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The Pat McAfee Show
PMS 2.0 1462 - BA Day with Bruce Arians, MNF Recap, Peter Schrager, Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire, & Darius Butler
02:43:01
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- [00:00]
Pat McAfee
Beautiful people. And welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this BA Day, December 2, 2025. This program begins right now.
- [00:13]
Conman
Football.
- [00:14]
Pat McAfee
He's the greatest. And we're so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to chat about it every single day. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. And today we have to talk about a big bad wolf. Big being all the way back. And we have to talk about a dynasty, an empire that was hated by the world, but obviously respected by all in professional sports. This New England Patriots team is such a fascinating story because obviously once they were in the dumps and then they hired a man named Bill Belichick and then he turned that place into an absolute powerhouse. The greatest dynasty in the history of professional Sports over a 20 year span in a league that promotes parody. Were dominating everybody. Obviously whenever you do that, you're gonna have a lot of other fan bases hate you. Those who are at the top of the mountain are obviously gonna be judged. And people always throw rocks at things that shine. And boy, a lot of cities that are football cities that are shit talking, cities that are passionate, cities that will certainly hate you. Cities hated the New England Patriots. So whenever they had their downfall and ugliness and the breakup and the split between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and then they went down into the dumps of being an ass program. Everybody was excited to kind of deal with not being able to be braggadocious about their football team. Almost guaranteeing a parade every other year for 20 years. Then they hire a coach, former player, did not go well at all. We're laughing in their face. Ha ha. You guys had a good time there for a while. Now you guys are ass, ass, ass. And then somehow a guy is on the free agency block as a coach who was able to win and get coach of the year places. And he's just hanging in Cleveland, not getting paid anything in a closet, basic office in the back corner. They don't have it figured out there either. He's just hanging. He comes back and he turns the place into an absolute powerhouse. The number one team in the NFL. First team to 11 wins. They're heading into a bye with a young squad in an ass beating against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. And the New England Patriots are all the way back. So everybody that thought, myself included, that we can maybe dance on them for the foreseeable future when the times are bad over the last couple years, well, we can't. And they're back on Top and they know it. Their fans know it. Not only is obviously special teams back to back weeks for Marcus Jones taking a punt return to the crib. He's unbelievable. He is a stud. Is he a defensive player on a special teams play scoring a touchdown? That's certainly up for conversation I think in some people's pockets. But on that note, special teams, they're great. Defense, they're incredible. And offensive wise, they got the guy In Drake May, 6 foot 4, 225 pounds, he can run, he can move. And when he was coming out of college, you know the people that were around him, Clyde Christiansen, more specifically, a man who would coach Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. He was back at UNC where he went to school coaching Drake May his final year there and he said he's Peyton Manning, he's Andrew Luckreich. This guy's everything. And he can shoot, he's got a jumper. This guy's every smart, super smart. He's athlete. He led our team in rushing and in passing. Obviously he's a quarterback. This guy is the guy if I was to draft somebody, he's what Clyde Christianson told us. And then here we are fast forwarding just two years in all. The concerns about him were his footwork, remember his technique. He's too athletic actually. His feet get too far away, his arms doing too much now he's like a picture perfect form quarterback. Everything's on the money, everything's on time and everything is seemingly coming so damn easy to this guy who's just in his second year, first year in the McDaniels offense and oh yeah, McDaniels, he's going to be around for the long haul as well. Loves Vrabel, did not love being a head coach back at home up there. So they have Vrabel in the building for the long haul. McDaniel's in the building for the long haul. This guy's only in his second year and I think he's 23 years old. They got him for another 15 years. And new England Patriots fans are saying, ha ha ha. It's our league once again. Let's go to the toxic table at Ty Schmidt and at Boston Conner. It has to feel good to really feel like that because you know, a lot of people are saying who they played, who have they played? Not your fault. Everybody. You guys have played, you've dominated in every single game. You've gotten clearly better. Monday Night Football is just a showcase of that against the New York Giants, I think. And for the rest of us. We're going to have to deal with you for the foreseeable future.
- [04:25]
Conman
Yeah, you said 15 years, probably 20. Especially because they're going to draft o line going forward and protect Drake may like their life depends on it. Will Campbell already said I'm a fight and die for and he's going to continue to do that because keep in mind he's a 21 year old franchise left tackle. But I mean let's start at the top and go down. Bob Kraft needs to be in The hall of Fame 1 He to your point with Gerard Mayo went through the Belichick era. It ended how it ended. We're kind of seeing what's happening in Pittsburgh right now. That's exactly what the Patriots had to go through a couple years ago. A little different, but still very similar. Then you go to Gerard Mayo and Bob Kraft makes the very difficult decision to say, you know what? It's not right after one year. He could of continue to let Gerard Mayo do what Jerod Mayo was doing or he could have cut bait after one year and hired Mike Vrabel. That's what he did. Bog craft hall of Famer Mike Vrabel, I mean changed the entire game. He's head coach. The entire reason this team is who they are is because of Mike Vrabel. There is a great one. Clap if you hear me. Yeah, there's a great little speech about them in training camp in OTAs about how Mike Vrabel one time walked into the cafeteria and everybody was kind of quiet, little nervous and he immediately said like, no, no, no, this is not how this works. I don't want you uncomfortable around me if I'm here. I, I am just part of this team. Comfortability is a huge thing. You see it kind of transferring to the entire team and then the other coaches too. Unfortunately, Terrell Williams, our defensive coordinator coming into the year has prostate cancer. So he hasn't been able to be with the team. T strong I believe is the thing that stands for him on their, you know, vests and everything like that. So Zach Kerr linebackers coach. Him stepping up linebacker is also one of our best units on our entire team. Him stepping up being the D.C. josh McDaniels. You mentioned it. We always talk about Andy Reid and Spags. He is our Spags but it's on offense so it's even cooler. And and then Drake may. I mean there's really not much you can say about him. You mentioned a lot of guys. He's mobile. Dan Marino, he's taller. Dan Marino, he is the best quarterback in the NFL. He is the mvp. I mean, there's no question about it. And we can go to Stafford and I love Stafford And I think last week, this exact same time I was saying Stafford deserves the mvp, but Drake May's doing it with a bunch of guys that for the most part were written off. Like no one was coming into the season saying, Stefon Diggs is great.
- [06:30]
Darius Butler
Nope.
- [06:30]
Conman
They're saying this is going to go terribly. He's a diva. Hunter Henry, a lot of people were saying he's injury prone. He is his. I don't want to say blanket, but he's his security. He's the guy on third down. He's going to. He knows where he is. And Kyle Williams, we're just getting started with him. He's a rookie. He doesn't get as many snaps just yet because k' Shawn Booty, another guy people thought was a bum, was written off. He's unbelievable. He is typically the deep threat. He's always there. The running backs from Andre Stevenson, Trevion Henderson, he's also just getting going. You mentioned that we have a very young team, second most snaps across the board in the entire NFL behind the Cleveland Bronze in front of the New York Football Jets. Something's a little different between those two teams. It's probably the 11 wins for the New England Patriots. It's incredible. It really is. I was basically cackling the whole entire game. It was one of those situations where you really are just giddy, like the whole game. And I was doing that because it's amazing. You really didn't expect to be here. It's house money. Up until last night. It's no longer house money. We are the best team in the NFL. We're the most complete team and we hit the hardest. So I'm sorry for all the fans out there that were complaining about.
- [07:38]
Pat McAfee
That's an illegal hit.
- [07:39]
Darius Butler
That hurts.
- [07:40]
Conman
Shut up, Jackson. Dart. The fart gets the start. He stinks.
- [07:44]
Ty Schmidt
He's an idiot.
- [07:44]
Conman
He needs to change how he plays. Boom. Sorry about it. Christian Ellis, fantastic player.
- [07:49]
Pat McAfee
And then they can't even get him.
- [07:51]
Conman
Down on the ground. I forget what his name is. John Michael Schmitz or something. He stinks as well. He plays offensive line for the Giants. Guy can't even tackle a linebacker. Get out of bounds. Dart, you fool. Christian Ellis brings the wood. Not. Not to mention Bob Spillane. And that was my favorite play of the entire game. We don't have to, you know, talk about their offense. Young Oku Was staring down Bob Spillane on the other side of the field. And Bob Spillane just mentally. Well, either way, he's not playing in the NFL anymore. He's young Wade his way out of the NFL.
- [08:21]
Joey McGuire
What a fool.
- [08:22]
Conman
But Bob Spillane staring at him, hey, hey, go ahead, kick it. And you know, to Ku's kind of credit, I'd shit my pants too, if I was staring down the barrel of Bob sp and he did. Right when that happened, I damn near started playing video games because it. It was just too much fun. Didn't really have to watch, but of course I kept watching. It was too great to not look away.
- [08:41]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think obviously, if you're a Patriots fan, you're having a good time. I didn't even think about Spillane potentially being the reason for this here. Now, I, as soon as I saw it, had the same thought that I think young Wei Ku had, which was, so when that ball got placed down, you know, it was a little higher snap got placed down there. The bottom end slid out a little bit. Okay. So that thing goes from being done and then it slides out from underneath him a little bit, changes where you are kicking the ball at, obviously. So that thing sl out from underneath it. Jamie the Scottish hammer. There he is, Scottish hammer there. You know, former rugby player, absolutely built a hell of an NFL career here. Yeah, incredible NFL career for an international guy. Murders the ball, bombs the ball. Has done really good stuff throughout his career. Good hold here. The bottom slipping out is nightmare for Holder. Okay. Because you feel that obviously him being able to catch that good. But I think in Yong Wei Ku's eyes, he was thinking maybe this was potentially going to be a fire. I think he thought maybe ball wasn't going to be able to be stopped. I think he check swing this thing and I don't know why his foot didn't. Brain needs to tell footstep a little bit. He just jams his foot right into the ground. That had hurt so bad. I think I saw Schefter say it's a six iron. I think more like four. You know, that four iron, whatever. You just jam that thing and you feel it in your wrist. Feels like that's potentially what happened to him right there. He came out and said, saw the ball get double spotted and then I tried to stop or whatever. I've never seen it before that had hurt so bad. And I'll tell you, not great for kickers and punters, but I think he thought this was going to be a called off kick. I think he Thought the ball was potentially going to be sideways down there and instead that thing was and he just buries his toe right into earth there. It's a tough night for the Giants. Jackson Dart. To your point, ladies and gentlemen, a man who coached football for 47 years, he's called the quarterback whisperer. We'll certainly get his thoughts on both quarterbacks from last night. But let's kind of chat about the point you made about Jackson Dart there. He gets laid out last night. Guy already has like I don't know how many concussions, four or five. And he, he comes out after the game and he says, this isn't soccer. You're going to get hit. And I like to let Jackson know, hey, hell yeah, dude, we respect that. We respect that. Hey, we respect that, okay? This is actually football, which is a multi billion dollar business. And the entire billion dollar business is built around the goddamn quarterback. Okay? So we need you to play football. So I think all anybody is trying to say to you is we respect and appreciate your toughness. This is football. Football is a tough sport. But football also revolves around the quarterback. And if the quarterback's there, team normally in a much better place than if quarterback's not there. It feels like Andrew Luck was like this. I think there's plenty of other quarterbacks, I think Patrick Mahomes this year that Joe Burrow plays like this. I think there's obviously been many others in the past and I apologize for missing anybody that can. Carson Wentz, obviously, where they feel as if they're doing a disservice to football if they. Puka Nakua was talking about it last week. He's a wide receiver. Obviously we're talking quarterbacks specifically because it's the most important position. If they're not there, your team screwed, basically, but they feel like they're disrespecting football if they kind of take the easy way out and don't get hit. And they think their teammates, I think, won't respect them if they don't take hits. Is that something that you've ever had to experience? And with Andrew, look, what is the conversation you have with that guy? And can you change that from some of these? Because it feels like Jackson dart. He got, I mean, that's a. He got laid out right there. I mean, that is a monster shot. He pops right up. Once again, he's tough. Nobody's saying he's not tough, but sometimes these quarterbacks mentally can't get through the thought of like, I should stay alive as opposed to maybe Prove how tough I am. Right.
- [12:04]
Bruce Arians
Well, when they don't get the next contract because they're never available, they'll figure it out.
- [12:09]
Pat McAfee
You think that's what it takes, huh?
- [12:10]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, I mean, it's. You gotta step out of bounds. This is Nash football. This isn't Pee Wee, all right? You had to show you're tough in Pee Wee football. This is the NFL. Quarterbacks are paid zillions of dollars. It's your, your whole team, your whole city, your whole franchise depends on you. Do not be a damn idiot.
- [12:29]
Pat McAfee
Step out of balance, okay?
- [12:31]
Bruce Arians
You're not gonna be there.
- [12:31]
Pat McAfee
I appreciate how mad you are about this because I think Conor's feelings about it also echoed your sentiments on it. It's like, like we understand you're tough. We appreciate that you are tough. But also, let's go to the defensive side here, a man who played nine years in the NFL, Darius J. Butler D. Buch. Defenses know that maybe they're going to be able to get a shot on Jackson because he likes to take it. Or what is. How do defenses view quarterbacks that I don't want to say are reckless, but are kind of reckless with the thoughts of like being available for their team?
- [13:00]
Darius Butler
Yeah, I mean, defense is going into any game. The number one thing for us is, is stopping the run and then getting hits on the quarterback, whether that's in the pocket after throw as he's throwing the ball. Obviously, the rules are so different now. So much more catered to protecting the quarterbacks because we mentioned how valuable they are not only to these individual franchises, but to the NFL as a whole. We remember a couple years ago we had all these backup quarterbacks playing. It's like, damn, all these prime time slate games suck. All these things suck. And the whole team, when you run out of that tunnel, man, like, you really have a feeling most Sunday that you can win the game. And that's based on number one, who's taking the ball from that center. So, yeah, defenses, whenever we have that opportunity to hit a quarterback, we're going to take full advantage of it. I think Ellis spoke after the game saying, oh yeah, the refs have kind of sent a memo to teams saying, and warning quarterbacks of kind of tiptoeing against the sideline. We've seen Mahomes do it, we've seen other quarterbacks do it. All these years. You got to protect yourself. You got to protect the team. The extra yard doesn't matter if that's fourth quarter, maybe overtime, and you're fighting for a yard to get in the field goal range to win a game, maybe to score a touchdown, something like that. But first quarter of the game, you're just coming back from what, three, three weeks off of concussion. That's all we've been hearing is, hey, Jackson dart. Gotta protect himself. Brian Dabal's fired. Now, was it his fault? Was it. You gotta protect yourself. And he's the only one that can do it. I love.
- [14:16]
Pat McAfee
We love how tough he is. I love.
- [14:18]
Darius Butler
No, I don't care how tough he is. I don't care about that. All that matters is how he plays. We expect all football players to be tough. You're a grown ass man. You're playing this game. I love Ellis. Just knocking the absolute shit out of him. And that is something that he. I think Jackson dart, now that. That may learn him. That'll learn him right there. We talk about welcome to the NFL moments. That is definitely a welcome to the NFL moment. This is all he's going to be hearing about, is a primetime game. I love that he popped up and he's healthy as well. But yeah, that's how you're supposed to play the game. You can't tiptoe. They already protected you. Can't protect him any more than we're doing it now.
- [14:50]
Pat McAfee
Here's Ellis actually after the game talking about that play. During the play, I saw the scramble.
- [14:54]
Darius Butler
Started chasing him down.
- [14:57]
Pat McAfee
He started tiptoeing on the sideline, and I thought he was just gonna go.
- [14:59]
Conman
Out of bounds, but then I saw.
- [15:00]
Ty Schmidt
Him tiptoeing, so I was like, you.
- [15:03]
Darius Butler
Know, stay in bounds. That's. I mean, what am I supposed to do?
- [15:06]
Conman
You know, we play hard on defense.
- [15:09]
Darius Butler
We try to bring life to this team.
- [15:13]
Pat McAfee
So that's all I was trying to do, is just do my job and hit anything in the whites.
- [15:18]
Bruce Arians
Hell, yeah.
- [15:19]
Pat McAfee
And he did. And Scott loves the nflpa. Man, this guy loves it. Got the hat on right there. Hey, good luck out there, Ellis. We're pulling for you. And now let's go to the other sides or what we're saying Jackson is respect, man. We love it. Jacket's sick. Your swag and moxie's outrageous. You are very electrifying. We would like. We are very appreciative that you're in the league. We would like you to continue to be in the league. We all think you're tough. I think he's trying to prove himself to Giants fans, too. I think he's trying to prove himself to the locker room. I think he's trying to prove Himself to everybody, like, who he is as a person, who he is as a football player. Him afterwards saying, this is football, not soccer. I think it's even more like, hey, I want to let you know what type of guy got here. And all we want you to say is, all right, hey, check. We got it. We got. We understand who you are now. Now you just go ahead and now you just survive this thing and let's continue to thrive maybe a little bit.
- [16:07]
Darius Butler
Drake May had to learn too, you know, because early on we talked about his athleticism, him being able to extend plays, and he's one of my favorite or was one of my favorite prop bets to get over that rush. And now you can see he's protecting himself a lot more because he's taking some. Some vicious shots in his first two years. And you know immediately, okay, if I'm putting my team at a much greater risk of losing ball games if I'm not out there taking the snap. So, yeah, you got to learn this. And I think hopefully this is a learning lesson for Jax or it's going to be a very short career.
- [16:34]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. UXFL maybe. You know, if you just want to get your ass beat up in the NFL for a long time or you're gonna have to put on a lot. Andrew Luck was like an avatar. Like, actually, like, he don't matter. No. But he still got hurt. Yeah. What I'm saying, though, is, like, unless you want to just become like, some. I don't know how you're going to handle these hits from these guys. Ellis is doing that 100 times a game. Like that is what he is trying to do.
- [16:58]
Darius Butler
Gunner Olchewski, later on, knock the head off his helmet.
- [17:01]
AP Tone
Yeah.
- [17:02]
Pat McAfee
So, like, let's just not do. Every team's got four of those dudes, Jackson, and they can get you at any time. And guess what? One of them might be a safety. You don't even think a little bit of undersize. Oh, look at that. I'm bigger than that guy. Yeah. Nope. That dude's been knocking people out bigger than you a lot longer. This is the NFL. We understand that you understand that, but we would like you to survive. Now let's go to Drake May. Talk about him learning. How about his footwork being questioned kind of coming out. He's going to be a little bit sloppy, not going to be accurate. It's going to take him a long time to develop. Remember, that was a conversation. Out of all these quarterbacks, the ceiling might be the highest for Drake because of how athletic he is, but he has the longest Runway to get there. It's going to take a long time. Well, feels like one off season. He's figured it all out. Like what. What is Drake may done last year versus this year or this year versus last year? And what have you seen out of this guy who's an MVP favorite in his first year in an offensive system, in his second year in the NFL?
- [17:51]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, he was my number one guy coming out that year because he had all the measurables, he could do it all. And obviously Clyde and I have been together a long, long time. But yeah, he's in a different system. He's got Josh McDaniels not belittling the other guys that coached him the year before, but none of them are quarterback people. And he's got a great system now, got players around him. And Vrabe's is the guy that's going to get in his ear and say, hey, we need you for the long haul. We know you're tough.
- [18:20]
Pat McAfee
Stop it.
- [18:21]
Bruce Arians
And Braves is the kind of guy to get that done.
- [18:23]
Pat McAfee
I think Vrabes and him are like a perfect match, legit. It feels like Vapes and him are a perfect match. And you talk about Vrabes walking into the cafeteria and being like, nah, nah, this ain't gonna be uptight. I'm part of the team. It does feel like Vrabe's leadership style is I'm in the locker room, but I am. I have 10 votes. If we're voting on things, I have 10 votes, but I am certainly in here with you. I appreciated the fact that he grew the mustache out for mo November and then he said, definitely go and get all Monday Night Football. I mean, I didn't do all this for not so he'll have a clean shave through December, I guess as they head into the playoff time. We all assume Braves can coach a Super bowl winning team.
- [18:58]
Darius Butler
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we saw him overachieve in Tennessee. What we saw down there for sure.
- [19:04]
Pat McAfee
But yeah, as soon as he got hired. Yeah, right.
- [19:06]
Darius Butler
That parent has been perfect. And something that they said on the broadcast last night was obviously there's similarities between him and Bill, but much different. Different as far as how personable he is. And one of the things that he kind of wanted to drive home is like, hey, don't take yourself too serious. And when you're a professional, you can come in there and you just kind of play, you know, your coach had your back. You could tell this is a close team. You could, you could tell by how they play. Football. You can tell by listening to them talk about each other. And then I felt like Drake May was kind of a perfect quarterback to go into this team and go into this locker room. Kind of help galvanize the guys now the Josh McDaniels team. Because when you get in there, we saw last year, we saw he had the skill set, we saw he was competitive, we saw he had confidence. That's what you want to see as a rookie. Then you just got to learn how to play the game. And when you get a Coach like Josh McDaniels, like this guy is obviously brilliant when it comes to calling offenses. And you can just watch Drake make like a lot of times when I watch, especially on the TV copy, when I watch quarterbacks and I said this about Carson Wentz a couple years ago when he was our quarterback here, like if I just pause it on like an ISO cam and a quarterback, a lot of times I can tell if it's a good throw. If they were confident in the coverage, if they were confident in the read. What's going to be on the other side of that? When you panned Carson Wentz a couple years ago, Terrified. I didn't have a clue with this guy. You can, it looked like I couldn't tell if he was in an individual drill or if it's a fourth quarter two minute drive. Just how calm and composed he is with every throw. The reads pockets even when they break it down, how he climbs the pocket and keeps his eyes downfield. Like he's doing shit that 10 year veterans are doing. You only do that, you only make that type of jump if you're getting coached great. Obviously it's good plays around, good players around him. But the job that Mike has done, done Josh has done Drake and then the personnel department, like all these guys, like all the money they spent, well spent. They, they invested in the trenches. They got young guys that they shifting and got playing like it's just, they're doing everything right. Just kind of like Chicago on the other side.
- [20:53]
Pat McAfee
You talk about how spending the right money, they also have the most coming up. Yeah, they have the most money.
- [20:58]
Conman
Top buy a lot.
- [20:59]
Pat McAfee
They're going into buy. They're going into a buy week right now.
- [21:01]
Conman
Yep.
- [21:02]
Pat McAfee
Okay. So whenever they come out, it's going to be week 15. So it's like hey, actual final stretch, everybody locked in. Hopefully a little bit healthier. What a perfect timing for a young team's bye week. Okay. At this late in the game and being where they're at and then Also, after whatever the season is, let's say they don't win the super bowl this year, okay? Looks like they might, but very well in the race. Looks like they might win the Super Bowl. Let's say they don't win the Super Bowl. Okay, Coach Rapes, how would you judge your first year? Yeah, we got a lot to work on. We're going to figure that out. And yeah, we got the biggest bank in the entire NFL. It's like, what a position for the Patriots to be in going forward. Joining us now is a man who was boots on the ground in Foxborough yesterday and a guy who knows everything about everything. Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program, the most interesting man talker about her and also the host of the Schrager Hour, Peter Schrager. How you doing, shrags? What up, dude?
