← The Pat McAfee Show
The Pat McAfee Show
PMS 2.0 1431 - TNF Preview, Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule, Mike McCarthy, Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti, Andrew Whitworth, & AJ Hawk
02:31:22
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- [00:02]
A
Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the ThunderDome, on this NFL Week 7 kickoff Thursday, October 16, 2021. This program begins now. Football is magical and the NFL kicks off its seventh week this evening as an AFC north battle will take over Amazon Prime. Kirk and I will be on the call as Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco, you know, a couple OGs in the league, couple old guys, made men if you will, super bowl champ, people that have made over hundreds of millions of dollars playing football, will lead two teams that they are very new to, one very, very, very new to the other. In his first season as the quarterback and commander of the offense that is doing better than has done over the last seven years, Aaron Rodgers looks good. And here's a little stat that came from Hembo this morning. This Pittsburgh Steelers offense, they're number one in the league in yak yardage. Seven point something average yak for every single pass. Cincinnati Bengals defense worst in the league and giving up yak. I don't know if that's tackling or coverage or angles or leverage, but we do know that potentially what the Pittsburgh Steelers do well on offense. The Cincinnati Bengals defense does not do well at all, actually. Worst in the league, first versus worst. Anytime you see that type of stuff, you have to wonder what it's going to look like. And then on the flip side of that, Cincinnati Bengals offensive line hasn't really been able to protect any of the quarterbacks that play quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, which is not a good thing because that's what the offensive line is supposed to do.
- [01:29]
B
That's right.
- [01:30]
A
Then you think about, well, who's rushing a passer tonight? Well, it's a lot of guys. You got big Cam Hayward, his head the size of that stadium they're going into. And we know Andrew Whitworth is a ruler of the jungle, but Cam Hayward's head alone could rule a jungle. Okay, that's how big his head is. And then you got Herbig oos coming into his absolute own. And then TJ Watt, he didn't have a great PFF rating, okay, not even the best in his own game at one point, but he's coming off a fresh ass beating of the Cleveland Browns. It seems like this defensive line could want to hunt. Then you think about Jalen Ramsey. What a perfect offseason pickup for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they spend money for the first time, long time and pay people a lot of cash to come join what they have and seemingly go all in. They've already had a Bye week they're 4:1 right now, looking to become 5:1. They'd be the third team in the NFL to become as such. And that could happen in a divisional game that is kind of reminiscent of the entire division. Cleveland Browns. They are what they is, okay? They are what they is. Tony Rizzo will tell you what they is. And we appreciate the hell out of Tony Rizzo. The Baltimore Ravens, boy, uh oh. What the hell is going on over there?
- [02:36]
C
Yikes.
- [02:37]
A
They should be good on paper whenever they're healthy. Are they ever going to be healthy? Is this a year where they're like the San Francisco 49ers and they're just not healthy? They just happen to not have any good fortune from the football gods? So are they going to stink forever? Or maybe they make a run late here when Lamar Jackson comes back after the buy, which is certainly possible. And then the Cincinnati Bengals team, I mean, they're on the third quarterback they traded in there and division Joe Flacco doing his thing. Trey Hendrickson, the whole off season storyline, what's going to happen with him? He was the odd man out that wasn't paid well. He had a back issue. Now it's his hip thing. He's on the injury report for Trey Hendrickson. Hip. He is questionable for tonight's Thursday Night Football. He's obviously a valuable piece of that defense. If he's playing on a short week after an injury on Sunday, if he's playing on a short week, that's obviously better for them than worse for him. But whenever you look at everything going on between these two teams, it's hard not to be like, five and a half doesn't feel like enough.
- [03:27]
B
True.
- [03:28]
A
But boy, oh, boy, these sportsbooks have been winning. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Dad Cowboys. Ap. Tone, you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, obviously, through and through. Not a University of Pittsburgh fan, but a Pittsburgh Steelers fan through and through. And five and a half for the Pittsburgh Steelers with the way these storylines are, and there's a stat, obviously, that's been floating around. I think our show might have even started it off of Hembo's brain. Oh, and we're not claiming that everybody says the same shit on TV in different ways. Mike Tomlin is 06 okay or something in the division on Thursday Night Football. That stat is a very real stat. Like, there's coaches that are very good after bye weeks. Tomlin's one of them. I believe there's a lot of, like, situational games that coaches are good at and coaches are bad At Thursday night football against divisional opponents, opponents that know you very well is not good for Tomlin has not boded well. But in this case, this is a brand new Bengals. Joe Flacco's playing for a Bengals now. He's played everywhere else. What do people say here? What is the percentage of money on this particular game and how do you feel as a Pittsburgh Steelers?
- [04:28]
D
So to your point, Coach Tomlin. 15 and 4 after a buy after last week. So he's good in those situations. Thursday nights in general, 2 and 9 on Thursday nights, just in general on the road against the division opponent.06. So that is the situation tonight. The spread is Steelers -5 and a half. The money, 51% is on the Bengals tonight. So maybe they're stealing those stats.
- [04:51]
A
Or I'll take Steelers -5 and a half. It's at 51%. So I would be on the minority here.
- [04:57]
E
Yes.
- [04:58]
A
Yeah. Okay. That's why I wanted to do this week. Anyways. That was, that was my entire move this week because I've been getting my ass beat by the NFL book and I've been thinking alongside everybody else, been thinking and how have bets gone that have. Everybody else has been thinking tone this.
- [05:10]
D
Year, 60% or more. We're looking at 15 and 36 now, teams that are getting 60% or more or 15 and 30.
- [05:18]
A
And the 60% or more bets are the obvious ones that we think.
- [05:21]
B
Yes, correct.
- [05:22]
A
This is a very good team taking on poop team. This ain't enough. This is what's going to happen. So we all get excited about it. I've been riding that wave. And I decided this week, don't pass line. No pass line.
- [05:31]
B
Okay.
- [05:32]
A
Okay. You guys are rolling the dice. I'm sitting with the house. Okay. I'm looking for you to hit a seven. Okay. That is what I am waiting on this week. That is one of my main things I'm looking at because it feels like these sports books and you know, there's, there's always like a. The public will come back. The public will come back. That's always the thought, what if AI's gotten too damn good? What if we don't come back?
- [05:56]
D
I mean, last, last year, the public started the hottest they've ever been in the history of sportsbooks. And then the, the books got back at the end of the season. Now the books have been hot to start this season and obviously, you know, you know, the Mike, I was wondering like, why are the Bengals 51% or whatever? You know, maybe people have seen the Mike Tomlin trend, there's a lot of people who still still don't believe in the Steelers. Also, on primetime games this year, favorites have lost six of the last seven on primetime so far this year. Dogs are now 12, nine and one straight up. So Dogs this year on primetime have a winning record. They're 15, 7 against the spread at night. That's the first time since 2002 that dogs are over 500 on prime time after week six.
- [06:36]
A
Let's go to the tail of the tape. A lot of numbers coming out here. A lot of records. Look at these. Yeah. What is this? 4 and 1?
- [06:44]
F
Don't look at it.
- [06:45]
A
I'm not looking at it.
- [06:46]
F
Don't look at it.
- [06:46]
A
I don't want to look.
- [06:48]
F
Don't listen to stats.
- [06:49]
A
Look how bad the Bengals look. But also, there's a lot of double. Big double digits on the left side, too. 32 teams. The number on the left, the biggest it can be is three, right? Okay, so you're seeing a lot of twos in there. It's like, I didn't know any of this, especially after watching them. They look so efficient. But you can pluck stats that you want to make your case.
- [07:06]
F
Bingo, you can pluck.
- [07:08]
A
Now I'm hearing a lot of stats that are potentially going away. I'm thinking against the way I'm thinking, because for me, Aaron and Tomlin, okay, Aaron, we can say, right, one of the best offensive minds in the history of football.
- [07:21]
F
No doubt.
- [07:22]
A
Yeah. Old school west coast offense. Runner has seen it all, has done it all. He's been around forever. I'm not saying he's the only one who's played football for a long time. That's quarterback position. I think everybody that plays quarterback for 20 years in the NFL is, should be deemed a great offensive mind. And I think if they were all to retire and do any media or break down the things, we'd all say, wow, that is really smart. It's like, yeah, Drew Brees is doing that shit right now. Drew Brees, great offensive mind. Okay. And whenever he's saying shit, it's like, hey, wow, this guy knows what he's talking about. Yeah. It's like, no shit. This guy completed like 75 straight passes or whatever it is. So let's assume Aaron, good offensive mind. Artie Smith, right, has shown to have great success on the offensive side. Tomlin, good defensive mind. I think we can all agree on forever. Austin D coordinator, right? Yeah. Darrell, good. So I think this year they feel Cam Heyward, Jalen Ramsey on that side of the ball. I think they feel as if like there's a lot of good minds coming in. Don't it feel like they're kind of changing each week? It feels like they're getting better and better. And then you go back to Jalen Ramsey whenever he was on the pivot from training camp and he said whenever I heard what Aaron's why was I was.
- [08:30]
F
Yes.
- [08:31]
A
All in. It's like they all have the same mindset and it feels like it is very much a fuck everybody mindset that's happening and kind of going all in. So I think they only get only going to get better and better each week. So I think this Thursday night trend doesn't really fit because this is a brand new Steelers team. Like this is not the same old Steelers. It is a very different Steelers team.
- [08:50]
D
I think so, yeah. And you say that and that's what I like. That's what I want tonight. Because the same old Steelers team of the last five years would play with them tonight, would have to win on a last second field goal. It would look ugly. Like Ty last week wanted the Green Bay packers to come out of the buy and bury the Bengals and they did not and he was not happy with that game. Now on this Thursday Night Football, I would love the Steelers to come and bury the Bengals tonight. Let's get on to the next week. So if it's a situation where it's close and they're hanging around but like yeah, there's a chance we're going to be disappointed tonight, like I would love for them to just put this one away, look like a good football team and we could all be happy.
- [09:24]
A
And on the flip side, ruler of the jungle, Andrew Wiggles back in time. Big Joey Flack is back. Jack at home again. The place is going to be going crazy. Joe Flacco's first night Bengals game. Paul Mike in the jungle. Yeah, right.
- [09:39]
D
I think it's a white out too.
- [09:40]
A
Oh, Joey Flack, he's going to love that. He's going to be all over the place. Jamar Chase is going to go crazy. You know, he's already expecting a tough one, a very tough one, a raw tough one.
- [09:51]
B
You're right.
- [09:52]
A
That is what he is expecting on it. It's going to be a physical fight. We would assume it's AFC north football. But the Bengals where they're at in the conversation around them, it sucks for them. Okay. Anytime you're multiple hundred million dollar quarterback gets hurt and your entire offense hinges upon him and everybody you paid is hinging upon him doing his job perfectly. Anytime that person's missing, you're in a bad spot. So we have a lot of empathy for the Cincinnati Bengals. That sucks that that happens. Godspeed to Joey Burrow, by the way. We love watching him play football, but he's kind of their thing. So the negative narrative about the Cincinnati Bengals, I think, is a valid one whenever people talk about them on the field. But on that note, you get a couple of these wins, Zach, keep the boys motivated.
- [10:36]
B
Without a doubt.
- [10:37]
A
You know, you can really flip it now if you lose this one primetime bad. You got. Trey Hendrickson is still looming before the trade deadline here. Like, hey, this is final year on contract. You might be able to get something for him. You might be able to get something for him here as opposed to just letting him walk in free agency after this season, which is what you guys agreed to whenever you added $13 million to his contract. So it's like a lot of shit can happen tonight after this game, I think, in the AFC North.
- [10:59]
B
Yeah, I agree. It's almost like, you know, if, if they. I don't. I don't want to say delaying the inevitable, but said like, Trey Hendrickson's name is. Is mentioned in every single trade deadline piece. Like, ESPN just put out one today. They're. They're already pontificating like, hey, well, Bengals lose tonight. Does Trey Hendrickson get traded to a team like Detroit? Who, you know, like, is. Is really buying? So, I mean, but I'll tell you what, like, the. The Bengals came out and they played with the packers last week. They looked more alive than they had in several weeks. So maybe you're thinking, hey, you know, shot, shot in the arm with Joe Flacco here. Let's go win some football games.
- [11:32]
A
Who do you like? You were pretty animated as there was a lot of stats being said.
- [11:35]
F
Yeah, I now. And Big Mike is going to talk about it later when he comes on, but he sent over some stuff he wanted to mention. And I think one of the things specifically is kind of just about, hey, the teams are what they are now.
- [11:45]
A
We're not.
- [11:46]
F
We're not in the. Hey, let's figure out who we are. It's.
- [11:49]
A
We're.
- [11:49]
F
We're middle of October now. And I love the all white jerseys. I mean, that damn near flipped me. But this is AFC north football. It's O line, D line. And that's all that really. Howie, thank you. And that's all that really matters when it comes to these type of games. So you add in the Rogers Factor I think Tomlin was really pissed about Flacco because he knew, hey, if we got a bite out of the Jake Browning apple, we don't even have to get ready for this game. Now I actually do have to go coach a little bit during the week to get ready for Joey Flack. But the Jamar thing, I mean, Joey Flacco has been talking about how awesome it is. Like, Jamar Chase is great. I mean, he can do anything. I basically just throw it up to him. Tomlin's going to probably double triple ja' Marr Chase, maybe let T. Higgins go off tonight. The two tight ends that are out, that's big. But the Bengals do have Noah Fant, who they got in free agency, so probably a huge night for him if he's getting used. If Flacco can get rid of the ball. I really don't know if the Steelers D line after Tomlin comes out and buries the entire trade is going to let that fly.
- [12:48]
A
So as of a few moments ago, ESPN Bet moves to four and a half. So everywhere else, still a five and a half. ESPN BET currently minus four and a half. So if you'd like to bet on the Steelers, ESPN Bet currently has minus four and a half for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everybody else is still at minus five and a half. I think that was a good move by us getting that up so quickly. That's good work in the back there. ESPN BET right now -4 and a half for the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you like the Steelers, that's probably a good place to go.
- [13:16]
F
The Village.
- [13:16]
A
What do we think? What do we think? Put the Village on it. People. We don't know. This is not gambling advice. No, no, don't say that. Don't say that. Yeah, do not say that. Yeah, we need to knock it into that. But just from our football minds. And tomorrow's show could be a lot of. See, that's why we don't know shit.
- [13:37]
F
I'm sorry.
- [13:38]
A
Yeah, that could be a lot of that. That is daily football. That is daily sports conversations. Because these games can go so many different ways. But right in my mind, when I woke up, I guess it was a couple days, saw the early spread and then this morning. Morning day of spread. What it is. And I saw it. I'm just so confused. This is just something that. It's like this feels like two very opposite teams, two very different vibes to everything else. And everything I believe in is like vibes of team matter. That's like kind of my thing, like team matters and they are all locked in in Pittsburgh. They are super bowl minded. That is all goal is every work every. I'm not saying that they're not Cincinnati Bengals still working their asses off. They're professionals and a lot of them are at the top of the world at what they do. So they want to continue to do that. So I'm not saying that they're mailing it in, but boy, it's a lot different feeling whenever you're going for a Super bowl with a lot of great people around you and everybody is trying to handle their business. In the past, there might be some position of maybe guys that don't know how hard it is to make it to the super bowl or how hard it is to win a game. So maybe they take a week for granted. And for granted means just like losing focus on a couple of different situations and that turning an entire game. Now for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it feels like a lot of very important positions. There's guys that have been around and they know how hard it is to get to the mountaintop and how hard it is to win games just in general. So I think there's a different. I don't know just from looking outside in feels like it's a whole different mindset in Pittsburgh.
- [14:56]
D
Yeah, I mean you had the leadership was there, but then you bring in Slayer won a Super bowl last year. Jalen Ramsey knows what it takes to get there. Aaron Rodgers obviously knows to take what it takes what to get there. So like on every level, every side of the ball, they've added leadership that knows what it takes.
- [15:10]
A
DK obviously is a closer and they paid him $30 million a year. Has never played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is the most wild move I think we've seen the Pittsburgh Steelers ever do. Pay somebody from the opposite country, obviously say that, but pay a guy that has never been a Steeler more money. It's been great than all of the people that you have in the building because Pittsburgh so old school, it's like a university, like a college, like hey, you come here. This is what it is. And then alumni come back and they still do it. It's like very abnormal for outsider to get all money from inside building because how much they believe in building. And it's worked out very well in Aaron obviously taking for 10 million or whatever it is. That has helped out immensely as we could pay a lot of our quarterback 10 million bucks and he's first ballot hall of Famer. Guy like that is quite an advantage in an asset to have while they're building this roster as well, which once again goes back to like, I feel like this team's trying to get to the mountaintop. This team's just trying to literally survive right now. So I, I, I don't know anything, I guess is what I'm learning whenever I look at these things.
- [16:11]
F
When we talk about like having a different feeling, like it's, I have a different feeling seeing Trey Hendrickson on the injury report. Normally in the years past you see Trey Hendrickson on there, whatever he's going to play. Sure. Now, I mean with the injury changing from 24 hours ago as a back, like you said, now it's a hip. I have a different feeling with Trey on the injury report.
- [16:31]
A
It's like, why would he, we gotta be wrong.
- [16:33]
F
I don't think so. I think at this point, especially with how you've been seeing the board in college, I see that kind of now.
- [16:40]
A
Coming over the years. I hope that's the case. Yeah, it's gonna be a good game.
- [16:47]
B
Hopefully.
- [16:47]
F
I don't think so.
- [16:49]
A
See why. But go ahead.
- [16:50]
D
Unfortunately it will be.
- [16:52]
A
And you're saying that as obviously Steeler fan and I'm saying it as person that just let off our show for the first 60 minutes going, I don't see how this is even a game tonight. So I do apologize to the people of Cincinnati and I'm excited. It's AFC north football and I'm excited we're gonna get to see a team that is, this team is constructed to go all in. This is just like baseball. That's happening right now. Oh, okay. So we talked about this earlier in the think tank over there. If the Dodgers go on to win this again, there's going to be real call for a conversation about a salary cap in baseball. Because the team that has just spent the most money now, and obviously the Mets have and it has not worked out for them, they didn't make the playoffs. But if the Dodgers here go back to back and just become a dominant franchise and they're also the only ones that are spending the amount of money that they're spending on everything that they're doing well, all the other franchises might then agree, okay, yeah, we need to maybe go ahead and handle this now. The players are going to have to buy into that as well. And there's players that have multiple hundred million dollar deals that are already been signed and there's guys that are up for multiple hundred million dollar deals that are potentially next. How do you get them to agree it's a wild, wild west over there in mlb, but they're trying to kind of corral that right now. But I personally, if there is no rules against it, I like that the Dodgers are spending more money than everybody and trying to win. I like the Texas Tech down there, obviously, in the Big 12. I like that they had people that were like, hey, we'll spend money. They spend a lot of money. It's working out. I like whenever people try. I like whenever people invest. I like whenever people put money where their mouth is, especially in a competitive atmosphere that you're allowed to do and go for it. Now, the counter to that is, well, how many of those owners exist, though? Like, and it's like, well, that. That sucks for them. Then you think to yourself, so it sucks for the Pittsburgh Pirates forever because this guy's alive.
- [18:28]
F
Yeah.
- [18:29]
A
And it's like, yeah, kind of. That is. So then. Then people are like, well, don't. Do you think we should put some guides, guidelines, a little bit of rules on it? And me is now looking at it from that front. It's like, yeah, you're right. The people in Pittsburgh shouldn't be punished for their entire lives because they have an owner that can never keep up with somebody else. It's like, well, get a better owner. It's like, this fucking guy won't sell. Okay? This guy ever. This guy will not sell. He's been offered. They've tried. There's been chance. He's taking pictures of people wearing sell the team shirts right next to him and smiles in the picture and goes, no, not doing it. I'm gonna continue to just cash these checks. Sold seven springs. We thought maybe he was gonna do a sell off. I'm selling everything I own. Nope, he actually came out. Hey, guys. Back with the Pirates. Did a lap around town, did the entire thing. So the people at Pittsburgh now are just gonna have to pay for that. I guess forever is. Is kind of the opposite argument. Like, because I have respect for the teams big time.
