PMS 2.0 1464 - TNF Preview, Dan Orlovsky, Texas Tech NIL Stalwart/Oilman Cody Campbell, Coach Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk

Summary

The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 #1464 Summary

Episode Overview

Date: December 4, 2025
Main Theme:
Pat and the crew dive into the NFL Week 14 kickoff, providing an in-depth Thursday Night Football (TNF) preview between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions—a showdown with serious playoff implications. They also discuss sports betting trends, team trajectories, coaching decisions, injuries, and broader sports topics with guests Dan Orlovsky (ESPN QB analyst), Texas Tech oilman/NIL booster Cody Campbell, and former Cowboys/Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. AJ Hawk, the Toxic Table, and Tone Digs supply perspective, humor, and sharp football banter throughout.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. TNF Preview: Cowboys vs. Lions

Timestamps: 00:00–14:00, 58:39–66:44
Main Discussion Points:

• Hype around a pivotal NFC matchup, playoff ramifications for both teams.
• Dallas's transformation from preseason question mark to potential "best team in ball."
  Pat McAfee: “Are the Dallas Cowboys the best team in football right now? … Best duo in CD [Lamb] and George Pickens, let alone Ferguson. And then what Dak Prescott’s been doing has been out of control.” (00:13)
• Lions’ performance and the public’s betting perception, spotlighting the Thanksgiving game outcomes and how that sways sentiment.
• Vegas line: Lions favored by 3 at home, despite Cowboys getting the vast majority (78% of bets, 83% of money) — heavy recency bias driving the public.

Memorable Quote:
Tone: "78% of the bets are on the Cowboys with 83% of the money… It seems to be all Cowboys tonight and that they've won three in a row. The Lions are 2–2 in their last four." (02:28)

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2. Matchup Breakdown: Cowboys Offense vs. Lions Defense

Timestamps: 03:23–07:19

• Lions play man coverage on 60% of dropbacks—dangerous against Dak, who excels versus man (10 yards/attempt, 95.5 QBR).
• The tandem of Pickens and CeeDee Lamb identified as a schematic nightmare for Detroit.
• For the Lions, Jameer Gibbs highlighted as their X-factor if he can get rolling.

Memorable Moment:
Ty Schmid: “If Jameer Gibbs is playing his best football, he’s the kind of guy who can rip off an 80-yard or 70-yard touchdown anytime he touches the ball.” (05:44)

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3. Coaching Decisions & Analytics: Dan Campbell’s Fourth Downs

Timestamps: 05:44–08:01; 85:54–91:45

• Discussion of MCDC's penchant for aggressive fourth-down decisions—has gone 0-for-7 as of late, after early-year success.
• Debate on whether he’ll stick with “grit” or adjust the strategy.
• Foxy (Detroit fan) predicts no change: “MC DC sees that and goes, ‘We’re due, man.’” (07:29)

Mike McCarthy’s Philosophy:
"Mathematics is the language of the universe. You have to pay attention to the mathematics … but it’s about how you apply it in-game.” (87:17)

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4. Playoff Picture & Injury Watch Around the NFL

Timestamps: 08:01–14:21, 13:32–15:05

• Cowboys’ and Lions’ playoff odds: stakes are huge, particularly if either loses—Cowboys’ chance drops from 35% to 8% with a loss, Lions would fall from ~60% to under 25%.
• Key injuries for both teams: Cowboys without Tyler Guyton; Lions’ offensive tackles questionable, Amon-Ra St. Brown with a sprained ankle (expected to play).
• Broader look at playoff races and relevant matchups: Colts, Jaguars, Steelers-Ravens, Chiefs, Texans.

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5. Deep Dive with Dan Orlovsky: Cowboys' & Lions' Identities

Timestamps: 15:05–40:37

• Dan Orlovsky’s take: Bad matchup for Detroit unless they drop heavy man coverage, “don’t have the horses.”
• Cowboys compared to Bengals “with a run game and real line”—versatility, pass game, play-action.
• Cowboys’ transformation after George Pickens trade, healthy OL, and shift to Schottenheimer’s culture.
• For the Lions: Interior OL is weakened, less schematic advantage, Goff needs a clean pocket; Orlovsky stresses Dan Campbell needs to make it a “rugby match,” feed Gibbs for a chance.

Key Quote (Orlovsky):
"Defensively, if you line up and play man coverage tonight against this Dallas offense, I would throw 40 times. You can’t cover both CD Lamb and George Pickens one on one." (18:25)

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6. College Athletics, NIL, and the Future: Cody Campbell Segment

Timestamps: 44:59–56:56

• Cody Campbell, Texas Tech alum/oilman/NIL leader, joins to discuss the existential threat to college sports due to deficits, the need for congressional action, and smarter business models.
• Only football and men’s hoops generate meaningful revenue, other sports (esp. women’s, Olympic sports) at risk.
• NFL- and NBA-style media rights and central scheduling proposed as ways to maximize value and save non-revenue sports.

Key Quote:
Cody Campbell: "College football has twice as many viewers as the NBA, but makes half as much money… If we could just fix those problems and run the thing like a business, we can increase revenue massively." (54:41)

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7. Live Interview with Former Cowboys/Packers Coach Mike McCarthy

Timestamps: 66:44–96:59

• McCarthy joins from Wisconsin (just came out of deer hunting), brings deep analysis and context for the Cowboys-Lions matchup.
• Lays out the importance of “strength down the middle,” Cowboys’ shift to a five-man defensive line, the difference Eberflus and new D-line additions have made.
• Big praise for young players stepping up (Nate Thomas).
• Discusses the human side (no ill will, credit to Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones), coaching philosophy, and importance of balancing analytics with contextual feel on fourth-down decisions.
• Famous McCarthy-ism: “Mathematics is the language of the universe… but you’ve got to apply it at the right time.” (87:10)
• Stresses the two most important QB abilities: “accountability and availability,” when asked about reckless young QBs.
• On Philly/Pittsburgh fan pressure: emphasizes how hard it is to win in NFL, crediting Mike Tomlin, defending long-term consistency, and iterative playoff pushes.

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8. Broader NFL & Football Talk — Humor, Quotes & Notable Banter

Sports Betting and Line Movement

Timestamps: 59:01–61:06, 140:03–143:26

• The crew discusses heavy public action on Cowboys, reverse line movement, and how “do not trust Vegas” games reek of “dookie” (i.e., smell fishy).

Wrestling & John Cena

• Lighthearted riffs on John Cena’s career, booking decisions, and “in-ring acting” as well as WWE’s current state.

Hunting & Midwest Life

• McAfee and McCarthy bond over hunting tales, Midwest traditions, and family, giving listeners a feel for off-field personalities and rapport.

Classic Lines

• Pat McAfee, on Coach McCarthy’s stoicism after leaving Dallas:
  “You've had a lot of reasons to kind of be a little bit of a dick about this ... Instead it's like, he's very happy for Shoddy, very happy for Dallas … It's been a wonderful thing to listen to him chat about the Cowboys.” (122:32)

• Mike McCarthy, quoting Galileo on analytics: “Mathematics is the language of the universe.” (87:17)
  Pat, in awe: “You pulling Galileo whenever we're talking about fourth-down situational football—you're a yinzer!”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Show Open / TNF Hype: 00:00–05:00
• Betting Lines & Public Sentiment: 02:28–03:17
• Cowboys Offense Deep Dive: 03:24–06:33
• Lions Fourth Down Analysis: 06:33–08:01, 85:54–91:22
• Playoff Odds Discussion: 08:01–12:17
• Dan Orlovsky Interview: 15:05–42:25 (Deepest preview/expert analysis)
• Cody Campbell (NIL Crisis/College Biz): 44:59–56:56
• Mike McCarthy Interview: 66:44–96:59 (Cowboys/Lions breakdown, coaching philosophy)
• Picks, Final Betting Talk, NFL Week 14 Outlook: 140:03–151:22

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lions’ Fourth Down Gamble:
  Pat McAfee: “This is how kind of the new Lions have been. There are no risk it, no biscuit type operation up there. … There’s a chance they once again become the brand new Lions.” (07:19)
• On Cowboys’ Offensive Evolution:
  Dan Orlovsky: “For everybody at home, just imagine Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins with a diverse scheme and a good offensive line. That’s how difficult this [Dallas] offense is to handle.” (19:41)
• On NIL and College Sports Threat:
  Cody Campbell: “We’re going broke as a system and we gotta fix it.” (51:11)
• On Analytics:
  Mike McCarthy: “Mathematics is the language of the universe… but it’s how you apply it.” (87:17)
• On Fourth Downs and Momentum:
  Mike McCarthy: “You got to look at the numbers, but also how do you apply it, and what's the momentum? The other part is, when you hold on defense on fourth down, that equates to a takeaway.” (89:46)
• Backing Shoddy and Dallas’ Culture:
  Pat McAfee: “He’s very happy for Shoddy, very happy for Dallas, and very happy for the life that he’s living currently.” (122:32)
• Betting Lines Feeling “Dookie”:
  Pat McAfee: “[This] feels like a little dookie line here, doesn’t it? Does smell like Duke—that’s a big, big old dookie.” (141:26)

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Concluding Energy

As always, the Thunderdome is packed with irreverent, informed football talk, betting banter, and authentic sports culture. The crew seamlessly mixes sharp X’s and O’s analysis, betting insight, fan emotion, and personal stories—from Midwest hunting to WWE quirks—making this NFL Week 14 preview episode rich, relatable, and absolutely worth a listen for any football fan.

Picks Recap (143:14–143:32):

• The crew mostly leans Cowboys (+3.5 or straight up) despite Vegas red flags; acknowledge the risk of the line being "fishy."
• Heavy emphasis: This matchup could be a classic, with playoff consequences for two franchises seeking to shake historic narratives.

Final Thought:
“Football is magical. We’re lucky to talk about it every single day.” – Pat McAfee (58:39)

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For More

Skip the ads, cold opens, and outros—this summary delivers the essential insights, expert football talk, and trademark McAfee Show flavor from start to finish!

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the ThunderDome, on this NFL Week 14 kickoff, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. This program begins now.

Football is magical, and the NFL kicks off its 14th week tonight in a massive Amazon prime prime time matchup, which has playoff ramifications, which will be a storyline throughout the entire slate for the NFL this week. But the who might be the best team in football right now? Now, at the beginning of the season, they certainly weren't. And there was a lot of changes that were made. And Jerry Jones was saying, hey, I'm looking for 100 billion in natural gas. I don't care about the Dallas Cowboys defense right now. Well, everybody else around the Dallas Cowboys cared about the defense because where they ranked and how they looked. And then all of a sudden, Eber flu starts really cooking. Quinton comes in there, starts doing his thing, Logan starts doing his thing. And then all of a sudden, they got a front four that becomes an impenetrable wall. And then on the offensive side, they might have the best duo and CD in George Pickens, let alone Ferguson. And then what Dak Prescott's been doing has been out of control. Shotty seems to have the entire team bought into what his culture is going to be. And special teams wise, they got studs everywhere. So it's like, are the Dallas Cowboys, who are maybe a little bit of a laughing stock both in the off season and also at the beginning of the season, are the Dallas Cowboys the best team in ball? And then they're taking on a team that just, you know, we saw it on Thanksgiving. Jack White and Eminem crushed it.

[Mike McCarthy]

Mm.

[Pat McAfee]

I would like for them to potentially think about doing that tonight. That'd be a lot to ask, obviously, out of Jack and Eminem just to be doing this on a regular basis, but, boy, they were the best part about the Detroit city. Whenever they were hosting Thanksgiving for the entire world, the numbers are up for these Thanksgiving games. 57 million or something. Watch 2. 57.2 million, 47.7 million for the other 1. 700 bajillion for the other one. I mean, the numbers are insane. So a lot of people just watch the Lions do what the Lions do, and then a lot of people. People just watch the Cowboys do what the Cowboys do. So it makes you wonder, well, how does the public feel about this particular game? Let's go to one half of the hammer.

[Connor]

Done.

[Pat McAfee]

Cowboys. AP tone. Monkey see, monkey do. I think it's a Pavlov's dog thing. If we see a team do really Good. Yup, we like them. And then when you see a team. Not too good. Nope, we don't like them. Lions favored by three. What are the numbers for tonight and what should we be thinking about?

[Tone]

Yeah, there's always a lot of recency bias in the gambling world. Lions minus three across the board. There's no two and a half. There's no three and a halfs out there. As we speak, 78% of the bets are on the Cowboys with 83% of the money on the Cowboys. So it's not like, oh, there's like, you know, smaller bets, $10 bets.

[Ty Schmid]

Correct.

[Tone]

And then larger ones coming to the lines. No, no, it's seems to be all Cowboys tonight and that they've won three in a row. The Lions are 2 and 2 in their last four. And obviously when 50 million people are watching you on Thanksgiving lose versus win against the Chiefs, you're going to get a lot of public sentiment towards you for tonight's game.

[Pat McAfee]

78% has hit this year already. We feel Good about an 80.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Tone]

On Thursday nights they've hit. I remember specifically Ravens and Dolphins there being like 75, 78% of the round there. And the Ravens covered that one.

[Connor]

Pat's jets as well.

[Tone]

So Thursday night has been the night that you can. That the books have been getting. Getting got.

[Pat McAfee]

I should.

[Tone]

I would say.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's just continue to add stats to feed these theories. Okay. Sent over some what the Lions defense does and then what Dak does against said defense. Well, the Lions play defense, man defense, 60% of drop backs. Okay. At we got guys. Okay. Our guys need to do their damn job. Dak Prescott, whenever he's targeting man to man coverage, 10 yards per attempt, 15.8 yards per completion, 95.5 QBR out of 100. Okay. So whenever you have two number ones, whenever they're going, man, they need to have two number ones at corner as well. Normally there is a one and then there's another one. They got a lot of faith obviously in their guys. They do it more than damn near everybody else. But George Pickens and CD Lamb have kind of been put together because of that particular man beating operation. Now, George Pickens might be the best wide receiver in. I apologize to Jackson Smith and Jigba, okay, for even saying that. I put that out a tweet because his picture from draft day whenever he got drafted to the Pittsburgh Steelers and he was wearing a shisty and he's standing there like this. Just an absolutely absurd scene to come from your draft night. The fact that he has really hit his max ability in this Dallas Cowboys offense is very lethal and crazy to think about. If you're the Cowboys and if you're able to retain him, I think his price is going to be very, very large after what he's already showcased this season thus far. And then CD Lamb's always been a number one, already been paid as a number one. So whenever you have two number ones now, that offsets everything that's happening on the defensive side. And they've been explosive against these styles of defense and they've been explosive every time we see them on tv. So I'm pumped that they are playing in primetime tonight. I'm pumped that the Detroit Lions are playing because Dan Campbell's going to make some decisions that are going to be electrifying as well. This should be a great game in meaningful football season. As we kick off Week 14 of the NFL season, the toxic tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmid. Ty Schmid Lions, big one for the NFC north here because everybody thought this brand new Lions was about to potentially run the north for some time. And then now the Chicago Bears get something from the Lions. That was apparently very important piece in Ben Johnson. They're starting to cook. Jordan loves playing his best ball. The Detroit Lions all of a sudden had a window. Have they lost it because the amount of turnover that success comes with it or what do you think tonight proves for the Lions?

[Ty Schmid]

I'm not ready to count them out just yet. I believe like if, if Jameer Gibbs is playing his best football, he's one of the best players in the NFL and he's the kind of guy who can rip off an 80 yard or 70 yard touchdown anytime he touches the ball. But you just mentioned it a little bit ago. I think it is going to be a close game. And the Lions like when they've been on this little Schneide here, them not taking points and going forward on fourth down, I don't know what the the stats would say, but I just think back to Thanksgiving, one of the times they get stuffed on fourth down. First play the packers throw a 50 yard touchdown and then it's like the game gets blown open and everything changes. So if you think it's going to be a close game, is Dan Campbell going to show a willingness to just take points and be okay with that or is he going to kind of do what their MO is and continue to go for it on 4th and short?

[Pat McAfee]

And what Dan was saying is we are who we Are. This is who we've been. This is why we've had success. And the last seven times they've gone for it on fourth down. It hasn't worked. I mean, oh, for the last seven. Okay, weeks one through 10, 13 of 18, that's a very high clip when you're hitting those. That's bonus. Hey, we're getting house money here. We're stealing a possession. We're stealing a possession. We're stealing a possession. As opposed to giving the ball back, which could have potentially happened in the past, or just taking three points. You're stealing a possession. Stealing a possession. This is how kind of how the new Lions have been. There are no risk it. No biscuit type operation up there. And then when it doesn't go your way, everybody's like, hey, doofus, water's kind of finding its level right now. This is inevitable with the way it had been going your direction, but it's gone ice cold. If that heats up, though, if their fourth downs heat up tonight.

[Mike McCarthy]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance that they once again become the brand new Lions. But Foxy, I think all you Lions fans are a little bit worried that this might not be the same old brand new Lions that we've come to know.

[Foxy]

Yeah, I'll tell you what, there are a lot of people that are sick of the fourth down crap. And I see over seven and I think mcdc sees that and he goes, we're due, man. We're due for converting a couple fourth downs. So I don't see him changing at all. I actually think tonight is an MC DC game. I think we get back to our roots. Grit, physical toughness. We punch him in the mouth, run the ball with Gibbs, control the clock. I really like what we're going to do tonight. It's a playoff game. All the analytics say whoever loses tonight will not make the playoffs. I think Ford Field is going to be absolutely rocking tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about some of the Ram that you were referring to. There's a lot of them here in week 14. A lot of games where the odds with a win much, much better than the odds with a loss. And all the teams are playing each are obviously doing the battle. So whenever you talk about tonight, Cowboys currently have a 35% chance of making it. You know, they got a hard road, especially with how they started. If they lose tonight, 8% chance. Now what does that mean? That means like expected outcomes of future games that they would need to go different ways. And we all know how everything is at predicting it. But nonetheless detrimental to the Cowboys success this season if they were to lose to the Lions tonight. In front of the Lions, they go from about a 60% chance to less than a quarter chance of making it. Colts 88%. Where we're sitting right now, we got a lot of wins. Yeah, we got a lot of wins. A lot of wins earlier. And if we beat the Jags or it's good, if we lose to the Jags, we drop down to 58%. And then guess what we got tough still. The San Francisco 49ers. And we got Seahawks. And then we got the Texans again. And then we got the Jags again. Jags with a loss 75%. With a win, 85%. Why are they sitting in such a good spot? Steelers 65% chance. Because they won a lot of games early.

[Connor]

Yeah, a lot of tiebreakers.

