. Obviously we're keeping Shane, we're keeping Chris Ballard, we're going to continue to do this thing. I have the utmost faith in this crew, says Jim Merce. So, all right, let's. Let's hope they can put the pace back into the tube. How do you feel about all those situations? And if you're the Houston Texans, do you understand that now is the time, like we can really go on maybe even like a five to ten year run here and keep going all in like Caseario has done, or what are your thoughts on what's happening in the AFC South?

[I]

Yeah, if you're Houston, you think massive advantage. And all Houston really has to do is really try to attack the offensive line in the offseason to get them to play a little bit better. And I do think Bobby Slowik needs to just continue to evolve as a play caller. Last year, so much success. I had talked all offseason like it was a little bit of a mirage because CJ was so remarkable on third down that it kind of band aided a lot of the other stuff. And that hasn't been the case this year. Obviously the two injuries to the wide receivers, big deal. So they go into the the playoffs with a little bit of like banged up when it comes to how well they're capable of playing and maybe lower expectations than they had in September. But they still have organizational alignment. You still sit there and say ownership, general manager, front office people and their head coach are aligned. At least it seems like it. And they're still super young and talented. Indy's got question marks of Anthony. Is Anthony going to develop? Are they going to bring in something to kind of compete with Anthony? You know, Jacksonville's restarting again. Tennessee restarting. Is the new general manager going to keep Brian Callahan? Is Brian Callahan being. Is he like mandated by ownership that he's staying there? So I think there's a lot of moving parts with all those other organizations. And if you're Houston, you're like, hey, we got to make sure that we keep the quarterback upright and clean. If we do that, we should run this division for the next five years.

[Pat McAfee]

Slow skin head coaching interview, as we assume and continue to do so depending upon how many more jobs open up, if any more jobs open up. Everybody's interviewing everybody, but there is a name that has been on television that we all love. Got a great set of teeth and a lot of moxie. Let's go over to New York. Connor has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Dan, obviously the jets are in a bit of a predicament and this season didn't go how they thought it was. And then Rex Ryan was on a radio show. Not sure if you heard it, but we do have the clip here. Fox, you can run that.

[Pat McAfee]

You think you're going to get this job, right? You think you're going to be the next head coach of the jets?

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, 100%.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely, I do. And the reason I think I'm going to get it is because I'm the best guy and it ain't close.

[AJ Hawk]

The thing that you have to do, you have to connect with a football team.

[Pat McAfee]

You have to connect with your fan base and the way they play. That's the most important thing. Not just the X's and O's and all that. Look, this Ben Johnson, I love him. I absolutely love them. But I'm a better candidate for this.

[AJ Hawk]

Job than he would be.

[Ty Schmidt]

What do you think about that, Dan? And what do you think the jets are going to do with all the decisions they have to make in both the front office and with the head coaching staff?

[I]

Yeah, I mean, he's being genuine there. After, you know, working every Monday for the past three years with him, he's being genuine. I think the one thing that I will share about Rex is I've had so many moments on TV with him where he's had to be talking about coaching. And yes, sometimes he does go into, like, you know, the salesman part of it in a way, because I think he's so passionate about it. But then sometimes when a coach does something or says something that he disagrees with, or maybe it's not in the best interest in his eyes of what's best for the team or the player. And you can feel how much that bothers him and how much being in that coaching role and in that locker room and with those guys, like, still is such a fabric of who he is. So I don't think that's a phony kind of. I'm just saying this to be, you know, out or hyperbolic in the moment. Like, I honestly believe that he believes the things that he's saying. You know, the jets are super interesting because I do think that there are organizations in the league that have to play a certain way of football. Like, you have to play a certain style of football. And the jets and the Giants are Definitely one of those. Like those teams that are in certain climates, they have to play a certain style, they have to have a certain identity. And the jets kind of have lost that a little bit. I think the Giants have lost that as well. And I think that, like, there is an element that you have to be big and physical and tough and nasty. And it's not maybe about how great your quarterback is or how unbelievable your past game could be, but, like, can you win those. Those nasty bad weather, cold ground and pound like Rex had in unbelievable defense games? And I don't know if they're going to hire Rex or not, but I do think that it's a. He's certainly a viable candidate, but you got to make sure that his offensive philosophy is a little bit more modern age than it was maybe six or seven years ago.

[Pat McAfee]

I assume it would be with the modern offensive coordinators that will be available for him to hire if he was to take the coaching job. Did him and Tannenbaum ever break bread in the green room over there at ESPN that you watched?

[I]

I don't think so.

[Mike Greenberg]

I don't know.

[I]

I don't know if they've ever been on really, because Rex has really only been a Monday guy, and Tannenbaum I don't think has been on many Mondays, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. Tuesdays. Yeah.

[I]

Yeah. So I don't. I don't think. I don't. I don't remember them kind of crossing paths.

[Pat McAfee]

Because the 33rd team is a part of this. Right. Consulting in this entire thing. Yeah. So obviously they're the ones that have put together every name that is available, correct?

[Darius Butler]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

For the Woody Brick Johnson family, Chris Johnson, to kind of look at and see what they need to do. Rex Ryan getting back over there would be awesome for football. I'd miss him on tv. Yeah. But he'd be on TV more, potentially, with press conferences.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

So we need to remember in culture being built, I think that's a big part of what's happening now for the successful team.

[AJ Hawk]

And I agree with everything Dan said with how that team needs to be built. And I kind of referenced the jets yesterday talking to Cole as like, the bad guys, because when they were good, when they were the best, that's kind of how they viewed themselves. That's kind of how they played football. I remember Rex being on Hard Knocks, and I actually visited Rex in 09 when I came out for the draft for like a top 30 visit. And we sitting there and the one clip Breck showed me was his team getting his Baltimore Ravens defense getting a pick. I think Wes Walker, somebody on the Patriots made like a late block down the field. Ravens get the pick. And it was just guys just peeling caps, just crack back, bom, bom, bom. Show the play. Probably about 18, 30 seconds. He's like, hey, this type of defense you're gonna have to want to play for. If you come here, if we take you here. This kind of, that was kind of it. Quick meeting, boom, in and out of there. So like Rex is like, that's, that's who he is. Like that you see on tv, that's who he is. That's who he is in front of his team. And like Dan said, you do need maybe a more modern offense, but physical defense, being able to run the football, that's the type of program that Rex is going to run.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, Belichick said the other day he was like, the Chicago Bears got a bunch of weapons and a quarterback, but not an offensive line. They play in Chicago. So the weather is gonna affect. It was like the shots that Bill takes of people are like at a level where it's like, this is pretty simple if we really think about it. And you made that point there about the jets and the Giants. It's like, hey, weather's gonna be crop. Like you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to be able to run the rock at some point. And neither of those teams really have been able to, even with Breeze hall and Braylon Allen. Braylon Allen, Braylon Allen. It was like thought this was gonna be the, this is gonna potentially be.

[Boston Connor]

The one Rex got.

[AJ Hawk]

Remember he got to the FC Championship with San Sanchez back there. I think that was the year they beat us in the division round 14 2. We had the out of them.

[Pat McAfee]

I think they beat the Colts before they beat the Pigs. Yeah, like we had a couple years back to back there where we were running into the jets in the playoffs. Obviously we let them in because we lost week. They win, we let them in. Everybody's like, you're going to let Rex Ryan into the playoffs and then when Rex beats you, it's going to be a full on. And then we beat him. We go to the super bowl, we lose to Drew Brees and then the next year, time management issue. Vinnie hits like a 50 yard field goal with a minute something left in the game to take the lead. We kick it off, big return. I actually tackle guy on sideline around their 40 or our 50. Then Nick Folk was going to have to hit a 48 yard field goal. I think we call it timeout. We call it timeout. Out.

[AJ Hawk]

Got a prep.

[Pat McAfee]

It was like second down. So he takes a shot to Braylon, I think. Yep. It was down the sideline, catches it. Timeout. They take. It was like why did we. What? Why we give them an opportunity. He kicks like a 25 yard or a 30 yarder. They end up beating us. They go I think to New England.

[Boston Connor]

That was the can't wait Bart Scott year.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, New England and can't wait nosebleed, that entire thing. But that, that run there, obviously everybody makes fun of Sanchez in Mark Sanchez because of the butt fumble. That's all anybody remembers. But it's like that team was very good. And on Hard Knocks they were awesome. They were like must watch. The jets were like dude, they were must watch.

[I]

That was like de Brickish, Shaw, Ferguson and Nick Mangold and dude, they were like, they. That's how they flipped that franchise is. I think they book took both those guys in the same draft and that was really the turning point. And like that's the fascinating thing for me about the whole what are the Patriots going to do and what are the Bears going to do? Because you could fall in love with. Let's, let's have like my perspective is this. Most guys that are great for just the quarterbacks when it comes to like coaches are probably not the best for those cold weather climate organizations. Like most people that are really good play callers. I don't want to say most people but like from my perspective is you know, like, oh, this guy's super smart X's and O's and he's really good with, you know, getting the quarterback to play well. Well, how good is he going to be for developing the overall toughness of the football team and mindset of the football team to play a certain brand of football in these climates that's necessary because most quarterback people aren't tough asses. They're not, you know, they're. They may be like highly intellectual or they see the game in a really advanced past game concept way, but they're probably not like bas. And so that's why I find Bruce Arians great coach. Yeah, Bruce Arians. I find like the Chicago one and people get mad at me about it. But like I find the Chicago one in New England one because it's like we can fall in love with the oh my gosh, we're going to do whatever is best for the quarterback but that's not necessarily what's best for that team in that organizational like situation.

[Pat McAfee]

In that weather, climate, just another thing to kind of echo your sentiment there. You got to be able to motivate the boys to go practice in 15 degree weather on a Wednesday week 15.

[I]

Because you might be playing in 30 degree weather on Sunday.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, like you got to build the culture in those cold weathers a lot. No offense to anybody else, but cold weather takes a lot more motivating to get everything done on a day to day basis. So you got to have somebody that's cultured and you talk about all the play calls. Sean McVeigh is out there in LA. Kevin O'Connell is in a dome right in the entirety. Matt LaFleur I guess would be Ben Johnson dome. Ben Johnson, Dog Slowik down there in Houston. But Matt LaFleur I guess would be the one. Right. Because he's over there in Green Bay. Because I'll call it. Andy Reid would be another guy. But I think he's a culture builder as well. I think he's totally, I think he's classic. Not classic. I think he's like maybe 1 of 1 when it comes to being able to call offense and also build a culture and everything.

[I]

Like I, I think about it like, I don't mean to cut you off, but I think of like, like Lamar with Harbaugh, it wasn't just like an offensive centric thing. Josh Allen with Sean McDermott, Dan Quinn, Jaden Daniels, obviously D'Amico and C.J. stroud. We, as much as I love X's and O's, like we have to stop thinking that the best thing is, oh my gosh, we're going to need to hire head coach and it's got to be about the quarterback. It's certainly part of it. Yes, but your quarterback will play well if everybody else on your team plays well. The light. The likelihood of your quarterback playing well when everyone on your team is playing well is significantly higher than the team playing well just because the quarterback's playing.

[Pat McAfee]

Well or the team playing well and the quarterback shouldn't have been in the NFL normally if teams playing well quarterback is going to play well at this level. That's why there are some players, quarterbacks that people think don't have as much talent but they're in a good situation and they play out of their mind because the team is so good. I love that we are back to a point though where it's like we need football culture in these places. That's good for society, I think as a whole. And you talk about quarterbacks. Let's talk about a couple of the young quarterbacks. Go ahead, D. Bucks.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, a couple of these young quarterbacks I think with very good coaches when it comes to creating a culture. Bo Nix and Jaden Daniels had two, you know, great rookie seasons.

[Pat McAfee]

Sorry. Sean Payton also alongside Andy Reid is a guy who could build a culture and call play. That's all. That's 100% on me, Sean. I apologize. That's probably fine.

[I]

Learn another Phil Parcells.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, yeah. Tough ass. So you know Jaden Daniels, Bo Nicks, good years. But now going into the playoffs, obviously, you know, everything steps up a notch on both sides of the of the ball. Who do you have more confidence in going into this playoff run? Jaden Daniels over with the Commanders or Bo Knicks with the Denver Broncos?

[I]

I got more confidence in Jaden. I think that, you know, Jaden actually. Should I. I think it's going to play well against Tampa. One, I think Tampa's defense plays way too soft on the perimeter. They give up completions. Jaden's a completion centric, completion driven quarterback with their no huddle offense and he spits the ball out real quickly. So you know, they better play better and more. Take away some more air off the line of scrimmage on the perimeter of Tampa defensively because you know Washington will have a lot of success in the past game if that doesn't change. So I think they could play well. If you go back to week one, one of the things that stood out in that game where Jaden's legs were a massive part of that game and I don't remember exactly who won that game the Bucks wanted, but Jaden and the, the, the thing is like Bucks defensively you're getting a totally different kid. I remember in that first game Jaden was played a little bit hesitant. He didn't necessarily trust what his eyes kind of were looking at and didn't take some shots down the field that I thought that were there. Obviously that is a long time ago and he has grown a lot, but I have a lot of faith in him. I really do. I think that again their no huddle offense is such a big deal to try to get defenses to play. So I have a high level of confidence with Bo Nix. The thing with Bo that'll be interesting is in that game specifically as well is how does Buffalo defensively handle Cortland Sutton? Because Sutton is a problem because he's so big, you know, he's such a mismatched guy. How do they handle their perimeter screen game? You know, that's one of the things that probably hasn't been talked about enough in Denver is their perimeter screen game has created a lot of opportunities, and then some of the shots downfield, you know, that's a big part of their offense is. And that's always been the Sean Payton thing. They want to run the football. They can. They could put beefy people on the line of scrimmage. They're going to try to run it against Buffalo's front. There's no doubt about it. The perimeter screen game. And then he's going to drive the ball to some seams and take some shots down, down the field to Sutton. And, you know, Buffalo is a really good defense. They take the ball away. That's one of the reasons why they've statistically not been awesome. They do give up yards. They don't necessarily have a dominant element of their team defensively outside of the takeaways. And BO has valued the football really well this year. And so I think both of these young guys have the chance to play well.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, Whenever you talk about the award season, you know, because you're in ap, obviously these guys, rookies, are in the conversation for offensive rookie of the Year. AP Tone has a question for you, pal.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Dan?

[Pat McAfee]

My.

[Boston Connor]

My AP brethren, we had to turn in our first. First and second team all pros yesterday. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to turn in.

[Pat McAfee]

When did you have to do it? Yesterday? Ear practice.

[Boston Connor]

Did you got yesterday.

[AJ Hawk]

So you sent them to ACHO to clear him already?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

You sent him to Acho a couple hours before.

[Ty Schmidt]

A little busy. Little busy right now, but okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[I]

Hey, let's not have any uncomfortable conversations, all right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Damn.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy dead red.

[Boston Connor]

That's two days in a row.

[Pat McAfee]

You hang them, I'll bang him. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Speaking of. Just kidding, but I was talking about baseballs.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Of course.

[AJ Hawk]

I was talking about context. Apart voting.

[I]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Greenberg]

Mvp.

[Pat McAfee]

Mvp.

[Ty Schmidt]

What's the AP stand for?

[Mike Greenberg]

All Pro.

[Boston Connor]

It was yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Boston Connor]

Tomorrow we have to turn in our top five for all the voting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Whenever you started doing that, you became a real prick.

[Tone Diggs]

Sorry, me?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[I]

I don't know what I did yesterday, how I moved saying that. I don't know, dude. I don't really think hard about how I say the word yesterday.

[Hulk Hogan]

Oh, boom.

[Pat McAfee]

You do because you just said it.

[I]

No, I don't. You really think that I spend brain power on how I say that word?

[Pat McAfee]

No, I don't care. Interesting thing with you, you know, because how do you generate all that brain power to watch all the film that you have to have all the takes that you have. And also think about how you say words yesterday. I think what Conor says is, you drop that one in there. It's like when people say hammer.

[Mike Greenberg]

Done. Done.

[Pat McAfee]

That's like dropping yinzer right into one particular word. But the rest of their life, they speak regular. I think what Conor says is that you have a Massachusetts accent on one word, and then the rest of your sentence is nothing else. Right, Con man. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

You went to UConn. Someone said it, and it was cool. And I get that because I use the Pittsburgh accent, too. But I won't say, like, that's not how I say flowers. I say flyers as, like, a Pittsburgh thing, but I don't say flyers. I say flowers.

[Pat McAfee]

You get it?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[I]

No, I don't. I also have a son who has a Boston accent with the letter R. We have a son named Hunter.

[Pat McAfee]

He drops his.

[I]

My son named Noah calls him Hunter, and he's not from Boston, so his.

[Pat McAfee]

Dad say yesterday all the time. This is what you're doing. It's another generation. Anyways, yesterday you guys had to put in a vote for the ap.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

For the All Pro teams. And then tomorrow is our top five. You got to send your top five for the awards. I don't know how long you've been a voter, Dan. Is this the hardest year ever, especially for, like, MVP and Defensive Player of the Year?

[Pat McAfee]

Because.

[Boston Connor]

Because it feels. It feels like there's a lot of options.

[Pat McAfee]

Tone's regretting it massively, having to do these votes.

[Boston Connor]

No, I.

[I]

This. The MVP vote has been super easy this year. Yeah, this is my second year voting. I mean, it was hard this year. It really was. I actually tried to. I'm not allowed to say who I voted for. I tried to have a double Offensive Player of the year, you know, kind of vote, so we'll see how much that flies.

[AJ Hawk]

But.

[I]

But it was really hard for mvp. I think Offensive Player of the Year.

[Boston Connor]

We'Re allowed to put two number ones for Offensive Player of the Year.

[I]

I tried to, but I tried to.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you doing? What are you doing?

[I]

I tried to. I'm trying. I'm trying to celebrate these guys. I'm not trying to be like other people and tear them down.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, okay, well, you got a duty, Bob.

[Ty Schmidt]

Throw a pizza.

[Pat McAfee]

You got an AP vote. There's only 15. And I. Joe Toon, 47 others that we don't know.

[Hulk Hogan]

Tom Brady, Rock, Marty, Tommy.

[I]

MVP was hard. Offensive Player of the year was hard. Defensive Player of the year was hard. But just because maybe there Wasn't one person that was like the standout, dominant, unbelievable player like Hendrickson leads the league in sacks they don't get in their defense, was really bad. So, like, how do you evaluate all that? You know, Miles Garrett was led the league in tackles for losses. They were bad football teams. So, like, how do you evaluate all that? So, you know, Kyle Hamilton maybe doesn't have like the statistics that like a Kirby Joseph does, but he saves Baltimore season when he goes from the nickel back to safety because then Marlin's playing nickel and Marlin's type of Zach Bond, you know, probably one of the better inside linebackers, one of the best defenses. Patrick Surtan, best corner at his position on one of the best defenses. So that was tough. I thought offensive rookie of the year was relatively easy. Defensive rookie of the year, I thought was relatively easy as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so Tone didn't show us his final votes, but Tone did let us in on how miserable his life is right now trying to piece these together. And I think there is a lot of regret from Tone for accepting this.

[I]

On which one?

[Pat McAfee]

So think about this situation that could brew and I tossed it into Tone's life. This is not Tone's voting. This is me just pointing out how happy I am that I said I'm not doing it and Tone will do it. Let's say you vote Josh Allen for the mvp, then Lamar Jackson's year would be.

[I]

Well, a lot comes with that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So Josh. Well, especially. Especially whenever you're white and you know, we got two America situation going on with Dan Orlovsky on. Yeah, Dan, we know what you're doing, but let's just say you vote Josh Allen for mvp, then you got. We know what you're doing, Dano. Don't you? Yesterday, the day before, the day before that, and probably the future. But whenever you vote that guy mvp, then you would think Lamar then offensive player of the year. So then what does that mean? Saquon gets nothing in that entire thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Can of corn.

[Pat McAfee]

So they don't say you put Lamar in there.

[Boston Connor]

D Bud said you're not allowed to vote for quarterback for off as a player of the year.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't think offensive player of the year should ever be a quarterback because we know the MVP is going to a quarterback. So I think offensive player of the year. It's got to be Saquon or Jamar Chase. And since the Bengals aren't in the playoffs and Saquon did something very, very unique, just like the Triple Crown is, it's gotta be Saquon. I don't have a vote, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly. So this was the shit that was brought around. All right? Tone's flexing and he has a vote right now. That is not what he's talking about.

[I]

It's okay to feel yourself a little bit, but I like it now.

[Pat McAfee]

He's not feeling himself whenever he's typing and answering. And then, I don't know.

[I]

You gotta have some conviction with what you're doing, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well. Well, how can you have conviction whenever you know that it's impossible to reward one person to have the best season or most value?

[I]

Someone actually hit me up on Twitter a couple weeks ago and said, we should have an MVP for every position. And I was like, all right.

[Pat McAfee]

And then someone's like, not everybody gets part of the profit. You're part of the problem. And tell that person they're a part of the problem. And tell that person to stop deleting their tweets too. Tell them not everybody gets an award. But there is numerous people that deserve in award this year. But the way these things normally work, you don't get the mvp, well, then you get normal player of the year. But it's like, so if Lamar's mvp, Josh wins nothing on this particular season because Saquon wins offense player of the year, then if Saquon's not winning any awards, then he's going to win a Super bowl, right? Well, Ty has a question for you. Dano.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, Dano, it came out today, actually, that Jalen Hurts is still in the concussion protocol.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

I know you're not a neurologist or a doctor, but how concerned do you think Eagles fans should be with that? And also, if he can't go, who are they going to start? Because, you know, McKee looked pretty good last week, maybe even better than Kenny Pickett.

[I]

Yeah, I would be pretty concerned as of right now. You know, this is a long time without practicing. Now, I heard Saturday on Get up talking about. Because my thought was, well, I wonder if he's not practicing, is he able to be throwing on the side and kind of working up a sweat and maybe throwing routes on air or whatnot? And I thought Jeff intimated that that's not even allowed as well. So he was saying, like, 16 days has it's been since any type of football activity. And if that's accurate, that does give me a little bit of like, oh, man, you know, that that's a really long time, you know, for a quarterback to be off. And so I'll be interested to see what the next 48 hours are because, you know, Wednesday is obviously the start of the week. So if he's out there tomorrow and practicing and he's cleared everything and he's full clear for practice, then I really don't have a ton of concern. But if it bleeds into tomorrow and he's not able to kind of partake in at least some parts of practice, then that gives me a high level of hesitation if I'm Philly. And let's be very clear, if you're Philly and Jalen for some reason cannot play you 100% if healthy start Kenny Pickett. No offense to Tanner McKee. Kenny Pickett's played a lot of football. You are 100% playing Kenny Pickett.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Let him spin it. I would like to hear how the Johns over in Philadelphia feel because if Jalen hurts, isn't playing once again, 16 days. We hope he's okay. If this concussion continues to linger, we're all going to be sending positive thoughts and prayers for whatever's going on with his brain and how he feels and everything. Like, because that's a big like, how do you feel? Type thing with concussions. So if he doesn't feel right this far after a concussion, we hope everything's okay going forward. But we would assume that Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee might not take them to a super maybe.

