← The Pat McAfee Show
The Pat McAfee Show
PMS 2.0 1469 - TNF Preview, Sherrone Moore Fired at Michigan, Pete Thamel, Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal, Coach Mike McCarthy, & AJ Hawk
02:41:51
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- [00:01]
Pat McAfee
Hello beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the ThunderDome. On this NFL Week 15 kickoff Thursday, December 11, 2025. This sports program begins now. Football. It is magical. In week 15 of the NFL season kicks off this evening in the NFC South. There's two teams coming off what some people could call embarrassing losses. I'm not saying that because every team that's in the NFL is a good football team. The Bucs lose to the Saints last week. The Falcons lose to the Seattle Seahawks by how much?
- [00:31]
Connor Rogers
37, nine and nobod.
- [00:32]
Pat McAfee
Geez Louise. Kirk Cousins has Drake London at Baker Mayfield has Mike Evans back. Bucks favored by four and a half on Amazon Prime. Kirk Herbstreet, Al Michaels, Kaylee Hartsung, Karissa Thompson, Gonzalez Witt, Fit Sherm and I.
- [00:52]
Ty Schmidt
Think that that's pretty much it.
- [00:54]
Pat McAfee
Whole squad, you guys crush it. Can't wait to watch. Tonight, week 15 of the NFL season kicks off in a beautiful way. There's a lot of people saying this game might be ass, this game might be shite. Kirk Cousins, Baker Mayfield, Thursday night, let's assume something magical happens. Might I remind you the last time Kirk Cousins played against the Bucs balled out four touchdowns or something like that. Zero interceptions. Went absolutely crazy. Is that going to happen tonight? Who knows? Is Baker Mayfield going to go crazy after a loss to the Saints? Potentially. Tonight we kick off week 15. There is 0, 0 playoff clinch. There is 0 division clinches. There is 0 teams that have everything stamped in stone in what they will be doing going into the playoffs. So this weekend could be a special one and there's a lot of big time matchups. We're pump that week 15 is off and running. We're also very, very what would it be like? Knowledge of a situation very in the know, I guess of what the hell's going on in Michigan right now. Yesterday was one of the most wild rides on the Internet that I've had in sometimes around the sports world. You know, go home from the Thunderdome after a great day here in another U ball championship run of D Bud and D Bone. Obviously congrats to Bone and Butts the D block. They continue to be the champion. Go home, hang out, get a chance to put her up to bed. Every time you check your phone though, there's a new thing happening. Wish Sharon Moore. So many troll accounts, so many AI, different stories, everything's going crazy. All we do know is Sherone Moore is not the head coach of Michigan anymore. Sharon Moore is currently detained in a jail. I believe in Michigan. Not because of the reason why he got fired, but because what happened immediately after he got fired or acknowledged of the fire. We'll have Pete Thammel joining us in about three minutes to break down what's real, what's not real. Because if you're on the Internet last night, boy, there was a lot of things and without good AI, I'll tell you, I was seeing a lot of different stuff. Pete. Demo will break down what we know, what we don't know. Very serious stuff, very serious allegations, very serious storyline that obviously will lead into what the future of Michigan is and who's their next head coach and how they go forward. Biff Pogi, who's a businessman, billionaire extraordinaire, will be the interim head coach for the Michigan Wolverines. He was this earlier in the year when Sharon was suspended for a couple games. They play Texas on New Year's Eve in the Cheez It Bowl. Texas playing Arch, playing their entire team. Texas not happy about not making it in college Football Playoff, gearing up for next year to kind of do their thing. They're only six and a half point favorites against a Michigan team whose starting quarterback has already taken Michigan all the way out of his entire social media status. And Michigan for the next two weeks is poachable for any coachable to go and get them. So it's a wild time to be alive. Maybe that Texas, Michigan game, 6 1/2 might get taken off the board depending upon who is all on that. That's not for us to care about though. Just something to think about as we put this out into the world. Texas currently only 6 and a half point favorites against Michigan. Who knows what this Michigan Wolverines team looks like by the time New Year's Eve comes around. Just something to think about. The talks and tables here at Boston, Conner at Ty Schmidt, 1/2 of the hammer done. Cowboys AP Tone is here and con man, I'll talk to you about this. The Internet was alive last night.
- [03:57]
Connor Rogers
Oh, yeah.
- [03:58]
Pat McAfee
And in our position, okay, we have learned, we have stubbed our toe a few times. Okay, we're live. We are live three, four hours a day. Boom, boom, boom. So what we say one day might not necessarily be the exact truth like a week from them. Because we're living in the moment with the information that we have last night. A lot of information, a lot of misinformation, a lot of stories. Because we're talking about the biggest rivalry in college football.
- [04:20]
Connor Rogers
Oh, yeah.
- [04:21]
Pat McAfee
We're talking about college football fans and we're talking about AI being able to Create anything. This story seemingly came out of nowhere. Okay. I heard a lot of people on the Internet now, a lot of things, but a lot of people were saying, like, kind of had rumblings of this. We kind of heard this was going on. It's like I did. I mean, I was just up there a few weeks ago. We talked to Sharon on college game day. I talked to Coach Rome more the day before to get a little info on his team. It's like, I didn't know any of this was happening, so I was kind of blindsided by it all. And then, boom, he's in jail. It's like, what a whirlwind of a day for everybody. Family involved, obviously, other lives involved. Very serious allegation. It's like last night was an insane night on the Internet. And I think it showcased. I don't think it's a good. But college ball.
- [05:01]
Connor Rogers
Yes.
- [05:03]
Pat McAfee
Ohio State people, obviously burner accounts that have information that nobody else has.
- [05:08]
Connor Rogers
Somehow Michigan State.
- [05:09]
Pat McAfee
Michigan State people getting it. I mean, it was. Last night was insane. And all we know is that Michigan's future is just one big question mark, I guess, at the head coach. And what yesterday was, I think is kind of one big question mark for all of us as well.
- [05:20]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. Yesterday is one of those. When you're on the Internet, you read everything, you react to nothing because you really just don't know what is going to be real, what is not going to be real. You don't want to get in a situation where you react to something that is just completely wrong or from one of those teams, one of those fans, rather of a team that is rivals with Michigan. But I think because of what the last three weeks of college football has been, that also amplifies it. Like it hasn't been as much College Football Playoff as much as it's been coaching, going other places. Lane Kiffin, you know, Sumrall, all these other spots that have been open. Yeah, that as well. But like Michigan, if you were to tell us, or if you're going to tell everybody, two weeks ago, Michigan was going to be a job that was open. You would probably say Michigan is up there with the lsu. Like, LSU was kind of the open spot. And then after that, the tier was everything else. Michigan goes into that top tier.
- [06:14]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Joining us now is a man who has all the information on what's real, what's not real. We appreciate him, you know, and he's had to report some stuff that Michigan fans didn't like in the past, but he'll report against Any school that has anything going wrong. That is why he is the authority. Ladies and gentlemen, from college game day, both football and basketball, the authority. For you, espn, Pete Thammel. Pete, we appreciate you joining us. Obviously, you and Wetzel, big part of the storylines yesterday. Okay, you sent us over a timeline of what you knew or what you know. Could you potentially walk us through where we stand right now? Because the Internet was ablaze last night with so many different things. It could be real, could not be real. What do we know and where do we stand right now? Pete, thank you for joining us.
- [06:58]
Pete Thamel
Yeah, thanks for having me, Pat. This. This is what we know from a timeline perspective. Yesterday, you know, sometime mid Sharon Moore was dismissed from the University of Michigan with cause. One of the things that stood out to me about that, Pat, is they were very clear that this was because of an inappropriate relationship. And rarely in these cases is that as explicitly stated as Michigan said it. So they clearly relayed that information to Sharon. You know, not long after that, police in Pittsfield, Michigan, Pittsfield Township, responded to investigate what they called in a press release an alleged assault. Not long after that, Michigan had a team meeting where the team was told of Sherwin Moore's dismissal. This was obviously shocking to the team and staff. They did not know this was coming. Michigan announced things. I think it was 4:43pm was the official time of Michigan announcing this. And then around 7:15 last night, the city of Saline, Michigan announced that Moore had been detained and they were working in partnership with Pittsfield Township. And then it emerged through court documents last night that Sheryl Moore had been booked in Washtenaw County Jail. He's still in custody in Washtenaw County Jail. Dan Wetzel, my colleague just got a statement from Washtenaw County Prosecutor's office which basically said no announcement of a decision on charges is expected today. So we will wait to see the fate of Stromore. He remains in custody. We will wait to see if he is charged and then what he could potentially be charged with. And then, you know, obviously, obviously, legally things would proceed from there.
- [08:34]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so thank you for the timeline. Thank you for the information. We saw a lot of stuff on the Internet yesterday. There was a potential threat, a suicide threat, and then they say alleged assault. Do we have any more information on the situation that arose from him getting put into protective custody or into jail? Because that was kind of even kind of miss I don't want to say misworded, but it was like kind of a little bit of a guise on what was actually happening. Is he arrested, Is he taking in for his own protection? Like how do we know any of the information on that particular fact?
- [09:06]
Pete Thamel
Pat, until the police come out with a clarifying statement or a police report, I don't think anyone can be certain the exact nature of what he could be charged with. Obviously there, you know, the police specifically said they responded to an alleged assault. So that's the baseline fact set that we are going to work off of. You know, this projects to be very complex and certainly, you know, the notions you referenced on the Internet have been bounced around. But I think, you know, to be responsible, responsible here. The police documents that will inevitably emerge through public documents in this case, as the days unfold here are going to be the guide to what is actually happening.
- [09:50]
Pat McAfee
Okay, what are the next couple steps here, both for Sharon Moore and for the University of Michigan? Because obviously they have a bowl game. Biff was put into the interim head coaching role. They are currently six and a half point dogs against Texas in the Cheez it bowl, which is certainly one of the biggest, most popular bowl games this particular season. Michigan and Texas and the Cheez it bowl would be a big deal. What are the next steps for Michigan? What are the next steps for Sharon? Get out of jail obviously first. But everything else along those lines, sure.
- [10:17]
Pete Thamel
Sharon's expected to retain an attorney. We'll find out if he gets arraigned. If he waives that pretrial hearing, I'd expect him out in the near future. That's just how these cases typically go. We'll see if, if his case is, is different than that. But usually when, when someone is brought in on this type of allegation, there's, you know, a process that unfolds in a relatively, in a relatively quick timeframe. The assumption from talking to law that area about how these things work is that, you know, he'd be released on some type of bond in the, in the near future as, as for Michigan. Pat, obviously, you know, you and Connor just referenced this volatile coaching carousel. Michigan enters it at an inopportune time and this is obviously shifting from very serious Sherwin Moore situation to football. And you know, this will loom as a giant football story over the, over the next couple of weeks. Michigan is one of the best jobs in college football. It obviously in this era has myriad resour that it can leverage. We saw that with the Bryce Underwood signing last year. And it comes at a time where we have seen, you know, about a dozen power jobs open. So obviously big coaches have moved. You've also seen another half Dozen really high profile coaches get extensions or get close to being extended. So in theory, the pool for Michigan is smaller than it would have been if, if the job had opened in a traditional hiring and firing timeline. Now, now I've been told this morning that that is not going to quell Michigan's ambitions.
- [11:45]
Ty Schmidt
Right.
- [11:46]
Pete Thamel
You know, Michigan obviously institutionally feels like you can go get a great coach. So the conversation about this is going to start with Kaylin DeBoer of Alabama. Whether he wants to go, whether Michigan can get him, whether the timing could work would remain to be seen. I would be skeptical just having been around this long enough that Calyn DeBoer could navigate the high wire to leave in the middle of the playoff. And also no one has indicated that he'd be interested at all either. So I would expect some clarity on that fairly soon. Just because, you know, from the second this, this job opened, his name was the, his name was the first one to, to emerge from there. I think you'd have to look at a trio of sitting head coaches who are all excellent. Jeff Brahm at Louisville, Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri, and obviously Jed Fish who's at Washington, who had been at Michigan in less controversial times under Harbaugh. Before things, you know, the last four or five years there was this spate of scandals that we've, that we've seen. Fish was not involved any of those. He brings an extensive NFL background. When you look at the DNA of Michigan football, obviously you know what happened when Rich Rodriguez went there. They tend to want to be NFL style, right? That did not, that experiment did not work with your former head coach there. When they went more spread in tempo, Michigan kind of, that reinforced the DNA of that program being sort of defiantly pro style, NFL style. So I would think, you know, I saw Jesse Minter up on that list. He's certainly, you know, a guy who has been there, who had a lot of success as a coordinator, whose name will be mentioned. So, you know, Pat, Michigan officials are in shock right now. You know, I mean, this is, it's hard to overstate just the, you know, just the human nature to, to this there. So I don't expect a decision, you know, in 48 hours or anything like that. Just, just in terms of having to g. There's going to be a lot of board input on something like this. How much say does Ward Manual have in this hire is, you know, going forward is going to be a question, I think that looms over this search. So there's, you know, it's going to be a. It's going to be from a pure football standpoint, you know, perhaps the most compelling search of this whole cycle.
- [13:53]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so thank you for all the information. There's so many different follow ups that the boys will certainly hit in different, whether it's Ward manual or the players or the Michigan officials and everything like that. How long. Everybody is kind of thought that maybe this was taking place and information because it feels like a lot of people were talking like as if they knew something was coming. But there's a two week period in this modern world that we're in right now where players are allowed to get poached.
- [14:15]
Mario Cristobal
Right.
- [14:15]
Pat McAfee
If you change your coach and obviously you mentioned Bryce Underwood and you talk about the resources, he's eliminated all Michigan stuff from his profile. There's other obviously commits that had gone to Michigan because of Sharon Moore. There's other players on the team that say, well, if we can potentially see what other options are, we're definitely going to do that. That feels like the world that we're in right now. Does that two week period start today? Is that kind of how that whole thing goes? And what are we looking at for Michigan when it comes to, like, what their roster is going to look like by the time we get to the bowl game on New Year's Eve?
- [14:48]
Pete Thamel
So, Pat, there, there's been a rule change and this is my understanding of it, and these rules have changed a lot. But I'm fairly certain now if your coach leaves, you are allowed to enter the portal. I believe the number is five days after a new coach is hired. Now, obviously the portal itself is going to organically open on January 2nd. So it was, you're correct, it was, you know, coach gets, leaves. Gets whatever it is. It was, you could just go free.
- [15:15]
Ty Schmidt
Right.
- [15:16]
Pete Thamel
And that, that shifted this summer. That's, that's my understanding off the top of my head here to, to how this, how this unfolds. So it used to be coach leaves, it's free agency season. And as we're in this new era and things are changing, my, my recollection of the rule is that.
- [15:34]
Pat McAfee
Okay, all right, sweet. Thank you for the information. Now let's talk about the information and who had it when. Go ahead, Tone.
- [15:41]
Tone
Yeah, Pete, you talked about athletic director Ward Manuel and obviously, you know, there's a lot of people upset with him on the Internet and a lot of people upset with Michigan in general on the Internet, on the timeline of potentially when this investigation started and when they knew, because just a week ago was early signing day. So a lot of people were upset that they just let their signing day go on with, you know, no information of this to the recruits and people that sign with them. Do we have any idea when this investigation started in relation to that or just in general when Michigan knew? Potentially so.
- [16:13]
Pete Thamel
So, tone, this is my understanding of the. Of the timeline, and Dan Wetzel reported this this morning. There was an initial investigation into this and nothing credible was found. It came from anonymous tip. So that information, once it was brought forward and nothing was found, was then closed. And then within recent days, very, I believe Ward Manual was in Las Vegas at the football foundation event, as most athletic directors are this week. So that just shows. And they hired Kerry Combs as a special teams coach three days ago. So this wasn't an organization acting as if they knew something was imminent. They fired the special teams coach last week, brought in a veteran guy in Kerry Combs. You know, it was. Business, was operating as usual. Dan was told that. But within the past day or two, credible information emerged that was overwhelming in nature that changed the investigation and led to the decision yesterday.
- [17:13]
Pat McAfee
So over the last couple days is really when the people that are in positions of power at Michigan found out about the credibility of these allegations that had come from an anonymous tip maybe months before.
- [17:26]
Pete Thamel
I would certainly say weeks passed that. You know, I would certainly say it was. It was weeks.
- [17:31]
Pat McAfee
But then they did an investigation. They're saying. What you're saying is they did an investigation into the anonymous tape and found there was nothing that would be deemed.
- [17:38]
Pete Thamel
The initial investigation, did not find what this latest one did. Okay, what the difference there was, we are not certain of yet. But it went from not enough to move forward to a definitive decision with a very public declaration of. Of. Of what they. Of them to their decision. Obviously, Shermore would have been owed $12.5 million if he had been fired for just simply losing games. Instead, he was fired for cause. So the school doesn't plan to pay him anything.
- [18:10]
Pat McAfee
It's fascinating because, you know, the world we live in is obviously one that has a very active Internet. And then there's a lot of tweets coming that, like, saw this coming from trolls and burners. And it's like, well, if these burners knew it, who's running these burners? Who's talking to the burners? And then it's easy to kind of just say, well, everybody. If these people do, then everybody must know. What you're saying is there was a knowledge of a situation, an investigation took place, it was cleared from Their investigation and then within the last 48 hours, more stuff coming. It's like, whoa, this is very much something that needs to kind of get settled. I guess that that is the. I guess. I guess if you're Michigan, that would be the best possible outcome is that we did our investigation and we didn't find anything. We didn't just let this continue to happen under our watch, which was certainly what was being talked about. Once again, we're in the middle of the fire right now. We will only learn more as it continues to go. As it continues to go will be the coaching conversation. You alluded to it a little bit before. Connor has a follow up.
- [19:07]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, Pete. Looking at the coaching situation, Michigan is one of the top jobs in the country. It's hard to argue that in general. But do you expect any of the coaches who are now moving, you know, whether it be Sumrall or any of those other guys going up, maybe a step to maybe get poached? Do you expect any of the names that were allegedly floating around Penn State to maybe then float to Michigan? Yeah, Matt Campbell, but him being more so one of the names that might get poached. And then, I mean, guys like Marcus Freeman, guys like, you know, Brahm, I believe was the guy Lane. Would he even be possible? Dan Lane Lanning, would he be one that could get poached to Michigan and then any of the NFL guys, you know, are there any guys that you could see maybe. I mean, John Harbaugh has been talked about getting fired from the Ravens for the past four or five weeks.
- [19:56]
Pete Thamel
Weeks.