[Pat McAfee]

They were winning games and all that stuff. They lose to the Ravens, which is a massive rivalry, especially in the AFC North. 18% chance going forward. Yikes. All the Steelers fans will be louder than they'd even already become. And then on the opposite side of that, the Baltimore Ravens fans have gotten pretty loud too about maybe not having a team that could win a Super bowl this year. Currently sitting at 76% chance to make the playoffs. AFC north favorites, even whenever they were in a slump, everybody had faith in them. They did not play great against the Bengals at home in primetime on Thanksgiving. If they were to lose to the Steelers at home, 31% chance of making it, Jackson, 76%. They've been on a little bit of a run school football team. Number one defense in the league, a loss with 37%. And then the Chiefs detrimental, yikes. To everything they have. And who knows what the future conversation is if they were to lose to the number one defense in the league. Cool.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's. Houston Texans. Everybody sees the Houston Texans and they go like, no, I remember they weren't good. Remember? And then C.J. stroud was hurting. All this stuff. They, they're not a good team. It's like on the defensive side, they got a head coach named d' Amico Ryans who is a freak show. Okay? He got the head coaching job because he was the coordinator for the Niners. And everybody talks about Robert Sala whenever he was defense coordinator for the Niners and back, being the defense coordinator for the Niners, having a good time and dominating everything like that certainly warranted. D' Ameco did the same shit there. And then he got the head coaching job back at the place where he played and what he has created on the defensive side and what they have invested in on the defensive side is a process. And the Colts obviously ran into this Houston Texans team this last weekend. But it is not a fun game to watch the Houston Texans defense playing against your team. They are so good. Yeah, they are everywhere. They wrecked the game. And for the Kansas City Chiefs, they've kind of had some issues this year, you know, have they figured that out? The Houston Texans defense will give us a big yes or no. And not only do the percentages, but I think for the eye test. Week 14 is cooking here. Con man.

[Connor]

Yeah, it's unbelievable. Especially when you're talking about tonight. Like the biggest thing is the prime time games. Always those are the most eyes. Texas Chiefs being Sunday night Football. Eagles, Chargers, which is a different conversation. But tonight with the Cowboys, like we talk about the brand new Lions. The same old Cowboys would be a conversation if they lose because everyone's finally like, hey, the Cowboys are great.

[Ty Schmid]

They're great.

[Connor]

They're great. They're great. Them losing kind of makes sense, but I personally think it is kind of a brand new boys. You see Schottenheimer on the sideline talking about how much he loves football.

[Pat McAfee]

Hard knocks is awesome.

[Connor]

Incredible this year. Yeah. Great time to have the NFC east. But you know, a lot of the conversations about CD and Pickens and Dak Javante Williams. They finally have a running back. They finally have a running game. I think that's why all these guys are playing so well. A couple of key positions out. I believe Tyler Guyin is. It is out. Yes. Their tackle, starting tackle for the Cowboys. That'll be huge. Something to watch for the Lions. Penn A Sewell and Taylor Decker both questionable. Not sure if Decker matters as much because they're kind of calling him a revolving door at left tackle. But Sewell being out would be huge. It's very interesting to see how this game starts out. It's one of those that if the Lions do, to foxy's point, run the ball, control the clock. Can the Cowboys offense ever really get going? I can't wait for this one tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Is this a little stink like dookie? A little bit. Is there a little bit distinct to this? We just watched the Lions do what the Lions just did. We just saw what the Cowboys did. What they just did. We saw that injury report right there. I mean that's a. For the Lions, big players, big time. Yeah. A lot of known names there. It's a Thursday night game, you know, just Normal Thursday night game stuff with injuries. You can steal a bye week almost with a short week and just kind of get somebody back for meaningful football afterwards. Now, Cowboys don't really have meaningful football afterwards if they lose tonight's game. So it's a playoff or bust type mentality and everything like that. But that's a lot of names on that injury report list with the quest. Quest, Quest, Quest. You know, questionable obviously is. Is not. That's not a good stage. No, questionable is down here on stage. There's doubtful. There's questionable.

[Ty Schmid]

Probably good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. There's probable up here and then, you know, limited up here. The question was way down. That's a lot of names. And they're still favored by 3.

[Foxy]

I would expect most of those guys on that list to play. Basically the talk all week has been st. Brown, is Amon Ra St. Brown going to play. And they're saying that every day he's getting better. He has a sprained ankle right now. So it's really just a toughness thing. It's not like that thing can get worse. So I personally would be shocked if he didn't go tonight in a game where we have to win tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, the Sun God is an absolute dog. Let's go to some stats that actually say if Amon Ra is playing, that could be great news, especially against his Cowboys defense. Now, once again, Cowboys defensive stats are throughout the entire season. They were ass like they were dookie, dookie, dookie, dookie. Very much at the beginning of the season. They were everything. DB bad, D Hall of Fame quad box bad. I mean, that's how bad they were at the beginning. So the overall defensive stats are tough to go off of with what the current Cowboys defense is post trade deadline. Post figuring out what ibrfluss defense actually is like. That is a much different time than now. But nonetheless, what they're not great about at Jared Goff and Amon Ross St. Brown kind of eat at. So that could be where the weaknesses. We assume Sun God will play as well and shout out to Detroit for being Detroit tough.

[Ty Schmid]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now is a guy who's Connecticut strong, ladies and gentlemen.

[Connor]

Well, that's. That. That's not a thing. It's Boston strong. That is actually a thing. Okay, let's not do. Let's not put that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're right. Okay. There's no reason to even think about doing that, actually. With what? Boston. He's Connecticut sharp. Sh.

[Connor]

Yeah, Connecticut cool.

[Tone]

This guy's more like farm strong.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, the guy's about to join us.

[Connor]

There ain't no farms that are that strong as they are in western Massachusetts. Okay, if we're doing this whole New England thing, let's just do like Connecticut, Connecticut kind.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay? Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's Connecticut kind. Dan Orlovsky.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Right next to a farm. Grew up right next to a farm right next door.

[Connor]

I didn't say there weren't any farms. I said they weren't farms like they are in western Massachusetts.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it'll make them like they used to. And you grew up next to the farm. I know your ass never touched a single thing on that property. I know that. I can tell by the dude.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I used to live on that farm. I used to create a lot of trouble. I used to take baseballs and kill squirrels with them.

[Ty Schmid]

What is wrong with you?

[Pat McAfee]

DMer stuff. Little Dahmer stuff. Sounds like happy you're able to do that. Did you do any cow tipping or anything like that? Just try to kill any other animals?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Absolutely. Cow tipped in high school.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Geez Louise, this guy's the worst. I didn't know that.

[Ty Schmid]

Me neither. I thought he was a crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

Chased off any of this land with a double barrel say get off to stop touching my goddamn cows. Did you get any of that?

[Dan Orlovsky]

No. There is one great story.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's hear it.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I don't feel totally great telling it, but it's too much of a sucker. So I would come home, I would be responsible for having to take my house key to school. Every day I'd get home, there would be nobody home. So I could open the house to get in. And.

When I made mistakes, my dad wasn't too happy about it. So I had forgotten my key a coup couple times that did not go well. So I forgot it this one day and I was just to a point where I was like, I don't want that happening again. So I instead of telling the truth, went and hid in the farm at like this entrance point behind the fence in the there. I think there was snow on the ground, but it was definitely cold out. Stay there for hours.

[Tone]

Been there.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Police are driving by, got cars coming by, this and that. I come like falling out, like wobbly, stumbling. I kind of take a little bit mud, dirt, all that face, rip a shirt, this and that, tell my dad I got jumped on the way home, blah blah blah. This is what happened. I hid from the people. I'm talking to the cops. The cops are asking me for a little bit more detail. I'm struggling to give detail. End up that they call my bluff. My dad calls me bluff. Never actually got jumped. This and that. So I went through a pretty extensive lie as a teenager, and that was the only time I really had the issue with the farm.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

Were the cops. Was it a missing child report was filed?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yes.

[Connor]

Oh, man.

[Foxy]

Oh.

[Pat McAfee]

Because you didn't want to face a little accountability? Not a little bit, I guess. I guess a pretty sturdy accountability there. I love that you had to come up with an idea as you're freezing your ass off, how you could have lost the key. Oh, I got my ass beat. Geez, what I gotta do? Rip my shirt here.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I got jumped, dad.

[Pat McAfee]

Then they took the key out of my pocket and said they were gonna rob the house. And then they ran away. And then. Ah, Dan, you're the best. I love it. I love that you're all in on everything, Dan. Which takes us to this. Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, are you all in on them being the best team in ball right now at the moment? And are you all in on the fact that maybe the Lions aren't going to get it done this year? What is your kind of storyline about the two teams this evening? Lions favored by three, Cowboys getting 78% of the bets and 83% of the money. So it feels like what the sports books feel like about tonight in the public, who just watched on Thanksgiving, two very different outcomes for these team. Kind of seeing it differently. How do you see it, Dano?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah. Bad matchup for Detroit. Detroit defensively wants to line up and play man coverage. If you line up and play man coverage tonight against this Dallas offense, I would throw 40 times. You can't cover both CD Lamb and George Pickens one on one. Detroit's just not healthy enough, not good enough to do that. What they've done Dallas ever since they've acquired George and he started to come on. They put George by himself. They put CD Away from him, and Dak Prescott goes, are you playing George Pickens one on one? If you are, I'm going to throw him the football. You're not good to cover him. If you want to favor George, if you want to lean towards George, then CD Is going to be the guy that gets the ball. And so one of the most important people to me for tonight for Detroit is Kelvin Shepard, their defensive coordinator. He's got to change scheme. He's got to play a little more zone, a little bit softer, give up yards, play great red zone defense. You just don't have the horses to defend this offense. Kansas City tried to and you saw when, you know, when it came, push come to shove, they're just not good enough. Easier said than done, but you just can't play man coverage against this team.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think the thing about Dak playing the best ball he's ever played, and is it because he has another number one wide receiver? Like, is that kind of an expectation of Dak at this point? Like, we don't really talk about Zach as greatest quarterback in the NFL ever. Okay. I don't think that ever happens.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah, he's played at a high level for a couple years, but this is certainly as good as it's ever been. The best way I describe Dallas's offense is imagine the Bengals offense having a good offensive line and run game. Because with those two receivers and the way that Dak's playing pass, game wise, it is very similar to Cincinnati's where you just sit there and go, you want to throw it every play because they're so good. But then you go, well, well, you know, Cincinnati's offense has been just catch and throw football for years. That's not Dallas. Dallas will get under center, they'll go with some extreme play action, they'll move the launch point, they'll take their shots downfield, and then also it's a very good offensive line. And that's not what Cincinnati. Cincinnati has. So for everybody at home, just imagine Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and T. Higgins with a diverse scheme and good offensive line. That's how difficult this offense is to handle.

[Pat McAfee]

And Dax a dog, we're learning that once again through Hard Knocks. I think we forgot because we don't really see much of Dak. They. He does it media and then it's pretty guarded down there in Dallas. We don't really. I feel like I don't really know much about him, even though I know that the Cowboys are on TV all the time. And I know the conversation is like, that Dallas is not going to win. They're not going to be able to win. But then we watch Hard Knocks and it's like, Dax a dude. Dak it. Dax a dude. Like, he is somebody that I think team would want to play for. And I like their trenches mentality or bunker mentality where they trade Micah away, who certainly worked out five years straight. First five years, 12 sacks at least. First player to ever do that in the history of the NFL. That was a cool moment whenever he was told that information with his entire family there. But they were said to you, you guys stink. You're not good. So they can really rally around that. It feels like they like shoddy a lot as well. I don't know how much you're watching Hard Knocks, but it's like that building looks like a healthy place. That looks like a very healthy place right now. Whenever it was not being talked about like that at all. Dano.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah, I haven't seen the hard knock books yet. I saw some of the viral clips, like the moment between dad.

Seem like super cool. Just the fact that they have that relationship seem. Seems awesome. I think one of the things that has been surprising watching this team and how Scheimer post game just handled obviously the slow start, the tragedy with Nyland and the way that they've played is how come he didn't get a chance sooner is one of the questions that has popped in my head. He comes from a rich family background or a football background and he's been to a lot of different organizations. And it's. It's surpr to me to watch how well he's handled and managed it all and still played at a high level, that he never really got this opportunity beforehand. You know, Jerry Jones sitting in the press conference this year saying, I'm taking a risk. You know, if anybody knows risk, it's me. And I'm taking a risk with this guy. And I think a lot of us who, you know, just, you know, been around locker rooms and different coaches are sitting there going, this guy seems to be great in this role, let alone, you know, taking advantage of it. And so I've become a huge, I don't know, Brian Schottheimer. I've become a huge fan of his. And tonight's a playoff game again. That's crazy. That's crazy. Six, seven weeks ago, this team was left for dead, rightfully so. The fact that they're in a playoff game and I think in many ways expected to win by a lot of people. It is a testament to the job he's done.

[Pat McAfee]

You're so cool for doing six, seven weeks ago instead of like seven, eight weeks ago or five, six weeks ago. That was really cool.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I was not intentional, I promise.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, okay. We know how you do it. Just like yesterday, you did that same thing. But to your point, they've had playoff games basically for the last five weeks. I would say every game has been like a playoff game and they've shown up and delivered and for a first year head coach like that in a brand new place. And I remember, you know, when Jerry decides to move on from Coach McCarthy, who we will be talking to in the second hour today. Can't wait to catch up with him. He has no ill will towards any of it. Like Coach McCarthy has no ill will towards the Cowboys, towards Shoddy to, towards anybody or anything. It's almost like it was a perfect situation. Seemingly, in McCarthy's eyes, he's going to live his life a little and then also still be a part of ball. And Jerry has now got a chance to. He missed the coaching cycle, remember, because Vrabes was already. There was already everybody hired before he even decided to move on. We called him an idiot. This guy's an idiot. Lost his fastball. Fucking missed the coaching cycle. This guy has no idea what he's doing. And then he hires Shawty. And to your point, the reaction nationally is this guy's not prepared for the job or ready for the job. We see him at the combine, look like the same exact guy that we had here in Indianapolis. I was lucky to be on a team when Shotty was on the team. Coach, coaching. He's super cool dude. Very casual. Got along with everybody, obviously loves ball, grew up in a building. So you understand that he understands what it's all about. So him getting the opportunity and crushing it when everybody thought it was a stupid and bad hire. And then Jerry Jones just going.

I still got it. Coach, plate, D end, wide receiver, linebacker, nose tackle. I mean, he's making plays all over the place, and everybody's saying I lost it. What's the most important position? Quarterback. Got him. Okay. And by the way, his fourth round. Okay, Jerry, now let's go to. What's the other position? Head coach. Oh, yeah, I got him. Got another guy out here who we love. McCarthy hired from within, though. We hired. We knew this was the process. We hired. We had him prepared. We had him ready. Boom. What about defensive end? Most important position. Well, now we got four picks instead of just one guy. And guess what we got now? D tackle. And we got a linebacker. I held that in my back pocket, and I got $100 billion from natural gas. I'm fucking Jerry Jones like he is. He's got to feel so good about where he. He's had. But if they lose tonight and the playoffs are off the table, it's all over. Jerry walks out with those. Those. All those recorders around his face, and all they're asking him is too little, too late. Chair. Maybe you should have been paying attention earlier. Yada, yada, yada. And it'll be all collapsing. And on the lion side of this.

If they lose tonight at home again. Oh, it's. Oh yeah, it's tough times up there for what the Lions were supposed to be going to be. And I know the Philadelphia Eagles, whenever they had to do the turnover of coordinators, there's one year and then they, they go and win a Super Bowl. Is that just the mindset in Detroit if you guys lose tonight or what do you think it would be?

[Foxy]

100 have not lost back to back games in 14 games now. So if something changes tonight, then we know we gotta reset. And I Dan, from your perspective, the Lions as a whole, what's the. Because obviously last year they're clicking, they're gelling, they look great, they're on time, they're on schedule. Everything is great. From your perspective, what's the number one difference this year that you've noticed of this Detroit Lions team?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah, one, the interior of the offensive line is not nearly as good as it used to be. The best center in football retires, that's not going to be the case. So that went from strength to weakness and then everything builds off that. The second thing is very, very different when it comes to advantages created by scheme. You know, this was a team that would constantly create advantage in scheme, whether it was in their run game, their pass game, their play action game, their gadget a game. And it has not been the consistent case this year. There's been moments when it looked like he was trending that way, but not nearly consistent. This is an organization that was built up front. It was built through the trenches years ago when Brad Holmes took over. And it just has been a slow decline from the back end of last year into this year and specifically on the interior of their offensive line. And then Foxy, you got a quarterback that thrives when you protect him, when he's clean and he, he's got a pretty decent pocket, he could throw with anybody. But when that's not the case, he's not the same quarterback. That doesn't mean he's still not a good player, but he needs that protection. He's not Patrick, he's not Lamar. And so when, when that team has or that unit has taken a step back and you don't create as many advantages in scheme, then there's going to be a step back with their, with the offensive performance. And so I would tell you tonight though, tonight, just like I, I think Dallas wins that game tonight, Foxy. But I will say this.

This feels like a game that Dan Campbell turns into a rugby match, not a, not a track meet.

[Connor]

It's.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I'm putting Dan Skipper on the field, we're gonna. Jamir becomes Christian McCaffrey like he becomes Christian McCaffrey. It's 30 to 35 touches, I don't care how they happen, but he's getting 30 to 30 to 5. If he goes over 200 all purpose yards, I think that's the best way for Detroit to win. And it's got to become like an ugly, just nasty, physical, dirty for Detroit to win.

[Pat McAfee]

Jameer Gibbs getting 200 yards in the Detroit Lions winning seems like that would make sense. If Jameer Gibbs, one player was able to garner 200 yards by himself, which he has certainly done in the past, is a good sign of success. This is just like when people talk about the Colts, like when Jonathan Taylor rushes for this, they win the games. It's like well, when Jonathan Taylor rushes for that much, we're playing good football. It's like that. It's not just that, like there's, there's a lot of other stuff that kind of go in into it. So hopefully mcdc can turn back, you know, the time of the offense. One year, you know, whenever they were creative and Ben Johnsoning and now you look at the Chicago Bears, they can't even really complete a pass efficiently and they are all over the place. And now maybe it takes a year to kind of refresh that. Or tonight they beat the Dallas Cowboys and Alliance say we're all the way back. Let's talk about a couple of the other teams I just mentioned, the Colts there we don't have to dive in all the way. We know the offense is different whenever Danny Dimes can't run. Now I've been told he had friends at Duke who started a company who made a 3D printer protector for his leg. It wraps around it perfectly. So it pays to have smart friends. He says haha. And this is hopefully going to make him more healthy and hopefully more confident I guess in this entire process because he's going to have a massive amount of pain at all times. That definitely affects us. But. But we have a very tough stretch down the road. One of those games involves another team that might go on a Super bowl run, but nobody could have expected. Go ahead, con man.