[AJ Hawk]

And Nick Foles did it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay, Agreed.

[Pat McAfee]

That's big Richard. Nick Foles. We don't, we don't know if Big Dick, it's swinging around, but there is a chance. There is a chance. There is a chance that he is able to pull that off. Relax, Dan. Oh, please. Geez. Yesterday everything was fine. But if they don't, let's say they lose to the packers, okay, in the first round, which there's a chance. So this Eagles team doesn't get the all time rushing record, chooses not to do it, has a first round exit after having a great season. Sirianni is going to get absolutely destroyed by so many people and it's like he doesn't have his quarterback, doesn't have this, doesn't have that. And there's a chance that this Philadelphia Eagles season that was so magical for so long, historic record breaking, going to be fun. There's a chance that it all ends quickly. And the Johns over there in Philly are going to be so pissed. They are going to be so Dan, Legit. I've. I've had the opportunity. Bingo. I've had a chance to talk to a couple Eagles fans, they are not happy that Saquon didn't go for that record. They are not happy that the Philadelphia Eagles don't own the all time leading rushing record. And I, I've tried to explain, like, well, if Saquon's gonna play, that means the entire offensive line gotta play. That means, like, everybody's gonna have to play going forward. And they're like, who cares? Like, everybody else did it. Hardball's got the boys ready for one more week of toughness. MC DC was like, we're playing, man. Like, everybody decided to play, but we decided to rest because we didn't want to do it. It's like, I understand what you're saying. If Saquon or anybody gets hurt because they're playing in a meaningless game, last game of the season, Sirianni is going to get murdered. I mean, he's going to get absolutely killed for mismanagement. So it's a tough position. But if, let's say Saquon doesn't win offense player of the year, he doesn't get the rushing record. And now question mark at quarterback, it's like, what if they don't win? I mean, yeah, it'll be chaos. It'd be a total failure. Yes.

[I]

Total failure of an unbelievable season and the season that you get nothing for. So that's how I said that last week. Like, once they decide to sit him, I get it. I get all the football. You better go win the whole thing then, because that's the only reason, that's the only way that the decision to not play is paid off. It doesn't pay yourself off if you lose in the NFC title game on a game winning kick. And all of a sudden you're sitting there mid February library, and I go, I got nothing. I got nothing to show for it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, and we love Sirianni, but I mean, that's the game. And I get it. The game can be cold sometimes. Dan Orlovsky's a cold son of a bitch. We appreciate you, Dano. We'll be back next hour with AJ Hawking. Greeny. What? Wow. See you then.

[AJ Hawk]

What's up, y'all? It's Joe Button here to talk about prize picks. Football season is heating up and prizepix is the best place to get real money sports action while watching football. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, Prizepix has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. The app is really simple to use. Pick two or more players across any sport. Pick more or less on their projection and you could win real cash on your lineup. Prizepix even invented the Flex play so you can still cash out if one of your picks doesn't hit. On prizepix, you can mix and match players from different sports real money sports action while watching football.

[Pat McAfee]

Download the prizepix daily fantasy app today and use code tpms and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code tpms on prizepix. To get $50 instantly when you play$5. You don't even need to win to.

[AJ Hawk]

Receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed prizepix run. Your game must be present in certain states. Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details from.

[Mike Greenberg]

ESPN Podcast and Omaha Productions Coach is.

[Pat McAfee]

A new, groundbreaking educational football podcast hosted by NFL legends Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia and Michael Lombardi. In each episode, the coaches break down game changing situations and front office management.

[AJ Hawk]

Tactics, sharing insights from decades of coaching.

[Pat McAfee]

Experience and opening up the Bill Belichick Encyclopedia for Football Knowledge created by football.

[Tone Diggs]

Legends for football fans.

[AJ Hawk]

New episodes of Coach Drop Weekly.

[Pat McAfee]

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Football is fantastic. We can't thank you enough for joining us. The talks and tables here at Boston Connor and at ty schmid. 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP Tone is here, boys. It sounds like he doesn't want to.

[Boston Connor]

No, I'm going through it. No, I just want to get it right. Want to get it right.

[Pat McAfee]

A little bit of a blender over there. Whenever you're having to put an actual number on who's winning what. Defensive player of the year. I'll tell you what, there's some stats out there that are alarming for a lot of guys. There's a lot of great defenses. Offensive player of the year. Well, who's that going to? The person that didn't win the mvp? Or is it the person that's the best on offense that isn't a quarterback? There's obviously some disagreements within the Thunderdome I couldn't imagine across the entire country. How did they ever get get it right Is the real question over time. But so many legacies and contract escalators and hall of Fame nods all come down to you getting it right alongside Acho and 48 others.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, just want to get it right and I'm taking it very, very seriously. I don't know if everybody does. They should though. This is people's legacies.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Ty Schmidt]

Who does it?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know.

[Boston Connor]

I do. Habar Kush.

[Pat McAfee]

He was. That was the guy from Pornhub Arkoosh Chicago struggle.

[Boston Connor]

The guy from guess who he said I won't.

[Pat McAfee]

He is the guy.

[Darius Butler]

He looks like Sam from guess who.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah. I will not vote for a guy that doesn't have a vaccine. Yeah I believe as well as that.

[Darius Butler]

Said quite frankly this guy's an and I'm not voting for him. I think that is what he said.

[Boston Connor]

Verbatim and in my voting. You could kill someone if you're good.

[Mike Greenberg]

Is that right?

[Boston Connor]

If you're good on the football field.

[Pat McAfee]

You're saying it's all matters if the NFL is allowing you to be on a football football field.

[Boston Connor]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

And you're just looking at strictly ball.

[Boston Connor]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

You're not worried about anything else. Tape and ball dude was watching tape on long snappers last week.

[Ty Schmidt]

No big deal.

[Pat McAfee]

It was one of the most awesome things ever. What am I even supposed to be looking at? He's spitting. He's got a. He's got to give a first team. We're being honest.

[Boston Connor]

I reached out to some experts on that one.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Smart play. First team, second team all pro longstepper. It's like I have no idea who that is. I think if you were to ask punters, kickers and even long snappers the league they would have no idea who it is because who snapped Lace's best all season for field goal. Who snapped the punts, who covered who blocked. That's tough film to do. I appreciate the fact that you were diving into all of it. You are taking it very serious.

[Boston Connor]

Thank you to NFL Pro All Pro Premium plus.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's NFL Pro Premium NFL plus Premiums Pro which is a must have. We have it now at this point we don't even have to say it as much because we assume it's just in the football zeitgeist as you would say. NFL plus Premiums. NFL Pro has the ability to look at film at everything and also have stats on everything and a way to organize everything that needs to be its own. That is a phenomenal tool for everybody.

[Boston Connor]

Like you can search like if you are between two players you can search and it just brings up every play that that person person is on the field and you can filter by tackles, you know, pressures, pass coverage, snaps, stuff like that. So it makes it very easy to watch film.

[Pat McAfee]

Nine year NFL vet one of the smartest humans I've ever seen on a football field. Darius Date bothers you looking incredibly have you been helping him or arguing with.

[AJ Hawk]

We've been talking. We've been butt heads on a couple things. You know we both have different opinions. Tone's been grinding and tape. I'll just tell you what Dan told you. Just have conviction when you think. You guys have conviction.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Stand by.

[AJ Hawk]

Stand by.

[Ty Schmidt]

Be right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

He's been a secondary consultant on, you know, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Darius or Dano?

[Boston Connor]

Darius.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you called Dano?

[Boston Connor]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

You. Are you guys allowed to mingle with your thoughts, these things like the gossip?

[Boston Connor]

I don't know. I feel like that shouldn't be a thing.

[Pat McAfee]

You should make your own.

[Boston Connor]

It's too much group think killing America.

[AJ Hawk]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Not just America. From what I'm learning. The point it is, is in a lot of places. Shout out to espn better exists still bring it. Really. Yeah, it does bring it. Still bring it. Yeah, it is. And you can bet on these awards, actually. And that is the reason why Tone can't give away any of his actual voting in who he's picking. Because you can bet on it still. But we will say, I don't even know if we know who Tony's picking. No. Because of how many arguments there's been. I've tried to listen through right through the wire when he's talking about who he's like, who's he putting over a little bit more than maybe somebody else. But then somebody I'd never heard of dropped into the conversation fighting me this morning. Who?

[Boston Connor]

Bruce tried to fight me this morning.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Bruce is not happy. He kept stomping around, did the entire thing. Hair looks phenomenal. Bruce is 20, 25, great bucket guy. We were not fighting. You know, I. I just happened to.

[Ty Schmidt]

To disagree a little bit. That's not true. He hates Zach Bond. I don't hate Zach Bond.

[Tone Diggs]

But you might as well. You might as well put the top.

[Pat McAfee]

Five linebackers in the league on a wheel.

[Tone Diggs]

Spin it and give it.

[Pat McAfee]

Give them defense player of the year if you're giving it to Zach Bon. Yeah, but that was so Zach Bon. I didn't even know he was in the conversation. And if I'm Zach Bon, I'm pissed. And nobody's been talking about me all year. That I'm now in the defensive player of the year conversation.

[AJ Hawk]

Media. It's the media.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a part of it. You haven't said this guy's name one.

[AJ Hawk]

Time I've talked about Zach Bomb. But you know what we always talk about? Draft status, notoriety. Like that shit follows you. It matters. If Zach Barnes was a first round pick, he would be a minus 900 right now to win the defensive player. What he'd be able to do rushing the passer Disrupting shit behind line of scrimmage. In the past, he came into the league as a pass rusher, moved to off ball. Howie Roseman, another unbelievable signing to get on that Vic Fangio defense, but he's been a dog. He, I think, has been the best defense decent player in the league this year.

[Pat McAfee]

So he said that over there and then Bruce with his hair just popped up. What are we talking about? What are we even talking about? And then Tone was like, I was looking at the numbers. And then he starts making a K and it's like, I don't know how you make the right one there. You're never going to get it right. But good luck out. Thank you and we appreciate you joining us. Now is a man who does not have an AP vote, but he does have a lot of say, doesn't he? Oh, yeah, he does. Every time he opens his mouth, the world moves. You're talking about a needle mover, ladies and gentlemen. College football national champions champion, super bowl champion, Ryder cup winner. A man who's in WWE 2K25, 24. Saw a sign for WWE 2K25.

[Darius Butler]

That's what. That's what got.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but I didn't know if that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Was breaking news or people were acting like it was breaking.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's a big pop because, you know, he walks in there and he says, January 27th, I think. And then he walks in there and then 2k25 is on door. Everybody pops. I'm like, I don't know if that's bright breaking news or not. What's going on? So I just get my mouth shut. I don't need to be messing this entire thing up. Didn't hear Cole say anything either. But Cole is recorded 10,000 hours for these WWE 2K games, so he didn't say anything either. I was like, I'll keep my mouth shut. Joining us now, WWE 2K24 player, AJ Hawk. Yeah, Hawker. We are now in award season and AP voting season, and I want to let you know it got a little contentious over here this morning. I did not expect it. It, aj. It got a bit contentious over here, pal. What?

[Tone Diggs]

Bruce just doesn't. He doesn't value the off ball linebacker, does he?

[Boston Connor]

Go.

[Tone Diggs]

It sounds like.

[Pat McAfee]

It's not just Bruce, brother. It's not just like the defensive player of the year. It's if you give the MVP to Lamar Josh, then you go down offense player of the year. So that means the other guy's sitting there and then you got Saquon. That had almost historic. Definitely still broke a lot of records, but almost like anomaly season. And it's like, so who, how do you, how do you, how do you.

[Tone Diggs]

I, I like what dbut says. I think dbut's great. Offensive player of the year should be a non quarterback. That should be a non quarterback award. I believe you might as well, because we know MVP should and always probably will be a quarterback award. We know that.

[Pat McAfee]

So we should just have the best quarterback award and then we should have offensive player of the year award and then we should just move along. Long as that is the rules. Because Lamar and Josh, one of them is going to win an mvp, one of them is going to win nothing. Then with these rules, like they get nothing for the year that they've had.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, but like hall of Fame, if you think about it. It's like if you give Josh MVP and then Lamar gets like a first team all pro at the end of the career, it's like, well, Lamar had another first team all Pro.

[Pat McAfee]

This is like in college, whenever one person wins the quarterback award. Sure, Davio, Brian, and then one person wins the highest. It's kind of like you kind of split those things. But in this particular case, there is a chance to. St Barkley walks out of the season with nothing. Okay, there is, he'll be first team all pro running back, which is obviously a big deal. Congratulations to him. He has certainly earned that. But there is a, there is a world where no rushing title, no playoff wins, no nothing. Now they're saying over there that you can't clear concussion protocol until practice. I saw somebody say on the Internet.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay, news to me.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I didn't know that. But if that's the case, hopefully Jalen's okay because that is a wild 16 days now, he says. Now they're saying it's not coming until tomorrow because that's when he first practiced. I hope that's the case. But for Philadelphia, those fans, they've got to be in the middle of it right now. Just absolutely in the middle of it all. A.J.

[Tone Diggs]

Well, I, I just, I guess I would definitely worry if I, I'd like to know which. And they don't have to tell us anything. What stage of the protocol is he in? We know there's different stages. Like, okay, he's allowed to get up and do a little workout in the weight room and see if he gets a headache. And then you move on from there and you continue to progress to on the field stuff. So that's, I just want to know where he's at in the protocol.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. We hope he's okay. Obviously, with the year that they've been having, that would be a heartbreaker for obviously, Jalen hurts, but for everybody over there in Philadelphia and what an insane couple seasons. End of seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles, last couple years as a very successful program. Joining us right now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's in multiple hall of Fames for broadcasting. He is one of the loudest New York jets fans. Excited to get his take on everything. Haven't talked to him in a while. It's always great to see him. Ladies and gentlemen, host of get up and Greeny, Mike Greenberg. How are you, Greeny?

[Mike Greenberg]

Guys? Well, I'm very busy preparing for my interview to be the general manager of the Jets. I can't tell you how much time and energy I'm putting into this. It's not something I have a great deal of experience with, but I'm very flattered to be given the opportunity. So I'm cramming like crazy. Any advice you have will be very much welcome.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so we all thought Mike Greenberg was the salary cap gymnast from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers getting the interview for the general manager job, not Greeny. But from what it sounds like, you were the guy. A lot of people have gone from TV right into either front office or head coaching. I think you'd be the right guy over there, Greeny, because remember, Brick Johnson heard you say it. You would cut off your dong for this jets team to be good. They need that type of passion in that building, Greeny. That's what they need.

[Mike Greenberg]

Let me give you an example of just how incredibly stupid people are. The number of people who believe this is me is overwhelming. I'm not just talking about random people responding to Shefty's tweet. I'm talking about friends of mine. People in my life sending me notes saying things like, is this real? And I don't even know how to respond to those people. What they're doing is they're demonstrating to me. They're letting their guard down and I realize, oh, you're actually a complete idiot. I don't have any. So I feel like I'm going to lose friends over this thing. Lest there be any confusion. Yeah, I am not being considered the general manager's job of the New York.

[Pat McAfee]

Well on the Sea Geek ticker ticker. That is breaking news. Greeny will not be the general manager of the Jets. Although I assume a lot of jets fans wish that was the case. Let's talk about the jets situation and then the current state of all these NFL positions before we look ahead to super wild card weekend, which is going to be off. Awesome. You guys have general manager up and head coach up and obviously the 33rd team, which you know very well because Tannenbaum, who founded it, is on your program on a very regular basis. They're consulting. It feels like they just put a list together of every human that's available to be the head coach. And now we're hearing Rex Ryan talk, and Rex is like, hey, I'm the best guy for the job. How do you think it's going to pan out? What would you like to see? And do they get coach before GM or GM before coach? How do you think it kind of goes going forward?

[Mike Greenberg]

Okay, so let's start with Rex. So he is interviewing right now, or at least his interview was this morning, and I have no idea how it has gone, and I will not ask him. You know, there's a line, as you know, you know, with friends and, you know, it's interesting to me. I don't know how you do this because you have so many relationships with people that we cover and I have none. I have made a point of trying to have none or next to none because it puts me in this impossible position. Rex, and you know him, Pat, the years that you were with us on Mondays, love him for all of his bluster and all of his craziness. He has the biggest heart of any human being you will ever meet. He's genuinely the nicest person in the world. So I am hopelessly biased and hoping that he gets this job because he wants it so badly. And when you care about someone as much as I care about that guy, after all these years we've been working together, I want to see him get it because he wants it so badly. I also don't think it's in scene. The reality of it is this. There are three things that will go down that will decide how this goes. One is, are you a leader of men? Rex is definitely that. Two, can you coach one side of the ball or the other? Rex definitely has that. He is, if not the greatest and among the greatest defensive coaches in recent NFL memory. I think if he gets the right offensive coach in place, whoever, then I don't know who this person is. Maybe you guys have a better idea than I do, but whoever the next Kevin O'Connell is, whoever the next Ben Johnson is, whoever that person waiting for that opportunity is, if Rex gets that guy, then I see no reason in the Worldwide can't succeed. I can tell you it would be very popular. I walk the streets of this city every single day and I can't tell you how many people yell at me, greeny, is Rex going to get this job? We need to bring Rex back. Jet fans love him. So I think he would walk in with a lot of goodwill, for whatever that is worth. So that's the first answer to your question. I'm hopelessly biased. I would love to see Rex get it because he wants it so badly. As far as the GM and coach thing, the jets are one of the NFL teams and they're not the only one that do not tie them together, which is to say the coach answers directly to the owner and the general manager answers directly to the owner. I don't like that. I've never liked it. I've never thought it was a good way to do business.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's crap. I think it's shite. I think it's stupid. They should be on the same page personally. That's. Yeah, that's basically what you just said there. Yeah, it makes sense.

[Mike Greenberg]

That's what I think. I think those two people have to work like this. You have to have a general. Otherwise, what you wind up with is agendas. Okay? And look, life is all agendas, right? Everyone has an agenda. Everyone wants. Everyone wants success, and they want to receive the credit and the good things that come from the success. If the coach and the general manager are not aligned, if they are not in complete lockstep, then what you are doing is opening the door for each of them to have separate agendas. And the moment things start to go sideways, they're each going to point the finger at the other one. I think that you need the two of them to be completely joined at the hip. So the jets have an opportunity to do that. Because both jobs are open at the same time frequently. They've not done that. When they fired Mike Tannenbaum, they kept Rex, they hired John Isaac, then they fired Rex, he hired a different coach. We've seen this cycle with NFL teams all the time, and it sucks. It almost never works. So they have a great opportunity now. So I think you either choose the general manager that you believe in more than anyone else in the world and let that guy pick the coach, or you hire the coach that you believe in more than anyone else in the world and you say to him, okay, who do you want to be your general manager? Who do you want to work with? But I want those two people joined together.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And there's been coaches that have more power than a gm. The GM has been working for the coach. And if you hired Rex Ryan, I think that'd be a smart decision to be like, hey, Rex, who do you want the pseudo work for you here as the general manager on the back end, handling the salary cap, handling it all. Maybe it is Mike Greenberg because he's been able to do all of those things. Not. Not this Mike Greenberg, but actually Mike Greenberg down there in Tampa Bay because he's been ahead of all this shit that everybody else is doing. You got Rex Ryan. Let him pick. These are the type of guys I want. This is who I want. This is how we want to do. You figured out on the back end that could be a match made in heaven. Who knows what Woody Johnson will do going forward. What you just referenced there about hiring a coach and then firing a GM and then bringing a gm. Firing coach. Tennessee Titans are kind of in the middle of that right now down the AFC South. Conor has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Greeny, how do you feel about the AFC South? Pat just mentioned the Titans are looking for a gm, Jags are looking for a coach and possibly a gm pending if shot. Khan gets word from the new head coach that Balki's an idiot and then he'll make a change is what he said. And then obviously the Colts kept both their guys. But what do you think about the entire division as a whole? And who do you think is kind of set up best for success between the Colts, Titans and Jacks? Especially with the draft coming up for all three of those teams?

[Mike Greenberg]

Probably. Look, the only way to answer that question is with another question. Have we decided Trevor Lawrence just isn't going to be the guy that we thought he was going to be? I'm old enough to remember when Trevor Lawrence was the best prospect to come out of college in generations. He would have been the first pick in three different drafts. So if he. And there's a question I would trying to get to on get up each of the last two days and we haven't gotten it in because other stuff got hot, but we will get it in if you were. And so maybe I can answer your question this way.

[Pat McAfee]

Get it in.

[Mike Greenberg]

If you were a coach and you had the choice between coaching Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams and Drake May, all three of whom have openings, which one would you choose? If you're a coach, the quarterback is the most important. In this day and age, when guys get fired after two bad seasons, you got to have a quarterback who's ready to go right now. Which guy would you choose? If the answer is not Trevor Lawrence, then. Then the Jacksonville job is the worst of them because you're locked into paying him a trillion dollars. If he's not actually that good, that's not a great opportunity. I don't like where the Titans sit at all because I do the podcast with Mel and Field every week and I think. I don't believe that either Shador Sanders or Cam Ward are a lock. And look, they might. Either one of them might wind up being terrific, but I don't. If they were in any of the most recent drafts, they would not have been the first or second quarterback taken. So I don't think that's a slam dunk at the top of that draft.

[Pat McAfee]

Interesting.

[Mike Greenberg]

The Colts. I don't know. I keep reading on Twitter from some guy named McAfee that they're just a freaking mess. They. They seem to have everything in the world going wrong. So I'll say the Texans by default. But they've been a disappointment. Like I felt like they were ready. They were a very sexy pick to go to the super bowl. And now all of a sudden I got people they're an underdog at home to the Chargers this weekend. So I guess I would say the Texans, but it would be by default. That's the worst division in the sport.