- [21:55]
Peter Schrager
I'm doing amazing. I'm listening to you guys. I would just add, and you know, Deebot knows I have been to so many of those games up in Foxborough. I mean, I've sat at Ed Reed's locker as he was smoking a cigar singing Two Tickets to Paradise because they finally beat the Patriots and he was going to his first super bowl in that building. I've been to countless Sunday night games in that building. I'm telling you, it was like going this crazy, like this is your life moment, walking back into that building and suddenly they're the number one seed again. And it's just like six years ago. It was supposed to be done and we're supposed to wait 15, 20 years. But like walking around Patriot's place, walk into that building and yet there is a difference. And this is what you guys are saying here. I used to walk around that building with eggshells and I don't want to ask the wrong question, don't want to be in the wrong place. Can't have. There was a levity to it. There was a joy to it. It was like imagine the Patriots regime with a smile. That's what this was yesterday. They were actually happy and pleasant and hey, Shregs, great to see you. And not why are you standing there? It's a whole different vibe from the Belichick era and yet the same results so far. And it's early, but I was blown away by this team. And it's amazing to me that with all the downtrodden franchises, whether it be the Raiders fans, the Browns fans, the jets fans, that somehow, some way, it took six years since Brady's last game in New England and they're already the number One seed again and sitting at the top of the perch in the NFL. It's wild.
- [23:32]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And let's not even get into all the other sports up there, too. Just having success all the time. I don't know what it is, but it feels like they do make teams a little different up there in the New England era, especially with this Patriots football team. The Kraft family deserves a lot of respect. They deserve a lot of respect for the decision that they made as quickly as they did to get Vrabel in there. And Drake May has just become special. And the defense is unbelievable. Okay, let's pivot away from the Patriots and yesterday let's move to some other NFL stories. As Darius Butler alluded to there, you talk about the NFC's kind of patriots. That would be the Chicago Bears. And I know you're about to chit chat with Ben Johnson for the next Schrager Hour, this Chicago Bears story special. And Ben Johnson, jacked, but not just jacked physically, feels like he should be emotionally because his culture has settled in so quickly. Is that kind of your vibes that you're getting out of Chicago? And were you a believer in it the entire time? Because I, I thought there was no chance Caleb and Ben were going to get along. And then here we are and it's like, oh, they're perfect for each other, just like Vrabel and Drake. We are the dumbest people of all time. That's where I'm sitting.
- [24:37]
Peter Schrager
NL I didn't have them playoff team. I'll be honest, I didn't think that would happen in year one, but I thought it was a great hire and I thought he was the most misunderstood person in the NFL. Going into this season, people thought Ben Johnson was some bookish nerd who would sit in a laboratory and just draw up plays. They don't realize he's got a ton of juice to him. He's a dog himself. This is a guy. This is a guy who, you know, was a culture setter, not only, you know, in Detroit with that offensive group, but then the second he got to Chicago was like, here's what we're going to be. And you think they're going to do all this air raid stuff?
- [25:09]
Pat McAfee
No.
- [25:09]
Peter Schrager
Look what they did. They had between those two running backs. They ran for more than 230 yards on what's considered one of the best run defenses in the league at 281 yards most ever versus Nick Sirianni. And that's a statement. And remember Sonic and Knuckles in Detroit last year? They did the same thing there. So this isn't just one of these through the air, all that types of guys. He's also got a bit of an edge to him. And when he's ripping off his shirt and he's, you know, subtly jacked and you're like, wait, I didn't expect that. And he's doing this whole thing. What I'm looking at is the teammates and the players and everyone in that room rallying around it and loving this guy. I'm excited for the Bears fans, I'm excited for the Patriots fans. I had a source text me and said if they were both to be the one seeds would be the first time in NFL history ever, going back 110 years, first time ever, that the two number one seeds in the playoffs would have quarterbacks who are 25 years old or younger. And that's a testament to those quarterbacks. It's also a testament to those coaches. You're talking about Vrabel and you're talking about Ben Johnson. First year coaches who took second year quarterbacks who had rough rookie years and said, let's wash that away. Let's build this from scratch. Let's do it the right way.
- [26:20]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Caleb seems to be everything we thought Caleb was going to be. And Ben Johnson's only going to get smarter on the offensive side and they're going to be able to be paired forever. And Drake May is going to be with Josh McDaniels for seemingly ever as well. That means the future is very bright in two. Sam. Ladies, you know, how's everybody else doing? Well. Shregs.
- [26:38]
Conman
Yeah.
- [26:38]
Pat McAfee
Let's talk about the Indianapolis Colts. Okay. This is gonna be my last question before the boys will have their questions.
- [26:43]
Conman
Right. They were on the Graphic last night competing for the ones. Yeah, I heard.
- [26:48]
Pat McAfee
Did I hear him say lurking, too? I think I heard somebody say lurking. No.
- [26:51]
Peter Schrager
They were in that big graphic. They were in the three team graphic.
- [26:54]
Pat McAfee
No. No.
- [26:54]
Bruce Arians
Okay.
- [26:55]
Pat McAfee
Yes. You got us in there. Yeah. But then did I see the word lurking? I think I saw lurking up there in the. The hovering.
- [27:01]
Ty Schmidt
Hovering.
- [27:02]
Pat McAfee
Okay. I think SVP said lurking as well. I was like, yes, we need to keep lurking because that' these teams are lurking around. But the Colts, I'm very worried about us straights. I am very, very worried about us. We had C.J. stroud on yesterday. The Houston Texans, we think, are going to continue to be great because they get the number one defense in the league. And offensively, if C.J. stroud can get back to form, which he looked like it against Indianapolis Colts. They're going to be good against anybody. Collins is seemingly unguardable and he's fast as shit. And then they got guys all over the place, so they're good. Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Cohen, Trevor Lawrence. It's like we got to play them twice, including this week. Don and Duvall Colts are favored by 1 1/2 at this moment on DraftKings. I have no idea how that happened because we always struggle down there. But if you look at the Colts road down here, we got the Jags, Seahawks. Are they good?
- [27:48]
Ty Schmidt
I don't remember decent.
- [27:50]
Pat McAfee
The Niners, are they okay? I don't remember Jags again. Okay. And then Houston Texans who just beat us, but we'll be down there making it the Houston loud house. And whenever you think about the Colts, we were, we were number one. We were number one one. And then now this injury to Daniel Jones. Did we all know about this thing? When did this all come about and what are your kind of thoughts on where the Colts sit right now? Because I am a bit worried, I'm going to be honest, I am a bit worried about where we're at.
- [28:18]
Peter Schrager
It's a brutal stretch, but how else would you want it then? Hey, let's go win our way easier.
- [28:22]
Pat McAfee
With a healthy Danny dime. That's how I would want it. I, I, I would want maybe, maybe.
- [28:28]
Ty Schmidt
The Jags, maybe the Titans and the Raiders five times.
- [28:31]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, that's what I was. That would be great if I could somehow.
- [28:34]
Peter Schrager
You already got the Titans twice.
- [28:36]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, yeah. I don't. Yeah, yeah. It's not good, but we would. You're saying hard road here. This is what you should want. Because if you're going to win it all, you're going to have to beat everybody anyways.
- [28:46]
Peter Schrager
Hardest road that remains, I think is right here. And I look at those two Jaguars logos and you hit it. For whatever reason, when The Jaguars were 1 in 15, they would beat the Colts. When the Colts had to win it in with Wentz on that Week 18 game and the Jaguars had nothing to play for, Jaguars beat the Colts. Like it's enough already. The Colts have the chance to go in there and not only slay demons for this franchise, but to also shut up a lot of people who have been critical of this team the last few weeks. I think we all were doing a bit of a celebration a little too soon. And then in the trade deadline, when Ballard goes all in and gets sauce, it's like, all right, we're going to commend that because we're Going to go win a Super bowl and you give up future first round picks because that's what the goal is. It wasn't to, hey, let's fight for a wild card spot or barely make the playoffs or, God forbid, miss the playoffs. The season's not done. They still have this road and they still have Jonathan Taylor in that backfield that they can rely on even if Daniel Jones is in 100%. So no sauce for probably a couple of weeks. It wasn't an Achilles, which was what the fear was when it first went down. You're happy about that. And I thought Alec Pierce played excellent and I thought there were a lot of different things to like about that game that you were at on Sunday. So I'm not giving up on the Colts yet. I don't look at the Jaguars as world beaters here. Go into Jacksonville, take care of business and go tear that narrative away from everybody else and win.
- [30:06]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, that's right. In fibula, you need the heel. You know, I didn't even know what that was. I knew it was in the leg somewhere. Like the fibula.
- [30:15]
Darius Butler
Not that important.
- [30:16]
Pat McAfee
It's the other one on your shin, I guess.
- [30:18]
Darius Butler
Yeah, it's not like Tibby or anything.
- [30:20]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [30:21]
Conman
There, the femur, that's a bone.
- [30:23]
Pat McAfee
The patella, very important in the entirety of the leg. If you really dive into it.
- [30:28]
Peter Schrager
Would hate to lose a patella.
- [30:29]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I dislocated patella my last year in the NFL. It was disgusting. It hurt like hell. Yeah, it wasn't fun. You know, the tibia and the fibula. Also a little tag team down there in shin, as you know, you were talking about.
- [30:41]
Peter Schrager
Yeah, I like this graphic.
- [30:42]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, the fibula is connected to the. The other bone, you know, and then it's on the other side. There's a hairline in there. And then whenever you start talking about the condyles, you know, you start to worry about them kind of trickulating down there into the stibula, you know, and then you got it all figured out. Nonetheless, Danny Jones got a hairline fracture in his. And he certainly looks.
- [31:01]
Peter Schrager
Will you. Will you guys be in attendance for that Monday night Colts 49ers game?
- [31:07]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it's only primetime game we got all year, bub. Yeah, we.
- [31:11]
Peter Schrager
Can I. Can we hang?
- [31:14]
Conman
No, if you tell Ben Johnson to come on the show, maybe.
- [31:17]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, we need you to put in a good word for Ben Johnson. We pissed off Kevin Warren whenever we were kind of talking about all the dumb he did as the Big Ten president. President or whatever. And there Was a lot of them. That's on us for doing it. So I think he kind of holds.
- [31:31]
Peter Schrager
You were being.
- [31:31]
Ty Schmidt
You were being honest.
- [31:32]
Peter Schrager
You were being critical. You're a journalist, Pat. You say what you got to say.
- [31:35]
Pat McAfee
Say you said it.
- [31:36]
Darius Butler
Hello?
- [31:37]
Pat McAfee
You said it, not me. You know, hashtag journalism. I don't know who's doing it out there these days. Well, there was a guy.
- [31:45]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah?
- [31:45]
Conman
Who's that?
- [31:46]
Pat McAfee
Oh, man. Man, I don't know. Have we heard from him? I've not. We've not heard from him.
- [31:52]
Conman
This one's way over my head right now.
- [31:54]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You know who I'm talking about? You know what I'm talking about. He was stirring the pot. Investigative sports journalism.
- [31:59]
Darius Butler
Oh, yeah.
- [32:00]
Pat McAfee
He decided to shake a tree. That I don't think was the right move. I don't know. So he was in there. But us, we like to consider ourselves journalists. I think we try to get to the bottom of things. But on that note, you're the person with actual information. There's some real troubles, maybe in a city of brotherly love. Go ahead, Ty.
- [32:15]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Shrigs. How concerned are you with the Eagles? It feels like things have finally reached a tipping point. People are egging Kevin Patullo's house. They're not going to make any changes. Sirianni said they got their absolute asses beat by the Bears at this point. What is the level of concern? And, you know, with the Cowboys being one of the hotter teams in the NFL right now, like, how likely is it, do you think, that the Cowboys potentially win the NFC East?
- [32:41]
Peter Schrager
It's definitely possible and it's becoming more and more likely. Cowboys look like they're as good as any team in the NFL the last three weeks and the Cowboys go into Detroit in what might be season defining game for both teams on Thursday night. The Cowboys are what I'd be scared of if I were the Eagles. Of course, all it takes is Philly to win a couple games, and this is all an afterthought. And we're back and they're all sudden 10 and 4. That's where I'm at. It's aesthetically really different than what it looked like at the beginning of the season. And talking to people who do the all 22 and all that stuff, there's very, very little that you can hang your hat on and say, well, at least they're doing this right? Or at least they're trying this. And it also is, I guess I would almost say it's magnified so much more in that market. And it's because of the expectations. And that's all the sports teams in Philly, the expectations are so.
- [33:37]
Pat McAfee
And then the media.
- [33:38]
Peter Schrager
There are so many members of the media and they are so on it. And whether you think they're overly critical or whether you think they're on it to a degree that it's good for the viewers and good for the readers and good for the fans, it is wall to wall as if it's the White House they're covering. It's that well covered. And then the fans have such expectations that when things start to crack, when things start to fracture, it could really be a landslide and it can snowball in a way that doesn't happen in other media markets.
- [34:05]
Pat McAfee
Markets, yeah.
- [34:06]
Peter Schrager
It's a combination of all these factors. It's so difficult to win there. Which is why it kills me that when they did win there last year, I don't know if Jalen and Nick and those guys savored it or enjoyed it or like, reveled in it, maybe the way that Jason Kelsey did when he's wearing the Mummers outfit and that team did so many years earlier.
- [34:25]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Philadelphia is a fan base that wants to win right now. And if you're not doing what they think you should be doing to win, they're going to tell you right now as well.
- [34:33]
Bruce Arians
Forever.
- [34:34]
Pat McAfee
You know, even when you're winning, if you're not doing it in the right way, they're going to tell you about it. And that's raw sports, like you said. Except for hockey, you guys suck at hockey. Sidney Crosby just continuing to dominate the Philadelphia Flyers last night. There's a lot of stats coming out about Sid the Kid being the king of Philadelphia. Listen, it's been a long time since the Flyers fans have had a chance to really celebrate them having success. Most goals are Flyers, all time. Sidney cross Crosby, 59 of them. That's just against one. That's the most any player has against an opponent in the history of hockey, by the way.
- [35:08]
Bruce Arians
Wow.
- [35:08]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. So Sid dominates Flyers yet again, scores more against them, and the Flyers continue to stink. So that's why the Eagles get so much heat, though, because there is another team in Philadelphia but nobody cares about.
- [35:20]
Ty Schmidt
No.
- [35:21]
Pat McAfee
You know, so it's basically the Phillies and it's the Eagles because the Flyers haven't held up their end of the.
- [35:26]
Ty Schmidt
Bargain forever and they kill the Sixers every year. No. What matter. Matter what. Because they just can't put it together.
- [35:30]
Darius Butler
Trust the process.
- [35:31]
AP Tone
Yep.
- [35:31]
Ty Schmidt
Yep. Trust the process, indeed.
- [35:33]
Pat McAfee
So basically, it's just Phillies And Eagles are getting the entire city because the other two, they've almost given up on.
- [35:38]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [35:39]
Pat McAfee
And they're. What the Eagles fans are telling Sirianni is you don't want us to treat you like they're Flyers. Okay. You need to figure this out. And they think it's a sign of love. And if you're Sirianni and the boys, it could probably sound a lot like hate. But I will say with the Eagles fans and the Johns over there, I don't like the way that team looks either. I don't like all the drama. I don't like. No, I don't like any of it. I. I don't like any of it. And I'm a big time fan of the way they're the Eagles play. I like the way Sirianni talks. I like the way they operate. I like everything about the Eagles last year and then this year with all the drama. And I'm like, man, I'm kind of sick of hearing about you guys. I don't think this is good. And I don't know how they figure it out. Big Dom's just going to have to, I guess, get to the bottom of a Grazi per Casino Night.
- [36:18]
Conman
Maybe since it's all right there next to the stadium.
- [36:21]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, maybe they stop by. Yeah, maybe that is something they need. Yeah, good call. Have Big Dom out there maybe doing.
- [36:27]
Conman
High value tables together.
- [36:29]
Pat McAfee
Maybe they just need to hang out, that's all.
- [36:31]
Darius Butler
So you guys are Eagles.
- [36:33]
Ty Schmidt
Sounds like they're not interested.
- [36:34]
Darius Butler
Everybody's out on Eagles, but that's the thing.
- [36:36]
Peter Schrager
Anyone's all out on the Eagles to make a run.
- [36:38]
Darius Butler
Kind of like back to back.
- [36:40]
Ty Schmidt
Like, not a chance.
- [36:41]
Pat McAfee
Super Bowl.
- [36:42]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, not a chance.
- [36:43]
Pat McAfee
The Philadelphia Eagles this year.
- [36:45]
Darius Butler
The same team has been in there twice in the last four years. That team.
- [36:48]
Conman
Same team that missed the playoffs or, sorry, lost in the first round of the playoffs after they went to the Super Bowl.
- [36:53]
Darius Butler
I'm not. I don't know about that team.
- [36:56]
Pat McAfee
You think Philadelphia Eagles can win the Super Bowl? Yes.
- [37:01]
Darius Butler
Too many good players. Too many good coaches.
- [37:02]
Pat McAfee
Paulo being the offense, he's.
- [37:05]
Darius Butler
He wouldn't be on my list.
- [37:06]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so Siriani would have to fire Pulo and then somebody else as the offense coordinator. How's this work? Let's just get all the guidelines for whether or not it goes on or wrong.
- [37:16]
Peter Schrager
Yeah. What's it going to take?
- [37:17]
Pat McAfee
What is the. I'm not.
- [37:18]
Darius Butler
I'm not going to be a guy on the microphone telling people what to do in their building. I trust Howie And Nick to figure it out. There's too much talent on that team to sit here December 2nd and say, oh, they're out of it. They can't figure out. Now, from the outside looking in, they don't look like they like each other as much.
- [37:37]
Pat McAfee
Which is a problem.
- [37:38]
Darius Butler
Which is a problem. But once again, talent wise, Vic Fangio, I saw that defense turn into the best defense in the world last season. I know these. A.J. brown still there. Devonte still there. Saquon's still there. Jalen Hurd, like, these ain't a bunch of bums to talk about. Hey, let's try to figure out. I think this team can still make.
- [37:54]
Pat McAfee
A run for sure. So you're saying, yes, they win a Super Bowl.
- [37:57]
Darius Butler
I'm not saying that. I'm saying they can make a run.
- [38:00]
Pat McAfee
All right, I'm happy I don't have to make a decision on that. All right, let's talk about some other teams in the NFC that could go on a run. Go ahead, Khan, man.
- [38:07]
Conman
Yeah, straight. A photo of the NFC picture kind of got released yesterday and it was the first time I noticed it. The first place team has nine wins. In the seventh place team has nine wins. That NFC west. Excuse me, are they going to cannibalize each other? I mean, Seattle, the rams and the 49ers. It feels as though it's kind of inevitable that those teams are going to absolutely slaughter each other to the point where once again, to the playoffs. It's going to be a very tough road. What do you expect out of that division? And just to debut point, there's no chance I'm taking the Eagles over the Packers, Bears or Rams right now.
- [38:41]
Darius Butler
Really?
- [38:42]
Peter Schrager
Well, it was just such a, it was such a, like a statement on the 2025 season. Because we do this now, we crown a team week to week. And I think there's no dumber thing than like, you know, everyone going nuts about power rankings. But the Rams were the team last week. The Rams were the team. Stafford's the MVP, the whole thing, the 25 touchdown, zero interceptions. And then they're humbled and it's like, all right, well, then I got to readjust my, my bearings now.
- [39:07]
Bruce Arians
Are.
- [39:07]
Peter Schrager
Are the Seahawks actually better? Well, the Rams beat the Seahawks, but they beat up them very close game in la. They play again in Seattle like it is wide open. It is a dream season for the NFL because you could take any of these teams on this graphic, and I wouldn't even say, with the exception of Carolina, I would say any of these teams on this graphic. And if you told me they're going to be playing in San Francisco in February, I'd be like, all right. They got hot at the right time. They found a way and they figured it out. The Rams, the Niners, the Seahawks. Those are three very good teams.
- [39:36]
Bruce Arians
Teams.
- [39:37]
Peter Schrager
I don't know if all three of those teams are going to make the playoffs because I feel like the Lions and the Cowboys, one of those squads are going to sneak in as a wild card just based on the numbers and the odds of how those teams play against each other.
- [39:48]
Pat McAfee
It would be insane if the Cowboys were able to catch up and get in with how they started this entire year. It seemed like it was not possible. Then you start watching the chaos kind of happen above them and it's like, wait a minute. Are the Cowboys the best team in football right now? And if they're able to sneak in, are they going to be able to go on a run? I think we all think yes, at this moment, right?
- [40:06]
Conman
Yep.
- [40:07]
Pat McAfee
But once again, the Schrager's playing point. Daily Sports Talk. We will change that opinion next week if. Yes, we will. Yes, we certainly Thursday night against Lions. Yes. Friday we might be coming in here saying, just like we thought the Cowboys are frauds, just like we said. Or on the flip side, wow, this Cowboys team is the best team in the ball.
- [40:25]
Conman
Just like we said.
- [40:26]
Pat McAfee
This race, dude, we've been talking like this the whole time. We've been saying, remember I came on.
- [40:29]
Peter Schrager
With you guys in August and I was like, or September, right before that prediction special. And I was like, I don't think the Lions are going to make the playoffs. And I've heard it from Lions fans all season long. I'm not doing a victory parade at all because I do believe the Lions could still make the playoffs. But there's weird things that happen season to season. And like the same guy who said the Lions weren't going to make the playoffs, I came out here and I was like, I think the Dolphins are going to be the team that everyone's talking about. Now, granted, they've won a few games and we're happy for them. But like, Dolphins probably aren't going to make the playoffs. The NFL is the complete crapshoot sometimes. And in this case, Detroit hosting the Cowboys boys at home short week after having the whole Thanksgiving weekend, you know, at home also, I would think that they have to find a way to win this game and if they don't, then their playoff hopes are really in doubt.
- [41:18]
Pat McAfee
And can we get Jack White and Eminem again, dude.
- [41:21]
Peter Schrager
How good was that?
- [41:23]
Bruce Arians
So good.
- [41:23]
Pat McAfee
Shrinks. I. I think, you know, I am a Jack White fan, obviously. White Stripes. I was like, hey, what song would you like to walk out to the ring to Wrestlemania or whatever?
- [41:32]
Bruce Arians
It's like, well, what'd you pick?
- [41:34]
Pat McAfee
I mean, if you can get, boom.
- [41:36]
Peter Schrager
Seven Nation army.