- [19:21]
B
Yeah.
- [19:21]
A
I like that just as a athlete, former athlete, and also person that enjoys sports and enjoys, like, competitors and greatness. It's like the people that spend every moment of their life trying to be great, they're more committed than other people. I like whenever they have success, the people that are willing to do what other people aren't willing to do with whatever to make it happen. It's like, I like when that happens. Happens now. If it backfires, I like that too. That's like, you dipshit.
- [19:44]
F
Yeah. Yeah.
- [19:46]
A
I enjoy those moments as well. But baseball has to figure that out. And are the Dodgers going to win this thing again? Is that what it feels like at this moment?
- [19:52]
B
I mean, it looks like that right now, but like you said, like, there is the flip side of it. Like, you know, because guess what? If you spend all that money and you don't win, like the Mets, like, your ass is on the line big time. You invested so much money and you're not reaping any of that. So it's like, you know, the Dodgers kind of realize that it's just like, hey, you know, it's just money. If we keep winning, like, we will make more money. So I, you know, like, I saw someone sent that into the group this morning. I have no idea how this plays out because like you said, there are multiple teams who kind of do it this way. The Dodgers have just done it better than everyone else. And right now, even with what happened last night in Seattle, like, it's hard to envision a team being able to beat the Dodgers because they have so much money. They're just so deep. They have so many players who are good. So if guys get hurt, it doesn't matter. You know, they can just add and add and add at the deadline in the. Like, so. So we'll see what happens.
- [20:40]
A
Happens.
- [20:40]
F
Well, and like the Mets, that guy's ass is on the line. But even, you know, any sport, you spend a bunch of money, it doesn't work. Yeah, your ass is on the line. So, like, it is the difference. Exactly, exactly. So, like, yeah, you get fired. Yeah, yeah, you get fired. And in the difference, I guess in, in mlb, which is crazy, in the MLB is like. Like the money difference is just massive.
- [21:01]
E
Right?
- [21:01]
F
Like the. The Dodgers or the Mets guy, he spent a ton of money, so he's in the shit. But as a Red Sox fan, there's been guys who haven't spent that much money, and then the players they get haven't been good. And guess what? That guy's still in the shit. No matter whether it's 100 million or 700 million.
- [21:17]
A
$229 million difference between the Dodgers and Brewers in their payroll this year.
- [21:21]
B
Right? And I think that's what people really is like there, because there are certain players who. Teams like the Pirates or the brewers might be like, hey, we'd be willing to give this guy $100 million or $120 million for seven years. And the. The Dodgers can basically just come in and be like, like, oh, well, we'll just. We'll give him 175 over seven years. So it's like that.
- [21:40]
A
Or 300.
- [21:41]
B
Yeah, or 300. You know, there is no conver. It's just like, hey, if they want a guy bad enough, they can offer him more money than anyone else.
- [21:47]
A
So that's why you guys, you baseball people, whenever Paul Skeens is happening, you say he's going to be a Yankee in three years. Or somebody says he's going to be now a Dodger.
- [21:57]
B
Right.
- [21:57]
A
In three years. Or it used to be a Red Sox. Was it a Red.
- [22:00]
F
So I've been pitching. Yeah, Red Sox do pay a lot.
- [22:03]
A
But in this particular case, I'm saying as soon as you see a young, good player, when his contract is, especially.
- [22:08]
B
In a small market team, you know.
- [22:10]
A
What teams are going to be in. Like, Mets are going to be there, Yankees are going to be.
- [22:13]
B
You know what the guy is going to command. It's like, hey, this. He could be the best pitcher ever. He's going to. He's super young. He's going to get 400 to $500 million. And there are only a handful of teams who can actually, actually do that.
- [22:26]
A
Can you tell us what happened in baseball last night? Was there games?
- [22:29]
B
There was.
- [22:29]
A
Oh, yeah, there was. Yeah, we watched it, didn't we? Were talking about it.
- [22:33]
F
I loved it, dude. Vladi. I mean, I might get a Vlad jersey because. Because Vlad's hotter than a stove, brother. He went four for four.
- [22:40]
A
Die Yankees. That's Vladdy daddy, right? Talking about the right guy.
- [22:47]
B
That is Vladdy Daddy. And last night, you know, a lot of people saying, hey, this series is over. Well, let me tell you what. The Blue Jays went out and hit five home runs and absolutely assaulted Seattle. In Seattle, they started in the top of the second. Andres Jimenez ties that. He's their nine hitter. He's not that great. So when you got production from those guys, you know it's going to be a special night. Then George Springer, in the top of the fourth solo, shot off George Kirby, who was Seattle starter. And then here's Vladdy straight away. Yeah, he was. And. And this has kind of been the big thing. He was 0 for 7 in the first two games in this series. And you could probably point to that why the Blue Jays were losing. He was 44 last night. And then Big Tubby, Alejandro Kirk. That's not his nickname. That's kind of just what I call it.
- [23:35]
A
Big Tub.
- [23:36]
B
Yeah, Big Tub, Big wobble body, whatever you want to call him. And then a little bit later, Addison Barger rounds out the scoring with another Solo homer. So there are eight homers hit in that game last night between the two teams. So wasn't very close, but it was very entertaining to watch. And now the Blue Jays. This will be a little bit of a fight. It's 2 1. There's two more games tonight for both sides.
- [23:57]
A
Toronto, La would be good for baseball, bad for baseball.
- [24:01]
B
See, I don't.
- [24:02]
A
Is there anything that's necessarily bad for baseball? Baseball or. Whenever we did the NBA stuff and the Pacers beat the Knicks, Right. You know, we were like, kind of forced to read about all the stats about the amount of people you're going to lose out on. Viewers and ratings like that, because the casual Knicks fan you're going to lose out on. There's a lot of people that are in that area. There's a lot of people in that market. So if you lose New York out of anything, it's not going to be great news. That's why the NFL would love if one of these teams over there would figure it the fuck out. Yeah, they would love that. Just because.
- [24:36]
B
Correct.
- [24:36]
A
The amount of humans that are just in that area that would happen to watch if it was on a primetime game, the casuals, if you will, is a big deal for baseball, L.A. being a part of it is obvious.
- [24:45]
B
That's really all that matters, I think. Like, I. I don't know. I mean, I know, like, Blue Jays fans are a big deal for me being American. Like, I do not want to see a team from Canada win the World Series. Like, it just. Just kind of the way it is, like. And I don't think. I mean, Toronto's a big market, obviously, so, like, you know, people will care about that. But really, I think the MLB is just thinking, like, hey, we. We just need the Dodgers to make the World Series. Otherwise, yeah, we might be getting the Thunder and Pacers treatment going into it.
- [25:16]
A
Whoa. Tyrese, Megastar. Congrats. Then Netflix, they have the Netflix sports. I don't think has a clue what they're doing, but the stuff that they got going on ends up good.
- [25:25]
B
Yes.
- [25:26]
A
So I think that production. So maybe they do know what they're doing. Congratulations on starting five. We've seen some clips. We've talked to Tyrese, obviously, throughout this entire process of him filming. He said filming and everything has been nothing but, like, first class. Very cool, very thankful. And he shared a lot of very intimate moments with him and obviously his run. And I'm happy that he got it, like, documented because that was special, man.
- [25:53]
F
So cool.
- [25:53]
A
Like what Tyrese was Going through all the way back from, like, Olympic. You go through Olympics all the way through. He had some struggles. He was hurt. He wasn't in shape. He was hurt. Like, there was times there, and Carlisle's team runs, you know, and then All Star break happens, and he comes back, and then everything that just kind of leads to it all. And then that magical playoff run where he just showed the world what he had been doing here in Indiana for a while. I think people are just kind of getting woken up to it. Just like the Indiana Hoosiers football team. I don't think the world, like, sees it. We just so happen to be here, so we literally see it all whenever it's happening. If I didn't live in Indianapolis, would I know Tyrese and everything he's about. Probably not. We just so happen to live here. He's awesome. Dude's a great superstar. He's like, a perfect face for our team. He's trying out new hairstyles now. He's going through. He's going through his rehab of his Achilles. He's kind of in. What's that called? Whenever you're kind of locked in quarantine. No. Yeah. But something when you're locked in.
- [26:52]
D
Stir crazy.
- [26:53]
A
So cabin fever. You're, like, locked in. Yeah, yeah. He's in the middle of rehab. That is. He's looking for anything right now. So we got new hair, we got new this. We got to do this. We're. He's. He's getting through it with a very positive mindset, but he is. He's special. And then obviously, the access that they're going to be able to get to somebody. Kevin Durant's in there. It's like, that's goat. Yeah, that's like a goat conversation guy. And he doesn't really do a lot of shit. You know, he talks to K, I think, a couple different times throughout the season. Kay Adams on Up and Adams, he did the David Letterman. My next guest is. That was dope to obviously listen to. And he does some other stuff, I think, with his boardroom company, with Rich and that, but you don't really see a lot of Kevin Durant. You know, he kind of moves kind of differently than everybody else. Not scared to mix it up on the Internet, obviously. He is a legitimate ultimate megastar. And a goat when it comes to basketball. I hope they show some of the stuff from the Olympics when he just took over for our country. That was incredible. So all of this, and then obviously, sga, like, God just won mvp.
- [27:52]
F
Greatest season ever.
- [27:53]
A
At all times got broken off. It should be very good. I think this should be incredible from at least from what we've seen and what we know of who they're shooting.
- [28:00]
F
Yeah, dude, The Olympic stuff. I mean, that's. That's such a good point. Imagine the KD and Ant and, like, that relationship on the Olympics, them going to, you know, the steps after they always won, and then, like, Jaylen Brown, he's. He wins the finals and then doesn't get picked for the Olympics. Like, I wonder if they have stuff like that. SGA with Canada would be so cool. And then what's. What's Jimmy Harden doing? What does he do? Yeah, I don't. We don't even need him on the court. What does James Harden do? That's all I want to know. But, yeah, that'll be awesome. And, like, the Tyrese stuff, the clip of him and Reggie Miller, that's already been kind of release like that. I mean, it gives you chills just. Just thinking about what. Going back to when that happened for, you know, Tyrese and his Achilles and everything. And then just the mindset that, you know, Reggie Miller kind of walks you through that Tyrese might have been going through when he's deciding whether or not he's playing game seven or not. It's like. I mean, I'm getting chills right now just talking about it, just because of what did happen, you know, because Reggie Miller says, like, go back to game six, look at what happens in game six, and then go to game seven, and look what he did. You know, like, that is it really.
- [29:06]
A
It's good for Tyrese to be able to see it, though, too.
- [29:08]
F
Yeah.
- [29:09]
A
You know, like, later in life, kids.
- [29:10]
F
Yeah.
- [29:11]
A
Relive it, you know, because it was a magical run. And he. You know, he has the mindset of. I can't live with the what ifs, because what if he drops 45 in game 7?
- [29:22]
B
Looked like he was going to. That's not.
- [29:23]
A
Thousand. Yeah. That's etched in history forever. This dude, he went crazy. Had five game winners throughout the season.
- [29:29]
F
Greatest run ever in the playoffs and.
- [29:31]
A
In game seven of the finals last game, he goes for 45, which was possible while being injured already going in triple double, which I'll be excited to see what they cover of that whole process, too. When he was hurt, how much was hurt, what was happening, the decision of him going and playing whenever. I assume there are some people saying.
- [29:47]
F
Like, don't do this.
- [29:48]
A
Don't think you should go right now. And I'm like, yeah, Right, dude, he's playing out there like he's a megastar. He's a superstar. We are very thankful that he is in our city. Now, before we get too much further, we have to cover a couple things that have hit. And then we got an interview with Matt Rule from this morning before he traveled to Minnesota for tomorrow night's game that I think is a good convo about college. But there's a video from TUA that, a press conference that I think was handled incredibly well. I will say, and maybe this is something that is good for the future of the Miami Dolphins.
- [30:20]
G
All right, so, you know, I, as a leader of this team, of the Miami Dolphins, you know, the comments that, that had been said, I would say I've, I've made a mistake, and I'm owning up to that right now. You know, I've talked to guys on the team about it, talked to the leaders about it, and you know, that they, they know my heart. They know that the intent was right. But no matter the intent, you know, the intent can be right. But when things get misconstrued or however the media wants to portray it, you know, that, that leaves a void of, of silence and a lot of questions for the guys on our team. Now, being one in five, you know, we talk a lot about, all right, we, we got to get this going. We got to get this going. Come in, excited to go to work, forget about the noise. And I feel like I, I just added on to that for, for our guys, you know, for, for myself. I got to look at myself as, as the leader protecting the team. I don't feel like I, I did that to the best of my abilities. I felt like I let the emotions of the game get to me after the game. And, you know, that's something that I can learn from as a leader on this team. And what happens in house should be protected, and none of that should have gotten out and so want to publicly apologize about that, want to move forward and now want to focus on it. Even Brad, got any questions?
- [31:55]
A
I love that opening statement. That would have been the first five questions. Obviously, this goes back to whenever he was talking about players on his team showing up later, not showing up at all to players only meetings, and everybody was like, hey, dude, shut up. Like, we don't want to hear that, you know, and then he talked about leadership, being leaders and what they need and everything like that. And everybody's like, hey, we don't want to hear that. And then obviously every ex NFL player, every ex player is like, hey, don't need that. So I assume that some of that creeped in there. We appreciate the hell out of TUA immediately owning it and addressing it that way. Maybe that's good news, Gumpy, huh? Maybe this is a good sign of things to come down there in Miami. I think that's real leadership right there, what I just saw. Yeah, for sure. I would have, you know, maybe a.
- [32:33]
D
Little bit earlier, waited till Wednesday, let.
- [32:35]
E
The coach get ahead of it and.
- [32:36]
D
Say apologize as well. But I liked what he said.
- [32:41]
A
He's got a hurricane about the you, baby. On that note, let's talk about some college football. We got a chance to catch up with head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers earlier today. Riveting convo. A lot of Penn State chatter in there, or is there? We'll see. Take a look. Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers who. Hey, don't look now. Everything is still sitting right out there in front of them. Ladies and gentlemen, Matt Rule. All right, let's talk about going on the road. Getting a win, obviously didn't look good early. You guys end up getting a dub. How'd you. What did you learn about your team and how do you feel coming out of Maryland?
- [33:21]
H
Well, first of all, let me say this. Maryland's got one of the best young quarterbacks in the country. And we thought, hey, you know, we'll disguise on him, we'll try to fool him. My man didn't get fooled. Malik is a fantastic player and, you know, he got up 10, nothing right off the bat, and he brought him back. We took the lead again. They took it back and things didn't look good in the fourth quarter. And we got two four stops, two 80 plus yard drives. It's the first time, Pat, in eight years that the Huskers have taken the ball in offense and gone down to win the game. And so. So they seem to love it. They were excited about it. We had 10,000 Husker fans out there. It felt like a home game. It was awesome.
- [33:55]
A
I love that your Nebraska fans are real deal, huh, brother? I mean, that is. I think we see that with the volleyball and obviously we know from yes man, I know it from yes man, where Jim Carrey goes and loses his mind in it. But it's like, it's kind of just chatted about, hey, like, the Nebraska fans are very loyal, very passionate, and they show up for their team even in the thin times, through the thick times. Right now, with how you guys are building, is there a different level of Energy coming from or is this who they are all the time, Coach?
- [34:24]
H
This is who they are. I mean, I knew we would have a good crowd because when I was looking at this job two years ago in 20, 22 or three years ago in 22, when you know, the coach had been let go, they weren't going to make a bowl game. They went to Rutgers and there has a huge contingent there. Like, it's one thing when people make the hour long car ride, but our fans flew from all over the country to come into Maryland and be there for that game. And so. So they deserve to have a good team because they've been there. As you said, they've been there for 60 years, showing up every single week and now we're trying to show up with them.
- [34:56]
A
It's like an hour and a half before the game too. They're in there, right? It's like the stadium is the hangout. This is the tailgate. We are in here together. Right? Isn't that kind of the story over there?
- [35:05]
H
Yeah. In the state of Nebraska on home Saturdays, the Memorial Stadium is the third largest city behind Omaha and Lincoln. And so it just, it's unreal. And, and they're good fans. Like, it's Nebraska, nice. We take care of the other team, we care about the other team. They cheer for good football and they travel with us. So it's a Friday night in Minnesota. You know, you're on the road, at least you know that you're going to have Husker Nation show up.
- [35:28]
A
Do you guys have any cool things like doing a national anthem with the Kansas City Chiefs where you know exactly at an away game, how many Chiefs fans are in there? When it's in the home and you got the home team just like, yeah, it's great to be home here. There's not a lot of Chiefs fans in here. You know, of the. And then you hear a third of the stadium and it's like, oh, they're out here right now. What are the Nebraska chants? I don't think I know what the chance are.
- [35:54]
H
So we're sitting out. I'm sitting. So Maryland has a small locker room. So I literally, Daniel Horgus and I sat outside on the grass. Like fans were just could have heckled us if they wanted. We just sat outside for like the two hours before the game and like, like the 30 minutes before they would even let fans in. You could hear go big red chants out in the parking lot. Like they were at the, at the gates waiting for them to unlock the gates. To be able to go in and take over the stadium. And so you hear, go Big Red, go Big Red. You feel like, you feel like you're at home. But that idea, that Chief's idea about the, about the, about the national anthem, that might be something Husker Nation will pick up. They would crush that.
- [36:28]
A
I'm telling you, it is a good tone setter. Just in an away game too. It's like a good temperature check. Like, hey, how many people are here? You know, like Steelers fans all have terrible towels. So you can see them immediately upon away games before the game even starts. Like, hey, what's it going to be like in here tonight? And then the Chiefs getting that thunder, boom, right at the beginning in somebody else's house is beautiful. Happy to hear your fans did that. Let's talk about Friday night action against Minnesota. Obviously another Big Ten matchup. What are your thoughts on their program? You know, PJ Fleck's been there for a very long time. Obviously you guys have everything still very much in front of you. Your only losses to Michigan, it was three points. So if you win out, which looking at your schedule and your team, certainly possible one game at a time, though, Coach, let's not get too crazy ahead of ourselves. One game at a time. What are your thoughts going into Friday night's game against Minnesota and where your team sits currently at and you're messaging to them about the possibilities?
- [37:22]
H
Yeah, I think the thing about our team is just, hey, the last few games we've been up 14 nothing and 10 nothing and we've allowed the other team to get back in it. So we're still kind of playing up and down, riding the highs and lows. And you know, we have the youngest team in the Big Ten. So this, that's not an excuse. You just have to teach them. You have to teach them like when you're up 14 nothing, don't go out there smiling and relax and let them score. Make it 14 7, put them away. And so we're trying to just put together a complete 60 minutes and not have to have Dillon and the defense and Isaiah and them go down and win the game in the last seconds. But that being said, Minnesota has been down double digits. It's two Big Ten wins and they've come back. And you know, P.J. fleck all the. I respect him immensely. I've gotten to know him personally over the years. He teaches his kids how to play football at a high level. He also teaches them as men. Like they're really, I love them coming out in the draft. And so I know they're going to be tough. I know they're going to be sound. They have a redshirt freshman quarterback playing his seventh game who's dynamic and they have a great defense. And so it'll be, it'll be a great football game for everyone to watch on national TV.
- [38:22]
A
What is it? October 17, the game. What will the weather be? Minnesota's gonna be cold. Yeah. Have you seen. Go ahead.
- [38:31]
H
No, they said a little rain, so luckily it rained here for two days. We practiced outside in the rain and you know, it doesn't really bother our guys. And it's supposed to be in the 60s, maybe dip down in the 50s. I mean that's, that's cornhusker weather.
- [38:42]
A
Oh, perfect football weather.
- [38:43]
E
We're ready for that.