[Pat McAfee]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not all sports. Everybody needs relax. I'm sure there's some stupid MLB division, South side something the NL Central dog shite. There it is. North Central League, not the Paul schemes. It is not the worst division in all of sports.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's not.

[Pat McAfee]

There's some MLS crap. That is somewhere.

[Darius Butler]

Atlantic Division in the mls.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, the Atlanta United and the Portland Timbers are holding up both sides. So somewhere over in England, which one is the up? The Claret's in the championship. That's the worst one.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's G League though. It doesn't count either.

[Pat McAfee]

Geez.

[Boston Connor]

The worst division of all?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What's their divisions? Red bull, Mercedes?

[AJ Hawk]

No F1 fun versus slow fucking top.

[Pat McAfee]

Shite 1 shy 2 shite 3 respect. Okay, so anyways, AFC south might be the worst division in all of sports. And I want to let you know I'm believer in this Colts team for next year.

[Boston Connor]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. We're bringing all the same guys back. Racing. Put it on a ticker. I believe it. Yeah. Wait till you see what everyone but Gus.

[Boston Connor]

He's the fall guy.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh yeah. Gus is up.

[Pat McAfee]

I am pumped to see what happens down there. But you. You talked about Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams or Drake May. And the reason why I was laughing while you're giving the answer is because I was being accosted by a New England Patriots fan over here saying, you better say Drake May right now. You better stop Greeny right there. That is not a question. Trevor Lawrence, very expensive. Caleb Williams. With everything going going on in Chicago, is he going to be a guy? I think he is, but there's going to be a lot that's going to have to get sorted there. Drake May was able to do a lot with a very poor surrounding around and he's taller than Josh Allen, it looked like in the photos.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's big, son of big and everything.

[Pat McAfee]

With a lot of injuries though. And they got a huge salary cap. They got a lot of cap space going into next year.

[Mike Greenberg]

They have $130 million in cap space. They have the fourth pick in the draft and they have their quarterback of the future in plays. And I would agree the answer to the question is Drake May. I still think under the right circumstances, Caleb Williams, I think in a vacuum, Caleb Williams is more gifted than Drake May. But football isn't played in a vacuum. I was incredibly impressed with what I saw from May this year. I think if I were a coach and I could choose any situation that is currently available in the NFL right now, the one I would choose is New England.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of people assuming that, which is why everybody. He's dabbed over there. I mean, wonderful that you just did that shout out to Cam Newton, by the way. I appreciate respect. You said gifted. Drake May is this tall. Yeah, he's huge. Drake May is fast. He is. I mean, now Caleb obviously can move and his ability and his ability to make plays on the run and everything like that is certainly phenomenal. But Drake may lead UNC in rushing and obviously passing. And he is 6 foot 13. He is so big. It is unbelievable. So going forward, I can't wait to watch all of them. This rookie class, Bo, Jayden, Drake. You talk about Caleb, whether he's going to be able to go and what is Pennix going to do down in Atlanta with another year? Because they're just getting rid of Kirk. It sounds like they save them $10 million. He's going to be back out to. I think Schefter said there's going to be seven quarterback needy teams this offseason coming up. You know, obviously you put those ones into the conversation there. Kirk's going to be available. Sam Darnold's going to be available. Aaron Rodgers might Be available. What are your thoughts on all of that? Green, Are we going to see another class of quarterbacks hit their second wind with another team this upcoming offseason and season?

[Mike Greenberg]

Look, I think if there's something that we've learned, it is that giving up on a quarterback too soon is a big mistake. Look at Bryce Young. Look at the finish that the Panthers had. The Panthers had a very good second half of the season. They had great losses to go along with some nice wins. And Bryce Young now looks like he's going to be the player they hoped he was going to be. Look at Baker Mayfield. Look at Sam Darnold. It's all about the situations these guys wind up in. I'm fascinated by the Aaron thing and obviously you guys know him way better than I do. I watched Enygma. I assume you guys saw it and look, he remains, without any close competition, the most interesting person in sports. I mean, that was the most fascinating, freaky wild ride I've ever seen in a sports documentary in my entire life. Episode 2 was it just. It blew my mind. As one who had heard the word ayahuasca but would have to admit I really didn't know details of what it actually was to see people doing. It was quite the experience. But here's what I took away from Enigma more than anything. This is not the way Aaron envisioned himself going out. No way in hell that that piece, that that three piece documentary was designed to be the coda to walking off like John Elway did. And he even mentions it in one of the episodes. Elway walking off with a championship. You guys know I'm 100 times better than I do. So I guess I would put this in the form of a question. AJ Particularly you. I believe that once he's had two, three weeks, whatever it is, to do whatever he does, to unwind and relax, I believe he's going to decide he wants to play again. I don't know that the jets is the best situation for him and I don't know that he's the best situation for them. That's a different question. But I think Rogers will play again. And I think when you talk about quarterback needy teams. We were actually playing a game at dinner last night, which is the right spot for Rogers to wind up. And the place that we came up with was San Francisco. I think San Francisco is a really interesting one. It's where it all started for him. He knows the offense. They have to make a really interesting decision there. Are they going to pay? Brock Purdy 50 $55 million a year going forward. That. That just feels like one of the options. But I personally will be shocked and I don't know if you guys agree. We'll be shocked if Rogers doesn't decide he wants to play another year.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll be talking to Aaron Rodgers tomorrow. He's currently en route to wherever he is relaxing and spending the next couple weeks to clear.

[Mike Greenberg]

Is it Costa Rica by any.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if it's Costa Rica or the jungle. And I don't think it's a dark darkness retreat either. He said he's done with that.

[Darius Butler]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Feels like he is happy he never has to do that again. Every time he talks about it, it's like, we're okay not doing that.

[Ty Schmidt]

It wasn't that fun.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you remember he won in. I mean, we were four days and.

[Tone Diggs]

Can'T even see the toilet.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And he comes out a lot of misstext. From who? The Packers? We're done. Holy shit. Then that starts the entire jet situation, which had so much hope. And you talk about him wanting to go out like Elway. It's like, I think everybody had dreams of what the jets could be. Whenever Aaron goes over there, especially you watch him. Whenever they're playing good here like this last weekend or maybe a couple weeks ago, whenever everything's kind of hitting. It's like that's what we were all kind of hoping for and dreaming of. I agree with what your statement is, is that I don't think it's done for Aaron Rodgers. We'll talk to him tomorrow. You said San Francisco. There's some Steelers fans that say that. Then there's maybe the Brett Favreau. AJ Has a question for you.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, I mean, Aaron. Who knows where Aaron's gonna go? I. I am very curious as to what his decision may be. I have no idea either way. I haven't directly asked him. But Greeny, when you kind of shook your head when Pat mentioned Sam Darnold going somewhere else, what do you think the Vikings are going to do? Especially if, let's say Sam takes him on a deep playoff run. They can try to franchise them. They keep, like, what happens with the Minnesota Vikings next year at the quarterback position?

[Mike Greenberg]

I think it's a very risky roll of the dice to let him get out of the building right now. They have the situation in their control. You know, it's such a week to weekly a week ago that, you know, his teammates are carrying him on their shoulders and the entire world loves him. And a week later he has a very bad night in the red zone against a Detroit defense and a wild environment and suddenly people act like they were questions. I liked the idea of trading JJ McCarthy. I think Darnold has proved that in this offense he is more than good enough. J.J. mcCarthy, if he were in this year's draft, would be the number one pick. So if you are a team that has a top 10 pick and needs a quarterback, why wouldn't you trade that to Minnesota? So Minnesota can keep Darnold, they can franchise him if they don't feel 100% certain about him forever, or they can try and make a deal with him. Maybe he takes a slightly team friendly one because he recognizes that this has revitalized his entire career. And the Vikings can add a top 10 pick in the draft by trading McCarthy. I think that would make a lot of sense. Just look on this list of teams here that are going to need quarterbacks. There are only two that are going to be drafted in the first half of the first round, Shador Sanders and Cam Ward. There are far more teams than that that are going to be looking for quarterbacks. So why wouldn't those teams give up one of those high picks for JJ McCarthy who again would be the highest rated quarterback if he were in this year's class. That's if I were in their shoes. Barring something terrible happening in L A this Monday night, I think AJ that's the direction I'd be looking to go.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so J.J. mcCarthy traded out of Minnesota to another quarterback. Needy team. Kirk Cousins going to be on the market. Aaron Rodgers is going to be on the market. Cam Ward is going to be one of the guys that one of these teams going to take. Shador Sanders is going to be one of the guys because there's still some spots open. There's going to be some massive deals coming, quarterbacks this offseason, the ones that are going to blow our mind. And you, I don't want to go back to Trevor Lawrence, but remember, they're paying what, 50 million a year? Oh yeah, 55 million a year. And obviously we see Sean Payton dance around the salary cap, dead hit and everything like that with getting rid of Russell Wilson, but that's not easy everywhere. So whoever goes in there to Jacksonville is gonna have to figure out what Trevor. But there's gonna be teams that are gonna open up a big vault. Like if Sam Darnold was to get out there. I mean that 55 million is probably what a team would be willing to pay after what he has Showcased. But will he do what you alluded to which is understand that Kevin O'Connell, Justin Jefferson, Addison, TJ Hawkinson, Aaron Jones is offensive line the defense we have. Even though B Flo might be gone after the season with a head coaching job, it's like that's a wagon over there in Minnesota. I don't like how the Vikings fans have just completely assumed they're dead now because they lose to the Lions. Last week they were going for the number one seed in the nfc. They lose the Lions in devastating fashion. And the Vikings fans that I know are like, it's over. It's like history.

[Darius Butler]

They've been snake bit a lot.

[Ty Schmidt]

They know they.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, you're in the dance. Oh yeah, you're in the dance. Let's talk.

[Mike Greenberg]

And they're a road favorite on Monday night. They're favored to win. I think that their draw is not that bad. I agree. I like the Vikings in that game Monday night in L A. That'll be a Vikings home game. As far as fans, I mean everything outside of the actual location of the game. I like them to win that and then we'll see what winds up happening. They may wind up right back in Detroit again and or crazy things could happen. This Jalen Hurts thing bears keeping a very close eye on. We are living in a world where it is not a certainty that Jalen Hurts is going to be able to play for the Eagles this weekend against Green Bay. And if he's not, then I don't know that they definitely win that game. So I think the nfc, look, the nfc. It's the first time in a lot the AFC I see three teams. I would bet you anything anyone wanted to bat it. I'm obviously not your dong off going out on a limb here that one of three teams will wind up in the Super Bowl. From the afc, Kansas City, Buffalo or Baltimore. From the nfc. I really don't think you can say that. I wouldn't be stunned if practically any of them got there. I guess I would be surprised if.

[Pat McAfee]

Tampa got there, man.

[Mike Greenberg]

But I, I wouldn't be that shocked if any of the NFC teams wound.

[Pat McAfee]

Up in the super bowl and everybody in Detroit is saying are you fucking watching games? That's what everybody in Detroit would say. Yeah, greedy on Sunday or Monday, Sunday night. Sorry. The defense playing that well didn't change your mind at all about the Detroit Lions because we know the offense is going to score a point. Points. I think the defense looks so good. I think a lot of Lions fans are saying we can win the super bowl now, whereas a couple weeks ago we were not saying that. Hambo stat two that I got, they.

[Mike Greenberg]

Would be my favorite. I mean, I, I, if you, if you asked me to pick right now, I would pick Detroit. But if you told me Philadelphia was going to go in there and beat them in a tough game, I would believe it. If you told me Minnesota was going to go in there again and play much better and beat them, I would believe it. If you told me Green Bay wound up there again and and beat them, I would believe it. If you told me the Rams were going to go in there with Stafford and find a way to win that game, I would believe it. Would I pick it? No. But I wouldn't be nearly as shocked, let's put it that way, as I would be if the Steelers went into Kansas City and beat them.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed. Hey, listen, I understand what you're saying. The Detroit Lions are a wagon though. And I think it's abnormal for a lot of people to understand that at this point all of us are kind of in a whirlwind for what the Detroit Lions are. I think Anzalone coming back is a massive ordeal. 100%. It changed everything. And I got a Hembo stat about Aaron Glenn. He brought six plus people 16 times this past Sunday night. That's the most by any team all season. And it's like in the biggest game, Aaron Glenn emptied the clip. And I like that. I like their mindset is let's go back over to the AFC side there there's a couple quarterbacks that are obviously in massive conversation. Go ahead, D. Butch.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, you talked about those top three teams. Green obviously with the Chiefs, the Bills and the Ravens. Now Patrick Mahomes, he is who he is, you know, cemented legacy. But Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, great seasons. Either one of them could be the MVP who has more pressure on him to win the super bowl this year. Going into the, going into the dance, it's kind of like a get up because shout out to get up too. Biggest December ever.

[Pat McAfee]

Congratulations.

[Mike Greenberg]

So pressure comes in a lot of different forms. Patrick Mahomes could do something that no one, even Tom Brady ever did in the super bowl era. Bart Starr did it and some others did it. In an era of football that we generally don't count anymore. Patrick Mahomes can, can become, can win a three peat and can probably begin the conversation immediately. February 10th, we can start having the conversation and see the greatest quarterback of all time. If he wins. That's some, that is a level of Pressure, but there's no downside in him not winning it this year. He's not going to win it every year of his career. Brady played 20 something years and won seven of them. So in that regard, I think there is less pressure on Mahomes than either of the other two. Lamar Jackson is missing one thing, and we all know what it is from being placed into historical perspective. LaMar Jackson, with two MVPs at his age, with the numbers that he has put up, the winning percentage that he has and the style that he has played it in, I think is a Super bowl championship away from being in the conversations with the great quarterbacks of all time. Not at the top or even particularly near it yet, but he starts being placed in historical perspective. So that's an enormous level of pressure. If he doesn't, then the, the narrative that he can't win the Big One will continue. It stayed with Peyton Manning until he finally won the Big One. And I think it stays with Lamar. I actually brought that up to Jeff Saturday on Get up this Morning because I think there are real similarities there. Manning was so dominant in regular seasons and then wasn't able to win playoff games. I was at the game that they lost to the Jets 41 to nothing in the playoffs that Manning had never gotten out of the first round. And I was hosting a show then Mike and Mike in which the topic was Peyton Manning can't win the Big One. That's where Lamar is until he wins the Big One. That's going to be the conversation. Josh Allen, I think because he has accomplished a little less in the regular season than Lamar, you would place him a half a step below that. But he also is playing to be recognized at the very top of all of this. So I guess if you made me pick one, I would say the one under the most pressure is Lamar Jackson. But in their own ways, I think all three of them have an enormous amount at stake. In particular Mahomes, who I think has the most to gain.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's certainly pressure as an NFL quarterback, but whenever you're talking about historic perspective, it takes it to another level. All eyes will be on that. Do you have an AP vote?

[Mike Greenberg]

I don't, I don't. I don't have a vote for anything. I actually still vote in the NBA. They gave me a vote when I, I was hosting the NBA show and I. And, and so I continue to vote in the NBA. I do not have any votes. I believe Alan is going to win. I assume you're going to ask me who I think is going to win mvp. I think Allen is going to win in large part because it's a narrative award. It just feels like it's his turn. I was covering the NBA. Michael Jordan should have won the mvp. See, MVP is a flawed way to judge a player's greatness historically, when you look back on it, because look how many. Look how many MVPs LeBron James has. Look how many MVPs Michael Jordan has. You tell me how many times they were actually the best player in the league. Are you kidding? So this thing is a narrative. It sort of becomes someone's turn. I feel like it's Allen's turn because this was a year Buffalo is supposed to dip, and they haven't because he's been so ridiculously good for so long and hasn't won it because Lamar won it just a year ago. Even though Lamar's numbers, everything about his performance has been better than it was a year ago. I think it's Allen's turn, and thus I think he will win it. And that, I think, is one of the flaws with the MVP award in all sports. There's a lot of narrative attached to it, which is fine, but it means that when we look back on a player's career, counting up their MVPs is not a great way to judge how great they were.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that's legitimately how it is judged, though. Whenever people start talking hall of Fames, and I don't know the NBA as well as I know the NFL, but as soon as they start putting resumes up for guys that are finalists for the hall of Fame, it's like, here's how many MVPs, here's how many defense player of the years, how many championships? I think those obviously matter a lot more, but the MVPs are held in the same regard almost as championships. And what did Acho tell us to remember whenever we're talking about this entire thing?

[Darius Butler]

Was it be consistent?

[Pat McAfee]

No, he was saying, we're having two different conversations. People are having two different conversations. It's valuable or it's best. It's not the same thing. Make sure everybody's having the same discussion.

[Darius Butler]

I think somewhere in there he also said, just be consistent.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, we're in the facility now, obviously. Shout out Greeny for joining us. Let's go to a man who does have an AP vote and is never going to get it right and is a part of the problem, if you will. Go ahead.

[Boston Connor]

100.

[Ty Schmidt]

True.

[Boston Connor]

But Greeny, watching it up this morning, what a wonderful program. You Guys have it. Learned about this video from get up this morning. It was Jerry Jones talking about Mike McCarthy and his contract and interviewing. I'll just. You know what? I'll let Jerry talk because, you know, we can't talk for Jerry.

[Pat McAfee]

Jerry reality where Mike is back with a different offensive play call.

[J]

Well, anything. Anything is possible. And because of contract status, the guy behind him, you know, most of the fans that I have.

[Pat McAfee]

Creepy.

[J]

Most of the fans want everybody to be on the incentive plan. Everybody wants it to be on the incentive plan. And so the more you can have the incentive plan to me, the better you got. The way sports is aligned with sports and goal of having accomplishment, and you align that with the financial end of it. For instance, I might say, look.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm.

[J]

Going to pay you this much, but then I'll pay you not anymore. And I know you want twice that. Okay, but if you get to the playoffs or you win a Super Bowl, I'll give you five times that.

[Tone Diggs]

Fans are wrapping their arms around it from behind him.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly.

[J]

And then you've got a decision. You've got a decision for sure.

[Darius Butler]

I'm a Kleenex.

[J]

I go talk.

[Pat McAfee]

He told microphones here I really would go talk.

[J]

So it sounds like I just let Zeke do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Gotcha. Just sign the charges.

[J]

I don't want anybody here. That's not healthy to have somebody around that wants to be someplace else. Really, it's not. And there's too many ways for everybody to go to be around where you.

[Pat McAfee]

Don'T want to be, of course.

[Boston Connor]

So greedy. So when Jerry's saying, you know, it's not good to have guys around who want to. Does he know that Mike.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Boston Connor]

He hasn't given Mike McCarthy an extension or a contract, and he does have to give him permission to go talk if. Or is he just going to hold him in limbo forever?

[Mike Greenberg]

Look, I. It's so hard to have this conversation because I don't want things to sound disrespectful. I think all of us know less about football for having listened to those. There's literally nothing that he just said that made any sense at all. There are so many things the fans would like, but it's just not the way the sport has ever been. Yes, there are incentives. And oh, by the way, the Cowboys actually just made sure that their backup quarterback, Cooper Ross.

[Pat McAfee]

I did not know that. They told me that. Yeah. The game I was.

[Mike Greenberg]

Everybody's calling $250,000 incentive. So. So none of the things he just said. And I. Again, I hate this to sound as disrespectful as does. Literally none of it made sense. Okay. There's not one thing he just said that made sense. So it's very hard to react to any part of it. Here's what I will say. If you want to suggest that what he's doing has. That there's a plan involved in what he's doing, then the way it would make sense, and I don't think that this is what's actually happening, but here's how it would make sense is if you're trying to have your cake and eat it, too, which is to say you have someone in mind that you want to see if you can get them. And if you can't get them, you want to bring Mike McCarthy back. And you can't bring back McCarthy until you. You don't want to bring back. Officially bring back McCarthy until you find that out. So let him go. Count on the fact that if he goes and interviews in Chicago or New Orleans or whatever it is, that if you tell him you want him back, that he will come back, that he'll want to stay where he's been and he won't want to leave the Dallas Cowboys because of all of the things that come with being the Dallas Cowboys. And so if there's someone in mind, and I don't know who that would be, but that could be anyone from. From Ben Johnson to Deion Sanders to Once upon a time, I thought it would have been Bill Belichick, but that obviously, ship has sailed. Or whoever it might be, Steve Sarkeesian, anyone who it is, you have it in your mind, if I could get that guy, I will hire him and not bring back McCarthy. That's the way this would make sense. Now the timing of it probably has no chance of working. And again, I'm probably giving them much, much, much too much credit for having an actual plan when there's been no evidence at any point in the last year that they've had one. But that would be the only way in the world that this, the way they're handling this would make sense to me.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think I read a quote and once again, it's on the Internet, so who knows if it's real. Somebody asked Jerry if he's ever going to go hands off and pass the team on. And he said, I didn't buy the Cowboys as an investment. I bought it as something. Something to do. Like, this is my job for the rest of my life. Like, he's going to be in there until the wheels Fall off. And people are wondering if that has happened, you know, especially with how the team has gone. And Big Mike McCarthy in this coaching cycle could be a hot commodity because he's a culture builder, right? A.J. i never played for him, but he is a guy that I think we're spinning back into. Hey, we need somebody that's able to get toughness in here, get everybody rowing in the right direction. You played for him, won a championship with him. He referenced that, that championship in a press conference not too long ago. He would be a good guy in this particular market, don't you think?

[Tone Diggs]

H. Yeah, I think he is absolute hot commodity. Especially like you said, how I feel like the league is kind of, I don't know, in flux to where we're looking at these guys that are culture builders. They, they are like, hey, this guy's the boss. He knows how to set things and get us in the right place, moving in the right direction. So I think Big Mic, it looks good. He's also an offensive guy. He was a great play caller for a long time, has been. He could call the plays, he could bring somebody else in.

[Mike Greenberg]

But.

[Tone Diggs]

But Greeny, that made me think about that Dallas Cowboys job. If they move on from Mike McCarthy, some of these guys, we hear, have, are going to have many options, different head coaching positions available to them. Is the Dallas Cowboys job, is that as a coveted job as it was before? Especially if you know Jerry Jones is going to be over your shoulder no matter what, no matter what's happening. Like, like that guy, you defer to him pretty much.

[Pat McAfee]

Like that guy with that phone. And how. And if you could clear up, you're a journalist, you know this better than me. Is Jerry Jones doing post pressers from like 1980s? When did they do the. Everybody's microphone just shoved in, mouth in a round shoulder. But I'll let you finish. I apologize.