- [41:40]
Pat McAfee
That'S like the greatest entrance song of all time. I would take that. They go, boom, Jack, let it happen or whatever. I'm like, holy shit. Then I walk out there and the whole thing happens. I'm like, this is the coolest moment of all time. So I am a massive fan of Jack White, the White Stripes, everything. He does okay. But I didn't think enough people would know enough of his songs for it to be good. And then you immediately forget the guy's a rock star. You put a rock star on a stage with a guitar and a microphone, he's going to put on a show. No matter what he's saying. First song, you don't even know what the hell he's saying. It doesn't matter.
- [42:08]
Peter Schrager
The first song is from a new album. That's how I'm feeling. It's from a new album. No one had heard it. Comes out, plays that. It's unbelievable. Everyone's just like, wow. Rock music at an NFL venue. That's new. It was awesome. And then he comes out and plays hello, Operator, which is a song from an album from 2000. And then out of nowhere, Eminem comes out with Till I Collapse. And they're doing it together. I'm like, this is mind blowing.
- [42:30]
Pat McAfee
It's a good show.
- [42:31]
Peter Schrager
Minutes and 30 seconds. And I felt like I was at a festival. It was unbelievable. And shout out to Eminem and his manager, Paul Rosenberg for putting that thing together. Because they came to the Lions and said, can we just. Can we orchestrate the halftime show? The Lions, their president, Rod Wood was like, absolutely. They signed a three year deal. So not only this Thanksgiving, but the next two Thanksgivings, Eminem is basically in charge of who does the halftime show. And how cool was that? It was unbelievable.
- [42:56]
Pat McAfee
It was unbelievable. They put everybody else to bed like Post Malone. Yeah, right. You got no chance unless you bring out Big X, the plug and Taylor Swift because he's playing the I don't know how and Jelly Roll, probably with his fresh face. I don't know how Post Malone was supposed to top that, but Eminem, and I mean this as a compliment, whenever Eminem takes over the show, I get worried that Eminem won't put Himself in the show, you know, because he's like, no doubt. I don't want people to think they're Eminem. You definitely made the right decision being in. And by the way, next year, we would all, like, see another Eminem appearance in whoever you that back. Yeah. Do the same exact thing, whatever you want to do.
- [43:32]
Ty Schmidt
Exact same set.
- [43:33]
Pat McAfee
So shout out to creators in talents being put in positions to do things and then executing at a very high level as opposed to some suit that was normally probably, in theory, putting things together. Eminem basically saying, detroit can kill this. And they absolutely do. Congratulations.
- [43:48]
Conman
Let's go.
- [43:49]
Pat McAfee
Thank you for doing that. It was a great Thanksgiving and to your point, awesome new song. I had no idea. I just knew that I saw a talent. Oh, that's a talent right there. That is what we're watching here as a gift. And it was a great Thanksgiving. Every time we get a chance to chat with you. We're very grateful. We appreciate you, Shrags.
- [44:05]
Peter Schrager
I'm so grateful for you. Amazing job this weekend again at game day, and happy holidays and congrats on.
- [44:10]
Ty Schmidt
All the great news.
- [44:10]
Peter Schrager
You're. You're the man.
- [44:11]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Schrager.
- [44:13]
Darius Butler
Peter.
- [44:15]
Pat McAfee
Okay, from Peter Schrager, ladies and gentlemen, to a man whose team might be ranked in the top four in the country today. He's former high school football coach.
- [44:27]
Darius Butler
That's right.
- [44:27]
Pat McAfee
In the great state of Texas, the leader of the Texas Tech Raid Raider football team, fresh out of a tough game against the Mountaineers in Morgantown. Ladies and gentlemen, Jerry Maguire.
- [44:38]
Conman
Yeah.
- [44:39]
Pat McAfee
Coach. What's up, Coach? Coach. How you doing? Oh, you're muted. I don't know if it's our end or your end. Is it us or him? Nah, you're muted. We gotta get you unmuted. It's on. I think it's on your side. I think it's on your.
- [44:53]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [44:53]
Pat McAfee
Now you're. There you are.
- [44:56]
Joey McGuire
I apologize. Apologize. Hey, first of all, I just want to tell you we're not leaving the Big 12, bro.
- [45:03]
Pat McAfee
Who told you?
- [45:04]
Joey McGuire
Who told you not leaving the Big 12?
- [45:06]
Darius Butler
I don't know who?
- [45:07]
Joey McGuire
You know that rumor yesterday? We're all in.
- [45:11]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Yeah, but the rumor was kind of started by me yesterday is what I. Is what I was trying to do.
- [45:16]
Joey McGuire
I called you guys.
- [45:18]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I called Cody Campbell. I called Cody Campbell. I said, hey, listen, I think you guys need to get out of the Big 12. I think it's only right. I think you guys need to go ahead, head over to the sec. I was looking at a map. I was zoomed out. I kind of panned over west. You could see how you guys, West Texas, kind of, kind of in the Southeastern Conference. We need you out of there. But on that note, the reason why I'm saying that is because I think I now have had a chance to really see what you're building down there and how special it is. Obviously, you get a massive win over West Virginia here to wrap up the season. You got the Big 12 championship game coming up here in a few days. How do you feel about where your team is and the vision of what the future can be down there? It feels like a very special time and about to be special times down there in Lubbock for you guys.
- [46:02]
Joey McGuire
Yeah, it's incredible. You know, I mean, this is where we thought we would be, honestly. I mean, this. You could tell in spring football how mature this group was. You know, it's all about staying healthy and. And having good things happen, happen. And we're getting healthier and healthier. This is probably as healthy as we've been all year long going into the Big 12 championship, which is. Is great news for us. But, man, this administration, Cody Campbell, Dusty Womble, these guys, man, they went all in. And so every day I come to work, man, I'm lucky. I work with the best AD in the country, the best president in the country, and they put everything behind this that we can win at a high level. It's so I, I think, important, and I try to make sure that they understand how much we appreciate it. And then what we put on the field is. Is something special.
- [46:55]
Pat McAfee
You talk about everybody being in alignment. You know, at a lot of schools, the money people aren't necessarily football people, but the football teams need the money people. So then the money people start having, obviously, some say, because they actually do have some power, because they are the supply of the roster. You guys having football people as your money people in is a weapon. It is outrageous. You know, and then you add in Patrick Mahomes as well, who brings in an incredible Adidas deal and also any quarterback you want, any weapon. It's like you guys really seemingly are the perfect setup for this transfer portal nil era, but you're doing it in the right way, investing in the trenches. Can you tell me about that a little bit? Is that because you think you got football people that are money people saying, hey, this is where we want to be, you know, great at, or why do you think you guys do invest where you invest with your team?
- [47:42]
Joey McGuire
Well, it Helps that you've got a former, you know, NFL lineman. That's the biggest, you know, backer that we have and is really, you know, brains behind all of this as far as starting the Matador Club. And, you know, how we were going to do nil and how we're going to do rev share. But whenever you look at the, you know, Ohio State last year, Notre Dame, when you look at the teams, Georgia, Alabama, I mean, they're just so dominant up front. And so that was one thing that we talked about, you know, is, you know, how good can we be in offensive defensive line? Funny story, we're in the middle of spring football and Stanford makes a coaches change. So now all of a sudden you've got a guy out there, David Bailey, who you know is going to be able to get in the portal because of the coach change. And my gm, James Blanchard, comes to to me and he goes, hey, there's a chance we can get somebody that's just as good as Romello Hyde. Now, I've been watching Romello Hyte for a few months now, and I'm like, hold on, man. Like, this dude's different. Like, you're telling me that there's a guy like this. And he goes, yeah. I said, do we have room? And he goes, we can make room. You know, this and this. And he. The last thing that got me, he goes, what would the Eagles do? What would Philadelphia Eagles do? Just go to get another defensive lineman. And I went, all right, let's go get him.
- [49:04]
Pat McAfee
Yes.
- [49:04]
Joey McGuire
And we're able to add a guy that's been leading the country in sacks.
- [49:09]
Pat McAfee
So the ability to not only go make that play is obviously because of the backing, but the football decision in saying, hey, we need to win in the trenches is what really separates, I think, the good money from just having money. And I think that is why we need you guys to be going to the sec, need you to get the hell out of the Big 12. And. And you know, hey, I know going into Morgantown, you were telling the boys, hey, okay, look out, be wary, bring your own juice. And then you got. No, not bring your own juice. You disrespectful. Don't you say that. Don't you? And I want to let you know, coach, go ahead.
- [49:44]
Joey McGuire
That's a time that I've, you know, I've been in Morgantown three times, you know, at Baylor and at Texas Tech, met four times, and that's the first time that we've won in Morgantown. I've. I've taken a my 2018, we got beat so bad. I mean, they beat the brakes off of us and made us like. And so it's such a tough place to play. We really did. Like we, we went in there with our piss was hot now.
- [50:12]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I saw it. Yeah, we watched it. Okay. We saw your piss was hot and we saw your entire team on display. Just know that the hard edge is coming back. But on that note, hard edge, I like how tough your team is. I love like the kind of the moxie of your squad. You know, obviously you high school football coach, I think at AT&T Stadium, you've won two out of your three high school state championships as well. So it obviously has a lot of meaning for you guys and for your team, obviously in Texas. But quarterback, dad, high school football, it's like everything about you guys is ball. And then your linebacker who might win the whole damn thing with the best stash in all a Ballroom Rodriguez. You got him playing quarterback as well. It's like you're doing everything right down there and it feels like you like go out of your way to do that. Does it feel like that? And does it feel like you get all the people that fit your culture immediately? Because you kind of. You display who you are every single day, if that makes sense.
- [51:06]
Joey McGuire
You know, we're very intentional for sure what we do, you know, like every Friday night we have game day captains and you know, they, they I meet with O line and D line together and then the game day captains where all in it together and I tell them, man, like you've earned this. Like, I am very intentional of like who's going to be a game day captain and why they're a game day captain. You know, we, we made sure this year that every single walk on that has been with us for four years was a game day capital. You know, we call our walk ons the dead rabbits off of the games in New York. And you know, that was a tough game. And, and that's kind of like what we try to get those guys to be. That comes from. From our special teams coordinator, Kenny Perry. But we're very intentional.
- [51:51]
Bruce Arians
And.
- [51:52]
Joey McGuire
And then the other thing, man, we care deeply about our players in every aspect of their life. We got six guys that are married. All six of the wives were at our Thanksgiving dinner as a team, you know, like everything we do, we try to do it very intentionally. Get these guys to understand how much we care about them.
- [52:11]
Pat McAfee
Special place. Will you view tonight as any decision for your program? Do you get justification fulfillment out of any of these ran rankings or anything like that. Like, if tonight it comes out you guys are ranked at 4 or whatever or even. Maybe even higher, will you feel fulfillment out of that? Or how do you kind of handle that with the boys?
- [52:30]
Joey McGuire
You know, we'll. We'll practice and I. And I'll check here in a little bit exactly what time I watch it, man. I. I mean, I'm a football geek now, man. I mean, right now, on my tabs of what's pulled up. I have every bracket pulled up of high school football. Who's playing who this weekend? And then, yeah, I watch it as a fan also. I mean, I'm watching it as where we're at, but I'm also watching as a fan of, like, you know, who moves up to where I think we should be in the top four, you know, and we're playing for that. And we. We've been talking about that because it's important for us to get a bite, you know, so we're fighting like hell to get in the playoffs, win the Big 12, but we're fighting like hell to be in the top four. Also.
- [53:15]
Pat McAfee
You got to buy. You can obviously get healthy or you can get rusty. Coach, now you can get rusty. That would be on your ass, not preparing the boys, you know, got a bunch of married guys, these old dudes, you know, get those couple weeks off, we'll see if the old high school ball coach can get the boys Ready to go 49 nothing in Morgantown this past weekend. It feels like they're playing their best ball of all season at this point. Coach, you've made some comments, I think everybody kind of has about the state of college ball. Go ahead, Ty.
- [53:43]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Coach. In the wake of Lane Kiffin leaving ole Ms. For LSU, you and kind of the entire conjecture around that, you got applauded for a lot of your comments about the college football schedule. In your opinion, what changes would you like to see with the schedule? And ultimately, do you think that that's something that will actually happen? Because we had Marty Smith on yesterday and he said the problem is, is that the schedule really is only going to affect 10 to 11 schools per year because those are the coaches who are leaving. And I think a lot of people would disagree, agree. But what are the changes that you would like to see made? And do you think that'll ultimately happen here soon?
- [54:18]
Joey McGuire
Yeah, I mean, you got to disagree with that because North Texas and. And Tulane are in. In that boat, you're looking at how many guys, I guess James Madison's in that boat, too. So it's. It's more than 10 and 11. Whenever you've got really good coaches like Eric Morrison and, you know, guys like that, I think, honestly, y' all can play. Mike Leach's explanation on how the playoffs go, I'd go back to that video because it's really simple and it's really hilarious because guess what? It's common sense. It's what high school does Division 3, Division 2, FCS in the NFL move us all the way for this year. What I would have done put Week one is August 23rd. The conference championship would have been played on Thanksgiving weekend. Seven days later. I know it's this crazy thing that you actually play playoff games every seven days. Seven days. But seven days later, you play the first round. Seven days later, the quarterfinals. Seven days later is the semifinals. National championship can actually be done before the portal ever opens. It's this, like, crazy concept that high school football is doing right now in Texas. I was lucky enough to play in four of them. The latest I played, we played 16 games in the state of Texas to win a off. And the latest I played was December 23rd. So if you can do it in high school and you can do it in every other level of college, then you ought to be able to do it this way. And that solves a lot of issues with the portal and coaches league and everything like that.
- [55:50]
Pat McAfee
That's a lot easier than moving the portal to the spring and then trying to move spring ball to the summer, which leads into training camp. It's like, no, let's just knock this thing out. You know, get January 1st maybe as the national championship every single single year in this entirety. Is that what you're projecting?
- [56:06]
Joey McGuire
Well, all of that. Whenever people are talking about that, we're reacting and not being proactive. We're not fixing the problem, we're reacting to the problem.
- [56:15]
Pat McAfee
That's right.
- [56:16]
Joey McGuire
Here's my biggest deal. Why I think we're where we're at is we got all of our kids except for two. We got all of our kids to where they were with me from January all the way to this point.
- [56:28]
Bruce Arians
Right.
- [56:28]
Joey McGuire
Right now. And so we were such a closer team. We knew exactly what we had. We were able to go through spring football. We had everything installed from a brand new offensive coordinator, brand new defensive coordinator. Now, let's react here. Here's the thing. I don't want. You have a spring portal, and I'm stuck with a kid that doesn't want to be at Texas Tech for all of spring until the portal opens up.
- [56:51]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, right.
- [56:55]
Joey McGuire
So we'll react to it, fix the problem by changing the calendar and moving everything up.
- [57:01]
Pat McAfee
You nailed it. Yeah, hey, you nailed that right on the heart out at espn. We're still live on digital, but I want to let you know your timing is impeccable and so is your brain and your coaching style. We appreciate the hell out of you, ladies and gentlemen. Hey, coach. Down here at Texas Tech.
- [57:13]
Bruce Arians
Reck them, baby.
- [57:16]
Pat McAfee
Coach Jerry McGuire. Thank you. We'll see you on the other side.
- [57:22]
Darius Butler
This is Marshawn Lynch, AKA Beast Mode.
- [57:24]
Pat McAfee
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- [57:34]
Bruce Arians
Right now, Prize Picks is getting into.
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Pat McAfee
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Darius Butler
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Pat McAfee
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- [57:51]
Darius Butler
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- [57:59]
Pat McAfee
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- [58:18]
Darius Butler
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- [58:22]
Pat McAfee
Coca Cola for the big, for the.
- [58:25]
Ty Schmidt
Small, the short and the tall.
- [58:29]
Pat McAfee
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- [59:10]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, right. Rightfully so. You know, when your team goes out there and just thoroughly beats the piss out of out of the who are they playing every single week? That's a good feeling. And that's a feeling he hasn't had in a while. So he should take every gloating measure he wants he should take this long victory walk and keep marching right into the playoffs.
- [59:26]
Pat McAfee
The primetime win feels good, especially when they're wearing super cool uniforms. That splash of red last night was beautiful.
- [59:33]
Ty Schmidt
Makes a big difference.
- [59:33]
Pat McAfee
We had Jason Kelsey as a minute man last night. Obviously doing the shot. You got a chance to experience all the traditions. Who was the keeper of the Paul Revere lamp? One if by land, two if by sea. We're going to play football field by.
- [59:45]
Conman
Yeah, I'm still not sure Paul Revere of the week was. Who was it?
- [59:50]
Darius Butler
Willie McGinnis. Oh, what?
- [59:52]
Conman
Really?
- [59:53]
Darius Butler
Oh, yeah.
- [59:53]
Pat McAfee
Willie McGinnis was the Paul Revere Lamplighter of the Week.
- [59:55]
Darius Butler
Yes, he was.
- [59:56]
Conman
That's awesome.
- [59:57]
Pat McAfee
I'll tell you what, Willie McGinnis, that's one of the first times in my life I was already in the NFL. Okay. And I've had a couple moments of looking around, seeing humans. You just realize, holy, what is that thing? Oh, my God. Could you imagine being like that? I was out at the NFL Network. We're doing NFL AM, and call time is like 2am or something. 2:30. Because obviously they're three hours behind. And it was a morning show, so it was six to nine east coast time. But it was shot in la, so that's three to six. Obviously, you start doing the math there. That's early call time. People are living that life out there full time. Shout to them. You guys really paved the way. Morning football do its thing, which is. I obviously shot in New York as opposed to in LA. I call time 2:00am or something. 1:30 in LA. Okay. So who knows what I was doing leading up into that? I walk in there and I'm in a hallway, got my head down, I'm a little bit tired, and I look up and there's just this species blocking the door.
- [60:45]
Bruce Arians
Okay.
- [60:46]
Pat McAfee
Just walking that way. And the light is coming from the door. So it's literally like a movie. As if this villain character is walking into the light. And I'm just getting like a little bit of light shined over, like, the right shoulder of this thing. And then obviously it's. It cut like, there's light coming in through the side here. And then the shoulders are actually just scraping the walls as walking down the hallway. And I was. I actually said, holy. Didn't know who it was. Person turned around. It's Willie McGinnis. I was like, nice to meet you, man. Geez Louise, it is nice to see you. He's a monster specimen. Oh, my God. I mean, big amongst the big. Willie McGinnis. I mean, absolute gigantic. How many he went up there.
- [61:25]
Conman
He won three.
- [61:27]
Pat McAfee
They talk about him being like the OG of the OGs right up there in. In New England.
- [61:31]
Conman
Yeah. That was a huge part of the entire Brady documentary that really goes into the dynasty, unlike the Apple TV one. But he. He talks about being the player kind of with Vrabel. He kind of almost showed Vrabel not the ropes because Vrabel came from Pittsburgh. But kind of part of that culture change of you will early on. That's one of the really underrated parts of this whole entire thing with Vrabel is all these old legends from New England are back, like Randy Moss. I think that was his fourth game that he's been to in Gillette, and Randy made the good decision to claim New England instead of the Minnesota Vikings. So clearly Randy Moss is New England Patriot for life, which is incredible. He's always in the suite. Willie McGinnis has been on the sideline with Vrabel. You know, hugs. Dapping him up pregame before a lot of their big games. He was there before. Before the jets primetime game. It really is just up and to the right in New England. I feel bad for every other team.
- [62:22]
Pat McAfee
How about Vrabel? Just having a vision, I would assume, for. If he was to ever run the Patriots or whatever.
- [62:27]
Conman
Yeah.
- [62:27]
Pat McAfee
And then, you know, he goes up and goes into the New England Patriots hall of Fame while he's still the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. During a bye week, he comes back. The Titans were not happy about that. You said a lot of really nice things about the Patriots while you were speaking about him. Because I think Vrabes in his hall of Fame speech goes, I've been to a lot of places. They're terrible. This place is awesome. Never ever forget how awesome this place is. You have no idea how good this place is until maybe you see some other places. Okay. So don't ever forget it. This place is the greatest. I've been a lot of places. This is a special place with great leadership, great fans everywhere. And then we move on from the tweet immediately while we're reading it. But he basically said, that was a good play. It was a good play. Way by the. The back group. I've been. I appreciate you guys finding that. First of all, that's a good find there, Bruce. This is a special place of great leadership, great fans, great direction, and great coaching. Enjoy. It's not like this everywhere. So allegedly, he walks back into the Tennessee Titans building after doing that in ownership and Everybody in front office is like, who are you talking about?
- [63:27]
Conman
What you mean by that?
- [63:28]
Pat McAfee
You talking about here? You talking about us? I'm talking about ball gamers that we're. Well, we got to go back to your hall of Fame speech. It must be nice to go back to your ex girlfriend, huh? Is that how it is? It's just everything's nicer back there? Is that what you meant by this? And then literally, that is what led to them firing him unceremoniously, just moving on from him, and then him not having a job, and then the Tennessee Titans just going down into the pooper, and then him hanging out for a year and then now leading the number one team in the NFL back at home, whenever he was calling to play special. I mean, what a perfect outcome for Vrael in the worst possible outcome for the Tennessee Titans.
- [64:03]
Darius Butler
It's so perfect for the Patriots. And this is kind of another example of if you're going to be bad, like, you want to be really bad, even if it's for a couple years. That's why fans and front offices tank. Because now you go and get your quarterback suck again. You go and get your franchise left tackle, maybe you draft the court. You're not in a situation like the Steelers where every year you're going to be 9 and 8, 10 and 7. You never can get your quarterback. You never can make some real change of turnover. So, you know, the Bears kind of did it when they traded, traded the picks to Carolina and ended up getting Caleb and then the following year getting their head coach. So, like, if it can work out. It doesn't always work out that way. Obviously, some teams are just bad forever, forever, forever. But obviously, Kraft, they've been doing the things right from the top down from day one. So, I mean, I'm always rooting for the Patriots. That's where I got my start in the league. So it's good to see them trending in the right direction. A lot of people still, still, still have some questions about, hey, even after the dominant performance last night, 11 and 2, one pick, hey, how's it going to look in the playoffs? Do I trust them against this team or this quarterback or this team? And I guess we'll, you know, we'll see it. That's why we play the game.
- [65:11]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You just never know until they actually get to that point, you know, like, well, we don't know if Bo Nix can do it. It's like, it's the second year. Can we find maybe. Can we see? We will find out right yeah, but I don't know. It's like, well, that's three months from now.
- [65:23]
Bruce Arians
Yep.
- [65:23]
Pat McAfee
And we're gonna wait. And it's like, well, can we talk about right now? Yeah, I guess we can talk about right now. It doesn't matter, though.
- [65:29]
Conman
Don't matter.
- [65:30]
Pat McAfee
It doesn't matter right now.
- [65:31]
Ty Schmidt
It's like.