- [38:44]
A
I mean, that's a great Friday night in the Midwest, baby. I like to hear that. Cause like two weeks from now, Minnesota, that's going all the way down. And you talk about PJ Fleck and getting to know him. We got to know him at the beginning of his run here in Minnesota a little bit. What a lightning rod of a human being. Just nekton mentality is what he talked about to us. One of the first times he talked like a shark has nekton mentality. That isn't it. And it's always hunting, like always moving forward, you know, and obviously the buy in with the boat and everything. And then whenever he was at. Which Michigan was he at up there? Western Michigan. Western Michigan. He was trying to build that program up and build them traditions. So he was making videos in his office and sending them out to the students. Like, hey, on third down we're all going to do this, okay? We're going to go boom, boom, boom. And then we're all going to go like this. On third down. We're trying to make this play stuff. It's like the way he approaches it, former player, obviously, and the way he attacks it, it felt like he had a special rocket on his back. And now he's been in Minnesota for some time. Game day was there 2019, 2020.
- [39:49]
F
Eric Decker.
- [39:50]
A
It's like, it's an interesting dilemma there for like a lot of teams, especially in the Big Ten. Whenever it's been so dominated by two teams, it's like, what's success? What isn't success? Which then immediately leads to your hometown. And I don't want to have to distract you here because obviously you're in the middle of a season and you've already answered this about how much? Like, hey, that's my hometown. Like, I want to.
- [40:09]
H
I love that place.
- [40:10]
A
Like, I always will. Everybody loves their alma mater. That conversation's only gonna heat up around you. You assume. And you said before, like, hey, this is what happens. I was at temple. I was at Baylor. Anywhere you have success, this type of shit happens. I'm used to this. This is a good thing, not a bad thing. That other people. One our players want, our coaches, myself included. That's kind of your. Been. Been your messaging. You've been here before. What does that look like for you? With team, with everything, with how hot that's going to get in the kitchen.
- [40:36]
H
It seems like it's. With my team. It's just unbridled honesty. Tell them the truth. Tell them exactly the truth. And don't, don't BS them because they'll know. And, and, and secondly, like, just out there, like, you know, this is it. This is part of it. Like, like, it's better than when I was in Carolina and they were chanting to fire me.
- [40:54]
B
Right?
- [40:54]
H
So it's better than being on every hot seat list. So having other schools maybe be interested in you is, is. Is critical. And, and. But I don't do that during the season. I don't mess around with that. I don't play that. And at the same time, this is not a, this is not a jumping off job. This is a destination job. This is one of the greatest places in the world. This is a town of 300,000 people. This isn't some. Everyone says, like, Lincoln, it's 300,000 people here in Lincoln. Like, I can do whatever I want here. I have a great young team, the youngest team in the Big Ten. Think about how good we'll be next year. Now, I'm not thinking about next year, but where we are right now. Like, we're learning, learning, learning. Think about where we're going to go with Dylan and all these guys. So I refuse to be distracted. At the same time, it's. When it's your alma mater, you have to show it love and respect. And I hope and I love Pat Craft they'll find the right coach for them, whoever that is. But, like, this is a destination job. That should be a national bully. That should be a beast. And I think we're making our way to doing that.
- [41:48]
A
Yeah. And I think with the third year of Matt Rule at every place, I think that's a pretty good prediction. And especially with the way you're going. But if you lose every game going forward because you're distracted with other shit, nobody's gonna want to hire your ass. We got the Carolina Panther chance coming back.
- [42:04]
H
That's exactly right. And so I just. I tell my kids all the time, like, hey, you're. You're one game away from either side of it, so just stay right in the middle and just who you are, man.
- [42:13]
A
All right, next game, obviously, Friday night. Connor has a question for you.
- [42:16]
F
Yeah, Coach, with the Friday game, how much does it change kind of your prep, I know early on you guys during the week, but does it, you know, on Sunday, was that different just because you guys were a day behind or what? What is the biggest difference between the Friday night game and Saturday night game when it comes to preparation during the week?
- [42:34]
H
Oh, it's a great question. You know, Monday is usually our day off. And the captains. I met with the captains, I was like, hey, guys, you know, we'll do a traditional Tuesday, you know, hard, old school banging practice. Wednesday will be the same way, just maybe a little less Thursday. We'll walk through. And normally we practice on Thursday. So today we'll walk through them, we'll travel up to Minnesota, walk through again tomorrow, and play the game. But the captains voted they wanted meetings and walk through on Monday. So I said, all right, if that's what you guys want, we'll do it. So we just added a little bit on Monday. They'll get Saturday off. I told them, man, find a way to win the game. There's no greater feeling than watching Pat McAfee on game day, sitting on your couch like a regular. Like a regular fan, just enjoying the game. I mean, so we got to go play well Friday night, and they put the work in on Monday to get that done.
- [43:13]
A
The games on Saturday have been electrifying, so let alone watching game day, which we're. I'm very lucky to be a part of. And we love. I love that the show is a part of college football as a whole. It's such a beautiful sport, man. The tradition, the pageantry, everything. Like, obviously, you've gone to the NFL. I, from Pittsburgh, which is NFL town, only really understood the NFL world, the NFL lifestyle, the NFL fandom, everything like that. Then obviously, I got an incredibly lucky opportunity to play in it for eight years. So it's like, I felt like I knew the NFL literally since birth, you know, so then college football through the NFL, you start watching game day. That's kind of like your dabble into college football. Then you may travel with a teammate back to their university, go see what it's like for A game there. Maybe you go hang out at another place and it's like, wait a minute, this is a different. This isn't like the NFL at all. Certainly same sport. Certainly same sport. We get it. They're playing football out there. But the tradition and pageantry and environment and culture and buy in. That is in college football that you talked about with Nebraska, Alaska, it's the greatest on earth. And you can feel it through your TV every single Saturday. I mean, Friday night, obviously, we'll be able to see it with your game, but Saturdays from when we start, obviously, because the fans everywhere we go, which once again, we're so thankful for, are insane. You hear the tradition, you hear the pageantry through the fans there, all the way through the nightcap games. We got some good west coast teams playing right now all the way to like 1am College football is just throwing a fastball and it is. It's been spectacular. On that note, there's some conferences that are better than others is what everybody's saying. Ty has a question for you.
- [44:46]
B
Yeah, that's what people would say, coach. And obviously, you're a Big Ten guy, I'm a Big Ten guy. So we know how tough the Big Ten is. But the, you know, national media wants to say, hey, listen, the SEC might get six teams in the playoff. That with what has happened to Penn State, the, the Big Ten is top heavy and then there's just a lot of shit underneath that. What would you say to people who make the. That statement? Because as we know, I mean, hey, listen, anybody can get anybody in the Big Ten every single week.
- [45:13]
H
Yeah, I think there's a lot of partisanship throughout all that.
- [45:16]
A
Right.
- [45:16]
H
Like even, like we beat Cincinnati and, and, and at the end, they came back and made it a close game, score wise, and they did a excellent job. And I'm a big Cincinnati fan. But they're voted ahead of us right now, and they're voted ahead of us because for whatever reason people might see them on a Saturday, I would just say this or is anybody actually watching the film? Is anybody actually watching the tape? I watch some teams that are right and I'm like, that's not a very good football team. I watch other teams. I say, man, that's an excellent football team. What we've done in the Big Ten is we have basically propped up a couple teams and they've earned it. Ohio State's earned it, don't get me wrong. But we haven't. Like, the propaganda machine hasn't pushed the middle teams, the middle tier teams, the Illinois, even when Indiana got in last year, and they deserve to get in, it was kind of like. Like, yeah, but. Because, you know, they've been Indiana last several years. But Lane Kiffin went to Ole Miss and that place. That place took off. I mean, what he's done is they've taken off with Ole Miss, and we just say, well, it's. Ole Miss is a great team. They are a great team, but so is Illinois, so is Indiana, so are the teams in the Big Ten. I think the Big Ten, the SEC personally, stand alone. And then ACC, Big 12, all great conferences. We should play each other. But when we play each other, the Big Ten in the SEC wins a lot. And so I. I think the Big Ten has to help itself. You know, it's part of me being out doing things like this. We have to help ourselves, get our names out there because, like, Nebraska is a blue blood. Like, we have to earn it. We're not in that. I'm not talking about us yet. But some of those are teams that have won eight, nine, 10 games. They're kind of dismissed in the Big Ten, but they don't deserve that. They're better than that.
- [46:39]
A
I mean, you. You mentioned Indiana there and everything you just said, I love hearing from, especially a coach active currently and a coach that's going to go down as one of the greatest college football coaches of all time for what you've done in a lot of places. You think about how everybody viewed Indiana going into Oregon. Oregon. I mean, it was just like, Indiana's gonna get smacked because nobody wants to believe that Indiana's good at football. Like, that is kind of that. Like, it's hard to believe that Indiana's still good at football. And to your point, I think there's a lot of teams in the Big Ten that are like, yeah, we understand they play football there, but it's hard to believe that they're good at football or great at football at this point. And with nil and transfer portal and marketing machines and brands, it's like, literally anybody can win any game. That. That is kind of what we've. That is kind of what we have figured out through the last couple years. Of course, college football, if you want.
- [47:22]
H
To talk about the system. And hey, is our system a good system? Now, meanwhile, we have the NFL that shows us how to do this. All right, but is our system a good system?
- [47:30]
I
The.
- [47:30]
H
The poll to start the season had two teams at 1 and 2 who aren't even in it anymore. Like, why even have a preseason poll and before anybody, before anybody has a vote or says anything like, tell me which games you've had. Tell me how many times you've watched the Huskers play. Tell me how many times you watch Indiana play. Like, I had to go back on Monday and put on the tape of Indiana, Oregon to see like what Indiana did.
- [47:49]
I
Did.
- [47:50]
H
They didn't gimmick them. They didn't. That's a great football team with an excellent quarterback. Like, just give them their due. But we're still in college football, looking at the logos, looking at the perennial, this, the last 10 that instead of people actually watching the ball.
- [48:03]
A
So Indiana ranked number three, highest they've ever been ranked, obviously. And I think Oregon, good football team too. Like, I think you watch that game and it's like, hey, these are two really good football teams. Actually said, can't wait to see both you in the playoffs. Because I think that is the case. But if they were both to make the playoffs with a lot of the projections, there's only going to be three Big Ten teams that make it. It's like, well, who else is battling? It's like, well, there's still a lot of football to be played and there's still a lot of opportunity for a lot of teams in the sec. I know a lot of these teams are ranked high just naturally, I think, and potentially because a lot of the five stars and everything that they are able to get down there, they all got to play each other. Some of those games might get real ugly. Like, some of that. We might find out who's the levels in the SEC over the next few weeks because they got to play against each other all the time.
- [48:44]
I
Them.
- [48:44]
A
And it's like, is Texas A and M actually much realer?
- [48:47]
F
Yeah.
- [48:47]
A
Than everybody could imagine. And then also Ole Miss. Ole Miss got Georgia this weekend. It's like, okay, here's a big test. But if Georgia gets back to being who they are, there's a chance that one gets. I mean, it's like college ball right now is so fickle. I mean, it is a very fickle place right now. There's only like three teams that have been dominant through it.
- [49:05]
B
All those SEC teams too, who end up making it better hope they get a home game.
- [49:09]
I
Game.
- [49:10]
A
You gotta come to the cold up there. You gotta come to that cold rule.
- [49:14]
B
Right?
- [49:14]
A
Come. Come that cold.
- [49:16]
H
Come up and play in the snow and the ice like. Like the NFL does, like fc, like every other sports league does. We're the only league that plays in domes to protect warm weather teams. Not not to protect it, but it does protect the warm weather team. Let's, let's play on home campuses.
- [49:30]
A
Yeah.
- [49:31]
H
To protect the things that you're talking about, Pat, like the pageantry of college football and see who can actually play in the weather. And that, that would change, Change everything. And to your point, I, I love what you just said. Like, let's just play it all out. Like that's why the NFL, like, you're not voting on who's going to make the playoffs in week six. You're just watching them and letting the games play out and forever. College football has been an elimination tournament. Win once and you're out. And we got the playoff. And so now you can have good matchups and good games and you lose a game, you can fight back. Like last year, we were talking about nine and three teams getting in, which I think is great because now you can go play good games, have excitement throughout the year, and then have a lot to talk about the last three weeks of the season.
- [50:09]
A
It's all very good. Everything's very good. There's just a chance that humans will make it bad, you know, and that's going to happen in everything. But the Ohio State Tennessee game last year is going to be referred to by everybody in the North. Correct. Whenever the College Football Playoff comes around. Well, this team's better than this team in the Big Ten because look how many five stars they got. They got guys that run four, three. It's like, well, maybe we can't up here in the north have Everybody that runs 4, 3 because it's going to be 32 degrees by the time we get to November. And turns out the 43 guy, he runs actually a 46 just like everybody else in that weather. And we need some, we need some power up here. So it's just two different styles of ball. And it's like, well, which one is deemed better? Well, it depends where the game's being played.
- [50:48]
B
Bingo.
- [50:48]
A
Which is why the 12 team playoff happening is a beautiful thing. I don't think any Big Ten teams necessarily want to travel into the fucking belly of the beast down there in the sec. No doubt. I think that is, that's a whole different ballgame too, too. Tennessee, 102,000 people down there depending upon how hot it is. I know it gets cold in Tennessee. I think it's a little different ball game, Tennessee home game, lsu. Lsu. Hosting, hosting a game at night, I, I think that'll be a little bit of a different animal. Alabama, like, I think it is a.
- [51:17]
F
Very important for sure, you've seen A.
- [51:19]
A
And M is outrageous. I mean, they are all on the same page. They are all PJ flecking in the stands because they have practice the night before. It's like, like, I think it is a big deal. But then once again, imagine walking into Columbus in the middle of January. You got to take on a team that's not only built for it, but also used to it. And it's freezing. And you've never seen this before. They cracked three helmets, Nico Iamaliava's helmets, three of them. The equipment wasn't even ready for the cold, let alone the players. The equipment was too cold. Said, fuck this crack. Three of them, get me out of here. It was like, that's going to be talked about a bit little lot. And then the SEC's went, well, we all play each other down here. It's like, all right, well, who cares who's coming to the cold to do it? It's good time for debate in college ball, which I think is how it's always been. Last question here for you, coach, from Tone.
- [52:04]
D
Yeah, coach, we talked about how it is going to be a great Saturday. Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, Bama, usc, Notre Dame. Are you going to take advantage of being off on Saturday to watch some of those games? Especially maybe that last one. Because if USC upsets the Irish, there might be a big one in a couple weeks against you and that team.
- [52:24]
H
I, I, my, my goal is not to leave the couch on Saturday. So I, I want to be a college football fan. I have two daughters that play volleyball and I like, what time's the game? The first game. We get back probably at one in the morning. The first game's at eight. I was like, I, I'll take the eight o' clock game. I will be back to watch game day and watch the whole day. I'll watch it till 1 o'.
- [52:41]
I
Clock.
- [52:41]
H
I, I, I love college football and I, when I, when I speak about college football, I'm speaking about the game overall. So I will watch everything. I'll have the YouTube T going, hell, yeah. I mean, I'll be, I might, I might bring in a second TV downstairs. I have one that on roller. I mean, I'll be like a, you think I'm a gambler, though? I do not gamble. You think I'm a gambler. I'll be watching so many games at once. Like, but that's, I love it, man. I love every second. I, I love watching the games last night. I, I'll watch college football. Any chance I can get.
- [53:06]
A
I'll tell you, it's hard not to love it, man, whenever you're in it. If you're a football person, it's hard not to fall in love with college football if you're not a college football person. And if you are a college football person, obviously, that's till they put dirt on top of you. You are going to love college football. Football. But if you're not a college football person, which there's a lot of new football fans that are coming into the college football world. That's what the ratings are telling us. Ratings are going up now. The NFL's ratings are obviously still whatever they are. Okay? They're 15 million more than most college football primetime games in comps. But a lot of the numbers going up for college ball, it's like, I think those are NFL people potentially coming in being like, hey, this is a good sport here. It's the second biggest sport in America.
- [53:44]
F
Yes.
- [53:44]
A
No questions asked. And there's still so much room to go grow. And everything you're saying is the exact reason why it's awesome. And, you know, you have no idea who's going to become a star when a game kicks off. There might be a dude that's on that bench that hasn't done anything. And then all of a sudden, two passes, three passes, superstar. And then a team becomes relevant, and then a university becomes relevant. It's like so special.
- [54:03]
D
It's very, very special to that point, Coach, all this talk made me think about this. So, like when you're watching on midweek, Conference USA or Max or whatever, and then, or maybe even tomorrow on a Saturday, will you see a player make a play and you're like, oh, I could see him.
- [54:15]
A
Wait a minute.
- [54:17]
D
You write a name down to call him later or.
- [54:20]
A
No, no, no, no, no.
- [54:22]
H
You ain't get me. You ain't get me on that one.
- [54:26]
A
I don't know if I was camping or not. Oh, yeah, Coach rules out here trying to pluck guys off of Wednesday night Football. We appreciate you, coach. Thank you for joining us. Safe travels to Minnesota and good luck, brother.
- [54:36]
H
Thank you, guys.
- [54:38]
A
You're the man, dude. You've been really good to us. We appreciate that.
- [54:41]
H
I appreciate you guys.
- [54:42]
I
Shoot.
- [54:43]
H
Thank you guys for having me on.
- [54:44]
A
You're a good football coach, too. I think that is your boy. Hey, a guy. I just saw the tweet as we were coming in some one of your players gave a speech at halftime. Is that accurate?
- [54:55]
H
Yeah, Jecory Barney, our young sophomore receiver who's Dynamic. He's leading the country. I think in pun returns, he's in the middle of the halftime. We were in this small, terrible locker room, and he was like, like, man, what's wrong with y'?
- [55:06]
B
All?
- [55:06]
H
They couldn't put all the stuff out that he said, because it was. But he was like, man, he started doing like this. Like, man, we're up. You heard me up seven other. Heard me. Defense gonna strap these five. Gonna get his act together. We're gonna go. And I was sitting there, like, the whole time, like, oh, God, how do I follow this? Like, let's go to the field, guys.
- [55:24]
A
Unbelievable team. 1, 2, 3, go. Here we go. That is. That's like, hey, that's good culture, brother. That's good culture.
- [55:32]
H
Hell, yeah. It's fun to be around. It's fun to be around. That's. You know, it's funny for me, I've always. The three places I've been, not the Carolina, but the.
- [55:38]
F
The.
- [55:38]
H
The two colleges now here, we've spent a couple years to build the. Build the culture up and get the football right, and then I've always kind of left afterwards. And so that's why, for me, you know, I'm like. I'm like, I'm.
- [55:48]
A
I'm.
- [55:48]
H
I'm going all in on this place. Like, we're. I. We can make this whatever we want.
- [55:52]
A
That's a huge statement at the very end. Obviously asked about at the very beginning, as well, his name, because he's from. From State College, Pennsylvania. Happy Valley. He went to Penn State. Has a lot of ties to Penn State, still has to. Feels obligated to show love and has love for Penn State, and it's in a Big Ten, and they got access to everything. And he has history with the athletic director. He says, I understand that. Hey, some jobs are right for me. I love this place, Ty. He said it there at the end. Why not go all in this place and finally get to reap the benefits of the culture that I sow for the first three years? I feel convinced legitimately. You. Ty, how do you feel about it?
- [56:24]
B
I can see both sides. Personally, I think if he were offered the Penn State job, job, he would go back. Like, he. I mean, he.
- [56:30]
A
Listen, he just said. He literally wouldn't. I know you, esp. He literally just said three times.
- [56:36]
B
Hear me out.
- [56:36]
A
You got 20 seconds.
- [56:37]
B
Hear me out. He's from there. He went to school there. Like, whether he. Hey, he loves Nebraska. I get it.
- [56:44]
F
Wife.
- [56:45]
B
Yeah, exactly. Like, that's a very special place. Okay, you get the opportunity to go back and win a national championship there. Okay, Joe Paterno like bet Matt Rule is the best coach in the history of Penn State.