[Mike Greenberg]

Well, because he doesn't. Because the owner doesn't have a press conference after every game. There isn't a podium set up for him. He just walks down there and stands outside the locker room and everyone comes in and what they call, call a scrum. That's exactly what it is. So it's the most disorganized, ridiculous looking thing in the world. The answer to your question, AJ Is in a vacuum. That's a terrible job. If you took the star off the helmets, it would be a bad job. It's not a great roster. It figures to probably get a little worse before it gets better. They're paying a quarterback all the money in the world who I think is very good. But there are like five guys in the whole league who I think are genuinely worth what they're paying. Dak Prescott, and he isn't one of them. If you could give me Josh Allen or Joe Burrow or Mahomes or Lamar, maybe one or two other guys that are just on a whole other level. So I don't think that's a good. I don't think that's a good situation for winning as far as the roster immediately. And the whole. The Jerry of it all, I think, would be a detriment. Almost anyone would look at that as a downside, not an upside. However, there's just something to be said for the Dallas Cowboys. They're so glamorous. They get so much attention. Look how famous you become just being a part of that now. You know, McCarthy. I don't. He may not give a damn about that stuff, but some people will. And so I don't think Jerry would have a hard time getting himself a coach of some repute. Now, if you're Ben Johnson and you're choosing a spot, if you're, you know, insert whoever else it is you want, is that. Would that be your first choice? I'd be surprised if it was.

[Pat McAfee]

I heard you say prime, obviously his connection with Jerry Jones is one that we would monitor. You said Sark as well. I didn't know Sark was getting NFL looks.

[Mike Greenberg]

So if he. On Sunday NFL Countdown, Adam Schefter ran through and. And so this stuff kind of got buried. Adam Schefter ran through a whole list. You guys could dig up the tape of it. I. I wish I could remember what time it was. It was in the second hour of the show. So he ran through the whole list of. These are the coaches that we're keeping an eye on today. I think this one's in, I think this one's out. I think this one's in, I think this one's out. And that got all of the.

[Pat McAfee]

Leaning out. Leaning in, leaning out.

[Mike Greenberg]

Exactly. That whole shtick. And parenthetically, so far, he's been right about every single one of them. He told me Day Ball was coming back. He told me Steichen was coming back. He's been right about everything that he said that day. As an aside, he then said two other things that got very little attention because everyone was keeping an eye on Day Ball and Steichen and all of these other coaches. He said teams are going to call the Steelers to see if they would be willing to entertain the possibility of trading Mike Tomlin. And he said, expect Steve Sarkeesian to be a person whose name you hear at some point in NFL coaching conversations. Now, we didn't bring that part of the sound bite back because it was literally. He said it in like four seconds. He didn't expand on it and we moved on to other things, but he threw that name out there. Now, if you're Steve Sarkeesian, are you trying to parlay more money, whatever the case is? I don't know. This is not my area of expertise. But that name came up from Adam Schefter, who in my opinion is the most credible person in the entire industry when it comes to collecting NFL news. So he wouldn't say it on the air if there wasn't something to it. So I think it is a conversation that is being had somewhere. I don't know by who.

[Pat McAfee]

I like the way Sark communicates every time he comes on game day. He's awesome. It feels like his team's obviously loaded with talent. They're in the semifinals. They've had a couple losses, but they've been able to bounce back. His offenses have been awesome to watch. Pro style offenses got people ready in there. That'd be intriguing, you know. So you got prime out of Colorado, you got Sark out of Texas, potentially going in. Wasn't Lincoln Riley's name there for a little bit, being tossed. Cowboys. Yeah. USC happened. Oh, speaking of usc, Heisman winner up there, Caleb Williams is without a head coach. Ty has the last question for you. We appreciate all your time today. Greeny.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yeah, Greeny, always a pleasure.

[Darius Butler]

The Bears actually reached out and won an interview with McCarthy with YOUR Chicago ties. We heard that their kind of hiring committee or search committee is like 30 people or something like that to decide their next head coach. What do you ultimately think the Bears are going to do and is there any way that they get this right now?

[Mike Greenberg]

I mean, history tells. History suggests it's very unlikely. And I haven't heard any of these yet, but right before I came on with you guys, I got an email from the getup staff that apparently all of the decision making people in Chicago talked today, which means George McCaskey, who is the owner, Kevin Warren, who is the team president, and Ryan Poll, who was the general manager. And from what I can glean, all three of them had different versions of how this decision is going to get made, which would be a perfect microcosm of what is wrong with that franchise and has been forever. Look, I here's the reality It's a pretty good team. They have a lot of good players. I think Caleb Williams is startingly gifted. I think he has, under the right circumstances, he could be an unboxing, unbelievably good player. They just need to get this right and that person. Again, it doesn't have to be an offensive guy. Everyone in Chicago wants them to hire Ben Johnson. Just because Ben Johnson is a brilliant offensive coordinator, which he obviously is, maybe the best we've seen come along in the league in a while, it doesn't mean he'd be a great head coach. It doesn't mean you have to get him as your head coach. You can, as I said about the jets, hire a great leader. If that's Mike McCarthy, I'm all in. Hire a great leader and then bring in someone who runs an offense that is perfectly suited to the talents. What? Don't try and jam a round square, whatever the hell it is. I always get that wrong.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Mike Greenberg]

I never get that thing right. Look at the skill set.

[Pat McAfee]

Look at.

[Mike Greenberg]

This is something I can't do. You guys would have a much better chance of doing it than I would. And the people running the Bears have to be the ones who do this. Look at exactly what Caleb Williams does well, and then bring in someone who's going to run the offense that is going to take advantage of those things. Build an offense around what he does. Don't bring in Shane Waldron, who is going to bring his own offense in and try and teach it to Caleb Williams. And that was obviously a square peg in a round hole. And whatever it was, and it was a freaking disaster. Bring in someone who was going to run. I would be taking. I would have it in a vehicle. I would say, show me your plan for Caleb Williams, tell me why this is going to work. And then I would hire the person who gives me the best answer to that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. And they need to run the Rock. They need. Who's going to get in there and build up the offensive line, the trenches, because they're in Chicago, as Bill Belichick pointed out. And who's going to be able to run the Rock? We appreciate you so much for your time, brother. Legitimately.

[Mike Greenberg]

Guys, happy New Year. It's been too long since we've said a chance to say hello. But I hope we'll do it again soon. The playoffs should be great.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely. And Connor has been wondering this entire pro.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Greeny, look, you're much smarter than me and I'm very dumb, but what's this? In a vacuum debug kind of put together a good diagram. Is. Is that what you're saying? I don't understand.

[Mike Greenberg]

Do you seriously want me to explain this to you or.

[Pat McAfee]

That's all of us. Please, please.

[Mike Greenberg]

I don't think I really have.

[Pat McAfee]

You're getting. Getting sucked up. So as you're getting sucked up. It's all kind of. It's.

[Mike Greenberg]

There's no sucking involved in this. There's no sucking involved in this analogy. So what it means is that if.

[Pat McAfee]

If. Yeah.

[Mike Greenberg]

If you just take Caleb Williams and Drake May, if we use them as the example, I think that's where this first came up.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Mike Greenberg]

It's the first time absent any other circumstance.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, vacuum sealed.

[Mike Greenberg]

Right. Absent the coaching, absent the talent around him, absent the weather, absent all those. In a black hole. In a. In a black hole. Which is. Which is also another word for. That is a vacuum. Yes. A vacuum is not only the thing that you use to clean up the carpet. It is. It is also that. It is also something that has no, no atmosphere in it. So if. If you.

[Pat McAfee]

If you.

[Mike Greenberg]

You remove all of the other elements and you said I could have either Caleb Williams or Drake May. I would take Caleb Williams, but when you insert the elements, I think Drake May looks already like he has advanced beyond Caleb Williams. And I fear the nonsense that went on in Chicago this year will actually set Caleb Williams back.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll be back tomorrow here on espn. We continue on the Internet. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Okay. Great exit out of you there. We're still live. YouTube. Hell yeah. YouTube, ESPN plus and TikTok Live, which I think is gonna survive. Let's get back to your. Yeah. Hell yeah. A lot of that around here.

[Mike Greenberg]

My phone is doing that. My phone is. I just gave you a thumbs up and my phone is thumbs up. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing anything that thumbs up by itself.

[Pat McAfee]

I think if you do fake fireworks with your fingers, fireworks will pop up too. You want to try it?

[Ty Schmidt]

So I've seen it like this. Thumbs like this.

[Mike Greenberg]

Is that what fireworks. How does one do fireworks?

[Pat McAfee]

If you do a sprinkler too. I think if you do a sprinkler, it starts raining on that thing. Can you. You want to give that.

[Mike Greenberg]

You just want me to do stupid looking dances. I understand what's going on now.

[Pat McAfee]

I did. I did. That was on me. When you talk about. When you talk about a vacuum and you talk about a white hole. White hole, black hole or white hole. White hole, white hole, whatever. White hole. All right. Yeah, listen, we all know what everyone. Yeah, whatever. Everyone. I don't want to. I don't want to label anything. So in a vacuum, that is how. That you're talking about. Whenever it's vacuum sealed, it's isolated. Yeah. Then whenever you add other things, you're talking about that vacuum.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because that vacuum. A lot. A lot of. A lot of. And adversity in there, you know, There's a lot of adversity in there. That is a great draw.

[Tone Diggs]

It's plugged in.

[Boston Connor]

The other time he used. It was with the Cowboys, like when he was saying, if you just look at the roster in a vacuum, you take away the star, you take away America's team.

[Pat McAfee]

You were given an answer when you said. And everything else about it. Everything else about going to be on primetime every single week, regardless. You got players that do stuff. I mean, all that type of stuff. The second time you said in a vacuum, I watched this guy's head explode right over here, and he didn't listen to a word you said going forward. And as you were on the full screen, we're all looking at like, what are you talking about? He's like, vacuum. I don't. And then this drawing came. I'm happy you cleared it up for us because we were all very, very much wondering. And you said, repute, I believe, as well. That's a good word. That's a good word. Repute is a good word. What does that mean.

[Mike Greenberg]

Of some repute? Like, meaning of like a. It is short for reputation. Like someone who is reputed to be good is. His reputation is good. He's supposed to be good. Repute is a form of the word reputation. Or maybe reputation is a form of the word repute. It is the way you are judged, the way people view you.

[Pat McAfee]

So you are held in high repute.

[Mike Greenberg]

You are reputed to be a genius. Like a crazy genius. You are. You are. And I wanted to say this to you. I should have sent you a note to say this to you, but I paid you the highest compliment that I've paid anyone in a very long time. When someone said I. Someone sent the. I saw the ratings for College Game Day were the highest they had ever been. And I said, I can tell you exactly why that is. That is because Pat McAfee understood the assignment.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay?

[Mike Greenberg]

Like that show, which has been one of the most important things we do. Look, I've been ESPN 28 years. I'm going to die. When I die someday, the four letters ESPN are going to be next to my name. It Matters to me. All this stuff matters to me. And college game day has been among. I mean, on the short list of the most important and best things that. That ESPN has ever done. And the jolt that you gave it this year, like the shot in the arm, this whole kicking field goals thing, and just your general craziness is exactly what the show needed. It was like a renaissance. It was like a. It was like a rebirth. And. Which is not to say it wasn't great already, but something can be great and be made greater. And. And so I meant to send you a note because I was having that conversation with someone when I was on vacation, and I forgot to do it, so what the hell? I'll just say it here, but thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Mike Greenberg]

That's a great. It was an incredible. It was an incredible testament to what you. And I think Saban, too. I think Saban also brings. There's just a. He brings an element that literally no one else could like. There is a credibility, and the way you guys have loosened him up and. And made him as accessible as he's ever gonna be. Like, he's only ever gonna be so accessible, but you've made him as accessible a human being as I think he's capable of being. And so the show has just been. It's been like a. It's been a delight to watch. It has been a delight to see what that's done, and it's great for us, and anything that's great for us makes me happy, man.

[Pat McAfee]

That's very kind of you to say. Obviously, we don't get a lot of compliments from people at espn, so coming from one of the most important people in the history of sports media, I thank you, and it means a lot when you say that. But the second name that you brought up there, Saban, has been so awesome because obviously, Des has been doing this 20 years. I love Des. I absolutely love Des Moines. Rhys Davis is, like, the consummate professional. So smooth. He knows everything about everything. And then Kirk down there. 28 years, I think he's been on college game day, so it's like he's. Baby Coach Corso, obviously, still doing the head or the headgear and everything. Like, that is a big deal. But what coach? Absolutely. But Coach Saban coming on there has been so much fun like he has, because he says something. It's hard just, like, to dispute it, you know, it's hard to be like, okay, the greatest of all time. Just said that on this particular take. So I enjoy, like, having fun and Bantering with him. And also I think this year getting a chance to go to dinners with him on Friday night. I think he appreciates that. You know, I like to remind him of who the fuck he is too. Like, I like to tell him, you know, like, hey, you're Nick Saban in here. Because he wants to get better. He's a guy that, like, we're talking film study on himself. We're talking film study on tv, we're talking about taking notes, we're talking watching teams, we're talking about wanting to get better. Like that's who he is. I think he's always talked about it to his players and now he's trying to practice what he preached. Like, hey, you gotta buy in, you gotta learn, you gotta commit, you got to focus. And that's like how he is wired. Him and Ms. Terry, I think they can completely transform their lives for him to become a person. You talk about understanding the assignment and it's just been an absolute honor to ride alongside of Nick Saban this year. And he's been so good on tv. He's been, he's going to win more awards on TV somehow than he did in college ball. It's been a blast. I've been, I've been lucky to be up there and I've been enjoying it. That field goal kicking contest, you know, it was expensive this year. It was expensive.

[Mike Greenberg]

It was worth every penny. I mean, it's so much fun. It's the first thing everyone mentions on Saturday. Did you see the kid? Did he make it? Did he miss it? All that kind of stuff. Just a great, it's just a great idea. Look, that everything is. Everything has been great. And I will confess that while you were talking there, I was distracted for a moment because on your crawl it actually said. And the fact that, that, that this actually needs to be said aloud is so ridiculous. Woody Johnson says his 17 year old son has no official role in the organization. The fact that the owner of an NFL team actually has a commandant say that is so hilarious. It would be like that. That literally is like a skit. Like, I don't know if the Onion still exists, but the satirical newspaper the Onion, is that still a thing?

[Pat McAfee]

That's what that athletic article read like that? Yeah, it absolutely did.

[AJ Hawk]

That's why people probably think that is really Greeny interviewing to be the gym also.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we put that on the ticker too. It's not actually you. I mean, the jets are perfect. The jets are in a good spot. This is where you need to Be remember, the sun is brightest after the darkest dawn. And you guys have had a lot. A lot of dark dawns. And I can't wait to see the sun rise for you, for the jets. And we appreciate the hell out of you, Greeny.

[Mike Greenberg]

All right, guys, good to see you. Happy New Year. See you soon.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, how is Hanukkah? We lit the. We lit the menorah here in town. Do we do eight crazy nights? Do we give a bunch of gifts? You and Stace? How do. How do we handle it?

[Mike Greenberg]

You're welcome to. We don't. I'm not a religious person, so we don't do that.

[Pat McAfee]

We.

[Mike Greenberg]

We. That's never been my thing. But. But I enjoyed the Hanukkah song by Adam Sandler very much.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Greenberg]

So we know we don't do that we don't have a menorah or that we don't have a Christmas tree either, but we do sort of celebrate. I. I consider the holidays.

[Boston Connor]

Lord crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

You gotta do something, Greeny.

[Mike Greenberg]

He was on with you guys. I. I am a big fan of that Nate Bargazzi.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[Mike Greenberg]

And he's very funny. I went to see him. I went to see him at Radio City. I had never heard of him before, and friends of mine got tickets and said, this guy's really funny. And. And so Stacey and I just went, and that was the famous night. You guys can settle an argument for me. Stace got mad at me because she said I was laughing too loudly. And I said, you can't laugh too loudly at a comedy show. Like, I think the comedian. That's the whole idea here, is that he wants you to laugh loudly. I don't think he's sitting there thinking, boy, I wish that guy would not laugh so much. But anyway, hold on.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm a big fan of this. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Did Bargettzi acknowledge the obnoxiously loud laugh and did Stacy.

[Mike Greenberg]

No, no, no, I wasn't. It's Radio City Music hall is a big place, if you've ever been there. It holds, like, 3,000 people, and we were not that close to the stage, so he probably didn't even hear me, but he was suggesting that I was ruining it for the people around us.

[Pat McAfee]

You're laughing at a comedian. You're ruining it. No, if you speak at a comedian, you're ruining it for everybody else, which we have experienced here in Indianapolis a few different times. Did you see your friend Nate Bargettzi on Netflix, his new special. I don't know if that was the same show he did. No.

[Mike Greenberg]

Nate Bargetti. So he did a thing on. Was it on Netflix or on cbs? We did, like, a Christmas special.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Mike Greenberg]

So he played Joseph the Angel, and it was very funny. And that was how this all tied into how I was answering your question, that he was making a joke about how so many things about the holiday season really have nothing to do with religion. And that's sort of how I approach them. Like, I enjoy the holiday spirit. I enjoy the family time. I enjoy the exchanging of gifts and all that sort of stuff. And it. It doesn't have. It doesn't necessarily have a religious connotation for me.

[Pat McAfee]

So you're giving an amen, you know, in the middle of that entire thing as Nate speaking about it. The. Your friend Nate Bargetzi stand up special on Netflix right now.

[Mike Greenberg]

Oh, oh, oh. That's his stand up. He's so good. I think the guy is fantastic. I am a huge fan.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of amen whenever he. I mean, it is.

[Mike Greenberg]

Oh, I also loved. By the way. Now we're just talking. Are we still on or are we just talking?

[Pat McAfee]

We're on the Internet. We're on the Internet. We're on the Internet.

[Mike Greenberg]

Okay. I loved Chalamet on there with you, and that was a great. So my son, as you may or may not know, is an aspiring actor. He's a senior in college, and he wants to be an actor, and Chalamet is his idol. Like, he just thinks he loves that guy. And so we were all excited at my house to see Chalamet on with you. And I will admit, I went in with low expectations.

[Pat McAfee]

Me as well.

[Mike Greenberg]

And he. I thought he was terrific, and I thought you were terrific with him.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. That's very kind of you. I had very low expectations because I didn't know how he tied into the SEC championship. I'm like, it's a big deal down here. We're going to have. And then, as I learned, like, the two days before game day, he is a huge college ball, Huge college football fan, also knows college game day very well. And then whenever I was like, would he want to be a part of the kick? They're like, timmy would love to be a part of the kick or whatever. So he was game for everything in his notes that he had in both what he prepared for. He was amazing. Like, I was. I wanted to. I. I watched the movie because I don't think I would have watched the movie, but I was, like, so impressed by him, the human and the way he handled everybody. Because there's a lot of people there that are huge fans of his. Obviously, your son is a huge fan, but there's a lot of ladies. Sure. You know, young ladies that are massive fans of Timothy's. The way he was just, like, so cool in the way he operated was. I'm like, this is a dude. This is a guy. And he was. I. You're right. He was fantastic. He was awesome. And he. He held that chair for me, and I'm very thankful.

[Ty Schmidt]

That Bob Dylan movie was so good.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a Bob Dylan guy, though, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, so. But also, him, himself, like, was incredible as Bob Dylan.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like he's gonna be good at everything. Yeah, I feel like that's gonna be. I think that's. He's one of the next guys.

[AJ Hawk]

He was knighted by a little bit of bass guy. I don't know if you guys know.

[Pat McAfee]

Heard that. Oh, yeah, I remember that.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, he's all right.

[Mike Greenberg]

I. I have to give up this room. So I'm actually at my. At my. At the club that I go to after work, and I told them I needed the room for, like, 10 minutes, and there are people standing outside the door.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, well, good luck out there. Please tell them we'd like to become members someday. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Greenberg. Yeah, I told him 10, 20 minutes. That was an hour and 10 minutes.

[Tone Diggs]

What kind of club is that?

[Boston Connor]

It's probably so nice.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what type of club that is?

[Tone Diggs]

Like a non. It's obviously. It's not a golf club. He's in the city.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's got to put his mask back on. Get out there.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, hey, we went into one of those.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, I was gonna say that might be the same one for a birthday party. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, I don't even know what type of club that is.

[Ty Schmidt]

Highest of high society I've ever been to.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. Checking at the front.

[Darius Butler]

Social club.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, you got to put a little sticker on your camera thing to cover it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, no phones.

[Pat McAfee]

No phones.

[AJ Hawk]

No phones at all.

[Ty Schmidt]

Take your chip.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you thinking? This is. Oh, you guys talking like, the Elks Lodge.

[Darius Butler]

Very similar.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it is like the Elks.

[Boston Connor]

American Legion.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, American Legion back in the day. I think it's like that Italian Club. Italian Club was a good spot. I'll tell you how he's running Italian Club doing right now.

[Boston Connor]

It's thriving. It's never been better.

[Ty Schmidt]

Are they in season?

[Pat McAfee]

Is it boxing season?

[Boston Connor]

No, I don't think they're in season.

[Pat McAfee]

Are they taking on the pepperons?

[Boston Connor]

Actually, I think 12 months of the year is in season, to be honest.

[Pat McAfee]

How's coach doing? Is he rolling good ball right now?

[Boston Connor]

I'm not sure. I don't talk to him much about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Why not?

[Boston Connor]

He gets real. He gets real snippy when I talk to him about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, don't be talking about the Italian club.

[Boston Connor]

Maybe need some setting some pepperoni rolls to the office to get his good juju.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, maybe he needs to start sending some Italian stuff back to the Thunderdome. That used to happen and now no longer happens. What's that old.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, to be honest, I don't talk too much about anything anymore. Cuz he calls me and unless my daughter's there, he hangs up.

[Pat McAfee]

So, Coach, Coach, you better be rolling a good bot ball right now if this is how we're operating. Got no rolls, no pepperoni rolls, no pumpkin, no linguine.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, pursuit.

[Pat McAfee]

Of. What is this Do Die Hard bot?

[Tone Diggs]

Like Do Die Hard? Italians have a different rules to bocce where they think other people are amateurs.

[Pat McAfee]

It's the surface that they're playing on. If you do recall, Coach was pissed off about the Pen Hills Pepperon. The rocks that we had. Too many rocks on the court. The bocce court, it was. They said it was not an elite.