- [65:31]
Pat McAfee
It kind of does, though. Doesn't it kind of matter? It's like, nope, doesn't matter. We want to see if they can win in the playoffs, which ultimately is a whole different conversation. Like, is this team ready for the big moment? Is this team going to be able to not get rattled when the world is watching them and they're playing against a top five defense every single week, in a top five offense every single week, which is what playoff football is with the Patriots, with how young they are, we have no idea. But we'd assume by watching Drake May's mannerisms, I think he's going to be all right. Feels like Drake's going to be okay in the big moment. BA what do you look at that team and you think to yourself, yes, they can go because of this, or I am still a little bit worried about this particular part of the New England Patriots. They say their schedule's bad, but that's not their fault, obviously. I mean, what the hell are they supposed to.
- [66:14]
Bruce Arians
You play last play schedule, you should win. But they're winning in the right way, and they're doing it the right way. And no, I don't have any doubts. They can run the table, because if.
- [66:23]
Pat McAfee
All the playoffs have to go up.
- [66:24]
Bruce Arians
There, that's different weather. And you better be a cold weather team to be able to play against them. And they had that advantage for all those years.
- [66:32]
Pat McAfee
Oh, my God. Home field advantage for the playoffs. I didn't even. I just. I just. Yeah.
- [66:36]
Darius Butler
Tom Brady formula.
- [66:37]
Pat McAfee
That's what you thought of. That is literally what you were just like. N. Yeah. Everybody's got to fly their ass to Foxborough. We know they control the weather up there.
- [66:43]
Bruce Arians
Totally.
- [66:43]
Pat McAfee
We know they control the weather up there somehow. Yeah, all of it.
- [66:46]
Darius Butler
Communicate something. Something's going to happen in Foxborough.
- [66:48]
Bruce Arians
And who was the last coach to go up there and win?
- [66:50]
Pat McAfee
Who was it?
- [66:51]
Bruce Arians
Mike vra.
- [66:52]
Conman
Boom. Tennessee Titans ended the Brady era in New England. Bingo. Logan Ryan.
- [66:57]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, that was against, of course.
- [66:59]
Conman
And that's.
- [67:00]
Pat McAfee
Now he's. Now he's not on the market. So who's going to do it? Nobody, thank you very much. Nobody can. Maybe it'll be the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- [67:07]
Conman
There's A chance.
- [67:07]
Pat McAfee
Ladies and gentlemen, let's head over to Hammer. AP Tone. Hey, this Pittsburgh Steelers conversation is getting really loud, brother. Honestly, it feels like more people publicly stating what maybe some people have believed for a while about, hey, maybe it's time for something new at the head coaching role, you know, and obviously Coach Tomlin has been good to us. It's getting loud with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I think you watched Patriots last night. You don't think to yourself at all that Steelers could beat them if they had to to get in there, which almost amplifies it even more. Right?
- [67:35]
AP Tone
Well, they did already beat them once this season, so we'll just start right there. And would like to apologize to Darius Butler for the Steelers trying to win every year. That's on us. That's a, that's a mistake on our part. But no, it is getting really loud. It's getting super loud with the fan base, obviously, because we're super frustrated. Haven't won a playoff game in nine years. I don't think that's ever happened in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so. And now Tomlin's getting a lot of questions about it from the media. So he is aware of the chance, everything like that.
- [68:01]
Lane Kiffin
And he.
- [68:01]
AP Tone
And he shares the same frustrations, but it just kind of. It is what it is. And a lot of the media, national media, we had shefty on and I saw Rap talking about it as well. They are, they're not never gonna outright fire Mike Thomas. Like, Mike Thomas is not going to be fired in week 12 or week 14, week 16, whatever. Like, he's been there too long. That is not what the Rooneys do. If anything, it'll be a mutual separation at the end of the season. I don't know if that is something that Tomlin wants to do. I don't know if that. That's something that Art Rooney wants to do. He has not shown any willingness to do something like that. So it'll be very, very interesting to see where they go. I just know that the fan base right now is at a fever pitch on.
- [68:41]
Conman
They can't.
- [68:42]
AP Tone
It can't be this anymore. Like, it, it has reached a point where the team is not you. You can't even recognize the team on the field versus, you know, what we have known our entire lives.
- [68:51]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so on that note, you're talking about recognizing the team. We have a man here who, coach in Pittsburgh, understands Pittsburgh very well. Coach Ba, what are your thoughts on the Pittsburgh Steelers situation? Tone obviously speaks from the fan perspective as well as Somebody who has, you know, know some people that potentially been around the building and in the building. He's speaking at a point where everybody's like, okay, enough. We've been doing this for a very long time. We're kind of just right in the middle. We're average. I think Coach Tomlin today was asked about the identity of his football team. He said, We're a 6 and 6 football team, and I don't like it. That's basically what Steelers fans have been saying for, like, the last 10 years. How do you see this going and does it feel different this year versus maybe years past?
- [69:29]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, I think it's a lot harder. I mean, I would not want to be either one of the coordinators because you're not coming back next year. For sure.
- [69:36]
Pat McAfee
For sure.
- [69:37]
Bruce Arians
That's. That's going to happen. It's always happened. And so it's like, will Art pull the trigger? Which I doubt very seriously. And if I were Mike, I would want to get out and go somewhere new, start over.
- [69:51]
Pat McAfee
You got to do this a couple different times.
- [69:53]
Bruce Arians
Yeah. And it. Not by my choice. A couple of times. But.
- [69:56]
Pat McAfee
No, no, but let's just say you had a chance. Obviously, whenever you were at Indianapolis, we would have hopefully kept you forever. I think there were some business conversations that went the wrong way. Nobody with a brain would have done what happened there. But you end up being a head coach for Arizona, then obviously you end up. You then go to Tampa Bay. Whenever you get into a new building, is there a sense of refreshment? Maybe your voice is heard differently in different places. It's like, what do you think about Coach Tomlin potentially choosing to go elsewhere? Because everybody that talks on TV says, if Coach Tomlin was to move on from Pittsburgh, whatever it is, traded, fired, let go, steps away, he would get hired. Some 15 other teams would be like, give us Coach Tomlin. I think everybody in Pittsburgh agrees with that. Right, Tone? Everybody in Pittsburgh kind of understands that and agrees with that.
- [70:37]
AP Tone
Yeah, I agree with that.
- [70:38]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think. But they just would like to see what potentially could look like post Mike Tomlin, where other teams are begging for a Coach Tomlin. But if he was going to another building for you, what did you experience whenever you go to a new place?
- [70:49]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, it's such an easier giving that message. You know, some players get tired of the message and you have to keep it fresh. Mike's done a great job of keeping it fresh for years. And, you know, I don't know. I'm shocked watching their defense play. I'M just totally shocked because talent's not the issue. They got talent and they went out and got all those guys in free agency. And it's just amazing to me to watch the Steelers play right now. It's almost like they don't have Steeler pride. When you get booed on Renegade, huh, bro? That's something wrong.
- [71:20]
Pat McAfee
But that's a big something's wrong. Have you heard the remix? The jig is up, the booze around. They finally.
- [71:32]
Bruce Arians
That shocked me. That's a shock to me.
- [71:34]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, they hate them. They hate everything. Everything about it. And fire. Tomlin chants happening. That was for Canada. They were doing that. They were doing that for Pittsburgh. So Pittsburgh Penguins had a legendary coach who was around for a long time. Sully. Mike Sullivan. He was the coach of the Penguins for a long time, but kind of at the end of his run, there was like a five, six year period where basically he was just kind of like. But he did a lot of good things. He gets fired from the pens or moves on from the pens. I don't remember the exact opposite. He gets a job with the Rangers the next day. I believe he gets hired literally the next day. So they. So this exact situation that is happening with Coach Tomlin happened literally to the Pittsburgh people already with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And we now have moved on. And hey, don't look now. Penguins are playing good. Playing good hockey right now.
- [72:16]
Conman
Damn. Muse.
- [72:17]
Pat McAfee
Okay, Muse. Bald headed guy. Certainly nothing like what Sully was like, had this hair. But I think the Pittsburgh people are like, hey, yeah, gonna get a job the next day.
- [72:25]
Bruce Arians
We are.
- [72:26]
Pat McAfee
Hey, you're a good coach. Way to go. Go. But there's a door number two that we're trying to get to. You said there. You don't think Art will pull the trigger. Who's Rooney? The Rooney family Wouldn't want to do that.
- [72:35]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, it's just not their style. It's never been their style. And three head coaches in what, 30, 40 years now. And it's to me, something's got to change, though. Something. There has to be some kind of change. And the coordinator thing has happened about five times now. So I don't think that's going to fl. That's not going to fly.
- [72:51]
Conman
All right, well, there's just only so many places that are like this. Like Green Bay, New England, Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. I guess you could throw Sam Fran in there. Like there are only a few. Few spots where it is only. Hey, unless you're going to Super Bowls. Yeah, Philly. But Philly is just ridiculous. Like, they're going to be pissed no matter what. They're looking to be pissed, but there's only a few spots where if you're not going or competing for at least the conference championship, like, your ass is on the line. And, I mean, Green Bay is going through that right now. Like, Matt LaFleur has had incredible success with Rogers and Jordan Love, but they haven't made it and really competed in that conference championship in three. Three years. Since COVID Since COVID But they're still great football team every single year.
- [73:35]
Ty Schmidt
Son of a bitch.
- [73:40]
Pat McAfee
But yeah, you're right.
- [73:41]
Conman
Like, you want that. Of course, as a fan, like, it's great being a part of that. When you are like with New England right now, it's great to have super bowl expectations, but now anything less than that just. It's not what you're looking for.
- [73:55]
Pat McAfee
Tone brings up a good point from Hammer. Don Ton, he said Baltimore right now, too.
- [73:59]
Conman
Yeah, Boom.
- [74:00]
Pat McAfee
Baltimore is expecting the same thing with Harbaugh. And it's like, we all believe Harbaugh is a good coach. We all believe Tomlin is a good coach. But we all see with our eyes, too. It's like fans would like to know that they're going to win a Super bowl here. Clearly, at this stage, neither of those teams are the teams who are thinking about winning the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh Steelers, too. If you go for, from front office wise, Omar Khan, the con artist, I mean, they go. I don't want to say they go.
- [74:23]
Bruce Arians
They.
- [74:24]
Pat McAfee
DK Metcalfe is getting $30 million a year. He's never played a snap for the Steelers before this year. That's not how the Pittsburgh Steelers are. Jalen Ramsey. Yep. John who? Smith. Yep. Duggar. We're going there as well. Darius Slay. We're going there as well. Aaron Rodgers going to be our quarterback. I mean, this is like vastly different than anything that they've ever done before. So that would indicate that it feels like the front office is trying to get over the hump and be great with the moves that they made. So now that the team is the exact same on the field, what does that indicate for the future? I don't think any of us know, but Pittsburgh Steelers fans say it's going to be same next year. We're going to have to do the same thing. And somehow, Tone, you're going to be selling to yourself in training camp that you guys are going to win a Super bowl again.
- [75:05]
Ty Schmidt
I can't wait.
- [75:06]
Pat McAfee
I can't wait. This year you guys go on a run When? Super Bowl.
- [75:09]
AP Tone
Nope, not even close.
- [75:12]
Pat McAfee
66 football team.
- [75:13]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah. Ideally turns 42.
- [75:15]
AP Tone
Ideally, they lose out.
- [75:16]
Pat McAfee
It's Aaron's birthday.
- [75:17]
Ty Schmidt
Bingo. Yeah.
- [75:18]
Peter Schrager
Birthday, Birthday Aaron.
- [75:19]
Darius Butler
Happy birthday, Aaron.
- [75:22]
Pat McAfee
Once again, Aaron Rodgers been playing good.
- [75:25]
Darius Butler
Oh.
- [75:26]
Pat McAfee
What?
- [75:27]
Darius Butler
That's not.
- [75:28]
Pat McAfee
That's tough stuff over there, dude.
- [75:30]
Bruce Arians
300 yards in three games.
- [75:31]
Darius Butler
That's not necessary.
- [75:32]
Bruce Arians
That ain't Aaron Rogers, bro.
- [75:33]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so you know, who is it? What are you. What are you saying?
- [75:37]
Bruce Arians
Get out before you get hurt for life.
- [75:41]
Pat McAfee
Heron Rogers.
- [75:42]
Lane Kiffin
Yeah.
- [75:42]
Pat McAfee
It's his birthday.
- [75:43]
Bruce Arians
The take he's hitting, man. The hits he's taken. Get out, bro.
- [75:48]
Pat McAfee
Mimosa shot. Oh, he exploded through his back, face through turf. Boom. Full body. Not even. I. I don't even know if that's legal, I guess, because the ball came out and he. He had the ball. It's okay. But that's Bose's full body weight onto his spine, basically. And then also his face because he wears that terrible chin strap from whatever year when football was back in the CTE days. That was. That's a CTE Day strap right now.
- [76:17]
Darius Butler
New helmet, though.
- [76:17]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, new helmet, but kept the same strap. That thing. Yeah, right. That thing's in there. And then, bang, his face gets that thing butterflied. Eh? I'm going back out there. And then afterwards, his nose is just gigantic. Obviously, he's got three fractures in his head, and he's 42. Happy birthday, Aaron. Happy birthday, brother. You're a tough son of a bitch, Aaron. You're tough. You're a tough OG Football player. And the OG Football fans in Pittsburgh are saying, we would like to get back to the OG days of whenever we were relevant in the super bowl conversations, as opposed to, hey, we have another winning season. Now, speaking of winning seasons, there's a lot of college football teams that have winning seasons. Only one of them can win the national championship. And that tournament to decide who will win the national championship starts with 12. Who will be those 12? Well, ladies and gentlemen, tonight will be another College Football Playoff prediction bracket release show.
- [77:11]
Ty Schmidt
Well said.
- [77:12]
Pat McAfee
Is that what it's called?
- [77:13]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, that's the name of it.
- [77:15]
Pat McAfee
On the top College Football playoff prediction bracket release show.
- [77:19]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [77:19]
Pat McAfee
Featuring your check, which we're expecting him to maybe do a little better this week. But I like that he's kind of finding his groove. He's kind of finding his way. Him and Reese are kind of finding their mojo. But let's head over to Hammer Tone. What is the CFP committee going to be saying about tonight, and what do you think the storylines are going to be, brother.
- [77:39]
AP Tone
Yeah. Once again, this is my prediction for what the college football committee will do tonight. Not what I think it should be personally in my own opinion. And this by far was the hardest one so far that we have had to do to predict because just there's, there's a lot of movement and there's a lot of teams that are now very, very close and clustered together. But Ohio State at 1 is easy. Indiana at 2 is easy. Georgia at 3 is easy. The first question came at 4 and 5. Texas Tech was ahead of Oregon last week. Can the Oregon win against Washington jump Texas Tech? I don't know. Oregon jumped Texas Tech in both the AP and the coaches pool. So that is a question question there at four and five for Oregon I have A M dropping to six. They were three with that loss to Texas. They're still a one loss team. So they're in the group of one loss teams with Ole Miss. I don't know what they're going to do with Ole Miss to be honest with you. Like this will be very indicative to how they feel about Lane losing or leaving. And will they use that clause that they have in the rules of, you know, they can drop a team for a coach, leaving a quarterback, being out, all of that stuff. So like seven at Ole Miss I was just like, I, I don't know, maybe they'll have ole miss at seven but they shit, they could put them at 10, 11, that'd be very indicative how they feel about Lane leaving and then that situation. Obviously Oklahoma, not a great offense. Really, really good defense. Wins at Alabama. Their record's good. They'll probably be at 8 somewhere around there. The big question, Notre Dame, Miami, Alabama, they all have two losses. You know, their strength of record, record strength of schedules, losses, all of that situation. So 9, 10, 11 could be in really any order. The big question is 9 and 11 or the big question on the Internet is 9 and 11 because of obviously the head to head and then Miami's only in there because they are the highest ranked ACC team. They're not in the ACC championship. So that's going to change with Virginia or Duke most likely. And then they had to Lane at 12 for a group of five teams. So I just left Tulane in there.
- [79:42]
Pat McAfee
Question, question. Yeah, ACC champion if Duke wins? Yeah, that's a good question. They may be getting left out because they won't be a part of the top five highest ranked conference champions. They could still technically put Miami in as an outlarge without having the champion of the Conference in which they're in. In the actual tournament, which would be obviously absurd and kind of a mockery of the system that they have in place for themselves. Now, another conversation. These small schools getting a shot. Okay. These more schools. That's right. Hell, yeah. And it's kind of the basis of the whole song is more schools get a shot to shine.
- [80:21]
Conman
They're mixing things up.
- [80:22]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [80:23]
Conman
It's about time.
- [80:24]
Pat McAfee
It is, isn't it? But is it about time for. It's always one of these schools that might lose by 70 in the first round to take up one of these spots from his. You know, some of these teams that we followed all year that might be on the outside looking in while, you know, a green wave maybe sneaks in there or. Or JMU gets in there, who I am a big fan of, or North Texas, you know, maybe even they slide in there and then.
- [80:51]
Bruce Arians
Officer, what if they're gonna. If they're gonna penalize Ole Miss for losing their coach? Tulane, jmu, they're all out for what? Yeah, those coaches are gone.
- [81:00]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [81:01]
Bruce Arians
Through it, I see big difference.
- [81:04]
Pat McAfee
Why can't Lane coach? Well, because I think Ole Miss views.
- [81:08]
AP Tone
Yeah.
- [81:08]
Pat McAfee
They're themselves. It's a different program than Tulane or JMU or North Texas.
- [81:12]
Conman
Respectfully. Of course.
- [81:13]
Pat McAfee
Respectfully. Respectfully. Respect. Because they might be making a tournament.
- [81:16]
AP Tone
To your point, though, Pat, like, no one cared about it last year because, what. Boise was undefeated and I think they're ranked 10th in the country. Anyways, so, like, this season is a little difference because. Because Tulane, North North Texas and jmu, none of them are ranked super high. I liked what you guys were kind of talking about on game day, where it has to be, you know, they have to be ranked in the top 15 or top 13 or 12 or whatever to. To fill that last conference championship spot.
- [81:42]
Darius Butler
There we go.
- [81:42]
AP Tone
But there is a.
- [81:43]
Peter Schrager
There is a.
- [81:44]
Pat McAfee
Looks like it's a bunch of power school elitists around here.
- [81:47]
AP Tone
I'm sorry. I want the best teams in there.
- [81:49]
Pat McAfee
Well, I started with 12 Countdown 1. We're certainly going to find out who the best. They want a conference championship. It's horseback.
- [81:55]
Ty Schmidt
Nobody wants this. They respectfully. They act like this is the NCAA basketball tournament where, like, a 15 seed plays way differently than a two seed. Like, they press a bunch or like their defense is weird and it's something you don't see all year. So, like, there's an upset potential there. Like, that's not happening in football. Like, these teams. Like, there's a re. Tulane is like a 25 point underdog to Oregon right now. Or Texas Tech or whoever. They're going to get their ass beat.
- [82:21]
AP Tone
27, actually.
- [82:21]
Ty Schmidt
27. There we go. Nobody wants to see that. Okay. It's all.
- [82:26]
Pat McAfee
Notre Dame might be taking up one of these spots as well. Or they might actually get left out because we might need two Lane. Who took on the meat meat Roadrunners at utsa. Tough ball club last year.
- [82:36]
Ty Schmidt
I like watching Notre Dame play. You know why? You know, partially because we see him on national TV every single week. You? I. Does Tulane even play on tv?
- [82:47]
Conman
Have they. Cw, I think.
- [82:49]
Ty Schmidt
Cw? Yeah. CBS Sports Network. It's Horse.
- [82:52]
Pat McAfee
Sound like an elitist. I'm not.
- [82:54]
Ty Schmidt
I'm not.
- [82:54]
Pat McAfee
You sound like a blue blood elitist.
- [82:57]
Conman
I'm not.
- [82:57]
Pat McAfee
You don't want the little schools to get an opportunity. You don't want them to get a chance.
- [83:01]
Ty Schmidt
I don't want them to. I do not want them to get a shot to shine. I want a good team to play Oregon. You know what?
- [83:08]
Pat McAfee
I agree.
- [83:09]
Ty Schmidt
You know what, Foxy?
- [83:10]
Pat McAfee
You're an elitist. I agree with. You've been saying a lot of.
- [83:15]
Darius Butler
I went to Yukon. Look, I'm not a power school bully yet. I'm the same way if you're the top. Now look, you finish one of these small schools, you finish in the top 10, top 12 you earned.
- [83:23]
Ty Schmidt
That's a different story.
- [83:23]
Darius Butler
Boise State, we saw with Oklahoma all those years ago on the big stage. Yeah, for sure. But now we don't want to see this shit. We want to see the teams that really got a chance. You know what? I do want to see the big brands. I do want to see the first round picks. I want to see the guys where.
- [83:36]
Pat McAfee
I know they're fucking this guy. Yep.
- [83:38]
Conman
Wow.
- [83:39]
AP Tone
Sec spa.
- [83:41]
Pat McAfee
There it is.
- [83:41]
Ty Schmidt
You know, let's actually. Never mind. Let's send Tulane to Oregon. They can get beat 75 to nothing. And then we'll say what the fuck were we doing putting these guys in there?
- [83:50]
Bruce Arians
Yeah. Instead of kicking Miami out, they should put them against Notre Dame in the first round.
- [83:54]
Pat McAfee
Miami. Notre Dame.
- [83:55]
Bruce Arians
Yeah.
- [83:56]
Pat McAfee
Let's do it.
- [83:58]
AP Tone
Someone had an idea to put the first four teams out in games.
- [84:04]
Pat McAfee
Championship weekend.
- [84:05]
AP Tone
Championship weekend. Or no. Or is it Army Navy weekend potentially. To then have them play in to for the last two.
- [84:11]
Ty Schmidt
I'm all. I'm all. And have that be exactly the teams who need more shots to shine. And then they get their own showcase weekend, too.
- [84:20]
Pat McAfee
Holy.
- [84:21]
Conman
Two Lane versus Texas.
- [84:22]
Ty Schmidt
Boom.
- [84:23]
Pat McAfee
Oh, my gosh. Now we really find out Andy versus.
- [84:25]
Ty Schmidt
JMU now we're talking.
- [84:28]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [84:28]
Pat McAfee
How many of these do you think Bobby is hitting? Every time.
- [84:33]
AP Tone
He's creeping up those oddsboards for Heisman.
- [84:35]
Pat McAfee
Is he. What's he at right now?
- [84:36]
AP Tone
Some books have him as co favorite. I saw one had him as favorite.
- [84:40]
Ty Schmidt
One.
- [84:40]
AP Tone
One had him as third, still behind saying Amando. So it's getting. It's getting very, very tight. But when you go for over 400 yards a game your last four games, it's. You're going to creep up there a bit.