- [56:56]
A
Okay. He's also could be the best coach in the history of Nebraska. Be a friend friend something. I might change your life or see you on the other side this Marshawn Beast mode Lynch Prize Pick is making sports season even more fun on Prize Picks. Whether you a football fan, a basketball fan, it always feel good to be right. And right now, new users get $50 instantly in lineups. When you play your first $5, the app is simple to use. Pick two or more players, pick more or less on their stat projections, anything from touchdown to threes. And if you right you can win big. Mix and match players from any sport on Prague Picks. America's number one daily fantasy sports app, Progs Picks is available in 40 plus states including California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Most importantly, all the transactions on the app are fast, safe and secure. Download the Proxpics app today and use code TPMS to get $50 instantly only in site credits after you play your first $5. That's code TPMS to get $50 in site credits after you play your first $5. Prize picks. It's good to be right. Must be present in certain states. Visit prize picks.com for restrictions and details. Hey fans. Welcome back to Fansville's cheers and tears. Oh, okay. So like everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival and a last second field goal, whatever. It's fine. I'm totally fine. But I cope with losing with an ice cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm. Those 23 flavors are like so delicious.
- [58:27]
H
They totally wash away the pain of.
- [58:29]
A
Your college football team taking a big fat L. College football. It's a Pepper thing. Football is magical. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living where we talk about football way too much. And are we always right? Absolutely not. But do we get some things correct? Absolutely. Like tonight we're going to have a good AFC north football game tonight we're going to see two OGs clash in primetime probably for the last time. Actually, we don't know that.
- [58:57]
B
You never know.
- [58:58]
A
We have no idea if they're going to play 10 more times. These two guys. Aaron Rodgers in the Pittsburgh Steelers, his first season there. They could become a 5 and 1 football team after tonight. Already had their bye week. They got a long stretch to go. But they have looked better than they've looked over the past seven years. In the past past three weeks in Specific. They've looked much better on the defensive side and offensively, Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf and the boys are only starting to catch their stride with Mount Washington, a 315 pound tight end who has the nimbility of a ninja when he's out in the open field out of Georgia. This guy was behind Brock Bower so nobody really talked about him. The Pittsburgh Steelers picked him up and all of a sudden they start saying, hey, we got Mount Washington out there. We got a tight end who's gigantic and he can move. He was able to do this in college at Georgia. Everybody thought his knees wouldn't be able to hold up because he's so heavy, he's so big. That's like a natural question. Hey, that human is a tackle. He should not be able to run like a tight end. His knees are inevitably going to give up. Pittsburgh Steelers said We'll find out. In AFC north football he's been a weapon out of the field, deep down the field, but also in protecting Aaron Rodgers so that they can run their offense. They got an interesting offense right now. They're going to have an extra offensive lineman on the field for a lot of of it. They might have Aaron on the run or they might be comfortable enough against this particular Cincinnati defensive line without Trey Hendrickson if he's playing or not, where they have him a little bit more in the pocket. But they're moving, they're grooving, they're protecting Aaron and they're letting their dogs kind of take care of everything downfield. It's been fun to watch. Aaron's been playing out of his mind. Aaron's been playing very, very good even though PFF has him ranked 39th, 39th in the NFL at the moment. So I'm excited to see what they're able to.
- [60:30]
D
They might have adjusted that because they heard someone say something about it. So who knows.
- [60:33]
A
Well, on that note, it does feel like the scoring system is subject to change if it is publicly scrutinized. So whenever it is a definitive number and then all of a sudden it's not, let's we'll take a different look at it. So how many are we taking a different look at these things? And Chris Collinsworth was on with kay Adams on Up and Adams Today and addressed JJ Watt and JJ's kind of differences with him. We have not been able to watch it because it's an eight minute video so we're not able to see everything that he has said. But PF PFF has responded. Chris Collinsworth had a PFF hat on when he did respond the entire thing. And Chris, we appreciate what PFF has brought to football. That's no question. Cincinnati is near the home. I think of PFF in this entire thing. And Joe Flacco now calls Cincinnati his home tonight. Four and a half is still the spread of ESPN bet. The Steelers are favored by in Cincinnati. Andrew Whitworth of Amazon Prime's coverage and also LA Rams super bowl champion and longtime Cincinnati bank will be the ruler of the jungle tonight. He will look very cool. He will have a hoodie underneath, a sport coat, and he will look incredible. I don't know if he hits something as a ruler or proud. Growls.
- [61:41]
F
All white for sure though, because it's a white out.
- [61:43]
A
Oh, yeah. So he'll be in just like up in Penn State. I think Coach Saban's got a suit for you if you want it. He loved that thing. I think he wanted to hang on to that for the rest of his life. The ruler of the jungle, also known as the lion. I believe we looked this up because, you know, you could say Cincinnati Bengals, the Tigers are the ruler of the jungle. The lion's the king of the jungle. So then we asked AI and AI said ruler and king, same thing. So he is the king of the jungle tonight. He's the ruler of the jungle. And I believe that he's going to give them the willpower to go ahead and start pretty hot. Joe Flacco is going to look up there and show him. Like I remember when we were playing against each other. I was a Raven, he was a Bengal. Good old days, man. Geez. Shake his hand, that first one. Joe Flacco, prime time. Joe Flacco.
- [62:26]
B
Paul, you're gonna throw that thing as far as he can.
- [62:28]
A
Yeah, that's talks table at boss Conor and anti Schmidt. 1/2 of the Hammer done. Cowboys. Tone Diggs is there and a man who grew up as a Cincinnati Bengals fan. He's college football national champion, super bowl champion, Rider cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawker Hawker. Joe Flacco in prime time with Cincinnati Bengals. Four and a half. I started the show last saying I only know five and a half doesn't feel like enough. It goes the other way. So it actually goes complete opposite of what I was thinking. What are your thoughts on tonight's matchup and what am I not seeing about this Cincinnati Bengals team?
- [62:57]
C
Yeah, well, I like the. The graphic with the question marks around Trey Henderson. That really paints a picture. We're not sure what's going to happen with him, I think it's a big deal whether he plays or not tonight. But I mean, let's just say you guys took, what, the first 19 minutes of the show just to annihilate the Bengals and say how terrible they are.
- [63:13]
A
It was 16 minutes and it wasn't an annihilation. It was a complimentary fest, a glazing, I believe the Youngs would call it. Six, seven. You know, so we were glazing the Pittsburgh Steelers, I believe, for everything they had going on. And in turn, we did leave out the other team that is playing in a two team game, the Cincinnati Bengals. And I would like to, if you watch the tape back, I recognize that throughout the 16, 17 minutes that we are doing everything that we hate people doing blue, which is completely leave out one half of the entire game. Sure. But yes, it was a very heavy Pittsburgh Steelers start to the show today. If you, if you were to just judge it as a whole.
- [63:50]
C
AJ yeah, that's definitely how I consumed it, how I took it. But I mean, first off, look how sweet Joe Flacco looks at that white Bengals helmet. Doesn't that look legit? That's worth at least three or four points, I would imagine.
- [63:59]
A
That's a good point. I think the AI Sportsbooks now would account for that. You would, you would think that the AI sports books would be ahead of it and they would get the jersey game and they would understand. They'd be able to put Joe Flacco at different eras.
- [64:09]
B
Yeah.
- [64:09]
A
Hell, I bet you AI saw Joe Young, Joe Flacco in this jersey and said maybe this is what he was supposed to be all along. So there's a chance that that already happened. We don't know. Nobody knows. There's mistakes of YouTube. Yeah, nobody knows. It's in the back whenever we're doing our, our connection with him. So there's answers. We don't know these AIs. We sportsbooks. AIs might know how cool Joe Flacco looks is what I'm saying, A.J.
- [64:29]
C
Okay, I don't know if they take that into account, whoever is programming these AIs guys, but I don't know. Four and a half that. Didn't you say if you, you want Bengals, couldn't you get five and a half here?
- [64:38]
A
Yes. Bengals could be plus five and a half at every other sportsbook but ESPN bet. ESPN BET has the Steelers at minus four and a half, and that's the only place as we speak. So if you're looking to bet on the Steelers, there is a minus Four and a half at ESPN Bet. Now, we do not want to promote that too much because, boy, I have not got a lot of these right on these particular things. There will be a guy joining us here in a couple moments. Coach Mike McCarthy, who has been seeing these Thursday night games rather well. He, if he was to be making picks, would be 5 and 1 on these Thursday nights. So we will certainly be listening to what he has to say. But let's not leave out the fact that he's got a little home game.
- [65:13]
F
That's right.
- [65:14]
A
He's got a little home game here with the. The Pittsburgh Steelers. So whenever he gives his pick, we got to know that there might be a little bit of. A little bit of a bias. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, super bowl champion Yinzer legend, former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. Maybe coming to a city near you, hopefully. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Mike. Yeah, Coach.
- [65:35]
E
Oh, all right. Good.
- [65:37]
C
Good afternoon, man.
- [65:38]
A
Good to see you, Coach. What's behind you?
- [65:40]
E
You got your game face on pattern, huh?
- [65:41]
A
Yeah, it's a big night tonight. You know, I'm trying to get some things right. Yeah, it's big night tonight. AFC north football on prime time. You know, obviously we're excited about that school. Hey, that's what we're talking about. I see six offensive linemen right now. Black, black and gold. Nice. So we're obviously excited for that. What do you got behind you there? A couple rings. Just letting people know we got a couple.
- [65:59]
E
Yeah, we had a little dilemma in the house this week, you know, A.J. i don't know if you've gone through this yet, but my 13 year old won the National Volleyball championship down there in Skyline Dallas. And she was kind of bragging about how big her ring was and made the comment that it was bigger than our super bowl ring. So I had to line that thing up and see what the hell we got going here. So, I mean, it's cool.
- [66:19]
C
Close.
- [66:20]
A
That's pretty cool.
- [66:21]
E
I'd share that with everybody. Have you run into this yet, A.J.
- [66:24]
A
No, I have not.
- [66:25]
C
You know, Texas does things a little different, Coach. We don't. We don't have any national champions yet. 13 over here, but yeah, it's pretty impressive brain.
- [66:31]
A
You run into this problem. My daughter's ring, almost bigger than my super bowl ring. Had to line these things up, get a different eye on it. Congrats to your daughter, man. We were obviously chatted with you during the draft. I think that might have been the beginning of the season. We didn't really know. Know what all was going to happen. They end up winning the national championship. Hey, let's go.
- [66:48]
F
That's awesome.
- [66:49]
A
Congrats.
- [66:50]
E
Yeah, that was great. What a great team. They won nine tournaments, first place in every tournament, won the nationals. So it was, it was an incredible year. Incredible run. So very proud of her.
- [67:00]
A
And she almost won the biggest ring in the house. Almost.
- [67:03]
E
Almost.
- [67:04]
B
Almost.
- [67:05]
E
Yeah, we got. I'm gonna have to get back to work and win another one. 13 years old and bringing home a ring like that, that's scary. Everything's bigger in Texas, they say, but.
- [67:14]
A
Yeah, especially whenever you win nine tournaments in the national championship. Congrats to them. Let's talk about you saying, I'm gonna have to get back to work to maybe win another one. We have already started floating your name for any job that is available, both college and the NFL. You let us know when to stop. We will. And obviously you did not tell us to do this, so we just want to let you know the situations we are putting you in publicly. Anytime a name pops up. On that note, coach is getting fired here already. Callahan down in Tennessee gets fired. I don't know if you've ever been fired in the middle of the season. I don't know your entire history of that. But what do you think goes into that decision making process? And then if you're a staff that is still there after a coach gets fired, what do you think the mentality is for them there?
- [67:54]
E
Well, I mean, it's very difficult. I think just like anything in our profession, you always, you always look at the personal and this is very difficult on the families, you know, And I think as coaches in our industry, professionally, we understand it's part of the job description, you know, because there is change each and every year. So that's the first thing that I look to is just, you know, how's the family? Because there's things that you go through. We were released in, you know, near the end of the season in 19. And really the toughest part is what the kids have to endure, you know, at school and in the neighborhood and things like that. So that's the tough part. But, you know, the game goes on and that's the way this business is and it's the brutal truth of it. But, you know, the first thing I always think about is, you know, I just hope that, you know, the families are good. You know, there's a new direction, there's going to be change, there's going to be adjustment. It happens each and every year, really throughout every organization. It's just a matter of how much. So it's part of our business. It's the tough part of our business. But, yeah, I just think that times like this, you know, it's a gut check for. Because you don't. You can't last very long in this league without going through some adversity in that area.
- [69:11]
A
On that note. So you said gut check, not only in that building, probably around the league, right. Whenever one team fires a coach, it's like, hey, this potential, I don't want to say floodgates open, but there's obviously other jobs that are being talked about publicly, which is what the NFL is. Sucks for the families.
- [69:25]
I
Sucks.
- [69:26]
A
Sucks for the kids. All bad. I mean, that just absolutely sucks, what they have to go through in their actual lives day to day. But now other jobs, is there a thought like, hey, and I don't know if you've ever been in this position either, because it seemed like all you did was win during the regular season whenever we watched you. So I assume you'd have to go back in the day. But like other places around the league, is there like a little bit of. A little bit of a chatter? Okay, there's the first one almost. There's the first card to fall. Is that something that happens amongst coaches?
- [69:53]
E
I think the obvious is, you know, it's part of, you know, the media, you know, exposure that everybody is in tune with. I mean, you have to, because it's part of your job. I mean, I used to, you know, keep my head in the sand in the old days and that, I mean, it just doesn't serve you very well. You got to be aware of what's going on around you, because if you're not, you know, your players are, you know, your co workers are, your assistant coaches are. Their families are. So you have to be in tune with all that.
- [70:20]
I
That.
- [70:21]
E
Personally, I'm not a fan of making changes in season regardless. Now, you know, that's above my pay grade. So those are conversations that, you know, really probably go on above the coaching staff and coaching operations. But I just feel when you're going through these difficult times, you know, there's so many people involved in what it takes to win. You know, your support staff, your personnel department, everybody involved. And it's an incredible opportunity, in my view, that gets wasted when you make change in season because I think there's so much more to learn from others. You know, we all understand the responsibility of the head coach and the coordinators and things like that, but ADVERSITY is part of it. I mean, you lose two, three, four in a row. You know, the real coaches, you have to dig out of that. I mean, that's, that's part of, you know, surviving and advancing in this league is to go through those moments. So, yeah, I was, you know, this is just my personal opinion. I just wish, I wish that these, these opportunities would just push forward and let these coaches try to fight their way out of it.
- [71:29]
A
Yeah, that's a very good personal opinion. You're allowed to give your personal opinion. How many years in the NFL did you spend.
- [71:34]
E
Have you spent 1993, so 30, 31, 32 plus.
- [71:40]
A
That's pretty good.
- [71:40]
B
It's a long time.
- [71:41]
A
So I think you're allowed to have your own personal opinion. Yeah, I think you're allowed.
- [71:45]
B
Thank you.
- [71:45]
A
I think you've earned it. Yeah, I think you've earned it and we appreciate that. Okay, go ahead, A.J.
- [71:50]
C
Yeah, coach. Something that actually seems to fast track some of these coaches getting fired is injuries that happen to these teams. We look around the league, obviously Tampa Bay, they're handling it well. They have a bunch of guys down still winning. San Fran, just a rash of injuries. It seems like the last few years. How is that something as a coaching staff that you guys talk about leading into the season, like playing on depth, like, how do you handle that? Because you know at some point you're going to deal with the old injury bug. You just hope it's not to certain areas of your team. But how is that something that some teams find a way to work through? Other teams seem to really struggle.
- [72:21]
E
Big believer in. Trust your, you know, trust your tradition, trust your experiences. AJ 2010 is something I reference all the time. As a head coach, you know, 77 players to win a Super Bowl. When you're able to keep, you know, you break down to the 53 man roster at the end of training camp and keeping 68 players in the building, every single one of those guys is so important to the journey because, you know, you think about, we had 68 when we started a season, but I think it might have been 65. Back then it took 77 players. So 12 guys came from outside the building to contribute to a Super bowl victory. So now you have 17 games. So I think it's even more prominent. You have to, you have to develop your younger players players. You got to get your younger players ready. You know, last year in 24 in Dallas, we knew our depth was going to be younger. You would have hoped maybe your injury challenges would have Came later in the season. You know, give your younger players a little better opportunity to be ready. Sometimes it goes that way, sometimes it doesn't. You know, it's, it's so important to find ways to continue to develop the young players in season. So much has been taken away from the training environment and you know, particularly in training camp, in the off season program from the players, especially the, I mean, the injuries to the offensive line. I don't know what the numbers are. I'm sure you guys have it analytically. I mean, sitting in this chair, watching the league from this scope, it just, I can't just, I can't believe how many injuries there are week in and week out. They, they have to be super high for comparables. Throughout the history, I've seen nothing. Like every time we talk about a game, it's, that's the first thing, you know, you look at the injury report, how it affects the matchups, where's the stress plan point on the O line, D line, because, you know, everything starts right there. And you know, used to think if you had eight really good offensive linemen, you could navigate and get through the season because, you know, the consecutive starts of five offensive linemen equates to winning. The numbers are crazy, like 12 plus ones a year. Anytime the five offensive linemen start every single game. And I think there might be only two teams right now that have five offensive line that have started every game. The reality of it at today's NFL, I think you need 10 offensive linemen in your building that are ready to play because you just see these injuries are obviously high. And also, you know, you have to factor in 17 games. You know, I think when you play on Sunday and now you're going to turn around and play on a Thursday game, you know, you're not as quick to bring the guy back that you might have been three or four years ago. So I think all those things play into this. But the number of, you know, games missed by starters due to injuries, I just can't believe it's ever been higher. And I think it's something that needs to be addressed or there needs to be more, you know, because you can't keep just going like this because, you know, at the end of the day, it's about the product and the competitiveness of the games, which they're still there, but man, I just think there's so much up and down each week when you, when you watch these teams going through these injuries.
- [75:16]
A
Since we've started the show, the injuries have always been a Part of the conversation. Then a couple years back it was like backup quarterbacks. The amount of backup quarterbacks that are playing was like 90 something or something like that. I forget it was like up absurd. Every year there's some injury storyline. This year it does feel like it's much more prevalent, especially in the teams that we thought were going to be very good. Now you mentioned something in there about the 17 game season in choosing when guys come back and when they don't come back, maybe we'll steal another week of rest here so we can get it on the back end these Thursday night games. So like Trey Hendrickson for instance, he was announced as injured because of a back is what I remember a back. And then now he's on the injury report for a hip and he's questionable on a Thursday night. Anytime somebody questionable, I think for Thursday night there's always the thought like ah, probably just keep them because you get like a two week break here, you can probably steal something. Has that always been the case for Thursday night football games or the added game into the season? Kind of up that a bit for these Thursday night games?
- [76:08]
F
Yeah.
- [76:08]
E
I mean I agree with everything you're saying in theory, but I do, I do, in my experience has been with the medical staff. You know, every injury is specific to the players player and I've always felt that way. And you know, the input from the player to the training staff, then to the coaching staff, I mean that's, you have to have a protocol that's in place because you know, because you want consistency because you know, you want the players to have the confidence in the medical, you know, procedure and everything to get back on the field and so forth. So that's critical. But also you want the coaches to be able to plan accordingly. I mean I would much rather know about a player not playing early than a player playing late. You know that you want to play late because you know it gives you a chance to play and plan and it gives a chance to get these players to rep store in a week to get them ready to play. Because at the end of the day, you know, everybody in the building is going to contribute. Every one of those players in the locker room, I mean that's part of their job description. So you know, AJ wants to know who's playing next to him. You know, he wants those practice reps and communication and stuff like that throughout the week. So that's the reality of it inside. I mean the injury reports is, I mean there's a lot of conversation that goes and really, the, you know, the projection of your training staff to if a guy's going to play, not play. That's. That's a big part of it. That factors in the game planning for coaches.
- [77:26]
A
When's that happening? That's happening in Monday meetings after a game. Tuesday 1, Monday afternoon, nonstop.
- [77:32]
E
I mean, you know, you get the scans. I mean, if you have play game on Sunday afternoon, you know, like in Dallas, it's the same way in Green Bay. They have so many MRI slots that are already reserved for Monday morning. So you can get guys scans that anybody needs to get scanned. So, you know, you usually as a coach have a general idea, you know, by dinner time, you know, you know the ballpark of if a player is going to make it or not. So because, you know, you start game playing on Monday nights and then that's Tuesday. Then they come in for Tuesday treatment. Treatment. Because, you know, you know, some things don't, you know, injuries don't really, really show themselves until.