- [19:56]
Connor Rogers
Would he be a guy that maybe says, you know what, my time in Baltimore has kind of come to the end. Maybe I go to Michigan now. Is everything on the table? Do they have Mike Tomlin? Is there a specific thing that they're looking for? What would you expect their cycle to look like over the next year?
- [20:14]
Pat McAfee
And is it like the Penn State one where like everybody is going to get an opportunity? Like, is that how you kind of view this end up going?
- [20:21]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [20:21]
Pete Thamel
So I'll answer the first part of the question. I don't think anyone that just moved would be a viable camp candidate. That's just very, very hard to do. A coach that just got extended could end up being a viable candidate. I didn't mention Clark Lee last time. Clark Lee, from a fit perspective from how Michigan views itself, you know, would be a wonderful fit at Michigan. He's obviously Bennett. Notre Dame has deep ties to the upper Midwest. That would make, you know, that that type of move where someone who has signed an extension could still maybe then go is more viable than, you know, a guy like Summerall or Campbell. Now if this job open ago, I would think Matt Campbell would have been the top candidate. He'd been at Toledo, right, which is right down the road from Ann Arbor. He is of the Midwest. That had always been sort of one of the, one of the jobs that people had pegged him for. It just had never opened, you know, in a, in a timeline where he could have gotten it. But he is not going to walk out of Penn State to go there. That's just, that's, that's just not, not reality or, or, or, or based in, you know, just based in anything. As for NFL stuff, you know, that's not my world as much as it is Adams and some surprised me. The one fortunate part of the timing here is if you're trying to hire a NFL coach, Pat, in like mid November, that's hard, right? You can't even see the end of the season now that we're sitting here in mid December. And the, you know, the, the franchises that are struggling, it would be more, it'd be less off putting to leave if you're, you know, if you're out of the playoff and you can kind of exit, you know, a little more gracefully. Just that I mean when does the NFL regular season end? It's like the second week in January, correct?
- [21:59]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Coming up soon.
- [22:01]
Ty Schmidt
Right.
- [22:02]
Pete Thamel
Right around that. So it' just, it's always been as the calendars have changed, it's just always been hard to sync up an NFL like sitting type head coach to college. Sitting type head coach. Maybe that's one, you know, dollop of, you know, serendipity in the timing here is that that, that could be a little bit more, that could be a little bit more tenable than it might bet might have been in, in November.
- [22:25]
Pat McAfee
You might have hit maybe 10 to 12 of them today. I mean tenable is just your most recent one. But you really been serendipitous dollop of serendipity. Yeah. I mean there is you really on it today. This is big Pete Thamble Day. Obviously we appreciate you joining us as the information continues to roll in. Go ahead, Ty.
- [22:41]
Ty Schmidt
Pete, you mentioned Kaylin DeBoer kind of being the, the guy who they're potentially going to go after. This is all hypothetical obviously, but if Alabama were to lose in the first round next week and then he turns around and let's say he does go to Michigan and they have that, you know, five Days where guys can enter the portal. Like, is there a chance that could Michigan pull out of the Cheez It Bowl? Like is that in play at all if there is a match, mass exodus of players and like is there a chance that we don't get that Michigan Texas game? Or at this point is that off the table?
- [23:14]
Pete Thamel
Excellent question. Not one I've put a ton of thought to ty to be honest with you there. You know, if you look at Iowa State and K State not playing in their Bulls, there's a half million dollar fine. This game's obviously going to be a ratings monster. So the Big Ten is going to be incentivized to want to participate in it now. Now, if the roster isn't available to, to play, that would certainly be a different conversation, I think. It's so early, you know, we're not even 24 hours from this happening. It's, it's difficult to project but you know, New Year's Eve is, is. You talk about serendipitous timing, right? Like that's fascinating with the portal, the portal opening essentially 48 hours, 48 hours later. Look, with, with these big grand programs, you're, you know, your high end NFL guys aren't going to play in the bowl anyway, right? That's just the way of the world from Christian McCaffrey. Now it went from an anomaly to just the, you know, the, the expectation. So I think Ty, it's just too early to, for me to have any kind of feel on, on that. But I have not heard anything, you know, that that indicates the roster is shaken to a point where, you know, where they, where they wouldn't play in a bowl.
- [24:20]
Pat McAfee
We appreciate you, Pete. We'll continue to follow you on X. You and Wetzel have done a great job through this all. Thank you for keeping us what's real and what isn'. Much appreciate that. If we see any good memes or things, we'll send them to you to look into.
- [24:32]
Ty Schmidt
Yep.
- [24:34]
Pete Thamel
Love the memes. Thank you, Pat.
- [24:35]
Pat McAfee
You're the man. Hey, they're calling you Buckeye Pete again. Look out, Pete again. You're the man. Lazy.
- [24:40]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah. O.G.
- [24:41]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [24:44]
Pat McAfee
Oh, gee.
- [24:44]
Mike McCarthy
Oh, geez.
- [24:45]
Pat McAfee
Of course they are. Listen, I'm just trying to do my job, but, you know, my fault. They're always in the middle of it. They're always in the middle of. They're right in the middle of it. This is very, this is a. This came out. See, that's why I was so confused because I feel like we are, I mean, somewhat plugged in the college world now, you know, because I get a chance to meet these people and travel. And there was a lot of people on the Internet that were like, this was known. This was known. This was known.
- [25:05]
Tone
It's a different section of the Internet.
- [25:06]
Pat McAfee
I didn't. I didn't know any of this. I legit. Talking to Shiron, I was like, happy for him. Now you lose to Ohio State, you don't make the playoffs. They just paid 16 million to a quarterback for you. Like the natural.
- [25:17]
Pete Thamel
Yeah.
- [25:17]
Pat McAfee
College football fan. Objective is if he beats Ohio State, it's a. All this, you know.
- [25:23]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah. If they get into the playoff, it's.
- [25:24]
Pat McAfee
Crazy to even think maybe it's another.
- [25:25]
Tone
Three game suspension instead of.
- [25:27]
Pat McAfee
That's what I'm saying. Like, it is. Sports are an insane thing. They are a great unifier, but they're also, you know, potentially something that can expose things. And this is just a sad situation. Charon's always been nice to us.
- [25:40]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [25:41]
Pat McAfee
But all this stuff that we learned about quickly and turn around, it's like chaos was happening, I guess, behind the scenes over there. How. How do you even win a game?
- [25:50]
Ty Schmidt
Well, like you said, that's why it was so hard to track last night. Because some of the tweets that you were seeing were backdated like two weeks ago. And there were like shreds of truth in those and then surrounded by a bunch of other. So it's like, well, this part might be correct. All of this. Who knows? So it was like, you know, it really was just, you know, trying to keep your head above water because, I mean, it's such a crazy situation that you can kind of talk yourself into believing certain parts of all the kind of more sensational stuff that's out there.
- [26:20]
Pat McAfee
Well, especially with the AI being able to make mug shots.
- [26:23]
Ty Schmidt
Right?
- [26:23]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Police reports. It is outrageous on the Internet. Okay, let's pivot away from Michigan and what's going on in college ball. We'll visit with coach Mario Cristobal here in about 15 minutes or so. His team is in the playoff. Okay. You should be pumped.
- [26:36]
Ty Schmidt
Yes.
- [26:36]
Tone
Oh, yeah, Very much so.
- [26:37]
Pat McAfee
And breaking news. We will be doing a field pass for his game versus Texas A and M down there in College Station. We will also have Mike Elko joining us tomorrow to chat about what's going on. So we're very thankful to both of them. We will be fair and biased, fair and unbiased. Yeah, you're right. Non biased and fair whenever we do the coverage. But also, we have so much respect for both These teams, we cannot wait to get down there. We're so excited for the College Football Playoff to get started. Which is why all this negative news potentially happening kind of sucks because we have so much great stuff around the corner in college football this week. Army, Navy, can't wait for that. Heisman obviously excited for that. And then the college football playoffs start in a huge way next week and college football will showcase why great. And that's what we're excited to be a part of and lucky to be a part of. And jmu tough don't look now too Lane.
- [27:28]
Connor Rogers
I'm worried about Oregon.
- [27:29]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, there's a chance. Oregon. Oh, Ole Miss. Whoa. Now if they win by 50, Oregon and Ole Miss there over Tulane and JMU, does that help maybe guide a conversation in the off season about what we need to do with these 12 spots potentially?
- [27:45]
Ty Schmidt
You would hope so.
- [27:46]
Pat McAfee
So we would like to say Tulane and jmu. You're not just playing for yourself. You know that you're playing for all future group of five. Because with how loud it got this year and everybody was kind of aiming at Alabama and aiming at Miami and obviously Notre Dame were the mad ones. If Tulane and JMU go in there and lose by 70 points each of them, which I'm not saying is going to happen, certainly possible, but I'm not any college football game can have that happen. But those games, not saying it's a definite, but they're certainly possible. Especially with how much Ole Miss can do it. Right. Ole Miss can run it. They can run it up. Oregon if they just start pounding you.
- [28:20]
Ty Schmidt
These aren't at neutral sites either.
- [28:21]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. These are home games.
- [28:22]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [28:23]
Pat McAfee
Okay. So there is a chance these did ugly. And if that is the case, then maybe there is a conversation. But if JMU in Tulane hold their own as champions as one of the two of the top five ranked conference champions in the country, I think we're just kind of status quo going forward. So a lot on the line in those two games. Obviously Oklahoma, Alabama is going to be special on Friday night and Norman cannot wait to get out there for college game day. Then we'll travel over to College Station. Saturday morning will be college game day and then we'll be field pass on the sideline for another college football playoff game. That's the dumbest thing of all time. I can't believe we get to do that.
- [28:54]
Ty Schmidt
Without a doubt, can't we? And you know, like you, you've been there a couple times. Like I've never been to Kyle Field. I'm so Ready for that atmosphere and not just like a big game. Week two of the season. Like, this is a playoff game. This is insane.
- [29:06]
Pat McAfee
You guys should be going to the midnight Yale practice the night before.
- [29:11]
Ty Schmidt
Why not?
- [29:11]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You guys should be doing when in Rome.
- [29:13]
Tone
Definitely.
- [29:13]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you guys should definitely be doing that.
- [29:14]
Tone
Can they change it 10.
- [29:15]
Pat McAfee
What's that? I know you got kids for those who have children. Yeah, I don't think they will. I think it's pretty. It's pretty standard timing. I think everybody kind of understands the deal, but I don't. I had a chance to sit outside the stadium. I guess I was laying at the time. I was staying in a bus with. Where they had my bus at was right outside of the stadium. And obviously there's a large amount of people just gathering to go in. And I was told that it was going to happen. I don't think I fully understand what's going to happen. Take place. They are. I mean, they are yellow. I mean it is a. That is a midnight yellow. It's a special atmosphere. It is a beautiful place down there. I think you guys are going to love it. And it gives us an excuse to dress like cowboys. Bingo. Maybe spurs on these boots. Trying to get there early Friday.
- [29:59]
Tone
Hit up every cowboy hat store down there.
- [30:01]
Pat McAfee
Where was the place? We went to a spot down there. I forget what it was. They got me. Finest. Finest I've had. And then I got some location. Easy boots.
- [30:10]
Connor Rogers
By the way, it's not the stockyards.
- [30:12]
Tone
Remember where we were first round last?
- [30:13]
Pat McAfee
That's Fort Worth.
- [30:14]
Connor Rogers
Fort Worth. Yep.
- [30:14]
Tone
Remember last year where we were first round? Where at Ohio State.
- [30:18]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah. Little chilly.
- [30:19]
Tone
70 and sunny in College Station.
- [30:22]
Pat McAfee
Oh, wow.
- [30:24]
Ty Schmidt
That was a treat. I was expecting it to be a little chilly, but that's all as of right now.
- [30:28]
Pat McAfee
So we can do the full cowboy spurs.
- [30:30]
Ty Schmidt
Exactly.
- [30:31]
Pat McAfee
We could do the whole thing, potentially.
- [30:32]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [30:32]
Pat McAfee
Because we're going to be able to. We might get. We might sweating. What if we did it on horses.
- [30:37]
Tone
On horseback the entire game?
- [30:40]
Ty Schmidt
Something to think about.
- [30:41]
Pat McAfee
Dump that. Or we else do that.
- [30:42]
Connor Rogers
Or instead of like if we can't get the horses just for safety reasons, we go to toy horses. Just the. The horse head.
- [30:49]
Pat McAfee
Oh, I saw another white group of white people doing that on the Internet.
- [30:53]
Ty Schmidt
Tyler.
- [30:54]
Connor Rogers
Oh, nice. The world championship.
- [30:56]
Pat McAfee
Not Tyler. Yeah, the. I saw a group of white people just doing this thing here where they're riding horse.
- [31:01]
Ty Schmidt
Oh, the hobby horse.
- [31:02]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, the hobby horse.
- [31:03]
Ty Schmidt
There it is.
- [31:03]
Pat McAfee
Is that what it's called?
- [31:03]
Ty Schmidt
I believe so.
- [31:04]
Tone
Talented.
- [31:05]
Pat McAfee
They are not somebody Needs to tell them, hey, anybody can do what you're doing. Okay. This isn't a thing. But I do appreciate that you're out there and you're active, but that is the widest thing I think I've ever seen. Without question that that's the most Caucasian thing that has ever hit the Internet.
- [31:19]
Tone
Okay, so I thought you were talking about the. The humans that actually gallop like a horse.
- [31:22]
Pat McAfee
That's the.
- [31:24]
Connor Rogers
Sorry, that's up there.
- [31:25]
Pat McAfee
That's the most Caucasian. Yeah, yeah. So let me. Let me do that thing. But on that note, we appreciate that they're. You're out. Yeah. Here. I appreciate you out there doing it. I appreciate you out there.
- [31:35]
Connor Rogers
Athletes.
- [31:35]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [31:36]
Pat McAfee
Hey, yeah.
- [31:37]
Connor Rogers
I mean, those are ups.
- [31:38]
Pat McAfee
That's good play. I like what you're doing. I was the ones that are on all fours acting like they're horses. Also a thing. I saw a fight coming out of Russia probably somewhere over there. Two heavyweight professional MMA guys taking on ten amateur guys.
- [31:53]
Tone
Okay.
- [31:54]
Pat McAfee
That feels like something that only happens over there.
- [31:57]
Tone
Certainly very Eastern European.
- [31:58]
Pat McAfee
I'm excited that we get a chance to kind of see what the outcome would be over here in our country where we'd never let that happen. But I do appreciate that this is. This is. This is happening.
- [32:08]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, this is just all out chaos.
- [32:10]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, just full out chaos. Not a lot of English words have ever been spoken by any of these people. But this is happening in the world. Okay. This is just happening.
- [32:17]
Ty Schmidt
Those refs supposed to. Do you see that guy running in there trying to.
- [32:19]
Pat McAfee
Well, I think they're dragging bodies.
- [32:21]
Ty Schmidt
Right?
- [32:21]
Pat McAfee
You have been eliminated. Okay. It's now two verse nine. They're even doing the Squid games announcement.
- [32:27]
Ty Schmidt
Yep.
- [32:27]
Pat McAfee
It is now two verse six, you know, but there was a little bit of the amateurs attacking from behind, which was a smart play. So this is happening in the world just like the pony riding is happening around the world and the fake horses are happening around the world. Let's talk about what's happening in the NFL world. So in the NFL, I guess every single year at this time there are winter meetings, you know, I guess that's what the MLB calls it. But the owners have met at this time for a long time. This year they decided we're not going to do it. We'll just meet virtually. Yesterday some group met. Today the owners were meet and this is when we start getting some news on maybe some adjustments that are taking place. Big adjustment that's about to take place. The NFL and the refs are about to have a new deal. In May, the NFL refs unions deal with the NFL is expiring. So the NFL I believe has been trying to negotiate a deal. If you listen to the source says from the NFL. Because the last time we had to backup refs, it was embarrassing for the league. It was not good for anybody. It was chaos. But the last time we had those backup refs, whenever they were literally getting everything wrong, is it supposed to be on the left hash or the right hash? Who knows? Why are we reffing an NFL game? We're not supposed to be here. Oh, we're scabs. Yep, exactly. They would call catches wrong. They would call touchdowns wrong. The balls would be wrong. The whistles would be wrong. The timing of everything was wrong. The backup refs really put this refs union in a great spot. So whenever the backup drafts cause full chaos on prime time with the non touchdown touchdown thing to win Fail Mary. Yep, the fail Mary. The NFL refs union at that point, knowing they had a lot of leverage, go to the NFL and say, you want us back or not? Here's what we need. We're not talking to any media afterwards. We're not allowed to be full time. We're allowed to work other gigs if we want to. And after the season, you can't even talk to us until May. You want us to do training in the offseason, we don't need it. Okay. If you want to talk to us about a little accountability in the offseason, we don't need it. You don't talk to us until May and in May you tell us what you're expecting, what the new rules are, and then we'll move forward. So I like the fact that the NFL is coming come out through Troy Vincent, but the NFL as a whole has come out and been like, hey, we're trying to make this ref thing better. The refs union though, they're not really listening this entire thing because the refs deal is very sweet because they were able to negotiate this deal, whatever. The refs, the bad refs were the complete problem for the NFL. Bruce Arians has sat on this show for multiple weeks and said the most powerful union in sports is the NFL refs union. They have no accountability. There is literally nothing expected of them. And that's written into the contract that they signed with the NFL. So now that it's up, I think we all see an opportunity to maybe kind of dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge our way to a better way. Because if you're going to be perfect as officials and not cause jobs to be lost or teams to lose games, then I think just expecting not to be talked to for five, six months in the off season and not having to be full time and not having to be work and not having to answer any questions, I think we would all be okay with it. But if you continue to just get very easy things wrong, ruin games, ruin careers, fire, get people fired and stuff like that, that there should be a little bit of an adjustment on getting better. And also can we kick start the player pipeline into becoming officials? Just like they have the broadcast boot camp, the business boot camp, there's all these other boot camps that the NFLPA and the NFL put together. Why can we not put an officiating one in there? I'm sure there's enough refs out there that would like to commit full time to their gig, but also train and get better at their job while also understanding that you're part of the biggest league in the world. So if you mess something up, you might have to answer it. So we all want this to happen, but from what I've been told is the refs union very strong and I think it's going to be a very difficult thing to get that deal done with the NFL unless the refs want to. And everything we learned from the refs during the Fail Mary and the scab refs was they don't care. These people are going to do what they're going to do. So I think we're staring down a pretty big situation, but an opportunity for potential good change if there's an agreement to be able to be made.