[Tone Diggs]

Box, like a long field. It's like a team that grows the grass really long. Say we're going to slow these guys down. They're trying to even the field.

[Pat McAfee]

Not just slow. You get a little bump in it because you know, they rake it in, that whole thing. If there's a little bit of a bump that you know, when you're trying to get close to something, you don't have a.

[Boston Connor]

Take the skill out of it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it does. Wait, what.

[AJ Hawk]

What's the ideal surface for bo?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, if you're a good thrower, I mean. Yeah, you want just completely smooth. Smooth. Just completely smooth.

[Ty Schmidt]

Fast track.

[AJ Hawk]

So like, like asphalt. Like asphalt hardwood.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like it's like gravel, but like grab it down.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but you want. You just want smooth. If it's not smooth, it kind of gifts the people.

[Tone Diggs]

All the same size. Rocks too. You can't have like miniature, like bigger rocks mixed in throughout, you know, that's Mickey Mouse.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of bocce down in South Florida.

[AJ Hawk]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of Italians down there.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, there is.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, I mean, maybe I'm just not around it. I actually saw my first.

[Boston Connor]

What's that about?

[AJ Hawk]

Bocce game this past summer, Upstate New York.

[Pat McAfee]

How was it?

[Tone Diggs]

Awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

It is intense.

[AJ Hawk]

It was Very, very intense, very long.

[Boston Connor]

What was their surface clay?

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, I don't. I don't know. I think I'm just thinking like that green was a little bigger than that area, but it was kind of up on the stage and like, I would. I would assume it was.

[Ty Schmidt]

That sounds Mickey Mouse.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what I got.

[Boston Connor]

Actually, some places use field turf. Clay, it was indoor clay's real nice.

[Ty Schmidt]

Field turf ain't botchy.

[AJ Hawk]

No, that's what I'm asking.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Ty Schmidt]

Grew up.

[AJ Hawk]

Only picture I saw that was from the 1930s that y'all popped now.

[Pat McAfee]

That's. That's. That's what it is. Yeah, that's kind of a part of the whole thing is you gotta experience the throwback and that's part of the bocce community. And that's why the Rent Italian Club. I don't know what their name of their bocce team is. Do you know what the name of their.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, they're the Fighting.

[AJ Hawk]

Don't do it.

[Pat McAfee]

What is the name?

[Boston Connor]

Do you remember Fighting Gobble Ghouls?

[Pat McAfee]

No, I don't think it was. Starts with a D. No, it starts with it. Does it start with a G or a D?

[Ty Schmidt]

I thought it was D. Might be G. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Was it the Diablos.

[Ty Schmidt]

D A?

[Darius Butler]

Might have been.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that. Was it that one?

[Boston Connor]

Was it Guidos?

[Pat McAfee]

Could have been. Or was it the other one? Rhymes with the. The drink. The faygo, I believe. You know what?

[Boston Connor]

Oh, how'd you dago.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think that's the name of the team.

[Ty Schmidt]

The Fighting How'd your day goes?

[Boston Connor]

Well, that's not what I said.

[Pat McAfee]

That is. That is what you said.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's what you said.

[Boston Connor]

No, I said how'd your day go? He threw an S on it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, that's because there's multiple days you have to ask. Yeah, but he can't say that they're.

[Ty Schmidt]

An Es on the end like goes.

[Pat McAfee]

But they were taking on the Penthouse Pepperonce. And this is.

[AJ Hawk]

These aren't real names.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Debut.

[Pat McAfee]

Debut. You do not want to be dangerous, okay. You do not want to be dancing in the east hills of Pittsburgh bocce league, okay? These paisans can roll a ball and they can get pissed off independent of those pepperonis. What they did to the track. The Renton Italian Club Fighting Dagos are never gonna forget it. Football is wonderful. That's A.J. hawk. The talks and tables here at Boss Connor and at Tai Schmidt, one half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tone is here. A nine year NFL vet, Darius J. Baller.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes, sir, you look really cool.

[Pat McAfee]

D Bucks.

[AJ Hawk]

Appreciate you too.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, in the first hour, aj, you weren't here. There was a emergency press conference from the Hulkster. Did you see that?

[Tone Diggs]

I did see that. It's great to see you guys. Well, I guess not you guys, but some questions being thrown to the Hulks journey. He seemed to be very open and honest. So, yeah, it was very cool.

[Pat McAfee]

What a situation that is just so easy to make fun of last night. And obviously I was watching live.

[Tone Diggs]

I was watching live and I'm like, all right, who's. Who's running the board? Who's trying to figure out the audio, what goes to Netflix, what doesn't. I wonder what it was like in person. But honestly though, for that situ, the Hulkster handled it well. I don't know what I would have done. I would have just walked out.

[Pat McAfee]

I would have walked out, just stared it right back and just going. It was. I. I think he said that he thought it was going to be 50. 50, I believe he said. Allegedly. That's where reported what Hulk Hogan said he was gonna say. Now if you listen to the press conference happened in the first hour. There is a chance there are boon Jimmy Hart and.

[AJ Hawk]

Nah, Jimmy's doing his job.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, yeah, maybe they're saying Hulk Hoogan. There's a chance. And I saw on the Internet, a lot of people were saying, maybe they're saying, we want some ice cold real American brews, you know, because that's what beers are called. There is a chance that was it. But I mean, you know, Hulkster, whenever he starts campaigning for a presidency and drops into the political world, he knows that he's going to piss off people. He just said it was too important for him not to get involved. I. That crowd last night with the way that place is built, because it's built like Virginia Tech. It's built like Seattle Seahawks. It's built like for sound. It was loud in there. So whenever he. I did not expect. Honestly, I was mind. I was taken back. Hulksters here. Holy. I Hulk up. Hogan's here. I. I had no idea that was the case. And then I see Jimmy Hart coming out with the flag and I'm like, what a moment here. And then I start, I start hearing it. I'm like, wait a minute. And then, you know, Cole's like, crowd all night. All night. They were very. They were very loud. And I guess there was some people within WWE that thought that was potentially possible.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, but to your point, Hulk hugger were out there. He Tell you something. And they're like, we don't want to hear it.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He's like, I'm going to tell you anyways. And that's professionalism. Because to your point, I. I won't be able to handle it. You know, I wouldn't be.

[Tone Diggs]

I put myself in his shoes and I was like, oh, no. Like, I don't think I'm equipped to handle that. I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

Dominic Mysterio, for instance, he has next level heat is what they call. And it was.

[Boston Connor]

He got kicked in the nuts.

[AJ Hawk]

I thought he was going to get his girl.

[Ty Schmidt]

Swift kick.

[Pat McAfee]

Get his girl back. Yeah, yeah, right. That scumbag.

[Ty Schmidt]

His mommy.

[AJ Hawk]

Back to mommy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he got kicked right in the nuts. What a great punt, too.

[Ty Schmidt]

Swear.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Remember in Aussie Rose football? Oh, yeah. They grow up having a kick. Ria, insane athlete from Australia. Yeah. She's been doing that for a long time. Look. Pure boom bang. How. But whenever he's talking, they. They don't even love to get a word out. And they boo him. And then he stops because he's all upset, obviously. And then he goes back and it gets louder. Same thing was gonna happen.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And Hogan just kept going. Dom could never finish his sentences. No, Hogan got through the entire thing. And Michael Cole said, we wouldn't be here without Hogan. I mean, you watch some documentaries on the wwwf. It's like when the Hulkster was.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Going around.

[Tone Diggs]

Theme song. That theme song alone is just. Yeah. Legit.

[Pat McAfee]

And, you know, the whole him and Andre the Giant just, like, building the company pretty much. And then obviously what it has become and gone on to is a whole different level. But it was. Yeah, I. That was pretty phenomenal.

[Boston Connor]

I'd love to, you know, fly down.

[Ty Schmidt]

What is.

[Mike Greenberg]

What.

[Ty Schmidt]

Wait a minute. Excuse me.

[Pat McAfee]

Whoa.

[AJ Hawk]

We got no body spray.

[Pat McAfee]

Tackle body odor.

[Tone Diggs]

Everywhere.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you.

[Darius Butler]

I mean, it's over your head.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you just do one of these?

[Tone Diggs]

Well, mine's. It's actually kind of cut off because I guess my screen. I don't know, my head. There's like. You know how face. FaceTime works?

[Pat McAfee]

It's over.

[Tone Diggs]

It's covered. It's over. Top of that word.

[Boston Connor]

Well said.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, your boxes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, my box.

[Tone Diggs]

My box is all over that word.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so you need to know that your box is directly under everywhere. And that is. So when I was pointing at tackle body odor, you know, and then everywhere is right above your head, because this is the thing. You don't have to stink.

[Darius Butler]

No, no, you don't have to smell.

[AJ Hawk]

Choice.

[Pat McAfee]

There are some countries that just choose, you know, not to bathe. And those countries suck.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, they do.

[Pat McAfee]

Those countries are a place that you don't want to go. Those places are a place that whenever you think of it, you get a smell of shite and crap. And it's like, how is this what you guys have decided to do with your lives? Can you not smell yourself? Well, they just get desensitized to it, and then everybody else around them has to deal with it. And they say, well, the only way to deal with this crappy smelling person is for myself to get crappy so that I can desensitize my own nose to deal with how everybody else smells. And all of a sudden, boom. Wildfire. Everybody stinks, BO Everywhere. There's some countries that are like that still to this day. 20, 25, very nice countries, you know, I guess, you know, good place.

[Tone Diggs]

I'd rather say. I don't know about you guys, I'd rather smell turds than body odor. When someone has really bad body odor, it just. It does something. It's weird.

[Pat McAfee]

And the reason why you're saying that is because turds are gonna happen. Body odor doesn't have to happen. So it's almost like you're making a decision. And you can tackle body odor everywhere with our friends at duff. Hell yeah. You hit this QR code, it'll take you right to Walmart. Right to the Dove.

[Darius Butler]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

Right to buy it right now. And maybe you do need to do one of these. You know, just check yourself.

[Boston Connor]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Because you could be wrecking everybody else with what's coming out of your pits. Maybe even. Maybe even your feet.

[Darius Butler]

Never know.

[Pat McAfee]

Even your ash gotta wash your ass. Gotta wash your ass.

[Ty Schmidt]

Doesn't wash itself.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And that's what Dove Men Care is all about. It's about tackling BO Everywhere. Be a friend. Tell a friend they smell like.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then maybe get them some Dove Men Care so they don't going forward. Shout out to Dove. Join the program. It is my favorite soap by far. It always makes me feel good. Like, Dove is like a. It's like a good sound. It's like a Dove is love men's ball. It is. I love Dove. Yeah. Oh, it's like a glove when that dove wraps around. Yeah, it is. You know, it's like a nice, warm feeling knowing that your body and your soul is not gonna smell like. Shout to Duff. Join the program.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That's awesome. That is awesome. I think we're gonna get some Dove products in here. I Want to let you know, Dove, they're already in here. So it's always nice whenever you get to get a partnership with somebody that you already utilize on a regular basis. Like pizza. Very easy.

[Tone Diggs]

Pizza Hut. Doordash. You kidding me?

[Pat McAfee]

Every day, all day. Seatgeek. Any fucking ticket. Speaking of seatgeek, the ticket prices are out for the semifinal games, and I'll tell you, the national championship average ticket resale price right now is gigantic. It is a huge number coming out of SeatGeek. We're talking, like, if I remember, yeah, 2700 bucks. $2700 now, 1047 bucks. Obviously, you see for the Texas, Ohio State game down there in a Cotton bowl, and then Penn State, Notre Dame down there in Miami, 601 bucks. Miami's way down there. Obviously, that's a far trip for a lot of these teams and fan bases, but it is a beautiful, beautiful time to be down in Miami. 2,700 bucks. Average resale price for the national championship now, depending upon who wins. This kind of happens with super bowl tickets, depending upon who wins. You know, a lot of people in Texas right now, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, are all buying national championship tickets, or they were at least I don't know what the ticket price was a week ago or two weeks ago, hoping that their team makes it. If their team doesn't, boom, they're going to resell them. So I assume that price is going to go down because there's going to be a lot more tickets that are about to come into the market after this particular set of semifinal games is done. But you're talking about four very powerful, very big, very wealthy fan bases, you know, here in this entire thing that only sets up for good business. Whenever you're talking about this type of shite.

[AJ Hawk]

Absolutely. I'm wondering what will be the ideal game for, I guess, networks viewership.

[Ty Schmidt]

Notre Dame.

[Tone Diggs]

Notre Dame versus somebody.

[AJ Hawk]

Ohio State. Notre Dame.

[Darius Butler]

Texas would be massive.

[Tone Diggs]

All of them have huge alumni base. That's the thing. All these schools have alumni with cash everywhere in the world.

[Pat McAfee]

So I think I just saw Kirk Herbstreet on three with Staples, and it was great. He was saying a lot of things. I. He complimented me and Saban in one of the videos. I haven't been able to see the whole pocket. I think it's happening today, like right now. I think it's potentially taking place. But he Chit chatted about how a lot of people attack him in ESPN for like an sec bias. And I think that's because a lot of guys have a lot of respect for the SEC teams and, and obviously we're down there and everybody said, well, ESPN has the SEC deal, they have deals with fucking ESPN is trying to get deals with. They obviously have the entire college football playoffs. So if it was just ESPN caring and making decisions, they would want the biggest fan bases to be in every single big game. That's exactly. That's the only thing they would want if that's all they were thinking about. I think ESPN loves college ball. That's why they've invested so much. That's why people have invested their entire lives towards college ball. So I think whenever Kirk gets attacked for his SEC bias, even though he leaves out Tennessee and I think he takes it to heart because he just wants college ball to have its best in his eyes. Now everybody has their own different eyes and in this particular season any team could have beat anybody. It really felt like that from the jump. And I think that's what it's going to be going forward with the transfer portal nil. There's a lot more parity, you know, I think there's going to be a lot more upsets technically. I think there's going to be a lot of smaller teams going on a big run out of. No, because they get a good draft class, sorry recruiting class that they bring in through the transfer portal when they're able to go on a run. Arizona State, I mean it could have been in the semifinals whenever they're Projected to win four games. Last team in the Big 12 because of the transfer portal and getting guys in there in a couple years, turning it around and making it big. But it's like these four teams. If ESPN was to be projecting it and it's only one SEC team and this SEC team just joined it. It's like these fan bases are fucking gigantic. I mean it is Penn State obviously all over the place. Notre Dame is the entire globe pretty much. That's why the NBC deal has been its own. They have operated in a unique anomaly situation for so long in big time sport and big time business because of how big their fan base is. Ohio State, how many undergrad AJ like.

[Tone Diggs]

55K I think, I think it's even more this year.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's closer to 60, 70 if we looked it up earlier. So you got a lot of alumni of Ohio State and the entire state of Ohio are Buckeye people. So it's like that fan base is huge. Anytime Ohio State is involved in anything number massive, I mean that is just the fact of the matter. I'VE the only reason why I know that is because we. I've had a chance to be in this world where they're telling you ratings. Like every ratings. Rating. What are they? How's Nielsen? No, I don't know. Ratings. Ratings. Ratings. Ratings. Ratings. Anytime Ohio State's a part of it, huge. Anytime Texas is a part of it, huge. Penn State, Notre Dame apart. It's like these are four gigantic football universities. And I assume these numbers are going to be insane on these. On these ratings or.

[Boston Connor]

Sorry. Texas and Penn state are both 42,000.

[Pat McAfee]

Ish.

[Boston Connor]

43,000. I just looked it up. Highway. State is 66,000 undergrad population this year and the Notre Damis. Notre Dame.

[Tone Diggs]

Just undergrad.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. Let alone everybody go into the medical schools. Who do you know whose medical schools? Those. Those are over there and stuff at Ohio State.

[Tone Diggs]

What do you mean? No, I don't mean like the medical schools.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, I see them.

[Tone Diggs]

Like what, the buildings are named?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, they're on.

[Tone Diggs]

Oh, each building has a different name. No, different.

[Pat McAfee]

No, each building had the same name. Actually. We were Dr. On this side of the street and on this side of, you know. You remember that?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Money w. Huge. I think.

[Pat McAfee]

Anyways, you get it. A lot of people, all these schools. So as we look ahead to calling both of them on the sideline, let's think about how incredibly lucky we are about the history that's about to be made. I cannot believe we get a chance to be a part of these. Thursday, Miami. Friday, Dallas, Texas, hopefully. What's going on here? So there's.

[Boston Connor]

They're supposed to get like a.

[Darius Butler]

A foot or something. Thursday.

[Tone Diggs]

They don't have any salt down there either, do they?

[Pat McAfee]

No, they don't. Remember that super bowl down in Dallas? The Steelers were a part of it. There's like lawsuits and stuff because people couldn't.

[Tone Diggs]

I was there. We couldn't get to practice.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you were there for that?

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, I was. I was in that Super Bowl. Yeah, it snowed like the day before we got there. And they even said, hey, we don't really have trucks or salt, so whatever you see, we're just going to mash down with our cars and our buses and keep it moving.

[Pat McAfee]

That's always the best option too. You know, the matted down snow and ice is always what you're really looking for in its entirety. But yeah, I didn't even. I didn't even think about the snow being down there. And then I saw a Doppler. Oh, yeah, that was purple.

[Tone Diggs]

I think, like you say like 10 inches tone that much. Really?

[Pat McAfee]

That's what they're possibly. Yeah, possibly.

[Tone Diggs]

We're not. God, we don't know.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, but they are one for one.

[Darius Butler]

I was going to say they're one for one.

[Ty Schmidt]

Usually in Indiana, it's wrong. And they got this snowstorm. Right.

[Pat McAfee]

I was doubting so hard the hype that was coming around this snowstorm earlier this week just like, nah. People were, I guess, rushing to grocery stores because the way this was being talked about and then all the Dopplers were just like, blew over an entire portion of the United States of America. And they're like, hey, this is what's going to happen. This is what's going to happen. Happen. And I had to travel, obviously on that Monday morning, which it was right in the mid. They're like Sunday afternoon into Monday a.m. is the worst of this. And my wife Sam is obviously like, hey, should we. Should you think about this? You know, because it's not just you that worries about you getting up and in the sky and, you know, get this whole thing. And I just thought it's all. Yeah, I said, Sam, this is all.

[Boston Connor]

A lot of times it is.

[Pat McAfee]

As somebody that grew up, you know, in a winter place, this is probably how hurricane people.

[AJ Hawk]

This is exactly how hurricane season down in South Florida.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep, that's. That's how I felt with it. And then lo and behold, that Sunday afternoon hit and we had committed to a plan by then. There was no other options because the snow had already started. It was thick. It came down, down. I mean, we're talking thick snow laid in there. I think it would have been great snowball weather. I'm not sure. But it was also cold as it was like everything bad cold that could be came. And we just were lucky that there was like an hour break whenever we needed to take off to get out of there. So we lucked out. But yeah, they, they were, they called their shot on this one. This was a real deal. And I was not a believer. I was not going into it. This Dallas one looks real deal.

[Ty Schmidt]

Too big a problem too, because Thursday, obviously into Friday, that's when. That's when we would be.

[Boston Connor]

I just said traveling.

[Pat McAfee]

Travel.

[Boston Connor]

I just sent a video in from the Weather Channel. We'll be fine around 30 seconds in, 25 seconds in there. Looks like they might be calling for like somewhere between 5 and 8 or 12 to 18. 8 to 12.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you FaceTime Cantor?

[Tone Diggs]

Winter storm Cora. That's what's coming.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, they got a name for it.

[Pat McAfee]

Cora. That Seems like such an innocent name. Oh, look at Cora coming through. Oh, ruined a college football playoff. Come on, start at 12. Count down to one. Good luck. If you can't believe it, I want.

[Ty Schmidt]

Us to count that.

[Tone Diggs]

My kids had school canceled today too.

[Ty Schmidt]

Twice.

[Tone Diggs]

Well, Monday they didn't have school. For some reason they would have been canceled then. Today we had no clue it was. We didn't even think about it being canceled. And it was, I think because it's cold and there's still ice in the ground.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, it's like six degrees.

[Pat McAfee]

Do they have to make up for that at the end of this?

[Tone Diggs]

Are they doing if they miss a certain amount? If you miss like over four or five days, yeah, they got to go.

[Pat McAfee]

Extra two hour delay, always the greatest. You wake up and hear two hour delay. It's like, what a dream, what a dream. I actually tried to get a two hour delay one time.

[Boston Connor]

Great story.

[Pat McAfee]

Took a bucket of water. Took a couple bucket of buckets of water. We learned where we thought the superintendent lived and we thought he was the one that was making the decision. So we fucking dumped water on this guy's front porch. Thought for sure he wakes up in the morning, walks out there, slips. We had two hour delay. Yeah, it was the neighbor's house too. Wasn't the guy. And turns out it didn't even really snow either, so it would have. There was no chance of us getting. It was, it was. It was in theory. In theory, genius idea, cuz. Two hour delays were the greatest. You didn't have to make up for them. And all the periods were what, like 15, 20 minutes? And the teachers didn't want to do either.

[Darius Butler]

And if the bad stuff was coming, there was a chance you were all also getting out early. They'd just be like, ah, it. Whatever you got, you gotta get the buses in here.

[Pat McAfee]

We just got an update from Jim Cantore. He might be able to call back here soon. He's in the middle of probably tracking Cora, seeing where this lady's headed, because if she causes devastation, the cfp.

[AJ Hawk]

Come on.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, it's bad news, Cora, Come on. We got ball going on big time ball going on down there in the state of Texas, with Texas being at home is Ohio's taking a traffic travel. How do we feel about that? Do we think Ohio State fans?

[Tone Diggs]

I think so, yeah. I think they'll definitely travel. But I mean, it is a lot if you think about it like say we know how many die hard Ohio State fans are. I mean, I've had cousins that have Mortgaged, gotten second mortgage on their house to go to a bowl game. So when you have you're looking at four games, traveling to go to four games, I guess one was home. It's a lot of cash, you and time that you gotta, you know, commit to. So I think there's probably some people that are. Have wanted to go and they're watching this game. They say, the second that I know Ohio State's winning, booking tickets to the national championship.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, think about Pasadena. Rose bowl is expensive. The whole operation's expensive. It's really far, really far. Everything's expensive. And it's the Rose bowl getting in and out of it expensive. So then you win. Congratulations. Now you got to go down to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. I think James Franklin mentioned something there was. I don't know if there wasn't as many Penn State fans as they thought maybe against. Boy, I forget what it was, but he said, a lot of our fans, I think are trying to pick which they did game they want to go to, you know, so they're kind of getting caught in like, well, if we go down to Miami, that that's very expensive, very far, everything down there. Are we going to use our money for that or are we going to go to this particular game? We think if you ask the boat, we think we're going to win that game. That's a decision that definitely happened.