- [84:50]
Pat McAfee
We saw him on his tippy toes there. He's around a lot of tall guys. Yeah, he's around a lot of tall guys. Fernando Mendoza and this Indiana Hoosier team has an incredible opportunity this weekend. Big Ten championship game against Ohio State here in Indianapolis. It should be a Hoosier show case. They haven't won a conference championship since 1967, man. Okay, 1967.
- [85:13]
Conman
Six birth year.
- [85:16]
Pat McAfee
Could be.
- [85:17]
Conman
Sure.
- [85:18]
Pat McAfee
I have no idea.
- [85:19]
Conman
No clue.
- [85:19]
Pat McAfee
He's locked down for the next 10 years. They got. They got big donors behind him. Okay, Fernando Mendoza, he described his team, I guess the center. Where was the center? Was he a transfer as well?
- [85:30]
AP Tone
From Notre Dame, I believe.
- [85:31]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so the center was a transfer.
- [85:33]
Conman
Coogan.
- [85:33]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so Coogan gives a speech to the boys, I guess, before one of their last games and says like, hey, we're a bunch of misfits and outcasts that have kind of been replaced at our previous schools and we've come together here. It's like, Fernando Mendoza, go football player at Cal. And way he talks about it is like they were going to move on from him if they were able to find it. Obviously they have Song of Politelli, but he was a late addition. I don't know what they thought, but Mendoza utilized it as some sort of motivation to come to Indiana. Signetti and messaging and recruiting in talent evaluation has been very, very, very good here in the transfer point Porto era. So it feels like Indiana is around for the long haul, but nobody will really believe in them unless they're able to win against, like, Ohio State. If you're able to get a massive win over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship, all of a sudden everybody has to start being like, holy hell, the Hoosiers are who we've been saying they are. But if Ohio State just comes in here and wins this game, with the way they just handle business and the way they've gone all year, we're talking about maybe one of the most dominant years in the history of a college football team. Now, granted, is it all fool's gold some people talk about with different teams? Is it all potentially just a house built on cards as opposed to on granite, because they haven't played against anybody? It's like a lot of these teams don't play against teams and they don't show up and the games get a lot closer than they're supposed to be. Ohio State has showed up and did their shit every single week at all positions. They operate like a machine, like a professional football team. I believe in Indiana to have the talent to be able to score against Indiana, that defense. I think Indiana could beat Ohio State. I think Indiana is one of the top teams in the country. I believe in them. But this Ohio State team is an actual machine. Like, that is what it feels like, what they're running over there. So if Indiana was able to top them, that would be gigantic. And then Alabama, Georgia down there in the SEC Championship. Alabama fans are scared that if they get another loss or bad loss here to Georgia, Georgia might be top team in the country right now with how they've been playing as well. But if Alabama loses by two, three scores and they have three losses, they played in the SEC championship to actually hurt them because they pick up another loss, as opposed to missing the SEC championship and not having to publicly lose to Georgia in that way, that ignites a huge fire as well, does it not, Tone?
- [87:38]
AP Tone
It does. And I don't think the committee wants to set that precedent of punishing a team that especially makes the SEC championship, then loses and gets knocked out. Last time I checked, there were minus 3,000 to make the play playoffs. So even the books think that even if they. It, I think would have to be a really, really bad loss for them to get knocked out of the playoffs.
- [87:58]
Pat McAfee
Which we do not think it will be. And I'm not saying that, but I mean, anything in football, any given game can happen.
- [88:04]
AP Tone
But like, if they. If they lose Ty Simpson in that game, then it's definitely a situation where it's like, oh, Florida State, you can't.
- [88:10]
Conman
Put them in, or their coach, which a lot of people are talking about right now.
- [88:13]
Darius Butler
What is that about?
- [88:14]
Pat McAfee
That's getting loud, isn't it?
- [88:16]
Conman
Very loud.
- [88:16]
Pat McAfee
I saw that as like a little bit of a rumbling rumble. Rumbling, rumbling. Didn't take it seriously. And then it kind of just kept going. And I'm like, wait, it hasn't disappeared yet. What is that all about? People are saying, maybe Coach. And we are. We do not have this from anybody at school. Anybody from the Boar's camp. Anybody at any other school.
- [88:32]
Conman
Pure speculation.
- [88:33]
Pat McAfee
This is all just from Internet? Yeah, a little.
- [88:36]
Conman
And interviews.
- [88:37]
Pat McAfee
What's that called? What's that called? Whenever there's like a little bit of fire.
- [88:40]
Conman
Bread trail.
- [88:41]
Pat McAfee
Breadcrumbs. I mean, breadcrumbs for sure, but a little bit of kindling. Yeah, a little kindling. There seems to be a little bit of kindling. Just a little bit of smoke coming around. And then it's continuing to linger, though, like, this conversation has continued to cook as a decision at Penn State hasn't been made. But there's people that are alluding to on the Internet that, hey, Kaylin DeBoer might be done with this whole Alabama SEC thing. And, hey, every game has to be every game. Like, we get it. But Penn State would be the same for him, but he allegedly would be a little bit more comfortable maybe back in a Big Ten up there or maybe different style of football. People are saying maybe Kaylon D goes to Penn State to the become head coach. Even though Coach Shitake out there at BYU is now being linked to Penn State, Penn State still doesn't have a coach. Signing day, I think is what, tomorrow? Thursday? Yeah, it's like coming up or something, I believe. And then obviously transfer portal is right around the corner. The reason why the Ole Miss, lsu, Lane Kiffin situation happened is because LSU probably wanted Lane to be there for recruiting and for transfer portal, and Ole Miss didn't want Lane there for all those things because he's obviously competing directly against Ole Miss. So if they have players coming in or visiting and talking, and Lane's like, yeah, we're going to win here, but guess what we're going to do next year at lsu. It's like, nobody really thought that was going to be great. Penn State still doesn't have a coach.
- [89:50]
Darius Butler
The hell is that about?
- [89:51]
Pat McAfee
I don't know. It's pretty crazy.
- [89:52]
Darius Butler
This was like a top, what, three job? Florida, LSU and Penn State.
- [89:56]
Pat McAfee
It's crazy how quickly everywhere becomes a top job whenever they find out their coach might be leaving.
- [90:01]
Conman
Yeah.
- [90:01]
Pat McAfee
Hey, Signetti. Yep. They want you in Penn State. Mark Cuban and the boys want to know, though, if you just want 10 million a year for the next 10 years, $100 million. We'll give you $50 million tomorrow. All right? Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that.
- [90:15]
Bruce Arians
Yeah.
- [90:16]
Pat McAfee
Let's go. Who's yours? Let's keep it moving. Matt Rule. It'd be great at Penn State. You're having a good year in Nebraska. You want to sign an extension here for 50 years, literally until 20, 35 or something like that. Yeah, I'll do that. All of a sudden these coaches that everybody thought they were going to have just kind of started start disappearing and then it's like, well, who are they going to hire? And then people start saying, well, is it a good job? It's like, yes, it's a good job. Right, Right.
- [90:37]
Conman
Is it. Wait, I don't know anymore.
- [90:40]
Pat McAfee
It is a good job. Right. Why don't they have a coach?
- [90:43]
Darius Butler
I don't know. Since we're talking about speculation and breadcrumbs, it's hard to tell what's real and what's fake on the Internet. That wasn't Penn State's ad, right?
- [90:51]
Pat McAfee
No, that was not. That was a good troll and we appreciate the Internet.
- [90:55]
Darius Butler
And then Abdul Karl Carter, he. It's.
- [90:59]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, yeah, I think there's. I think there's some misinformation out there.
- [91:02]
Darius Butler
It's just trolling. Good. Trolling.
- [91:04]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, a lot too good.
- [91:05]
Darius Butler
This guy's gotta stop.
- [91:06]
Conman
I got.
- [91:07]
Pat McAfee
Got the Internet is place. The Internet is quickly becoming a very.
- [91:11]
AP Tone
Is that Lane's dog or not?
- [91:13]
Pat McAfee
Okay, that's a whole.
- [91:14]
Ty Schmidt
Another conversation saying they let. He left him in at Ole Miss on the tarmac. That's what they're saying.
- [91:20]
Conman
What?
- [91:20]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, no, he wasn't on tar. We didn't see Juice out there, but Juice got tarmac.
- [91:24]
Conman
Yeah.
- [91:25]
Darius Butler
Marty didn't say he's not in Baton Rouge.
- [91:27]
Pat McAfee
No. Operator. Once you put me on through, That's what he said.
- [91:40]
AP Tone
I don't love you anymore, Juice.
- [91:43]
Pat McAfee
I don't know the whole situation there. We will certainly try to get to the bottom of that. That has become quite an interesting little tale though, because I see certainly thought they were. I think we all thought they were. And then maybe they're not. But Lane clarified some things on his feelings throughout this entire process. And he had a press conference, a lengthy one down there at LSU yesterday, where he answered some questions. He got introduced as the head coach and he talked about, you know, his decision making process, how hard it was, and then what happened whenever he got to Baton Rouge.
- [92:09]
Lane Kiffin
Yeah. So you know, when it was asked before about the staff and the current roster, all that stuff, the number one focus after arriving here and walking in the facility last night, which really was awesome. Sorry to sidetrack. So make sure I don't forget your question. But landing here at that airport and then the leadership showing up and the whole board being there, what was. I mean, you could feel it right there, you know. So as you've probably figured out it was a really, really hard decision and I was really torn and I went back and forth, you know, didn't sleep very much trying to figure it out. And the system didn't allow for a lot of time to do that, you know, and it was really hard. And, you know, I'm here human you don't like. Even though you understand it's the passion, you know, you're with your son and you're driving and, you know, you got to call a. Call a cop that, you know, so they'll help you because you personally know him because you are leaving the state and you got to call him because, you know, drive with your son and you got to turn around and people are like screaming at you, you know, trying to run you off the road. I don't know what they're going to do. And so that affects you in that airport scene and all the things being said. I understand it, it's the passion, but they're saying that about you, that you thought you did a really good job for six years for them, that affects you. And even on the plane down here, I'm kind of like, man, we made this decision, but God, I really, you know, and I'm telling you, you. I landed last night, I can't remember when it was okay, we landed, okay, about 24 hours ago when I got off that plane and I saw the board there and I saw the leadership and I felt the power of this place. And then we get in the car and as we're driving out and there's the fans, like just all of them out there at the airport and their excitement and their passion. And then the cars drive by as we're going to the office and you go by Tiger Stadium, it's lit up and you're like, I absolutely made the right decision. And it all went away.
- [94:43]
Pat McAfee
Lane, one of them over down there in the bayou. And obviously the way LSU has handled this, I think has been very impressive as well. They've had a lot of display of love for him in Baton Rouge because we've all obviously seen how bad it got up there in Oxford on the way out and all the different alleged demands and who knows what's real. We will certainly get to the bottom of it because Marty Smith, who told the tale of his chaotic 48 hours in Oxford, which involved this particular van going off roading and up over some fields to get to Lane to get the five minute interview and meet immediately, as he was leaving right before he saw all the fans lined up at the tarmac telling him he was the worst person on earth. And he chit chatted about, you know, not only being there and experiencing it and saying I made the right decision. And I know the people at Ole Miss aren't going to like hearing that, but the people at lsu, everything Lane Kiffin said yesterday, you're like, yes, yes, yes. But also learning that one of the main factors for his decision making process is literally how much money we giving to the players. That is, he was so open about it all. Like, hey, I was the most highly sought after coach in college football, right? This is maybe the loudest we've heard in a long time. Maybe, I mean, who the. I don't legit. We haven't been in the college football world long enough to really be able to give judgment on how loud it got. But this was loud, this guy, because of how good he is. And he said in 2025, one of the things he just needs to know, I, I, I don't even know how much money I'm getting paid. I understand, understand I'm going to be getting paid a lot. How much money are we paying the players? He talked about that at length yesterday and I thought it was a really good answer.
- [96:16]
Lane Kiffin
Actually, there's a great plan here. There's a great plan of how we can come together with what we bring and what players around the country want to play for us and play in our systems and then have that support to be able to do that so that they want to play for us and they get taken care of financially, which obviously nowadays is the world of college football. And it's very important and critical to them, which it should be. And this was the best setup. So that definitely played a factor into it because you, you, I don't care what your systems are. Without good players, they don't work. So I actually asked today about my contract, not the numbers, I still don't know them. I said, hey, just in case I get asked on it. And he said basically all four were extremely similar. Okay contracts for me. But in the process of figuring out the packages, those were not similar, those were not the same and that's a.
- [97:20]
Pat McAfee
Big part of it. Okay? So he said, I don't know my numbers. A lot of people are mocking him for saying he didn't know his number. I assume he's on the Internet, okay? We all know that he is on pretty aware. He certainly saw the numbers. But what Jimmy Sexton told him is everybody's going to pay you whatever we want. Everybody is offering the same. And then the next question is, well, how much are going to the players? And it's like, well, here's how much this place has for players. I talk to boosters, I talk to ad, I talk to president, who knows who. Jimmy says, here's how much this place has. I talked to blah, blah, blah. I talked to blah, blah, blah. So I think what happened was Lane was literally presented by his team. Jimmy Sexton, certainly a part of it, leader of it, presented the situations. Hey, here's all the situations. And once you start kind of lining up and hearing him talk about why he went to LSU and you hear all the other OG college football people talk about it, it's like one of the biggest anxieties that you have as a college football coach is recruiting and then nowadays transfer portal and retaining people. And whenever you talk to the OG college football people, it's like, if you can get rid of a couple of your anxiety by the place that you go to, you certainly use that. You certainly take that. Like at lsu, there's allegedly. This is what they say, I guess we should start keeping track of this is there's 10, five stars that are just going to be a part of your roster every single year in your recruiting class, before you even say a word to anybody. There's a kid who's a freshman in Louisiana, this kid, number one recruit in the country. All of them, just this kid right here. Literally the first person he ran into, he's the number one recruit in the entire country. And he has a post on his X tweet that says, I want to be known as the greatest Tiger of all time. Like, they have a lot of pride in the LSU Tigers whenever you're from Louisiana, and it's their family, it's their community, it's everything that wants these people to be LSU Tigers because it's good for all parties. So you're naturally just going to get an abundance of five stars. So if you have a good coaching staff just through your recruiting alone, let alone transfer the portal that Lane Kiffin thinks he's very good at, and he said multiple times, like, hey, in the transfer portal, people want to play in our systems. Like, we are explosive, we are high energy, we are successful, we've proven we've been successful. He said, now with LSU and the money that we have and our systems and everything, this is just going to be an amazing thing. Me as guy that was hoping he would stay at Ole Miss and just grow like his place and like get a statue and transform an entire city and do something that's never been done before. When you listen to the people that are in that world, they're like, his life gets 50 times easier. Oh, yeah. From the recruiting thing, just with that being the advantage. And he talked in that press conference a couple different times. I listened the whole thing because I was so baffled by the decision, honestly, because I think we all understood the amount of hate that was going to come with it and how it all went and how it's impossible for you to coach through the playoffs if you're going to another place, let alone a rivalry place. So that press conference I thought was pretty important to hear. Like, well, how did you get to this decision? As opposed to just saying, Coach Carroll would say this, and he's like, the LSU brand is worth so much. This is the one job he basically, in the country, he said this is the best job in the country. And other people that are great coaches said this is the best job in the country to him. Feels like it was inevitable he was going to go down there, even though I held on to the Ole Miss dream, because I think that would be unique and be very special, especially with this time of life. But they're going to win down there, huh?
- [100:32]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [100:33]
Pat McAfee
I mean, that's what I heard in that press conference. Okay. What you think so BA that totally they're going to win big, is what you're saying?
- [100:40]
Bruce Arians
Yeah. I would have them in the top four next three years.
- [100:44]
Pat McAfee
So that's. As I was listening to the press conference. That's all I kept thinking as I was listening to the press conference. I'm like, if everything he is saying is true about all of it, like, hey, yeah, we got more money than. Because we heard of where all the other places are, right? And I think he said four. Right? We heard four jobs. I think he said, so what are the four jobs? Okay, so that's places that we've heard with money that have been using it. He said, we have more money. We had better set up there. So LSU has more money than places that we thought had more money.
- [101:11]
Bruce Arians
Okay.
- [101:12]
Pat McAfee
Which is good news for LSU people, but also they have the talent that wants to go there. And Lane Kiffin, his shit works, right? And they got the defense coordinator still there who knows the area. And Coach O, I think he's still a part of it. Allegedly, Coach O is like a weapon in the state of Louisiana as a recruiter. Lane Kiffin said his in press conference, he called Coach O whenever he's on campus and told him that he feels like he should start talking like him just because he's there. So it feels like everything he was, every answer he was giving, I'm like, oh, my God, they are going to be. They're going to be a wagon down there.
- [101:43]
Darius Butler
You were holding on to hope. I was surprised you did as long as you did because we kind of felt like it was inevitable and it was going to happen and decision had been made. And it does suck for the people at Ole Miss. You have a historic season. You can't finish it out with, with your coach. But for Lane, we always talk about coaches and now players even on collegiate level, doing what's best for their family. This was the best move for a coach because we treating like the NFL a lot. So you're basically guaranteed a good draft every year, right? Because of where you are being lsu. So you're going to get a good draft and then you're guaranteed with the money, nil, what you're giving the players a great free agency pool. So if you got a great free agency and a great draft every year as a coach, it's really on you. Now it's about my. And he said this in the press conference, too. You can have whatever systems you have, but if you don't have the players to do it, it doesn't matter. We saw even Saban when he was running a bunch of national championships on offense. They were still handed off running the ball 40, 50 times a game until he was damn near forced to innovate and do it differently. But they had the best players in the country every year. So, yeah, he's going to dominate you and play great defense. So now Lane Kiff, you know the history there with the coaches that have already won one. He sees himself as a great coach. He said, hey, look at the numbers. The since leaving Alabama, look at my numbers. I have the best offensive numbers, and that's without having, I guess, the best talent year in and year out. So now this is a move he had to do. The money was going to be great. He mentioned it. Wherever he went for him, and I, I believe him. You know, hey, you know, just like being a top free agent, like, you know, hey, this is what the market is. I'm going to get that. But now that's recruiting too. Hey, who's going to get most money to my players? That's what I'm most concerned about as a player. That makes me feel good to go play for a guy who cares about how much I'm getting in my pocks as well. So, yeah, it Was kind of like a foregoing conclusion. Obviously, you know, old Miss fans, they're going to feel how they feel, rightfully so, in lsu.
- [103:25]
Conman
Hey.
- [103:25]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I thought it was a good press.
- [103:27]
Darius Butler
He nailed it.
- [103:27]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, he really did. I mean, he. Couple jokes in there did. I don't know if he was choked up. Trying to get choked up. I don't know what was happening.
- [103:35]
Ty Schmidt
He's trying to get there.
- [103:36]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think he was. I think maybe his brain was starting to think about like emotions. Emotions. Emotions. I don't think so. I don't think we're doing that right there. Potentially in the middle of his conversation, but him addressing about how he was like, you know, because there's stories coming out now like people knew he was doing this and then they were saying this on this day. It's like, I don't think. I don't know Lane that way. I've only really met him within the last year and obviously college football, he's like one of the biggest stories and he's friends with people that I know. So I've gotten a chance to chat with him a little bit. I genuinely thought he was conflicted, like I thought he was conflicted on the decision on being like doing his own thing at Ole Miss or taking the one of the greatest job in sport is what a lot of people are saying. So him coming out and saying that I thought was good. But Ole Miss, man, what a time they got. LSU's going into Ole Miss next year. Lane's walking in there and I know Ole Miss is saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, but the more I learn about this LSU job, the more I'm learning about this type of situation that's down there. It's like this LSU team, I'm thinking they're going to be unbelievable next year. That's what I let alone win at that. Obviously, Lacy, I mean, the players that have already been very successful in his offense and in the SEC still available, they're very young, look good and purple and he has money to be able to keep up with whoever makes the thing. It's like you got a couple key positions already ready to go, let alone if there's any other competition. He said, we're going to look at all the town. Who knows what's on that roster. We have no idea idea who's backup down there. Third string Lane Kiffin might walk in there and go, who's this guy? Oh, he's five star out of whatever Louisiana last year, defensive end or whatever. You're going to be great next year. Man, can't wait to watch you. Six foot seven, fucking 245 pounds. Somehow just absolutely shredded. It's like Lane Kiffin is currently doing that with the current roster, knowing that they have the money to keep up and then he's going to be completely prepared for the transfer portal through it all and. And he already has his relation. They're going to win. I thought, I thought it was a bad idea because if you don't win down there, you're going to look like an idiot. Whenever you had Ole Miss and you could have been special there and if you don't win like other people were able to win there, you can't win. You're a bad ball coach. And then he's talking yesterday, it's like, oh, he's going to win. They're going to win. That's why he went there.
- [105:46]
AP Tone
They need to keep their defensive coordinator because if they had an offense this year, they would have been easily in the playoffs because they had one of the best defenses in the country.
- [105:53]
Ty Schmidt
Country.
- [105:53]
AP Tone
And I know they are fighting hard to keep him, but I believe his name is also up for two Lane. So it is something to watch.
- [105:59]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so I think he's from the area.
- [106:00]
AP Tone
Maybe he was, oh, I don't know. He was at Mizzou and they left Mizzou to go to lsu and this was his second year at LSU as the DC and they improved greatly. So if he stays another, like they're going to be very good on that side.
- [106:12]
Pat McAfee
Old body who got the Kentucky job from Kentucky, right? Stein.
- [106:15]
AP Tone
Yes, Will Stein.
- [106:16]
Pat McAfee
So he's Oregon's offense coordinator. He's taking a head coaching job at Ken Kentucky. Stoops gets fired from Kentucky, they're paying him 30 some million. They're paying him 30 some million. When was the last time you saw Kentucky play meaningful football?
- [106:27]
Ty Schmidt
When Bill Levis was there a few years ago.
- [106:29]
Bruce Arians
Two years ago when he had a.
- [106:31]
Pat McAfee
Chance to go get the A and.
- [106:33]
Bruce Arians
M job, said, no, I'm staying at Kentucky.
- [106:36]
Pat McAfee
Fired.
- [106:36]
AP Tone
He did them a favor too, because that 30 some million was supposed to be due in 60 days and they negotiated to be over however many years.
- [106:43]
Pat McAfee
Oh, that's good. You know, I always thought if you win the population Powerball and you're a little younger, wouldn't be bad to just have this kind of taking care of me for the next 30 years of my life. You know the people that take the bile right now, like Brian Kelly getting all that money so quick. What if he has a full crash out? I mean that might be too. Brian Kelly might be swimming in that.
- [107:02]
AP Tone
Yeah, B.K. no way.
- [107:03]
Conman
Yeah. Free my boy, B.K.
- [107:05]
Pat McAfee
Hey, he still could coach, right?