- [36:15]
Connor Rogers
And there's been some great change in college already. Like the biggest thing for me that I think of is the ref from the Georgia Texas community game, I want to say. And they ended up reviewing, you know, 9 of 11, the calls that he made being wrong. And so what they did is they just, hey, you're suspended like you're dumb for the year. Eleven of the calls you made, nine of them were incorrect. So it really would just be an accountability type thing, would be one just simple step. The other thing might be like, hey, we're at a point in technology now where we can kind of rely on it very heavily if they can figure out exactly how to do it. Like clearly the Hawkeye technology that still doesn't work because it's based on where the ball is placed. It has nothing to do with by the human. Yeah, like if they could figure that out maybe over the next few months that might help as well. But accountability would just be the biggest thing.
- [37:04]
Pat McAfee
Accountability would be great. Full time would be great. So we don't have to worry about them potentially taking. Not that they're not getting paid a lot and all this type of stuff, but just in a modern world that we're in full time would be good. Year round commitment would be good. Good. Having a pool of refs that you could maybe substitute bad refs with a development system like it's. It's all there already in the NFL with the players, with the coaches, with the systems that we have. Just apply it to the refs is kind of how I think we all are at the point of thinking. But from our understanding, from our source in the NFL that refs union, they know that they got everybody by, you know, the thin hairs and they will continue to act as such Touch. So we got a few months until they got to renegotiate a deal. But let's hope it's for the better as opposed to the worst of ball. Like it was the last time this deal was up.
- [37:50]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, without. I mean like that the, the pipeline is the way to do it. Because it seems like for the most part we don't see very many new refs coming to the NFL. Like every once in a while you'll see a guy who you haven't recognized before. But these guys stay in there for the longest time and if they do have that kind of power, like why this is a side gig for them. Why would you ever want. You know what I mean? Like it's. But that's, that's the simplest way to do it is let's get a pipeline of a bunch of people in there. So that way if guys aren't any good, we have people who are ready and waiting and train them. Exactly.
- [38:19]
Pat McAfee
Watch film, you're required to watch film, you're required to train, you're required to attend this. Maybe guess what? Maybe you guys even go do trust falls together. Retreat some getaway. I think the NFL should have its own team or the ref should have their own team and should be treated that way. Have your own facility, do the whole thing. Because we're at the point where matters the most. Hopefully they're able to get that done. That's coming out of this winter Zoom call meetings amongst the owners. Also big deal. As Roger Goodell alluded to us the day after the draft in Green Bay and I think the year before we talked to him about it in Detroit. The NFL will get rid of 2 minutes per pick in the first round from 10 minutes to 8 minutes for the selection process. And we appreciate the hell out of the NFL doing this. As people that host a draft spectacular every single year is one of our biggest shows. Us being able to be on site has been absolutely absurd. We're so thankful for it. It becomes a very long night, a very drawn out night in some of these picks. They're drawing them out just strictly so they can maybe get a call to get traded for. So you have to wait the entire 9 minutes and 59 seconds just to see if you could potentially leave. Now they're shorting that to at least an eight minute wait for the teams that don't want to make a pick to get traded. That's good news. And it's not going to cut this thing off completely. They're projecting maybe 30 minutes minutes will be less, which will be great on.
- [39:31]
Ty Schmidt
Draft night because it seems like most, like you mentioned, like most of it, a lot of times it's just ceremony. Like teams know because like how many times last year did we see the pick is in and then it still uses the full 10 minutes of the clock. Like it's, it's mostly ceremony. So if we can shave off 30 minutes, why don't we heading to Pittsburgh?
- [39:48]
Pat McAfee
You think they're shortening it just strictly because they're in Pittsburgh? What's the deal? What's that all about?
- [39:53]
Tone
They could be worried about, you know, that extra 64 minutes potentially of yenzers having a chance to booze and just get rally rallied up. So you cut it off.
- [40:02]
Pat McAfee
I like the fact that they're cutting it down. I think if you don't know who you're taking by the seventh minute, you're probably going to be shit out of luck anyways. And no offense to anybody in the first round, to the people that get drafted or to the teams doing it. For a large portion of the first round, it is a on who's going to hit, who's not going to hit. Is the extra two minutes going to change anything? I don't think so. It makes it a better viewer experience and I appreciate that. Roger Goodell, literally, as soon as he sat down with us, he was like, last night I was thinking we got to move this a little bit quicker. It's got to be him standing up there behind the scenes like he's sitting.
- [40:32]
Ty Schmidt
In the green room too.
- [40:32]
Pat McAfee
We're still doing this. And then he starts looking into war rooms. What's taking you guys so long? Well, we're waiting to see if I'm done with this. And then him Actually driving this initiative. We appreciate for the good of entertainment, for the good of draft, which will be in Pittsburgh and last conversation that was happening out of the meetings. The NFL has announced that they will be putting 30 to 32 million dollars into a professional flag football league. Six men's teams, six women's teams is kind of how it's kind of being projected right now from our source at the NFL. I followed up and asked like, are we also investing in college flag football and high school flag football? I got a chance to be a part of a Super bowl commercial last year that was basically pushing to get high school girls flag football sanctioned in all 50 states. It's been sanctioned in 38 of them. So flag football is becoming a very real high school sport which will hopefully lead to more opportunities in college. And then now they want professional opportunities as well. Who knows when this will run. I assume in the summer, right, Con man, We're assuming what this will be.
- [41:27]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, that's my assumption. Probably after the season. You wonder if in March when they're going to do the Saudi Arabia thing, that that might even be kind of like a, hey, this is what it might look like with all the NFL guys, Brady and all them.
- [41:37]
Pat McAfee
So that's fanatics, right? That's not the NFL.
- [41:39]
Connor Rogers
I thought NFL was still a part of it because they're NFL players doing it and maybe that isn't a part of it. And fanatics makes deals with the players that are there already and they already have deals.
- [41:47]
Pat McAfee
I think it's a fanatics Tom Brady thing. From Min Understanding. Don't know if the NFL is doing this. What I'm saying is I don't know if the NFL is a part of that at all. But to your point about that becoming a thing, flag football becoming very, very real in our world. I think that's a good thing, not a bad thing to have more ball. The NFL investing. Investing in a professional league. Good as long as it's not during actual football season.
- [42:07]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, yeah.
- [42:07]
Pat McAfee
That's how we all feel.
- [42:08]
Ty Schmidt
And I think smart enough to know we're not. We don't need to double dip here because if that's the case, like, guess what? People are going to watch tackle football as opposed to flag football.
- [42:17]
Tone
So right now, the calendar we it owns until February through the super bowl and then you the draft and then you have free agency. So maybe if it started like literally like right after free agency, that that just keeps football going.
- [42:27]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. So then we have it all throughout the offseason. And if the NFL is putting 32 million into it. We assume they're going to want it to succeed, so they're probably going to put some juice behind it whenever it comes to press and everything like that. So hopefully it'll become a part of our zeitgeist because more opportunities to play ball is good. Six professional women's teams, six professional men's teams. More ball is good for all of us. Speaking of more ball, there was a team down in Miami that was wondering if their more ball was going to be college football playoffs. They were on the outside looking in for a long time. They're ranked lower than Notre Dame for a long time.
- [42:57]
Ty Schmidt
That's right.
- [42:58]
Pat McAfee
How's that work? We just beat Notre dame. Yeah, you're 18th, actually, Notre Dame's 10th. So you got no shot at this thing. And then all they kept doing was just stacking dubs, stacking dubs, stacking dubs, stacking dubs. Then there's all of a sudden a cluster in a bubble, and all they're wondering is, do the games matter? Like, why are we even playing them? Well, the committee said, yes, they do. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, a man will be taking his team down to College Station to take on Texas A and M next Saturday in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, Mario Cristobal.
- [43:32]
Mario Cristobal
What's up, dudes? How we doing?
- [43:33]
Pat McAfee
Hey, hola, amigo. How you doing, brother? You're in the tournament. Hey, you're in the tournament.
- [43:39]
Mario Cristobal
Going to the hotel.
- [43:41]
Pat McAfee
See, See, See? Yeah. I don't know what you said there, but I certainly agree with how you said it. I want to let you know that. Look for the captions later and shout.
- [43:49]
Mario Cristobal
Out to any, like, my screenshot back here.
- [43:53]
Pat McAfee
Listen, you're gonna get me in some. With some people, you know, because I'm calling this game.
- [43:58]
Mario Cristobal
It was either that picture or the one of you in the Speedo, like, airborne.
- [44:02]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Beginning of season. Hey, end of season, I'm a little bit more, you know, if. If I would. If I would have had this body that. Yeah, you saw it. And single leg, too. You know, I would. Yeah. Okay. All right, let's move along. We appreciate your hospitality earlier in the year. We appreciate you being a friend of the program, and we also appreciate the fact that your team just kept battling, even though each Tuesday night they learned that they were potentially going to get screwed whenever it all came to kind of make the final decision. What was your messaging to the team all year? It was basically like, hey, we still got A shot. We should have a shot. How did you handle that with the locker room? Whenever it was kind of a question mark on whether or not you'd have college football playoff ball.
- [44:36]
Mario Cristobal
Sure. I mean, it was always about if you take care of your business or it's going to take care of itself. And obviously the big one was after the SMU loss.
- [44:43]
Mike McCarthy
Right? It was.
- [44:44]
Mario Cristobal
That's when things were like we put it in, maybe in not entirely in our control, but we could work ourselves back to having it in our control. And we did it, man. We had a team meeting where they didn't have to speak. Just kind of let the real film play with us in our first five games and how well we were playing and how the plays we were making. And after sitting there in silence and watching it for 10 minutes, we just woke up and realized who the who the hell we are and played some unbelievable football down the stretch.
- [45:10]
Pat McAfee
Tony is obviously spectacular. You have weapons all over the place. The defense has got dogs. It feels like college football football playoff football, though. Quarterbacks got to be able to play Carson Beck. Been there, done that. Good news. How do you feel with Carson? And you know, obviously whenever we talked to you before, it was a little different. Time of the Carson Beck Miami Hurricane experience versus now, what are your thoughts on him as your leader going into the big dance?
- [45:31]
Mario Cristobal
Yeah, down the stretch these last four games, I think you've seen his numbers, man. He's playing at a really, really high level. And quite honestly, he's fully healthy now and he was healthy going into the season, but not at this level. I got that arm is strong now. He's slinging it. He's really comfortable with our offense and it led to just an awesome November. So we're fired up about him and certainly confident in everything that he's been doing and our guys love him and he's a real deal dude playing a.
- [45:56]
Pat McAfee
Real team, obviously in the College Football Playoff in Texas A and M, at one point they were the only undefeated team left in the sec. Go ahead, Tone.
- [46:04]
Tone
Yeah, coach, I don't know if you want to comment on this or not, but I saw he was his first team all sec, so he's great. One of the tackles for Texas A and M said that it's not going to be a problem blocking Reuben Bain, who is projected to be the number one defender in this upcoming draft. Do you think Reuben has has heard that yet and how do you think he feels about that?
- [46:23]
Mario Cristobal
I think when I hear stuff like that, I just always say the same, no Comment.
- [46:28]
Tone
I thought that might be it.
- [46:30]
Pat McAfee
I love everything about it. How do you feel about the vibes of your team? What was the moment when you guys get into the playoff, when you find out it's Texas A and M? What is your locker room? Do you feel like you have a obvious. Obviously a bunch that ready to go win a national championship, but do you feel like mentally, physically, you do have a squad that can go here?
- [46:46]
Mario Cristobal
I mean, you've been around our guys, you've been around our building. I mean, the people here, they. It's been a long time since Miami has been in a situation where December, they're in the conversation, they're really relevant. So around here, it's like, it's all about the work, man. I mean, everything down here was built with the work done on a green tree practice field. And, you know, the guys that have been through here and what they've emphasized and that right now, that vibe, the vibe of grinding and getting after it, it's stronger than it's ever been. So it's really that simple. Making sure that we focus on us and doing all the things necessary to play winning football.
- [47:21]
Pat McAfee
Vince Wolfork was on yesterday, and we took a trip down memory lane with Miami. You know, he's BCS national champion. I think he can give you a snap, too. I don't know if he has the eligibility left. Maybe we can ask the NCAA before next week.
- [47:31]
Mario Cristobal
Man, I was a GA when he was on the scout team, when he had to sit that year. And I'm sitting there as a G going, I've got Vince Woolfork, I've got John Vilma, Ed Reid. Like, why am I leaving here? Can I just stay here as a GA and be part of it?
- [47:45]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [47:45]
Mario Cristobal
Vince is an awesome dude. You see how he's trimmed down, too now? He looks great, man, and he's an exceptional human being and love having him around. When he's around, the guys go crazy, man. They love him.
- [47:56]
Pat McAfee
He just got off a his third consecutive holiday USO tour where he leaves after Thanksgiving before Christmas and goes over to the Middle east and kind of sees the troop. And he talked about how important is, like, good dude. I think a perfect indication of who you are trying to have represent the U. Ty has a question for you about maybe the future of the U while also balancing the current.
- [48:15]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Coach. How was it handling the chaos of, you know, lobbying to get into the playoff when you guys felt you'd done enough and that you should be in? And then on top of that, you have early signing day. You knew that, you know, you what the class that you were going to bring in was going to be very important. Important and then also just hoping that you're going to get in the playoff. Like how nice was it being past that and now just going back to hey, now we just prepare to go play football. All the, the Hayes in the barn with all that BS and now I can do what I'm supposed to be doing.
- [48:44]
Mario Cristobal
Well it's the, the life of a college football coach nowadays, right? You're on 24 7, cancel Christmas and go to your job. Right. So I mean for us it was and credit to our the guy who runs sports information for us, Cam Dorby. The because we never felt like we had a lobby. We felt like we just weren't going to let the facts like be, I don't know, like almost like just covered up and pushed to the side for other narratives. I mean they at the end of the day we were a head to head winner of a primetime game and we stacked you know, 10 wins and playing our best football. And I felt like people were posturing to try to, I don't know, just supersede that and we weren't going to let it happen. And when you couple that with the fact that signing day was going on around the same time and you know we signed a, a trench heavy class with the number one player in the country. An absolute creature which I think you guys are going to love. I think you had him on your show. I hope you have him on your show. And Jackson Cantwell just got named the Gatorade player of the year, the national player of the year. We, we signed our best and deepest class. So the future here and the fact that this facility they're building in pat you'll have your own like little section in the weight room. Have all your hammer strength machines, all that st you like everything the trajectory is going like this and we, we have humble hardworking people that you know just a bunch of nobodies man that work their butts off and are looking forward just getting better.
- [50:05]
Pat McAfee
Got a bunch of nobodies who names are about to be in the lights. Especially if you get a college football playoff run in front of the world to see a guy who's been a believer ever since he was a little baby boy in north left Canada. Gumpy has a question for you. Coach.
- [50:17]
Tone
Yeah coach. Glad you guys could make it into the playoff. How nice is it to have a guy like Tony where you can just run any play the Guy can sling it, the guy can run it. His routes are absurd. He's so fun to watch, man.
- [50:30]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [50:30]
Mario Cristobal
If you get a chance, just throw on his high school highlight tape. It is absolutely insane. I mean, he's again, a team that lost its quarterback in high school during, you know, a run at the playoffs. He goes in there at quarterback and just takes him all the way through it in the state title game. I believe at one point he was like 15 of 15 with a couple of touchdowns. He special dude, special attitude, ridiculous energy on a daily basis. You're not going to outwork the guy. He's going to be here at 5:30 in the morning catching, you know, balls in the jugs machine. And he's going to. I mean, he's a wide receiver that actually takes time to spend quality time with the O line coach in the morning tells you a lot about like his level of just caring care, his level of investment. He's. He's exactly what you would drop a football player to be like.
- [51:18]
Pat McAfee
He's true freshman, right?
- [51:19]
Mario Cristobal
Yep, True freshman and actually an early enrollee. He should be in high school this year.
- [51:23]
Pat McAfee
Well, you know, West Virginia's got their eyes on him. West Virginia. One of West Virginia's donors, you know, watch some high school film of him.
- [51:32]
Connor Rogers
So I'm throwing a little bit.
- [51:35]
Mario Cristobal
We got some donors in Miami too, buddy. The buildings here are lot taller than over there.
- [51:42]
Pat McAfee
You talked about that Cam guy. What a weapon, man. You guys do have a special alignment. And obviously cam is a part of the sports president ad you all the sports. It feels like a special time to be down there in Coral Gables. Congratulations on getting into the tournament. We can't wait to watch your team play.
- [51:59]
Mario Cristobal
Appreciate you, man. Thanks for having me on. Go Canes.
- [52:02]
Pat McAfee
Hey, we'll be on that sideline. Okay? So. So there might come a time where you're paying attention like this. And guess who's coming.
- [52:10]
Mario Cristobal
Oh.
- [52:10]
Pat McAfee
Single leg takedown from the side. Just know it's coming.
- [52:14]
Mario Cristobal
You better. You better gain some weight and buckle your ass up.
- [52:18]
Pat McAfee
I only got a week and a half, ladies and gentlemen. I don't, I don't, I don't.
- [52:21]
Mario Cristobal
I don't play in the lightweight division, buddy.
- [52:23]
Pat McAfee
Okay, all right, all right. I got a week and a half. Don't you worry. I'm beating everything. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Mario Crystal ball.
- [52:28]
Connor Rogers
Here goes.
- [52:30]
Pat McAfee
He's the best. He is the best.
- [52:32]
Tone
Game's going to be awesome.
- [52:33]
Pat McAfee
That Cam guy, he's special. I mean, every team wishes they had a guy like Obviously Mario energy. I mean the cam guy though, loves the U. The guy who is the SID and A communications guy. Like all those jobs for Miami is down for the cause. I. I mean he will literally in.
- [52:52]
Tone
Front of you need a linen suit. I'll get you a linen suit.
- [52:55]
Pat McAfee
Boom. Speedo. I can find you one of those. We definitely have one of those. For sure. We can do that. No problem. And then if something was to happen to that you he would literally in front of it. I got you, coach. Don't worry about it. He is special. They all are down. The president too used to run a fund like a multi billion dollar fund. And now he becomes the leader of Miami and he's like, what does everybody need right now? Any money? Oh, I know all the rich people.
- [53:19]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [53:20]
Pat McAfee
And they love being in Miami. We can give them a little, right? Yep. No problem. New building here, new stadium here, new locker room. They do need to stay stadium though.
- [53:28]
Ty Schmidt
Yes.
- [53:29]
Connor Rogers
Big time.