[Boston Connor]

I saw, because it was like 6040 Boise. And I saw a lot of the Penn State thinking was, hey, we got this one against Boise. Let's save our money for Miami.

[Pat McAfee]

So I'd expect now shout out to Boise showing up.

[Boston Connor]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

And also it was on their half of the country and everything like that. But didn't even think about the ripple effects of some of these things like bowl games, people going to bowl games, fans going to bowl games. It's like, that's a, that's a celebration. You said talk about leveraging mortgage. It's like, that's a big to do. Like, hey, we're all going to do this now. Four of them is what Ohio State would have to do. And then you make it to the national championship. You got 2,700 bucks waiting on you. Yeah, it's like, golly, you got to have some real money to be supporting these teams all of a sudden. And everybody's doing it for the good of the team. But I think that is something I don't think any of us could have expected coming into this year.

[Darius Butler]

Not to mention when you're buying like plane tickets that Late. You know when it's a quick turnaround and all of a sudden you got like a flight like the next week, like, that's incredibly expensive. And then the hotels are probably going to jack up hotel prices with everyone coming in, like it's.

[Pat McAfee]

And then when you get there on the ground, what are you gonna do? You're gonna Uber? Those costs are getting spiked.

[Darius Butler]

Drinking that all up.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Starting shooting. What are you doing?

[Ty Schmidt]

What was that?

[AJ Hawk]

Come on.

[Tone Diggs]

Digs. Snorting and shooting. What are you snorting and shooting? Digs.

[Boston Connor]

I believe that was from a. It was a Tommy boy, when he goes eat and drink and snort and.

[Darius Butler]

Shoot from Black Sheep.

[Boston Connor]

Black Sheep. Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, Chris.

[Ty Schmidt]

The best shooting basketball.

[Tone Diggs]

Chris Farley still holds up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. He would be in this era. Holy. I. Anytime you hear somebody that knows him talk about him, they're like this guy, greatest guy. And then you watch him. It's like electric.

[Tone Diggs]

He was so young. Was he like 33, 35 when he died?

[Pat McAfee]

He lived, though. I think that's the story that I heard is he really got after it there for a bit. And it's like. I think that's a part of why he was so entertaining, though, because he was 150 miles an hour.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

All time. So how do you. I wish we could have got him longer. I wish my eye could have experienced Chris Farley a bit more. What an energy. Just what a giver to society in an energetic form. Robin Williams, another one that was. That came out of nowhere kind of seemingly. Yeah. How does his movies. He did some super serious. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Google Hunting, Deadpool, Society, both Hold up.

[Boston Connor]

I watched Missire this year was pretty still good.

[Pat McAfee]

Mrs. Dire holds up.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Flubber.

[Ty Schmidt]

Flubber.

[Pat McAfee]

Brilliant. Mov. Juman Jumanji.

[Boston Connor]

The original.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on. What's that one where he's Dr. Patch Adams? There it is. He was just saying, hey, come on, let's laugh a little bit.

[Darius Butler]

Smile.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if a lot of it would have worked, you know.

[Tone Diggs]

Think he really fooled his ex wife and Mrs. Doubtfire.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, dude.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's good acting.

[Ty Schmidt]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

Speaking of good actors, there's somebody that's currently an owner of a team. Oh, yeah. And in a general manager of a team, he needs to direct his attention to acting. Ladies and gentlemen, a future Oscar winner, I believe. Here's Jerry Jones in Landman.

[J]

I'm not saying I've done anything right, but I made my mind up long time. I was going to work with my kids. They're involved in everything. They're involved in My leasing oil and gas, real estate. And so when I got to cowboys, I got it so that we could all work together. I thought I was doing it for them, but the one that got the most out of it was me. I just know it's not going to be this time. But you're going to be sitting here sometime in the future, laying here sometime in the future, and this room's going to be full of your business associates and the people you've worked with all your life. And more than likely your children and family are going to be there because they're your children and your family. But you could have them there because they're the people you spent your life with, you worked with, you fell down with, you got up with. Not just Thanksgiving, Christmas. That's who you want to be with them. So when that time comes like this, it's a celebration of your life and you're not wishing you'd spend a little more time seeing a few more sons come up. That's the truth. That's the trick. Because that's gonna be your glory. I'm pretty proud of them cowboys. I'm pretty proud of the stuff we've done and oil and gas. It pales in comparison to how proud I am, is to have lived my life working with my kids. You got a chance to do something about that.

[Pat McAfee]

I hope you will.

[J]

And I'll tell you, young man, you're no spring chicken and you oughta listen a little this yourself.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, sir. Yeah, I'm a few eggs short of a spring chicken, that's for sure.

[J]

Think a lot of both of you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Feeling mutual. Thank you, Jerry.

[J]

Okay. Don't bite me with my rubber glove.

[Pat McAfee]

Out boy.

[AJ Hawk]

El.

[Pat McAfee]

Jeannie.

[Tone Diggs]

I said hi to see you, Mr. Jones.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy. Yeah. Huh? Kidding me. Yeah, dude, he had a little. Little twitch in his eye there. And then he. Then he hits a very Thanksgiving Christmas. He always starts crying there. That was wonderful. I'm going to go watch Landman because of that. Good show.

[AJ Hawk]

Legit. Start watching the show after I sat on X, I saw on X. Went in probably three episodes in. Great decision.

[Pat McAfee]

He. I mean, that had to be his speech. Unless that is somebody else's script. That's somebody else's script. You think? Tashman? That's Taylor Sheridan, bro.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, yeah. But it's also Jerry's life.

[Darius Butler]

Do you remember what Jerry just said? That's Jerry.

[Pat McAfee]

That's.

[Darius Butler]

That's Taylor Sheridan right there. Now, him being able to deliver it was. Is very impressive. Very impressive. Hitting all those beats and Everything. But no, Jerry wouldn't ad lib in that.

[Pat McAfee]

No way.

[Ty Schmidt]

Dance like Stephen Jones comes over.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on. You.

[Tone Diggs]

Come on now.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that was. You're saying no. Like nick Saban said, 50. 50 in the blind side.

[Tone Diggs]

Maybe a couple words were his own.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Bingo. Had to have more than 50. If that's the case, he is maybe the greatest thespian on our.

[Boston Connor]

He was feeling the feelings.

[Darius Butler]

There might be a chance that Jerry went in and was like, I got this. And then did what he did earlier, just babbling, saying nothing. And they were like, all right. Taylor was like, that was great, Jerry. Now you try my version. And then, boom, we get that. And it's.

[Pat McAfee]

Coach Saban told the story this year that Blindside, they wrote up a script for how he needs to recruit, you know, Michael War. And he said, all right, I'll read all this if. Can I just do it? And then if it doesn't work, I'll read. All right. Because he. They wanted him to say things that I'm sure he got so mad about. He was probably so frustrated. I'm not. That ain't how it goes. All right. And he ad libido, ad libbed a line about some decoration that was on the set.

[Boston Connor]

Sconces.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think. I think it was something along that. Like some word to Sandra Bullock. Right. She was the mom in that. And they had just like an ad lib moment on that that was all Nick Saban. Then when he sits down, he starts selling. It's just like him doing basically his thing.

[Darius Butler]

I think Coach Saban's a little more with it at the current moment than old Jerry.

[Pat McAfee]

A speech about life and then trying not to give away your business. Business plans are two different things from last year. How awesome was that from Jerry? That was awesome.

[Tone Diggs]

I'm telling you. Like, I was starting to get emotional the first time I saw the clip. And then I'm like, wait, Jerry's crying too here. Like, it was.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Honestly, Jerry needs to do some more acting. We need to get him into more stuff.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm saying. And he said in an interview that this wasn't an investment. I'm not just sitting back and watching T. This is something. Do it with my kids, you know, work with those kids in this entire thing. Maybe, you know, Jerry let the kids do a little bit more with the Cowboys and you focus on being old white guy in movies. There's a lot of those needed. There's a lot of. There's a lot of movies that. That Is needed. And could you imagine these writers? Who is this one?

[Darius Butler]

Taylor Sheridan.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. There's a lot of talented writers.

[Boston Connor]

Yellow stuff.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot of crap ones, too.

[Darius Butler]

A lot of crop.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of shite ones. But there's a lot of really good ones. Imagine if they're told, hey, Jerry Jones is available as, like, the things that people would write for. Especially with that, it's like. Like, I think we're looking at a potential Oscar winner.

[Darius Butler]

That was phenomenal.

[Pat McAfee]

No doubt. So good.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Jer, have people write your scripts for your postgame scrums.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

If all his roles are about billionaire oil landowners. Yeah, I think he's got something there. What's in right now for a lot of this, right in that kind of land is a big deal.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

This is my territory. This is my land. Jerry Jones, Is this my land guy?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Good luck. Who's. That's gonna be number one. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

He needs expanded role star.

[Tone Diggs]

It'll probably be a spin off now. He'll probably get his own spin off after that.

[Pat McAfee]

What is he. He was good on Hard Knocks too. Remember, he had the sandwiches. Oh, there they are coming.

[AJ Hawk]

The dude's dong that Taylor shooter.

[Boston Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

I wasn't on Hard Knocks. I was on Jamie Foxx's Life. Did you watch Jamie Foxx's lot? Netflix.

[Tone Diggs]

I saw about 30 minutes of it.

[Pat McAfee]

I did as well.

[Tone Diggs]

I mean, that was powerful.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I heard. Not exactly. That's what I heard. Yeah, it's just like him talking, him telling the story. Not. Not a comedy special.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I thought it was a comedy special.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then I was like, oh, this dude's very grateful to be alive.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, like this. And then you start listening. It's like, oh, yeah, this is real deal here. And then obviously, still Jamie Foxx in her talking also felt obligated to prove that he's not clone. So that was good. You prove it to me. Yeah, I thought so.

[Boston Connor]

Did he, like, what he do blood or something?

[Pat McAfee]

I just impersonated some old characters that he used to do. Okay. It's a good clone.

[Tone Diggs]

If they did it. If they did it, they figured cloning out, they cloned him.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that was. But I think he actually thought about it too. Like, how would you. So that was, like, pretty appreciative of that. Did some old characters, you know, nailed it. And it's like, okay, what if he doesn't, though? Just because he's older in that moment? Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm not sold.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Greenberg]

It just.

[AJ Hawk]

Nah, he's gotta keep Jamie Foxx. All bullshit aside, like, he probably one of the most talented humans. Like music, acting, like stand up comedy, like he has done it all at a elite level.

[Darius Butler]

So he's got a new movie coming out on Netflix in like two weeks.

[Pat McAfee]

What's it called?

[Darius Butler]

I don't know. It's him and Cameron Diaz though.

[Boston Connor]

Cam's back.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that? O'Shea Jackson, Denna. Thieves. Is that a movie?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, Thieves too.

[Pat McAfee]

Fantastic.

[Boston Connor]

It's gonna be great. Jerry Butler.

[Pat McAfee]

He looked cool last night. He did, yeah. Him and TJ Jefferson from the Rich Eisen show have a wrestling podcast. I thought the name. I forgot the name of it in the moment. I think it's like the collect gave.

[Ty Schmidt]

It a shout out though.

[Pat McAfee]

I did, yeah. Wanted to say the name.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Just. Just would like to let Shay and TJ know that as it was coming from brain to mouth, I quickly realized, ooh, I don't know if that's the name.

[Boston Connor]

No contest.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. When I got it right, so. And I just learned about it on NFL game day morning, literally the day before, because he was on talking about it with Rich Eisen. Rich Eisen actually had a pretty good amount of knowledge on wrestling a little bit. Talked about CM Punk, talked about Seth Rollins. It was pretty nice little thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Rich.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, they're saying they hate me on that show.

[Darius Butler]

What the that about?

[Pat McAfee]

We talked what show?

[Boston Connor]

I saw that one guy said, what?

[Pat McAfee]

No, there's numerous. Gerald McCoy had to respond say, I don't hate him, I like him. Kurt Warner had to respond, I don't hate him, I like him. If Mooch had an ex, I think he would have had to respond. I think they would have a lot of people saying it was a lot is like 10 to 15. But that's more than you would expect to say, wow, these guys hate Matt McAfee coming on this show. And I was like, I don't think that's true. And I watched some Eclipse back. I'm like, I could see how you would. I could see how you would think that's a four hour show, though. Yeah, I mean, that is a four hour show. I'm coming in the final hour or.

[Boston Connor]

What hour is it there too, in la?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God. Yeah, exactly. So I don't. I don't think that's the case at all. No, there was. There was more than. More than a handful of people that are like, these guys hate when pack.

[AJ Hawk]

Comes up, they don't know ball.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm gonna start viewing it from a different lens. I'M gonna start seeing it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm start seeing if it's true. I'm coming in there just as like.

[Boston Connor]

I'm sure you won't bring it up on Sunday.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, heard you guys hate me. Thanks. Thanks for making, making that the case. No, I, I, I'm a big fan of that show. I watch that show a lot. Yeah, I watch that show basically every Sunday. They do so many skits and they don't take themselves serious. The people behind the scenes. I've got a chance to chat with them. Big brain, like, TV brain, you know, segment ideas, doing this. I, I really enjoy that show. I think they're missing Michael Irvin. Yeah, sure. Which I think is one of one.

[Boston Connor]

He's on Speak.

[AJ Hawk]

One of one. Playmaker.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah, he was on Speech.

[Pat McAfee]

He is.

[Tone Diggs]

Where's that phenomenal television juice?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, he's on Speak every week, I think on Mondays.

[Ty Schmidt]

He was. Yeah, Yesterday, Everybody trying to get on that show.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. From what I heard. Yeah, they're gonna invest a lot in that show.

[Darius Butler]

That's what they're saying.

[Pat McAfee]

From what I heard for now. All right. We should have ended the show right after that. Jerry Jones speaking. Jerry Jones's script thing, because he crushed that final answer. That. That was not Jerry Jones.

[Darius Butler]

No, no, absolutely not.

[I]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

I did a little age, I did a little more.

[Tone Diggs]

It was definitely not Taylor Sheridan wrote Hit. He, he was informed by Jerry's life. In the script, though, like, a lot of carryover. But Jerry, the way he delivered it, we've seen, like, watch any kind of athlete or someone in Jerry's position try to act. They're usually terrible. They're usually really bad.

[Pat McAfee]

On that note, John Cena, I think you will win an Oscar. No doubt.

[Tone Diggs]

Oh, man, he was unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Tone Diggs]

John Cena blew my socks off, as they say. As. Did you see Ricky Stanicki?

[Pat McAfee]

Did you see. Yes, Everything he does. Ferdinand, even you go back to Fernanda when he's a voice. I mean, he is, he can do.

[Tone Diggs]

Comedy, which comedy is tough for people to do. And he did it beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

And he could do drama. And he does not take himself seriously at all. We'll do. Hey, let's do it for good of content. I will do it. Those socks last night or something, did you, did you, did you see these high blue socks on with black shoes?

[AJ Hawk]

Swag.

[Pat McAfee]

And then. Yeah. And I was looking at. Oh. And I'm like, this is the. He's the only human on earth that can come out in front.

[Boston Connor]

I thought I saw a picture from earlier in the day. Did he have that outfit on for 28 hours yesterday?

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean? Woke up like this. There is, like, last night involved a few of the people that guarantee buzz whenever they're around, and it's like, he's one of them, and he's way too nice to me and to us. I mean, he is. I stood next to him for. There's a thing that happened backstage. Everybody was kind of gathered around, learning some stuff. I'm standing next to John Cena. I just, like, looked over at him, and I'm like, this guy. This is. This is one of the guys, like, of all time ever. And he's gonna go right into the movie business full time, and he's gonna become the guy. And he's just acting as if he's not, which is so stupid. I think that is why everybody really loves him at the wwe, because he is to. Everybody acts like he's just like, the. The Rock. Talking to people is insane just the way. Cause I think the WWE people have been around for so long, so everybody has, like, a respect for each other, and everybody there is very important. Like, everybody at every job is very important. If they don't do their job good, potentially ruin the business. Yeah, potentially ruin the entire business. So it's nice to see, like, these mega stories. Stars come back and how it's all operated. Encina, whenever he hits, you know, every.

[Darius Butler]

Time still, Topanga was doing it.

[Tone Diggs]

They showed Topanga, and she's doing. You can't.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Topanga there.

[Tone Diggs]

Michael, what's her real name for Danielle.

[Pat McAfee]

Danielle Fischl. I saw that last night.

[Tone Diggs]

There we go.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw that last night because Cole was doing all the reading of the. The celebrity names, and he was getting new sheets. Like, every time we would send a video, it's like, hey, here's a new list of people that are here tonight. Here's a new list of people that are here tonight. Because I don't even think, like, WWE knew some of these people were coming, just coming as fans of the show. So that was a cool thing. So whenever Danielle Fishel is on the sheet, I don't know who that. I had no idea who that was. I had no clue who it was. And popped up on a screen. I'm like, there's Topanga. Macaulay was there. So his brother was there. Kieran was there. Dude, talk to him on the way out. Out. Talk to him on the way out. Let him know, yo, you are a mega talent, dog. Like, secession was awesome. Absolutely awesome. Yeah. Here's Where I try to drop the. The name of the podcast. Hey. As a wrestling podcast, that's all I could say. Out of the.

[Ty Schmidt]

Kieran won a Golden Globe for a movie he was in. He did Macaulay's brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He's also secession, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes. Yeah. Roman.

[Pat McAfee]

He is the. Yeah, he's the show there.

[Tone Diggs]

Is that the guy from the show, too? To her right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, to her.

[Tone Diggs]

Her left. Our right. They didn't put his name on Derek Matthews.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Will Friedle. They kind of did him dirty.

[Pat McAfee]

That was him.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, that's Cor. Matthew's older brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I met him. Did not. Phoenix. Was that who.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, it was.

[Pat McAfee]

That's it. Oh, dude, I messed it up.

[Darius Butler]

He's on the podcast with her.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, it was great meeting you, man. If I would have known at the time, I would have paid much more respect. That's 100 on me.

[Boston Connor]

He doesn't look the exact same.

[Darius Butler]

Yes, he does.

[Ty Schmidt]

He gets it. He looks the exact.

[Pat McAfee]

Now that you mentioned. They both. Both.

[Tone Diggs]

They both.

[Pat McAfee]

That is clearly him. Yeah, he does.

[AJ Hawk]

He does love you.

[Pat McAfee]

It was a long day. It was a long day. Yeah. Golly.

[Tone Diggs]

That's all I was worried earlier. They had a shot of Fluffy in the background when they were showing somebody else. I'm like, oh, you're not gonna mention Fluffy? But then they paid it off when they came back and promoted his special.

[Pat McAfee]

Fluffy was a part of the show. Fluffy is part of the show. He said jovial.

[Mike Greenberg]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He is so jovial. Fluffy. It's always like, he's Fluffy. Travis Scott. He had to feel so fucking cool walking into that place. Think about being Travis.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. He got caught on a hot mic. It was awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Coming in.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

When.

[Ty Schmidt]

When they stopped halfway through the walk down. I forget what he said exactly, but I know it would have got bleeped out if it was into a microphone.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah. There's a couple of those where I'm like, are me and Cole only hearing this? Is everybody hearing this? And I think it was because the way that's. Everybody was on top. I mean, it was like Travis standing in that vom or whatever it is, and the people all on top of him with fiend going and him literally smoking. That had to feel, so. That had to feel, so.

[Tone Diggs]

I thought that was part of it. I thought you were part of it. You. You had a great interaction with him when they came down.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep.

[Tone Diggs]

Sage.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, okay. Yeah. I had no idea it was coming out, obviously. No idea.

[Tone Diggs]

I thought it was a thing. I was like, oh, this is. They they talked about this pretty beforehand. I thought for sure it was a thing.

[Pat McAfee]

No idea. Yeah, no clues. I was like in the moment. I said, this is so cool. Like that's literally how I feel. I had no clue what was coming. I see Travis Scott walk and then I hear fiend start or whatever. And because it's played every Saturday at game day because everybody, every time it bangs, it go. I mean it is awesome. So I hear it start playing. I'm like, holy Travis Scott doing something. And then I look up and he's standing. I'm like, that is so awesome. And I see the vitamins and the sage just kind of irradiating from his hand. I'm like, this dude gotta feel like the coolest guy of all time right now. And then when Jay USO joins him up there and they start going absolutely ape in 17,000plus are all yeeting at the same time. I mean that was. Yeah. I mean, Travis is ready to go to war right there. Yeah. As he should. Showman. Dude.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He sat down at the commentary desk. I had no idea that was cut. Can we get this guy headset? Like, I don't think he's doing that. I was like, like, he's sitting down right now. Can we get him a heads. He's. He's cool. Dude, man. Got a chance to chat with him and his crew afterwards and you know, might have been able to experience the sage a little bit.

[Mike Greenberg]

Sure, sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Cool moment, cool moment there. And ten time Grammy nominee. Bangers after bangers after bangers. His shoes, his business. The guy's crushing it. And he was all in last night. And that's what it was all about. I felt like everybody was all in in there. You could feel that it was a special thing. Like throughout the night you could feel a special, you know, sometimes calling Monday night Raw, which is a three hour show and obviously very lucky to be welcomed back, asked back, opportunity to come back and commentated. That is a very, very important seat in the history of professional wrestling. To do it alongside Michael Cole. I'm so incredibly lucky. But there's sometimes, you know, there's a clock right over by hard cam over there and we'll be doing a show. We'll be doing a show. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And I look over and it's been 47 minutes. I'm like, I did not. I thought we were going to be at least an hour and a half. At least hour, 45 minutes. You look in, it's like 47 minutes. It's like, okay, here we. Let's do this thing. Last night I. I wasn't able to keep up with everything that was happening. Obviously I was trying to like enjoy the moment as much as possible and it was chaotic as shit, so you couldn't really do that. I looked, I looked down at my phone and it was like 2 hours and 45 minutes into the show. I'm like, holy shit, we are still doing. It was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. What a start. I can't wait to hear what the numbers are. How's that work?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean Netflix always supports that kind of stuff.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, they did it with the NFL games.

[Pat McAfee]

It was packed though.