- [78:11]
A
Yeah, yeah. We are referring to tortoise while referring. Not in Green Bay, obviously.
- [78:15]
E
You said. You said it.
- [78:16]
A
Yeah, yeah. Yes, I did. And I've lived.
- [78:18]
E
I'm playing along here.
- [78:19]
A
I've lived it. I've lived it the Monday night. You said by dinner time you normally know or have a good sense of who's going to play, who's not going to play. And there's obviously.
- [78:28]
E
Well, no, I wouldn't say who's going to play. I mean, kind of where. Where they are got it in their, in their injury, you know, journey to get back.
- [78:35]
A
What are we having for dinner? Wings? Are we pizza? What is the solid. What is like a soup?
- [78:40]
E
Soup and salad. I mean, come on.
- [78:43]
D
Wedding soup, Coach.
- [78:44]
A
Wedding soup. So good. Dude. Wedding soup.
- [78:47]
E
Really? Yeah. I'm not a wedding soup.
- [78:50]
F
Yeah, I'm not really.
- [78:52]
A
What. What are you talking about? You're not a. Wedding soup is delight.
- [78:55]
E
Yeah, I'm old school. I like the vegetable soups.
- [78:57]
A
Yeah. Okay. You like the vegetable soups. Like Tomayo.
- [79:00]
C
You love G Mini. They got that mini at Olive Garden kind of stuff.
- [79:04]
A
There you go. Okay, so what's. We're a meat eater, obviously. Big steak. We have a big steak there.
- [79:10]
E
Big fish eater.
- [79:11]
A
Oh, up in Dora county or just all the time?
- [79:14]
E
I grew up that way. Catholic. Eat fish every Friday. I mean, that's. I've been eating it my whole life.
- [79:18]
A
Okay, so you're house and fish. Like, how about the little fish sticks? Are we still eating those? The little fish sticks are. We were having.
- [79:24]
E
My kids have grown out on that now, but yeah, I definitely had a few fish sticks in a day when the kids were younger. Oh, my God, this is awesome.
- [79:32]
A
Say growing up, ketchup on those. You put ketchup on those, obviously, right? Ketchup on those.
- [79:36]
E
For sure, Heinz. What else is there?
- [79:39]
A
Isn't it disgusting? Has some people from some places don't put ketchup on everything that ketchup supposed to be on strictly because Heinz did not come from their city. Isn't that crazy? Because I'll meet some people, I'm like, you put. You put that on eggs, right? No, never. It's like, yes, you do. You put that on. I think it is a different animal whenever you grow up in Pittsburgh because of how delightful Heinz is on everything.
- [80:01]
E
Absolutely. The pride, you know, the pride in your ketchup. It just. The other stuff doesn't taste the same.
- [80:05]
A
You put it on hot dogs, put on hot dogs, put on eggs.
- [80:08]
E
You put on eggs or I'm right there with you. Everything. Pretty much anything. Yeah.
- [80:12]
C
Not eggs.
- [80:13]
A
Yes, eggs, aj. That's what we're talking.
- [80:16]
E
You're exactly what I'm talking about.
- [80:17]
A
About.
- [80:17]
E
No, scrambled. Scrambled eggs only.
- [80:20]
A
Yes, definitely scrambled eggs. You're not putting them on sunny side up, aj. Is that what you're trying to do?
- [80:25]
E
You said eggs.
- [80:26]
A
That's what AJ's saying though. AJ, you're putting these on.
- [80:28]
E
Yeah, we're not on hard boiled eggs either.
- [80:29]
C
You got dip them in hard dip a hard boiled in there.
- [80:33]
A
No, you put salt on hardball, no problem. That, that is certainly what you.
- [80:37]
E
Tabasco. That's. Yeah, that's.
- [80:39]
A
That was the go to on the hardball. And are you taking the whole thing down? Are you doing a cool cut around and getting the yolk out of there? Because Chloe Mushroom, you gotta throw that out. You're just only eating the white hard boiled egg.
- [80:50]
E
Yeah, I. I'd say post 40 years old, take the yolks out. Yeah. But pretty pre 40 definitely was eating the whole egg. Yeah.
- [80:57]
A
Okay, now I know the keys to life. I appreciate that. Now this is part of. Go ahead.
- [81:02]
E
Oh, go ahead.
- [81:04]
A
Well, I was gonna say it's a part of maturity. That's what this is. This is maturing.
- [81:07]
E
Yeah.
- [81:08]
A
This is living life. This is taking the yolk out. This is developing. This is becoming who you could possibly be at your best version of yourself. Which leads to this question, which is going to be maybe the most high intellect conversation we've had on this particular program in some time. Go ahead, Connor.
- [81:22]
F
Yeah, coach. I hope not because I should not be asking this question if that's the case. But you brought up something pre show about NFL QB's EQ as a mark. I had no idea what you were talking about. So we googled it, the emotional quotient of NFL quarterbacks. And this, this was the definition, essentially. What, what do you mean by, you know, NFL QBs EQ? How can you actually measure something like this? And then when you think about the quarterbacks who have been, you know, in first year offenses, like Danny Dimes, Drake May with McDaniels, Sam Darnold in Seattle, I mean, you could even go to JJ McCarthy because it was his first time really playing in that offense. How do you kind of judge that eq? And for those guys who are first years in those offenses, does that kind of mean they have a high NFL QBEQ just because of the fact that they're having immediate success or how do you judge something like that?
- [82:18]
E
Well, there's, I mean, that's a more specific individual, you know, criteria to it. I was referring to, I was kind of spinning off of our conversation last week when we're talking about, about making Baker Mayfield. When you look at Baker, look at Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones and you can even put Aaron into this category. You know, these guys that are kind of were disrespected, you know, kind of a pissed off group of quarterbacks. And you look at their success, but you look at their path and I just think there's so much to learn from when things don't go right. I mean, there's so much value in that. Yeah. You know, because it does, it gives you a heightened awareness. It gives you, it heightens your anticipation, ability, you know, conflict resolution. You know, you definitely learn to deal with that hailing success when it comes off of that. So now you don't get too high. So I just think when you look at the EQ of these guys that are just, you're playing their ass off and you know, in Aaron's kind of an exception of the fact, but you know, because he's played so much football, but you know, so much that led up to the season and I think they're really becoming a team that we all were hoping that they're going to be. But you know, you know, and knows better than anybody, he's at his best when he's pissed off and plays with a chip on his shoulder. But I look at these guys that have gone through, you know, so much and they're just playing great football and I just think it says so much about them personally because of, for what they had to go through. I mean, to go to Green Bay as a young first round pick and have to sit for three years before you play, there's some emotional maturity that goes with that. So, I mean, that's hard. And I think you know your point, Connor, about, you know, J.J. mcCarthy. I mean, there's some maturity coming off a national championship and then ability to watch and learn and be behind Sam. And now it's your time. So. So I just think the eq, because you know, there's so much that goes into the evaluation of every NFL player and you know, the mental breakdown, the physical breakdown, you know, the video studies and this and everything. But you know, the EQ is really where the, where the gold's at. And you know, how you judge that and how you evaluate that, how you quantify that, that's really the beauty that's in the sauce of every organization's evaluation process.
- [84:38]
A
Coach, I'll tell you what, you being the guy saying EQ is what we need to be looking for. The emotional quotient is certainly right on par with every conversation we've had with you thus far, which has led to numerous situations where potential backhanded compliments have come from one of us to you, more specifically me. You bringing up the emotional quotient being one of the most important things of a quarterback. If we can put the graphic back up, please. This is literally exactly what you need in a leader of an organization. I mean, this is what, whenever you're going through the draft process, we should be trying to figure out the EQ of every one of the guys are going to be put in positions of leadership. Self awareness, AJ how often have we talked about that being the most important thing in anything?
- [85:21]
C
Every single day, about every aspect of your life, not even just sport.
- [85:24]
A
You talk about be who you can afford to be. That is strictly from self awareness. And that is not just in football that's in any leadership position or just in life. Self awareness, understanding the situation, who you're allowed to be, who you're not allowed to be in this particular situation. Self regulation, obviously that's discipline. We would like to know the discipline of the people that are going to be having a leader. Social awareness, obviously, how they interact with their team, how they interact with the media, how they interact with marketing, even if you get it, how they interact with everything is a massive ordeal. And then relationship management. I've never seen something that leaders have to have at a high level. Just described so perfectly. I Mean, the emotional quotient. Yeah. Whenever we're talking about, hey, how do you know the right guys to draft at the position? You know, we. We all know they can run, and we all know they get there. It seems like the EQ, as coach Mike McCarthy's saying here, is what we've been looking for this entire time. So I'd like to tell you, coach, thank you for introducing that into my life and also thank you for letting us behind the scenes a little bit on what goes into being a great leader, a quarterback. It is the EQ is what we're looking to do. It's the ability to understand, manage and express your emotions while recognizing the influence of ours. That's quarterback in the NFL. That's a coach in the NFL. That's a CEO, that's a manager. That is literally everything we're looking for. Whenever we talk about love and ball, who's also committed, it's EQ level.
- [86:37]
F
Yeah. Coach, to Pat's point right there about managing, is this something that GMs have to have a very, very high, you know, not tolerance, but awareness of just because, you know, Andy Reid came on, he talked about how Brett Veach would tell him, you know, his read on a player and then that read would be correct, and that's kind of how he rose through the ranks. Is that something that GM have to have when they're evaluating players then?
- [86:59]
E
I mean, let's be honest. Your whole leadership hierarchy has to, you know, has to have it. And obviously, when it's coordinated and it fits together, then now you're working at, you know, at such a different level. But, yes, I think clearly, from ownership to president to GM to head coach, I think, you know, all that bulk, there's nothing worse as a leader finding out after the fact. And I would say that if I said it once in a staff meeting, I said it a thousand times. I don't need to be the first guy to know when AJ skips his workout in the morning, you know, which he never did, but I don't need to be the first guy I know, but I can't be the last guy to know, you know, you can't. You know, it's. It's having this. Having the awareness to make sure that, you know, everything we ask the players to do, everything we ask each other to do, everything we ask the support staff to do, it's done for reason. You know, we don't just do things because this is the way so and so did it back in the 60s. So, I mean, have A purpose for everything you do. But it has to be done because if you, if it's not done then now the credibility starts to go away. Then, then, then the culture starts to erode and things like that. So have a reason for why you do it. But you got to have people that buy into the structure, understand where the walls and the boundaries of the structure are and just adhere to it. And I just think common sense goes such a long way in that journey. And then, and as for all of us, if you can take the emotion out of the tough, you know, the tough moments and learn from it, you know, I think it gives you a such higher, you know, higher opportunity for success.
- [88:30]
F
Yes.
- [88:32]
B
Hell yeah.
- [88:32]
A
Coach. Yeah, that's some good spoken word. Right.
- [88:36]
C
Sometimes common sense isn't common sense though, right. In their situations, Coach, where. Well, I assumed that was common sense and that's not always the case. Some people don't have a whole sense.
- [88:45]
A
I couldn't even imagine.
- [88:46]
E
How do you handle it? I think that's a great point, AJ. No, I think that's where continuing education comes in. You know, common sense to me is definitely going to be, wow, maybe not be the same as a 24 year old too. So that's my responsibility. They have, you know, clarity, clear communication, clarity, what's expected. And, and I go back to not having 9,000 rules. You know, I, you know, we used to, you know, hand out that we'd have that fine schedule every year that you had to up, put up and in front of the team. I mean it's, you know, how could you just make it, you know, bring it all together. And that's where I always felt this. We had one rule.
- [89:17]
A
No, no disrespect.
- [89:19]
E
No disrespect covers everything. Yeah, it covers everything. So I mean, I love being late for a meeting.
- [89:24]
D
Yeah.
- [89:25]
E
I mean if, you know, if you, if you put a ton of energy into a 10 minute presentation and you're putting, put, you know, putting together for the, for the team and then you got guys are going to walk in late. I mean I, you know, that's disrespectful. So I mean, in my view, so I just think in just giving clarity and understanding the group dynamics is. It's an unbelievable journey to have to go into a situation each year, try to build a team that's going to now navigate and grind through a 17 game season and then you got to really go play the real games and play up football. I mean there's nothing like it, there's nothing like it. So I just think keeping it consistent, concise, precise, and clear, it just. It just goes a long way.
- [90:05]
A
You're a weapon, dude. You're a absolute. We're very thankful you come on the show. Hearing a Pittsburgh guy talk about leadership is. I mean, it hits even more home, I think, for me, but it is. You've been phenomenal, brother. Like, you just breaking down your entire culture and how you build it and why you build it and what you're looking for out of people that work for you. Like, hey, you need to buy in here. Okay, you're buying in or you're getting the hell out. Those conversations, also not the easy, easiest. Snooping out, making them after making a mistake, I assume not the easiest as well. Trying to figure it out and move on. I appreciate the fact that you are so open and transparent with us about how you operate, because obviously AJ got to play for you. And we know AJ wasn't late for a ME workout.
- [90:42]
E
Now, I know he didn't laugh. I mean, he still doesn't get my humor.
- [90:46]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [90:47]
E
20 years later. I mean, yeah, my jokes are still that bad, I guess.
- [90:50]
A
Please laugh that. You should have dropped that afterwards. Dropped the self awareness on the eq. Yeah, that would have been. That have been incredible. But that was an awesome little glimpse into how you operated your building. Now you talk about the voyage that you have to do and building group chemistry and everything like that. We're seven weeks into this now after tonight kicks off. Go ahead, Ty.
- [91:08]
B
Yeah, Coach. You mentioned how the Steelers are kind of rounding into the team that a lot of people maybe expected them to be. Right now, going into week seven, a lot of, like, the good teams have kind of established their identity. If you're one of those teams who hasn't yet, like, is there still a chance for those teams to kind of, you know, make something of this season or at this point, do you kind of know who you are and how you have to win and those teams that don't are kind of shit out of luck?
- [91:33]
E
No, absolutely. You know, you always. You always remember November, but what's most important is December, and that's. That'll never change in this league. You see? You know, I don't say maybe every year, but it happens. You know, it happened for us in 2010, and we've had other teams that got hot at the end of the year and went deep into the playoffs, so that's still the case. I don't think that'll change, especially with the extra game 17. I think it's probably Even more so there's an opportunity and I love what the league's done with the division games still at the end of the year. So everything lays up for the that. So I think you can definitely still get hot and bring it. But I, but I think really what you get to this, 6, 7, 8, 9, you know, week, week, mark. I always felt that, you know, we work all off season, you know, you build your roster, you're taking the steps through the off season program, you get the young guys, you know, integrated and you go off in camp and you have this really great idea how you want to play and what your team looks like and how they're going to grow. And then all of a sudden, sudden, you know, the injury challenge hits and all the other challenges hits and so you're not maybe really playing the way you hope to be playing or like to be playing. You know, Cincinnati, you know, losing Joe Burrow, I mean, that's a huge hit, you know, and, and I know we'll talk about the game here in a minute, but I like hosting. Yeah, what's that?
- [92:56]
A
You're hosting, you're teasing, you're giving teases right there. That was a tease. You're a host. That's good.
- [93:01]
E
Well, see, you're bringing me along in this TV world. I appreciate that too. I'm learning too.
- [93:05]
A
Yeah, well, teams are learning as well and it feels like as long as the challenges are minimal, you know, the injury challenge can change your team and later in the season. But it feels like at this point we're starting to learn a little bit is what you're saying.
- [93:15]
E
Yeah, definitely. But I do think Pittsburgh is starting to be the team that we all thought they would. I love the, I love it when Aaron, you know, end up going to Pittsburgh because, you know, the defense, Mike Tomlin, the veteran coordinators, you know, TA tier Austin, and then, you know, Danny. Danny. And you also got, you know, Arthur there too. So I mean, you got veteran coordinators, got a lot of experience. It's a veteran football team. You know, you're going to be in every game because of that defense and you know, who's won more two minute games than Aaron Rodgers? So I, so that was how I viewed their team on how I think they're going to be able to grind through the season, win the close games. They're going to beat her each and every week, you know, and take care of the football. They're off to a great start in the turnover ratio. So I really like the identity of that team and I will look at Cincinnati, you know, watching the Cincinnati Green Bay game, you know, I think Cincinnati is. May have found who they need to be, you know, moving forward. With Joe, I thought Joe Flacco in the second half, you know, just his ball distribution and the time clock that he was playing, you know, he gave them a particular chance to be in that game. Game in the second half. So I would anticipate that Cincinnati would try to play Pittsburgh tonight a little bit the way they played in the second half of the Green Bay game. So those are the things you have to adjust who you want to be, but who you have to be, that's always the question. I always felt as a head coach that you're always looking at as you get through the course of the season. But I think Pittsburgh's really. I love the experience level they have on our team. I thought the veteran guys that they, they brought in all the way through have been excellent. You know, if they can stay healthy, I think they're just going to get stronger and stronger each week.
- [94:58]
A
As Coach McCarthy teased it. We will talk about tonight's game right now. Coach, you don't make picks outright, okay? And we respect that for you. But you do give us how you feel about games. And if you were to be picking games, you would be five and one on these Thursday nights. Coach, if you were to be, that's very good. Now you talk about how week seven, you start to know what team you have and everything like that. Six games into, it's not a fluke. You know, first couple, you might have just been blindsided or boring. You know what I mean? You might be able. You might be just blind squirrel finding a nut in there in broadside. Or you might got lucky there, you know that? But the case 6 in being 5 and 1, you're seeing the board here, brother. And tonight it's another divisional game, AFC north football. You talked about Flacco in the second half, maybe becoming who he's supposed to be. Not just who they want to be, but who they have to be. And then on the other side, you got Aaron Rogers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, which you said looks like the team that is everything we hope they would be. Now, it was minus four and a half at the ESPN BET like an hour ago, 45 minutes ago. It has now returned to minus five and a half as of a minute ago. So it's minus five and a half, a half across the board. Bengals plus five and a half across the board could have stole a four and a half for the Steelers at ESPN BET. For like the last 36 minutes or so. It's all across the board. 5. How do you feel about this? That a lot of points. I saw a little grimace on your face there whenever it was at five and a half as opposed to four and a half. Feels like five was your line in your head that you're making, if you're making lines and if you're making picks.
- [96:28]
E
Coach well, I was definitely hoping it'd be less than six. I, I think the biggest thing, you know, as I think I've already said, I like the way Pittsburgh is playing. I think they're playing to their identity. I always look at the big picture and it's something like, you know, we always put in front of the team on Wednesday. You know, you put the stats up, you know, kind of the vital signs that, you know, total offense points and all the, you know, the regular stats. You see each and every. There you go. Perfect. And if you look at the numbers, you know, when I see Cincinnati always in the 30s, but they lost their starting quarterback starting, so you know you're going to get knocked out of the top 10 right away on some of those things. That's just the way it goes when. Because there's a transition of playing, you know, with the backup quarterbacks and things like that. So I don't really feel as bad about those numbers, you know, about Cincinnati as far as those numbers. I don't think they truly reflected because I do like the way they tried to play against Green Bay and I think the way they played in the second half is a formula for them to win games. But what I love about Pittsburgh is, is, you know, they're taking care of the most important. I mean, their, their turnover ratio is outstanding and that's who they are. You know, if you take care of the football, run the football. Obviously they run offense versus their since he's run defense looks to be potential advantage for Pittsburgh. So I think the important things that you have to do when you go into the to a road, you know, on the road is run the football, take care of the football. And I think clearly what they. Aaron, you know, with the ball in his hand at the end of game is somewhere where you want to be. So I know we're not supposed to pick games here, but I don't, you know, I'm going to go home next week, so I got to take the Steelers.