- [53:29]
Pat McAfee
There's not enough space though. Not a lot of. Especially down this Miami Coral Gables area. There's a lot on top of everything. The stadium being so far is really the only downfall. But other than that special community down there. That was a special place. Felt like it was a resort. You're on a university that was a resort.
- [53:45]
Tone
Yeah. Because it's not like they. They're lacking for fans. Like they have a ton of fans but like you look at some of the games and like in the fourth quarters it's like, hey, it's going to take us an hour. Get back to campus. It's pretty empty or whatever. But other than that, that it's absolute perfect Football program.
- [53:59]
Pat McAfee
I picked against Miami a couple times this year and I get a text from Cristobal every time. It's just like, what are you doing, dude? Why are you. What do you think this is? He was like, we are a team that you like, remember? We all we care about is work, that this is a team that you like. It's like I forget about that because I think about Miami.
- [54:13]
Ty Schmidt
I think coral glitz and the glam.
- [54:15]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I forget that literally Crystal Ball's entire messaging is like we gotta work that the only thing that matters is how hard we work. And two, Tony being 5:30am Guy as a true freshman and wide receiver. That's a huge ordeal for the entire culture.
- [54:27]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. Especially going forward. But I think that's kind of the biggest thing about these teams that are left in the College Football playoff is they're all teams that are obsessed with work. Like you talk about Miami, Texas A and M, who they're playing Elkos. Come on here. All he talks about is work. Dan Lanning in Oregon. I mean, the means of him yesterday were incredible. Bama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Golding with what he's said. And that's not even including the teams in the bye, obviously. Joey Maguire, Sig Kirby, smart in Ryan Day. That's all they preach. So I. I think it is sweet seeing that resurgence and it's going to definitely bleed into the NFL if it hasn't already and making that game even better.
- [55:01]
Pat McAfee
Okay, let's talk about the NFL a little bit. Former national champion, now Cincinnati Bengal quarterback Joey Burrow had a press conference that has the whole world talking. Is he all right?
- [55:12]
Connor Rogers
No.
- [55:12]
Pat McAfee
Is Joey Burrow all right? You tell us. Change the way that you view the game. No, it certainly doesn't change my desire to. To win. You know, if I want to.
- [55:34]
Mike McCarthy
If I want to keep doing this.
- [55:36]
Mario Cristobal
I have to have fun doing it.
- [55:40]
Pat McAfee
You know, I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing for him? Whoa. He gone for another minute and a half, obviously, as he would continue giving an answer, but that scares me. Joey B. We hope you're having fun. You're really good at football.
- [55:54]
Ty Schmidt
Really good.
- [55:55]
Pat McAfee
You're really good at spinning it. I don't want to say your entire life you've been a great ball player because there's obviously other personalities and other parts of you who definitely exist. You're super handsome. I think you like fashion. Obviously you're into other things. But whenever you talk about football, Joey Burr, we talk about you, buddy. You're a stud. We hope you're having fun. We're sorry you're going through it. But on. On that note, whenever the Cincinnati Bengals decided to build the team the way they built the team, a lot of us wonder, are they going to be able to win the big games, which ultimately brings the real happiness to the true competitors, which we think Joe Burrow is. So are they ever going to be able to get back to where they were a few years ago in the Super Bowl? We're not sure the way it's built, but we do know Joey B. We hope you have fun. Dude, come on. You're Joey B. And also, some of it is going to suck. Some of it is going to suck. We just hope you keep battling, brother. I don't like all the. The injuries. I obviously saw the Andrew Luck story happen in front of my eyes. I mean, it is a. It's a wild thing. When one of the greats this early starts saying, is this for me anymore? We hope he says yes, but that's not good.
- [56:50]
Ty Schmidt
Not at all.
- [56:54]
Pat McAfee
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- [58:20]
Connor Rogers
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC.
- [58:23]
Pat McAfee
Rate a T for teen football is magical. Tonight, the NFC will be in prime time on Amazon prime as the Falcons take on the Buccaneers. Kirk Cousins takes on Tampa Bay and what does he do? Last time he took on Tampa Bay? Well, he shredded them. He went absolutely apeshit. Will he be able to do that this week as Drake London's out with Mike Evans returning for Baker Mayfield and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team who's fresh off a loss to who? Oh, the corn shucker, the ball shucker, the touchdown shot shucker, the wind shucker, Dollar Schuck and the New Orleans Saints. What does tonight hold? We have no idea. We'll be excited to watch Kirk and Al and Kaylee Hartsung and Karissa Thompson and Fitz and Witt and Sherm and Tony Gonzalez all on the call as Amazon provides a week 15 kickoff that we'll all Remember, for the rest of time, the talks at tables here at Boston. Connor and at Ty Schmidt, one half of the Hammer. Dad Cowboys AP Tone is here. And joining us live from an attic in Ohio, ladies and gentlemen, is a college football national champion, a Super bowl champion, a Rider cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk. First of all, aj, I have to ask you. Cristobal said, I'm in the lightweight division. I don't like that at all. Did you hear that from him? Kind of a shot. Multiple shots from him that you heard that I heard as well.
- [59:42]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, I definitely heard that. And I don't think he knows how much you weigh, first off. And second, like, you're going to have to try to take him down now during the game. So hopefully they're doing well. Like, whenever they're doing well, so they score a touchdown or something, that's when you come. Got to go get him.
- [59:53]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, we need him to be distracted. I might also call for your help, so I hope you're.
- [59:57]
AJ Hawk
I don't know if I want to help on that one. I mean, crystal ball. He seems like he doesn't mess around. Is he a jiu jitsu guy as well?
- [60:02]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Yes.
- [60:03]
Pete Thamel
Okay.
- [60:04]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, you're on your own there, pal.
- [60:05]
Tone
Black belt.
- [60:05]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think he does have a black belt. I do believe rolling is like a part of his entire thing. Oh, no. Yeah. That's how we got in the conversation down Coral Gables. When I thought about getting after him and he, like, looked at me and he's like, do you want to go, like, on air?
- [60:18]
Tone
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [60:18]
Ty Schmidt
Oh, yeah.
- [60:19]
Pat McAfee
And I was like, ah.
- [60:20]
Ty Schmidt
He was not amused.
- [60:20]
Pat McAfee
That was a joke. I was just. You see, this is my thing. I do with, like, UFC fighters and people that have call flowery or like, obviously they could beat my ass, but I just want to let them know that. Boom, boom.
- [60:30]
Tone
You tapped out. Diamond Dustin Poirier.
- [60:32]
Pat McAfee
Exactly.
- [60:33]
Ty Schmidt
It's a good point.
- [60:33]
Pat McAfee
He had no idea that was coming. That was that same. That was on the same show. Roger Goodell telling us that the draft clock was way too long in the first round, and we're going to be able to shorten that. Let's get to tonight's game, shall we? Foxy put up a tale of the tape. I think we should dive into it, aj. The NFC south tonight on Amazon Prime. What numbers kind of stick out to you that we need to be looking at and what you're looking at.
- [60:54]
AJ Hawk
I mean, look at that Rush defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Obviously eight. They do pretty well. So let's. See if they can shut the run down and make Kirk Cousins one dimensional. See if he can beat you through the air. Like, do you think Kirk has some magic left? I think he does, but I'm leaning the Bucks right now as we talk.
- [61:07]
Pat McAfee
The line is now five and a half for the Buccaneers. They were favored full point move. That feels a little interesting from the beginning of show until now. Tone, what does that say?
- [61:17]
Tone
Yeah, especially. Especially since. Well, actually because more and more money is pouring in on the Buccaneers, it will tend to go in that direction versus last week when we had the reverse line movement, which is weird when you're getting more money on a team and the line benefits the other team. But this today with the money coming in on the Bucks, this was the direction that it would go in if we're just looking at it like that.
- [61:38]
Connor Rogers
And Jalen McMillan, Mike Evans being back. So they're going to have Godwin a book of Mike Evans and Jaylen McMillan for the first time all year. No kid, he's doubtful. They're starting tight end. But having those four, with Bucky Irving finally back as well, like their offense will now finally be full strength for the most part.
- [61:53]
Pat McAfee
I think we all feel the same way about the Bucks tonight. I think it just kind of feels weird. I assume what's the percentage of money? Do we know what the percentage of money? 68, I believe 68. It's creeping towards that 70% line. And obviously the Buccaneers very much still in the NFC south running. They have the Falcons and then two times with the Panthers. The Panthers, who are also in it, have the Saints, which the Bucks just lost a crucial game to, and then they got the Seahawks as their alternate game and then the Dolphins. So these two are obviously going to have to figure out who's going into the NFC playoffs to take on a very top heavy NFC team. But we, we love the week 15 is happening. And you guys were saying the other.
- [62:28]
Ty Schmidt
Day, this is a shite game, this game. Well, yeah.
- [62:32]
Pat McAfee
What are you talking about? What are you talking about?
- [62:35]
Tone
Just relativity.
- [62:36]
Ty Schmidt
I just, I have a tough time. I feel bad for Kirk Cousins as of late, watching him play. I just feel really bad for him. And I just hope it's a competitive game because boy, and you know what? A big part of that is recency bias because Seattle is very, very good and they just beat the absolute dog out of them. So maybe I'm, I'm leaning a little bit too much on that with how bad they looked last week. But no Drake London, you know, Bucks being Pretty stat against the run. Bijan Robinson kind of of being their only weapon. We'll see. I just, I hope it's a good game. It's Thursday. It's kicking. I mean, the, the rest of the slate this weekend is great. So it'd be nice if we could get a big boost going into the weekend.
- [63:18]
Pat McAfee
If Tampa Bay demolishes Atlanta, how do we feel about Rahim?
- [63:24]
Mike McCarthy
Buh.
- [63:24]
Ty Schmidt
By.
- [63:25]
Pat McAfee
That's right. I'm saying there is those potential. It's week 15, bro.
- [63:28]
Connor Rogers
Second year, it's week 15.
- [63:30]
Pat McAfee
We're getting to that point now. We are getting to that point of the season. Not, not that we haven't already. There's of lot a obviously already been a firing or two. But like we're getting that point now where a primetime loss or an embarrassing loss for an owner can cause an emotional reaction. I'm not saying Arthur Blank will do that, but I'm just saying we are at that point of the season where things can bubble and come to a fester very quickly. Especially if in the division you get blown out on prime time, there's a chance that that's going to get very, very loud. We like Rahim. We love Raheem.
- [63:59]
Connor Rogers
Yes.
- [63:59]
Pat McAfee
But it feels like the people in Atlanta do not. I mean, everything I hear out of Atlanta. Now, granted, there's probably a lot of Falcons fans that love Raheem and understand it's going to be a process, yada, yada, yada. But it has gotten very loud for him and very early in his tenure down there.
- [64:12]
Connor Rogers
And the things that matter, like how it looks like they got blown out at home, nobody's even there to watch. The week before, like even just going past because Seattle's good. The week before they lose to the New York Football Jets. And like I get Penix is hurt and Drake London is hurt. And those things do also account. But at the same time, like the competition, competition doesn't look like it's there for the team.
- [64:32]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And I think to your point, Tone actually just sent in a video.
- [64:35]
Tone
Yeah, I sent in a video of the crowd. This is at kickoff and there is no one there. There is something about being a bad team or whatever. But like when the owner is a. When it's a bad team, the owner looks at the stadium and sees all the. These empty seats like that. That does not help the case either.
- [64:50]
Ty Schmidt
Especially when the day before the SEC championship was there and they're. And it's packed, chalked full and it just, you know, know like also going into the year like, the Falcons were a very trendy pick to win this division. Like, the expectations were very high this year. And I understand Michael Penix got hurt, but it was even starting to kind of go that way before he got hurt. So it's just kind of been like a. Whatever can go wrong has gone wrong. And I think that has a lot to do with it, too.
- [65:14]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, the. The empty stadium is always the problem because that goes right to the pockets, which we understand is exactly what kind of drives decisions, you know? And you. You talked about the SEC championship today before Atlanta Hawks night before that.
- [65:27]
Ty Schmidt
There you go.
- [65:27]
Pat McAfee
Packed. I mean, it was a celebration of Atlanta. Basically the entire weekend. Everything was filled up.
- [65:32]
Ty Schmidt
And I think they stink, too. So it's like if they stink and people are still showing up in droves to go to those games.
- [65:37]
Pat McAfee
And at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Very expensive. Yeah, but also very nice.
- [65:40]
Ty Schmidt
Very, very nice.
- [65:41]
Connor Rogers
The stuff in there, Arthur Blank has made a point for it to be affordable. So it's not even as if you're going there and beers are more expensive. No, that's not how it is. And you have to think, hey, we are looking at the Carolina Panthers, and we are now the Carolina Panthers, and.
- [65:55]
Pat McAfee
We like the Carolina Panthers now. And we think that the Carolina Panthers, AJ all made a change whenever the Grinch's heart grew three sizes. Who is the Grinch in this particular case? The owner, David Tepper. This guy who the only stories that we were talking about with him was not only what he did back in the day in the financial world, whenever he bought somebody else's house that was potentially above him and then just tore it down to build a bigger one just to prove a point, basically. Or the new facility and saying nah, or the throwing eye or the knocking off the hat or the. I mean, this guy was in everything. Charlotte FC, the soccer team had like 45 coaches in two years because Tepper didn't like anything that was happening. The Carolina Panthers. Ass. They had like 250 people in the stands at the end. And Tepper was the. The owner was basically the reason of this entire thing. Then he offers up the stadium. He donates a bunch of money for the hurricane relief to down there. He hires the right people, seemingly becomes a little bit hands off. And all of a sudden, the Carolina Panthers start becoming. Charlotte fc starts becoming a little bit. And now we got Tepper in a Christmas sweater talking to cameras. Listen, it's pretty good.
- [66:59]
Connor Rogers
It's just.
- [67:00]
Pat McAfee
It's. It's all building process. And look, we'll see where we go, you know, we'll see what happens.
- [67:07]
Connor Rogers
But we, we do think, you know.
- [67:09]
Pat McAfee
As I said, Canales, Morgan Killis and everybody here in the whole organization, I think we're doing in Carolina, and we've been building it outside of the community. We're building on the field, such a.
- [67:22]
Connor Rogers
Full picture and hopefully we can go on.
- [67:24]
Pat McAfee
And we have that for many years here. And that's what we. Yeah, great micro microphone setup, without a doubt. But I like the fact that Tepper's out there in the community. Honestly, has there been a bigger change in how somebody is viewed than him? I. I think that's very real, A.J.
- [67:39]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, for multiple years in a row, it feels like we just talked like, oh, what's the next thing that. Where he, you know, shut down the practice facility or he has issues with somebody. There's signs about him. But yeah. So what do you think it is? When he opened up that stadium for the benefit concert, that's what turned everything.
- [67:52]
Pat McAfee
I genuinely think that was. And I think Morgan, too, coming in there. Right? That's gm, huge hire.
- [67:57]
AJ Hawk
Yes.
- [67:58]
Pat McAfee
I think him coming in there and being like, hey, we got the football. With his eyes taped open. We got the football. We are not. You cannot just be in everything that we're doing. And Tepper said, I didn't. I never wanted to be. I never wanted to be. And then everybody's like, well, you were there. That was kind of part of the problem. So him acknowledging that, realizing. Realizing that backing away and then them having success, so he can maybe realize or feel fulfillment of backing away and having success, because his big thing, just like all these owners, unless they're just born into money, which certainly happens, so I'm not gonna say that hasn't taken place, but a lot of these owners have created a massive amount of wealth and had a lot of success and have been the actual smartest people in the room in basically every single room that they've gone into for a majority of their life. And also they've been to people who have had to make decisions when everybody else doesn't wanna make decisions. Like the people that become the billionaires that end up NFL teams are the people who have to sit in the pocket and say, you're fired, you're fired, you're fired, and probably screw people over. I mean, that is just the reality of running a business in money that. That high end. So whenever they get into something that they've invested 6, 7, 8, $10 billion into, they've always been the ones that have had to make the decision always been the ones that have had success. This place hasn't had success. That's why I was able to buy it. So it's hard, I think, for these huge humans, these, these types of humans to get in there and be like, okay, now you guys do everything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to stay out. Like, I think that was a very difficult move for Tepper, so we very much need to celebrate that. I think even though, you know, billionaires don't need to be patted on the back for things. It's like Tepper stepping away when I know that was very much against his shit. That is a big deal. I think A.J.
- [69:34]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, he probably became a billionaire because he was, you know, he had his hands into everything. He's micromanaging people, making sure. Like the, whatever standard he, he felt, you know, was being met. But I'm sure every owner goes through that, right? Especially if you all of a sudden become, you come into ownership. Phil Rivers returns.
- [69:50]
Ty Schmidt
Clock.
- [69:50]
AJ Hawk
Now that just popped up out of nowhere. What? It's cut off. I can't even see all the numbers.
- [69:56]
Pat McAfee
56 hours, 11 minutes, 22 seconds from now, Philip Rivers.
- [70:03]
Pete Thamel
Hell yeah.
- [70:03]
Pat McAfee
Will be taking the field against the Seattle Seahawks at 4:20 Eastern. Back to your point though, please don't let this distract you.
- [70:10]
AJ Hawk
I'm not even sure what I was saying about the owner, but I feel like.
- [70:13]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [70:13]
AJ Hawk
Can you imagine any owner though, coming in? Yeah, you want to, you want to. You've been the guy that everyone's looking to your whole life. You have the answers. But then like, football is a different thing, man. Yeah, we understand the business part of it, but I would imagine as an owner trying to figure out where you fit in, when you should pop in, when you shouldn't, when you should leave them alone, like that's a tough thing.
- [70:31]
Pat McAfee
Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's been a head coach for a team that has a very involved owner and a team that actually doesn't. Doesn't have an owner. A Super bowl champion, a living legend, a Yinzer icon. Ladies and gentlemen, our Coach, Coach Mike McCarthy. Coach, how you doing, coach? Good looking dog back there. Is that, that, is that that blue ribbon 11 time title dog back there?
- [70:51]
Mike McCarthy
That's Gus. Yes, he is. That's the best picture of the week up here. It's a winter, winter wonderland. So. So yeah. That's the best thing I got for you this week.
- [71:00]
Pat McAfee
I love. That's a good looking dog.
- [71:02]
Mike McCarthy
Gus is a stud.
- [71:03]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, Gus looks Like, he has a good time. He wants to be out there finding.
- [71:07]
Mike McCarthy
A dude, dogs, you know, he's never had a bad day, that's for sure.
- [71:10]
Pat McAfee
Neither of you. Neither of you. It feels like every time.