[Connor]

Yeah, Dan. Oh, the two teams or. Sorry, the team that the Lions and Cowboys are trying to replace in the playoffs right now is the 49ers. They're on the bye this weekend. Do you think they can make a run? We've kind of talked about it on here a couple times. They've had so many injuries on defense, but Bob Sala is still drawing it up. And then to Pat's point about the Colts, they do run into each other. The Niners and the Colts in a couple weeks on Monday Night Football. Colts go at Jags at Seattle and then host the Niners. But how do you feel about this Niners team? Brock Purdy seeming to hit his stride again. Juan Jennings basically making everybody in the NFL hate him, but he's still balling out Kittle McCaffrey. IUK's never playing football again in the Niners uniform, it seems like. But do you like the Niners, Dano? Do you think they're going to stay that seven seed, kind of stay in the playoff hunt, or do you see them kind of having a tough road to finish the season?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah, I mean, pal, Shana has been to three Super Bowls. This is his best coaching job. I mean, Connor, you. You kind of intimated it to it, but just for the context. Two starting different quarterbacks, they're all pro tight end has missed significant time. They're number one. They're number two. Their number three wide receiver have missed significant time. Their number one wide receiver has not played. Their defense lost their best player. Their defense lost their second best player and their first round defensive draft pick. So this team's been decimated by injuries. I think they'll get in the playoffs. I do. I do not believe that they can go on a Super bowl run. I would be shocked if the super bowl representative from the NFC is not either the Los Angeles Rams or the Seattle Seahawks. I think those two teams are clearly the best teams in the NFC right now. Green Bay probably a blink below them.

[Pat McAfee]

What about the Bears? I think. What about the Bears?

[Connor]

The one.

[Dan Orlovsky]

See, you don't go on. You don't go on a Super bowl run with that pass game right now. If the past games improve to what it was last year. But you don't. It's the best run game or one of the best run games in football. But pass game wise, it's just not good enough to go on the super bowl run.

[Pat McAfee]

Got it. I understand what you're saying. I don't. I don't have any more arguments against what you said there because these stats are alarming and I just. Watching the Bears games in one of the quad boxes. Boxes, okay. Not watching every single snap and like kind of paying attention and you're just seeing the Bears have this run that they're having.

[Ty Schmid]

It's like I only see Caleb throw touchdown pass.

[Pat McAfee]

That's.

[Mike McCarthy]

That's the red zone.

[Tone]

That's the red zone effect.

[Pat McAfee]

That is right. They need to stop with what they're doing. With what they're doing. I can't be doing that anymore.

[Tone]

Don't ruin two minutes of commercial.

[Pat McAfee]

They think.

[Tone]

Kidding me.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Two minutes too much. You said two minutes. It's. I'm not diving into it all, but Caleb Williams, I just have been assuming that he's been doing incredible stuff. Had the game winner where he gets the edge against the Giants I think a couple weeks back. And then he has all these incredible throws and everything like that. And then the stats start coming out and then you hear coach Ben Johnson say like, hey, we're winning in spite of our pass game. I'm like, I don't know, I've seen some great explosives. And then the stats start coming out and it's like, oh, I guess on a play to play basis he's just still not there yet. You know, like the. Yeah, the. The timing of offense and being on time and hitting just like classic slant here. Classic stop like classic. Those throws still not hitting at a majority of a clip. Is that what you're saying? And what are these stats are saying?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah. And it's all 11 of their offense in the past game taking part. I would tell you it's route discipline, ball location. There's an incompletion that he has to the right sideline against Philly, which is a deep out the DJ Moore. And I think it encapsulates their passing game because you see a throw as the end result and you go, gosh, Caleb, that ball's two yards behind DJ Moore. And I would sit here and tell you, well, when the ball leaves Caleb's hands, DJ Goes like six more yards into his route. There's no way that that should be the case. So is it Caleb's drops just a fraction too fast. Should he hold it and take another hitch? Does DJ go one revolution too much in his route and he therefore ends up deep? And therefore because the ball's the quarterback's hand so quickly is a missed throw rather than a completion. And so I think that they're still searching for the, the everybody being on the same page, details of the timing of the pass game. Receivers you know I grew up with. Mike Martz is a coach of mine and he was notorious for saying as a receiver, be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. Never fool the quarterback. And it looks like at times that receiving core is still searching to get that. And Caleb's trying to be on the same page as what? So he's improved, he's been clutch, he's made plays, has created way less problems for himself than he did last year. But the past game still leaves a lot to be desired.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, and that's all reps, right? That's all timing reps, that's all being on the same page and all that type of stuff. I talk about this a lot, but it was an opportunity to watch just greatness kind of operate. During the lockout, there was workouts being put together by players, players, you know, by themselves. And I got a chance to be a part of a couple of the offense ones led by Peyton. The time, the amount of times that Reggie number one wide receiver ran same, they ran same route, same drive. I mean it was like 10 straight times, all out, same rep, same exact thing. And then they go to the next one, then to the next one, then to the next one, then to the next one. And then you got like Dallas Clark doing like 15 hard same exact routes. And it's like the amount of reps that went into the timing of like sec, they knew that it was all, we are orchestrating something here that is all being timed perfectly. So it's basically unguardable is what they are trying to do there as you kind of drop off. But it's like that's a reps thing, right? That's all like a, that's a very much a need to work together type thing.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah. And yes, because at the end of the day, the starting point for eye level pass games is quarterback throws the ball. In the NFL, quarterback throws before the ball, before the receivers are open. And that's that whole premise of throwing guys open. Now these types of throws where, you know, quarterbacks are a little bit more on the move or whatnot, guys are going to be. You're not throwing with as much anticipation as you would a pocket passing game. Pocket pass game. In the NFL, you're throwing the ball before the receivers open. And I would tell you more often than not, receivers never see the quarterback. If you hear great receivers talk about casting catching passes, those receivers, when they come out of their cut, they're not snapping their head back looking for the quarterback. You watch good receivers and when they came out of a break, whether it's an out route, a comeback and in route, their eyes immediately go up to the sky, up to the air because they're searching for the football. They're not peeking to see, do I see the quarterback? You can't see the quarterback because the offensive linemen are huge. And so for a quarterback, I have to throw the ball to a spot more often than not and trust that you're going to get to that spot at the right time. And so that's why it just takes countless.

And then you're. That. That's on air. Then we're adding in a defense, a defender, moving parts, your route, being bumped off a yard or a step. And so that's why you're talking about all those reps. Hey, on this note, route by DJ Moore. What happens if I get press? What happens if I get to the top and I get a little bit of a body tug? And so that's why, you know, those reps and the. The. The confidence that is needed by the quarterback to throw the ball because I'm throwing it before you're ready for it. So, like, I gotta believe that you're gonna be there or bad things can happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude, cj, we're watching CJ this past weekend because, you know, yeah. With where we're at, we get a chance. There's a couple different times during the field that we are right in the pocket, basically, with C.J. stroud, he was throwing these balls. He couldn't see shit. I know he couldn't see shit because I'm right behind him. Everybody, there's a hand in his face and the offensive line, and he is just throwing directly to a spot. And this thing just levitates to a spot. And then boom. Nico Collins is in. And it's like, he didn't see Nico. Nico. There's no way he saw Nico saw him in this entire thing. And he was throwing this, I don't know, maybe 75 miles an hour to a spot. And it's like, so confident that it was going to be a completion. And then we're just walking down and we're doing it again. And then we're doing it again.

[Tone]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's like the anticipation, obviously, the accuracy to the spot, the amount of work that goes into that, but then also having the courage to let that thing fly when knowing a pick six changes an entire game. It's a lot, man. It is a. A lot. That's why whenever, like, C.J. stepped in his rookie year and had so much success, I think everybody was like, mind blown. And when Jaden stepped in and had so much success, it's like in college, there's times, especially Jaden down at lsu, especially with the guys he had. Those dudes don't have somebody within 20 yards of them, and Jaden has eyes on him. Since before snap and during the entire thing to do that. So for Jaden to get into the NFL and have no idea where somebody's going to be or where they're supposed to be in spin it, I think that's the most impressive part about these rookie courses. Quarterbacks. So Caleb is going through that right now. I think, I think he's trying to figure that out and I don't think that's like an easy thing to get comfortable with. Like yeah, I'm gonna throw it. No, who knows.

[Dan Orlovsky]

And Pat, one of the things that I would tell you is like great throwing quarterbacks, great passing quarterbacks and therefore great passing games. I would tell you the quarterback more so than not is throwing away from the defender than to his guy. A lot of times quarterbacks, I don't want to sit here and tell you that they don't see the receiver but I against specific zone defenses like you're throwing more often than not, you're throwing away from defenders to a spot that you know that receiver is going to get to in that pass concept. And that's why you'll see Stafford be so capable of throwing no lookers or a Joe Burrow being so capable of throwing no lookers is because they don't really need to see the receiver. I see the defender. And if the defender, if this defender and that defender are there, I know where they're not and I know where my guy is supposed to get to. But that takes thousands of reps and yeah, it's gonna take Caleb just time to get there. And that's when we hear people talk about the timing of a pass game. That's why it's not just, you know, the, the in shorts, you know, in the backyard or in the practice field. It's not just that timing of I'm running 12 steps on this end route and I'm steps on my drop back. It's okay. Well if this defender, you know, shoves me, it's just there's so many different variables that can alter the timing of it. But I would tell you most really high end passing quarterbacks really don't see receivers. They see defenders and throw away from them.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, we'll assume the Caleb will be able to get to that point. Jared Goff was there. YMC DC take advantage of that tonight against the Dallas Cowboys. Boys, will the Bears be able to slay the Packers? We shall see. It's a magical time in the NFL. We appreciate you joining us Dano. On your way to somewhere in Connecticut. Cool kind Bristol. All Right. Tell everybody we said hello up there.

[Mike McCarthy]

Bristol Blows.

[Connor]

That'd be the. That'd be the Connecticut thing for them. No, not because of the espn.

[Pat McAfee]

It's called a Bristol Blast. It's a blast.

[Connor]

Yeah, for.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Crystal Blast, Connecticut cast kind.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, all the place. All right, we appreciate you. That's Dan Roski.

You worried about Caleb Williams maybe picking up a little bit of some time and going into down the stretch here, pal?

[Ty Schmid]

No.

They'Re a good football team, but what. What am I supposed to cower up here in my boots cuz the packers are playing the Bears and the Bears. This is the first time the Bears have been good in 20 years. No. Well, this is the best part. We get to find out Sunday. We have to find out Sunday.

[Pat McAfee]

You think Halfley has any chance against Ben Johnson's super brain? Oh, oh my God.

[Tone]

Oh, he's got a chance.

[Pat McAfee]

Ben Johnson shirtless out there. Just.

[Ty Schmid]

It's actually, I don't think it's Halfley because I. Ben Johnson, right after he got the job, kind of took a shot at La Flor in his like introductory press conference. And I think a lot of people are like, oh man, these guys must be buddies. And someone was like, yeah, no, they're not. Like, so they genuinely. I don't think they like each other.

[Pat McAfee]

So you think La Flor's going tarps off before for him? Like, do you think there's la floor.

[Ty Schmid]

Is not a tarps off guy.

[Connor]

If he waxes his chest maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmid]

Because Jeff Halfley is the tarps off guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, oh, really? For LA Florida?

[Ty Schmid]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

He would do that.

[Ty Schmid]

Coach. I got this.

[Tone]

He's gonna be a great head coach one day. Oh, Jeff Hathley.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't like what you're doing.

[Tone]

What's that?

[Pat McAfee]

Trying to.

[Connor]

Trying to poach everybody.

[Pat McAfee]

You have a head coach named Mike Tomlin? Yeah, He's a Hall of Famer. He's the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers who haven't had a losing season season in 20 years.

[Tone]

He's about to go on a Super bowl run. You know what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers record was when they went on that Super bowl run? 20. 20. They were seven and five. How many MVPs Tom Brady have?

[Pat McAfee]

Is it four?

[Connor]

I think. I think so.

[Tone]

Is it four?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Tone]

So does Aaron Rodgers. Okay, let's not give up on the black and gold yet.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's who messaged you and said, hey, you're being a little heavy on the anti steeler stuff? We still got to check chance at this thing?

[Tone]

Nobody. Just my Natural being is be pissed off for a few days. You know, just the. What are the stages of grief? Okay, I'm on. I'm into a positive outcome on the other side of stage of grief.

[Pat McAfee]

Future. Future. Yeah. Hope. Hope in optimism for the future is where you're at. Ravens, they're in the same spot the Steelers are. This is a big fans waiting to murder their team. That's big. It hasn't been like that in a long time.

[Tone]

I don't like. I think it's weird because I think either side side whoever loses isn't going to be super mad. They're going to be a little mad, but then they're going to be super happy that they can then attack the head coach.

[Connor]

The win. Win. Truly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. For us as football fans watching along the Steelers fans with a reaction to a loss against the Ravens this weekend will be biblical. Ravens fans with a re. Loss to the Steelers this weekend will be biblical. I mean, you're talking great reactions from two towns that have had head coaches for a long time. Long time, Long time. And the fan bases have gone. We like you. We appreciate you. We'll definitely write your chapter is a big one whenever we tell the story of the city and everything. See also.

The next chapter could be the best one we've ever had and we got Lamar Jackson somehow, and we still haven't really. So what do we.

[Tone]

I actually saw a tweet on the Internet of the two guys holding the blue and red bandanas in harmony together. That's the Steelers and Ravens fans this week. We both know that we don't have a chance in the long run this year.

[Pat McAfee]

Year.

[Tone]

So we're just in harmony this week. We're going to watch football games, see what happens.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, well, I appreciate that. I appreciate also the fact that there's people who are trying their best to do what's best for sport. Okay. And yesterday we had Nick Khan on, president of the wwe, also one of the executives leading Zufa boxing. They were having a congress hearing about the Muhammad Ali American boxer boxing. Not revival. They were enhancement actors.

[Connor]

Boxing revival act. Yeah, you got it.

[Pat McAfee]

Boxing revival. But I think he was calling it the enhancement act as well. So I think it was a revival. And then they're trying to make an enhancement to it so they can modernize it a little bit. And then potentially, you know, they feel like up the entire state of the entire sport. And I believe them because they've always done good things. College sports, obviously, we understand, are very much in the middle of a pretty Chaotic situation behind, behind the scenes. College sports, though, are also in the middle of a boom whenever it comes to popularity because people just appreciate great atmospheres, great environments, great passion, great competition. So there's a lot of people that have suggestions on how we can maybe fix the back end of it. And then there's some people who know ball, played ball, understand ball, and also have enough money to be able to sit in the rooms where the people that maybe didn't have as much success in ball and normally have these types of opinions and kind of give people his take on it. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who is the most successful former Indianapolis Colt in the history of the Indianapolis Colts. Texas Tech Red Raider alum. A man who got into all business after being a professional offensive lineman, then a dabble in real estate, and then now a man who is trying to at least spearhead a little bit of a different route for college athletes athletics. Cody Campbell. Yeah, Cody. Okay, hold on, hold on. Okay, so we got bulls. We like bulls down there. Okay, we like. We like good longhorns down in Texas. We like to drill, too. Listen, one man started with a shovel. Then we got pretty advanced with the rigs that we created. This one you will see all over the land. And then that last one, what's there is that just dust? What is, what is the last one?

[Cody Campbell]

I didn't know we were going to talk about the whole business, but since we are. Gotta put this on.

[Pat McAfee]

Cody, you are Texas, it feels like in a nutshell. And what is the last one there? So you got the longhorn, then you got the oil rig and then. Is that a tumble? Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

[Cody Campbell]

These are, these back here, these are two eagles. Our company's called Double Eagle because my business partner John Sellers and I both went to Canyon High School, which was. We were the Canyon Eagles. And there are two of us, so that's what we named our company.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. No, a Double Eagle we've talked and learned a lot about, especially as you just go into Virginia and pummel the Mountaineers. Okay, I've learned a lot about Double Eagle. I'm talking about on your shirt right there though. I think that's West Texas. Oh, okay, I got you. Yeah, it's West Texas.

[Cody Campbell]

So we got West Texas. We got food, fuel and fiber. So we produce a huge percentage of the beef cattle and dairy cattle. We have the largest oil field in the world in West Texas. And we have. We're the largest cotton contiguous cotton growing region in the world also. So pretty much Everything that runs America runs through West Texas, including football right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. Okay, Cody. So it's not just the fact that you're all businessman. I assume you got some cattle as well. And, hell, I might as well grow some cotton as well in there. Cody Campbell, you, West Texas legend, but you're also a former professional football player. You know, you're a former collegiate athlete and not only just former professional football player, offensive lineman, which obviously is a position that really doesn't get a lot of shine, involves a lot of dirty work and grit, but also football iq. So whenever you're kind of representing something, I think me and a lot of other former players are like, if Cody, everybody's in on it. We're in on it. What you've been able to do with Texas Tech in the Double Eagle and everything like that, spectacular. But it feels like you're also trying to address, like, a national problem. I know you went to Washington to speak about that. What are you pitching and what do you think is the answer kind of in the long run for college sports as a whole, as you take off your hat and let's go ahead and talk a little sharp here.

[Cody Campbell]

Yeah, let's talk business. So, yeah, so, you know, I've got interested in the topic a number of years ago as the law started to change, as there were different court rulings that came down, and I helped to start the NIL Collective at Texas Tech. Joined at Texas Tech. I'm now the chairman there. So got a good understanding of higher education. Of course, as you said, I'm a former player, so was became very interested in at first just how can I help Texas Tech take advantage of the chaos that has emerged and how can we best approach our strategy there? But then as I got into it, I saw how fundamentally broken the system was, and it was broken for reasons that I didn't first understand initially, and then, you know, had the opportunity to get involved more on the political side because the courts have made it very clear, the Supreme Court has made it very clear that Congress has to act in order to solve the problems that we have right now. There's no other way to do it, unfortunately. Hate to have to lean on the federal government for any kind of solution, but that's where we are. And so spending time in Washington, you know, working with the White House, working on the Hill, you know, and trying to find a solution that will comprehensively stabilize the system and make it sustainable for the long run, that's what I'm concerned about. You know, for me, and for you, you know, college football and the opportunity to play sports for any college athlete, it changes your life, opens up doors, provides opportunity for education. Education, it provides our Olympic development pipeline. The impact that it has on women is massive. 94% of women who are in C suite roles in this country have a sports background. Most people don't know that. 60% of CEOs and companies across America have a college sports background. I mean, this is an incredible leadership development tool that we have for this country. And we need to make sure that it's preserved. It changes lives. Plus, you and I, you know, come from similar type places like how important important is are the Mountaineers to Morgantown, how important are the Red Raiders to Lubbock? You know, places like that, you know, the sports teams and the call in the college sports programs they have are the cornerstone of the social fabric of those places. And so it's worth saving. It's important to people. And I think sometimes people on the coasts, you know, don't understand it. But in the south and in the Midwest, we understand how important college sports are, are. Right. And we want to make sure that they're preserved. But right now they're in a spot where, you know, the average budget deficit among FBS schools is $20 million per school per year. We have, you said deficit there.

[Pat McAfee]

Deficit average is 20 million dollar deficit for these schools across. Because I heard we're all making money, right?