[Darius Butler]

It was a perfect venue too because that's like one of one, you know, like for like if you just do that at some. I mean even if, like even at like msg, like I don't think it's delivering the same experience that that place is, you know, on night one, like visually, yeah, it was incredible.

[Pat McAfee]

Production was outstanding. Yeah, I mean the drones, the cranes, the Steadicam, everything was so good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Perfect.

[Pat McAfee]

How about that drone? It's the coolest thing ever. Yeah, I thought that was all they were pre recording it because I saw that thing early. That thing early was buzzing around. It was small, real small. And I think it's real small so it doesn't distract anybody. But also if it falls and we're not going to get any massive issues, you know. Cuz that is possible, I guess. But it was so small and whoever was flying that thing was in a cockpit. Cuz they were town. I mean it was real. You ever watch those drone races? Oh yeah. Holy.

[Boston Connor]

We used to have them on the office every day.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude, what a phenomenal. Oh dude, they're going like like 10,000 miles an hour. That is literally what it seems. And they crash and they're racing through. Yeah. Into Nexus. Big or pretty powerful.

[Boston Connor]

I don't know what. Yeah, it's hard to tell.

[Pat McAfee]

They're going through like circles.

[Ty Schmidt]

They're going through like hoops so tight through entire stadiums.

[Pat McAfee]

They need to bring that back. That the Lumberjack games. Yep, that needs to come back.

[Ty Schmidt]

The ice skating races down the mountains.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Crushed ice.

[Pat McAfee]

Crushed ice.

[Ty Schmidt]

There it is.

[Tone Diggs]

You know they had. Did you guys see ESPN? One of the ESPNs I stumbled across with my kids the other day had the air. Air Guitar National Championships. They aired who won.

[Pat McAfee]

Was that Did. Did that lady hit the double crown again where she won the fake horse Air Guitar Championship. Both of Them back to back. I think she did that last year. Oh.

[Tone Diggs]

I didn't get to the very end of it. I would say the build up and the thought of it was a little bit better than the execution, but credit for them to put it on air. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You're not talking about.

[Tone Diggs]

They only played for, like. They only played their song for like, 25, 30 seconds each person, I think. I don't know who won. I didn't. I didn't stick around.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, we just got the moves. That's why. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

He's got it.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God. It's the winner. Right?

[Ty Schmidt]

So.

[Tone Diggs]

Well, this.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a nice one.

[AJ Hawk]

Like this.

[Tone Diggs]

Nobody was like this on the one I saw.

[Ty Schmidt]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

It's the dumbest I ever seen in my life.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, pull up the fake horse. You want to talk about that being the dumbest shit I've ever seen? Pull up the fake horse. You've seen this. This is the whitest thing I've ever seen on the Internet. The. This is it.

[Boston Connor]

This is athletically.

[AJ Hawk]

Was that a crowd? It was a crowd. Into a big crowd. 50, 60, Finland.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking about? He's cranking on that thing.

[Tone Diggs]

One dude was playing with his mouth.

[Ty Schmidt]

Jimi Hendrix.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Pulled it all.

[Tone Diggs]

Shout out.

[AJ Hawk]

Chuck Beer did it. Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Had me fooled.

[Pat McAfee]

Joe Walsh from the Eagles. Life's been good to me. He has that two, and he's just drooling all over it. Awesome. I've been to three of those concerts. Every time he does it, I love it. Just so uncomfortable in his mouth. Just shovel. Oh, it's a tube that's stuck to the thing. And I spit it out to sing and. Right back in there. What a dog. They do any of that in the air guitar? They do any of that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, that would have been.

[Pat McAfee]

That would have won it. That would have won the entire thing. Here's the. Yep, here it is. What's going on? D. Butch. Welcome to white America.

[Tone Diggs]

Is that. Is that South Florida? Where is that?

[Pat McAfee]

That is South Florida, I think.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I'll be there. Might. We got a big question.

[Pat McAfee]

Who was in the crowd? Good H. White America. This is a hobby horse is what they call it.

[Ty Schmidt]

In the back.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a little practice in the back there. In the back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Get the feel for the horse.

[Pat McAfee]

Listen, whatever you want to compete, as long as people are competing, I'm happy. You know, if you're going to ride a fake horse, be the best in the world at it.

[AJ Hawk]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, that was actually before that bad.

[AJ Hawk]

Horse, It'll jump like that.

[Boston Connor]

What is this dressage?

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what, the jumping of it?

[Ty Schmidt]

See the handle you have on your horse?

[Tone Diggs]

Can you take the Tennessee Walkers right there?

[Pat McAfee]

Got a quarter horse two winner here, it seems like.

[AJ Hawk]

This is unbelievable.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great win.

[Boston Connor]

You know what I do enjoy?

[Pat McAfee]

The.

[Boston Connor]

The girl who stares at the judge while walking her pig with the stick.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. State fairs are a good time. State fairs are a good time. You have raised this farm animal, whatever it is, all year to get a good score, a good grade so that you can auction it off for a good amount of money. It's business, right? I think if I'm understanding how state fairs and county fairs and all these things go with pigs and cows and bulls and everything, you name it. And you see the exact people that are doing it, the judges. So you're like, right in front of them, like, how. Look at this hog right here. They grease them all up, make their hair look good. I'm telling you.

[Ty Schmidt]

So with goats this year at the Indiana State Fair.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It happens with all these animals.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it was crazy. It's like nine or 10 kids. This was the youth one. And there are these goats that they were, like, raised with. So they've had these same goats since they were, like, 8 years old.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's 4h. I think it's what it's called. Also the competitive version of this for the kids. They, like, ride horses. There's, like, growing flower. You see some of these flowers at some of these state fairs. Do you know what these are?

[AJ Hawk]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

We're talking, like, sunflower seeds. Sunflowers that are like. I'm like, I don't know how. That's not in gmo.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But that. That horse thing right there, that's a tough look for us.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, it is.

[AJ Hawk]

That was America.

[Ty Schmidt]

The words were in a different language on the wall.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, different language.

[Ty Schmidt]

That one wasn't America.

[Pat McAfee]

That was not us.

[Tone Diggs]

We don't. We don't do that.

[AJ Hawk]

So the fake Eric guitar was in Finland is not America.

[Tone Diggs]

No, this one was in. This one was in America. Was the first time ever live. I saw the pre show.

[Pat McAfee]

They had a kickoff show for us.

[Boston Connor]

It was a big deal.

[Tone Diggs]

Big deal. First time ever live. First time they ever did it live. There was a guy dressed up kind of like Evil Knievel that was like the MC kind of getting people on and off, directing traffic.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I love that.

[Pat McAfee]

I love. Anytime you get to watch a good host, you know, host's gonna have to carry that too, because there's no actual little guitar shreds. Right. You know. And I don't know how they get clearance on all the music. They get clearance on all the music. This particular thing. Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

I didn't really hear any hits. So that's. I was wondering the same thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

That's probably tough.

[Tone Diggs]

That's what made it tough too. I'm like if you're playing the hits, I can kind of get it. I can. I can watch this.

[Pat McAfee]

If you're playing all the Guitar Hero songs. Yes. Which is basically what they are. Right. You're filthy at that. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

I love Guitar Hero. Very good. Love that game. Grew up on Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

[Pat McAfee]

There's people that are so good at it. That's that their fingers make so much. They put it on muted and they're hitting it so hard. That plastic sounds like a.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sounds like. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like somebody typing on a keyboard.

[Ty Schmidt]

I got a couple of those. Like the Joker. I've probably played the Joker on Guitar Hero.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that sound like 200 sound like Miller Band. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. And you're just it crushing it.

[Pat McAfee]

You ever play Guitar Hero?

[AJ Hawk]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What about the band one. What was the band one Rock band.

[Tone Diggs]

I did that back in the day. That was fun. Trying to play the drums.

[Ty Schmidt]

Guitar Hero World Tour also has all the instruments. You can play the drums and sing on that one as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Cuz I wasn't good at the Guitar Hero. That one wasn't. But whenever they did the band thing and I could play the drums. 2:33am in the living room. You know after a good night out or maybe just back this thing and send my singing ass off.

[AJ Hawk]

You a big arcade guy growing up who going to arcades?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You know, not a lot of games I wasn't really getting. You know when this one started.

[Darius Butler]

The Asteroids.

[Pat McAfee]

The bricks stacking the bricks. No, no. The bricks are bouncing back and forth like this. And then you got a storm and then there's the next level. Bricks coming up like this. You got to stop them. And there's. You could have won. I think I forget. It was like a thousand dollar thing. And obviously every time I want to stop but. But there was a summer I spent trying to play that game for hours at the Monroeville Mall, which I don't think you can go to anymore. People just getting shot there.

[AJ Hawk]

Malls are tough.

[Ty Schmidt]

Malls are dying. Netflix is buying.

[Pat McAfee]

All malls are awesome.

[Boston Connor]

Sorry, what?

[Pat McAfee]

Malls is like hang out.

[Ty Schmidt]

Netflix is buying all the abandoned malls in America and making them movie studios, show studios.

[Tone Diggs]

Sweet.

[Pat McAfee]

So there's a grocery store for sale right down the street here. A lot of space.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I've thought to myself, what can I do with this thing? It has to be something. And there's multiple things. Netflix, I think we can make. That'd be so one quarter of this gross. Think about how big these massive they are. So big. And it's just sitting there. It's like right down the street. I'm like, that's be six things we could put in here that could help out the entire society. I don't know about a movie studio. I don't know about a movie studio. Yeah. Mall, movie theaters. A couple movie theaters. Potentially in some of it would be fun. Indoor putt putt would be.

[Tone Diggs]

There's a place my kids play basketball. An old Sears, I believe. It's gigantic. And they have like four or five full size basketball courts. They have basketball tournaments there every weekend. And then the whole other half is like an indoor, you know, trampoline type park with all of that stuff in arcades. They have volleyball. It has everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. If you out here. What was that?

[Boston Connor]

Megapolis.

[Pat McAfee]

Plex. The super sport. The incredible. Incredible. Oh yeah, incredible. That place. It turned into like a log. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Like a lumber facility or something.

[Pat McAfee]

It used to have like six basketball courts inside of it. Practice field, indoor soccer, soccer on one. I mean, it was a huge space. Yeah. There was baseball in. Everything was in there. It was like massive space. I don't know what it would be like to heat and cool it all, but all these big spaces kind of lose their luster.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean some of them you're getting good use out of them. Like what AJ just mentioned. We got a couple of those popping up too. We got one like pick a ball to place. They got full size basketball courts, batting cages, shooting like shooting areas with like a bunch of those members. What was the. The rebounder, honestly, shooter back there shooting gun. Like all these different areas. I know right after co. During COVID probably like 20, 21, we were like start to reserve the courts to go play like pick up basketball. You had to, you know, do the temperature check or whatever. But now post that. Volleyball tournaments, you know, whatever, a pickleball tournament is all type of shit there.

[Pat McAfee]

Were you ever worried that maybe you had exercise too much before they shot that thing at your forehead to see what your temperature was and you weren't going to be able to do something. It was very important. Just because you happened to have a little higher temperature at the moment. Not really for rest of your life.

[Tone Diggs]

They weren't checking. They weren't checking.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking about? My brother.

[Tone Diggs]

We. I went into a place of my brother and he was 89 degrees on his forehead. And they're like. And they just sent him through. And he's like, what? Am I dying? Like, what?

[AJ Hawk]

What?

[Tone Diggs]

They're like. I just keep coming.

[Pat McAfee]

Too cold here. The only thing I need to warm up a little bit.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What's the deal? That was a wild time. How about when they were shoving that thing up her nose? I had to get up there.

[Mike Greenberg]

Remember?

[Pat McAfee]

We would. Remember.

[Tone Diggs]

We had a car full of us in for nxt. We got tested together.

[Pat McAfee]

Six of us in a five seat car. Somebody comes out in a Hazmat suit to come stick things up our nose. We're gonna be okay. Everybody's good. Everybody. Yeah. That's why we're in here. This is a safe car. Thank you. Had to go through a parking garage. There was a line. Had to go through a parking garage. Hazmat suits on the testers.

[AJ Hawk]

Wow.

[Tone Diggs]

Every car behind us was one single person. Just the driver.

[AJ Hawk]

Take it up.

[Pat McAfee]

Person. Person with the mask on. With the glasses. The whole suit rolled down the window here. We're gonna need to test you. How many are you in there? Geez Louise. All right. Called other testers over to help out with the process. I thought. I thought we were going to end the entire operation right there. We passed her, didn't we, boys?

[AJ Hawk]

We did.

[Pat McAfee]

That's because we remained socially distant. We didn't. We washed our hands. Yep.

[Darius Butler]

All the time.

[AJ Hawk]

We ate. And then put the mask this right back.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. Because if you accidentally just took it in right there Too much. Yeah. What you just did was.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It spit it out everywhere. There's some real fear, brother.

[Boston Connor]

You wonder why nobody believes anything anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

Dobs. That was.

[Boston Connor]

What a crock of God.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Boston Connor]

What an absolute crocus.

[Pat McAfee]

We don't know. It's somewhere in the middle. Obviously. Obviously. And I'm sure we'll find it all out. Yeah. And that's what. That's what the good thing about it all and what's going on up in Canada. Yeah.

[Tone Diggs]

Guppy, your leader stepping down.

[Boston Connor]

Not my leader. And he's done, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. I think. I think Gumpy has been very wide open on this particular case. Is there anybody that's saying he's. Because it sound like the way the videos I was seeing of Trudeau were coming out of ski resorts and jogging on trails.

[Boston Connor]

Tell you what. You go to a place like the Kootenays think you're gonna push those people around? That's not how Canada works, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Was that his last straw?

[Boston Connor]

That was it. He went to the thought he was gonna go skiing and take over that hotel in the Kootenays.

[Pat McAfee]

Holiday season?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, I don't think so. Is that near Banff? Banff? No, Bam's in Calgary. Okay. Banff is. If you're gonna go somewhere in Canada. Whistler and Banff are beautiful snow mountains.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

People can just. World leaders can just shut things down.

[Ty Schmidt]

Just like that almost happened to you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what I was referring to. 15 hours. What? I'm gonna be stuck in Los Angeles for 15 hours? You need to get the airport right now. How am I walking? How am I. Oh, they're gonna get a cardio. Okay. We're inside one of the most locked down that into a dome. It's like an entire campus kinda, you know, it's kind of like an entire campus.

[Darius Butler]

There's like all that outside everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Like it is a full campus. It is locked down though. Very well done. I. I think they should feel very proud of the building that they have. How nice everything is. Obviously it's very brand new. The people that worked inside of it were very. I mean it was, it was very well done. But if your car is on the opposite side, it's going to be tough to get the amount of checkpoints that you got to get to get to there, which is good and bad. But. Yeah, I thought we were stuck in Los Angeles because they just shut it down. Hey, let's do a giveaway. I want to do January 7th, the day after A.J. hawk's birthday, right? D. Butch. Oh, no, no. A.P. tone. Yeah, he does have a big day. Huge.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you already submit or is that yesterday?

[Boston Connor]

You had to submit Yesterday was the.

[Pat McAfee]

All pro teams and then one of the awards tomorrow by five. Pressure's on. Good lord, the heat is on. I'll tell you what, you win 30 people, 500 bucks doing throwing a football at something. A football toss into that basketball hoop right over there.

[Boston Connor]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that's an indicator that you're gonna get it right.

[Darius Butler]

Thanks.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I think that's an indicator that you're gonna get it right. Why don't you throw it into that basketball hoop over there?

[Boston Connor]

Whatever hoop you want.

[Pat McAfee]

I think this one, I think this one down here is better because we don't want you to hit our ping pong. Too true.

[Boston Connor]

All those hoops are looking like the Gulf of America to me right now.

[Pat McAfee]

So we'll try to get that in there. Earlier we pivoted away from it. The Gulf of America, I do believe, is the water down there in between Florida and Texas. Yep, I think.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, new name.

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I heard.

[Tone Diggs]

Makes sense, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Changing it back.

[AJ Hawk]

Really? Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I am.

[Tone Diggs]

He ripped a shirt off that worked.

[Pat McAfee]

He certainly did.

[Ty Schmidt]

People loved it.

[Pat McAfee]

Netflix is raw, man. He just stood in the pocket, didn't he?

[Hulk Hogan]

Absolutely he did.

[AJ Hawk]

He should have had that NWO shirt, like, under it, just in case.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, planning.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Just in case.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, the first one. Oh. Oh, okay. This is.

[Darius Butler]

Let's go deal.

[Pat McAfee]

It starts out with brothers and then ends with you. Yeah. Body.

[Darius Butler]

Jimmy Hart.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh.

[Boston Connor]

He had those red shoes, though. He would have lost those sweet red shoes if he wore the NWO Hawkster.

[Pat McAfee]

Keep going.

[AJ Hawk]

He not losing them.

[Pat McAfee]

He's spottable.

[AJ Hawk]

Size 38.

[Pat McAfee]

That's Hulk Hogan. That's. That's Hulk Hogan.

[Tone Diggs]

You look loose. Getting his arm loose.

[AJ Hawk]

Conviction.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm just thinking a Hulkster having a stand in the pocket.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, he got it.

[Pat McAfee]

I just keep thinking of it because he looked out at one point. It was all good. I don't know.

[Darius Butler]

I don't know.

[Tone Diggs]

It's better than no reaction. Better than nothing.

[Ty Schmidt]

For when he gets into a crowd.

[Pat McAfee]

That is his crowd.

[Ty Schmidt]

They are going to go way over ape for him.

[Pat McAfee]

You're right. And he is going to take it all in.

[Ty Schmidt]

Brother made it through the worst part.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. This week, when he's at a Kroger selling, you know, great American beer, they're just gonna.

[Pat McAfee]

Real American beer. Yeah. But it's.

[Darius Butler]

It's a great American beer as well.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. You're right. Because it is brewed in the United States of America.

[Darius Butler]

Obviously, they're gonna mob him.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm excited to try it.

[Darius Butler]

Me, too.

[Pat McAfee]

How do we think it is? I think it's gonna be okay.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. I mean, I think all those, for the most part, like those kind of new beers, all taste somewhat similar. But if I know a holster, he's got a special spin on it.

[Pat McAfee]

Is there a light?

[AJ Hawk]

Similar. Similar as in shite.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Boston Connor]

Or real American beer is in shite. They're serving at Hogan's Hangout.

[Pat McAfee]

Brother. Okay. When's karaoke? He's at tonight. They need to go crazy for him tonight.

[Ty Schmidt]

Typically Monday. So I bet they move.

[Pat McAfee]

They need to go crazy for him whenever he hits it tonight. Please.

[Darius Butler]

They will.

[Pat McAfee]

17,000 people telling him there was people cheering for him. I would like it to be known.

[Boston Connor]

There was a pop at the start.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

There was Cuz it was. It was so loud inside the stadium, I didn't hear the booze.

[Pat McAfee]

I was cheer.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, me too.

[Pat McAfee]

Hur's in a holy.

[Ty Schmidt]

There a couple others.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we're not. He is a real American. Gulf of America. Would you. Where'd you hear that from? What was that all about? The Gulf of America.

[Mike Greenberg]

That.

[Boston Connor]

That's the name of it though.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Boston Connor]

Our elected president changed the name of it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Boston Connor]

We're also buying Greenland and Canada.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Ty Schmidt]

And possibly Mexico.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. Nah, there is.

[Tone Diggs]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. There it is. It's official. It is on the Google maps and on the Apple maps. We don't make the rules. Okay. It is clear as day.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, that settles it.

[Pat McAfee]

Is the name of it all. It's awesome. Time to be alive legitimately. Let's enjoy it all. Let's also enjoy Tone Diggs asking the football gods if he is on the right track with this football for that hoop over there. If it goes in 30 people win $500. AJ Hawk. Oh, he's throwing it. That was a. Oh, my God. Hey, throw that.

[Boston Connor]

He had some conviction on that a bit last time. I'm not doing that.

[Tone Diggs]

Usually it gets worse from here, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no. What he said is it's going to get better. You can't hear him, obviously. Yeah, it's only going to get better. He's super positive. You told him he needs to have conviction. Yes, and he did with that particular throw right there. Maybe he can do it once again. Connor, do you have any. What are you flipping off, aj? He said it was only going to get worse.

[Boston Connor]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

He said it was only going to get worse? Yeah. He didn't say it was.

[Tone Diggs]

No, I said it. No, history proves that it gets worse. Usually.

[Pat McAfee]

He said, history tells us that you're only going to get worse right now. That's what he said. Not you right now. Just history.

[Tone Diggs]

I don't believe it. I think he's getting better.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, nothing that happened yesterday determines what's going to happen.

[Ty Schmidt]

Block out the noise. Forget about Hawk. Hawk's an this. He's 41 now. He's a prick.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, I turned 41 yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

30 people. Oh, there you go.

[Ty Schmidt]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

That one was almost walking a dog around the rim. Yeah, right down here was. I don't know if there's enough air in that particular ball. A little deflation up there In New England, maybe. 30 people.

[Ty Schmidt]

500 proved not true. By the way, I saw a science.

[Pat McAfee]

Guy that got a medal of freedom.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, no, they. They proved it was not true. In 2015, they started taking the tests and they after the 2015 season said, hey, what happened in 2014 happens every single time a game gets played in cold weather. So that was completely false.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but Bill Nye, he told me.

[AJ Hawk]

Me.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, I was right. Right to my face.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bill N is a mark, okay? He doesn't know he's a puppet.

[AJ Hawk]

Don't talk about Bill N like that.

[Ty Schmidt]

I love Bill.

[AJ Hawk]

He deserved more respect.

[Ty Schmidt]

But it's true.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a deflated ball.

[Ty Schmidt]

Is it? Does it get cold in here sometimes? Yeah, that's why you're welcome.

[Pat McAfee]

Science. 30 people. Oh, that was an ugly one. Maybe what AJ said was true. I don't like it. Right. I don't love that. That is the case. 30 people, $500. Oh. Oh, that was the one.

[Ty Schmidt]

You got to throw a Duke, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're right. These are men's league awards. And also cowboy hat. Not a problem. It's not hitting off. It is. Cuz I'm. I'm normally more over the top. Yeah, I got to bring it out a little bit. So now you're Phil Rivers in a little bit. But for the good of Phil Rivers, why don't you win? 30 people.

[Darius Butler]

That's a good looking ball though.

[Tone Diggs]

That's a good looking ball.

[Ty Schmidt]

Good spin, throwing a good ball.