- [71:13]
Mike McCarthy
Oh, I'm having a great. I'm having a great time. I mean, I got the. Got the Christmas colors on. I mean, I'm ready.
- [71:18]
Pat McAfee
Hell, yeah.
- [71:19]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [71:19]
Mike McCarthy
Holiday season's about. I wish you would have told me that you're going to have Tepper on in a. In a Christmas sweater. I could have. You know, I'm sure I got a bunch of ugly Christmas sweaters I could have threw on today. Some from the good old days.
- [71:29]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. So. Well, we appreciate you.
- [71:31]
Mike McCarthy
It's that time of year.
- [71:32]
Pat McAfee
We appreciate you celebrating, Coach, because it is that time of year. It is meaningful football time. And it's been a long time time since you haven't had to have a job fully focused every day of your life on winning games in this particular time of year. So I'm happy you're enjoying it. Let's wrap up the Tepper conversation. I let in there that Jerry Jones obviously very involved owner. Green Bay doesn't have an owner. They have like a group or whatever that makes decisions for the Tepper story and for the Carolina Panthers story. They might actually win the NFC South. The Carolina Panthers might be in a. Might be hosting a playoff game this year. Just a couple years back, 250 people in the stands, everybody hated them. I would say brand, image, likeness, everything lowest maybe in all of people. Professional sports, Carolina Panthers, they hire new gm, they get Canales in there, Bryce Young gets benched. Then he comes back, he starts doing his thing. And I genuinely believe, as somebody that has followed this story from very much the beginning, Tepper becoming a better owner is a massive piece of why they've become good. Is that an accurate assessment from somebody that's in an actual position and understands what a good owner can do and what an ownership can do? What are your thoughts on that entire vibe between owner and how text team has actually run?
- [72:39]
Mike McCarthy
I definitely agree with you. I think it's a big part of it. And I think that, you know, every leader has to go through it, whether. Whether you're the owner, a president, a general manager, or a head coach. I mean, for a successful. He's been in his, you know, in his business life. This was. This was a new opportunity, a new arena to compete in.
- [72:55]
Ty Schmidt
And.
- [72:56]
Mike McCarthy
And definitely there were some growing pains, but no, I agree with you 100%. You know, just. Just to have the opportunity to. To any interview with Carolina in 2019 and I go look back at that conversation and compare to where they are today. You know, I think they're leaps and bounds ahead of where they were back then. You know, they were talking about building a facility down the road there in South Carolina, that whole process. And, you know, we're talking about facilities. So, I mean, now you see what, what he's done. And I think the most important thing is he's a fellow Yenzer, so, I mean, you knew he was going to figure it out.
- [73:27]
Pat McAfee
Tepper Z Endzer.
- [73:29]
Mike McCarthy
Oh, yeah. You didn't know that?
- [73:32]
Pat McAfee
Oh, no. I feel like a terrible person. I was burying him for a long time, but I made him better, made him stronger is what I was saying.
- [73:39]
Mike McCarthy
Did you push the right buttons?
- [73:40]
Pat McAfee
Hey, I hope so. I hope I was a part of the solution as opposed to the problem because we love the city of Charlotte and good luck to the Panthers as they go. I don't know if you saw this clock. We are 56 hours away. 7 minutes and 33 seconds. 32, 31. Now 30 seconds away from Philip Rivers returning to a football, football game for the first time in five years. How do you feel about this? Obviously, he's going to be able to spin it. We've seen video coming out of practice from both Romeo Boyd and Anthony Calhoun. He can still spin it. The ball is still getting to where we want it to go. Nobody's expecting him to be able to move, including himself. What is your expectation of a grandfather taking the field for the first time in five years? Strictly because. And I would like to answer this because I have a lot of respect for Cam Newton and I have a lot of respect for all the other quarterbacks that are potentially out there. He was signed because he knows the offense. We're in week 15 right now. We don't have time for somebody to learn this shit. We need to kind of get and go. Just what are your thoughts on it all and the expectations of the outcome?
- [74:36]
Mike McCarthy
I mean, I think it's awesome and I think it's a great story. You know, personally having an opportunity to work or, you know, really learn from. Frankly, learn from older quarterbacks. You know, back in the 90s with Joe Montana and Dave Craig, you know, Brett Favre was an older quarterback. Quarterback, you know, so, I mean, these. These guys have seen so much football in their time clocks are. They're ingrained. I think the fact that he's able to come back and I think the most important thing in this transaction is the fact that he has history in Indianapolis, you know, they have. They have a, you know, renowned training staff there. There's a relationship. So they're going to know what kind of shape he's in because, you know, you worry about, you know, fatigue, injuries and things like that for, for guys that have been. Been out destruction is that, you know, the actual movement in a game, you know, opposed to, you know, the movements that they go through in their training segments. So I think the fact that he's back at Indianapolis, he's with Shane, he'll run the run game, that, that'll be a breeze. The communication, the language and all that. I think the protection adjustments will be something that he just needs to, you know, get back into that. But it's going to be the timing throws. I think just as much as he can throw to those perimeter guys between now and Sunday is. Is going to be the key just to, you know, just to kind of give him those, those automatic throws that he's had his whole career. You know, when you get out there on the numbers out there on the autobahn, the timing throws to the individual cuts, the inside throws, and then red zone a third down will be the toughest, toughest things for him because, you know, there's, you know, the height of pressure and, you know, man to man and things like that. And it'll be curious to see how the defense reacts to him being out there. We kind of coverage that I give him in passing situations. So if there's anybody that can do it, definitely Philip can. Philip can pull this off.
- [76:20]
Pat McAfee
Hey, no speed limits out there. Go ahead, A.J.
- [76:23]
AJ Hawk
Coach, what would your game plan be? I guess if you, you're, you know, Phil is thrust in the lineup after five years away, obviously say, oh, yeah, I want to get the ball out of our hands quick. You know, all this. We ideally like to run the ball. It's not always easy. But what would you do, I guess, if you're coaching Phil for his first game back?
- [76:38]
Mike McCarthy
Well, I think you hit the most important thing. You got Jonathan back here. Let's not forget about that. So let's make sure he gets his touches. But I think clearly for Philip, and it's really what I like to do every time you start a game is, you know, try to make first and second down as easy as possible as. As possible for him because, you know, the challenge is, is a situation, situational football that he's going to encounter in the speed of that and just being back in the flow of that, that that's going to Be, I think the biggest challenge for the quarterback position. So, and I mean by that is try to find him some rhythm throws, try to find him some free access situation, create some type formations and in motion that, you know, gets him off the ball type easy completions early so he can get into a rhythm and just get back into what Sunday afternoon really feels like.
- [77:26]
Pat McAfee
I hope Phil Rivers utilizes Tyler Warren just like he did Antonio Gates. Michael Pittman would be willing to die on a football field to go get a ball. Phil Rivers knows that. And from my understanding, understanding the competitive juices and the chirping has not slowed down at all. The guy's excited, the guy's eager, and the guy's about to kick his hall of Fame status back another five years. And that's going to be a first ballot hall of Fame talk after he wins the super bowl with the Indianapolis Colts this year. Just like Coach McCarthy said. Just like this guy just said here in front of his dog, Gus, looking to win that trophy right there, the one that's kind of peeking out right there, that's what Phil Rivers is looking to do with the Indianapolis Colts. Now you won one of those with the Packers. Ty has a question about that.
- [78:06]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Coach. After the packers got a massive win at home against the Bears to go back into first in the NFC north, how confident in are you in them going into the playoffs? Jordan Love obviously playing his best football right now. I think the team is as a whole, in a league where there's maybe three to four teams who could go to the NFC Championship. Just how confident are you in the packers movie moving forward?
- [78:30]
Mike McCarthy
Oh, I love what the packers are doing. I think a number one most important part of your football team is the defense and their defense is playing lights out. I just, I can't say enough about the consistency of how they played week in and week out. I think it's the most consistent component of the football team. You know, secondly, you know, the run game is definitely there and you know, they had the two big post throws for touchdowns by Jordan. So. So I think they're playing very well. The ability to play at home, that was a, I thought that was a hell of a game Sunday, you know, versus the Bears. You know, you look at the first half versus second half and you cannot win enough close games throughout the season, especially this time of year. I've always felt that, you know, winning close games was critical to have during your path because, you know, I look back and A.J. i can attest to this. When we were 15 and 1, we actually, you know, we had too many blowout wins, and not that you can ever have too many of them, but you need those tough games. You need those physical games, those reality games. And I think when you get into these late division games, it gives you that, and I think it's great preparation for the playoffs. But the best thing we got going in Green Bay right now is that defense and the perimeter's getting healthy. You can see them getting better each week. So that's exciting. Ball distribution. I think Jordan's done a really nice job with that. But, you know, you have to. You have to, like, tie with the. What the packers are doing.
- [80:00]
Pat McAfee
How about on the other side, the Bears? You think they're about a year out? I think, you know, AQ Shipley comes in here once a week and I said, you think they're about a year out with Ben Johnson and the Bears? I think they're a really good team. I'm talking a year out from being like, you know, super bowl conversation team. And AQ goes, if the quarterback can learn some football, basically was his response. It's like, quarterback definitely much better this year than he was last year. He was like, yeah, but he's got to continue to go. He obviously has a new situation, new system this year than he did last year. They're having success. Ben Johnson is super genius offensively, is how we all view him, right? Don't we all? Yes, we all view Ben Johnson super genius on the offensive side. Is it just Caleb's development that's basically going to decide whether or not the Bears win a Super bowl or not? Like, how do you kind of view the Bears over the next two years if you had to project?
- [80:45]
Mike McCarthy
Well, it's definitely arrow pointing up. And I think sometimes, you know, when you win, when you win, win a lot in your first year, you know, particularly close games and things, you know, go your way. I mean, look. Look at Washington last year, and then look what they were able to spring the board that into with an excellent run all the way to the NFC Championship game. So, you know, I do believe in year to year, but frankly, I wouldn't be too hard on Cleve because he's different who he makes. Plesio Williams.
- [81:16]
Pat McAfee
It's Caleb. I mean, Jesus Christ, you were nowhere, Caleb. You're nowhere near.
- [81:19]
Mike McCarthy
Okay? You've never made a mistake on.
- [81:23]
AJ Hawk
I knew what you're talking about. We knew what you're talking about.
- [81:27]
Mike McCarthy
I was just giving you an opportunity to interrupt. I love it when you, when you.
- [81:35]
Pat McAfee
Hey.
- [81:38]
Mike McCarthy
Hey.
- [81:38]
Pat McAfee
Cleave is A dog, though. Don't. Sorry. Sorry, Caleb. I cut you off. I didn't know if you were talking about, like, a quarterback coach. I honestly did not know. Yeah.
- [81:48]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [81:51]
Mike McCarthy
Well, I'm not as. I'm not as down on him as your comment there is. I see a guy that makes a lot of plays. He is in a structured, you know, a. You know, an offense that asks a lot of the quarterback, which is a great thing for him, but it's his first year in that offense, so. Yeah, so they're. Or they're growing pains, I would think. Clearly. I mean, I'm not. I'm not in there. Don't. Don't have access to any of that type of information, but there's definitely some growing pains, but the guy can make plays with his feet in his arm. And, you know, when I look back in the history of some great quarterbacks that were a little bit bouncing off the walls the first couple years, and if they could just stay healthy and keep playing, I think they're going to have a hell of a player there. But the best thing they got going for him is Ben, because he has them in a strong structured. You know, he has a system. He has to learn to run that system. And then everything he does with his feet and his playmaking ability is a bonus. And that's. That's a good place to be in quarterback development, in my opinion.
- [82:49]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, they got good people around him. Coach Ben Johnson, Coach Kleeb. Yeah, they also got. They got D out there. You know, they got D out there. Coach. No, no, no. Not doing it. Not doing it. Not doing it. Coach, you did not deserve that. That was rude. But let's talk about staying healthy, shall we? Let's talk about staying healthy, especially at the quarterback position. I was on the Colts, obviously, when Andrew Luck was just getting. I mean, he thought it was disrespectful to football to give up on a play. He got hit A lot. A lot of injuries took place. Serious injuries took place. Another one happened, and then that led to an early retirement. Now all eyes are looking towards Cincinnati and have been for a while. Go ahead, con man.
- [83:25]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, Coach. With the Bengals. And Jeff. I can't even get it. I was going to say Jeff Burrow, but with the Bengals. With the Bengals. And Joe Burrow. He gave a press conference yesterday and basically said, like, hey, the. The fun of the game seems to be, you know, not leaving him, but he doesn't. He's not finding joy right now and everything. And that's kind of understandable with the injuries he's had, I believe. You know, he's 29. He's only played three full seasons. I believe that's accurate. And he just came back. They were still in it, unfortunately, with the loss to Buffalo. It's very, very hard for the them now to kind of find a way to the playoffs. You were coaching Dak Prescott when he went through, you know, his kind of worst time as a pro with, you know, his injuries and some of the terrible things he had to go through to get to, you know, the point where he's at now. What do you say to a player like this when they're in a situation where there doesn't seem to be much hope at the end of the tunnel? Do you think Burrow, this is kind of one of those things where you just kind of have to go back to the drawing board board. What do you think of this whole situation and how do you think the Bengals as a front office and an organization can kind of fix Jeff Burrow?
- [84:32]
Mike McCarthy
Joe, his name's Fox, Joey B. But no, I, I think number one, just, you know, overall injuries is clearly the worst part of the game. When you watch players go through injury and the amount of time they put into to each and every season, the prehab and the sports science and advancement. And to think that how much Joe has been through as far as getting back from the injuries of the past, yes, I could definitely see why he make me feel in the way he is. I think you have to, number one for people that have to go up there and do press conferences on a regular basis. Everybody wants you to, you know, be honest, you know, and give a real answer. And the fact that he gave one, I think you have to respect that because that's, you know, that's, that's, you know, that's very personal to him. And, and I think he, you know, he gives, you know, inside of where he. What he's thinking about right now. But yeah, the coming back from injuries is. It's a long process. I mean, Dak in particular, I mean, there's clearly, you know, nothing that you can't feel for these guys because playing quarterback and really playing football, professional football, it's a, it's a 12 month, seven day a week deal. I mean, these guys, you know, whether, you know, post season and you know, what they get through as far as their time off and going into it. But I think what do you do and what do you say? I think frankly, you rely on the relationships and the support, you know, that you have around him. I mean, you know, just from my understanding, you know, he's a very well respected young man, not only, you know, in Cincinnati, but in the National Football League. So I think the people closest to him, him and relying on that and just to make sure he's talking to people and going through this. But I think he gave you a very honest answer to a question in a press conference that he could have easy threw away. And also just, I think it shows how much he cares, you know, how much he puts into it. And yeah, injuries is the worst part of it. There's been a lot of great players whose careers have been cut short. Quarterbacks who maybe have never got off to the start or maybe have the finish in their career career because of the, because of injury.
- [86:45]
Pat McAfee
They're saying some crazy stuff about Joe Burrow leaving the Bengals and maybe getting traded and going somewhere else.
- [86:50]
Connor Rogers
Oh, yeah, they're definitely going to trade him. They. They do that?
- [86:53]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. That's what the Bengals do. Yeah, the Bengals.
- [86:55]
Tone
Carson Palmer.
- [86:56]
Pat McAfee
Well, he could say, I'm, I'm either going to retire, you're going to let me out here. I'm not eating the sauce.
- [87:01]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [87:02]
Connor Rogers
Out of the janitor.
- [87:03]
Pat McAfee
I'm not paying for the, the, the chili, the sky skyline that you guys are serving. That. That's what happened. That's just what happened back in the day. Allegedly, I think reportedly, Carson Palmer, allegedly, reportedly, I think on the record said, yeah, I'm not. I'm gonna retire. Which one? I think it was all of them. It was alleged at the beginning, then it was reported. And then I think Carson himself came out and said that is kind of how the conversation went. So what I was trying to give you is a full day dive of journalism. It was alleged at the beginning, then it got reported. And then I think Carson came out and said, yeah, I told him I'm not doing it anymore. And then he goes to the Raiders and then he goes to the Cardinals and he has a full career afterwards. But he had to like say he was going to just, I'm not playing football anymore. I'm not doing it if you're not going to let me out of here. Cincinnati Bengals aren't like a big move type place, you know. But on that note, they did spend massive amounts of money, seemingly to keep Joe Burrow happy in an. And now if you don't win, is anybody ever happy? We just want Joey B. To know. We love you, buddy. We love you. You're good for ball, Joe. You're good for ball in that Same press conference. He seemed pretty happy when they talked about Pokemon cards. So maybe the Bengals could just start paying him in Pokemon cards.
- [88:17]
Ty Schmidt
Hey.
- [88:17]
Pat McAfee
Hey, Coach, you remember when everybody was doing Pokemon Go at training camp? Was that happening with your team?
- [88:23]
Mike McCarthy
Probably was, but I didn't participate. You got. That's probably a better question for aj.
- [88:26]
Pat McAfee
Aj Were you guys Pokemon Go going?
- [88:29]
AJ Hawk
No, we were not.
- [88:30]
Connor Rogers
Don't lie. Don't lie.
- [88:31]
Pat McAfee
Me and Vinitari are walking through training camp and there's like an open area.
- [88:35]
AJ Hawk
That's when people are like walking off of buildings and stuff.
- [88:37]
Pat McAfee
Is that you're talking about out windows.
- [88:39]
Tone
And everything in volcanoes?
- [88:40]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Grand Canyon had their phone like this. It was Pokemon Go. Coach, you know anything about this?
- [88:45]
Mike McCarthy
I do not. I mean. I mean, superficially, yeah, you're a 30,000 foot view.
- [88:50]
Pat McAfee
30,000 foot view. You've heard stories, obviously, but yeah, it was a thing that kind of captivated everybody. Everybody was playing his Pokemon Go. Had to be on your phone and people just on their phones. They were walking right off buildings, right into trains, like just into things. It really captivated the world. Not NFL guys. Well, maybe. I don't know, but we were walking from the cafeteria area to team meeting after practice at night, and me and Vinny are just walking through and we got offensive linemen, linebackers, doing his Pokemon Go. We got a meeting in 10 minutes. We got the Pokemon Go.
- [89:20]
Connor Rogers
Let me catch it.
- [89:21]
Pat McAfee
Let me catch it. I've never heard Venatori quicker say, we're fucked this year. And I just. Yes, we are. Yes.
- [89:28]
Pete Thamel
I think we.