[Cody Campbell]

They're not, they're not making money at all. And the other thing people understand is that there are only two sports that make any money money. Football and men's basketball. Football makes the vast majority of it and those two sports pay for everything else. And so right now we have a problem in the way that we monetize our sports. So we have commercialized the cost aspect of it, right? So we're paying the players, we're paying the coaches a bunch of money. But then we have this amateur model that is, you know, 60 years outdated that we use to generate revenue. And those two things just don't match up. So people are running massive deficits. That $20 million deficit was from 2024. We don't even have the 2025 numbers. 2025 is when it kicked in, when the athletic departments can start paying the players. So there's no telling how big the budget deficits will be for this year. I mean, they'll be unbelievable, totally unsustainable. So what you're going to see in the future is schools are going to have to make the choice of either using like basically tuition dollars to pay for these, these deficits, taxpayer dollars, or they're just going to have to start cutting school sports. And the sports are going to cut are the sports that don't make money. So that's women's sports and that's Olympic sports. So our Olympic pipeline is diminished, the opportunities for women are diminished. And then the sport of football, you know, which you and I played and love, is going to shrink because a lot of people just can't afford to play it. And for the communities that are affected by that, it's going to be devastating. And so for me, this is something that, you know, I'm not doing for any other reason. You know, I'm not going to make money off of it. In fact, I'm spending money to do it. I'm spending a lot of time to do it. I'm doing it because I know how important it is to the country. I know how important it is to my life, to my family, the opportunities that I receive from it. And anybody that played ball understands that exact same thing. You know, the biggest challenge you've had is just getting the politicians to pay attention to it, honestly understand the issues, understand these fiscal problems that we have. Most people think money's falling from trees. It's absolutely not. We're going broke as a system and we got to fix that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I appreciate you taking the initiative because obviously the first reaction from people and we read up on some of the reactions, some of the politicians were like, we should not be spending time on this. We got a lot of other bigger issues. Some people are saying that it's not there yet, whatever the case. And obviously there's TV revenue deals I think that span until like 20, 36. Each kind of big conference has a different TV deal that expires at the right time. I think what you're kind of preaching is there should be some sort of better business model for these colleges to exist. Is that what your pitch is basically, and what you're trying to figure out? And have you experienced it at Texas Tech? Because then the next follow up is, well, this guy's just trying to help Texas Tech. It's like it feels like you're actually not trying, you're trying definitely are helping Texas Tech. But also I think what we did here we can maybe try to do for other places as well. So we can just keep the sports, college sports healthy as a whole. Right? That's kind of your pitch. If I had to kind of take it in.

[Cody Campbell]

Yeah. So I guess your last Question first. As far as Texas Tech goes, I mean, we're doing just fine. We've been able to take advantage of all this, all the, all the chaos. I mean, like I said, we sit on top of the largest oil field in the world. So, like, if everything falls apart and there's. There are no rules at all, we benefit from it. So I'm actually working against the interest of Texas Tech and what, what I'm doing and trying to make it so that everyone can survive and everyone can be competitive. So, yeah, people like to paint me as being a Texas Tech guy, but that's, that's just not.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you are, though. You are, though. And Texas Tech should be proud. Hey, I'm going to do.

[Cody Campbell]

And I'm going to keep doing everything I can to help Texas Tech, regardless what the rules are. But there have to be rules. And yeah, I mean, folks just don't understand how very important this is and how existential the problem is. And what we're talking about is a solution that's not going to happen overnight. What I'm concerned about is we, we are, we have seen 182 programs cut this year. I mean, that's a fact. All women's sports and Olympic sports. I mean, that's all because of these budget problems, but problems are just going to keep getting worse and worse and worse. But what we're looking at is a solution that we're talking over 10 or 12 years. We reform the way that we market our media rights, the way that we generate revenue. You know, the NFL is a great example, but the NBA is an even better one. College football has twice as many viewers as the NBA does, but college football makes half as much money as NBA does. And that is all just because of what's called the Sports broadcasting Act of 1961. And the rights that professional sports have that college sports don't have. That's part of it. It's also because we don't have a central governing body that coordinates scheduling and make sure that we maximize viewership and that we have games on at the right times when people want to watch them and we don't cannibalize our viewership. I mean, there are weeks, you know, on game day where there are 10 games that you can. Guys probably should be at, right? And then there are weeks where you're like, where are we going to go this week? There's no, there's no good. I mean, those are the types of things that we need to fix, right? And there should be no reason that you have a marquee matchup in the Big Ten competing with another marquee matchup in the Big Ten on the same, on different networks at the same time. And that's just, that's just bad business, right? And so if we could just fix those problems and run the thing like a business, like the NFL has done very effectively, we can increase revenue massively. And that's just common business.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Cody, I'm thankful you're signing up to do this, brother, because everybody wants it, everybody's hoping for it. There's going to be a lot of adversity. There's going to be a lot of people that are going to try to detract from this situation happening. You're the right guy for the job because it's not just about food, it's not just about oil, it's not just about cotton. It's about grit and success down there in West Texas. We appreciate the hell out of you, brother. I'm going to bring my shovel down next week. I'm looking to find one.

[Dan Orlovsky]

We don't, we don't, we don't do.

[Cody Campbell]

It with shovels anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

You.

[Cody Campbell]

I told. I mean, we'll get you the right equipment, but we'll let you drill over some more.

[Pat McAfee]

That's Cody Campbell. We'll be back on the other side. Goodbye.

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[Mike McCarthy]

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[Pat McAfee]

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Football is magical. We're lucky to talk about it every single day. Week 14 of the NFL season kicks off tonight in Detroit Rock City as they host the hot Dallas Cowboys. Now, the Lions are three point favorites as Dak Prescott travels to town with a litany of talent and also 78% of the public bets. That number has not moved?

[Tone]

Not that I have seen, no.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's 80% of the bets. It's going to keep going up probably as we get closer to the entirety. I love it.

[Tone]

Normally it's settled or sorry, it's down to 77.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, 77. All right, so 77, 78%. It's going to be about 80%. And they're not moving the number. They're saying, yeah, just keep going. Yeah, just keep doing it. Do what you want to do. We like the lions favored by three because they're trying to get 50% of money on either side, allegedly, is what they hope to do with the number. They're saying that they don't necessarily look at what the outcome of the game. We just try to look at what the numbers should be to get 50% of the money on one side, 50% of the money on the other side. So then we, you know, mitigate our losses as opposed to. And that's what they're looking for. That is allegedly what they're looking for. So whenever something starts moving to a 78%, 80%, you would normally see sportsbooks potentially react in changing the number to try to keep people maybe going on the other side. Instead, it stays at 3 the other way. 80% of the money and 80% of the bets are on the other side. And his sportsbooks are like, we're not changing. No matter what you just saw on Thanksgiving, no matter how you feel about either of these teams, no matter what Hembo stats that they're popping up that say, hey, this Dallas Cowboys offense could cook the most it's ever cooked against this Detroit Lions defense. The sportsbooks believe the Lions still have it. Talks to the table at Boss Connor, at Ty Schmidt, con man. Why do you think that is? Why do you think they think the Lions have it at home here?

[Connor]

I don't know. I don't know. If they do think they have it at home, it feels like they're kind of praying for a push maybe. But I also think that. Are you really going to put the lion who, Foxy, what's the stat after a loss?

[Foxy]

14 in a row.

[Connor]

Are you really going to make that team underdog? Oh, so that, that's, that's where I kind of stand. I don't know how everybody else does. Mcdc Owen seven on fourth downs. Foxy's point earlier as well. Kind of feel like that's going to go one way. I also think they might have a little inkling on the injuries. Amon Ra playing, Petty, Sewell playing, Taylor Decker playing a lot of questionable guys. Probably actually going to end up going. Cowboys are hot. They're rolling. That's why they're getting all those bets. I personally am riding with the Cowboys. I feel great about the Cowboys. Thought they were going to run the table last week. Still feel that way this week. But again, when you feel like that, when all those numbers are on that one side, history tells us everyone's wrong and it's the line.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that is, that is why I'm kind of bringing it up. And you made a lot of good points there for the Lions, especially if all those guys do end up playing one half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Tone is here. And joining us live from an attic in Ohio is a college football national champion super bowl champion Rider cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. walker. Great see you. Happy Dookie Eve, dude.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh yeah. Happy Duke Eve. I. I eagerly await the. The announcement, I guess, what, midnight tonight?

[Pat McAfee]

Correct.

[AJ Hawk]

That's when it comes out.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Available on all platforms including Spotify. It's going to be a real song. It's insane that it has happened, obviously. And there's not just one song. There's like seven or eight of them that are going to be coming out here over the next, you know, couple months and this one is certainly the most shallow of them all. But I will say, you know, it's such a, an interesting part of the process because in the open for Oregon, I just kind of freestyle that thing and then on the long ass flight I kind of write it up and I'm like, wait, this kind of has a little bit of a. Then you start talking to the people who actually know music. They're like, let's make it. This feels like something we should make. And then make the song and then all Of a sudden. Yeah, let's put it out. Let's it put make a video and then also let's make all the other ones. It's been a wild experience. It's been an absolutely wild experience over the last couple of months, including a lot of incredible kindness from people in Nashville, very talented people in Nashville reaching out and helping me through this whole process. But yeah, Dookie's available. My Spotify page, I think is. Is up there right now as a musician. It's black and white photo of me smoking.

[Ty Schmid]

Looks cool.

[Pat McAfee]

It is cool looking photo. Letting the music be. People kind of do the music thing. But yeah, this is the first of many coming out. That guy Seth England is awesome. He's been so cool and so nice. Co founder of Big Lot and you can go.

[Connor]

Dress is real cool too. He came through the Thunderdome.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[Connor]

He came through the Thunderdome. Dress is real, real cool as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, he's a lot of moxie. Yeah, yeah, Seth has a lot of moxie, a lot of swagger and he's a beast. And him and Ernest have helped me out so much. And a man named Horror Holman, you know, out of Illinois, this guy has the greatest vibes of all time. So I've had a blast through the entire process. And it's outrageous that this is an actual thing. But there's real songs coming. There's real songs coming, like, and I think we have some. And there's gonna be some features by some people that are like real, real musicians. We're trying to do it. We're really trying to do it. I've been writing this shit for so long and it's like very personal stuff. Like, I think you, you, you can kind of hear what stage of life I was in or what I was going through through these songs and through them, through my notes section. And it's been a very, I don't want to say it has been. It has been an emotional journey back through my notes sections. It has been a storytelling. Yeah, it's been a lot of stories being told throughout there. Throughout different times of my life. And yeah, Dookie is certainly one of them that was created very recently. But all the other stuff is. I'm very excited for the world to hear. And those two dudes have been Ernest and Jelly. That was back when Jelly still had a little bit of a belly.

[Mike McCarthy]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, that's whenever this all kind of got set in motion. So aj Happy Dookie Eve and I appreciate the hell out of you. Great to See you. We've missed you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it's good to be back.

[Ty Schmid]

Sorry.

[AJ Hawk]

I had back to back funerals for two legends. My grandpa and then a guy named Bobby Mansfield. So. Yeah, unbelievable. Sucks being a pallbearer like three times in the last three weeks or whatever, but. Yeah, you know, you talk about it, perspective, you know, I'm lucky to be. You know, I had a lot of awesome people around. Unfortunately, a couple of them have died recently.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So I didn't. I'm sorry. I didn't feel. I hope you didn't.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Sorry.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't want to bring it down or anything. No, no, no. I'm saying I didn't. I'm just.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Dino Hawk. When Dean Hawk. Yeah, he was the man and it was cool to see the response from people and how many different people's lives he has touched and all that. So it was, yeah, awesome to terrible situation. But getting to see people that you love is awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So I just. I wanted you to know that I didn't want to tell your story and I didn't want you to feel obligated to say it. So whenever you just said it right there, I didn't want you to think that I meant for that to happen. But I would like to tell you this sucks for you and your family. What you guys have been going through. It's the worst part of this whole life thing. And just know we love you, brother, and appreciate it. We appreciate the hell out of you. Now, on that note, ball has been something that has helped all of us through, you know, crazy, terrible, difficult times. And tonight, Kicking off week 14 age, we got a great game. Not only here, but. But on Sunday slate. We got great games all over the place. Like, meaningful football season is very much here, and there's a lot of ramifications on all of them. Let's start with tonight's game. Cowboys. Lions. Look at the projected percentages of making the playoffs with a win or a loss for both of these teams, we got a chance. We don't really. For both of them. Tonight, massive ramis starting on this Thursday Night Football. What are your thoughts with the hot Cowboys and the Detroit Lions? Lions, Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

I heard you guys going back and forth and it's like, all right, I was leaning a certain way. I was. I'm not gonna lie. I was leaning Cowboys. Coming into the show Now, Jameer Gibbs, he obviously gives me worry. I don't know how you stop that guy, but I would say before talking to coach Mike, I. I still lean the Cowboys a Little bit. I'll let you know by the end of the hour. Probably where I'm going to pick, but Cowboys are hot, man. Honestly, I feel like the Cowboys have something going. It's going to be very, very loud tonight, though. That place is going to be on fire.

[Pat McAfee]

That place is going to be on fire. And maybe we get a Jack White Eminem performance. Just do it every time. I think we'd all welcome that, even though we know that'd be a lot of work and crazy ask or anybody, really. So maybe anybody from Detroit?

[Connor]

Posner.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a bunch. Yeah. Put Posner up.

There. Okay, so. But as we get back to this, Coach McCarthy, you know, just like Coach Pagano used to do when they would talk about the game. It would sway us, definitely. It would definitely sway both of us. You and I both see tonight's game the same way. From what I just heard from you, Coach Carthy's not going to turn his back on the Cowboys tonight at all. He's going to only be gassing up what we think.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, he coached for the Cowboys and the Lions are a former divisional foe. Come on.

[Tone]

He might. He might take the easy way. Good night for silver and blue.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, so.

That would be good.

[Pat McAfee]

But I. I think if he was to do that, though, I do believe that would be a man. I'm intrigued. Ladies and gentlemen, join now super bowl champion. Yeah, it's legend. Former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. Ladies and gentlemen, our coach, Coach McCarthy.

What's going on back? Here's two of you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes.

[Mike McCarthy]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

Exception.

[Mike McCarthy]

Hey, guys. It's good to see you. I missed you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

We missed you.

[AJ Hawk]

There's two of you hunting blind.

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah, I gotta. I had to have a picture today, so. You know, I put a picture of an impersonator, a hunting impersonator up there in the tree stand on Sunday. So it's the last day of deer hunting season up here and participated as far as being there, but obviously didn't get anything. So it was a great day being out in the woods, and so I thought I'd represent all the great hunters of Wisconsin and the great outdoors up here. And like I say, they ask you where you hunt, they tell you, go to Minnesota. They don't want you up here. So.

It was a cool day. It was a cool day. You know, obviously, Thanksgiving weekend. You know, I haven't seen you guys in a while, so it's. This is a great part of the country. I'm really enjoying it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Well, Coach, we miss you, we're happy you had a great Thanksgiving. It sounds like. Sorry you went tagless out there, brother. That's tough. You got a big old buck right there on your forehead. I don't know if that's what you were planning on getting up there and then walked out of there with absolutely nothing. I love that you said cold day there. Because my dad, Tim McAfee, he used his tag here in Indiana. Okay. He's got a. He just bought an Amish shed. Okay. Down in Amish country.

[Connor]

Beautiful.

[Pat McAfee]

It is now two hours south of here. He bought a shed in the middle of Amish country, basically, that has hundreds of acres. You know, these Amish, they don't really hunt much. There's deer. Literally bought it. He was putting the plumbing in three weeks ago so that he could get hunting season in down there. Goes into the back. He gets a buck, you know, immediately. Love this place. I'm a genius. Then his friends, obviously, back in Pennsylvania, he hunts. Has a camp back up in the hills of Pennsylvania up in Warren near Titiud up there. His friends invite him back. Already got one. You know, Indiana, I'm living large. Has a Pennsylvania tag. Oh, seven point. Basically just walked right into my rifle, you know, so I had to do it. So Tim's living large. We're about to have more venison jerky for yes. Than any place in the country. That man just delivers it all. So, yeah, I understand the outdoorsman life. Tim used to put his shit into a garbage bag with piss in it for three weeks before hunting season. Because these deer are smart, obviously, and they can smell them. Yeah, I understand what you're doing up there. I appreciate you hunters out there. I appreciate it.

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I'll tell you what. I had a good picture with a rifle in my hand. I was scared to put it up because I don't want to get you in trouble. But after that I should. I should have definitely gone with that picture.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I've had a rifle in my hand since I'm about 11 years old, you know, 36. I. I've been able. I've been able to fire, you know what I mean? If I had to. But let's talk ball as we talk about fruitless hunting season for you, let's talk about fruitful Thursdays, which it has been for you. Whenever you project how a Thursday night football game would be going, if you were to make picks, you'd be seven and three. Hey, 70%. Very good, very good. Coach, I know you know nothing about it, but if you were to go 70% in picking games, you'd be in the hall of Fame for picking games forever. Now tonight on obviously involves your Dallas Cowboys taking on a former division foe in the Detroit Lions, Dak Prescott. CD GP Ferguson run game, offensive line might be the best offensive unit in ball right now. The defense obviously playing much better than they were earlier in the year. And for the Lions, they're still trying to figure it out. It seems last time we saw them, they weren't good. The only thing that was good was the halftime show and the team they were playing. Now, lions favored by three and then Cowboys receiving 80%, 83% of the money, 77% of the bets. So everybody is kind of thinking that the Cowboys have this one, except for the sports books. What are your thoughts on tonight's game and what are kind of your big takeaways for both teams to maybe win this one?

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, you know, I'll just cut to the chase. The Cowboys will know they won't need the points tonight. I really like the way they and playing and I think, you know, going through the research, I think we've had some great games here on Thursday night and I think it's, we're getting ready to watch the best one. I'm really excited to watch this game, frankly. I'll watch this by myself somewhere so I won't have to talk to anybody during. I think it's going to be a hell of a football game. I've always had great respect and I think AJ Attested this. I mean, even back in the, you know, in the early 2000, Detroit is a very difficult place to, to play. I think they're an outstanding football team. You know, Dallas is healthier. This is a big road win. They need this road win. You know, you always start the season where you need at least four road wins. This is an opportunity to get that third road win. This will be an opportunity for the Cowboys to win four games in 18 days and many bye week going into the final stretch. So I just think there's a lot that goes into the game and I think when you look at the stats, I think the stats, you know, paint a really good picture of this. You know, you got two outstanding off offenses. You know, the turnover ratio definitely it favors Detroit. Dallas is going to have to do a great job taking care of the ball. Dallas is taking the ball away a lot better here than, you know, over the last month and a half. And I think the biggest change that I think will really factor for the Cowboys. You know, when you talk about Designing and building your football team, the ability to be strong down the middle. Because you know, if you, when you get into coaching and you're putting together this game, your playbook and how you want, want to build that offense or build that defense, you got to be strong down the middle because the closest you are to the football, the more mental and emotional responsibility you have to that unit. And I think what Dallas has done on defense, going to the five man line has really helped to run defense. And I think clearly you look at the middle of their defense now, the two defensive tackles inside, those additions have been excellent. You got Demo over Sean, his back, he's a young impact player. You know, I think Logan additionally got the two safeties back, Malik and Donald. So you look at the middle of that defense today compared to, you know, five, six weeks ago, and I thought they, I thought they showed that on Thanksgiving Day. So I was real impressed with the way they played and I think the video definitely of the past, you know, three or four games definitely favors Dallas in the game. Obviously, I know I'm biased, but I do, I feel really good about the Cowboys tonight and really looking forward to watching it. The offense, Dallas offense is playing tremendous. I'm really asking, you know, I'm real excited to watch the chess match part of it. I'm curious to see how, you know, how Detroit's going to play Dallas's offense. You know, Detroit plays more base defense than anybody in the league. They always have. It's their philosophy. But you know, when you got CD Lamb and George Pickens, I mean, you know, you know, how much 2 shell is that going to present to the Dallas offense? And I think Brian, the staff will do a great job of taking advantage of those run looks. So I think this is going to be a game that's going to have, you know, a lot going on. Obviously the basics are who takes care of the ball, who takes it away are important. You got the fourth down conversations, you know that that'll be part of this. But I think this is a great matchup tonight. Detroit needs this game. Dallas needs this game. I think it's going to come down to the end and if you look at the, you know, you look at the two minute offenses for both Dallas and, and Detroit, they're both excellent. You know, both quarterbacks are playing the last couple years. You know, I don't think Jared Gok gets enough credit for how well he's played. Big fan of his and obviously I'm a huge fan of Dax and he is, he is Rolling. But if you look at the defenses, you know, the two minute defense and the run defense, I think those are going to be two big focal points tonight because this game could clearly come down to who has the ball last. And you know, the offensive two minutes or performance to date have been much better than the defensive performance.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's see.