- [98:02]
A
Okay. We knew that was going to be the case, actually predicted that you were potentially going to be a little biased about going home. Now back there. Greenfield you know, we saw it last week. You know, going back with two rings in the family now, not just. Not just one here. As we bounce back to Pittsburgh. I appreciate everything you said today. Thank you for the leadership advice. Thank you for the pick. And it feels like you're seeing the board maybe better than anybody else that's gambling right now. And I know you're not gambling, but if you were to be gambling, and you have been, for all of us, I want to let you know we've been winning, brother, and we appreciate the hell out of you. We'll see you next week.
- [98:34]
E
All right, man. You guys have a great weekend.
- [98:36]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, that's coach Margaret Kors.
- [98:38]
F
Coach.
- [98:40]
A
Through and through. Western Pennsylvania legend. We go from one coach that has those accolades to another coach that has those accolades. Now, A.J. whenever you listen to Mike McCarthy, you can. You can hear the Pittsburgh in him. You can literally hear the steel that was in the water that he drank as a little baby boy growing up or on the street. You know, you can. You can hear it in there. You can tell by the way he acts now, his leadership. I don't think I expected that. AJ that has been a mind blower for me. From outside looking in, A.J.
- [99:14]
C
He'S a. He is like one of those guys, very curious, always learning, always trying to progress, like, and evolve and figure out how to get his message across. So, yeah, it's not surprising for me, because I've heard it for years. But, yes, maybe on the outside, it might not look like he's that guy, but he is.
- [99:28]
A
Well, he's a yinzer, too. So I think people naturally expect us. I'll grunt hard nose, work hard. You know, that whole thing. Little alone. Emotional quotient is what we're looking for here. And then I forget what he said a couple weeks ago, where it was like, hey, that was very deep, what you just said. No shit. Yeah. Like, that is. He has been phenomenalistic. You know, he's Western Pennsylvania. You know, he's Pittsburgh. There's other coaches where you watch them operate. You know, they're Western Pennsylvania. Hear him talking shit, hear him leading groups. You hear him kind of disrupting everything. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is the head coach of the IU football team. Team. The head of the. Who. Who. Who.
- [100:03]
F
Who.
- [100:07]
A
Coach. 100% our fault. We want to take accountability for yesterday. That's on us. Thank you for taking the time yet again here today with us.
- [100:13]
I
You're welcome. Great to be here.
- [100:15]
A
Love you. Hey, I know we're looking ahead, okay? We got another game. We won't go back to yesterday. We got a lot in front of us. There's a lot of opportunity still. I know all those things, Coach. I just want to let you know, man, we had a great Saturday in Oregon, didn't we? That was a good time. Yeah, that was a good time. I want to let you know I appreciated your team. I had a lot of faith in your team. I respect the shit out of your team. Let's talk about your team. I also respect and appreciate Oregon as well. I think they still have everything in front of them, which is why it was such a big win for you this year. Feel more mature, felt ready for that type of game, do you think, going into that and what does this mean for your team going forward this year as everything literally is right in front of you still?
- [100:53]
I
Well, you know, I was confident going in. I thought our team had a great mindset. We got a lot of veterans on this team, a lot of great leadership, good players that have high character and we had a great week of preparation and I thought we were prepared. Now until you step on the field and play the game and how do you match up? Because obviously last year was a tremendous year. Year one for, for us, you know, doing what we did. Starting 10 0, didn't trail till game nine. But we, you know, we didn't get it done against Ohio State and Notre Dame. I guess you could say we were competitive for a quarter and a half. Against Ohio State we were up seven none, but we done. And so I, I thought Oregon was an extremely impressive team. On tape. I have a lot of respect for coach Lanning. They got a lot of great players and it was a hard place to play, you know, and been a while since they had lost a game there. So I thought it'd be critical that, you know, number one, we have a great mindset and that we would be able to overcome adversity during the course of the game without flinching, ever letting doubt creep in, being resilient, so to speak. And I thought it was a physical, hard fought game. But we did a great job on defense, particularly in the second half. You know, things got done. Gave up three points and got two turnovers. I think they had 40 total yards in the second half half outside the last prevent drive. Offense answered their scores with 75 yard touchdowns. Great drive again at the end of the half of 24 seconds. We did that the week before against Iowa too. Special teams was really good. Been good all year at 58 yard field goal. Two other ones. And we've been pretty good in all phases. So it was a great program. Win.
- [102:38]
A
Yeah, I'd say. And you talk about being pretty good in all phases or great in all phases. I. Because I live here. See, Seen it. You know, the. The reason why that game is such a big deal, I think, for the brand of IU football is because the whole world saw it and heard about it. And I think that's huge for you. You know, I love that you're a Gatorade zero glacier freeze guy. I am as well. It's by far the best one. It is by far the best one that they have no questions asked. Great taste out of you. Okay. I like what you're doing, but. Yeah, exactly. Cheers to you. I assume IU is getting paid. If not, they should be. We are not. I am not. This is just, you know, zero sugar. Let's keep it moving. But Kirk Herbstream brought up a good point, you know, and Kirk has respect for the Big Ten. Kirk has seen the big ten. But there was a stat that was out there. It was like 1 in Indiana is 1 in 71 in these games in the history. And I immediately said, well, the IU football program literally just started last year. Okay. So that is kind of how I feel about it. And I know I'm not the only one. There's a lot of people around Indiana that feel that way. Do you feel the same energy or even more energy than last year with the hot start that you've had this year? Year? How does this Support feel for MyU? Because this is all brand new to Hoosiers fans. They're all football people, but Hoosier football is very new to them. How has it felt kind of rallying for the, you know, the next five, 10, 15 years of a program here that you're building from scratch in Bloomington?
- [103:53]
I
Yeah, well, you know, we have the largest alumni base in America right now, over 800,000. We took over number one a month. A month and a half ago.
- [104:01]
F
Wow.
- [104:02]
I
You know, I think we built on our success all the way around. And all the things that are important to a program, I mean, the games are sold out, the fans are crazy and nutty. Giving has really increased and we're getting more high profile, high powered donors into the program. Facilities are improving. You know, obviously we're in rev share now, and nil will be a key component in that as well. Staff, salary, those kind of things. So definitely moving in the right direction. And obviously there's a lot of excitement, especially, you know, after this last Game, Illinois game was big game too. You know, they were number nine in the country. And then you go to Iowa, that's a really hard place to play now. And that was a hard fought game and win that one. But I think it's really important and addressed this Monday with our team that we ripped the rearview mirror off. And you know, this team's met every challenge up to this point. But why have they met every challenge? It's because of their commitment to the process, doing the things they have to do to be prepared and give themselves the best chance on Saturday. And then even when you are totally prepared, you got to put it on the field, you know, plays one to 150 and you got to play a certain way, you know, so we have things we preach. I really believe in college football, you know, game one and game two, everybody's ready to play after that. Who shows up ready to play and we have to show up ready to play this week and have a great mindset and do the things you got to do from a preparation standpoint because anyone can beat anyone. 95% of teams in people are capable of beating one another on any given day. And Michigan State's got good players, they got good coaches, they went on the road, they lost two hard fought road games at USC and Nebraska. They were dogfights. And I'm sure they're disappointed by their last game at home against ucla, but they got a lot of character on that team and I expect their best shot.
- [106:02]
A
As you should, because you're not taking anybody by surprise anymore. Go ahead, A.J.
- [106:07]
C
Yeah, coach. Roman Hemby, your running back. We saw him obviously in a couple of those highlights against Oregon, I guess. How nice is it to bring him in for Maryland and to see how he's coming? Kind of developed as not. It feels like he's actually a great leader for the team, a veteran player, but the guy runs so hard and seems like he's very versatile and can do it all. Like, what does he do for your offense?
- [106:24]
I
Yeah, I think you hit it right on the head. You know, you bring in guys like Hemby, you know, Coogan and there's others, but Hemby's a warrior. He shows up every day at practice and he's 100% effort all the time. Finishes runs and team run drill. Great hands out of the backfield. Pass protection we needed to work on a little bit when he first got here has really improved and you saw it, you know, against Oregon. I mean, he's a hard downhill runner that has good speed, great hands out in the backfield, and he's just very consistent. Like, you know, a lot of times when you go in the portal, you can research him, you see the stats, maybe you played against them, you hear good things. But you really don't know these guys until, you know, you go through spring ball, fall camp, and play a few games. I mean, just. He is an A plus in every area that you're looking for in terms of getting ready to play and playing to your full potential.
- [107:25]
A
Everybody's trying to do what you do. You just talk about not knowing who these guys are out of the transfer portal until after spring, through fall camp and then a few games. Everybody's looking at what you were able to accomplish and saying, hey, if we have a good transfer portal run and we get the right guy in here, we can turn into a number three team in the country in two years. There's a question now, Connor has about what you've been able to do with the. You know, there's a lot of people in that transfer portal, and you've talked about the stars and everything, what you're looking for. Connor has a question.
- [107:50]
F
Yeah, coach to pass point right there. You know, Mendoza was a name last year, but now he is one of the names in college football. And, you know, you've turned him into that. We talk about in the NFL with Baker Mayfield and his Oculus. He makes his OCs, you know, head coaches. You basically make these quarterbacks absolute superstars. What kind of traits do you look for when you're in the Portal when you are recruiting to, you know, know that this kid has something in him that you can kind of. You mentioned full potential, bring out his full potential. Is it character? I heard you talk about character at Michigan State and your own team heading to Oregon, and that felt like a massive thing. We just Talked to Coach McCarthy about QBEQ emotional quotient and just about the importance of that when it comes to football. What are the specific things you're looking for in all the players that you currently have in your team?
- [108:39]
I
Well, I mean, you know, you gotta have blueprint and a plan, first of all, for how you're gonna run your program. But this. This business is all about recruiting development and now retention. So, you know, I think all my years as a recruiting coordinator really helped me from an evaluation standpoint. And I've always, always, you know, evaluated anyone we are considering coming into the program, whether it's a recruit, a portal guy, or coach, obviously, because it's all about people. It is all about people. You Got to have the right kind of people on your staff and on your team. You know, development is huge. You know, there's a lot of good players out there. I really believe that. You got to do a great job developing them, you know, in the weight room, off season program, how you practice in the meeting room and the kind of culture you create in your program. And you know, in terms of the quarterback, first of all, Chandler Whitmer's done a great job with Fernando Mendoza. You know, he's in his first year with us as quarterback coach, co offensive coordinator and we've had a great running quarterback. You're right. I think we've had five, four or five in a row that were player of the year in the league. And Curtis Rourke had a great year last year, actually was second team all four conference, but I think he led the country in qbr. They've all been different. We've had the pocket guys, the dual guys and the in betweeners and you got to build around their strengths and around your offensive strengths and you know, all those guys have flourished. And Fernando's done the same thing. He was an easy guy to evaluate. There's a lot of physical talent there. You know, he's, he's tall, he's smart, he's got quick release, he can make all throws, he's mobile. When he got here, we had to settle him down a little bit in the pocket, work on his footwork and you know, process a little bit and just calm him down a little bit in the pocket, you know, because he didn't have the best protection at kelp. The progress he has made in the pocket really is unbelievable. And. But as much progress as he has made, he's got that much more he can make because of his ability. And he's the kind of guy, guy, I mean, he is extremely intelligent, he has super high character. He wants to be a great player. And I've never been around a player anywhere I've ever been that prepares like him.
- [110:55]
A
Let's go.
- [110:56]
I
Wow.
- [110:56]
A
I love that, I love that.
- [110:59]
I
And cares about people involved in the community. Teammates love him and, but he's not a real rah rah guy now. You know what I mean? He just, he leads by example, which is how the quarterback needs to lead.
- [111:13]
A
Hey, that's how. That's high EQ, I think is what I'm hearing from Mike McCarthy. The emotional quotient for him, through the roof, physical talent through the roof. His accuracy is insane. You know, you watch him play, it's like, oh, that's A Sunday guy right there, that is a Sunday guy, can extend a play as well. And now he's doing something special down there in Bloomington that we've never seen before in this state. Now, on that note, whenever you got here, you were something that I don't think anybody has seen in D1 ball. Go ahead, Ty.
- [111:38]
B
Yeah, and it was a breath of fresh air, Coach. And obviously everyone, you know, right after, you know, whether it was you saying, hey, listen, I've never taken a back seat to anybody. I'm not going to do it now. And maybe kind of jousting with Ohio State a little bit in Purdue, and then the Google me, you know, I win. That's going to follow you the rest of your life because you continue to do it. Do you think, like, are you at a point now where you don't feel like you. You have to maybe quote, unquote, talk or do any of that stuff anymore? Because it's like, hey, guess what? I can say whatever I want to say, but we're playing on Saturday and we're coming in there to kick your ass. And now people know, like, hey, Indiana actually really might come in here and beat our ass.
- [112:16]
I
Yeah, there's no doubt about it. I mean, you know, I feel like this year I'm back to who I was. This may be 44 or 43 for me. I don't know, you know, the other 41 years. But, you know, just like, you know, what's our response going to be this week against Michigan State, coming off the Oregon win? What you saw last year for me was sort of my response to my first eight hours on the job here. But I detected, noticed and saw and didn't like. And I wasn't going to lower my stance. I'd come from a championship program. We'd won five straight championships.
- [112:51]
F
Hell, yeah.
- [112:52]
I
And I wasn't going to have my standards lowered by everything I felt, saw and heard. And so I got a little mad. Yeah, I did. And it all started at the basketball game, but it didn't. It started when. When I stepped into the stadium for the first time ever and got on the elevator with the ad and he got an earful. And then it just took on a life of its own after that.
- [113:19]
A
I get it.
- [113:20]
I
So, yeah, I don't need to do that. We've established.
- [113:26]
A
Yeah, I don't need to do that anymore. We established eight hours in. Okay. A lot needs to change. I'm sick of all of this. Everything. The questions were probably condescending. The things you were seeing were probably condescending all of a sudden. Well, this is a tall task. We don't have this. We don't have this. I'm sick of this. Okay? We are winning here because I decided to come here. That's what I was going to get. And you got to talk your shit. I love that. And now you're at the point where, I mean, after the Oregon win, it certainly helps. And I'm excited to see how your team responds as well. This is a big test for your team now. They talk about, you know, handling failure. Handling success is obviously the hardest thing. That's all you've ever really done. You can Google that. I'm excited to see your boys respond, but I also appreciate the fact that you look around and you're like, all right, I don't have to tell everybody that we're going to beat the shit out of them. They kind of understand that now. You're the man, man. Coach, we appreciate the hell out of you.
- [114:12]
I
Well, you know, I love you guys, and I heard you talking about the Gateway Gators against Club Mustangs the other day. You know what I mean?
- [114:20]
A
Terry Smith is interim head coach up there at Penn State. Gateway Gator.
- [114:24]
B
Great.
- [114:24]
I
And that's a great football coach, let me tell you.
- [114:26]
A
He'll do a great job there, as will you. That's the head coach at Indiana, Kurt Signetti. We'll continue digitally. Cheers. Goodbye. All right, we're still live. We're still live, so don't say any that, you know, don't bear. You know, you're still live. Live. There's people still watching. Coach, we love you, man. Congratulations on all the success and thank you for the time.
- [114:44]
I
Got to keep it going, man.
- [114:46]
E
All right.
- [114:47]
A
Can't wait to get back down there, brother. Can't wait to get back down there.
- [114:49]
E
Maybe stop by State.
- [114:51]
I
I'm glad you're in our state. You're my homeboy now.
- [114:53]
A
Hell, yeah. Damn right I'm glad you're in our state.
- [114:56]
F
Go down the house.
- [114:57]
A
Hey, I need to go down the house. Putting green, the whole thing, the whole family. Tell the family we said hello. And Grazi down there. Okay, let's go.
- [115:03]
I
That's an open invitation.
- [115:06]
D
We're coming.
- [115:06]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, Kurt Signetti.
- [115:08]
E
Thank you.
- [115:09]
F
Oh.
- [115:14]
I
You ever show up late to the game and your friends already saved.
- [115:16]
A
Your seat, your drink, even a plate.
- [115:18]
I
That's looking out, that's having your back.
- [115:21]
A
And that's exactly what AT&T does with the AT and T guarantee.
- [115:25]
I
They know staying connected matters.
- [115:28]
A
That's why AT&T has connectivity you depend on. Guaranteed. Or they'll proactively make it right. Just like that friend who takes care.
- [115:36]
I
Of things before you even ask.
- [115:38]
A
AT&T connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for details.
- [115:45]
B
Look, being a man doesn't mean skipping self care.
- [115:48]
A
I do this show three times a week, and every single time, I do.
- [115:53]
B
A little self care beforehand.
- [115:54]
A
Okay? Grooming, the hair, everything.
- [115:57]
B
You guys see it.
- [115:59]
A
You don't wake up like this. You don't wake up like that. You got to do. You got to get the stubble going. You got to get rid of that awful mustache I had last spring. Listen, I tried. I thought the mustache over the. Over the stubble was a good look. Not a good look. It wasn't a good look. You have to learn that the hard way. Manscaped makes it easy to feel confident, clean, and ready for anything, whether you're.
- [116:21]
E
At work, hitting the gym, traveling for.
- [116:22]
A
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- [116:41]
E
Cut and the right gear. Get all the manscaped products you need right now at your local target.
- [116:50]
A
He's hilarious. The best he is himself.
- [116:52]
D
Oh, yeah.
- [116:53]
F
He said pocket like the way you did with the golf club.
- [116:57]
B
Yeah.
- [116:57]
A
So he's watching from Pennsylvania. I mean, we had Mike McCarthy and Kurt Signetti. We're talking about Pittsburgh just having its, you know, influence on football. Still happening. Still very. But him walking into that building and just everybody there just being like, why would you come here? What do you do? We have a weight room.
- [117:16]
B
Not a good one.
- [117:17]
F
I think we got half a one.
- [117:18]
D
Him being on edge all year and.
- [117:20]
A
Just being like, I hate all.
- [117:22]
D
Yeah, my selfish here.
- [117:24]
A
No way I'm moving my whole family here. I'm moving my whole family.
- [117:26]
B
I mean, he called his shot. Can you imagine if he does all that stuff and they go 4 and 8? Like, that's not good. He like, but he knew. He's like, it, I'll call my shot. And then we will just beat the out of everybody.
- [117:38]
A
You know how coaches speak through the media to their players. He was speaking to the entire state of Indiana. He was like, obviously he was talking to college football, but he was also talking to IU alumni, which I just saw the tweet 8005000 now is their alumni Which I don't know how that happens a couple of months ago. Indiana University is now home to the nation, nation's largest living alumni network. Powered by more than 800 5,000 living alumni, IU's vast alumni network provides unparalleled opportunities for connection, career advancement and lifelong growth. That's also comma and nil for our football team and our basketball teams. You can also add in there. So. So are they, like, they were tied with another school and somebody passed in.
- [118:22]
F
It must be like, some sort of website and they have sign up. Yeah, either that or, like, my assumption.
- [118:28]
B
Also, like, the football team being as good as they were last year. I wonder what that did for enrollment this year for, you know, like, that. That's a big deal for kids going to college. Like, oh, we might get a college football playoff team next year. Like, yeah, if I'm on the edge between. Between Indiana and Ball State, like, probably going to IU.
- [118:46]
A
Indiana also. Good time.
- [118:47]
B
Yes, for sure.
- [118:48]
A
Noted.
- [118:48]
B
Good 10 school.
- [118:49]
A
Bloomington. Noted. Good time. Yeah, you're right. I guess it is. Big Ten school. All Big Ten schools. Good time.
- [118:54]
B
Legit. Everyone I've ever been to.
- [118:56]
A
Yeah, because, like, West Virginia, obviously just a professional good time. I think, you know, the dropout rate's hilarious for your first semester. You just kind of go crazy every night. There's an opportunity to do something cool and you're gonna do it, and that's just a part of it. And then there's other party schools you kind of hear of. And then. Yeah, I guess now that I just kind of think about all the cities we've been across in the Big Ten. I mean, at Iowa, we had. There was a beer waiting for us at the hotel. So. Awesome. Lady had a baby keg while we were checking in the hotel for the Iowa Hawkeyes game. See, Columbus is obviously Columbus.
- [119:27]
F
I mean, Penn State.