- [89:29]
Pat McAfee
Any other position, maybe, you know, any other position we had. It wasn't our starters, obviously, but it was in the offensive line room kind of doing their thing. And it's like, well, season hasn't started, but it's already over, basically. We might as well go ahead and see how this goes. But it was a good game. It was. I didn't play any. I didn't catch them. Any of them. I would try to catch them all, sure. But it. It had everybody, including all our team, and it was not good indicators. It was like. I don't think it was great for anybody. Okay, AJ Has a question for you.
- [89:58]
AJ Hawk
Speaking of that. Teams that especially don't have any chance, it seems like this year there's more teams that have a chance to win it. And usually going in, there's like a handful of teams, I feel like, okay, they actually have a chance. But now we talk about parity throughout the league. Why do you think that is right now? Why are There so many teams, I guess seems like more teams that, that truly could go on a run, win a Super Bowl.
- [90:17]
Mike McCarthy
Yeah, I think it's amazing. I think the definition of parity is adjusted, you know, every year. And definitely it's what the league wants and I think what the commissioner wants. And personally, I think it's awesome. I go back to 1993 was my first year and that's right when plea plan B free agency ended. And I always remember the speech that Marty Schottenheimer would he gave particularly at the beginning of the season. And he said, hey, there's, there's three categories of teams in this league. He says, you got the super bowl contenders. He goes, and at that time, you know, he was flat out, he just said it. He said, san Francisco and Dallas, they're better than all of us right now. And Buffalo's probably right up there. He says, so that's the group that on paper could win the super bowl today. And he said, then you got about 12 or 15 teams that are in, you know, the second group. And you know, those teams, our team, we need to work, you know, throughout the season to continue to get better, continue. And he, you know, he had his plan and was stating his vision and how so important to November, December, playing your best football into the playoffs. And then he said the third categories are teams that, you know, they just have so many challenges that they won't be able to overcome. And you know, and then certain teams are so, you know, effed up. They're never going to win. So in his colorful words. But and I always thought that was a really Good, you know, 360 view viewpoint of the league and I've always looked at it that way and I think if you as, you know, everybody gears up in the off season, we go into training camp and I'm sure you guys talked about this on the. I mean, I don't know how many teams you probably thought were super bowl contenders this year. I think numbers bigger, probably 10 to 12. And then there's a, then there is probably that second group is probably 12 to 14. And then you have another, you know, six to eight down there at the bottom that they just have so many challenges they can't overcome. And I think that's really how the league has gone of particularly late. And I think these division games at the end have been very helpful. You know, I think, you know, the drafting and, and all the other, you know, the people utilizing the free agency, they're increasing the cap and you know, I just, I think the parody of the league is great and I think it really illustrates the importance of you know, the organizational, you know, impact as far as facilities, sports science, you know, your support, your support people, their importance should be, you know, higher valued. The value of coaching should be, should be higher. Not to be self serving serving but you know, because, because it is so competitive, you know, in the arena of player, you know, acquisition, you know, because you know with the draft and you know, and there's so much information that's out there today compared to, you know, where, where we were 30 years ago on these guys and you know, just think about, you know, a player coming out of high school going, going through college and by the time he gets to the NFL draft, just, you know, the amount of information on that particular individual, you know, so, so parody is, is, is awesome for the league and I think you see it more and more, you know, each year. But you know, teams who you thought were in September going to win the super bowl, you know, where are they at today? And then you look at the teams like Indianapolis or was probably in that second group if they can get going and you know, Daniel comes along like the way we thought and you know, can now get into that. You know, New England was probably a team that you thought, hey, they were young, they did some things at the end of the year, year that you really like Drake May was shown what he can be. So I mean I just think. Did I get the name right Pat?
- [93:43]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you did probably. I thought you were about the Colts. And then as soon as we got the countdown clock for the Rivers returns and you, you moved off the Colts, he went to the Patriots and then Connor was losing his. So he did a great job for the all parties there. But I was hoping we were going to talk about how Phil Rivers maybe take some from. We're in that middle group and then we're moving in top group and then all of a sudden quickly we went down a bottom group. Oh no, these guys got chance. And then 44 year old grandpa comes in all of a sudden we, you know, we go right back up that thing in 55 hours we find out. 55 hours we find out.
- [94:13]
Mike McCarthy
Well, we're in the top group and the Colts right now. So I mean you know, definitely you can go from group one to two to three. I mean I, I'm excited to watch Philip play. I think this is, I think it's awesome and I think the fit with Shane and everything he got going. So I'm like, like I said maybe I got to say it again. If anybody can do it, Philip rivers can do it. 55 hours and 46 minutes and 48 seconds.
- [94:36]
Mario Cristobal
Wow.
- [94:37]
Pat McAfee
That's pretty good out of you right there. You say, you know that's multiple sizes.
- [94:40]
Mike McCarthy
Pay attention.
- [94:41]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, you saw it. You saw it. Now, Phil, you can get. See you later, Phil. See you later. Thank you. It's a nice little reminder to pop that up like holy hell, old man.
- [94:48]
Mike McCarthy
That's cool. Your graphics are unbelievable. Your production team's incredible.
- [94:52]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, the boys are really good.
- [94:54]
Mike McCarthy
They're. They're special. Some of the. I mean, that G. That Galileo thing, I'm still laughing. Know where the hell you guys pulled that out of?
- [95:01]
Pat McAfee
Well, you know, mathematics, the universe's love, language.
- [95:04]
Tone
Well said.
- [95:05]
Pat McAfee
You know, that's what.
- [95:08]
Mike McCarthy
G's singing it.
- [95:09]
Pat McAfee
I mean, I see a little sil of a man. Very, very frightening.
- [95:41]
Mike McCarthy
Anyways, A.J. you must have missed the rehearsal there.
- [95:53]
AJ Hawk
It bothers him a bit, Coach. It does bother him a bit.
- [95:55]
Tone
Bad teammate.
- [95:55]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I don't know if he didn't do it. I don't know if he didn't buy in when with you guys at the Packers. But I'll tell you what. Wiz Khalifa was on our team for one day, and he said, boys, put your hands up. We immediately, everybody's hands went up like this, AJ Two feet away from Wiz Khalifa. I don't think so, bub. I'm not your.
- [96:12]
Tone
He actually gave him the finger.
- [96:13]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. It was unbelievable. Just like he did to you. Just like he did to. To you on the field. Yeah. So thank you, Coach. If you could send him a side note about buying in, we'd appreciate that. Thank you for bringing that, coach.
- [96:24]
Mike McCarthy
I'll coach him up.
- [96:25]
Tone
Thank you, coach.
- [96:26]
Pat McAfee
Thank you. All right. I see Gus in the snow back here.
- [96:30]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [96:30]
Pat McAfee
That means magic's happening. That means meaningful football is happening, AJ we let you off the hook there too easy. I, I, I don't think we yelled enough. But we will get back to that after Coach McCarthy is no longer here. I feel like we are disrespectful respecting Coach McCarthy, airing out kind of our inner team dynamics right now. But, A.J. you need to buy in when we're singing Goddamn Galileo. Okay? That is just for the good.
- [96:53]
Connor Rogers
A little bit of a delay.
- [96:54]
AJ Hawk
You know the delay. You know, there's other programs. You guys are connected virtually always.
- [96:58]
Connor Rogers
Excuses.
- [97:00]
Ty Schmidt
They're like socks.
- [97:02]
Pat McAfee
Everybody's got them.
- [97:03]
Tone
And Bones got them. A bunch of crusty ones.
- [97:06]
Pat McAfee
All right.
- [97:07]
Connor Rogers
What?
- [97:08]
Pat McAfee
That's what is happening. That's Gus in The snow, okay, it's cold time. It's very cold here. We got snow. We just had a snowstorm.
- [97:15]
Ty Schmidt
We did.
- [97:15]
Connor Rogers
And it's coming again.
- [97:16]
Pat McAfee
Supposed to come tonight. It came earlier. But that means one thing. Holidays. Okay, Thanksgiving already happened. We got Christmas, New Year's. We got all the holidays that are happening right now. More importantly, though, we got playoff pushes, playoff runs, meaningful football, which means one thing. Go ahead, Tone.
- [97:33]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, Coach.
- [97:34]
Tone
Obviously you coached in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Outside, very, very cold, a lot of snow. And then down in Dallas, inside, it's warmer down there. Everyone talks about the advantages of cold weather teams and playing in the cold weather all the time. There's seven games this weekend under 32. Four of those games are going to be under 20 with wind chills about zero. Is it actually an advantage to those teams that are used to playing outside in the cold, or is that something that we make too much of?
- [98:00]
Mike McCarthy
Oh, I think it's definitely an advantage. I mean, I've always felt that, and I wouldn't say, say from a psychological or mental. I think it's more about the opportunity to handle the football in the cold. And A.J. when we were in Green Bay, we would always practice outside. The only thing that ever took me inside was the wind, you know, high winds. I always felt it was important to be outside on the grass. And we were fortunate to have the facilities up there, you know, with the heated field, just, you know, the fields, the practice fields were identical to the field, you know, at Lambeau Field. So I think it's critical. And the most important part is the ball is handling the football. We would do extra ball drills religiously in the outdoor work because that's where I felt the biggest advantage was. And, you know, thank God for Aaron Rodgers and thank God for Brett Favre. But, you know, the, you know, the big hands, the long arms, ability to torque the football. And I always loved it when the weather was cold and you didn't have the high wind in there because you always felt great confidence in your passing game because of the ability to throw the ball. And I thought it really helped our perimeter group create separation in that weather because defense is half a step slower in that weather on the outdoor surface, in my opinion, in those elements. So I think there's clearly our advantages playing in that weather and practicing outside side and being that more from the, you know, the elements standpoint as far as how you playing it, not the psychological, oh, it's cold. And because, hell, I mean, you know, the players are probably in the best spot in the whole stadium as far as keeping warm. You know, they're out there running around, they come off, they got the jackets put on them, the heating. I mean, the only time I think I ever went to the bench was in cold weather to talk to the quarterbacks. And I really wasn't over there talking. I was over to get, you know, warm my ass up because I was freezing. But I think that, you know, the elements do favor the teams that do play. And I always felt. Yeah, and I thought. And it was more, you know, catching a football and some of the games that, you know, we had lost over the years. And it really came down to, you know, who handled the football better. And I think that'll be a big key, big key in all these. In all these games played this weekend.
- [100:15]
Pat McAfee
NFLweather.com shout out to them for providing all that. And we talked about Jordan Love the other day as he was promoting Toyota Thon, in which he has dominated during. But during Toyota Thon is a lot of bad weather at Lambeau, and he's always played well during it. And he talked about how I don't love it. AJ said. AJ's from Ohio. I'm from Pittsburgh. You know, we're from cold places. Everybody's like, you know, they're from the North. They like the cold. Nobody likes the cold. It's just whether or not you've already mentally had to go through the entirety of how bad it sucks, which is what happens on the daily basis, I think that's a huge deal as well. Which is why you pointed out we practice outside every day unless the wind would affect it. I think that is the big advantage. Coach, you agree?
- [100:57]
Mike McCarthy
Yeah, definitely. And, you know, the quarterbacks that play in the dome, you know, that are not used to it and maybe don't have big hands, you know, that's something they got to deal with. That ball comes off their hand a little differently, too. So, yeah, I agree with everything you've said. I mean, no one likes playing in that weather, but I do think it is an advantage to be able to practice in that weather.
- [101:21]
Pat McAfee
What TUA got any of these games, cold games coming up or had had anyway, because, remember, he was literally the example that everybody gave. Like, this Miami Dolphins team's very good. Then he traveled up to Kansas City. It was like negative five or whatever. And it was just the complete opposite, like, clearly getting beat by the cold weather. Go ahead.
- [101:38]
Tone
Monday night. It's supposed to be 18, I believe in Pittsburgh.
- [101:41]
Pat McAfee
We're going to find out, Gumpy.
- [101:42]
Tone
We're going to pound the rock. Now we got an offensive line. Now it's a different ball club than yours.
- [101:47]
Pat McAfee
I'm excited for this. Who are the mentally tough teams that can handle the weather and who needs to have home field advantage through the playoffs? That's a big deal. Through it all and is Phil river is going to be a guy who In 74 hours, 39 minutes.
- [102:01]
Mike McCarthy
What?
- [102:01]
Connor Rogers
There it is.
- [102:03]
AJ Hawk
I can't see the first number. So that's been off from by 20 hours.
- [102:06]
Ty Schmidt
No, no game got flexed. It was initially supposed to be a 4am Local kickoff time. They moved it to 4:25.
- [102:12]
Pat McAfee
Easier. Yeah. So we just got that information.
- [102:15]
Connor Rogers
Just can't move on.
- [102:17]
Pat McAfee
Who discovered that it got flipped from.
- [102:19]
Tone
4Am to 4pm Connor.
- [102:22]
Pat McAfee
Connor dropped in my ear there and he goes, if at 4:25, would we not be 72 hours away from the game? And I looked up at the clock and I quick mad, it's like, yeah, it's Thursday. And then, you know, go to the, the back room. Hey, we're way off on that thing. How do we even. So while you were giving a great answer about the weather there, there was quite an explosion of joy around here with how stupid we are. Just know that 74 hours from now, 38 minutes and 40 seconds, Phil Rivers returns to a football field.
- [102:50]
Connor Rogers
Let's go, baby.
- [102:52]
Pat McAfee
Hey, Seattle, good luck. Yeah, right. Good luck. He's been waiting five years for this. You should we have a west coast.
- [102:58]
Tone
Clock too, just so they know or.
- [103:00]
Connor Rogers
Oh, that's just 71, 38, 25.
- [103:02]
Pat McAfee
No, I don't think it changes actually. No.
- [103:05]
Connor Rogers
Jesus.
- [103:05]
Pat McAfee
Let's not save time. Speaking of time and everybody having one, Connor has a question about when the time is right.
- [103:12]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, Coach, Hate to go there with you with Green Bay, but towards the end of your tenure there, you know, you were a legend, you won a Super bowl. And you know, the, the time just seemed right for you to be leaving, you know, whether you felt that or not. But right now with Kansas City and Baltimore in Pittsburgh, it does feel as though three. Three places, three legendary coaches. And not that their seats are hot, but the conversation at least is there. Where, hey, there needs to be some sort of change. Kansas City is much different, of course, just because of the very recent success. But with Baltimore and Pittsburgh, it just feels as though they've fallen short very consistently here in recent memory. Do you think that those coaches, whether it be Harbaugh, Tomlin or Andy Reid, have a sense of the end is close as far as those particular locations or do you think they don't even hear that. They don't feel that they're just staying the course. What was your experience with that in Green Bay and what do you think they're going through right now?
- [104:17]
Mike McCarthy
I'll say this. I think number one, all three of them, those men, in my opinion, deserve to step away when they feel it's time. And hopefully that'll be a mutual understanding between them and their organizations. Because when their time is up at the three organizations they work for, they will be missed. You know, it may take a year or two or at some point, trust me. Those are three hall of Fame caliber football coaches you're talking about. Not only that, as far as who they are as coaches, they've built a championship program. Winning a Super bowl is very difficult. And I've said this before on the show, and I believe it wholeheartedly, but sustained success in the NFL in my opinion is much harder to be able to win week in and week out. You know, year in and year out. To put your team in the playoffs is extremely difficult because we've seen it time and time again where a team gets, gets hot and probably plays their best football the last five weeks of the season, but was so up and down and just, maybe just got into the playoffs. You look at our particular team in 2010 now, we felt we were a Super bowl contender when the season started. We felt we arrived in 09, but we had a tremendous amount of challenges with the injuries and kind of slugged it around. Aaron missed two games with two concussions. I mean, we had injuries all over the place and we were kind of just scrapping to stay in there and, and really fought to get in at the end. You know, it wasn't, we weren't playing really great football. Even the last game against the Bears, it was not our best outing. But you know, we still won the game to get in the playoffs. And then, you know, we got going and so we went on a four game tear. And you know, I think all the adversity that we went through give us confidence. So, you know, I think you got it. You got to be careful about that.
- [106:12]
Ty Schmidt
But.
- [106:13]
Mike McCarthy
But I understand the fans. I'm getting to watch it from this chair. I talked about this last week. I can't believe the volatility, the up and down because, you know, you look at Pittsburgh seven days ago, you know, the way we were talking about, now they're in first place. So, you know, I just think. And I think number eight will throw the ball very well come Sunday in the Weather. But, you know, I just think you got to be careful would watch what you wish for is I guess is my. Is my message here.
- [106:39]
Pat McAfee
But everybody wants more, coach. Everybody wants more.
- [106:42]
Mike McCarthy
Like, hey, watch what you wish for in the Philly.
- [106:46]
Connor Rogers
Philly media is calling for, you know, is Jalen Hurts going to be the.
- [106:49]
Pat McAfee
Starter to coach Sirianni getting asked that question actually right now. Get he in the presser yesterday. Hey, you thinking about quarterback one more bad game. They just paid him, what, $700 million and he just won a Super bowl last year. And, you know, things are obviously aren't going great. And people were addressing Petullo immediately throughout the entire season. But now, Jalen, year after winning the super bowl as quarterback, like, hey, you.
- [107:13]
Ty Schmidt
Thinking about Tanner Key looks good.
- [107:15]
Pat McAfee
You talk about the volatility. It's like, that's a good thing for the league to have that amount of passion, but it is in those buildings. And I appreciate you saying, you didn't even realize it was like this. You have to be able to keep everybody going the same way, because nowadays, more so than ever, all that shit you can get in, it's in everybody's hand. All that shit's in everybody's hand that is walking around there. Players, coaches, you name it. Trainers, managers, they all see all of it. So once that starts getting in, I assume that is when it ends, right? That that's the goal of a head coach in the modern. Welcome to the modern world. That is like the modern world head coach, though, right? The noise is very loud, maybe louder than it's ever been, and more accessible for players, coaches, you name it, in the building.
- [107:51]
Mike McCarthy
I. I think what. I think it's a great. A great leading to why head coach is messaging. His messaging is so important. I think, you know, working in Dallas was. It was a tremendous experience on so many different fronts. But, you know, it really, you know, gave me a great view to the real. Frankly, working at the content capital of the world. I mean, content is generated, you know, at every turn because there's value in that. And I think when you look at some of these situations that we're about talking, talking about, you know, you got. You got content that's being created through dramatic questioning in a press conference. And it's, you know, sometimes, you know, the reality and the common sense is not even in the building. So I think you got to have the ability to filter and have an understanding, you know, what content is really being generated for, why it's the agenda, why it's being generated, but the reality of it is, you know, now for something that you feel is wrong with that championship program, program that's not getting you to the spot that, you know, that was getting you before then, then you're having a different conversation. But I don't think that's the case in Kansas City, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. So I think you got to really, really, you know, take a close look at that. And I think frankly that's, you know, you look, you look at the ownership in all three of those places, you're talking about great, great ownership. And you know, I think those are internal conversations that, you know, common sense will probably prevail and then they'll make a, you know, they'll make educated decisions and. But I think all three of those coaches will be, you know, involved in that decision making.