[Mike McCarthy]

Got a hell of a matchup. I know that's, that's long winded, but.

[Pat McAfee]

I know that was great. Actually. Everything you said there was fantastic. We got to learn a lot about how you view both teams. But you talk about that Dallas Cowboys defense a little bit and you talk about the last few weeks versus what they were at the beginning. I think that's why it's hard to believe any of these stats about this defense. You know, it's hard because this is the entire season. They were ass, ass. What do you think it is? Do you think it is the trades that Jerry Jones made and do you think it's also maybe Eber flu system kind of taking hold or them kind of understanding what they're looking for? Because they look vastly different than what they did at the beginning of the year. Is it sustainable? I guess would be the question. And what have you seen as the biggest difference?

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah, I think one thing about this, you know, this team and you know, you go back to training camp, we talked about it was a young football team that the majority of the team, in my opinion, the eras are all pointing up. So, you know, you know, you got it, you got to deal with that. The healthy injury challenge that every team has to go through. It's just a matter of how many when they come to who and what positions. And you know, in Dallas is healthier. Dallas is a healthier team tonight than Detroit. But yeah, definitely the defense, I mean, I mean their numbers were so bad, you know, and that's hard to overcome those when you have those numbers, numbers earlier in the season. And. But I think if you look at this team the last four or five weeks, especially, you know, since the, you know, since the trade of, you know, Quinn Williams and Logan Wilson, I mean the middle of that defense has been, I think the five man line, you know, structure they've gone through has really helped them. And you know, I think both corners tonight are going to be challenged. I mean that's, I know those are matchups. I'm going to be watching to see how that. Because, you know, you got two really good running games, you got two dynamic runners in Detroit. You know, definitely a fan of those guys and, and I love the way Dallas is running the ball. I think that the run and the action pass, the first and second down offense of Dallas has really, really improved and I think it's a big part of why they're having success on third down and they're getting the red zone opportunities and Dax doing a great job getting the ball to his perimeter guys, you know, particularly, you know, with attack in the end zone, those type of throws in the red zone. So this is going to be a hell of a matchup and I do, I think this thing can come down to the end and, and whoever has the ball last, you know, statistically, you know, should win the game.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, we're going to stay up for it for sure. We're staying up for it tonight. You know, this is one of those ones we look forward to. This is a massive matchup. Congrats to Kirk and Al and Kaylee and Carissa and Fitz and Wit and Sherm and, and Gonzalez and.

[Connor]

Marshawn sometimes.

[Pat McAfee]

Congrats. It's a big one tonight. This is a big one tonight. We're excited about that. Go ahead, AJ Go ahead, AJ Coach.

[AJ Hawk]

When you hear people talk about having a balanced offense, is that something as a play caller, are you, is that something you think about in a game? Like, okay, I've only, I got 12 passes, three runs called, I got to start running the ball more. Like, is that something you actually think about in game?

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah, absolutely. And it's more about what's called, I think you, you clearly have to, you know, factor in, you know, the RPO mindset, the check with me mindset to run the pass, the keeps the run and all the different combinations that you.

[AJ Hawk]

Give the coach starting to cut you off. Can you, can you explain check with me to people that don't know? I think a lot of people don't really know what that means exactly.

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah, I think, you know, the ability to, to play at the line of scrimmage one, you know, to take advantage of the, you know, of the defense as far as the pre snap, you know, there's so much against goes on in the pre snap both for the offense and the defense. You know, defense is trying to disguise their calls and offense is trying to run to, you know, maybe a match up to a bubble, you know, support element, all those things as far as how you want to have favorable angles when you run the football and then with that it enhances your, the action pass game because, you know, the importance of having, you know, a really productive first and second down offense is the action, pass, pass game has to be, you know, productive and you have to make it. Because I've always looked at everything from the quarterback's eyes in designing and designing an offense. You have to make the offense easier for the quarterback on first and second down. Third down is always been extremely difficult in this league. And I think clearly with the way defenses are designed, everybody has five number one picks on their defensive line. The pass rush in the league is, I think, tougher than ever. I think the chipping and the help and the protection adjustments, if you're not doing a lot of it, you're behind the times. So I mean, you know, third down is always been, you know, and sometimes people talk about pro football is just a third down league, but third down is always difficult. So the ability to run the football is critical because every game that I've ever called, I don't think I've ever gone into enough thinking I need at least 30 run attempts. Because you got, you have to give those big guys up front to build it to come off the football. Now doesn't always work out that way. And go back to the initial part of this, this question is I think you clearly got to give the quarterback the opportunity to, you know, if you want to run the ball to the left or run it to the right based on the numbers, switch the play. And those are all built in, whether it's run to run, run to pass, pass to run, you know, and then you obviously want to marry all those runs to your action pass, game, protection. And I think that Dallas is doing an excellent job. And it starts number one with that offensive line. I mean, I love that line. I mean, that's, that's a deep line. It's. I mean, what Nate Thomas, I mean, how about the way he stepped in there, Paul?

[Pat McAfee]

He's a dog. Nate Thomas. Nate Thomas. A dog. What a dog. What a beast.

Absolute dog. I was just gonna start gassing up, whoever you were gonna say there.

[Mike McCarthy]

Okay, good, gas him up. I mean, just to see if that young man went through as a rookie, you know, he basically was ready, you know, had the knee surgery. And I think you learn a lot about a young player when they're, when they go through injuries and to see him just in there every single day going through the rehab, building himself up. So I'm just really happy for him personally to see the success he's having. And I think he's going to be an excellent player for them for a long time. So that line is obviously connected and I think they have Excellent depth, and I think all that plays into running a football action pattern game and keeping them favorable third downs and things like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Coach, I think it's weird that you seemingly don't have any spite towards the Dallas Cowboys. Okay. I want to let you know that especially with how their season's going and how they're playing and how you talk about them, you know, people could think that you'd be maybe a little bit jaded by not signing another contract with the Dallas Cowboys. That was all very public. Very, very public. And then Shoddy gets hired from. With and then Shotty's first time. You know, then there's conversation around it from the day that we started talking to you before the draft all the way through now with the Cowboys having the season that they're having and having success, which could make a.

Person or an ex or whatever, maybe even more upset. Maybe some people would wish for a failure after they leave a place. Instead, they're playing good ball. You've given credit throughout this entire thing to Shotty, to Dak, I think even to Jerry. You've given him credit through this entire thing. There hasn't been like an ounce of you being or sounded jaded at all. Is that. Do you think about that ever? And we would like to commend you for that. I would like to let you know as a person who's probably very competitive with the way it all worked and you just being able to talk about the greatness that you kind of saw there in the possibilities there, as opposed to all the other shit, I think that is something that is commendable. So I would just like to let you know that I saw that and we all see that.

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, thank you. I think, you know, like a lot of things in life you live and learn, I think is. I'm a little older than you are, Pat, but, you know, I think that, you know, carrying, you know, wasted negative energy, Ron, is not something I really want to engage in, you know, at this point in my life. And I do. I'm very thankful for my 30 years, 30 plus years in this league going back to the Kansas City Chiefs, Marty Schultz Schottenheimer, Pat Schontheimer for that, for that opportunity, you know, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay packers, San Francisco 49ers, and, you know, obviously the Dallas Cowboys. So that. That's not lost on me. And it's probably even more so because I'm hearing reflection now because, you know, when you are able to step away from it, your appreciation even goes up even more so Yeah, I root for those guys, you know, and I've known Brian Schonheimer since he's been in high school, so I mean, to see him finally get an opportunity. So, yeah, I do. And this is no disrespect for Detroit and because I think Dan Campbell's an outstanding coach and I love the way his team plays, but I'm wholeheartedly rooting for Detroit. I don't give a shit, or excuse me, Cowboys. I don't care how many points Detroit would be giving them tonight. So. And by the way, I want to go back to that record 7 and 3 because I'm 9 and 3. I don't know who the hell.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Who's doing that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I guess up in a while. Maybe there's a couple pushes though. Maybe.

[Mike McCarthy]

I think there's a. I mean, he gave, you know, he asked me the one on the text. That third loss was a text message. What about the, the last text I gave you on Thanksgiving?

[Connor]

Yeah, yeah. It was eight and three last week.

[Mike McCarthy]

I think I'm nine and three. That's okay. Who care? Who cares who's. I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm nine and three. I'm rooting wholeheartedly for the Dallas Cowboys tonight and I'm picking them nine and three. Who care? Who's counting? Who's doing that? Incredible odds. But I was worried about that because AJ came on and AJ's like, I like the Dallas Cowboys. I came on the show earlier and I was like, this feels like too easy of the Dallas Cowboys because everything we've seen and then we were worried you weren't going to be able to give us non biased, you know, opinions because of how you've always viewed the Cowboys since we've started talking to you. So. And that's exactly what you did. You came in here and told us straight to our face that you were going to pick him no matter what. So that is.

[Mike McCarthy]

But I also did the work, Pat. I did. I looked at the numbers. I looked. I went through the same process that I go through every, every week. You know, I want to do a good job for you and your show and, and the numbers in the video. You know, I'm going with the Cowboys based off that too.

[Pat McAfee]

You're looking for things, certainly.

[Mike McCarthy]

But I'm going to say this. It's not going to be easy, though. It's not going to be easy. And it's like, I'll say that I think this is going to be a difficult. I don't, I don't, I don't ever recall walking out of that stadium thinking, boy, that was easy. That's a tough place to play. I mean, the noise. I mean, I think it's. I love the venue. You walk down like you're into a dungeon, pull up on a street level. I love everything about Ford Field. I mean, I think that's one of the unique places to play. So that place is going to be rocking. Cowboy fans travel very well. So I think this is going to be. This is going to be a dynamite game tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Are the Cowboys going to take over Ford Field?

[Foxy]

Absolutely not. We're not starting that.

[Mike McCarthy]

I promise you that.

[Foxy]

The Lions fans are going absolutely, absolutely bonkers.

[Mike McCarthy]

I'll just say this, don't let their ass in there then.

[Pat McAfee]

Cowboys fans are loud, which is, you know, a part of the entire process and a part of obviously, the expectations for the Cowboys. They can potentially do it and they started terribly and if they were to do that, obviously sports media people would love it, as prime loves that they're on Thursday night. Now. There's going to be a lot of decisions made tonight by these coaches. Obviously Shotty, every decision he makes going forward in any situation is like, hey, this is first time doing it for mcdc. He has a track record and that track is currently not going great. Ty has a question for you.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, Coach, you mentioned how one of the big takeaways from the game tomorrow will be the fourth down discussion, however that shakes out. And obviously the Lions early in the year were great on fourth down. When they were kind of rolling a little bit the last couple weeks, they are 0 for 7 when it comes for to going for it on fourth down. What exactly was your philosophy? How do you handle that? And for a guy like Dan Campbell, like, there are so many analytics out there that kind of take away the feel and all that kind of stuff. Do you think certain coaches get pigeonholed into doing what they've done, you know, for the entire season, and by this late in the season, it becomes just, hey, I have to stick to my guns. I have to do what I've done the whole whole year. Or how would you handle going forward on fourth down, especially in a game like tonight when it'll probably be, you know, at a critical moment?

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I mean, I've never really had much of a conversation, you know, maybe outside of Dan Quinn and some of the guys that I've worked with. But I could just tell you how I've done it is, you know, analytics has made a made a big impact on, on situational football I mean, I think we all recognize that, you know, over the last 10, 15. But, you know, I just believe, and I've always believed this, you know, mathematics is the language of the universe. You have to pay attention to the mathematics. But I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a bar right there. Mathematics. Mathematics is the language of the universe. Is that what you said?

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah, I mean, I mean, of course I believe that. No, I think you always got to look at the numbers. I mean, I don't think there's. I don't think in any decision making opportunity, regardless of your business. You know, I look at the. My first time around, you. We did the, when we did the draft show up there Thursday night at Lambeau Field. We got in the golf cart and it was just an unbelievable night. The thing. And the first thing was you pulled that phone. You pulled that phone out and you were talking about numbers. I mean, you got to be in two with the numbers. It doesn't matter what business you know, or what, what situation you're in when you're trying to be productive and make sound decisions. So, yes, mathematics is the language of the universe. So I thought that was common knowledge.

[Pat McAfee]

No, that's a great bar. That is a great bar. But you're talking about fourth downs when it comes to the universe's language with four downs.

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I think in everything, but. Anyways, okay, fourth down. Let's get back onto the topic here. Pat. Fourth down, we want to talk about the numbers. I think analytics has made a huge impact on that, but it's just like anything, all, all these analytics and utilization of numbers, they're great. But, you know, question I always ask is, how do you apply it? How do you apply it in game, you know, the application of all these things. And that's the beauty of coaching. That's why I have so much respect for what these coaches do week in and week out, amount of time that they put into this, because, you know, you're making those calls in about a five to eight second window. I mean, if not, you're, you know, now you're being late to the, you know, defensive communication, AJ the test of that, or if I'm not getting it in to the quarterback, you know, you're not giving them a chance to press the line of scrimmage and all that stuff. So, yeah, so I mean, that's real important is how do you apply. So mathematically, I think there's been so many programs out there, but I always wanted to make the decision on fourth down before the series started. You know, as far as the anticipation because you know, when you see guys getting stuck sometimes that makes me curious what's their in game application of that communication. So in the way we've done it is, is you know, we get the ball on the 20 yard line and it's just. And it's done by field position or region. And then you know, ebb and flow of the game, the score of the game, those things are, you're fact trying to factor those in because you know, mathematics on the historical sense, you talk about that going into the game, but you also got to have the mathematics and actually what's going on in that game really. And you know, in no one knows better than the coaches and the players and the communication on the head headsets.

You may not feel as good about the 4th and 3 and 4th and 4 call as you did Saturday afternoon when you left the offense. So that's where the ebb and flow of it is something that you really need to take in part. The other part too is, and AJ Will definitely jump on this is when you hold that offense on fourth down, that equates to a takeaway. If the offense has 12 series in a game, you know, those series need to end in a kick, you know, you know, either with an extra point, two or two point or a punt. And if that series does not end in a kick, then that's a takeaway for the defense, you know, whether they obviously take the ball away or they hold on fourth down. So the point I'm making there that the momentum of that fourth down is obviously important for the offense, but it could be more important for the defense at that particular point in the game. So time of game is the point I'm making. So I, so I think those are the three things that would run through my head. You know, number one, what's the mathematics, what's the ebb and flow of the game and what's the momentum? So I think you, you got to have a thought process that you can, you can just tap into because you're making those calls in real time. And, and that, that, that's, that's the way I did it.

[Pat McAfee]

Ty, I appreciate the fact that you're saying you got to have momentum here. Are we playing good right now or are we not playing good right now? Because you talk about a fourth and three maybe not being as good on a Saturday, but also this 4th and 5, I mean we're spinning it right now. I feel like we, the boys are hungry, the boys are eager. Let's Go for that. And then obviously, whenever you add in the universe's language that God wrote, you know, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo. Let me go. Let me go.

I see a quote from a man a long time ago. He sees a quote from a man name Galileo. This was a good quote.

[Ty Schmid]

Great quote.

[Pat McAfee]

You pulling Galileo. Whenever we're talking about fourth down situational football, you're a yinzer. I'll tell you what. Hey, you impress me every week. You impress me every week, man.

[Mike McCarthy]

I'm sorry, that slipped up. I mean, I'm Galileo. That is unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

That is pretty good. I mean, that guy behind you right there is quoting Galileo when talking about fourth down situational football. That is. That's.

[Mike McCarthy]

I can't believe where some of these conversations go. This is awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

That's you. It's you. It's where you go.

[Mike McCarthy]

I got it up in that tree stand. That's why I want to whip it out.

In that stand for about six hours.

[Pat McAfee]

You scrolling through your phone? I mean, what's some good quotes with some Galileo? Yeah, I'll drop some Galileo on these hoes, no problem. I mean, that's outrageous. Go ahead, ahead, A.J. sorry about that. I, I had to celebrate Galileo being on our show.

[Connor]

I love it.

[AJ Hawk]

I love it, Coach.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I love it.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm.

[AJ Hawk]

I, I've said before, numbers don't even equate in my head. Math doesn't even. I, I am learning disabled when it comes to mathematics, so I'm screwed on the, the, the universe's language, but hopefully I can find a way to get by. But, coach, if you're sitting on the sideline and you had a quarterback like Jackson Dart, who was too tough for his own good, I think, and he's taking big old shots all over the place, I guess. What do you tell him? Because you obviously love his competitive fire and everything about him, but how do you protect a guy like that?

[Mike McCarthy]

I think it's part of his responsibility. I think just like everything we always talk about, you know, the two most important abilities are accountability. Accountability and availability. And availability is number one. You got to be available to your team, and it's in its decision making. So if you can improve your decision making, that's going to improve your availability, then it's part of his job description. The most important stat for young quarterbacks, you know, starting with this young man right here on the screen, is you have to be, you know, how many guys, how many games is he going to? Consecutive games can he play? Because you, you only improve playing every Sunday. You have to line up and play. So I think it's, it's clearly, it's all, it's all part of his role, his job, responsibility, and it's, you know, it's something that he has to be more aware of. I mean, he's, he's missed a number of games this year and we all love the way he plays. Don't get me wrong. I mean, you love the physics, but, you know, this is a situation, we talk about it in our training of play style. AJ Violent, violent on the boundary. You know, that's, I mean, that's, that's, that's where a half a yard could be the difference in winning the game, you know, but not at this point in the game. I mean, he's got to get out of bounds, but part of it too. I don't, you know, I was watching the game live. It didn't look like he saw him, you know, to be honest with you. So I don't think he, right here is. He doesn't look like he's aware that.