- [119:29]
A
Penn State. Outrageous. Hey, how is it out there? Absolute destruction. Like, where? Everywhere. Pure chaos is how Stanford. Steve kind of called it. What else? Michigan.
- [119:40]
B
Madison.
- [119:41]
A
We went out Ann Arbor. Michigan was a good time. It was.
- [119:44]
B
Yeah.
- [119:44]
A
Michigan was a good time.
- [119:45]
F
Oh, there it is.
- [119:45]
A
Boom.
- [119:46]
F
Northwestern sucks.
- [119:47]
A
Yeah. That city is Chicago. Michigan State is a big party school. What school is it?
- [119:53]
F
I. Well, it's funny, while we're talking Northwestern.
- [119:55]
A
We just said, I don't like, because we immediately went from Northwestern. We went to the city of Chicago. As opposed to the school, maybe any of the inner cities. Yes. Campuses.
- [120:02]
D
Yeah, because there's not enough brew. There's not a lot of room for, like, the. The frat Life or whatever. But yeah, if you don't, if you go to a city school, you just.
- [120:08]
A
Go out in the city. So the city counts as the like pit. For instance, in Oakland.
- [120:13]
F
Yeah.
- [120:14]
A
I've had good times in Oakland at like apartment parties, house parties.
- [120:18]
E
Yeah.
- [120:19]
A
But it doesn't have the opportunity to do like what big campuses, right.
- [120:23]
D
Gotta get fake ID and go to the borscht.
- [120:24]
A
Bingo. You're going to the city. Yeah. Interesting. And do they still do. Do all this stuff?
- [120:28]
C
Yes, I hope so.
- [120:29]
F
Oh yeah, they do.
- [120:31]
A
Down in the South. I wonder. I assume just every. Cuz I only see their tailgate setups and everybody's having a good time.
- [120:36]
C
Yeah, they know. They know how to. Yeah, they always have great setups. Like. Yeah. Down south they. They have the great college experience. I feel like I'm happy.
- [120:44]
A
We got good times all over the place. That's what it's all about. We need more good times.
- [120:48]
F
Amen.
- [120:48]
A
The world needs more good times. So if these are being generated via sports or just other opportunities, we're happy about that. Now, tonight, let's start this week. Week seven. Perfect.
- [121:01]
I
Boom.
- [121:02]
F
Let's go.
- [121:02]
A
Aj, I would like your take on Tuas. We didn't really talk about that, but we could do it tomorrow actually. We could just move past it. I thought Tua did a great job on that statement. Did you as well?
- [121:10]
C
He handled it well. Absolutely. Yeah.
- [121:11]
I
He.
- [121:11]
C
If he. Yeah, go ahead, address it. Let him know. And like you said, start off the, start off the press conference like that. Because I know every question will be about that. Yeah. Hey, hand up. That was on me.
- [121:21]
A
Here we go. It's move my intent. I explained to the boys what my intent, like my intentions were to just talk about.
- [121:26]
C
And he said my. The guys know my heart. They know my intent. They know. And I'm like, yeah, that is very true actually. Usually. It's usually the case.
- [121:32]
A
I did appreciate him throwing a media under the bus. Like we misconstrued it.
- [121:36]
B
Yeah, I give that one a good move. Yeah, yeah.
- [121:40]
A
What I meant. Because it happens to us. What we actually said, what you are saying. We said two different things.
- [121:45]
I
Things.
- [121:46]
A
But in this particular case, every ex player basically said, come on, we don't need that. Come on. You're throwing all of us under the bus. Yeah, yeah. We don't. You're throwing yourself under the bus. You don't even know it right there. You're literally just throwing yourself under the bus. Right. Nobody's winning here from this particular statement. So I appreciate him owning that and moving Forward Rasheed Rice is back for the Kansas City Chiefs. That's going to be, I mean, huge. Yeah. It's about to happen.
- [122:13]
F
Yes.
- [122:14]
A
It started happening. Okay. The Chief's wagon started to kind of, you know, forge the river a little bit, and it started rolling slowly. Surely. This team stinks. They're dead. I even fell into it. I'm like, you know what?
- [122:28]
B
Maybe it's hard not to.
- [122:29]
A
Maybe they are done. Dude, this is a bummer. I don't like it, but I'm thankful that I got to watch it with how great it was. That's how I started feeling in here. And then. Hold on, hold on. The Chiefs. Remember, they're the Chiefs. Patrick.
- [122:43]
C
Patrick Mahomes hears that, too. He hears that, too. I think he. He loves that he starts putting a.
- [122:47]
A
Team on his back. Like, he actually starts, like, running time. He starts, like, taking hits, taking run. Travis Kelsey starts. Oh, wait a second. Here we go. Xavier Worthy. Okay, hold on. Kareem Hunt. Hollywood Brown. Juju Smith Schuster. All these guys seemingly start having better games, and it's like, wait a minute. That's a. This is more weapons than they've ever had. Ever had. And then all of a sudden, wait a second. Rasheed Rice is coming back, too. So now they might have the most weapons that they've ever had. They're playing good football, and this is why that they are sitting in the position that they're in, which is everybody saying they're going super bowl again. That's where we're sitting in week seven for sure. Feels like age. Yeah.
- [123:22]
C
Yeah, definitely does. I mean, watching Patrick Mahomes work and watching, like, you can tell. I don't know. The guy's just an ultra competitor, and I love watch him. And I think when he is in that moment mode, when he's alive, when he is breathing, the Chiefs always have a chance.
- [123:35]
A
Yes. I think that's how we should view it forever. Especially with Andy Reid coaching as well.
- [123:39]
C
So we should remember, punched by Jackham. We keep running this play. I'm sorry. We've ran as a bunch. I love watching Jack Campbell come in and throw this unbelievable haymaker here, trying.
- [123:46]
A
To get so good.
- [123:47]
C
It's so funny to me. I don't know why.
- [123:49]
A
Why didn't you do a little bit more?
- [123:50]
C
Watch this.
- [123:51]
A
Yeah, he let him get up, too. It's like, perfect.
- [123:54]
C
Almost hit him. What if he hit him right in the balls, too? Oh, he probably may have glanced.
- [123:57]
A
Yeah, he might have got a glancing blow with the balls there. We're not 100 sure. But him perfectly timing for when he got got up. Like, hey, nobody touched this guy. He's getting up. Yeah, that's a. That's classic play by veteran defensive player Jack Campbell. Certainly flies around. But on that note, Patrick Mahomes and Rasheed Rice last season, weeks one through three. Okay, Hembo sent these stats over weeks one through three last season. 24 receptions, first 185 yards, Yak, 288 receptions, yards, 32 targets, and then he got injured in week four. Mahomes is getting less Yak this season, 5.7 yards per completion than he ever had has. So Rasheed Rice should be adding to that, let alone all the weapons that Andy Reid now has to kind of draw some up. That feels like huge news football wise. And yep, I'm back to only picking the Chiefs blindly until I lose all my money like I did a couple years ago.
- [124:42]
F
It's a good move.
- [124:43]
A
I assume sportsbooks are going to react the same way though, with them.
- [124:45]
D
Yeah, I was actually.
- [124:46]
E
I can't.
- [124:47]
F
They are.
- [124:48]
D
What are they this weekend?
- [124:50]
F
I mean, he's the favorite to an MVP now and they're the favorite.
- [124:53]
A
So sportsbooks are already.
- [124:54]
D
Oh, they're minus 11 a half against the.
- [124:56]
A
This says 12 and a half. I assume either of those could work across the board. Chiefs -12 and a half hosting the Raiders. And we know that's a petty game.
- [125:06]
C
That's a big number, big time.
- [125:07]
F
And if you remember how Rashid Rice got hurt, Mahomes might feel a little bad because it was actually Mahomes who fell on his leg to get him hurt last year and then that's carried over into the suspension. So maybe Mahomes is going to say, you know what, I owe you six touchdowns.
- [125:20]
A
See, it feels like everybody on that team loves him because they're just openly, proudly, very loudly supporting. Everybody's like, don't you do that. And they're like, it's our guy.
- [125:27]
F
Yeah.
- [125:28]
A
So they must be very, very pumped for him to come back. Mike Vrabel is going to take on Tennessee Titans, obviously, Tennessee Titans fire him unceremoniously out of nowhere in a lot of our eyes. He then goes to Cleveland Browns for a year as an advisor, as a council, and then he, boom, becomes the head coach of the New England Patriots. And boom, they're really good again. So brave who had success in Tennessee with the Titans will be facing them for the first time as a head coach at a new place. Will he remember that or this be strictly business for Mike Vrabel? A.J. hawk.
- [125:58]
C
Well, I don't know. What do you think, Pat? I think he may have an idea. He may have a little memory of what it was like to get booted out of there.
- [126:03]
E
But.
- [126:04]
C
But will the sportsbook take in this whole interim head coach bump? That usually happens the week after a firing.
- [126:10]
A
You think for Callahan and the boys down there, after the fire, is it McCoy?
- [126:13]
C
I believe McCoy is the interm coach.
- [126:15]
F
Yeah. I didn't love what McCoy said too, because he basically said like, well, on offense we're only going to do what Cam Ward does well now. And we weren't really doing that per se. So not great for New England. But if you're talking about like, hey, the players are going to. Because it's not just him. Harold Landry, who's a leader on the defense now, he used to play for Tennessee. I forget if he got cut or just signed somewhere else, who knows. But there's, there's a few of that. This Bob Spain, Jack Gibbons, the other middle linebacker. Like there's a few Titans on that roster. And I feel like you talk about it sometimes too, like it's a big time. Like variable can say what he wants, but doesn't the locker room more so have to be like, hey, we need to do this for fucking coach. No matter what he says.
- [126:53]
A
That's what Terry Smith is saying up at Penn State about to the team and to the coaches, like, hey, we got James Franklin fired so we can rally around this. You could definitely rally around your head coach and put up for him. I didn't even think about the fired head coach bump that happened. That's like one of my rules.
- [127:07]
C
Yeah, McCoy's a respected guy too. Like, he's a respected legit coach.
- [127:11]
D
It's a revenge game versus the fired coach. First game. Yeah, it's tough. I used to. I stay away from this.
- [127:17]
F
Yeah, it's the battle of the football gods, kind of, you know, who knows?
- [127:21]
A
Yeah, who knows?
- [127:22]
F
And we like, that's what sucks. Like we all. I think I like Ken where I think he's nasty.
- [127:27]
A
So you're taking Braves minus six and a half.
- [127:31]
C
I didn't know the points were that much, but I'll see tomorrow how I feel. But right now that's where I'm leaning.
- [127:36]
F
You should know very similar to a lot of situations where it goes like the Bills, everybody's taking the pats. I mean, everybody in their mother's taking their pats. Everybody and their mother is saying pats are going to kill them.
- [127:48]
A
So what's the stat again?
- [127:50]
D
75% of the bets right now are currently on the Patriots.
- [127:53]
A
And what's the stat?
- [127:54]
D
15 and 36 teams that are getting 60% or more of the public bet.
- [127:58]
A
AJ, this is the week. I am not a public puppet.
- [128:02]
F
Are you sure?
- [128:04]
A
Boy said players not plays. When asked about how he would change the approach with Cam.
- [128:08]
E
There it is.
- [128:09]
A
What does Cam Ward do best? Players not place. What's that mean? Boys gotta lock in a little bit.
- [128:14]
D
What does he play?
- [128:15]
F
This is week one game. Week seven is.
- [128:18]
A
Okay, well, good luck to you guys.
- [128:21]
F
Thanks, man.
- [128:22]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, before we make our picks, we would like to say that AJ's college roommate and high school friend is currently battling through something I just learned about in the last few days via a post on his social media. Basically I had a chance to chat with him and AJ obviously has more information. Him and Nick are literally best friends. So Nick is currently looking for a kidney with the type O blood and if you are interested in in helping him as he's battled chronic kidney disease throughout his entire life and he said that he knew that this moment was potentially going to be coming for him. He had no idea it would be this soon. He had been on dialysis since August. I think that's what he said. Yeah, I think he's been on dialysis since August, which is three times a week for four hours each session. They're basically pumping out his blood and then pumping it back in to clean it because that is the job of his kidney and his chronic kidney disease had gotten to a point where the kids kidney is not operable. So now he is looking for a donor to give a kidney that could potentially match his blood type and that would happen in November. I believe he has to go through dialysis for a few more weeks before he can even get to the point of getting or receiving said kidney. So you are not past this storyline to help. And it's not just obviously Nick Mangold. How many people are currently on dialysis?
- [129:40]
F
I believe it was 550,000 in the United States and like over 800 million words worldwide.
- [129:45]
A
Okay, so even if you have any interest in helping Nick Mangold or anybody else, there's a lot of people. You go to this website, you can scan this particular QR code and then you'll click on the link and then you'll go through some things and they'll check and see what your blood type is and what's all possible for you to be able to help out. A football legend, obviously an Ohio State legend, New York jet legend, and a Young man that I didn't even know this was really possible. Aj, You've been close with them your entire life. Went to the same high school, same college. College, and obviously still talk to him today. Did everybody know about this? And what have. What did I miss? Maybe in describing that entire situation.
- [130:20]
C
No, you pretty much hit it on the head. No. Like, everyone was not aware of this by any means. I mean, they were like, we were aware of that he had a situation, but we didn't know how serious it was. And we didn't know he'd be getting, you know, needing a kidney transplant at this point in his life. He didn't either. That's what he said. Like, I, he even, like, was joking with me, saying, hey, I get what into this dialysis, which is not a great situation. It's not fun. And I go with, I'm in there with a bunch of 60, 70, 80 year olds. And I'm. I was like, yeah, they got to say, who is this giant mammoth human with long hair and a beard, right, Walking in here? Why is he in here? And Nick is asking the same thing. Like, yeah, I didn't think it would be at this point, but he's also super positive about it and saying, hey, there is like an answer. There's if I can find a way to get a kidney, I can go and hopefully live a normal life after this. But. But yeah, it's scary, man. He's got four kids. Everything just totally upends your whole life.
- [131:08]
A
We are sending super positive vibes and well wishes and good luck to Mangold and his entire family on receiving a kidney. But also, I think there's a chance that Nick is on the other side of this. Is going to be able to raise a lot of awareness about things that we have learned over the last couple days through Nick Mangold's story here with chronic kidney disease about the many other people that are just looking for a little bit of health, I believe are a little bit bit of help. I believe the body has two kidneys, but it is understood that you only need one to really operate a body. So if you have an extra and you're willing and you happen to match, if you go to this website and find out typo, you could be the person that potentially saves Nick Mangold's life and many others that are currently going through the same thing. So, Nick, we love you, buddy. We love you, brother. We hope you get it. We hope you get it now. Tonight, AFC north football, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco -5 1/2 for the Pittsburgh Steelers on every single sportsbook you could have got them in. Minus four and a half about an hour ago. It is switched back. Everybody sees it the same way. Almost a touchdown favorite in Cincinnati in front of Andrew Whitworth, the ruler of the jungle. Aj, how do you see it? We're fresh off a tie, brother. We're fresh off a tie. And we're tied for the season, too. We're 3, 3, 33 for the season, and we're fresh off a tie last week. So whenever you talk about what tonight means, it's a potential perfect slate for one of us or both of us if we see it the exact same way.
- [132:35]
C
Yeah, it is. I mean, this is Coach McCarthy. I know he's talking about, I got to go home next week. So he's taking the Steelers, obviously. He usually doesn't like a lot of points like that, especially in the division. I've gone back and forth with this one, but you know what? Honestly, give me Joe Flacco and give.
- [132:48]
A
Me the best angles, plus five and half. Wow.
- [132:52]
F
Especially didn't hear.
- [132:53]
C
Didn't hear Big Mike say, found it.
- [132:57]
F
You heard.
- [132:57]
C
Found a little bit in the second half.
- [132:59]
B
You.
- [132:59]
H
You.
- [133:00]
A
He said, Joe Flacker. They're doing what they need to do to win football games, which is such a football way or football coach way to talk about a team that's decimated by injuries and also in a situation that a lot of people don't think they'll be able to win. Football coach looking at them go, they have ways to win games, though, and they started playing way. Ways to win game is what he said last week.
- [133:17]
F
Yeah, but AJ kind of let it off with his real feelings. You know, Big Bike has to go home to Pittsburgh. AJ's got to live in Ohio. And that's exactly why I picked the Bengals.
- [133:25]
A
Oh, yeah. And he's probably going back to Centerville for some celebration of him punting 59.
- [133:29]
F
Exactly.
- [133:30]
A
30 touchdowns. Some.
- [133:31]
F
Some sort of homecoming king.
- [133:34]
A
Do you have a celebratory AJ Hawk day back there at Centerville for the Elks?
- [133:38]
C
No, we do not.
- [133:39]
F
Everyone dresses up as Hawk. Hawks don't lie. Hawk. Everyone dresses up as Hawks, walks around the hallway. Everyone has to get 33 tackles today.
- [133:47]
A
Okay. And also rush for 130.
- [133:49]
E
Yeah.
- [133:50]
A
And they do. They even have the wings.
- [133:52]
B
Exactly.
- [133:52]
E
Yeah.
- [133:53]
A
Everybody, you got to go like this while you're walking. And it gets kind of tight in the hallways, but they do it for AJ Hawk. AJ Hawk. AJ Hawk.
- [134:02]
B
They got turned or that might Be how you rack up a couple tackles, you know, instigate a little tap contact, get a little brouhaha going, and then boom, you just got a melee in.
- [134:11]
A
The hallway right here underneath.
- [134:12]
B
The teachers hate it.
- [134:14]
C
Yeah.
- [134:15]
B
Yep, exactly.
- [134:16]
A
Chicken wing. You get actual hawk wing. I guess.
- [134:19]
F
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [134:20]
A
Because you gotta. Yeah, bigger teachers are doing it, too.
- [134:22]
F
Yeah, that's what I mean.
- [134:23]
A
They hate it.
- [134:24]
E
Yeah.
- [134:24]
F
Because their costume smell. They've been doing it for years.
- [134:27]
A
Think about. Yeah. Because every year they're gonna do it. Since he did that, Think about them having to hold their books with her. You know, like, what do you even.
- [134:34]
F
Do with the backpack? Beak.
- [134:35]
A
Well, that's part of the hawk day is working out.
- [134:38]
D
Yes.
- [134:38]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [134:39]
E
Yeah.
- [134:40]
C
Shoulders and traps are dying by the end of that.
- [134:42]
E
That's what you love.
- [134:42]
A
Yeah.
- [134:43]
D
That's your favorite parts.
- [134:45]
C
Means you're growing. It means I'm growing if I'm sore. Right?
- [134:47]
B
Amen.
- [134:48]
A
That's right. Pain means gains, dude.
- [134:51]
F
Always.
- [134:52]
A
That's what we're doing.
- [134:54]
H
Flap.
- [134:55]
C
You're saying you're not in the Bengals?
- [134:56]
A
Flap, flap, flap, flap, flap. If this goes in, I'll take the Bengals.
- [135:03]
B
Okay.
- [135:04]
F
Okay.
- [135:04]
C
I'm sure you'll make a good, solid attempt.
- [135:09]
B
I don't think so. But, boy, right online.
- [135:13]
A
I don't know what to do.
- [135:14]
F
This is a five point game. That's what we just learned.
- [135:16]
A
I don't know.
- [135:17]
F
We just learned it's a five point game and you can get four and a half or five and a half.
- [135:20]
A
We gotta get an answer.
- [135:25]
H
Holy.
- [135:25]
F
It went.
- [135:26]
A
Yeah.
- [135:26]
B
Yeah.
- [135:26]
F
Okay.
- [135:26]
B
Yeah, that one did go.
- [135:27]
F
You gotta trust.
- [135:28]
B
You don't have a choice.
- [135:29]
E
You have to trust it.
- [135:30]
A
Joey Flacco plus five and a half. I mean, if you go back and listen to the beginning of this show, just. Just two hours ago, at this exact moment, it's 216. We're 16 minutes in. Two hours ago. You would not believe that. I mean, that's two balls there. Yeah, yeah.
- [135:45]
F
Have to.
- [135:45]
B
That's the universe talking to you, Whitworth.
- [135:49]
E
Yeah.