- [107:07]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [107:07]
Ty Schmidt
I don't know who's gonna hire him, but he could definitely still coach.
- [107:10]
Pat McAfee
There's jobs open still. I mean, what is going on up at Penn State?
- [107:13]
Ty Schmidt
Penn State.
- [107:14]
Pat McAfee
Okay. And last thing on college football before we move to the NFL with BS or no BS with our friend BA Tone, you had a lot of action this morning on a little thought about preseason rankings in the AP preseason top 25 poll. Basically just being a massive problem as opposed to a benefit to anybody. And we actually had Hembo look up. Hey, when did this all come about? You know, the AP preseason poll. Turns out it was boring. 1950. Okay? It was to create a unified national storyline before the season began. Hey, these are the teams we're talking about. Okay? This is how everybody remember. This is back in the day when you. You maybe never even heard a thing from a town four minutes from you ever in your entire life. You had no idea. You just pick up 1950, go down the road. Nobody knew anything. That happened literally five minutes ago. So that was a wild time. So let's go make sure we get a national storyline to increase newspaper readership, obviously, we need to move some papers. We need to talk about. About these things. And if we all talk about different things, guess we're going to be doing. We're going to be taking attention away from the bigger things. Bigger things would drive things. So these are the bigger things to formalize preseason rankings. Writers were already producing informal. Okay, we're already talking about this. We might as well go ahead and make this public to extend the AP Poll brand that had grown popular, obviously since 1936. We've been having pretty good little. Little brand run here. And that came from the Associated Press archives. So I think we're at a point now where college football is big enough. I think the AP is obviously synonymous with everything. This is AP Tone here. He gets to vote. So maybe we do do away with the preseason poll. Maybe we just need. Hey, this is where they finished last year. Rankings going in through the first couple weeks before we know who the hell it is. Is that what you're pitching?
- [108:46]
Conman
Yeah.
- [108:46]
AP Tone
All those reasons that I agree with. All those reasons. 1950. But you made a lot of good points on. On why that is outdated. And just like Pete put out that 12 of the AP are not ranked. Like, and then I started looking at it. BYU is the lowest ranked one line. And is that because they were the only Unranked one loss team at the beginning of the season. So it just takes them a lot longer to go up in the rankings versus, you know, a one loss team that was ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the season. They're going to stay in the top 10 the entire season. Then Vandy also unranked at the beginning of the season. They are the lowest ranked two loss team basically. So like, is that because they were unranked at the beginning of the season and they were not supposed to be good? I'm not saying BYU or Vandy should be ahead of the other one loss or two loss teams. I'm just saying is it a coincidence that both of these teams were unranked at the beginning of the season and now are they are basically the lowest ranked one loss and two loss teams because of perception at the beginning of the season?
- [109:41]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. First impression, brother. You know, the first time hearing about this team is all they were ranked. They weren't even in top 25 for the season. So that means they weren't projected to be good. So you kind of carry that stink throughout the entirety. That's just like when somebody's drafted late in the NFL draft, they have to carry that stink for a while because how are you this bad at the beginning? Let's do away with it. I appreciate that. I'm on your side. That's AP tone. AP tone. Now let's pivot away from college football and let's do some NFL with our friend Coach B.A. it's time for BS or no BS with B.A. we will read a statement that has potentially been said somewhere by somebody as a fact. And then our coach ba a man who's been in the football world for 40 seconds seven years will tell us if it's BS or no BS let's go with the first one here. Joe Bur back, Jamar Chase balling, defense flying around. If the Bengals beat the Bills, they'll win the AFC North. Is that BS or no bsba that's no BS Whoa.
- [110:38]
Bruce Arians
When you look at their schedule, they're gonna be favored the rest of the way. And this is the big game for them. If they can beat the Bills, there'll be one game back. Now they still play the Ravens, who they beat badly in Baltimore.
- [110:49]
Pat McAfee
All right?
- [110:49]
Bruce Arians
The rest of the games, they got the easiest schedule going of those teams. Baltimore, Pittsburgh, gotta play each other twice. So I can see the Bengals running the table. If they beat the Bills. Run the table. Get, get in the playoffs.
- [111:01]
Pat McAfee
Okay, and what does that mean in the playoffs. Do we think they could win a.
- [111:03]
Bruce Arians
Game in the playoffs with Joe B. Hell, yeah.
- [111:05]
Pat McAfee
Oh, Joey Burrows back. Everything changes. I loved his answer before playing saying, it's a kid's game. We get paid a lot of money to do it. I'm gonna go play a football I can. He certainly did. He didn't miss a step.
- [111:16]
Bruce Arians
That show he put on in Baltimore was unbelievable.
- [111:18]
Pat McAfee
He's. He's sweet. His hair is super cool. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's got super cool hair. So good at football. All right, let's go to the second one. BS or no bs. Go ahead, Con man.
- [111:26]
Conman
Yeah, Bruce. Texans making the Lighthouse the stride house this weekend was the biggest statement win in the NFL this week. Is that BS or no BSBA man?
- [111:37]
Bruce Arians
That's bullshit, brother. All the way. The Panthers beating the Rams. Shout out to Dave K. Canales. Three plus three turnover ratio. Three for four.
- [111:47]
Pat McAfee
Three for three on fourth down.
- [111:49]
Bruce Arians
My boy Harold Goodwin and Joey Gilbert doing a hell of a job of that. Offensive line, The Panthers beating the Rams was by far the hugest win of the week.
- [111:56]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think Panthers have the two largest upsets on the season thus far. Thirteen and a half points. This one was nine and a half points. And what we thought of the Los Angeles Rams. I think we still think of the Los Angeles Rams because once again, k Carolina Panthers, it's a good football team. We've been saying it. Yeah, it's a different team now. They can be ass. They have gotten dominated a couple different times this season, but for the majority of this season they have been a good football team. The Carolina Panthers are legit, I think down in the NFC south going forward.
- [112:25]
Darius Butler
Good football team, got a good quarterback, got a good defense. It's really about just being that every weekend. I think Shrag said it earlier. It's been like this all season long in the NFL. Was definitely in NFC week to week we crowned these teams and we were all, all on the Rams bandwagon offensively, defensively, to just run the table and be the best team. But I agree with you BA this was definitely the biggest statement win last week.
- [112:44]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, thank God. Let's not talk about the Colts loss.
- [112:47]
Ty Schmidt
C.J.
- [112:47]
Pat McAfee
Stroud, good player in the last one here, B.A. this ain't college. These young quarterbacks, Jaden Daniels, 9 and Jackson Dart need to change how they play before they are all out of the league before their rookie contracts. And is that B.S. or no B.S.
- [113:02]
Bruce Arians
That is no B.S.
- [113:03]
Pat McAfee
Okay.
- [113:04]
Bruce Arians
Your. Your best ability is availability. And people put all this money into into A quarterback for the franchise, for the city, for the whole team, that your teammates learn how to fucking slide and get the hell out of bounds, all right? You ain't going to. They say in college all these linebackers run four or five, brother. And they don't have bad intentions when if you stay in bounds, shit like this is going to happen. And you just came off three, three weeks of concussion. Come on, man.
- [113:31]
Darius Butler
Come on, man.
- [113:32]
Pat McAfee
Coach B.A. i don't like it either. I, I, I appreciate though, the fact that he is trying to be tough. He's trying to say that he is tough. But I would just like to let Jackson Dart know we all know you're tough. You bounce right up after getting depleted. Let's stop taking these shots. And before we get off espn, today is Giving Tuesday. Coach Ba and his family here have a phenomenal foundation that obviously we'd love for you to, to consider if you are thinking about giving. The Aryans Family foundation exists to protect and support children who have experienced abuse or neglect. You can help a child today by donating to provide a casa, which is a court appointed special advocate which will basically go into rough situations for kids and basically do an inspection and find out if these kids need to be removed or taken to a better spot. And look out for children that are in tough situations. Right? Yeah.
- [114:19]
Bruce Arians
And they become the positive, positive light in their life.
- [114:22]
Pat McAfee
I appreciate you doing that. Anytime we're making children's lives better, we respect it. On this Giving Tuesday, we hope you will help Coach Arians and his family and anybody else that is in need. It's not a bad day if you can go ahead and do that. That's one of the good parts of having success. It's the only reason to have success, actually. Now on that note, we will continue digitally. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Okay. I wanted to make sure we got that in there. Yeah.
- [114:46]
Conman
Thank you.
- [114:46]
Pat McAfee
A cool thing, what you do. Thank you. That is a very cool thing, what you do. Learning about that all this morning is obviously kind of an emotional experience, but also like a cool thing to know that there's people trying to help those particular situations that are happening in abundance. I guess like a lot of these situations take place I don't think any of us really hear about.
- [115:03]
Bruce Arians
When I went out to Arizona, there was 15,000 kids in foster care. And because, you know, the market crashed, guys lost jobs, they lost their families. I mean, it's a tough situation, but these kids are in these situations through no fault of their Own. They were born into it. They deserve. They deserve a life.
- [115:23]
Pat McAfee
Can you talk about some of the kids that have been helped through this process? I think I. Yeah.
- [115:27]
Bruce Arians
My wife started here in Indianapolis with kids Voice of Indiana, which is a great organization. Eddie Rivers started the whole thing. And one, a great guy. And, you know, she was an attorney, and then I asked her to take a six bar exam. She said, hell, no. She's volunteered ever since. But her first case was a young boy here in Arizona who's probably 40 now with kids and going to college. And they talk still today, and it's really hard. These kids love their parents, no matter how bad they're treated. And to ask them to leave their home because it's the best thing for. For them. And then you try to help them get adopted, which is hard, you know? And people call them group homes now. They're orphanages, bro. At. At Arizona, we asked all the guys. Anybody got a shoe contract? Hey, you got. You got money left? Yeah. How about we buy a bunch of shoes?
- [116:19]
Pat McAfee
Hell, yeah.
- [116:20]
Bruce Arians
All right. We got 250 pair of Nikes, Adidas, everything. Took them down. One kid said, I don't want them. They're just going to steal them from me. I said, come on, man. No, no, I don't want them. They'll beat me up and take them. Gosh, that's what they live in every day, man.
- [116:35]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [116:35]
Bruce Arians
And we all have great lives, and it's our job. This is our next generation. We got to help these kids.
- [116:43]
Pat McAfee
Hell, yeah. I appreciate the hell out of you and your family doing that and hearing the stories. Obviously made us pumped to share your message and share who you and how you can help. And, yeah, it's a beautiful thing, Giving Tuesday. I like to report a spotlight on it. Coach actually texted me. I did not know giving Tuesday was happening. Happening today. Okay, that's 100 on me. Need to be a better human out there, Coach. Text me and say, hey, giving Tuesday. Want to promote anything? Aryan's family foundation is the right one, so we appreciate what you do for the people. All right, let's take a break on the other side. We'll wrap up all the storylines. Ross, got a lot to talk about. We got game balls to give away. Yeah, got game balls to give away. That's right. And guess what? A lot of game balls this week. Really?
- [117:21]
Bruce Arians
A lot of them.
- [117:22]
Pat McAfee
Okay, that's a tip. Who do you think it's going to, you know, don't say it.
- [117:27]
Conman
Hopefully Mike Vriple.
- [117:30]
Pat McAfee
Oh, has a coach got a game Ball. I don't know.
- [117:34]
Conman
Whole staff. I mean, it would be a lot.
- [117:37]
Pat McAfee
Maybe. Let's get to a break. Wow, that one's got you pretty fucked up. Have you given it to a coach yet?
- [117:44]
Bruce Arians
Nope.
- [117:46]
Pat McAfee
Do the rules say you could give it to a coach or. No? You could, you could, you could.
- [117:50]
Bruce Arians
Am I right? But we ain't.
- [117:51]
Pat McAfee
Not this week.
- [117:52]
Bruce Arians
Oh, players play the game, baby.
- [117:53]
Pat McAfee
When you would get into giving out game balls. Okay, you're throwing them out there in the meeting, right? Is that, Is that your.
- [118:02]
Bruce Arians
I never gave. It had to be very, very special for me to give one in the locker room after the game. After the game. For me, it was Monday morning meeting or when victory Monday on Wednesday morning. Firing them out there with my arm still come through.
- [118:16]
Pat McAfee
You spend it a little bit.
- [118:17]
Bruce Arians
I could spend a little bit, yeah.
- [118:19]
Pat McAfee
I went.
- [118:19]
Bruce Arians
I went three games in college without completing a pass, but it's okay.
- [118:23]
Pat McAfee
Hey, a lot of Russian touchdowns, though. The most in the history of Virginia Tech. So when you're giving those out, when you're deciding who gets the game balls. Not these ones here, but in actual team situations. We have seen a couple game balls that probably were fugaz. Game balls. When you go into that, you know that the team is going to say it's a game ball. Whenever you give a morale. Oh, God, yeah. You know, when you have.
- [118:45]
Bruce Arians
You don't give those out. Not in front of the team. Not me, not me, not me. If they're going to say, no, no, no, can't happen. You got to do something to earn a game ball. And one of the best ones is when a backup player steps in and plays better than the starter. All right? Because next man up is true, it's real, and it's your opportunity. You get game ball, brother.
- [119:07]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And also it's motivation. Everybody else in.
- [119:09]
Bruce Arians
Oh, yeah.
- [119:09]
Pat McAfee
And it's also a little heat to the starter, which you love. Oh, I love that. Yes, you do.
- [119:17]
Ty Schmidt
This is Kevin Clark for Manscaped. The holidays are rolling in and if your wish list needs an upgrade, add manscaped to make gift giving easy, fun and stress free this year. All right? I am a holiday guy.
- [119:31]
Pat McAfee
I'm a Christmas guy.
- [119:32]
Ty Schmidt
All right? And one of the things I've noticed.
- [119:35]
Pat McAfee
I've got a kid now, so we're.
- [119:37]
Ty Schmidt
Working a lot of family photos. And I gotta tell you, I do.
- [119:41]
Pat McAfee
Not look very good.
- [119:43]
Ty Schmidt
I got my PJs on in front of the tree the last two Christmases.
- [119:47]
Pat McAfee
Each time I didn't shave beforehand.
- [119:51]
Ty Schmidt
I probably because I wasn't you know you don't work on Christmas.
- [119:53]
Pat McAfee
You don't work Christmas, Christmas Eve.
- [119:55]
Ty Schmidt
I probably didn't shave for like three.
- [119:56]
Pat McAfee
Or four days before that.
- [119:57]
Ty Schmidt
I looked bad.
- [119:58]
Conman
Folks.
- [119:58]
Ty Schmidt
I don't know. There's no way to sugarcoat I looked gross. I did not look family. Folks.
- [120:04]
Pat McAfee
Photo ready.
- [120:05]
Peter Schrager
I got my nice PJs.
- [120:06]
Pat McAfee
We did.
- [120:06]
Peter Schrager
We spent so much time on the.
- [120:09]
Pat McAfee
Christmas tree and my face is undoing all the goodwill, all the cheer.
- [120:13]
Ty Schmidt
It's not holiday.
- [120:15]
Pat McAfee
Holiday approved.
- [120:16]
Ty Schmidt
From the beard hedger to lawnmower trimmer manscapes, precision tools keep you looking sharp, feeling confident and ready for every event and celebration all season long. These aren't just stocking stuffers. They're upgrades for your daily routine. And right now at Target you can save 20 on the lawnmower for and three kits handyman and beard hedger. Hurry supplies won't last.
- [120:39]
Bruce Arians
There's a reason Chevy trucks are known for the dependability because they show up no matter the weather, push forward no matter the terrain and deliver. That's why Chevrolet has earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand in 2025, according to J.D. power. Because in every Chevy truck, like every Chevy driver, dependability comes standard.
- [120:54]
Pat McAfee
Visit Chevy.com to learn more.
- [120:55]
Bruce Arians
Chevrolet received the highest total number of awards among all the trucks in the J.D. power 2025 U.S. vehicle Dependability Study Awards based on 2022 models. Newer models may be shown.
- [121:04]
Pat McAfee
Visit J.D.
- [121:04]
Bruce Arians
Power.Com awards for more details.
- [121:06]
Pat McAfee
Chevrolet together. Let's drive. That's Coach Ba. The toxic tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is there. And live from Hammer Time is AP Tone. And ladies and gentlemen, we have some breaking news. There is an international American football news story that needs to be heard by one man and one man alone. Ladies and gentlemen, Tycho McQuaid actually has a breaking international footballer story that the world needs to hear and maybe inspire the globe in our beautiful sport.
- [121:49]
Ty Schmidt
Absolutely. Thank you, lad. This is arguably the most inspiring story of all time. Not just football, not just sports. This transcends sports as a whole. Again, maybe the most inspiring story of all time. Listen lads, I know you probably were following on pins and needles the pro football Ireland account over the weekend. Obviously, as Saints kicker Charlie Smythe, the pride of the little village of Mayobridge in Northern Ireland, Ireland took the field for his first NFL start. Lads, we were at the the leaky cauldron in Mayo Bridge watching the game. I don't know if you saw this, Charlie Smyth. That's a 56 yard field goal, lads. And you can't really tell from the, the, the, the TV copy here. It was raining sideways in Miami during this game. Terrible conditions. You could barely see the ball. Charlie smythe good from 56 yards. And you can see we're just going.
- [122:41]
Pat McAfee
Lads, with all the pints.
- [122:42]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, the lads were just down downing pints. There was not, you know, a full pint in the pub that night. Also, funny little here. That 56 yard field goal, lads, would have been good from probably 75 to 80 yards. You saw it.
- [122:55]
Pat McAfee
Did you eyeball that or.
- [122:56]
Ty Schmidt
That was straight eyeballing again. I'm not doing yards, lads, over here. Obviously, in Mayo Bridge, yeah, we're going by kilometers, so it looked like it would have been good from 115 to 125km. But something that people don't know, lads, this Charlie Smythe, okay, he was a former Gaelic football goalkeeper, okay? We're not talking about a striker who's, you know, we're talking about a Gaelic football goalkeeper, lads. Is he the best player in the NFL? I don't know. That's what we were kind of talking about in Mayo Bridge. Oh, yeah. Did I mention he kick an absolutely beautiful onside kick to give the Saints a little bit of hope. Obviously their team fucking sucks. Their offense fucking sucks. So they couldn't capitalize on this. They couldn't go down and win the football game. I believe they had three. But once again, back to the boys at the Leaky Cauldron. You can see we're just slamming pint glasses over each other's heads. Mayo Bridge has never been this happy. We'll probably never be this happy again until next Sunday when Charlie Smythe kicks, I don't know, an 85 to 90 yard field goal. I believe Kellen Moore did say postgame. We are going to give Charlie Smythe that opportunity, lads, so just kind of something to keep an eye on. I know we don't have a lot of international games, a lot of international flair for the rest of the season, with the exception of maybe a couple different guys. Wait a minute. You've got to be kidding me, lads. Unfortunately, lads, I have some heartbreaking news. No, it's not a good ending 56 yard field goal for what? For nothing. Charlie Smyth has been reverted to the Saints practice squad per the NFL's transaction log. Yeah, okay, McQuaid. It's likely he will be elevated to the Saints active roster. And it's likely that I will be the king of Mayo Bridge next week. It's not going to happen. That was his only shot. Check, check, whatever channel BBC, that Charlie Smythe will probably be playing goalkeeper. No, Gaelic football.
- [124:54]
Pat McAfee
He put a good film out there. Good on sidekick and a 56 yarder. Other teams him.
- [124:58]
Ty Schmidt
You know whose fault this is? And I hate to say this, lads, it's that godamn Jude madamy, our other Irish lad, our other Irish legend who was on the Giants earlier this year. I think he missed like four extra points in a game and they promptly cut his ass. Didn't even want to use his spot for the international player program. You know, you get that extra player on the practice squad, they said you Jude, go back to Yarland. He was actually with us sucking the down pints in Mayo Bridge. So I, I'm remiss to say I did not know that that was the case right now. I had no idea. I just assumed they had signed him to like a five year, 100 million dollar contract. He was going to be the next Saints legend. It's clearly.
- [125:39]
Pat McAfee
Well, there's another Irish bomber out there as well in Green Bay, right?
- [125:43]
Ty Schmidt
Daniel Whand's absolutely unbelievable, lads. But I believe.
- [125:46]
Pat McAfee
Is this an Ireland kind of takeover? Ball kicking position. Positions.
- [125:51]
Ty Schmidt
You could argue that, you know and I know it's not the same thing. We need the Scottish Hammer to stop stove in his thumbs on punts and haven't given up 94 yard, you know, punt returns for a touchdown. Kicking low line drives. He did what he bobbling snaps, you know, taking sacks. That's not what we need for the international player program, but yeah, Daniel Whalen, I also believe he was born in Ireland, lads, and then kind of moved over to the States. So is he really an Irish football player, lads? I mean, we'll, we'll claim him, don't get me wrong. We'll absolutely claim him. But I believe he lived in like Boca Raton or something like that. So how Irish are you if you know, you lived in Boca Raton, lads? But just absolutely devastating news with Charlie Smythe being reverted to the Saints practice.
- [126:37]
Pat McAfee
I think we all learned that at the same time.
- [126:39]
Ty Schmidt
I'm dumbfounded right now, lads.
- [126:41]
Pat McAfee
We all got that a second paragraph before you though. Yeah, that's why we were like, it's okay, it's okay. And then you're like, no, it's not.
- [126:48]
Ty Schmidt
It's not okay. Blake Group. He's got an absolute bomb of a leg. Everyone knows it, lads. They just, they just do not want to see Irish lads succeed, I guess.
- [126:58]
AP Tone
McQuaid is also pushing for Jude Makatami to be the Giants kicker again after last night's.
- [127:03]
Ty Schmidt
That's not going to happen, lads.
- [127:05]
Pat McAfee
What do you mean?
- [127:06]
Ty Schmidt
This guy missed like 4 extra points in a single game, lads. You can't have a fucking guy like that on an NFL pitch.
- [127:13]
Pat McAfee
It is interesting that the international growth of the game is going to come through the bull ball kicking positions and it's like very obvious, you know, like, obviously there is some like Bjorn Werner.
- [127:22]
Conman
Yeah.
- [127:23]
Pat McAfee
And I'm pumped to see Bjorn have the success that he's having. Host for football over there in Germany. He's a stud and if the Colts are going to be Germany's team with him, it's like perfect. But usually Australia started coming because they like literally grow up punting football. So that's what they do for fun. That's how they play catch, is they have a kick and they punt the ball back and forth. So once I think it was found out that hey, you can come over to America and like kind of do this and then entire thing after your professional football careers, because they come up through the academy and then they play professional Aussie rules football, they never sign up for a university so their clock talking about, you know, furthering their education never starts. So whenever they get through their Aussie rules football career, they were able to come over to America 25, 26, have a family already kind of adults and then now you're going into college and doing the punting position and it's like that led to like an eye opening of like, wait a minute, this could be a great crossover between the two. Australia has provided a lot of great ball kickers for our league and I think also our league has provided a lot of opportunity potentially for Australians that can punt balls and then you go to Europe. It's the same thing. We're talking about Jamie last night, he's from Scotland. There's been guys from Italy that have been kicking. Now you got the Irish fellas that are punting and kicking. It's like all the ball kicking sports could be what is really the driver for the international and global dominance of American football. And I think that's a good thing, not a bad thing. But I'll tell you what, I don't think they fully understand that if you miss a kick, nobody, nobody gives a about you. You know, like you are bottom of totem pole.