[Pat McAfee]

There'S a human coming potentially. He's looking at that pile on. You're saying he's trying to get strictly to the pile on, has no idea human. Newman is coming to get him. Happened with Anthony Richardson, remember, scored a touchdown against Houston. He thought he was in it like the two yard line. He's like, he like kind of held up and then somebody came, concussion, I think through the end zone because he didn't expect somebody to come. It's like the NFL. These dudes are really fast. Really, really, really, really fast. And that's tough for some of these quarterbacks, though, who have been maybe the most athletic or close to the most athletic person on the field. I'm not saying Jackson Dart ever thought that, but Jackson Dart moved at Ole Miss. I mean, there's a lot of moments where he's running all over the place. It's like the NFL. Everybody's very fast and everybody hits hard. You know, it's like there's, there's levels to it and I just, I would hate to see Jackson Dart not have a chance to be a great NFL quarterback strictly because he wants to continue to prove how tough he is. We think you're tough, dude. We think you're tough. Your hair is really cool too. The way you dress is super, super cool. We like your swag, your moxie. We like how you view football. We would just like you to survive. You know, we've seen a lot of guys not survive whenever they try to play like this. Too many Too many, too many guys.

[Mike McCarthy]

Know, Pat, I'll say this, you know, man, I love the way he plays because I think when I evaluate quarterbacks, you look at the in the pocket ability versus the out of pocket and what he does naturally you can't teach, I mean, his ability to make plays with his feet, whether stepping up in the A or B gap, coming out off the movement stuff. So I mean, in, you know, quarterback, you know, just the fact that they run them on so many design quarterback runs tells you, you know, what, what the coaching staff thinks of him. So I mean those, those are all benefits, you know, but it's the in the pocket stuff is always the last thing that is. I always felt the drop back phase is always the real challenge for the guys that in the National Football League. So the fact that he is so productive out of the pocket now, naturally, you know, he has, he has to be, he just has to be smarter. Because the real challenge is, you know, beating teams from in the pocket. This is a, you know, this is a two minute league. I mean, you look at the, you look at the games, especially get the playoffs, 98% of these games come down to the last series of the game. So that quarterback has to, you know, he has to win from the pocket to start off with. So, you know, this young, this young man has an extremely bright future. I mean, I think every, every quarterback coach in the United States love to coach this guy just the way he plays, but you know, he's, he's got to be, he's got to be conscious of his availability.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we got, we need you to survive, brother. 98%, that's good mathematics. Galileo would love that. 98%, that's a big number there. Galley would have been like, oh, that's almost 100%. Did you see Greg Olson and JJ walk it into it over the universe's language? Have you, did you see that? A little bit.

[Mike McCarthy]

Oh, I missed it.

[Cody Campbell]

What's.

[Mike McCarthy]

I was in a tree stand.

[Pat McAfee]

You're right. You know what? We don't need to bring any negative bullshit to your way. All right, let's ask you another question about ball. Go ahead, con man.

[Connor]

Yeah, Coach, Just nerds being nerds with their stats, but kind of excluding that. Can we go to Philadelphia for a second? Kevin Patulo is getting a lot of heat right now. Fans are going to his house. It's a little too much, but that's Philly, baby. That's why it is what Philadelphia is all about. What would you do if you're Nick Sirianni Is this a situation where you step in, you say, hey, look, Kevin, everybody hates you. They're about to burn down your house legitimately. I'm going to take over from here on out. Why does Philly look so terrible on offense? Why does it look so inconsistent? And is it something where the fans should feel justified in putting all the blame on an offensive coordinator? Or is this a situation where, hey, look, they just haven't got kind of hit on all cylinders and eventually they are going to figure it out. What would you do if you're Nick Sirianni?

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I'll say this. I mean, no one knows the football team better than Nick. I mean, that's, and I think that's for every head coach. You know, like you're in every meeting, you put together, every schedule. You know, you're involved in constant conversations. So especially with his background as an offensive coordinator, he clearly knows what's going on, you know, whether it's the injuries or, you know, the, the continuity. I mean, you know, you're talking about an offensive line that's really, I mean this, this run that Philadelphia's on is, is, is a special run. I mean, they've been multiple Super Bowls, but their, their offensive line has been impeccable. So, so, you know, when you have something that's in place for so long, you know, and then you're going through, you know, some, some injury phases and things that are going on there, yeah, there's potentially a drop off. So, you know, but the personal part, I, I, I do believe in protecting the personal space of players and coaches because I don't think anybody should have to go through that. We all understand the fans are a huge part of making this game go. They pay the tickets, pay the money for the tickets and obviously, but when you're putting people in harm's way, I obviously don't agree with that, but I would, I would say that all the conversations that we were wondering about or the topics that are talked about, those conversations have already been had internally. So, you know, I just think like anything, this game is so competitive. I feel like, I feel like I don't say it enough on air. It is so damn hard to win one football game in this league. And that's something I always admired. It was something coming from college back in 93 and in the NFL, just thinking, man, it is so damn hard, hard to win one game. And that's why when teams do have the ability to sustain success over a five year period, a six year period, eight year period, I mean that says a lot about that organization, says a lot about that program. And you're looking at an organization that is, you know, at this phase right now is leading the way in the last five year increment of our league. So I guarantee you that they are on top of what needs to be be done. But their fans are as passive. I mean, there's nothing like playing the game in Philadelphia. I mean, it's, it's one of the, you know, all time environments to play into, you know, play out as far as the energy and so forth. And, and you know, so they do. They have unbelievable fans there. But, you know, I don't want to see anybody's family get. There's no reason for anybody to get hurt. Hurt over this.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, agreed. Philadelphia is a different place, especially when you coach for the Eagles. I think you know what you're signing up for because you have home field advantage and then also home field disadvantage if it's not going the right way because they will turn on you. And there certainly has been some of those times, even last year, whenever they were in the middle of what would now we know would be a Super bowl run. The amount of things that we're saying being said about that particular team from their own fans throughout the different parts of the season, absolutely absurd. And then this year, the fans feel justified, you know, that all the drama is coming to a head. There's a reason, and if you get rid of one guy, it feels like it all gets better. But once that happens, we feel Philadelphia Classic, they'll certainly find something else that needs to kind of this needs maybe pick it up as well. They expect greatness. Sirianni understands that. And good luck to them out there. Now there's another city in the Keystone State that has a lot of drama around it right now. Go ahead, Tone.

[Tone]

Yeah, Coach. You talk about, about how hard it is to win games. We come from a town in Pittsburgh that has gone 21 straight seasons without a losing season. But that is not enough for the fan base anymore. I had a friend who was drinking Huffs in Greenfield during the game on Sunday. He said he could hear the booze and the calls for Tomlin's job from there. What are your thoughts on that situation as a whole as it gets really, really loud right now?

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I think the big thing is, and I'll say this just as far as the whole league, and I know Pat's already touched on a couple of them, but, you know, being a fan this year and watching from the cheer that I'm Watching because, you know, you always are worried about your team and focused on that. It's amazing. And it's going to only pick up this week because this week's incredible. The games that we got on slate this week.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike McCarthy]

But just the energy of the week, the week, you know, negativity or positive, the way this pendulum swings just across the. It's amazing to me. It's amazing to me, so. And I think Pittsburgh's obviously in that situation, but, you know, I have the utmost respect for Mike Tomlin. You know, I've competed against Mike, you know, and I think Mike is really starting the second half of a Hall of Fame career.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean.

[Mike McCarthy]

I mean, I think Mike's in his early 50s. He can coach as long as he wants. But they're playing for first place on Sunday if I'm.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they are. Okay. Okay.

[Mike McCarthy]

I mean, they're playing for first place. They've been in these kind of spots before, and it's hard. It's hard now. And you get it. I mean, it's about winning and it's about putting. Super Bowl. Who's putting the next super bowl trophy in that case, and everybody that works at an organization that has the success of a Pittsburgh or a Dallas or Green Bay, you understand that expectation. But yeah, the fact of the matter. And I think he'll do a great job getting ready. This is going to be another game that I definitely want to sit down and watch. You know, Pittsburgh and Baltimore, anytime these guys get together and they played against Mike and John, have played against each other more than anybody. So. And that's. That's my reality. That's how I look at it. I just think that, you know, let. Let it play out, you know, just. Just let this play out. He's been in this spot a bunch of times, you know, and yeah, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Many is what the Steelers fans are saying. Hey, we're in the spot every year. That's what they're saying. You know them, though. That is literally what.

[Mike McCarthy]

You know, I get it, but I think sustain. I'll say this now, I'm curious to hear AJ's opinion on this. We went to the, you know, playoffs nine out of 10 years, eight years in a row. I think it's the only. There's only been four times that that's happened in, in the NFL, but if that's the case at one time, I know that stats out there, you guys could confirm it, but I felt going to the playoffs eight years in a row or nine out of 10 years was so much more difficult than winning one Super bowl because that's that super bowl win that we had. I mean, that year you talk about injuries. I mean, we were, we were decimated and we, man, we came out of training camp, we thought we had the best team. We felt great about our football team. But there was points in that season. I mean, I mean there was two points. I think it was the Miami game after the Washington game where we didn't have 45 guys on Friday to line up healthy so that we were going to have to make moves on a Friday and Saturday to fill, fill our game day roster. So I mean, my point is you have points in those season. You just got to, you know, in that group and you know, AJ Was one of the key guys there is it just kept playing, kept playing. And most importantly, they got a good defense. You know, everybody talks about the offense and Aaron Rodgers, the Packers wanted won the Super bowl in 2010 because of their defense. That's the only time that I know my career that I had a top five defense. And that's why I'm excited about the packers this year. I mean, I think that's, that's the first time that they've had a top five defense since 2010. So, you know, my point is you got a chance, you always got a chance because their defense is going to keep them in the game. The defense is going to give them that chance. And it comes down to the end, go win that thing in two minutes. And the reality of it is that's the league and that's why it's the, it's, it's unbelievable to watch. I mean, these games come down to the end and that's, that's why the two minute stuff is so important. So I just think, I mean, Mike's a great coach. Just let this thing play out, you know, and, and you just got to get, you just got to get into tournament, you got to get in the tournament. You guys got to be relatively healthy. And most important is the confidence of that locker room. And that's how you want it. And then that was, that was our personal experience in 2010.

[Pat McAfee]

That's your experience in 2010. That ends with the Lombardi. The Dallas Cowboys this year could have that particular run as well where they were counted out. Then they got hot, started playing for each other. They have a huge one tonight in Detroit. Coach McCarthy, who is 8, 9, 3 on Thursday night in Thursday football bets, says that he likes the Dallas Cowboys not just because they paid him a lot of money for a Loss long time and he still has allegiances there. But also because the video he said, I watched the movies just like everybody else did. And the Dallas Cowboys Galileos and the movies hold up to just what I want in my heart to say, which is Dallas Cowboys. Now SeatGeek has told us. Shout out to SeatGeek the greatest ticket buying platform on planet Earth and the moon. Did you know that, coach?

[Mike McCarthy]

I did not. I did not.

[Pat McAfee]

If there's a live event on the moon in the near future and you need to get tickets, you'll need to do it with Siki because they're the greatest ticket buying platform on planet earth and the moon. Do you hear that, coach?

There's not events right now, but sea geek on planet Earth has tickets to every event, basically. And if you use the code Pat McAfee, P A T M C A F E e, you'll get $30 off. Tickets. Tickets. Tickets are a great Christmas gift. They're great because you're not only given like something that's tangible, fungible, but it's also a future story to be told forever. So shout to SeatGeek. They're saying 15% of the purchasers tonight are Dallas people. They said thus far. So I don't know if Dallas is going to invade and take over, but what SeatGeek's early numbers are 15% of purchasers, Cowboys fans going into tonight. Who knows knows how many other potential purchases there are. They'll be loud though, if they get rolling is what you're saying, huh, Coach?

[Mike McCarthy]

Oh, definitely. No, I agree. I mean, it's. I think it's just. I mean, that's a tough place to play. I mean, it's. I think it's gonna be a great environment. But I would say this. Don't. Don't let them in there. That's for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

You're the man.

[Mike McCarthy]

Lose your home field advantage, Cowboys. AJ we know what that sounds like. I mean, hell, we go there sometimes. I'm happiness all the time. Taking stadium over, man, it was unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Packers fans would take over yesterday.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah.

[Ty Schmid]

Yesterday was the anniversary of Rogers throwing the hail Mary to win.

[Mike McCarthy]

Exactly.

[Tone]

There you go.

[Mike McCarthy]

That's right. Ty.

[Foxy]

There's a lot of packers fans in Michigan. Unfortunately.

[Pat McAfee]

Unfortunately. Well, you know why.

They still got to get in.

[Foxy]

They're pretty good franchise.

[Pat McAfee]

I know that. Yeah. For a long time. He's saying they got in the door, though. This is just like when who went into Seattle and took over Buffalo Bills fans.

[Ty Schmid]

Packers did as well.

[Connor]

And Packers.

[Pat McAfee]

Bills and packers took over the Seahawks Stadium last year or two years ago?

[Ty Schmid]

Last year.

[Pat McAfee]

Last. Crazy how much the Seahawks have changed.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

In the Seahawks fans perspective and their eyes, good for them turning that around. Anytime another team takes over your stadium, that's a good indic indicator of how your fans feel about your team is kind of how it's just naturally judged from the outside looking in. Detroit Lions fans are good, right? We're good. Yeah.

[Foxy]

We actually took over Lambeau last year, so not worried about it at all.

[Pat McAfee]

Ooh, love that.

[Mike McCarthy]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

We appreciate you, Hunter. Have a good one, brother.

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I'll tell you what though. The thing, the thing. Are we done?

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Mike McCarthy]

Okay. I didn't know if you're doing the flip over here, but. No, I, I, that's one of the problems I think you have in, in, in Lambo is, you know, you got some, you got some season ticket holders that could probably sell their tickets to the Detroit game and pay their whole year of season tickets. So I mean, you know, you know, ticket tickets sell pretty good over in Lambeau Flow. That's destination over the years.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's a museum. It's an NFL museum over there. We're not doing a turnover yet. We got about five minutes until then. Speaking of turnover, though, we talked a little bit about Check with me place. Is that what Peyton was saying when he was going apple, apple and oma. What are some of the words that are the verbiage that is used that we can hear if we're watching TV when they're. Oh, that's quarterback deciding to go to the second play that was called or maybe even the third play that was also called?

[Mike McCarthy]

Well, I'll say this, I mean, they're all indicators, but I think you clearly have to, you know, you know, that's something. Ever since they put the microphones on the center in the guards, I mean, I think it's been great for the fans to hear that. But you know, just remember your quality control coaches and your analytics people are watching that too. So there's, you know, you have to change that up is my point. So I mean, you got, you got cans, you know, you got, y' all can't can the call.

[Pat McAfee]

I think golf is a can, can guy, isn't he?

[Ty Schmid]

Yes.

[Mike McCarthy]

The fact that it's so common, I guarantee you most of the time it's probably a dummy dummy mean they're not doing it.

[Pat McAfee]

So goofing us.

[Mike McCarthy]

That's, that's the game within the, that's the game within the game. I mean, there's so Much that goes on in pre snap is what I was referring to. So you know, over, over, over, you know, revert, revert. I mean there's a lot of common terms but the fact is, you know that based on what is said before it or what's said after it could be. Could be part of the change of what you're really doing because you got to protect your staples. That's all. I mean that's how we would do it. You always try to protect your primary check with me's your primary overs when you flip the play from one side to the other or run the pass, pass the run. So you know, I mean, how many different. How many different sentiments do you have for a draw play? You know, those types of things.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so that is what I was about to say. There's normally a bucket of words though. Like I got a chance to sit on a couple brainstorming meetings at training camp for Peyton in the offense and it was like bozo was dummy cadence. So anything that follows bozo fake. But what's immediately after, what's after bozo is actual call. And everybody has to to hear that and everybody has to know that and everybody has to be on the same page, including the person that is giving the bozo call remembering that they gave the bozo call. And then you know what is following and what is following in there. So there's. I don't know how many quarterbacks are doing all that though. Is that very common thing these days? I don't know how common it is.

[Connor]

Bryce Young did it against the packers this year. Remember he was doing all the checks at the line, but everybody knew it was just a handoff to Rico Dowdle right up the middle. But for 20, he was yelling stuff out and then it was just set go. Everybody thought it was a pass except for the Panthers and they ran it right up the gut.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that still happening? A pretty rapid clip is what you're saying, Coach McCarthy? It sounds like. Yeah.

[Mike McCarthy]

I mean, to Connor's point. I mean you have to be believable in your signals because, you know, you can't look like a dummy giving a dummy signal. Like, you know, just say you can't be the hell it's got. It's gotta be believable. I mean that was a coaching point and you know. Yeah, but yeah, I would say every quarterback's doing. It's just a matter of much and I think that's really the beauty of the game of football. I don't think there's a whole lot of what people are doing that other people aren't doing. It's just really how much they're doing, you know, and that's really the part of the chess match because, you know, you have to be able to play in the pre snap to win. Because, you know, once again, if it comes down to a two minute situation, you know, that's where, you know, these guys learn. You got to be able to change and protect. You got to be able to change it to. You got to have answers for blitz. You got to have, you know, you got to have proactive adjustments in that situation, or these defenses, they'll eat you up. I mean, defense, football has been so aggressive for the last 25 years. I mean, you know, the Bear defense back with Buddy Ryan changed a lot of that. Just when people, they start getting the overload schemes and things like that, you have to have answers for that or you're not giving. You're not giving your offensive players a chance and chance at all to be. To be successful quarterbacks.

[Pat McAfee]

Having to know what's happening for every position before the snap, after the snap and during the snap is what makes it the hardest position in all of sports. And if you have a great one, you can win a Super bowl. And we got two great ones playing tonight on Thursday night. Coach McCarthy likes the Dallas Cowboys. Before we get out of here, you got about 49 seconds. Anything to say, say to the team before we get out of here, Coach McCarthy. To your team, to the whole team here. Yeah.

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah. Just don't forget mom and dad. Remember where it all started. So hope everybody had a happy Thanksgiving. Congratulations to Samantha and Pat. And don't forget about what's most important. Family.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell, yeah. Family's what it's all about. Coach McCarthy, we're thankful that you've joined our family this season. And we're thankful that tonight, week 14 of the NFL season is kicking off in a magical way. Two potential playoff teams, two potential Super bowl teams kick off on prime. We will overreact to it all tomorrow. I will be live in Atlanta. A.J. hawk will be here. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Dookie drops at midnight. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team.

[Mike McCarthy]

Goodbye.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like we hit it there.

[Mike McCarthy]

Nailed it.

[Ty Schmid]

That was a good one.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, that was a good one, coach. You did great there. You did really good there, Coach. I think that was good time by you. Good timing and good message there. Thankful for that.

[Mike McCarthy]

All right, well, thankful. I'm thankful for you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Missed you guys hey, the deer, what they do. They smelled you. What do you think you think they smelled? They were just smarter than you. What do you think happened out there?