[AJ Hawk]

Some of those.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Close only counts in hand grenades, horseshoes and Adam bone. That's true, definitely. But not really that one.

[Darius Butler]

Bo.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Bo.

[AJ Hawk]

You guys called the boti. I showed you Mickey Moss.

[Ty Schmidt]

It was.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't. I don't know what big there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Take a five step draw.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Why don't you make it real like these AP votes are tomorrow. 30 people, $500. Oh, boy. Oh, it was a good effort. It's a good effort. Out of our AP voter. It's time for one last ball. That has a dorsal fin on it. Oh, that's.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, there it is.

[AJ Hawk]

It's for Russ's job.

[Boston Connor]

This is for Steelers in the playoffs, brothers.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long of the law. Renegade is the song for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Hold on. Oh, no. 1 and done for the team from Pittsburgh Tones From a town with a good football team. Use the same ain't great. Now everybody in Pittsburgh's singing the song saying it's just a good football team, not great football.

[Boston Connor]

The playoff song came out. I didn't even listen to it.

[Pat McAfee]

Jeez, you're talking about Boswell's toe. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Wait, the playoff song?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Can we pull that up? I didn't hear that.

[Ty Schmidt]

The Colts playoff song came out too.

[AJ Hawk]

Don't be an.

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't know if you heard it.

[Pat McAfee]

Dufflo was on Duffield and he was the best part of Duck game. Okay. Why don't you have a little respect for the fan of the year?

[Ty Schmidt]

Someone put together a bar filled song about the Colts and it.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, oh, I heard that. Yeah. That was a lot of time.

[Ty Schmidt]

Good.

[Darius Butler]

Went ham.

[Ty Schmidt]

Good float.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. There at the beginning you think, oh, this is gonna be kind of crop.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But then he's like, no, you got two and a half, three minutes left here. And there is. He's going. He's going in. Is that the Colts crusade, I believe. Yeah, yeah. 20, 24, 20, 25. Steeler fight song by Roger Wood. And this is to get the boys fired up. Take on the Baltimore Ravens.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Here we go. Steelers. Here we go.

[Mike Greenberg]

Pittsburgh.

[Pat McAfee]

Here we go. To the Steelers. Black and the gold. Here we go. It's town of Pittsburgh, heart and soul. Here we go. The Steeler nation has the best, best fans. We are from Pittsburgh, the six time Super bowl champs. Here we go. Come on, A.J. here we go. Isn't that baseline trying to hear. Here we go. Here we go. Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl. Here we go.

[Ty Schmidt]

Russell Wilson is ready to win Briarmouth and Jaylen Warren.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll go to Najee when we need a touchdown. And if you get in his way, he's gonna knock you right. Here we go.

[Boston Connor]

Really? The same song? The name's changed a little bit, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Here we go.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's not true.

[Pat McAfee]

Now Roger Wood puts his own sauce on it. Here we go, sailors, here we go. Pittsburgh's got the Super Bowl. Here we go, we go. Now the offense is ready to score. And there's one thing we know for sure, if we don't get it in the end zone, we'll get three points off of Boswell. So here we go. Here we go. You get it?

[Boston Connor]

DBOT is judging this, but we've won six with this.

[AJ Hawk]

Here we go. I'll let it continue.

[Pat McAfee]

There's another minute, brother.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Here we go.

[Pat McAfee]

We got high Smith wanting Hayward. Here we go. Patrick Elliot and Joey Jr. Here we go. The other team won't gain any grime because the defense is going to bring the Steel Curtain down. Here we go. Yeah. Fast.

[Ty Schmidt]

Nick is not going to be happy pretty long.

[Pat McAfee]

2 minutes, 38 seconds. Here we go. When we were growing up, there they.

[Boston Connor]

Were playing over the loudspeaker in school.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Whenever it came out. Roger Wood.

[Ty Schmidt]

Mink is going to quit.

[Pat McAfee]

Why? Cuz he's not a part of the defense. Part of that.

[Boston Connor]

He's a pro Bowler.

[Tone Diggs]

He's going to.

[Pat McAfee]

Is he? Yeah, he made a purple.

[Ty Schmidt]

So his season was what?

[AJ Hawk]

That song stinks.

[Boston Connor]

What the hell, Roger? Woody Butts.

[AJ Hawk]

I feel so absolute about the flow. As soon as the organization gets on the flow level.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, you don't.

[Boston Connor]

The flow didn't know where he was.

[I]

Dad.

[AJ Hawk]

You know what the Lions over there listening to right now while y'all listening to Roger Wood?

[Boston Connor]

What's that?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, you know.

[Boston Connor]

Is that song about the lines Bingo? No.

[Pat McAfee]

I challenge you. I challenge you to find a.

[Ty Schmidt]

A better fight song ball.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I heard that song. The new Jello banger. It is a heater legit. It is an act. Actual heater. Now, I don't know if it's about the Lions, but maybe that'll motivate him.

[AJ Hawk]

It's in that locker room.

[Pat McAfee]

Roger Wood is not the only one in Pittsburgh that makes bangers, though. Okay? I'm from the town with the great football team. Go on and get them. Steelers. It's a whole. Another one. You don't even.

[Boston Connor]

There's Donnie.

[Tone Diggs]

Brett Michaels.

[Pat McAfee]

Michaels.

[Boston Connor]

Black and gold.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I mean.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sorry.

[Boston Connor]

Black and yellow.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know why. Yeah, Wiz. First person to ever call her gold yellow. But I kind of go with it because it was such a heater.

[Ty Schmidt]

It sounds better.

[Pat McAfee]

It does, but not like in Pittsburgh. It's black and gold. Like, that was kind of the thing. And then Wiz was like, you know what? I like what we're doing, but I can make a heater with this, so let's go ahead and do that. Lo and behold, everybody was out there.

[AJ Hawk]

Penguins out there.

[Pat McAfee]

That was kind of what was being. Yes, they do.

[Boston Connor]

Steelers. And he was surprised that he made it just because he hasn't been as splashy this year. The splash plays have been.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but he asked another question. Wasn't there, like a rumor that he was. They were mad at him or something?

[Boston Connor]

That was. That was disapproved. It was someone else on the defense.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so it's not true.

[Boston Connor]

It was definitely someone on the defense.

[Pat McAfee]

But it wasn't Minka.

[Boston Connor]

I don't think it was 39.

[Pat McAfee]

I think you should have been saying that louder. I think. I think that with the counter on. That should have been said a little bit louder the first.

[Boston Connor]

I think it was ever confirmed. Well, no, nobody actually said it was Minka.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but it was certainly else.

[Mike Greenberg]

Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Inferred.

[Pat McAfee]

It was certainly. So I think if it wasn't him, I think that should have been. I think that should have. We probably should have maybe been saying a little bit louder.

[Boston Connor]

It was another number.

[Ty Schmidt]

It should have to his minka till right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Bingo. That's exactly where I lived as well. So I'm happy we did some journalism there.

[Mike Greenberg]

Go.

[Pat McAfee]

What number you think it is?

[Boston Connor]

I know what number it is.

[Ty Schmidt]

What number?

[Darius Butler]

Time?

[Ty Schmidt]

90.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[AJ Hawk]

It's a new season now.

[Boston Connor]

It's not nearly as exciting as if it were.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you trying to drive a wedge through the Pittsburgh Ste.

[Boston Connor]

I think the team knows that guy stinks, though. That's why I don't think it's him who.

[Pat McAfee]

Where he's in.

[Boston Connor]

Yes. Like if you know a guy stinks on your team, you're not going to call him out publicly. Everybody knows he stinks.

[Ty Schmidt]

Or it's like a, hey, let's get on this guy.

[Boston Connor]

Or it could have been a shot. Or it could have been a shot, which I think at the coaching staff. Hey, why is this guy on the field?

[Pat McAfee]

All right, on that note, let's go ahead and get on out of here. Got a big one tomorrow.

[AJ Hawk]

Huge.

[Pat McAfee]

Hope we'll get to the bottom of that. We need get to that.

[AJ Hawk]

Multiple guys. No, no, it was multiple guys. One guy at the top of the list. But everybody can. You know, we've been in those meeting rooms. Everybody can throw their hand up at certain times, but that's right. It's one guy that's throwing their hand up a little bit more. But it's a new season for black and gold.

[Pat McAfee]

Nailed it. Boom.

[Boston Connor]

Thank you, T Butts.

[Tone Diggs]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have some breaking news out of Las Vegas. Antonio Pierce fired. Wow. From the Las Vegas Raiders.

[AJ Hawk]

Damn it.

[Pat McAfee]

So that is one season for Antonio Pierce as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Former player, obviously. Giant legend, interim head coach of the Raiders last year when they had so much success in the offseason, there was a big groundswell of support for Antonio Pierce to be the head coach of the Raiders. This year has not gone the way that they could have imagined it at all. Obviously, they end up trading away Devonte Adams. There's a lot of conversation about other people getting traded out of there. Tom Tesco, who's the gm, I don't know if he's certainly was the one that picked Antonio Pierce as head coach. Was there a differing of opinion there? How do they go forward? Was Mark Davis thinking about this all along? When did this decision start coming to the forefront. So many questions that I assume will never get answered. But one season is all. Antonio Pierce will be the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders for now. He obviously signed a guaranteed contract. That's what coaches contracts are. So did Jerod Mayo. So congrats to them on being professional golfers if they want golfer going forward for the next four years or three years, however long their contract was. But yet another situation of a former player getting a head coaching job and then one season ownership and decision makers deciding, we ain't doing this D. But I saw you throw your pen. You don't think one year is enough to develop a culture, to make your team, get your guys, get everything on schedule. You don't think there's enough of a case study for Antonio Pierce here?

[AJ Hawk]

No, I don't. He did, you know, he had a little bit more one year, obviously being in an interim role. But we saw what he had at quarterback. We know the same situation in Tennessee. If you don't hit that quarterback position, it's going to be tough. So to have one year and then this is the opportunity where you have position to actually go and get a quarterback and have a chance to kind of build your team, build your roster. And it's still a certain culture. Obviously we aren't in that building, so we don't know the ins and outs and how everything was going week to week. But I felt like they competed at least down the stretch for sure. So not shocked this was one of the names that were floating around. But I hate when guys kind of get shafted like this where it's one and done. Don't really get a real, real chance.

[Pat McAfee]

Shafter has put out a summary of what has happened since, you know, 2021, when Jon Gruden resigned after his emails and only his emails were learned of a. How many? Thousand, seven, seventy thousand. Something absurd, some insane amount obviously came to light through the Washington football team's investigation, allegedly to Josh McDaniels, who was fired in 2023, to Pierce now in 2025. Obviously a lot of turnover over there in Las Vegas. New city for the Raiders and there's a lot of things happening quickly, trying to establish a culture. Jon Gruden's name is back into conversation about being an NFL coach. You know, obviously he's dominated on the NFL. Did he and Mark Davis get along? I think so. Right?

[Tone Diggs]

I thought so. I don't, I don't remember them having issues.

[Pat McAfee]

I remember Mark Davis not being pumped about the entire situation with Gruden. Almost Felt like he was forced. Remember, that was the.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, the backpack.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm going to get there, guys. I'll talk about this later. If Jon Gruden is getting interviews with other jobs, I wonder if Mark Davis is like, well, he could certainly potentially get an interview. Yeah. And I don't know if Gruden would want to go back to the Raiders without everything went in that thing, but if that ends up being a storyline that ends up happening, it would be great. Rex Ryan back to the jets, potentially. Gruden maybe back. I'm not. Once again, this is not knowing Gruden at all or the Raiders at all or any plans. But I know Gruden's name has been mentioned with some teams in, like, conversations. Hasn't been listed on social media because I think some teams don't want to be the ones that are, you know, the first team to say, we're bringing Jon Gruden back into the NFL. But people have said there's been interest in John Gruden. It's like, it makes sense the guy could win. Like, that's what he did. And in the world that we're in right now, having to be able to communicate, having to be able to understand everything, it's like, that'd be an insane situation. Not saying that's going to happen, but that would be an insane situation. As the Raiders now are added to the list of teams that are looking for a new head coach. A.J. hawk.

[Tone Diggs]

Yeah, I would imagine the Raiders, I don't know if it's Gruden or not, but I would imagine they have a couple guys in mind that they want to bring in to be the head coach like this. It's kind of weird timing. Did he end up talking to the media yesterday? I know Shefty said he was going to talk to the media.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. And he said he has not been told otherwise. Whenever he was asked if he's going to be back as the coach. This is just like when Eberfluss was like, I'm preparing to go do it this weekend. He's fired. 20 minutes later. And then now it's a day after his press conference. Antonio Pierce, Doug Peterson, Gerard Mayo, Matt Eberfluss, Dennis Allen, Robert Sala, all coaches that have been fired either this season or since the end of their season. Then obviously you look at the oc, DC and general managers, there's a lot of spots to be filled. Now six total head coach openings, if you count what happened in season seven to 10 is normally the average. Right? That is normally where we land. There's six right now. Is this it?

[Tone Diggs]

It's got to be, right?

[Pat McAfee]

McCarthy situation.

[Tone Diggs]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Still gotta get figured out.

[AJ Hawk]

Would that. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah. 7, 7, 8. Not like a year. That's. That's insane. I think you definitely need some times. There are situations where you can definitely see it and say, all right, made a mistake. Let's move forward. Hey, there's some hot names out there. We definitely have the inside track to get one. And you're talking about Gruden. I think Gruden is. Is one of those coaches who have a lot. Lot of say on the personnel side, too, because I believe when him and Mayock were together, I think he made the final call. So that would be, you know, something else that teams will have to sign off on if you bring a guy like that in.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm fascinated by it all right now because what was Pierce and Mark Davis's conversations? When did Pierce think this was possible? You know, like, at what point did he understand that the writing was on the wall? How. How long has Mark Davis felt like this is it? Since the chaos started middle of the season. Like, hey, this is not how we want to go about doing this. Not how we thought. Just like Gerard Mayo, like, everybody saying it was like the last month basically, is when it really started heating up in this whole thing. But remember, you can win your fan base back over, which is one hiring. Like, you can just win everybody back over with one hiring, especially if it's one that's viewed as winning the headline, winning the press conference. Maybe that's what Mark Davis is thinking too. So they don't lose hope. They get a quarterback. You know, why not? What if they bring in Shador and Prime straight up?

[Ty Schmidt]

This will be Brady first big decision as a partial owner of the Raiders.

[Pat McAfee]

Tom Brady is a mentor, right To Shador.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Oh, has been years now owner of.

[Pat McAfee]

The Raiders is coach prime in Shador taking the Sanders show to Las Vegas. Who the knows? We know nothing, dude. We know absolutely nothing. That was what Schefter was saying yesterday when he was him hawing. I. It was this decision. Yeah, I think he's out. Ah, but him. Ha ha. He didn't know. He really didn't know. Because these owners, you know, I won't say, live a very different life than everybody else and have very different thoughts than everybody else, but they do, you know, they. They. They can make any decision they want. That's why I thought Marvin Harrison Jr. Could potentially been an Indianapolis Colt, because on draft night, Jim Mercy could have walked in there and been like, hey, excuse me, is there a Marvin Harrison in this draft? Yeah, he's a Colt. We're going to go get him. That can happen at any time with any of these owners. So when did Mark Davis start thinking this was the case? And who does Tom Tesco want to work alongside, you know, as the general manager? He's been around the league a long time. He was in Indianapolis. I was very lucky for him. He's the one that brought me basically into the Indianapolis Colts world with Bill Polian, ended up drafting me. And then he goes to San Diego and then Los Angeles, and then now he's with the Raiders. It's like he's been around a long time. A lot of coaches. Yeah, a lot of coaches. He has a lot of networks in there. Who's he going to want? And who's making a decision? We shall see. All right, we'll be back tomorrow. Ran Carthon fired today. Antonio Pierce fired today. Anybody else?

[Tone Diggs]

Justin Trudeau couple.

[Boston Connor]

Oh, he resigned.

[Tone Diggs]

Resigned.

[Boston Connor]

Mark Davis also could have just flipped a coin. Like, that's why Schefter probably didn't have any information.

[Pat McAfee]

What, did he use the coin or, like, did he.

[Boston Connor]

Was he playing like Game boy and lost the game? Was like, all right, I'm done.

[Pat McAfee]

Who are we talking about here?

[Ty Schmidt]

Mark Davis or he was injured.

[Pat McAfee]

Owner Mark Davis arrived at the team facility within the last hour to deliver the news to Pierce. He finished 4 and 13. His own season just got there. I can't take it anymore. I'm going up there right now. He's. He in his office? Yeah, I'm doing it. This is how our dance falls. Right in there. You're out. Need you gone from the building. See you turn off your key fob. Think about him walking in there. I thought you were gonna be much better. You're fired. See you get out. You're right. Within the last hour. I mean, it's a quick conversation. Yeah, that'd be terrible. Could you imagine him walking down with like. Like, Ari. Ari. Guy Gold did with a paintball gun or whatever.

[Boston Connor]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Antonio walks in, crazy. The out of my building ruin this place. Or was it kosher? I'm gonna pay you for the next five years.

[Tone Diggs]

Obviously for everybody, too, though. All the assistants too. Like, they know now, hey, we gotta look for another gig.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Coordinator out there.

[AJ Hawk]

Coaching is a wild business, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

It's crazy. And Schefter, before he did the leaning in, leaning out segment, he was like, we're talking about lives and jobs. And families here, it's like, I understand we got to preface every conversation with that because it's very real. Like when a player gets traded, nobody talks about like their families just getting uprooted from the community that they're in and having to move to another one and yada, yada, yada, everything like that. Coaches get compensated very, very, very, very well. But they all know it's part of the gig. They all know that. They're like military families, how much they move. You know, they are all around. But I mean, mean, Mitt's here and obviously Mitt's Mitt. But Mitt was in like four different towns within like 10 years because his dad was going Atlanta, St. Louis. We're here, we're there, we're bang, bang, boom, boom, boom. Because the coaching, like yeah, yeah, I got culture, dude. I'm all over the place, you know, I got more hometowns than the Rock. That's what he just said. That's what the myth said. I could hear him say it.

[AJ Hawk]

Little Mitt, good for Mitt.

[Darius Butler]

These guys also all know like they're going to get another job. It's not like you get fired and then it's just like, well, I guess that's it for me. Like that doesn't happen. All these guys are going to get.

[Pat McAfee]

A job elsewhere or get on tv.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's, it's. There's enough jobs seemingly at this point.

[Ty Schmidt]

You wonder if any of them go to North Carolina. See if Bill makes a call. Cuz they're making it a NFL type.

[Pat McAfee]

Bill Bell, I'm very. How about him taking these pictures in high school? You seen these? Him and Lambo were in the back room of a equipment room taking a picture with a high school kid that was this tall. Saw him, Steve, Steve got a chance to see him in the back of the car yesterday. He's jacked up. They're traveling around. Bill's got full on. Steve just wore a black T shirt.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Carhartt T shirt.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm sorry. Yeah, it was car. Hey, listen.

[Tone Diggs]

Jeez, look at that kid.

[Pat McAfee]

Not only there was like four or five of these guys and he was posting pictures. They're all gigantic, I don't think. You know Julius Pepper, I guess is from North Carolina, right?

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that accurate the way they're talking about North Carolina talent? Like, hey, North Carolina's got people, you know, like they got a lot of talent in state that hasn't stayed. That's like South Carolina is the same exact thing. South Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, there's like hotbeds for great football players. And I think all these schools are trying to turn it like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You want to stay here? The amount of money North Carolina seemingly is spending, paying Bill, paying Lambo, paying the entire staff. They'll have the maximum amount of rev share. He said they'll have maximum amount of nil stuff. He's got what? He's got a. A country club membership across. I mean, they're. The whole town is kind of going all in. They got great unis. Great. If Bill walks into your high school, though, I feel like that's a. Yeah. We going to do this or what?

[Tone Diggs]

He brings Michael Jordan. He brings Jordan with him a couple times.

[Pat McAfee]

No, this guy. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Jordan could give them as much money as they.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like Uncle Phil Knight over there in Oregon. It is, yeah. That's a good vault to have. And then Larry Ellison now is with Michigan. That's a great one. He's 200 some billion. I looked it up the other day. Yeah, really 200 some billion oracles. He owns lanai, Hawaii, the island, the whole thing. And now he's back in Michigan with everything else that Michigan has. Texas, they had like three different collectives, right? Yeah, yeah. I think Texas had like three different collectives. Ohio State, obviously, they got a couple people giving their money. And that's why Ken Kendrick is going to be the guy that's going to save West Virginia University.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah, Ken.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, Ken. We need you, Ken. You've done good. Let's put West Virginia on the map there in that entirety because now they have the rev share and the salary cap. The nil deals are still going to be very important. The thing about all the nil deals is you're not going to be able to pay 10 million for one car dealership visit, though. They're all going to have to get regulated. But you can get like 4, 5, 6 deals. So as long as you have them, you're in a good spot. They just all have to get stamped by that jury or judge or whatever the it is. I think we're going to a good spot in college ball, Right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Right way might change in April.

[Pat McAfee]

April 8, 2025. Big ruling for college sports as a whole. Big ruling for the future of sports as a whole. And how about college football being the clear number two sport in the United States of America?

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Not even, you know, NFL, college football and then everything else. Wwe. Yeah, just wwe, I think is. Is probably the next. And then everybody else trying to catch up. Football is a beautiful sport. We're lucky to talk about it every single day. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do it for a living. Let's get the hell out of here. We're back tomorrow. Aaron Rodgers on the M. Tomorrow.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay.

[Tone Diggs]

Nice. Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

We have an answer. He'll give us an answer tomorrow. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

You think I retire on the spot?

[Pat McAfee]

That was a question.

[AJ Hawk]

Think he knows we know the answer?

[Tone Diggs]

You tell me if he's coming back or not. Hey. Well, that would be. That'd be a bit surprising if he tells us one way or the other.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, he's attached to nothing. Open to everything.

[Darius Butler]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a good mindset to have for everybody.

[Boston Connor]

It is.

[Pat McAfee]

Have an open mind. You never know what's going to happen, you know? Don't be scared to listen to new ideas. Don't be scared to think, well, that's a stupid idea. And just keep your life moving, because every once in a while, something beautiful is going to come through. And when it does, could change your life forever. Could change your perspective forever. And just like Jerry Jones said in that show, you don't be wishing to see a couple more suns come up.

[Boston Connor]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

You want to live every day like it's your last? Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. We love you all so much. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.