- [109:22]
Pat McAfee
Coach Penthouse to outhouse so quick. Yeah, everything is what have you done for me lately and for those coaches. You talk about Andy Reid, Tomlin and Harbaugh and you mentioned at the beginning, I think those coaches have earned their ability to be able to say when they want to leave. Then we just saw what happened with Pete Carroll in Seattle a couple years ago and then we started see what happens immediately afterwards. We saw what happened in New England. Whenever they make the change from Bill, then they make a change, it doesn't work out, they make another change and they immediately have success. It's like you see those two. But we don't talk about how about Tennessee kicking VRA Wild, kicking a new coach and it going even like there's a lot of the other side too. That happens whenever you decide to move on. The grass isn't necessarily always greener, but all these fans want to say is it'd be nice to just see it though, like, see if it's greener, you know, see if it is maybe a little bit more potent. If we could do it maybe a little bit more exciting, maybe less. We have a winning season and we want a Super bowl again, is what Yinzers are saying. Baltimore Ravens are saying the same thing. We shall see it all works out. Let's look at tonight's game. Okay. Tampa Bay Buccaneers can still very much go win a Super Bowl. They can win the NFC South. They can have a home playoff game. They're taking on Kirk Cousins in the Atlanta Falcons, fresh off an ass beating from the Seattle Seahawks. Bucks just lost to the Saints. It is now five and a half points the spread. The Bucks are favored at home on Thursday night on Prime. Coach McCarthy, you would be very, very good if you were to actually be Picking games for Thursday night. 9 and 4. 94 is the record. We went through all your text messages. We went through everything. Nine, four is what you would be right now. How do you see tonight going, coach?
- [110:53]
Mike McCarthy
Well, you know, I'll say this. You know, I thought I made my pick this morning when it was four and a half, but that's fine. I'll participate. No, I think number one, when, you know, when I look at this game, you know, here we go again. He's going to say, yeah, it's a division game. I think you got to always bring that into light, especially division games at the end of the year. And I think, you know, any time you feel like the field's tilted one way or the other too high, I think you got to really look at counterintuition and that's it. And I go back to the division games, how well these teams know each other. So I do think it's going to be a very good, good game. The first thing that I see when I look at the matchup, I think it's going to be critical. The team that gets the ball to their running backs, I think will be probably the most successful on offense, regardless. If they hand it to her, throw it to them. I think you got, you got two dynamic running back groups in this game. I think you got good matchups up front. You know, it looks like, you know, it looks like Tampa's healthy. I really like the way the edge players are playing in Atlanta here down the stretch, the last four or five, five weeks. You know, Leonard Floyd's back. You know, I think they got a really good rotation there, so I think it's. You got some really good matchups. I think Atlanta's going to have to shorten the game some, you know, try to, try to, you know, I don't think you want to get into a, you know, a big, a lot of series exchange with, with Tampa Bay, because Tampa Bay, to me is still the best team in the NFC South. I think their ability to both run it and throw it is, you know, they got a lot of balance throughout that team. You know, they got Bucky Irvin back. It's great to see him healthy, you know, dynamic young player. So, you know, I think the balance of Tampa Bay would prevail. You know, the defenses, you know, they both bring a lot to the table. I think schematically, Tampa has always been a challenge, you know, schematically, you know, especially if you don't play them very often. But it is a division game. So, you know, I Looked at the weather, it's going to be a beautiful night down there. 50, I think 58 degrees, 4 mile an hour. And, you know, I think with that, you know, ball distribution should be very high. The vitals are always there. Who takes care of the football versus who takes it away? No question. But I think Atlantic and shorten the game and it'll serve him well. But I do like, I do like Tampa Bay in this game with the points.
- [113:06]
Pat McAfee
Mike Evans is back to, you know, so we'll see a show there. Baker Mayfield's going to go crazy on primetime per usual. And we can't thank you enough, coach, for joining us. Tell Gus we said hello and the entire fam.
- [113:17]
Mike McCarthy
You bet. Happy holidays. I know we're just getting started, so you guys have a great weekend.
- [113:22]
Pat McAfee
Happy holidays, coach. Ladies and gentlemen, coach Michael Corn. He's been pulling for Khalid for the whole time. Ben Johnson brought him in there as a quarterback coach and then just kind of kept going. He was amazing. He likes the Bucks down there in Tampa Bay. Beautiful, beautiful weather tonight. Yeah, I like that. Especially as we got snow all around. We go to watch game down there in Tampa. Mike Evans is going to go ham. Like that's just what is going to happen. Primetime game. Mike Evans, what do you think? You think?
- [113:50]
Tone
No, no, I think he might. But also, this is the first time that Ebuka is not the number one wide receiver in a long time. Remember how.
- [113:56]
Pat McAfee
Oh, he's going to go.
- [113:58]
Tone
He was. Yeah.
- [113:59]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so we're all seeing it the same way. We'll continue digitally on YouTube, esports, ESPN plus Disney plus we got kicked off of Tick Tock.
- [114:07]
Connor Rogers
I guess again, I feel like we.
- [114:09]
Pat McAfee
Get attacked on there by people. Been getting attacked a lot lately. I wonder what's that all about? Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions.
- [114:41]
Connor Rogers
And because Grainger knows safety is always.
- [114:43]
Pat McAfee
A priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited to be Clear. That's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day. Yeah. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy. Taxes and fees extra c. Mintmobile.com. Yeah. What is that all about?
- [115:28]
Tone
I meant I wonder.
- [115:29]
AJ Hawk
What do you mean?
- [115:29]
Connor Rogers
TikTok's just fix.
- [115:30]
Tone
I had poor timing on my. I wonder why. I know why.
- [115:33]
Connor Rogers
The Tik Tok.
- [115:34]
Pat McAfee
That's why I said that. Oh yeah.
- [115:35]
Tone
We're being too patriotic.
- [115:38]
Pat McAfee
Okay. I don't know if that's.
- [115:39]
Mike McCarthy
Oh, I don't know if that's what it is.
- [115:42]
Pat McAfee
I think this time they said we were stealing content. We put some of these from who?
- [115:46]
Tone
You know who.
- [115:48]
Pat McAfee
Maybe the singing. That'd be crazy. That's exactly pony riding. Or the MMA fighting. Yeah. More so fighting. Could have been 100%. 100% our fault. Yeah. Could be the guy the singing singing queen was pissed.
- [116:05]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [116:05]
Pat McAfee
Said yeah right. That sounds too much like what it's supposed to sound like.
- [116:09]
Connor Rogers
Freddy Mercury back.
- [116:11]
Pat McAfee
I see a little silhouette of a man. We're going to get banned. We're going to get banned.
- [116:16]
Ty Schmidt
You're right.
- [116:17]
AJ Hawk
Get banned.
- [116:18]
Pat McAfee
Aj. That's why DJ didn't sing.
- [116:19]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [116:20]
Tone
He's a beautiful voice.
- [116:21]
AJ Hawk
You're right.
- [116:21]
Pat McAfee
That's what he said. He's. I'm trying to look out for the business. For this business, for the program. Speaking of this business, we will have John Cena live in studio tomorrow.
- [116:30]
Mike McCarthy
What?
- [116:31]
Ty Schmidt
John Cena?
- [116:32]
Pat McAfee
No, John Cena.
- [116:33]
Ty Schmidt
Oh, excuse me. Sorry.
- [116:34]
Pat McAfee
John Cena will be in the in the Thunderdome tomorrow as Saturday night. He will have his last ever WWE match on Saturday night. Main event on Peacock and NBC against gu. They got a stacked card. It's going to be a spectacular night. And his last conversation I do believe before a big fight with Gunther will be with us. As he says right here. I don't know if that chair is going to be big enough for how Jack John Cena is.
- [117:02]
Connor Rogers
I need to wear my glasses.
- [117:04]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [117:04]
AJ Hawk
Any surprises you think? I think I have any like run ins or anything.
- [117:08]
Pat McAfee
Anything crazy I would assume now could just be a match, you know. Could just want go out old school. Let's just do a match. Let's not do this. But they've been the last time is now has kind of been the entire year here. And this would be the Last time ever. For a guy that a lot of people in the business call the goat for good reason. 20 plus years on top carried business to a completely different level and into a whole thing. And was there every single night, like, loved it. Business. So I would assume that they're going to try to make this a spectacle, but John Cena is very much like, I don't want. I would rather it just be wrestling show because he's super wrestling guy. Like, he is. This is how wrestling's supposed to go. This is how it's supposed to be. This is what it's supposed to be. And I think he does have some say in that whole thing. So I. I assume that there will be quite a who's who on Saturday night for John Cena's last match ever. Especially with how many years and how many different generations he. He worked with and all that stuff. So, yeah, I think it's probably going.
- [118:06]
AJ Hawk
To be almost Roy Rumble. Yeah. Turn into Roy Rumble someone.
- [118:09]
Mario Cristobal
Oh.
- [118:10]
AJ Hawk
The new music hits. John knocks that dude out. Someone else comes up, knock you out, throw you into the crowd.
- [118:14]
Pat McAfee
Hey, hey. Undertaker comes out.
- [118:18]
Connor Rogers
Hey, yeah.
- [118:19]
Pat McAfee
I mean, the Rock comes out a. Just everybody, even. I mean, Batista. Batista comes out. Boom. Kurt Angle comes out. Boom. I mean, it would be sweet if he gave 47 attitude adjustments and then 1, 2, 3. I'm getting out of here.
- [118:38]
Tone
The Batista entrance would be worth it. Jesse the Body on the call as well. It doesn't get any bigger.
- [118:43]
Pat McAfee
Do we know if that's real or not? Because didn't we just see a report that he was no longer. I would like to say, as somebody that got to work alongside Jesse the Body at Saturday night main event a few different times, what an honor it was to be talking to the Body, the Governor and learning about him off air. And some of the stories were. I mean, you get caught in one of those combos, you have no idea where it's going. I mean, I don't think I knew exactly what I was signing up for. Holy hell. Mr. Body, Mr. Governor. Very nice to meet you. I'm Pat. Oh, I know who you are. And then all of a sudden it's like, holy shit, I know who you are, too. Do you ever think about. And then we're right into it and it's hard to get out of it because it is something that you've never heard before. So it was. It was an honor to get to meet him and work alongside of him. I have no idea what the future looks about if he is on the call great for Saturday night. Main event. That's throwback to the past. If he's not on the call, which is possible, I know that Michael Cole will be. Yeah, this is Michael Cole's. You know.
- [119:37]
AJ Hawk
His dude, right?
- [119:38]
Connor Rogers
It's his goat.
- [119:39]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, they were road dogs together for a while there, you know, so like. And Michael Cole also road dog. I mean, that guy's been on the road for 27 years. Basically the entire entirety of John Cena. John Cena rose to the top of the business as a whole as Michael Cole was raising to the top of his particular world within the profession. So I. I expect a goat performance by Michael Cole on Saturday night. And I expect John Cena in the sendoff to be special. And Gunther, he's the right guy for it. I know a lot of people are saying there's a lot of different names for it. I mean, there's a lot of different people for it. Gunther, I don't think I've ever seen him not do his right. He's always been, you know exactly what you're getting from Gunther.
- [120:19]
Ty Schmidt
Ring Heno.
- [120:20]
Pat McAfee
Exactly.
- [120:21]
Connor Rogers
He's a great athlete too. Like, can do everything move.
- [120:23]
Pat McAfee
He goes off the top. He's gigantic. Obviously he's punishing, but he can move, you know, he can move for a big guy. And I don't think there's ever been like, oh, that was a bad match from Gunther. Oh, that was. He did bad today. It's like Gunther always does his now. I was hoping I was going to catch him on an off night, you know, cuz maybe he didn't have respect for me or what.
- [120:40]
Connor Rogers
Sure.
- [120:41]
Pat McAfee
But that wasn't the case. He. I guess he took me pretty seriously.
- [120:46]
Connor Rogers
He knew. He seen the tape.
- [120:48]
Tone
They have a countdown too.
- [120:49]
Pat McAfee
Well, that's still. That's. That might have been what, our countdown?
- [120:53]
Ty Schmidt
Sure. It makes sense.
- [120:55]
Connor Rogers
It probably would be, actually.
- [120:56]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. The rivers returns in being the wrong time is perfect.
- [121:01]
Mario Cristobal
I love that.
- [121:02]
Pat McAfee
And he's perfect.
- [121:04]
Connor Rogers
You know, I spent so much time.
- [121:06]
Pat McAfee
Trying to get it to look right and function. I just forgot to actually check the time. You see, the countdown of the countdown was the last thing. Because it did look cool.
- [121:18]
Pete Thamel
Yes.
- [121:19]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [121:19]
Pat McAfee
The placement was spectacular. I mean, this is a perfect spot. Just boom. Look at my little boy right here. You see this clock right here? This clock is counting down to a changing of an era, a changing of a dynasty, a passing of a torch from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Indianapolis Colts. Sorry, I was under center. He's not going to be under center. No, he's going to be right back here. He's going to have to get under center if.
- [121:40]
Connor Rogers
No. Yeah, if he gets under center. Aren't they. Aren't they half.
- [121:42]
Pat McAfee
He's not. When's he taking it under center? When's he have to do it?
- [121:45]
Tone
I mean, Phil Rivers.
- [121:49]
Pat McAfee
Tyler Warren's down there.
- [121:49]
Ty Schmidt
What if he says, I'm sorry, does Phil.
- [121:52]
Tone
Phil respect football? He's going to get under center. So Aaron Rogers under center when all the time.
- [121:58]
Pat McAfee
No Phil Rivers. Little different story than Aaron Rogers.
- [122:01]
Connor Rogers
They're doing a tush push with JT and Tyler Warren, but instead of pushing him, they're just bending him down and then actually walking him back for his drop back.
- [122:10]
Pat McAfee
What do you mean? Like for every dropout?
- [122:12]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. Well, only when he goes under center just. Just to help him bend and help him.
- [122:15]
Pat McAfee
Oh, so they're all going to like that thing where all the bodies are connected. You're saying it's going to be like that? Yeah, they're going to pick up his leg. You go tie them together. So when I pick up this right leg, the left leg picks up.
- [122:28]
Mario Cristobal
Yes.
- [122:28]
Connor Rogers
Tyler Warren and JT are going to help him.
- [122:30]
Pat McAfee
I want to let you know, yesterday, maybe I was a little bit turning towards the negative about it because a lot of people are pointing out a lot of things. Here we sit, 74 hours, 19 minutes and 54 seconds away from the debut. I'm all in after seeing him throw the ball, after hearing him talk, after listening. Listening to Josh Downs on Don's to Business podcast. Say, hey, he could spin it. The guy could still spin it. He knows everything. I'm all the way back in. And not that I was ever all the way out, but there were certainly some points that were being made that were hard to counter by others. People that were saying it wasn't going to go good. I'm all the way back. I didn't like people putting the miles per hour on a couple of the throws. Okay. I don't think those are accurate.
- [123:10]
Connor Rogers
That's fake. Yeah.
- [123:11]
Pat McAfee
And I don't know. Well, there was one particular cat that is. They are menaces. See, that's underdog. And underdog will do this to you. Underdog will dance on social media. What's normal then? Okay. Is 18 miles an hour normal? Because obviously I've seen people throw things 100 miles an hour, so it's a little tough to just see 18 miles an hour when I've seen balls go 105 miles an hour out of a hand. Not that that's what we need on that particular pass. And Phil Rivers doesn't care about speed. He just cares about where it is and who's getting the ball and then what's point, the placement of that thing and all this right here. Okay. That's what Phil River's doing. Oh, Tyler Warren.
- [123:45]
Ty Schmidt
Boom.
- [123:46]
Pat McAfee
Phil river says, would you like a gift? Here's one. Bang. Josh downs.
- [123:53]
AJ Hawk
I can't. I can't wait till Phil's first. Like, angry timeout when the play clock is running down or delay of game that they get.
- [123:59]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Chin show. We're gonna. I'm excited for him at the end when he has to do the kneel down from shotgun like it's college.
- [124:05]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [124:05]
Pat McAfee
Yep, yep. He's going to be trying to talk to people on the other side of the line. They're going to be like, we can't hear you. You're 18ft away, dude. If I could get under center, I'd say this to your face, but I can't. They hands it off to somebody, they nail it.
- [124:21]
AJ Hawk
I hope so.
- [124:23]
Pat McAfee
He looked like he could move, though. He did look like he. It is a crazy story, though. Like, when Colin Kaepernick was like, I want to get back into football. I want to get back into football. Football. We're like, cool, cool, cool. Good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck. But then it was like six years, and he's like, I want to get back into football. My first take was like, brother, I'm a punter and I've been out of the game for, like, two years. I. I don't even know what my body would do if I had to get back into peak. That's not just UXSSL.
- [124:48]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, exactly.
- [124:49]
Pat McAfee
This is the NFL, you know, like, especially at the quarterback position. It's like five years away from the elite level of something. You would assume that there's going to be some creeks and cracks and some rust that's going to happen. But you hear Phil Rivers talk, shoot. I've been calling this offense all year. I actually know this thing better than Shane. And do you know we made it to the state finals? Does this team go to the super bowl without me coming here? That's what I thought. So maybe I'm actually better at this offense than he is. He seems very confident, very, very comfortable. Obviously the same exact person mentally. And then he talked about his family in his press conference. His younger kids obviously had. They haven't really seen them. They've only seen the videos and highlight packages and say, what's the deal. So I think he's driven to have success because he's got an entire new five kids, four kids that really never seen him ever, ever do it and let alone the grandbaby that they're going to get a picture on his it's like I think he's driven to be good. I think he feels very good and I don't think they're doing this for any other reason than hey why not? We we are in this, we need to go do this and it's like this guy knows our offense completely. Did you hear Cam got upset? I didn't expect that. Cam said he thought it was a I, I didn't hear the quote. I only saw the headline and I massive respect for Cam Newton. You can go back and check on the record, I am a Cam Newton fan. Love his moxie, love his size, love what he did in the NFL he's allowed to talk about football however the he wants to talk about football. It's his league, it's his sport, he's one of them. So like that is what he can do. But he said he was upset that the Colts didn't call him and it's like I, I Week 15 I, I think they were just I didn't even think of Cam. Now granted I thought of Cam before.