[Mike McCarthy]

I think the reality is, I don't think they're colorblind, because when they saw my big ass and all that orange, they just ran the other way. We were walking up. I mean, just the whole. When we first got, you know, out there in the woods, you just saw them all running away. And it was. It was pretty comical that running in.

[Pat McAfee]

Saying, this dipshit doesn't think we can see him. All right, dude. And we'll get on out of here. It's all right. Better luck next time. Or not. It's all about the vibe more so than the outcome, unless you live off of it, which Tim McAfee will for the next six, seven months, which means Sally McAfee will as well. So good luck to my mom. She's got a fun couple months ahead of her. And, Coach, we appreciate the hell out of you, man.

[Mike McCarthy]

All right, man. Everybody, a great week.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and Gentlemen, that's Coach McCarthy.

[Connor]

Yeah, Coach.

[Pat McAfee]

I like that, A.J. there's two of them.

[AJ Hawk]

Every time it cut to the old one shot. It's just his head smiling over his head. Talking was awesome. I thought of him taking that selfie, like, in the tree stand, like, oh, this. This is good lighting.

[Pat McAfee]

I got it. Good lighting. You think what I say? I. I got it. He probably took it this way. Shadows. No. Oh, yeah.

[Mike McCarthy]

Let's turn.

[AJ Hawk]

Jess, what do you think? Jess, look at me. That'd be awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

How about him out there? Okay. Just in the middle of nowhere, cold as shit. Because it was a cold one. You heard him say that. That is certainly probably a focal point of the conversation as you're sitting there for a couple hours. Nothing's coming. It's a good time. I'm happy we did this. This is really good. Yeah. This type of thing you can't get anywhere else, you know? And then they go back into the cabin, and then the cabin actually good time. Like, assume cabin actually good time. And then wake up the next morning. Got to be up there for sunrise. That's when you're moving, you know? Okay, we got to wake up super early. Let's go out there. Cold as. This is really fun. So they're moving now or when are they? Yeah, this will be when they're moving. Okay, I'll be ready. Sun comes up. Yeah, we missed it, didn't we?

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You want to head back to cabin? Absolutely. Come back whenever the sun is Setting. Yes, that is good. That is when they'll be moving again. It's interesting how those go, or could go, or he's just out there. I mean, Tim McAfee was out there laying in on a mountain for two days, you know, just fucking way out.

[Connor]

He could barely walk today.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he was. He came in, obviously fucking the whole body. He had to drag this thing out. And he said he got all the way back to his. I mean, he hikes. It's a hike through actual mountains, cross actual creeks that are really either frozen or fully running up into a another mountain on the other side of the mountain is where he's at. You know, this where they're all at. This is where they're all at. So all these other ones, all these other haulers and valleys, no, they ain't there. You got to get to two haulers down to really where they'll be. And he does it every year, so massive respect for him doing that. But he gets out there at 3:34am too, because you got to be out there obviously when they're going to be moving. He said he got down there and Amish man, he's never seen this person before. He's in Pennsylvania. He's not Amish down here. Amish man walks right up to him and goes, hey, sorry. I was scaring away the biggest deer I've ever seen in my life. Ten pointer. Sorry about it. Just ran him away from you. And Tim goes, oh, good morning, man. Good to see you. Thanks. So Tim potentially had it. Tim potentially had it, I guess. Jebed die. Scared that fucker away. That didn't stop Tim from camping out there, though, for fucking 24 hours.

[Connor]

No shit.

[Ty Schmid]

And he got one.

[Pat McAfee]

And he got one. Yeah, he's like living good right now. And so are you. You guys gonna be eating that?

[Tone]

Yeah, can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

You're gonna be eating.

[Tone]

It's clean meat.

[Connor]

It's delicious.

[Tone]

Clean eat.

[Connor]

He's got a good venison recipe.

[AJ Hawk]

Has he ever given. Has he ever given a deer a heart attack like you did back when you were a toddler?

[Pat McAfee]

No, but he was appreciative of the heart attack because guess what? Save them on meat.

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[Mike McCarthy]

Listening to this podcast Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan like a good neighbor. State Farm is there prices are based on rating plans that vary by state.

[Pat McAfee]

Coverage options are selected by the the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and.

[Mike McCarthy]

Eligibility vary by state.

[Pat McAfee]

Football he's the greatest. That's AJ Hawk. It's good to see you aj.

We love you aj. We love you aj.

[AJ Hawk]

Love you guys. Love you guys too, man. And Coach Mike, honestly Coach Mike loved it too. I, I, I think he's having more and more fun every time he comes on.

[Pat McAfee]

Well there was two of them today so obviously we appreciate him joining us. I don't know if he saw saw this. This is a double barreled porch. Found it at a gas station yesterday. Zito said gotta have it. Brought it in. I feel like I'm you age. I feel like I'm you with this thing.

[AJ Hawk]

Hey, I just before you guys kicked off at 12 o' clock I actually Instagram got me, I ordered three torch flame throwing lighter things so it's gonna be sweet when they come in.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Yeah. And the weather we're in right now, you need these torches.

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know.

Very windy.

[Connor]

Actually saw a massive, massive, massive bonfire underneath the highway on my way into work today.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And those things will spread with the wind.

[Connor]

It was a problem.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, actually and how dry the air is because of how cold it we're in that time. It's really cold out here. I mean it's really cold out here. I think this is the week where we all kind of realize and acknowledge we're in it.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. We are in it. Now. I don't know if anything is going to compare to the Ohio State Tennessee game when we were on that sideline with how cool cold that was or Montana State when I was out there for game day it was like negative 15 or something like that. I hope that that isn't what this particular winter feels like. But boy, as we've gotten back into it as I was a young boy, I never got cold. Like never got cold. Was Always outside, just like, never really got cold. Hey, snow actually makes it warmer, you know, like that. That's what I actually thought. Like, snow actually makes it feel warmer because we can do stuff with the snow now you get out here. Here, though, snow isn't always the type of snow that you can do stuff with. Sometimes just the boring snow and then also a little precipitation just makes. I've gotten soft with my old age. I get cold now and I stay cold.

[AJ Hawk]

Do you stay cold? That's the thing. I think as you get older, like once I get cold or my feet get cold, like they're cold for 12 hours.

[Pat McAfee]

And also there's like a little hangover effect of the coldness. Like the day after, like a thawing period that happened after that Ohio State, Tennessee game. Like the next day, my. My body was like thawing out. It's very new for me. I've gotten older and softer. But what I'm saying is we've gotten into meaningful football season. It's cold as fuck outside. Talks to tables here at Boss Connor and at Ty Schmid. One half of the Hammer done. Cowboys AP tones here and AJ Tonight, I think we got a big one that we need to make some picks for. We've heard a lot of things said by the former coach of the Dallas Cowboy, who's not jaded at all towards Cowboys Cowboys. I think that has been impressive. That's why I wanted to tell him that, A.J. like, I legitimately wanted to tell him, like, you've had a lot of reasons to kind of be a little bit of a dick about this entire situation in Dallas. You could have turned and said like, well, yeah, they got a good roster to kind of diminish what Shotty's doing. You know, say, oh, it would be nice to get maybe George Pickens, when I'm the head coach of the team, have two number ones. That'd be great. He could take that angle and we've seen that before from people. But instead it's like, he's very happy for Shoddy, very happy for Dallas, and he's very happy for the life that he's living currently. It's been a wonderful thing to listen to him chat about the Cowboys. Yeah.

[Connor]

All the way back to the draft. He actually says, like, hey, my time with the Cowboys, I learned so much from Jerry Jones on the business side, like, it's impossible to hate what has happened. And he also mentioned, like, yeah, I believe that the Cowboys are going to go win 10, 11 games next year just because of how great the roster is. And his belief in shoddy, like he was saying that in April and now here we are and they have a chance to win 11 games.

[Pat McAfee]

And it didn't look like that early. And he never once.

[Connor]

Nope.

[Pat McAfee]

Chose to bury him. Never once chose to point anything out, you know, and it's like he could have done that along the way. He's loving his life up there in Wisconsin. They tell him, go to Minnesota. You want to hunt up here.

[Tone]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Connor]

He.

[AJ Hawk]

Hopefully he. So I know he has friends that have, you know, great estates and all that. He should go to one of those high fence farms, you know, where you pay 30 grand and a deer just walks up in front of you and says, here you go. Shoot me in the head.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if that's necessarily. Exactly.

[AJ Hawk]

Then they. Then they process it and they mount the head and you put it above your. Your mantle and here we go.

[Pat McAfee]

That's not for love. That's not how it works. So I don't think I've heard about these.

[AJ Hawk]

If he strikes out again, like say he goes out again, he strikes out and he doesn't see anything for six more hours.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what I've heard about these places, and some of them here in the United States. You can hunt exotics at these places. You can go. Not Joe. I think he's get. He's in jail currently and for the long haul. I saw what they did to Lane's face. I know. If you saw that. I did put him on because he used the tiger. He does kind of have the face that could have.

[Ty Schmid]

You can see it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. There's been a lot of good interneting around that hole, and Lane has seen it all. Y. Elaine has seen it all and gone in on it all. But there's some of those hunting places where you can hunt some weird, you know, from what I've been told. And then there's some of those deer ones that, to your point, they seem to be easier to find, you know, they seem to be easier to find with within the places as opposed to out there in a while. Wisconsin. 2. 2 degrees and we can't see anything.

[Tone]

Can you hunt the most dangerous game on any of those places?

[Pat McAfee]

So I watched the past with John Leguizamo growing up, and as I've continued to grow older, you just assume that that's probably happening somewhere.

[Ty Schmid]

I agree.

[Pat McAfee]

Especially when, like, Squid Games is happening. Yeah. You're like, wow, this seems like it's a little bit big world, huge world.

[Tone]

A lot of land.

[Pat McAfee]

Big world, lot of land, a lot of privacy. Hope it doesn't have. Hope it's not happening happening.

[Tone]

But if it has to, it has to.

[Pat McAfee]

I think John Leguizamo had the right angle, you know? He did. He had a lot of good energy and good juice.

[Ty Schmid]

Surviving the game. Iced tea. Same. Yes.

[AJ Hawk]

Man, what a movie.

[Tone]

What's one with Stone Cold?

[Connor]

Condemned.

[Tone]

The condemned, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That's jail there, right? Prisoners or something?

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. And turns out, you know, like, Stone Cold's a former undercover agent. He's not a prisoner. He just got tied up and. But he's there and he's going to do what he's got to do, sweetheart.

[Pat McAfee]

And what. What did he do in that particular one?

[Ty Schmid]

Kill everybody? Really take the game out.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that what he did? Oh, yeah. Isn't that kind of what they said Australia was kind of like?

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Jails were kind of. Prisoners were kind of dumped into an island, and then there had to be a decision made, like, hey, there's people here that are going to want to kill us. So we got to figure out this together and then figure it out. And then now it's become that. That's like the. A story that I've heard about Australia. Correct?

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah. I. I've never done enough research to actually confirm because I think the. The part of the. Have the. The people in jail going to kind of just get dumped in Australia. I believe that is a thousand percent true and confirmed. I just don't know if it was then, like, free for all. Like, okay, you guys can kind of just kill each other stuff called Steve Austin. Yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. We don't know the. The basis of it. We'll certainly look into it. Australia is very far away. Very, very far away. It is a cool place, though. Like, when you get there, it's a really cool place. Beautiful place.

[AJ Hawk]

Let's talk people, right? Aren't the. Aren't the people awesome?

[Pat McAfee]

Great accents, everybody. Funny. You know, just no matter what they're saying with the accent, they're funny.

[AJ Hawk]

Dirt bikes. They're. You know my buddy that lives in Australia. Yeah, Dirt. He's dirt biking every day. He's skiing out there with hammerhead sharks next to him.

[Mike McCarthy]

All of it.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody's jacked. That's what I saw. Everybody was jacked. They had some stricter rules on some things, you know, like seat belts and, like, what food you're allowed to eat and things like that. But so it's a little different. It is certainly a little bit different. And when it comes to that. But everybody that I saw and we were there for 11 days, everybody was jacked, everybody was in shape. You know, everybody dressed like a movie character too. It's like every that you could see how people say it's fake because there's like there's emo person out of movie, there's rockstar person out of, there's private school kid. And then like that's a wave of people walking down the street. And guess what? The next wave, we got a whole new batch of characters. We got Instagram, model skater, we got skater boy. And it's just like a never ending supply of people. Just like, I don't want to say a diverse group because it is a lot of pretty similar looking individuals actually, but there is just like so many. It was a really cool. I enjoyed Australia. It was just so far away. Yeah, very so far. That's why they said let's just send a prisoner shackly. Imagine if Stone Cold was around back there.

[Ty Schmid]

Guess what? There'd be one person in Australia right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you heard about John Cena's last time? Final time?

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, I've, I've seen what they've been doing booking wise and I don't love it.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean? Just out of respect because you're a man who has been on a commercial dressed as John Cena.

[Ty Schmid]

Correct.

[Pat McAfee]

For the WWE's biggest show of the year, WrestleMania.

[Ty Schmid]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a noted scene ahead.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, exactly. I'm a noted scene ahead for a long time. You know, I would just, I would have liked to seen him go out in a little bit of a better way. You know, not this unceremonious. We're calling John Cena the goat, which, you know, I, I certainly believe he is one of, one of the goats. But you know what? So what, that's the, that was the plan is this guy's just gonna lose every match for the last two months and then we're gonna laud him for what he's done for the business. And I just, I don't love it, you know, like war games.

Listen, I, I understand what the WWE is, okay? You just. And I love Dom Mysterio. Shoot. Love Dom Mysterio. But if we're going to stay in Dom Mysterio and John Cena side by side.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you talking about? You don't think dirty Dom is supposed to do.

[Connor]

Watch that.

[Tone]

Didn't he get powered bomb by a female W T Bomb?

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, the Miguel to Tejada bomb. Named after the former Oakland A shortstop.

[Pat McAfee]

That is not what it's named.

That is not. Raquel Rodriguez is one of the most powerful people in wwe. She representing Judgment Day. Tejada bombs John Cena. And then Pop Rocks by Roxanne Perez is followed up. And then Liv Morgan actually kicks him in the wee wee. So that's, that's my point.

[Ty Schmid]

Why are we just defecating on this guy's face on the way out and acting like that's okay?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, don't you think you should have known that they were there and that they could potentially get after him? He should have maybe had a little defense.

[Ty Schmid]

Well, first and foremost, how can they see him? Isn't that the whole thing with John Cena? You can't see the guy. You can't see him. So how do they see him so easily? How. How could she just out of nowhere hit him with a Miguel Toada bomb? I just, I don't get that. You know, I, and I'll be honest, I wanted, you know, and, and maybe this is the, the 35 year old version of me. Who wants to see. I want Take coming back out. I want Kurt Angle coming back out. I want some of these people. People. God rest his soul. If, if we. You know what? Actually, just for his last match, replay his match with Umaga. When the top turnbuckle came down and Cena used that to get him in the SDFU and tap him out. I believe Umaga was undefeated at the time. But it's just like that's the, that's the John Cena I want to remember. Not. Whatever. Oh, his last one. Oh, great. He's. He's gonna wrestle La Knight, maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Well, thanks.

[AJ Hawk]

He's great.

[Pat McAfee]

They've won a tournament to get to this point, but there's no history there. That's what I'm saying.

[Tone]

Feels like there's a lack of Star Wars.

[Connor]

I mean, exactly. I'd rather watch Brown's Titans for eight straight days.

[Tone]

By the way, the total for that game is 33.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, okay, so there's no reason for you all to have had planned that. It's.

[Ty Schmid]

That's a great point. That's a great point.

[Pat McAfee]

That is.

[Connor]

I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

But Gunther, the most violent champion in the history of the business, taking on.

[Ty Schmid]

If you want the other side of it, let, let bone wobble out here and then he'll tell you why it's been the greatest run in the history of.

[Pat McAfee]

What the.

[Connor]

Does that mean? Okay, he's the most violent champion. Who gives a. All right.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean?

[Connor]

That's.

[Ty Schmid]

That's dumb.

[Pat McAfee]

What are we.

[Tone]

First off, he's not.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Tone]

You ever to want watch Kane in the ring?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I forgot he had fire.

[Tone]

Stacy Keebler, by the way, did she ever suplex Stone Cold? I don't think so.

[Mike McCarthy]

Trying to think back.

[Connor]

Champion. Send that guy back to Austria. We don't want him.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, Gunther is a problem. And John Cena's last match is next Saturday. It's. It's on Peacock. I do believe Saturday night's main event. It is live from the next nation's capital.

[Connor]

Set my alarm, quick.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. John Cena's final opponent will either be La Knight or Gunther.

[AJ Hawk]

Gotta be some surprises, right? I mean, don't you think?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's.

[Ty Schmid]

Hey, it's WWE Jam packed with surprises. We know that.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. That was not a real count.

[Ty Schmid]

So I like to think that Cena. That if it. We saw his end at WrestleMania. We were all there. We saw it. That would have been a awesome way to kind of end the whole thing. And personally, I just don't like what they've been doing. I don't like the booking the last couple months. And I'm not being a hater.

[Pat McAfee]

You are being a little bit of a hater.

[Ty Schmid]

I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

You are being a little bit of a hater. There's a chance we get a chance to chat with John Cena and we'll certainly ask him all these questions and we'll. We'll ask him like, hey, you're definitely going to go win an Oscar. Like, he's an incredible actor. Yeah, he's a really, really good actor.

[Ty Schmid]

Just going to say he's had to do a lot of acting in the ring because.

Don't get me started. I don't.

[Pat McAfee]

We already have. No, I know. And I. I want 10 minutes in right now. I know.

[AJ Hawk]

Wait. Bone likes it, though. Bone likes the path he's on.

[Pat McAfee]

Bone just likes any John Cena we can get. You know, that is. Which I. I would like to say. I'm on that team. I am on the team. It's like, hey, we got John Cena. Let's just enjoy that we have John Cena. No matter what it is, you know, no matter how it started, no matter how it turned, no matter how it's going, no matter what took place, it's like it's still John Cena doing this thing.

[AJ Hawk]

You don't want to see your hero get to hata bombed, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Why? You better be a little bit more alert then. How about that?

[Tone]

Did you Say Pop Rocks. Yeah, like the videos on the Internet.

[Mike McCarthy]

What is that?

[Pat McAfee]

They didn't mix pop with Pop Rocks.

[Ty Schmid]

That blow up the candy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, no, it's Roxanne Perez. She hits Code Red. It's called Pop Rock. Okay. Which Code Red, by the way. John Cena actually added into his repertoire. So pop rock's kind of what John. She kind of disrespected. She. She kind of did one of John Cena's things to John Cena, you know, but whose thing is it really? Because everything is kind of somebody else's thing.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Which is kind of the wrestling business, if you ask AJ Styles. He's actually been tweeting about that. But let's make a pick for tonight's kid. How's cold the it man, Michael Cole.

[Connor]

Yeah. How the does he do it?