- [128:51]
Bruce Arians
What you've done for me lately.
- [128:52]
Pat McAfee
Yes. Yeah, you were bottom of totem pole too. Like that is an understanding. You have to, hey, we do not matter in the grand scheme. Of this thing. Definitely have to do our jobs for a win. But nobody is trying to hear or see if you miss. Yeah.
- [129:06]
Bruce Arians
You get to golden boot the wrong way.
- [129:08]
Pat McAfee
Yes, you will, quickly in this sport. So I love that it's happening. And shout out to the Irish lads.
- [129:13]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, no kidding. Obviously the massive news that arguably took over college football over the weekend as well. That other Irish lad who decommitted from Penn State and decided to commit to North Carolina. So. Oh, the punter, you know, the graphic didn't have what position he played, lad. So I had no idea. I looked at him, I said, why is this such a big deal? Is this guy playing like defensive end or something like that? No, he's not. He's. He's a. Yeah. Punter, kicker. So obviously Bill Belichick. Well, yeah, I know, but I.
- [129:39]
Pat McAfee
He's Irish.
- [129:40]
Ty Schmidt
No, I understand. But when they were making it sound like it was like an earth shattering thing, like I thought maybe this guy was playing quarterback in like an Irish guy playing quarterback. He's not. He's just one of another long line of, you know, kickers. Yeah. So he's. But again, he's one of Ireland's most promising recruits, lads. Adam McCann. Gibbs. Obviously everyone knows his name. Switches commitment from Penn State to unc. I don't know if I would have necessarily done that, but obviously he's. He's got his eyes set on the air Lingus College football Classic next year.
- [130:06]
Pat McAfee
Scroll down. See this stud? Adam McCann, Irish lad.
- [130:10]
Ty Schmidt
He looks like an Irish guy.
- [130:11]
Pat McAfee
He's an Irish lad. He's a bomber too. But you thought maybe he's quarterback. Maybe he is, yeah.
- [130:16]
Ty Schmidt
I had no idea, lad.
- [130:16]
Pat McAfee
But Ireland is kind of big for the game right now. Hosting a game, providing players, it's good stuff. I like where football's at right now. Speaking of liking where football's at right now, let's see the leaders across the league. You know who's. Who's at the top right now of the league in all the different categories. Let's go to passing, ladies and gentlemen, our top five QBs. When it comes to yards. Drake May leading the way now they have 11 wins. They have not had a bye week yet. They are entering their bye week. So maybe they have an extra game over all the other people. But nonetheless, Drake May Balling, Dak Prescott, 3200. Patrick Mahomes as well. Matthew Stafford spinning it. You know, that was interesting against the Panthers. And then Danny Dimas has a hairline fracture in his fibula and he has had an Incredible year. And now he's going to have to depend on this throwing a lot more than ever before because he was able to run in the past. Now it looks like he's going to have to be a passing quarterback. What do you see that maybe the similarities of these top five quarterbacks in the league right now?
- [131:15]
Bruce Arians
BA they all play from the pocket. You know, they're not runners, they're not getting themselves new knocked out. They. They're the best quarterbacks in the league right now. Each and every one of them has very unique skill sets.
- [131:26]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so let's talk about what's Drake May? Why is Drake May so good? Is it his accuracy? Feels like he has pinpoint accuracy on those deep balls. Like every ball that is supposed to be a. Is it going to be on target? Is like right on target. That might be his basketball, to be honest.
- [131:41]
Bruce Arians
I think I would say Steph Curry's three point shot, his deep ball looks like a great three point point shooter. You know, one of the best I was ever around was Tim Couch. Great deep ball.
- [131:49]
Pat McAfee
He was a great three point shooter.
- [131:50]
Bruce Arians
And so yeah, and he's so accurate. He's athletic, he's accurate, he's tall, you can see and you know that helps.
- [131:58]
Pat McAfee
Patrick Mahomes up there.
- [132:00]
Bruce Arians
Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes.
- [132:02]
Pat McAfee
Josh Allen not up there, which is fascinating, but he's running all over the place.
- [132:07]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, they go into the running game.
- [132:09]
Pat McAfee
Dak Prescott the Cowboys might be besting in football right now.
- [132:13]
Bruce Arians
Dak is playing. Dak is playing lights out right now.
- [132:16]
Conman
He's.
- [132:16]
Bruce Arians
He's obviously the leader but he's spreading the wrong the ball around to everybody. They got enough running game going. Play actions big. And Dak does a great job of protecting himself and the ball.
- [132:26]
Pat McAfee
They talked about George. We're going to try to keep George. We're going to try to keep all George Pickens around here.
- [132:30]
Darius Butler
I mean he's playing himself into being the highest paid receiver in football. I know Chase made that gap where a little bit over 40 million. But I mean pick Dickens like he is a dominant force out there and then have CD Lamb in there as well. But yeah, all, all really good play callers as well. The two to five, those are all offensive head coaches in play callers, I believe. And then obviously got Josh McDaniels. What he's doing a great job with Drake May. But yeah, you said all play from the pocket, all play on time and all pretty accurate with the football as well.
- [133:00]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, very accurate and not missing a lot of ops.
- [133:03]
Darius Butler
Oh no.
- [133:03]
Pat McAfee
When you're getting these architects, you're not missing any opportunities to gain more yards. That's hell of a benefit. It's been awesome to watch old Danny Dimes. Okay, let's go to receivers. I feel like you know, Jackson, Smith and Jigba is continuing an absolutely historic run. George Pickens traded to the Dallas Cowboys, obviously we just talked about him potentially playing his way in the highest paid of all time. Puka might be knocking on the door as well. Ja' Marr Chase, outrageous. He had Joe Flacco spinning it to him right for a couple games. He missed a game because obviously he's, he's a spitty talker. And then Amal and Ross St. Brown up there in Detroit still doing it. Big takeaway from this list D Butch.
- [133:42]
Darius Butler
Is what they're all obviously phenoms. They all kind of do it in different ways. Jackson, Smith and Jigba has is having the most impressive season. Not only because of his production but because that team like they throw the ball going into last week they were second from the bottom. So 31st in the league when it comes to pass attempts. And he's already broken Seattle's record and quite not not only he had a low receiving game this last game, so not on pace to break the all time record but I mean he can have a 20 yard game next game. Then George Pickens, obviously a phenomenal pickup does most his damage on the outside. It's kind of like a throwback. True X. And a lot of conversation with him is like hey, you got to take away the slant route. You know he's killing teams with the slant route not only because of his big players ability down the field, but actually catching the ball and getting a bunch of yak. But the problem with that is if you take away that slant, you're susceptible to that deep ball, that go ball which we all know him for. Puka Naku, we know him lines up everywhere. Where's Waldo? Breaking the huddle. Jamar Chase, probably the best combination. Like if I was building a wide receiver in the lab, probably the best combination I've seen. He has like AB type movement skills with almost like a Julio Jones type explosive N this and body type. So kind of like mesh into one. He's unbelievable. And then I'm St. Brown, we know what he does. Does a lot of dirty work and then he's a dog out there.
- [134:55]
Pat McAfee
No Justin Jefferson in there.
- [134:57]
Conman
No.
- [134:57]
Darius Butler
It's a shame.
- [134:58]
Conman
No, that's cuz BA is thrown to him.
- [135:00]
Pat McAfee
Well, BA respectfully BA he wishes. He's still spinning a little better.
- [135:04]
Bruce Arians
I was a runner, too.
- [135:05]
Darius Butler
Okay.
- [135:06]
Pat McAfee
You think nine's a runner?
- [135:08]
Bruce Arians
No.
- [135:09]
Pat McAfee
Oh, jeez. He's a quarterback.
- [135:11]
Bruce Arians
Come on, man. They're nothing.
- [135:14]
Pat McAfee
Need to figure it out over there.
- [135:15]
Ty Schmidt
Prosber looked okay on Sunday.
- [135:17]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [135:17]
Conman
He almost had that sick Mahomes, like against BA Diving. You're saying.
- [135:22]
Pat McAfee
You're saying Mahomes.
- [135:23]
Darius Butler
It was a touchdown.
- [135:24]
Pat McAfee
You're saying that was Mahomes? Like, no, that was Carson Went's experience. Like, that's what that was. And I will. We saw it. We all watched it. And that being a revenge game kind of for Darnold. Interesting. Didn't think about that going into the week. Kevin OConnell dapping up Darnold after the game and talking to him a little bit. I miss you, man. Yeah, I miss you, man. Of course that's what happened. You know, we talk about Carson Wentz being the starting quarterback of a team that's playing in a new country first time. So they get, like, excited about what's going on because he is so damn electrifying. We don't even think about the younger quarterback sitting behind him, watching him, his style of play, and then potentially just picking that up to be their own. You know, I started adding things that added Adam Ven did to my routine. I think Carson Wentz is a clear influence here on Brosmer. Brosmer. And it did not go well. And tough spot this Vikings team, man. They had it all.
- [136:20]
Ty Schmidt
They did.
- [136:21]
Conman
They had more than it all.
- [136:23]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, they're.
- [136:23]
Pat McAfee
They're.
- [136:24]
Bruce Arians
They're getting into that conversation. The most disappointing team.
- [136:27]
Pat McAfee
Oh, they had two.
- [136:29]
Conman
Two different all pros at quarterback last year on, too.
- [136:33]
Pat McAfee
Oh, but they had that dog. He might be. He's. They're missing some throws. Justin Jefferson so good at football. I am incredibly impressed with how it's all going now. He knows once they pay him the amount of money. Now, granted, other teams have been able to pay a wide receiver a lot of money and pay a good quarterback to be able to throw them the ball. So that has happened in the past, and it's happening right now currently. Jamar Chase and T. Higgins got paid a lot of money and Joe Burrow starring. Now, granted, I don't know if anybody thinks that's how it should be. CD Lamb, Dak Prescott. I mean, you. You there had AJ Brown. I guess there. There has been the situations where you've been able to do it, but the conversation was basically like, we're going to pay Justin Jefferson. That means we might not necessarily be able to pay Kirk Cousins. We might not necessarily be able to pay Sam Darnold. We might not necessarily be able to make sure Daniel Jones doesn't even think about leaving. We might think about being able to, you know, like Aaron Rodgers wanted to go there. Not saying that. We don't know how that any of this would have gone, but it's like they made this decision to go this way and now they're sitting in a spot where Justin Jefferson isn't talking to the media for the first time in his entire career and they're on the outside looking in. It's like, it's not. That's not a fun place to be if you're Minnesota or the Vikings fans at all. But if you're the packers, you love it. I guess because you're a little bit scared of what was cooking in Minnesota. There for a bit kept oconnell was coach of the year. We assume they're going to be great for long haul.
- [137:54]
Ty Schmidt
No, not really. I mean, you know, doing it one year is great, but you know, when you do it one year and then you decide to just set dynamite to your entire building and blow everything up and just start a new for no reason at all, you know that that's like. Well, that's what shitty franchises do, you know, like good franchises don't do that kind of stuff. So, no, I'm not really, you know, I wasn't shaking in my boots with the Vikings going into this year.
- [138:16]
Conman
Yeah. And I saw a tweet yesterday about the cap hits they got coming next year.
- [138:20]
Ty Schmidt
They're big.
- [138:20]
Conman
They, they're big. And, and they're not guys that are getting you more wins. They're definitely not guys that are helping out this year. And it's a lot, a lot of money. Kos is great. Maybe he needs to get traded. Pittsburgh, maybe they need.
- [138:38]
Ty Schmidt
Not bad.
- [138:38]
Conman
Maybe they need to trade in a Pittsburgh for Tomlin. Tomlin goes up there, Tomlin can win with nine. Somehow, some way, he'll win.
- [138:44]
Ty Schmidt
I actually know that I actually do, like legitimately do feel terrible for Vikings fans, like after last year and how excited you had to have been going into this year and then to see J.J. mcCarthy played the way he has, and then now all this stuff with Justin Jefferson, like, you can see it, it's like, my God, like we're gonna watch this guy in a different uniform before too long if this stuff keeps happening.
- [139:03]
Pat McAfee
You heard Randy, Randy Moss was like basically saying, get out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically. He was. He was on Sunday Countdown, whatever Randy's on. And they said something about Justin Jefferson. Jefferson not being able to wait it out. And then he was like, nope, it's hard. Like, like somehow like said something that was like very. I don't remember the exact words but he was like, you need to go do what you need to do. You. You are. Justin Jefferson is what this entirety. But like I saw Justin Jefferson and Kevin o' Connell in this Minnesota Vikings in that stadium. That is beautiful. I mean they got a beautiful stadium, incredible fan base. What they were last year. Obviously still got good defense. Always will seemingly have a good defense over there. It's like I thought the Vikings were. I think I picked them to win a Super bowl last year. At some point I was like, I think the Vikings are win. So this is a brand new Vikings different team. And then to see all the decisions that got got made in the off season and we talked about all of them. We talked about all of them like, hey, they're letting this happen. They just had the best year they've ever had. They're letting this happen. Just did this. This guy is potentially want to go there. This guy's a Hall of Famer. If you protect him a little bit, he could probably throw the ball. Allegedly he to wants. Wants together don't want nothing to do that. We want this guy. We want this guy. We want this guy. How long do they have to sit on that you think with J.J. mcCarthy they have to give him another year, right? They haven't given him.
- [140:15]
Bruce Arians
Oh, totally. Yeah.
- [140:16]
Pat McAfee
Have to give him a full offseason to get better.
- [140:18]
Bruce Arians
He missed his whole rookie year being injured. You know, not throwing the ball in college and then trying to throw it against the NFL. Defense is just totally different ball game. It. You know, I feel bad for the kid because he does have a lot of moxie, a lot of pride and. And he is a winner. And it's just man, it's hard to play it. Quarterback is NFL that way.
- [140:36]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And maybe he has a full offseason. Maybe they do an entire thing either.
- [140:42]
Conman
Yeah, it's very like AR Anthony Richardson like he missed his rookie year because he was hurt. Then the next year same thing happened and JJ's missed half the year like he has.
- [140:50]
Bruce Arians
He's missed all that practice time again.
- [140:51]
Conman
Yeah. And to your point about what Randy Moss said, like Justin Jefferson's locked in. But do you think Jordan Addison hears that and he's like yeah, I'm going.
- [140:59]
Pat McAfee
To resign with the Vikings trust Jordan Addison's so good.
- [141:01]
Conman
He's Filthy.
- [141:02]
Pat McAfee
I mean they had it all. They had it all. They did hot. Aaron Jones back in.
- [141:09]
Conman
Jordan Mason also is very so that's right.
- [141:14]
Pat McAfee
Hey man. So it was fun year. It'll be okay. Give him off season, give an offseason. Let him go in. He is a hard worker. He's got good leadership. So we assume that'll lead to future success. But I think they were all expecting now because they just had it. So like, yeah, I think that could have been a convo. Leading in. Let's go to the top five rushers in NFL. Oh, would you look at that. Jonathan Taylor, number one in the league. 1,282 yards. Whenever he does good, the Colts do good. Whenever he doesn't do good, the Colts don't do good. So if you stop the run, feels like you can maybe stop the Colts. And if we don't have a quarterback that can run, that might affect how people game plan against Jonathan Taylor. But nonetheless, he's a game changer. He's a game wrecker. He is fun to watch. James Cook took over, obviously, that Pittsburgh State Steelers game. And I guess there's different stats coming out on how many times they just ran. The duo play against this Pittsburgh Steelers team with the crack. Two wide receivers kind of cracking down a large percentage of time. And James Cook's vision and explosion has him around the edge. And Pittsburgh 26 times, Pat. Okay, 26 times, James. You can do that when you have James Cook who has vision and explosion and you can run the same thing. And if you give him a crack, he's going to take it. Thinner build. We were talking about that the other day. Thinner build than most running backs. James Cook more like a wide receiver type. He's explosive, but he's able to take hits. James Cook's a weapon. And then a chan. Look at you guys down there in Miami. Hey, Miami representing. Good for you, Gumps. Absolute dog. Feed him. The Rock ran for 124 on Sunday. Went over a thousand yards for the season. Sonic of Sonic and Knuckles. Jameer Gibbs is over a thousand yards already and that's with. With splitting carries with Monty Jir Gibbs. Not good game the other day. No, not a good game against the packers both times, which is really the focal point of the entire offense. If he doesn't have a good game Thursday against the Cowboys, I don't know how we can win that game. So need to get him going here. Need to get him going. Oh, no. Because the Cowboys Jerry Jones says we're gonna be able to Stop. Run.
- [143:11]
Bruce Arians
Oh, yeah.
- [143:12]
Pat McAfee
That's what we're gonna be able to do.
- [143:13]
Bruce Arians
Get him out in space, baby. Get him out in space.
- [143:16]
Pat McAfee
What? We're running bubble screens.
- [143:18]
Bruce Arians
Anything. Get him out in space. Can't catch him.
- [143:20]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so is it as easy as that? If you're a play caller, yes. Hey, we got number zero here. He is fucking tough to tackle. What do we need to do? Figure out how we get him in space. That's literally all you're thinking about.
- [143:30]
Bruce Arians
And I'm blocking up the other side. And you go one on one with the linebacker on all the option routes you can run. All right. Till they double cover you. Then you got white out. One on one. It's a simple game.
- [143:40]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so with Jameer Gibbs, that's legitimately. It's as easy as that.
- [143:44]
Bruce Arians
It is.
- [143:44]
Pat McAfee
We got the guy. Let's figure out how we can get him on a favorable matchup and then let him do whatever he wants.
- [143:49]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, we took a kid who never heard of was David Johnson in Arizona. He was like a legit wide receiver in college. Them became running back. Nobody could cover him. So teach him all the routes. Put him one on one with safeties, linebackers. Just dump him the ball and block up the whole other side. Make sure there's nobody blitzing from the other side.
- [144:06]
Pat McAfee
And just.
- [144:07]
Bruce Arians
It's a simple game for a quarterback.
- [144:08]
Pat McAfee
Then high percentage game.
- [144:10]
Bruce Arians
And then a of a sudden there's two guys over here, three guys. We'll run the out of the ball over here.
- [144:16]
Pat McAfee
Now David Johnson, I remember that was.
- [144:18]
Ty Schmidt
Electrifying, you and I.
- [144:20]
Pat McAfee
Then he got transferred to Houston. Right. He was a part of a Houston.
- [144:22]
Ty Schmidt
The D hop trade.
- [144:23]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Transfer concussions got him trade. Yeah, he was electrifying. I do recall that Jameer Gibbs is as well. Over a thousand was splitting, let alone whenever he can catch. And then Bijon Robinson or some people were saying at the beginning of the year, remember that he be the MVP of the entire season, the entire league because of what he was doing in that offense. He is the focal point. Almost at a thousand yards already through week 13. And congrats to these guys running a ball.
- [144:48]
Darius Butler
He too, huh? He splits with Alier. He's a. He's a weapon in the past game too.
- [144:54]
Conman
Oh yeah.
- [144:54]
Darius Butler
Especially Those. Those last three guys. All weapons in the past game.
- [144:57]
Pat McAfee
Top five tacklers in the NFL. Jordan Brooks and a baby D7. He's far and ahead. The leader over Cedric Gray down there in Tennessee, Jack Campbell. Love the way he plays ball. Such a dog.
- [145:12]
Ty Schmidt
He's the best. Go ahead, Foxy. I've said all I need to say about Jack Campbell. I don't need to be a broken record.
- [145:17]
Pat McAfee
I love everything that Jack Campbell does as a football player, as a fan. You want to have a guy that's like a Brian Urlacher in the middle of your offense, and that's Jack Campbell. He's at the ball no matter what, Every single play. Whether it's a pass, whether it's. It's a run. Everything he does is awesome. He's tough, he's mean. He is the greatest leader a defense could ask for. I love this dude on the Lions. Okay, well, when he was drafted, it was called a reach. What a bad pick. Oh, yeah.
- [145:44]
Ty Schmidt
That whole draft, they said the Lions. What are you doing? You remember who they drafted in the first round? It was Jameer Gibbs and Jack Campbell. A couple good picks, I think.
- [145:53]
Pat McAfee
Well, fuck it.
- [145:54]
Ty Schmidt
What do I know?
- [145:57]
Pat McAfee
Bobby Wagner. I know him. He's been playing for 50 years. Yeah. 115 tackles. Bobby. Keep going, Bob. We love that, Bobby. And then Devin White out there with the Raiders. 114. Congratulations. These guys having an incredible start to the season. And here's the picks, leaders. We got Kevin Byard. Congratulations to him. J.C. horn, Ernest Jones. Naan. Right. God damn, look at all the Bears on his thing.
- [146:22]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [146:22]
Pat McAfee
Tremaine Edmonds. Holy. The Bears are everywhere. Oh, yeah, Actually, the Bears are everywhere. And why is that? Why are the Bears everywhere?
- [146:31]
Darius Butler
Well, we don't talk about a lot about the other side of the AFC. The Josh McDaniel hires for Drake May, former head coach, been around a long time. Kind of same thing in. In Chicago. Dennis Allen, been a head coach, been around a long time. Defensive side of the ball also. Al Harris as well. Everywhere he goes, his defensive back, his secondary is productive. And you got Edmonds up there as a linebacker. But yeah, these guys fly around the ball. They're taking advantage and then setting their offense up. And their offense doesn't turn. Turn the ball over a lot. So we all know that's a great recipe for winning. Kevin Byers shout out to him, too. A lot of people thought he was a little long in the tooth, maybe washed up a little bit. He's having an all pro season out of Chicago.
- [147:07]
Pat McAfee
Most caused Turnovers in the NFL this season thus far. Chicago Bears got 26 of them. The Pittsburgh Steelers, 20 of them. Even though it appears as if they stink on a relatively regular basis. 20 for the Los Angeles Rams, 19 for the Houston Texans. These defenses caused total hack, says Shy Bears muse. We respect the hell out of the stat and the tweet, and I appreciate that. Three Bears are on there. And Ben Johnson wouldn't have it any other way because it's right there. Look at it. Good, better, best. Never let it rest till good is better and better is best.
- [147:36]
Ty Schmidt
Bingo.