- [135:49]
D
Have to listen.
- [135:50]
C
White. White helmets. White hot look's going to dominate that. The ruler of the jungle, too.
- [135:56]
D
I believe the pants and also the jersey are also white, Paul.
- [136:00]
C
Wait.
- [136:00]
F
White helmets pants and jerseys?
- [136:02]
A
Yeah. Cleats.
- [136:03]
B
O FL's got those white cleats.
- [136:06]
D
They even painted the walls of the field white. I saw that.
- [136:08]
A
Flo's got these cleats right here.
- [136:10]
F
Oh, yeah.
- [136:11]
A
They'll just paint them orange. They'll drop them in there for orange. These are actually Flacos.
- [136:17]
D
Yeah, it's not a lot.
- [136:19]
A
That's. Hey, we're live. We're live. We're live. We're live. I'm live, too. Let's go. Okay. Okay. I like that you're live. Both AJ And I are both taking the Bengals plus five and a half. AJ Likes it because he lives in Ohio. Me, I throw a football universe ball into the hoop. It goes in two of them, basically. Fitz, what up, baby? Hey. Why. Why should I feel. Hey, Fitz. Good to see you, dude. Why should I. Should we feel good about this or. No. Like, what are you doing? Are you talking to team? Are you playing? What's all expected for you? I'm just a rule of the jungler, Pat. But because I'm the ruler of the jungle, it's gonna be a big night, baby. And you know what? I'm going Bengals tonight, too.
- [136:57]
D
I'm with you day.
- [136:58]
I
All day.
- [136:59]
D
Let's go.
- [137:01]
A
The boys are saying you. You got your beard white for the white out tonight. Is Fitz doing the same? Fitz is not gonna do the same.
- [137:07]
F
He dyes his beard back colors.
- [137:09]
C
He doesn't want it more.
- [137:09]
A
Admit it, but here's the truth. I also got the white Bengal stripes in my hoodie tonight. I'm representing all white with the team. Let's go, baby. All right. We can't wait to watch it. We appreciate you. Tell Fitz we said what's good, too. We'll do appreciate you, brother. See you. Good luck tonight. A lot of pressure on him be allowed to be there, especially with how good he's gonna look now that.
- [137:29]
F
I mean, the white beard sold me. Don't. Do not put the village.
- [137:32]
D
What does the ruler do? Do they eat like a gazelle or munch meet?
- [137:36]
C
Yeah.
- [137:37]
D
Okay.
- [137:37]
A
They get a staff, I believe is what Bruce just dropped into my ear.
- [137:40]
C
I just. I watched. The only time I've ever seen it was when I watched what Gary Owen, his, like, rehearsal. He filmed that. I watched a clip of him do it. I've never. It was not happening when I was there. They didn't do it back at the old Riverfront Stadium when I was a young kid going to games, but it looks pretty sweet.
- [137:54]
A
We knew that G had a tall task there and showed his wit, by the way. But I think Whit should feel good. Staff plus five and a half, I think is what he should say.
- [138:02]
E
Yeah.
- [138:03]
A
When he puts that thing down. But hold on. This is what G. Okay.
- [138:09]
D
Cincinnati.
- [138:10]
A
This week's rule of the jungle is me. I'm so excited to be here. We're Going to strike the jungle. I'm excited to be Rule of the jungle. It's time, baby. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. So Whit better pick it up.
- [138:20]
B
Yeah. Okay.
- [138:20]
D
So it's not like they're not like a Bengal. They're like George of the. They're like Tarzan.
- [138:25]
F
That's what it appears to be.
- [138:26]
B
Yes.
- [138:27]
A
What?
- [138:27]
C
No, they're not trying to be a tiger.
- [138:29]
D
Okay. Yeah, yeah. They're human in the jungle. They're about talking cars in.
- [138:32]
A
Well, first of all, tiger. I mean, I guess if I was a tiger fan, which I was. I wrote a school project on in fourth grade about tigers. How me too much I respected appreciate him. We had to do a hanger and then we had.
- [138:42]
B
Yeah, it was awesome.
- [138:43]
A
Color the animal. And then we had. Right.
- [138:44]
D
It was so sick.
- [138:45]
A
I remember like yesterday I lied about.
- [138:47]
D
Bagel tiger as well.
- [138:48]
A
That's the first time I lied about everything. And I knew the teachers weren't reading it. I said these tigers take their food into the bush. Just lied completely.
- [138:54]
H
They might though.
- [138:55]
D
They don't know that sometimes they carry it up in the trees.
- [138:57]
A
Wrote it that morning, literally. I as I was taping this thing together because it was a full challenge you had to do. Yeah. I just lied the whole time. Got an A because I guess the tape looks good. I like the tigers. I don't think tigers though are naturally known as the rulers of the jungle.
- [139:09]
B
They're not.
- [139:10]
A
No, I don't think that is the case. It should be though. Well, the ruler of the jungle is the lion.
- [139:15]
F
Yeah.
- [139:15]
A
Which is the king of the jungle. But it is the jungle over there because the Houde people make it pretty wild.
- [139:20]
B
Yeah, it's true.
- [139:21]
F
And lions don't hunt. That's the thing. Tigers do it all. That's why you would think they'd be the ruler and the lion would be the king. Because the lionesses bring the food to the lion. So it's like a king.
- [139:30]
A
Yeah.
- [139:30]
F
Whereas a ruler thing would be like, hey, that guy's patrolling. Fucking shit up like a tiger in a bank.
- [139:35]
A
But I think that people would say a king is a ruler.
- [139:38]
F
Yeah.
- [139:38]
D
He rules all of the land.
- [139:40]
A
So you're saying a lazy ruler.
- [139:42]
F
I'm almost thinking like Dutch and Dutch. Excuse me, Duke and Duchess. Like know how that works. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like the king is the lion and like the. The. The queen is the lioness asses. And then like the duke and duchesses would be like the tigers the rulers.
- [139:57]
D
Yeah.
- [139:57]
A
So instead of like general or captain, it's like bingo. Got it. It's in the hierarchy of the jungle.
- [140:03]
F
They're way up there.
- [140:04]
A
Way up there major, but just right below.
- [140:08]
D
Yeah, because.
- [140:09]
A
Because it looks.
- [140:11]
F
Because I own.
- [140:12]
A
Yeah, because it looks cool. Now the tiger looks cool though. I think that was one of the stats I wrote.
- [140:17]
F
Super.
- [140:18]
B
Tiger looks cool.
- [140:19]
A
Looks cool.
- [140:19]
F
I mean you've seen a liger, right?
- [140:21]
A
Yeah, those are big.
- [140:22]
F
Those things are awesome. Coolest animal.
- [140:25]
A
Those are big. Tiger King still in jail.
- [140:30]
F
Yeah, he's alive. Holy.
- [140:32]
C
He was trying to get pardoned by Trump. I don't think he gave it to him.
- [140:35]
A
Man, what a launch into an era of life that we had there by him. Yeah.
- [140:40]
F
Probably living the dream.
- [140:41]
A
I see the other day.
- [140:42]
D
He looks a lot different.
- [140:43]
A
Yes. Joe Exotic is still in jail. He's serving a 21 year old sentenced for his role in a murder for hire plot and all life crimes. I'll tell you what, there was a lot of backstabbing in that. In that zoo safari world.
- [140:52]
F
A lot of rulers of the jungle.
- [140:53]
A
Yeah. No, there were zero rulers of the jungle. I think that they needed a ruler of the jungle. They needed a tiger to actually come through there. See, he was ruler and king.
- [141:01]
F
He thought, yeah, there you go.
- [141:02]
A
Tiger and king. He was doing too much. He never did one thing. And he is currently incarcerated. Federal Medical Center, Fort Worth. And his earliest release date is scheduled for 2030.
- [141:12]
B
So he's. He's close.
- [141:13]
A
His real name, Joseph Mal Pass.
- [141:17]
C
I think he's sick though. I think that's why he's at the medical center. I think he's sick for real.
- [141:21]
A
All right. Tiger King, we appreciate you allowing us to see your life at the time in which they did.
- [141:26]
F
Nailed it.
- [141:27]
A
I don't think you did it all right though. Which is what kind of we all liked. Hope you're better. Let's win our best.
- [141:33]
F
Hell yeah.
- [141:34]
E
Boys.
- [141:34]
A
How about the universe ball Two.
- [141:36]
F
Two of them in a row.
- [141:39]
A
We'll find out if it's real or not, I guess. Good luck. Be your friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this all together. Let's never forget that team on me. Hey, great work in the back boys. Great work in the back. Work boys.
- [141:51]
C
Boys.
- [141:51]
A
Graphic boys. Good work, boys. Work, boys. Everybody in thunder doing really good work.
- [141:57]
G
Oh yeah, you too.
- [141:57]
I
You too.
- [141:58]
A
Good work, boys. Foxy, congrats on still being U ball champion, bro. Just like we said it would. Oh, oh. It's a tough game for you, you, you. When we do do do what we do do do in the ball of you, you, you. We're very good at this game. Now this is a game that anybody can win.
- [142:19]
F
True.
- [142:19]
A
Certainly cuz D bound has done that a couple times. All right, team, on me. Stop cheating. He needs to get in the air for his tips.
- [142:26]
D
Oh, I meant you Voxy as well, but yeah, I. Oh, not you.
- [142:30]
A
But what are you talking about?
- [142:32]
D
Foxy's on the ground.
- [142:33]
A
We didn't take any points. Yeah, I didn't take those points. Gentlemen's game though. You guys said. You know what, that was a cool play. Here's a couple points. Yeah. Because only you can decide if you want to, you know, utilize the rule at the time. I will say good Internet judging if Debone was on the ground or not.
- [142:50]
F
Great.
- [142:51]
A
The still photos really did him in. Yeah, because in real time, when you're watching, watching it. Oh, look at the big man move. You're kind of looking here. Looky here. You're not looking at another place. Big man on the ground, he's. Oh, look at that. Oh, no looker. First one ever. And team D, Bone and Butts. Maybe the D block. Maybe the D boys. I mean, I guess that's a work in progress on the team name there. The original name I thought was Bone and Butts, but they have changed there. You kind of see a little special athleticism out of our national champion. And whenever you slow it down, take a picture, his foot's clearly on the ground. Ground. Clearly on the ground with the ball.
- [143:23]
F
Yikes.
- [143:24]
A
Clearly grounded right there.
- [143:25]
F
Now this does feel like Russ trying to slow down the game, but I love that we're holding it accountable.
- [143:29]
A
Well, so New York actually is Fox's phone and he's the one that called it out. Nobody else called it out.
- [143:33]
F
Yeah, after Foxy lost. I think that was Bowen's big point.
- [143:36]
D
New York called. I thought it was ruled on the field. Oh, that's interesting.
- [143:39]
A
That is weird, Tony.
- [143:41]
E
That's funny.
- [143:42]
F
Well, Foxy, in this sense, you're the ref. The Chiefs.
- [143:44]
A
Yeah. And then Bones, the Lions. Oh, yeah.
- [143:46]
F
Bone would be the Lions. Fox, I think you're missing this.
- [143:48]
A
I guess Bone is the Lions in this situation. But then the ref said in the pool report that no, New York didn't call us. But then Dan Campbell says, yes, New York did call and they did make that play. So what's going on? Are these New York in with the Chiefs? That's what everyone's saying. Can we get some story straight?
- [144:04]
D
Man, no wonder why the Chiefs are back.
- [144:07]
A
Why? Cuz I seen the AI pictures that you've been making out there.
- [144:11]
D
You mean the ones of 15 in the stripes together?
- [144:14]
A
Yeah, they're smooching all the time. I'm not sick of seeing Patrick Mahomes and he's ref smooch all the time. It's all over my algorithm. It's all over my algorithm.
- [144:22]
D
Always sucking face.
- [144:23]
A
They even got the new. They said new angle of the juju Ms. Shuster thing. It did look like a new angle. I was like, all right, let's see, you know, if there's anything said between the two. What's said? And then lo and behold, it was just Patrick Mahomes walking back and then him walking right to a ref and sucking face. I'm like, enough with this. Enough with this. Too much. Now. I will say conflicting stories cannot be happening out of the NFL. Especially whenever it comes to refs and Chiefs. Watch that.
- [144:48]
D
Get the story right.
- [144:48]
A
That's insane.
- [144:50]
F
Not the only one.
- [144:51]
A
What's that?
- [144:52]
F
I mean, I don't gotta pound the drum anymore, but the refs, I mean, they're completely up the games. I saw a guy. I saw a guy that had 500 to win, like 2 grand, and he had diggs 30 yards and he didn't get it. So, I mean, like, now there's a bunch of money on these calls that are. Look, again, I'm not pounding the drum anymore. But the referee that I have a problem with, he'll be referencing the London game. So you guys can see for yourself.
- [145:20]
A
9:30Am Obviously, there's.
- [145:22]
F
There's Adrian Hill.
- [145:23]
E
Sorry.
- [145:24]
A
Okay, So I appreciate that. I can't wait to watch him do his thing and his crew do his thing. The conflicting stories, though, never happens. Why is the New York thing a problem? The New York thing should never be a problem. That's what I don't. Yeah. I don't think it's an issue at all. Them lying about it happening, I think is probably the bigger problem. Right.
- [145:39]
C
Yeah.
- [145:40]
H
Yeah. Question.
- [145:41]
C
You can't. Yeah. You have to be on the same page.
- [145:43]
F
Massive deal.
- [145:43]
C
We know that if.
- [145:45]
A
If there's people who have 8K streams at all times around them in New York and they got all eyes on them, I don't have a problem with New York. Because why are they even wearing the yes. If New York can't be like, hey, pick it up, or something like that, I think that is probably how it's supposed to go. Right? Isn't that kind of how it's supposed to kind of go? That's why they had to run over that one spot special. Spot put the things on because they got to talk to the thing now with the person up in the, in the stadium. You know, maybe they're in constant contact with people in New York. So I don't know how it got kind of construed, but them saying no, it's not from New York and then it being from New York is like the shadiest of all that so could possibly happen. That's a problem. Yeah. Do we know if this, if they would have just said from the beginning New York called this one in. Yes, exactly. Then at least they could come in and say this isn't the only one we've called in. And there's a lot of things that we think are obvious or change calls just to make the game better that we call in. But instead they're like n New York wouldn't do that. And then it's like, yeah, actually New York did exactly what they, what team they do it for. Oh, oh, do we know? So now they kind of put themselves in a little bit of a bind, you know, Cuz they just because of faulty communication. I think they should just own that New York is doing A.J. that's what I think they should do.
- [146:57]
C
Absolutely. I mean, yes, of course they should. Like when you try to lie about it, even if you they're not doing anything weird, it makes it sound like you are.
- [147:05]
A
So hold on. So why didn't you tell the truth at the beginning? You think it looks bad? You think it is bad? Because I don't think I would have thought it was bad until you lied about it being bad. Then you have to start questioning. So what else?
- [147:19]
F
Yeah, exactly. And it's pretty easy to tell when someone's lying. But like when you're talking about poll reports, like the streams and the poll reports, do we know if the AK streams are live in New York when it comes to the NFL?
- [147:31]
A
Okay, we're not talking about that because you can see that ESPN+ double check ESPN. Did you hear this?
- [147:36]
C
No. What?
- [147:38]
A
I've not been able to check it out personally, but there is certainly a large group of people that are investigating currently on the Internet about ESPN plus has live games, right? A bunch of live games. And they're gonna have to figure this out. I guess there's a chance that they run advertisements which stop the video and then after the advertisement you go back to where the video stopped at. So then however long the advertisement is, you see you're automatically behind, let alone the lag that's happening. So if it's a 15 second video and you go back to 15 second behinds. But what if the lag is another 15 seconds, 30 seconds behind? Then you do that again, get another advertising. Somehow you back it up. So as the game goes further, you're kind of getting off, I think is what the storyline was. And then the immediate question is, well, why aren't they just running their ads? Whenever they're running the command commercials and it's like, well, they might have been actually. Which then they were stopping back in the commercials, actually. So they're actually making you watch the commercial break longer than. And it was setting back the game. There's a chance. I have no idea. But it's just like, you got to figure that out. You got to figure that out. And if you want to do it, you got to do it. The red zone. Foxy Ram trucks, please. Ram trucks. This is what you just. This is the answer. Like, if they're trying to steal more time or more money off the thing or add better, you know, profit off the amount of people that are watching these live games to pay for the product in which you're spending a lot of money on the coding and the engineering in the back end to make sure all that shit runs. It's like, you can't have the gamestop. You got to keep it going. And if it's during the commercials, I don't think people care. You drop in there that the new V8 Hemi is back. No, I don't think people would care.
- [149:04]
F
Yeah.
- [149:04]
A
That it's around. Motor Trend has chosen Ram 1500 as Truck of the Year for 2020. Ram trucks are also back on track and returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series for the 2026 season. And we're assuming they're going to win. That's the best truck down the line. Nothing stops ramming whenever it's Rams. Yeah. So that can't happen. That's what I mean.
- [149:28]
F
We're on ESPN plus right now. There's probably people five minutes behind us.
- [149:32]
A
Yeah, but we don't. It doesn't matter for us because you can't really gamble on what we're doing the live betting stuff whenever these games. And then you're saying it's. It's.
- [149:40]
H
Well, that.
- [149:40]
B
And that's like a massive part of like the selling point is like, hey, you want to cut your cable cord? It's like, well, yeah, but I want to watch the games live because otherwise, like, what am I. I get the out of market stuff. But like, it's. It's not an alternative to tv.
- [149:52]
A
If that's the case, Gumpy, as soon as this started going on the Internet last night, there was somebody that cracked the case. Alad, I forget your name. I apologize. He really dove into it all. I should give you credit. I don't remember it. He started going last night, night. And then this morning we bring it up and Gumpy's like, I'm getting the notifications two minutes before it's happening on my screen. I can't do it.
- [150:09]
D
Minutes legit minutes behind the Texas hockey.
- [150:11]
A
Game the other night.
- [150:12]
D
It was insane. I was like, what the hell is going on?
- [150:14]
A
And then I fast forward it.
- [150:15]
D
I had to fast forward to get back to live.
- [150:17]
A
Yeah. Catch up the live.
- [150:18]
D
So you can.
- [150:19]
A
You can catch up, but they don't like give you the.
- [150:21]
D
You you wouldn't know unless you get a notification on your phone that somebody scored.
- [150:25]
E
Exactly.
- [150:25]
A
Yeah. So it's blowing the entire scene. Is there a path package to pay for more to not get those ads available? I don't know because that's insane to me.
- [150:34]
F
If not, that does sound like a good God.
- [150:37]
A
Yeah. Especially if they're there. But if you do that during the commercials now all of a sudden. Yeah, like we're. Now we're double. You're doing. You're adding to the pool. Hopefully too.
- [150:47]
F
The humans over there.
- [150:48]
A
That's crazy. A friend tell friends. I'm like, hey, you guys, go figure it out over there in new world. ESPN plus has so many games, lot of options. Yeah. Okay. So the back end of that. Okay. The amount of. The amount of that that's happening at all times. Can't have anybody crack in the coding. The keeping it up, not dropping the network. The platform has to be able to be strong enough for the amount of people that are coming onto it. Has to be smooth. Like, that's a lot of. Okay, now they signed up for that. That is what ESPN signed up for whenever they got all the rights. That's a lot of. So we understand that they need to make money to be able to power all this. Because if you don't make money, that's not going to work. And it's going to be the worst thing of all time. We just need to do it a smarter fish. We'll do that. Yeah, Right. We'll do that. Yeah.
- [151:34]
F
Yeah. Are we working there? Are we working in the. In the place? Because we can. But.
- [151:39]
A
Well, they do that. We can't do that. I don't have the ability. But we hope they know the people that can do that. So we can continue to move on with live sports. The greatest thing on earth. We'll be back tomorrow talking about that. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice might change your life. We're in this together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team Goodbye. Whoever you're repping this season, carry the team like a pro with ultra durable officially licensed Yeti Drinkwear.
- [152:03]
H
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A
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H
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- [152:40]
B
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- [152:43]
A
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