[Pat McAfee]

He's the best.

[Connor]

Respect, brother.

[AJ Hawk]

Let him suit up for the final match.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, now we're talking. I guarantee Michael Cole is about to throw 104.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

On the paint for this one.

[Connor]

No doubt.

[Tone]

It's his goat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Cole and Cena kind of came up in this business around the same time, you know, so, like, and Colin Cena used to, I believe, travel together a lot.

[Ty Schmid]

Toss a couple.

[Pat McAfee]

So they are very, very tight. So what you're about to hear from Michael Cole. Michael Cole next Saturday night. On Saturday night might be worth the price of admission alone, let alone everything that John Cen's going to do. And I assume the show is going to be spectacular.

[Connor]

Seeing the last spectacle.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, seeing came out, I guess, on Super Duper Morning America. I don't know which one. It was one of the morning shows. I appreciate them doing those morning shows, by the way.

[Connor]

It.

[Pat McAfee]

I am a spectator and I appreciate it. I think Cena said on one of them that I think he's opening the show. Oh, perfect.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Connor]

Why? Let's get this thing going, man. There's great movies coming out right now. The rest of the night.

[Pat McAfee]

If it's LA Knight, he should come.

[Tone]

Out as Max Dupree.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It used to be a good mall management service, but instead, you know, went back to La Knight. He's electrifying. I like LA Knight a lot. I think Gunther is dangerous. I think he's very. I've been in there with him. I felt him. And if I was John Cena, who's staring down an Oscar riddled career right now, I don't know if Gunther would be the last guy I want to step in there with. I don't know if that's Who I want to kind of see if we can get one for the Gipper here.

[Tone]

He's kind of a one trick pony, so.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but that it works though, you know, it's like Mariano Rivera.

[Tone]

True.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, he works would throw that. That cutter every time. That's what Gunther's got. This thing's a great equalizer.

[Connor]

Jet Lee.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom.

[Connor]

You know, you don't feel the man who practices 10,000 kicks fear the man who practices one kick 10,000 times.

[Tone]

Ain't that well said.

[Pat McAfee]

John Cena 5 hours ago posted this and it kind of puts it all into perspective.

[Connor]

Oh, he's already done. That's what he's calling it before.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no, no, there's no way. He's got to do it. It's next week. And so it's what we're all talking about.

[Connor]

Feels like he just said picture of a typewriter already. This is the end.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe it's typewriter because he feels old.

[Tone]

Those are words typed by a typewriter.

[Ty Schmid]

It also could be, you know, the newest script he's received in the mail where could be his Oscar winning film.

[Tone]

Well, if your name's on the first page of script or last page of script. But he does a movie.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think John Cena said that, but that is certainly the guy from Batman. Yeah. Michael Caine, who has an incredible accent. He's also a part of that one movie where the other English guy tries to save the world.

[Connor]

Kingsman.

[Pat McAfee]

There it is. He's great in that movie as well. Anytime you see him now, you see.

[AJ Hawk]

Me, the magician movie.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That guy's dead.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, he died earlier this year.

[Pat McAfee]

Holy. He's in a lot.

[Ty Schmid]

Oh yeah, he acted right up until he died pretty much.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, rest in peace, Ham. And thank you for your services to my ears and to the movies. Your voice was spectacular. John Cena though, actually. Good actor, right?

[Ty Schmid]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, like that's what we need to make sure is said. Like this guy for shoot. Good actor.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, yeah. And he's going to have a lot more opportunities once he's done wrestling, but.

[Pat McAfee]

We don't want to see him go wrestling business, you know. Hold on.

[Connor]

Never been able to see him in the first place.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on. There's maybe some discussions on who's dead in the back there.

Go ahead, Nick.

[Cody Campbell]

Did you say Michael Caine died?

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, he passed away. We talked about this there. I was it. I. I'll tell you what, I don't usually do that, but I had to couple months ago.

[Pat McAfee]

Let me double check. I think he's still alive.

[Ty Schmid]

Did I get got?

[Connor]

No, we.

[Ty Schmid]

I definitely, I definitely said, yeah. RIP Michael K. Yeah, we got real sad.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, I got. We got some good news. The Internet saying he's 92 and there isn't a death time. We thank you. Michael Kane.

[Ty Schmid]

What a fantastic surprise. I've been operating under the assumption that he's been dead the last eight months and he's not kind of like the Lions now. Yeah, it's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, this is. I mean this is really good news, cuz I didn't know that until you guys told me here just a few seconds ago. And I immediately. A bunch of like awesome movie roles that aren't going to happen now just kind of disappeared. And guess what? They're all back.

[Ty Schmid]

Love it.

[Pat McAfee]

That's great.

[Ty Schmid]

What a great day.

[Pat McAfee]

Great day.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's make our picks for tonight.

[Ty Schmid]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. Cowboys day taking on the Lions. Lions.

[AJ Hawk]

Hopefully this clip gets to him.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Michael Kane.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Oh, no, he got divorced. That's.

[Ty Schmid]

I definitely wouldn't have tweeted that thinking that, oh my God, Michael K. They're gonna act again.

[Connor]

No, I think I'm looking at it right here. Yeah, that's sad.

[AJ Hawk]

Like recently.

[Tone]

In 70.

[Connor]

1973. 73.

The anniversary.

[AJ Hawk]

To get divorced at 91, you must really dislike each other.

[Pat McAfee]

You find something out.

Of 92.

[Mike McCarthy]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ah, I'm not doing it. Yeah, there it is.

[Ty Schmid]

One hour ago, Variety tweet, Vin Diesel wheeled Michael Kane out somewhere in a wheelchair.

[Connor]

There he is.

[Pat McAfee]

He's two goats who was trying to.

[Ty Schmid]

Kill Michael Kane before he was dead.

[Pat McAfee]

It wasn't me. No.

[Ty Schmid]

I fucking moored the man. This is awesome.

[Connor]

Yeah, this is great. Go on watching Batman tonight.

[Pat McAfee]

Now what's Vin Diesel doing? Rock Em Sock em. Right? That's the next.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, Rock Em Sock em Robot.

[Pat McAfee]

So Michael Caine's in Rock em Sock em Robots.

[Connor]

Might be if Diesel does another fucking movie before finishing Fast and Furious. I'll tell you what, Vin, a lot of your fans aren't gonna be too fucking happy about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Him and the Rock are back on gig graces. I thought they were getting that all figured out.

[Ty Schmid]

Michael Caine ain't doing Rock em sock robots. He'll wipe his ass with that script. And Vin Diesel presents it to him. This guy's an actor. He ain't doing a movie about some Mattel toys.

[Pat McAfee]

Michael K. Maybe 92 says, Ah, it. Maybe he says he wants to get in there. People already said I was dead.

[Ty Schmid]

Yeah, I guess maybe I'd like to see, you know, maybe he puts on the Cape and cow. And he's Batman. We've already seen him as Alfred.

[Tone]

It's true.

[AJ Hawk]

Just something to think about in the wheelchair. Can you do that in a wheelchair? Like a C. CGI That I'm sure.

[Pat McAfee]

So many opportunities. Now that we know he's still alive. We're very thankful, Michael.

Very, very thankful for a great day.

[AJ Hawk]

It's become.

[Pat McAfee]

It is a great day. All right, let's make our picks. You like Dallas whenever you're getting on the program in a second hour. I've liked Dallas since the first hour. 78% whenever the show started. Let's go to one half of the Hammer Cowboys. AP Town, can you give us an update, please?

[Tone]

It's down to 76%, but the big news is that everywhere has gone to three and a half now.

That is called reverse line movement.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because with all the money going to the Cowboys, you would think that they would want to sway that thing a little bit differently to get people onto the lines. But instead a little less money and we don't know what the total money is. A little less amount of the bets going 76% as opposed to 78% at the beginning of the show. But still a major majority of the bets and the money. And they're taking it even further, saying sportsbooks are saying, oh, that's cute, actually. Let's get this to 90 maybe. That scares me a little bit. Does that scare you?

[Tone]

It does. Pretty inside baseball.

[Pat McAfee]

Reverse line move. It is a little bit of a psychology sometimes.

[Tone]

Sometimes we give the books a little too much credit as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Sometimes.

You don't know what the fuck's gonna happen. You gotta trust your heart sometimes. Yeah. You have a feeling your gut. And even if 80 some percent of the money thinks the same way you think and 78% of the people who are normally losers think the same way that you think. That's not 100%.

And sportsbooks aren't 100% against us.

So I can very easily, easily say I'm more confident in the Dallas Cowboys at this moment than I am in the Detroit Lions.

[Connor]

You've been watching.

[Pat McAfee]

I like the Detroit Lions. Is this their year? I don't know. Doesn't feel like it. Which sucks. And I'm sorry. Dallas Cowboys feels like it wasn't their year. They've been playing really fucking good football. Sportsbooks have to have seen that. I don't know why they're seemingly different than what everybody else is. This feels like a little dookie line here, doesn't it? Does smell like Duke That's a big, big old dookie. Just had like a bunch of greasy food. Pizza. Yeah.

[Connor]

Coffee right after.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, it's a couple of double coffee, actually. Super espressoed up and then massive dookie just. That smells terrible. That's what this line is right now.

AJ, I told you about my T10 wiper. Oh, yeah, that was a crazy morning. That was a wild dookie.

[AJ Hawk]

When did you start counting?

[Pat McAfee]

So I use wipes, you know, and I'm on bus, so it can only, you know, flushing. You gotta really kind of watch careful. Gotta be careful. So I'm counting.

[AJ Hawk]

You got that macerator. It's called a macerator thing that chops your turds up in there. I'm sure you're. Yeah, the thing's really nice. I'm sure it does.

[Pat McAfee]

Does have that. So you call your hand, is it down in the tube or is it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it's somehow in the. Somehow in the tank, I guess it's called. I think it's called something I've heard guys brag about it years ago. Called this one, hey, this thing chops the turds up and then it's like luxury.

[Pat McAfee]

I'd assume we got the turd chopper. Yeah, I assume we.

[AJ Hawk]

That I have the task, old buddy. Yeah, then you got it.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll ask buddy Scott and Misty. Good people. They're good people. I will ask him if we got the turd chopper. But tonight, the dookie chopper. Tonight feels like this. This line's a little stinky. Aj, who do you like? How do you like it?

[AJ Hawk]

So I can get Dallas at minus three or plus three and a half.

I came into this show with that opinion and I will leave the show with that opinion. And Big Mike, he kind of. He helped me double down on that. And I feel good. I feel good about his confidence in this Dallas Cowboys too. So. Yeah, give me that.

[Pat McAfee]

Me too. He's nine three.

[Connor]

Don't you need the points?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, three and a half is good, but I take them straight it up tonight.

[Ty Schmid]

Don't get misconstrued now. It's not. Not going to be an easy game.

[Tone]

Tough place to play.

[Pat McAfee]

Tough. Aj, you can attest to this.

[Connor]

It is.

[Pat McAfee]

What a legend. He texted me and said that Galileo. My God, I've been humming Queen since the show.

[AJ Hawk]

He's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

He is awesome, man. It is nice getting to know him and for you, getting a chance to re. Catch back. Back up with him, I assume.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, it's huge. Yeah, it's awesome because I talk to him now more now, obviously in the show and then off the show as well. And yeah, he's, he's a big fan of the program. He loves, you know, like he sits there multiple times every show. He's like, I mean, where are we going? Like, what, what is this? Like, I think it blows his mind just how, just how the show is. That's what, that's what makes me laugh is watch how much fun he had.

[Pat McAfee]

There's about to be potential McCarthy season here over the next few weeks. Kind of jobs start to kind of open up and potentially who's going to be where. And it's normally like six, seven jobs every off season could be more, it could be a little bit less, obviously, but that's normally the turnover. He was one of them this past offseason. It's like, well, he want to get back into the ranks. What it will be like, where would he head to? It's crazy. There's so much to kind of decide. We're very thankful that he joins us every week and we're also very thankful for prime putting on a great game tonight. Cowboys, Lions, we'll be back tomorrow. A.J. you're traveling out here.

[AJ Hawk]

Yep, I'll be there.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you for doing that.

[Cody Campbell]

A.J.

[AJ Hawk]

You'Re still heading.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

You're head down to SEC championship, right?

[Pat McAfee]

That's right. One VERSE two Here in Indianapolis, that.

[Ty Schmid]

Happens all the time.

[Connor]

Fuck that.

[Pat McAfee]

I am excited to get that. There is an energy around the SEC championship, obviously. It does have an incredible fan base, incredible tradition, incredible history. So the SEC championship is a festival of football. Like it certainly is that. And once we get into that competition Convention center and the show gets rolling like 10, 11 o' clock as it continues to fill up, it is electrifying. Like, I'm not going to say it's not electrifying there, but man, the Hoosiers in Indianapolis in the Big Ten championship, going for its first ever undefeated. I mean there's just so many things. And then Ohio State obviously being a well traveled, it's like this entire city would be fucking shut down completely. I got a whole.

I got text messages from people that run the city and make decisions that were like, hey, we're putting together a proposal for you guys to be like. And sending pictures. I'm like, fuck it. Don't. Please don't, please don't. Please don't send that to me. But they were going to shut the city. The city was basically going to be shut down for this entire thing. And it should be an electrifying environment. Not saying that the SEC Championship isn't okay. I'm not saying that at all. And obviously, massive game for both teams there. Georgia might be best team in country with the way they've been playing legitimately. And it feels like they're the SEC's Ohio State right now, even though Ohio State has not lost Georgia, the way they've been playing, how dominant they've been playing, certainly some. And then Alabama has had to go on a crazy run to kind of see if they can prove themselves to make the playoffs. So it's obviously a great game, but like, this Big Ten one is historic. Yes. This one is like once. First time.

[Connor]

Once. Once in a generation you can argue.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. For. Especially for the fucking Indiana and the Hoosiers.

[Connor]

Definitely once in a generation for Indiana.

[Pat McAfee]

Indianapolis hosts a. A lot of things. A lot of things. A lot of championships, a lot of college stuff, a lot of professional stuff. Very rarely gets a chance to like host like, yes, the Indiana. Indiana shit. You know, like Indiana stuff. So, yeah, it's all right. Atlanta will be sick. Atlanta will be sick. It'll be fun to get down there. A lot of people watching football these days. That's a good thing, bad thing. 57.2 million, they said last week. Now that insane 57.2 million at the.

[Connor]

Peak Christmas will be nuts.

[AJ Hawk]

What are the playoff numbers going to be like for the NFL? And I mean college football playoff numbers and the NFL playoff numbers, that's going to be gigantic.

[Pat McAfee]

So to go back to what Cody Campbell was kind of talking about with scheduling and all that shit, you know, like if we went with Joey McGuire, who's coach of Texas Tech, who I assume has been a part of this entire thought process with Cody Campbell trying to figure it out. He talked about the schedule being something that could be easily controlled, them doing moving up college football and then running right into right now being college football playoffs. Like if right now was college football playoffs, as opposed to having college football playoffs during NFL playoffs, during days that NFL is playing on Saturday now, it's like you could certainly draw a lot more attention. I'm not saying that college football is struggling for ratings. It's up and to the right. More people are interested than they've ever been. Second most watch league in sport in the country. It's like gigantic. But also the way it's set up last year, I think people got maybe college football fatigue for sure with how long it ran and the massive break that there was in between games. And it's like, what are we doing now? Well, now the playoffs are starting Here and then this game matters. Oh, this one's on cw. It's at the same time as an NFL game. It's like, how is this what we're doing for the most important college football game?

[Foxy]

And the semifinals were on Thursday, Friday. And if you remember, the numbers came back, those were much lower than all the other college football playoffs.

[Pat McAfee]

And I don't think a lot of people even knew it was happening. Exactly. It was, it was just. It's a weird setup. So I think this year people will be more prepared for it because obviously it's happened before. But also I think if they were to restructure that schedule and calendar, I think it would.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, they will. They'll be. They'll be tweaking this thing forever, hopefully.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot of people saying that with Cody Campbell's pitch, we don't need to either focus on, we got other shit that's more important from the government. The NCAA says, well, we can't do anything until the government does something. And then the government's like this, why are we, we're trying to deal with like world hunger and all that shit. Why are, why aren't you guys doing that? So that's just a finger pointing contest. Then. You have to get everybody on the same page. All the conferences, first of all, gotta get all the conferences on the same page. All the conferences are made up by a bunch of people that aren't on the same page. You know, presidents, ads, all from the individual conferences. Lot of on coaches and everything. I mean.

You'Re the guy for the job, Cody.

[Connor]

Go get him.

[Pat McAfee]

Good luck, Cody. Put that hat on.

[Ty Schmid]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

And go ahead, walk out there. Because he would be the only one, really football guy, incredible businessman, has the backing to be able to keep up, but also feels like he can take the shots on the shins. You know, that is definitely going to come. Like there's going to be constant roadblocks in that entire thing because there's going to be people potentially losing out on power and money. And anytime you do that, there's going to be people that are going to want to stop that. I mean, that is just something that's going to. Anytime you're changing the flow of both those things, power and money, there's going to be a lot of people who have had both those things for a long time. They're going to be like, I don't think so. Yeah, and Cody's got to deal with all of that. But go on, old man, go on.

We need you. We need you. I'm happ. It's not me. Coach Shaving saying it ain't going to be me. All right? But if you want some ideas, I'll certainly tell you, but you're going to have to. It's not me. All right. I'm going to get out of here. You guys are the greatest. We appreciate you all so much. Dookie drops tonight, midnight, I would say not worth staying up for. Catch it tomorrow morning. Catch it tomorrow morning. But if you would like to, you know, pre. Save it, get it now, you would certainly be doing me quite a favor because I guess if people show interest in something, there's a chance it makes maybe that kind of goes around the platform, you know, so if you want to, you know, kind of boost it a little bit. And once again, Dookie is the most shallow song we got. The most shallow. But, boy, it's fun to call something dookie. You know, it is a boom bang, a little singing in there, a little bit of a bop in there. I think there's a lot of different content possibilities with this particular song. And then hopefully it just leads to, you know, some more songs that are in the can, I believe is what they they call as we roll into hopefully making some bangers for some people or learning about an entirely new business that has been incredibly nice to me thus far. So I'm thankful for everything. I'm appreciative. We're back tomorrow. Overreacting to tonight. Looking ahead to maybe the best site that we've had all season for the NFL and championship weekend for college. Life is good. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. I appreciate you, boys. I appreciate you.

[Connor]

Appreciate you, Doug.

[Pat McAfee]

One, two, three. Goodbye. Hi there.

[Ty Schmid]

Surprise.

[Pat McAfee]

30 for 30 presents. Booyah. Can I get a witness from the congregation?

[AJ Hawk]

You can't stop authenticity.

[Pat McAfee]

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.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Talk about stepping up.

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[Pat McAfee]

And the best championship moments.

[Ty Schmid]

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[Pat McAfee]

Step up your game.

[Dan Orlovsky]

With no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience.

[Ty Schmid]

Level up.

[Dan Orlovsky]

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[Pat McAfee]

At stream.espn.com sign up now.