- [147:37]
Pat McAfee
So we got good, better, best. Unbelievable. What the Chicago Bears kind of cooking right now. And here's sack leaders through week 13. Miles Garrett. Holy 19 of them.
- [147:48]
Ty Schmidt
What's the record?
- [147:49]
Darius Butler
22 and a half.
- [147:50]
Conman
Yep.
- [147:50]
Pat McAfee
All right. Congratulate Miles Garrett. Yeah.
- [147:52]
Conman
It's going for 25. He's writing it down. His little wrist tape there. That's his goal.
- [147:56]
Pat McAfee
Congratulations to Miles Garrett. Brian Burns. He is a monster. Holy shit. Micah Parsons. Wow. What a trade. I feel like that's pretty good. Little turnout of a trade for the Green Bay Packers, I'd say.
- [148:09]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, I think so. He just. I love that guy so much. Just so, so much. And, you know, everyone said, hey, he's a locker room cancer. You know, this guy sucks all this kind of stuff. He doesn't. He's not. He loves being in Green Bay. They love having him. And he loves the fans. He loves playing. And it's crazy. He kind of always shows up in the biggest moments when you need him, which is nuts.
- [148:32]
Darius Butler
Closer.
- [148:32]
Ty Schmidt
He is a closer. And they were talking about playing Enter Sandman in the fourth quarter for him. He said, I got. I have no idea who Mariano Rivera is, but that sounds cool. Let's do it.
- [148:41]
Pat McAfee
Ball.
- [148:42]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, exactly.
- [148:43]
Pat McAfee
Is that football? What? Who? Mario.
- [148:45]
Ty Schmidt
He had no idea. Jeff Halfley said, don't worry about it. We're going to queue it up for you.
- [148:49]
Pat McAfee
Oh, my God. Could you imagine?
- [148:51]
Ty Schmidt
We'll find out.
- [148:52]
Pat McAfee
He is the closer.
- [148:53]
Ty Schmidt
Yes.
- [148:54]
Pat McAfee
And that's how you get. The whole team is marketing that. Like, hey, Micah is the closer. Like, this is what this is.
- [149:00]
Ty Schmidt
Right?
- [149:01]
Pat McAfee
And he has shown up in every situation that he needs to. Yeah.
- [149:03]
Ty Schmidt
And he's also. He makes every other guy on the defensive line a lot better. This was like the big thing that the packers were missing. Like, you know, everyone talking, oh, their pressure rate is so high. But they, like, just. They didn't get any sacks. They didn't ever get home to the quarterback. And this guy does quite a bit and very quickly.
- [149:20]
Darius Butler
So good in the run game, too.
- [149:22]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [149:22]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah.
- [149:22]
Darius Butler
So good.
- [149:23]
Pat McAfee
I thought he was. I thought he wasn't. I thought that was the thing.
- [149:26]
Darius Butler
That's what people say. He's very good. Halfley moves him around so you never really know where he's going to be halfly. Jeff's going to look good in Pittsburgh next year.
- [149:33]
Pat McAfee
Hey, Mike is special, huh?
- [149:34]
Bruce Arians
Oh, my God.
- [149:35]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [149:35]
Bruce Arians
And all phases of the game. Energy, motor, relentless. But I tell you what, he's not up there. But Danielle Hunter's got a guy on the other side of him that's pretty legit too.
- [149:47]
Pat McAfee
You're talking about the Houston sack station.
- [149:48]
Bruce Arians
Yes, indeed.
- [149:49]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Daniel Hunter, obviously fourth whenever it comes to sacks on the season. And then when you talk about getting to the quarterback, if you have two guys that can get to it, obviously in a much better spot. Josh Schweit for the Arizona Card Cardinals. That team, we.
- [150:04]
Ty Schmidt
They stink, man.
- [150:06]
Bruce Arians
They're so close. They've lost more games by three or.
- [150:10]
Pat McAfee
Less than anybody in the last, what, 15 years?
- [150:13]
Bruce Arians
No, not that long. I haven't been going that long.
- [150:16]
Pat McAfee
Okay, okay, okay. Sorry, sorry, sorry. But it does feel like it is the same every year with the Arizona Cardinals. It's like a lot of optimism, a lot of maybe, huh?
- [150:24]
Bruce Arians
I was at the game with the Bucks and they had every chance to win it and. And didn't get it done.
- [150:30]
Pat McAfee
How many does will have? Will Anderson?
- [150:32]
Conman
I think. Ten and a half.
- [150:33]
Ty Schmidt
Yep, ten and a half.
- [150:34]
Pat McAfee
Oh, so he's almost. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Got some stat kind of him. He. He did have another jump on pile. They didn't give it to him. Congrats to these guys getting poor back.
- [150:42]
Conman
Oh, yeah, boys.
- [150:43]
Pat McAfee
And congrats to Green Bay packers dude. Honestly, that was a big swing. Yeah. At the time. And it was like, you know, a lot of people could have made fun of the Green Bay packers for that play. Desperation. New stuff. You know, like people probably say about the Pittsburgh Steelers with all the moves they made this past offseason and going in this trade deadline, if this ends up being a colossal failure, which could potentially happen in all. But it working out perfectly for maybe both sides is a beautiful thing. And Jerry Jones is just saying, yeah, that's what I do. Is that kind of how you feel about the trade with Micah and the Dallas Cowboys?
- [151:12]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, I think so. And I think it's easier to forget, like he's just entering his prime. He's only 25 years old. I think that's why like this thing is so crazy. Crazy. Like it's not like. And not that TJ Watt is old or long in the tooth or anything like that, but like he's what, 31. Like Mike has got a lot of time to still, you know, and. And he hopefully will be a Packer for the next 10 years.
- [151:34]
Bruce Arians
You just mentioned the name. I'm shocked that's not up there.
- [151:37]
Ty Schmidt
T.J. watt.
- [151:38]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Let's go to Hammer. Any omissions from the sack leader graphic that you saw, AP Tone?
- [151:44]
AP Tone
I, I, I did notice that as well. A lot of good pass rushes out there, you know, a lot of good.
- [151:49]
Pat McAfee
Bass rushes out there. How do you feel about that Steelers defense? I saw 20 turnovers.
- [151:53]
AP Tone
Yeah, you're really good at getting turnovers. It's about it.
- [151:59]
Bruce Arians
Jeez.
- [152:00]
Pat McAfee
That's AP time. Thank you.
- [152:01]
AP Tone
It's not their fault. It's not the player's fault.
- [152:03]
Pat McAfee
Whose fault is it?
- [152:05]
AP Tone
I don't know. We're going to bring in Jeff Hley and he'll get the boys, right?
- [152:08]
Pat McAfee
What's he, what job's he taking?
- [152:09]
Conman
Head coach.
- [152:10]
Darius Butler
It's not the player's fault.
- [152:11]
Pat McAfee
What are you doing right. Right now? It's kind of crazy.
- [152:12]
AP Tone
Debut said it first. I heard it come out of his mouth.
- [152:15]
Darius Butler
Oh, I kind of slipped that in there.
- [152:16]
Pat McAfee
But watch your.
- [152:17]
Darius Butler
It's always the player's fault. Stay in fl. They're getting paid more than anybody any other defense in the league. Terrell Austin ain't taking snaps.
- [152:25]
AP Tone
Then why'd you say Jeff Hley is going to be a coach next year?
- [152:27]
Darius Butler
That's just the nature of the business, brother. In this business.
- [152:32]
Ty Schmidt
And no, he's not. The packers are going to give him like $25 million a year.
- [152:35]
Pat McAfee
Oh, you think it's a McDaniels situation? Halfley's to just going to love it so much.
- [152:38]
Ty Schmidt
I think. So that's why he left bc. Why would he want to do it.
- [152:40]
Conman
Again in the NFL?
- [152:40]
Pat McAfee
Well, he didn't want to re recruit and re retain.
- [152:42]
Ty Schmidt
And you got to do that in the NFL too, just a little bit differently.
- [152:44]
Conman
So.
- [152:45]
Pat McAfee
No, there's real contracts in the NFL.
- [152:46]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, but still, you know, like, you think he wants to go to a shitty team and true.
- [152:50]
AP Tone
BC had like the best nil situation.
- [152:52]
Ty Schmidt
They did and a really good one. And he was just like, it's just too much. I'll just go be a coordinator and that's kind of my lane.
- [152:58]
Pat McAfee
I'll be the best coordinator and make more money. What's that? And make more money and life's a lot easier and I coach more. Micah Parsons.
- [153:05]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, that certainly doesn't hurt, you know.
- [153:07]
Pat McAfee
But what if an NFL team says, hey, we're not like Boston College at all.
- [153:11]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, we're the Raiders. He'll say, yeah, suck my dick. I don't want to Coach. You guys. You suck. You're going to fire me in three years and none of it's going to be my fault.
- [153:19]
Darius Butler
What about the Giants?
- [153:21]
Ty Schmidt
Same deal. Suck my dick. You guys suck. I don't want to coach for you.
- [153:25]
Pat McAfee
What about the Pittsburgh Steelers?
- [153:27]
Ty Schmidt
Now, you know, that's a rich tradition. Strong history.
- [153:31]
AP Tone
Thank you.
- [153:32]
Ty Schmidt
No, yeah, of course. But no, the packers ain't letting him leave. Not a chance. Not a chance.
- [153:37]
Darius Butler
Oh, no.
- [153:38]
Pat McAfee
I. I appreciate you not saying that to the ste.
- [153:41]
Ty Schmidt
You know.
- [153:41]
Pat McAfee
Well, it wasn't you ever, I guess.
- [153:42]
Ty Schmidt
No, no, that's half. That's Coach Halfley talking.
- [153:47]
Pat McAfee
All right, let's get back to BA talking. Couple game balls coming out of week 13. And obviously anytime you get a game ball, it is a big deal. You must have done something special. Coach BA has been picking one game ball from. For the afc, one game ball for the nfc, which we will start with. Who gets the NFC game ball? BA wow.
- [154:05]
Bruce Arians
The Bears offensive line, brother.
- [154:06]
Pat McAfee
Wow. Congratulations. The Bears are a lot. It's a lot of game balls. It's five of them.
- [154:11]
Bruce Arians
281 yards rushing against the Philly defense on the road. Easiest way to win on the road. Run it down their throat.
- [154:17]
Pat McAfee
Two different running backs over 100 yards. Coach.
- [154:19]
Bruce Arians
Big time, brother. This was a big time. Great job by Ben Johnson. Just sticking with it too, boy, but Johnson, Andre Swift, he looked like the old John Day Swift to me.
- [154:27]
Pat McAfee
Do you think that Ben Johnson has helped the run game because of the scheming, because of the mindset? What do you think and why do you think?
- [154:33]
Bruce Arians
It's the mindset and the scheme. He knows how to be basic, fundamental. Hat on a hat. Give it back. The ball four yards deep. Let him go.
- [154:41]
Pat McAfee
The thought of. Immediately upon arrival, Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears invested in the offensive line. Literally. That's like the first three plays that they made were like, offensive line, offensive line, offensive line of line. That's huge for Ben Johnson. And it was on display against the Eagles, obviously.
- [154:55]
Darius Butler
We always talk about it. Lane just said it. You have great system, but having the players matter. Detroit, it had a really good offensive line. Chicago has a really good offensive line.
- [155:04]
Pat McAfee
And his scheme just cave that.
- [155:06]
Darius Butler
His scheme definitely helps. And the mobility of Caleb Williams, even when he does it, you know, carry the ball. When he's carrying out those fakes, that always impacts the edge rush. Like at last run, you had Jeff Jalen Phillips running up the field to kind of protect that boot. That creates a huge running lane. He always has receivers and tight ends and shit. And it just as a defense, like if you hesitate for just one second, because we all have keys, linebacker, safeties, especially on that second and third level. So when our key takes us somewhere and we can't fire and be in that gap, that's all it takes. And these runners in the league, they're too damn good to have them one on one with these second and third level defenders. And all these runs, you see them getting tackled by, you know, safety 20, 25 yards down the field, that's tough sledding.
- [155:47]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. The Chicago Bears really flip the culture quickly. You do it in the trenches. Congrats to the Chicago Bears offensive line getting a game ball from B.A. and who's the AFC game ball going to?
- [155:57]
Bruce Arians
The Bills offensive line.
- [155:59]
Pat McAfee
Oh, two O lines getting game ball.
- [156:02]
Bruce Arians
Two starting tackles out, zero sacks, 249 yards rushing, 138 before contact.
- [156:09]
Pat McAfee
That's. That's the stat right there. James Cook not touched. Those cutbacks were obviously spectacular. The ran his play. How many times, Tone?
- [156:16]
Ty Schmidt
26.
- [156:17]
Bruce Arians
26 times, brother.
- [156:18]
Pat McAfee
What does that mean? The offensive line just got the job done?
- [156:20]
Bruce Arians
Well, I always say you find a mud puddle, you stomp all the water out of that or you go look for another one.
- [156:25]
Pat McAfee
Okay. All right.
- [156:26]
Bruce Arians
And they stumped the water out of that mud hole.
- [156:27]
Pat McAfee
Yes, they did. Like, if you can't stop it, why would we stop running? Is basically what happened. And the offensive line, whenever you're putting that onus onto their shoulders, they love that type of. Especially when they're having this type of night.
- [156:39]
Bruce Arians
Yeah, I go one time, I'm back at. I was at Alabama for one year and I told the guys, we're actually going to play Ole Miss. I said, we're going 35 bob until we score. And we ran it 11 times, the score.
- [156:51]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so 35 bob. We got one play, and this is all we're running, boys. And they did that against the Pittsburgh Ste. Yeah, 22 double.
- [156:58]
Bruce Arians
They just wore him out.
- [156:59]
Conman
Connor McGovern also, he was one of their few returning linemen this week. It looked like he snapped his arm in half. They just wrapped it up his elbow and came back. And then at. At the end of the game, after Josh Allen's cackle touchdown, while they were jogging off after the extra point, he was. Went over specifically to those two tackles, and he just said, I'm so proud of you, man. To both of them. You can see what. What he was saying through lip reading. It was very, very cool.
- [157:25]
Pat McAfee
See, they just went in there and beat up the Steelers, right?
- [157:28]
Bruce Arians
They did Something nobody's done since O.J. simpson. Okay, well, the run for 250 yards.
- [157:34]
Pat McAfee
Okay, okay. I didn't know.
- [157:37]
Bruce Arians
I didn't know the run differential watch in this game.
- [157:42]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [157:43]
Bruce Arians
Since 1950, hasn't happened to the Steelers at home.
- [157:47]
Pat McAfee
This is the third home game where they've lost by at least two scores. Okay, so that's three games, one season. Three home games in one season for these endzers to go and watch their team just get beat up and lose by multiple scores, let alone three scores. And then the entire time, Pittsburgh people know that they're running the same place play right there. Like, people are watching this game, going, hey, hey, we can't tackle. These guys are just bullying us. Which is the worst thing that could happen in the city of Pittsburgh.
- [158:12]
Darius Butler
Ain't the coach either. You ain't drawing up no magic plays to. We got a gap. We got eight guys in the box. Somebody gotta whoop some ass and be the assignment. And then when you're doing this, when you're bouncing, we always come on. That's day one is a corner.
- [158:26]
Bruce Arians
You.
- [158:26]
Darius Butler
If you get cracked, you gotta replace. You gotta show up, you're gonna keep doing it. So 20, 24, outside leverage. Take a shot. Like. That's the easy way out to say it's the coach. But these players, and these are all players with great resumes. This ain't a bunch of young guys who are trying to figure out how to play in the NFL. So, I mean, to get bullied like that on your own field, this is surprise.
- [158:45]
Conman
Like 42.
- [158:46]
Darius Butler
This. Come on. This don't even look like Tone.
- [158:49]
Pat McAfee
What's going on, Tone?
- [158:51]
AP Tone
I just sent in a picture of their alignment against this play. And I didn't play past college, but, like, I feel like their alignment wasn't great against his play a lot. You see that? That's pretty good, right? Enough guys over there, everybody's stacked on.
- [159:12]
Ty Schmidt
Top of each other.
- [159:13]
Darius Butler
Hayes was kicking ass. That tight end, he was unbelievable.
- [159:16]
AP Tone
Yeah, he had a good day. Good day against 90, didn't he?
- [159:19]
Darius Butler
Yeah.
- [159:20]
Pat McAfee
Amen in the box there, I guess, technically. Okay. They're all obviously a little bit offset that there. And then they still just ran 6, 2, 4.
- [159:27]
Darius Butler
Definitely got to be wider.
- [159:28]
Ty Schmidt
It's an exotic look, certainly.
- [159:30]
Darius Butler
And we're off show line of scrimmage like It's. It's week 13. This is training camp. Day one.
- [159:38]
Pat McAfee
Buffalo Bills offensive line, game ball. Yeah, baby. All right, let's get the hell out of here. We appreciate you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living, T. Why don't you come on out here, bub? And good luck to everybody driving or who did drive this morning. In any weather that was like what we had here in Indianapolis, a lot of snow came and it was cold as shit, so there was ice and there was a lot of snow and shout to all the people plowing out there. All the people. Oh, yeah, Was that you sure?
- [160:06]
Ty Schmidt
Because it's crazy in the Indianapolis area. They actually wait to send the plows out until after everybody's already had to drive to work. It's unbelievable.
- [160:14]
Pat McAfee
It's insane.
- [160:15]
Conman
So dumb.
- [160:16]
Ty Schmidt
Never experienced it anywhere else.
- [160:17]
Darius Butler
Nope.
- [160:18]
Pat McAfee
Well, I'll tell you what. PennDOT didn't necessarily get their fucking shit out before the storms either, you know, so there's always a little bit of reaction happening as opposed to a little pro action. The issue is they got to determine how much salt they want to buy ahead of time. So they have to project how much salt they need to purchase for the entire winter and how important and how big they think each winter storm will be on how much they allocate the salt to the town. I have publicly gone out after some people before into microphones, so I've been, you know, kind of learned up a little bit on the entire decision making process. It's like, well, we have this much for the entire. Okay, so we need to know how much. I don't want to ask.
- [160:55]
Ty Schmidt
I don't want to hear that.
- [160:56]
Pat McAfee
I just put it out. Okay. Joe Nardo would have told us the weather's coming, so let's go ahead and take care of that.
- [161:00]
Darius Butler
They didn't listen to Joe.
- [161:02]
Pat McAfee
Well, the problem.
- [161:05]
Conman
That's interesting. Yeah.
- [161:07]
Darius Butler
I thought they would have been the best in the country, the most prepared.
- [161:11]
Ty Schmidt
Listen to Joe Denardo.
- [161:13]
Pat McAfee
You got hard heads. You know, hard heads do these types of things. Donardo was trying his best. Dardo was trying his best.
- [161:18]
Conman
So nobody respected Denardo.
- [161:19]
Pat McAfee
No. I think, what the hell, he was never long in that tooth. Okay.
- [161:25]
Conman
Long in the do, it sounds like.
- [161:27]
Pat McAfee
No. Yeah, he was deep in the dot is what you mean. And you got to remember these decisions are being made by, like, one or two people.
- [161:33]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [161:33]
Pat McAfee
Okay. They don't necessarily do it all. And I think, you know, whenever they're making decisions around here in Indiana, I think our biggest issue is how cold it is. So, like, obviously the snow sucks, but it's the coldness that just kind of freezes all the shit. So the wind chill, you know, that you would. Don't think really would affect the Water in their precipitation in Indy, because the wind chill is so cold, it feels like it automatically freezes. It's like, freeze. Everything just kind of gets frozen. So the timing of the salt is a big deal. Need that before the ice.
- [162:01]
Ty Schmidt
That'd be ideal because that's what.
- [162:04]
Pat McAfee
After the ice, we just kind of.
- [162:06]
Ty Schmidt
Make it a little bit more rough. Although I do appreciate, you wait till there's about a thousand cars in the ditch on the highway and everywhere else, and then say, ah, fuck, we better go out and, you know, do something about this.
- [162:15]
Pat McAfee
We had two guys really do their thing out here in this parking lot today.
- [162:18]
Darius Butler
Hell of a tag.
- [162:19]
Conman
They loved it.
- [162:20]
Pat McAfee
They crushed it. They. And this is a part of, I guess, business. And as you're growing, we asked them because we heard that the storm was coming, and we didn't have anybody set up to do the plowing of the parking lot. So we called a couple companies, Shout to Z. They come over, project the price. You know, they tell us the price, we go, all right, that seems very, very low, but also reasonable.
- [162:41]
Bruce Arians
Sweet.
- [162:42]
Pat McAfee
Let's go ahead and do this. It was two guys. They were not prepared for this parking lot, and we're gonna pay them triple what they said they needed.
- [162:49]
Ty Schmidt
They thought they were doing a big driveway.
- [162:51]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, these guys worked their ass off this morning, and we watched it hours. Yeah, these guys two shoves, basically two shovels. This entire thing. Yeah, Right.
- [163:01]
Ty Schmidt
Add a zero to it next time.
- [163:03]
Pat McAfee
They need to start doing a little bit more and then build up and invest in plow. You need a plow, I think.
- [163:08]
Ty Schmidt
Right.
- [163:08]
Pat McAfee
That'll help out.
- [163:09]
AP Tone
They gave us the wrong price. You pay them the price they told.
- [163:11]
Pat McAfee
Us that's a ton of dig, saying, hey, we don't need more money leaving this company. They charged us what they charged us. And it's like, I guess so, brother. But the work they put in was admirable, as is everybody that battles through this inclement weather to make special things happen. Shout out to football. Shout out to you, Coach BA Anything to say before we get out of here?
- [163:29]
Bruce Arians
Great show. Better one next week.
- [163:30]
Pat McAfee
Hell, yeah. Shout to you. Shout to the Arians Family foundation. Also taking care of kids all over the world. Country. I don't know about world, but definitely over the country. We appreciate you on this giving Tuesday for giving us everything that you give us. Coach BA we love your energy. We love your spirit. We also love the fact that we get to do this for a living. We'll see you tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three.
- [163:52]
Bruce Arians
Team.
- [163:53]
Pat McAfee
Goodbye.
- [163:54]
Darius Butler
Hi there.
- [163:55]
Ty Schmidt
Surprise.
- [163:56]
Pat McAfee
30 for 30 presents.
- [163:58]
Darius Butler
Booyah.
- [164:00]
Pat McAfee
Can I get a witness from the congregation? You can't stop authenticity. Booyah. Stuart was exactly like you saw him on camera. Off camera. He dialed it up 10%. Can you imagine the impact of young black boys and girls looking at that going, I feel seen. He changed the culture. He changed sports. Booyah. Presented by Modelo premieres on December 10th at 9pm Eastern on ESPN. Talk about stepping up. It's time to level up your game.
- [164:30]
Darius Butler
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- [164:39]
Ty Schmidt
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- [164:41]
Pat McAfee
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Darius Butler
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Ty Schmidt
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Darius Butler
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