- [126:18]
AJ Hawk
Because he knows the playbook cuz just because of his relationship with ST and that's why they didn't call Cam. Like if Cam was in that system then they probably would.
- [126:24]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Because we don't have time for you to learn here. Week 15 we, we, this is we don't have any time.
- [126:29]
Connor Rogers
Got to go.
- [126:30]
Pat McAfee
It's whoever knows our because if we go back to elementary level offense against Seattle we got no shot. I mean you know like so if.
- [126:38]
Connor Rogers
You change the entire offense to fit one guy you got no shot because nobody else knows what the hell they're doing.
- [126:44]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. So I think the decision was strictly a who knows our and then who can execute it conversation first. That's why Sam Ellinger got to work out. A couple of the other people got to work out. We don't have a lot of time. We're still trying to make a run at this thing very much. We've invested a lot of money and a lot of pieces in this roster. We are still going to try to go and then they just it all goes down and then there's a 44 year old down in Alabama cutting in high school. Think he could still do it. And then they look online and there's some Tik tok of Phil Rivers throwing to his kid. Yep. Son him. And that's what we got. We got a potential fairy tale Disney movie happening and starting this weekend in 74 hours, 15 minutes and 13 seconds.
- [127:24]
Ty Schmidt
Can't wait.
- [127:25]
Connor Rogers
So bomb game of the week.
- [127:26]
Pat McAfee
What's that called? What was that movie, the baseball movie where the old.
- [127:29]
Ty Schmidt
Oh, the rookie.
- [127:30]
AJ Hawk
Was that Randy Quaid?
- [127:31]
Ty Schmidt
That's Dennis Quaid.
- [127:32]
Connor Rogers
But you know Dennis Quaid, didn't he.
- [127:34]
AJ Hawk
Come back as like a 16 year old pitcher and making the majors or something?
- [127:37]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, but remember the goddamn speedometer on the street?
- [127:41]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. Said 64 and he threw it past.
- [127:43]
Pat McAfee
It and he walks past it and.
- [127:45]
Ty Schmidt
Blinks 94, that's 96.
- [127:48]
Pat McAfee
So whatever it was, he missed that. So he was potentially going to miss out on his dream. That's Phil Rivers in the backyard.
- [127:55]
Tone
Hopefully 14 points is way too many.
- [127:58]
Pat McAfee
Biggest spread of the weekend.
- [127:59]
Ty Schmidt
I don't love that Colts are going to win.
- [128:02]
Tone
I think the offensive going to be better.
- [128:03]
AJ Hawk
Do you?
- [128:04]
Ty Schmidt
Yes, I'm dead serious.
- [128:05]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, we, we put a Colts JMU moneyline parlay and feel so good about it.
- [128:10]
Ty Schmidt
Yep. I will buy a Philip Rivers jersey if the Colts win.
- [128:13]
Connor Rogers
Yes.
- [128:14]
Pat McAfee
You're invested. Why?
- [128:16]
Ty Schmidt
Because boy, if the packers want to get that number one seed, I'm just kind of looking ahead here. If the Colts could somehow beat the Seahawks and the Seahawks could beat the Rams, that put the packers in a pretty good position to go hunting for that number one seed. So I, I, I don't just to want, want the Colts to win this weekend. Nay, I need the Colts to win this weekend.
- [128:34]
Pat McAfee
So you're on old man Rivers, big time.
- [128:36]
Tone
Hell yeah.
- [128:37]
Pat McAfee
And Tone, what were you saying? I didn't like the way you said it earlier, but I do appreciate that you're almost kind of positive about the situation.
- [128:42]
Tone
I was just, I am very positive about the situation. I was just saying that. Who's a semi semifinalist for the hall of Fame this year?
- [128:49]
Pat McAfee
Philip Rivers.
- [128:50]
Tone
Philip Rivers. So like one of the best quarterbacks of all time, correct?
- [128:53]
Pat McAfee
Absolutely.
- [128:54]
Tone
We've seen it. He could still sing it. He knows the offense. Danny Dimes, we love him. He was great this season, but he was never Philip Rivers. So there's a chance the offense is better.
- [129:06]
Pat McAfee
Danny Dimes, we appreciate you. We appreciate you. But when we signed Danny Dimes, to your point, he was never going to be a semifinalist for a Hall of Fame. Now he's currently in the middle of his prime and had has been playing football and you know, we've seen Seen him. Yeah.
- [129:23]
Tone
But we've also, we've also seen what Phil's done off the field. We know his body still works.
- [129:28]
Connor Rogers
Who says Phil doesn't get a three year deal?
- [129:31]
Pat McAfee
There's a chance honestly maybe catches up with Blanda now if we do lose this weekend and I don't know if Goodell is taking this into consideration. I didn't know they had their zoom winter meetings. I proposed a clause to him yesterday. I wrote a formal letter. You see it dear at the top. And then I even sign off with a comma with an space. This is a formal letter. I think if you were to look at it. I'd like to propose a Week 15 clause for any team that has a grandfather playing quarterback that hasn't played football in five years. That states a loss will not be held against the team's overall record and when determining the playoff picture or division titlehood. I think that's fair. Yeah.
- [130:06]
Ty Schmidt
I don't think a winch you count either for the Seahawks.
- [130:09]
Pat McAfee
Well, so on that note, due to how special of a moment it is in the history of humanity, the game's outcome should be count as a win for that particular team regardless of the final score.
- [130:20]
Connor Rogers
Oh.
- [130:20]
Pat McAfee
So I think that would kind of. And this is once again, thank you for your consideration. This is from an NFL fan who just wants the best for the game, no matter who would benefit from it immediately.
- [130:29]
Ty Schmidt
I don't see anyone who would have any problem with that.
- [130:30]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, people were saying, a lot of people were saying like I'm saying that because that's the situation we have and it will never happen again. So there's no reason but in my eyes, like who knows who's going to be in this position going forward with the way the game is and with the way sciences and technology and you know, the ability to have kids, I guess for kids to have kids. People been doing that forever. So I'm just saying we should maybe put this in ahead of time because we don't want these grandfathers, these fairy tale stories to always come back as a negative one for the good of the game, for the good of the league. AJ we'd like that to be a win regardless of the score. Right A.J.
- [131:01]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, of course. I'm sure commission will change the rules instantly. But then what do you. Are you going to propose another clause next week? I would assume.
- [131:07]
Pat McAfee
No, this just for week 15.
- [131:09]
Pete Thamel
Yeah.
- [131:09]
Pat McAfee
Just to see.
- [131:10]
AJ Hawk
Just this week.
- [131:11]
Connor Rogers
Okay. I mean that's what don't they win?
- [131:12]
AJ Hawk
It doesn't count either. If they win it's just nothing.
- [131:14]
Pat McAfee
No, no, definitely a win. I'm just saying the loss should be counted as we're always winning. That is basically what I'm saying. We're playing a grandfather who has not played in five years. That's good for the league. For people to think I could play in the NFL. That's a. Oh, my God, it's a dream. All of a sudden, I want to be like Phil Rivers. Like, the league needs that. We need more good stores. We need more of that type of stuff happening. So if he comes back and just. And we lose, like, that's not good for all.
- [131:42]
Connor Rogers
Doesn't count.
- [131:43]
Pat McAfee
So I just think the commission should think about this being like an exhibition almost and give us the win now. On that note, fully confident. Fully, of course, that we're going to be just for other teams. I just wanted to pitch that for other teams, AJ not for us this week.
- [131:58]
Connor Rogers
I mean, go look at what Luannaro's done to Sam Darnold.
- [132:01]
Pat McAfee
I have not. Is that something we need to look into?
- [132:03]
Connor Rogers
I don't know. Maybe. So it's called, look, let's do a little homework for.
- [132:08]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, speaking of homework, women's college basketball has become something that is on our radar, boy, because AI is unstoppable. She goes for another 30 point game in the Cyhawk game, which is obviously Iowa versus Iowa State. Iowa State has been beating Iowa in most things as of late. And Audie, I don't think she's losing to anybody, let alone Iowa, where she herself said after the game that while she was shooting a free throw in this run, she got emotional because her dad, who passed away from Iowa, would have loved the fact that she was playing in this game. Ty, I know you're an Iowa Hawkeye. Audie is special. Absolutely unguardable, unstoppable, and seems like, like she's a joy. She seems to be very, very pleasant for her team.
- [132:55]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, she's an absolute dog. And while, yes, I did go to Iowa and am an Iowa fan, she's still homegrown, she's from the state. So I love anytime an Iowan puts on, whether that is for Iowa or Iowa State. And that, I mean, that's no, you know, not only is she unbelievable, Hilton magic is the real deal. You play at Hilton for basketball? Iowa State. The men play tonight. Iowa. Iowa State and the men. So not. Not only are the women unbelievable and have a legit chance to maybe win a national championship this year, Iowa State men's team is also one of the best teams in the nation and that that arena is a special, special place and very difficult to play.
- [133:34]
Pat McAfee
She has a Shaq vibe. She does just like dominant, you know, just absolutely dominating of a game. And obviously people take shots at her. She's a superstar that looks different than a everybody else that plays in it. I would like to let her know I love the way she sits in the paint and just goes for it and continues the ball and has a positive attitude through it all and dominates. I think she's special. I appreciate her contributions to sports and sports media world. For us to talk about anytime we can dive into another sport or another league, it's a good thing. She has captivated us and certainly captivated me. And she knows we exist, which is good. She sent us an autograph jersey.
- [134:08]
Ty Schmidt
That's right.
- [134:08]
Pat McAfee
We. We love Audi. You like women's hoops more than people would ever really realize.
- [134:13]
Connor Rogers
I. Yeah, absolutely. And that was the other thing from watching the game. Like, Audi does get a lot of the headlines because she has all these historic numbers with another girl on the team, Addie. It's kind of Audi and Addie. They're the front court, if you will. She's unbelievable. And just like the sport as a whole is growing so much. Like, getting to go to, you know, season tickets for the Fever with Caitlin Clark was really cool, but then just learning about everybody else who's in the the game, like juju Watkins for usc. She's out for the entire year. But USC has another girl that's going bananas this season. Like, it is cool. Just the more sport and the bigger everything gets, the better it is for, you know, everybody. Downtown Indy is legitimately changing before our eyes because of the Fever. Like they are changing the landscape of the city to add on for the Fever practice facility for a lot of other things that just. It benefits everybody in the city, and it does feel as though that effect will carry over to some of the other places that these women's teams are.
- [135:12]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, Audi might be doing the same damn thing wherever she has to. She has 276 points in 245 minutes this season. She's on pace to be the second D1 men's or women's NBA or WNBA player this century to average at least one point per minute in a single campaign. Joining the 76ers, Joel Embiid. Now, that's a problem for everybody else, not for us. Congrats, Audi.
- [135:35]
Connor Rogers
Keep it going.
- [135:35]
Pat McAfee
Keep going. Addy. Yeah, over there in Iowa State, the.
- [135:40]
Ty Schmidt
Other girls very good as well. Oh, no, I mean, Hawks Lost by five at Hilton. So let's not, you know, sound the alarms and act like, you know, the sky's falling.
- [135:50]
Pat McAfee
What happened in football?
- [135:51]
Ty Schmidt
It's their first loss of the season. Well, you know, I've actually been waiting to kind of say this, but. But, you know, if you. If you've been on my Twitter, basically, anything that comes out about Matt Campbell, I've kind of just been. And I. And I do actually believe it, but this guy's a class act. This guy's all class. There's been a lot of Matt Campbell. There have been. And, you know, I just. It's just hilarious, absolutely hilarious that this whole Penn State thing's happening and we're wondering who the. What. What is going to go. And then out of nowhere, Iowa State's program just gets Gunnar gutted because of it. I. I mean, it just, you know, it couldn't have worked out better. I do love Matt Campbell.
- [136:26]
Pat McAfee
He said he's a terrible person. I'm not.
- [136:28]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [136:28]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I'm not. The other day, I was like. I think it was yesterday or two days ago to tie. I'm like, matt Campbell, what a great hire for Penn. Like, actually, what a great hire for Penn State. And so I goes, yeah. And who would have thought in this whole Penn State thing, Iowa State's program would be the only one that would really end up suffering totally from it? Yeah. That was Ty's, like, first reaction whenever I talked about it. And then you think about it, it's like, during the Matt Campbell, Iowa State run, like, real program, real.
- [136:54]
Ty Schmidt
They were legit. This is not just me being an Iowa grad. Like, they were one of the worst Division 1 college football teams for a long time. Like, really bad. And then he got there and completely changed everything. Went to two Big 12 championship games. They went to a BCS bowl. Like, he is an unbelievable coach. So I think that is all also why even Iowa State fans understood that, like, this guy got an opportunity. He's. He. He said in his opening press conference, I think, like, his grandparents were massive Penn State fans. I think he has family that went to Penn State. Like, he has a lineage connected to that. And, like, he really didn't owe Iowa State anything. He gave them the best 11 years in their program's history. And he kind of, like, he. He deserved the opportunity to go somewhere, but bigger. Who has a bigger budget and all that kind of stuff. And I'm excited to see what he does at Penn.
- [137:46]
Pat McAfee
Perfect hire.
- [137:47]
Ty Schmidt
Yes.
- [137:48]
Pat McAfee
Like, actually a perfect. I think even if they would have Hired him, which nobody thought was possible. Nobody thought he was ever going to leave because to Ty's point in his first tweet, there guy's God in Ames. But if they would have hired him week five after they or week six whenever they was after they fired James Franklin, I think everybody would have been like, that's a good hire. That's a really good hire. So for them to go through the entire song and dance and then end up with Matt Campbell, it's like they ended up somehow going through it all and ended up in like the perfect spot. And for Matt Campbell, he's got an athletic director that took a big swing, got buried publicly by a lot of people who now would like to see you have the most amount of success. So they are going to line that whole thing up to go on a run. And we all believe Matt Campbell can win the big one, right?
- [138:32]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, I mean he has done more with less. And I, I don't think there's any arguing that like. And yeah, I mean there, there's a chance we'll see. Which yeah, I believe Rocco Beckt does have another year of eligibility. I'm pretty sure he's a red shirt junior. So that is obviously the. But, but like look at Iowa State's recruiting class this year. Like they're unbelievable. I think they, they had the 50th ranked recruit. Like that is what they do. They go get two star guys from Nebraska and like the surrounding parts of the of Iowa and he develops them and turns them into NFL guys. Like that's, that's what he does.
- [139:06]
Pat McAfee
He's a junior. Yeah. He has Rocco Becktas.
- [139:09]
Ty Schmidt
There you go. There you go.
- [139:10]
Pat McAfee
So if Matt Campbell is a, he's 22 years old, so not really. Wow. We've been seeing him a long time. We've been seeing Rock started as a freshman. His dad Anthony backed West Virginia legend. He's in a West Virginia hall of fame. He was played for the jets. He was a coach in the xfl. Anthony backed as a stud pizza on absolute legend. Rocco has been great for Iowa State and the fact that he has another year now, I'm not saying he's going to leave the Cyclones, okay. Even though.
- [139:34]
Ty Schmidt
But probably he's not going to. He's leaving the Cyclone.
- [139:37]
Tone
Don't sleep on Jimmy Rogers.
- [139:38]
Pat McAfee
You might keep him there, but forget all that. Matt Campbell thinking to himself like what I could do at Penn State, think about Rocco Beck to Penn State. Like he's gonna have four stars. Right. Playing wide receiver, we would assume five stars. Playing wide receiver, running backs, they'll be able to get. It's like Rocco Beckt is the one who's ready for the moment. Now it's only one year, you know, this would be only a one year run, but it's like Rocco would be a great quarterback in the Big Ten like that. So when you talk about Penn State going through shit and ended up in sugar, it's like not only do you seemingly potentially because they have the funds and the connection with the guy to be able to get a top five quarterback in the country, but now you got a coach that is a dog. And it's like, is Penn State back? Especially with what's going on with Michigan right now. AJ so you know, it's Penn State, they're.
- [140:24]
AJ Hawk
It's looking like they, they have all the pieces in place. Yes. To be back into to, to make it happen. But yeah, it's up to. It's up to the new coach. Like can he come in and instill what he did at Iowa State? You would think so.
- [140:35]
Pat McAfee
Two weeks ago. Penn State sucks laughing stock, this place. What a joke.
- [140:40]
Connor Rogers
Embarrassing.
- [140:41]
Pat McAfee
What? Yeah, embarrassing everything like that. You are now mid tier Big Ten, maybe even bottom of Big Ten because you're losing all your recruits. Your players are posting should. You didn't know what you had till it's gone with the last head coach. That player potentially a part of the whole thing, but nonetheless, the. The thought of where Penn State was three weeks ago versus where it is now, it's like college football is insane. On that note, Ohio State Buckeye legend, you. You saw what was happening yesterday on the Internet. Crazy night on the Internet. I mean it was. That was one of the wildest things.
- [141:19]
AJ Hawk
Keeps going. Just keeps going, huh?
- [141:20]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it was. Well, I assume in your algo because you're in Ohio. I assume X says this guy's in Ohio. We need to feed him everything that's happening up there in Michigan. But last night was insanity. The for you tab on X. Every scroll was either some new AI photo, maybe a police report, maybe a new reporter, maybe a journalist who might not something. I actually am a journalist, but I don't report on football. I actually report on this thing, but I have this source that says this, that has 700,000 views right now. Is that real? Is that not real? It was chaotic last night because it's a crazy story where, you know, he gets fired. Sherrell Moore gets fired for cause from the University of Michigan as their football coach because of an affair with a staffer. Okay, so he's in a position of power. He abused that. And obviously you can't do that. That's part of the contract for cause you're gone. Then we hear he's been arrested. It's like, no way he's been arrested for this. It has to be much more than just having an affair with a staffer for him to be arrested. And then like craziness starts coming out. Accusations of why he got arrested starts coming out. And then Pete Thamel told us this morning off the police report it was an alleged assault. He was being held, but he wasn't officially charged with anything. They were waiting to potentially file any charges to investigate to see what it was. Now we know that tomorrow there will be an arraignment where we will know more information. So Sharon Moore will remain in custody until then. So that's kind of where we're at right now. AJ as an Ohio State Buckeye fan, obviously this was your feed all night, because Ohio State, Michigan is what it is. But this is a wild thing to happen at this stage of the college football season. We talked about Penn State hiring late. Now Michigan's in the game late. Signing day already happened. They all can bounce. Bryce Underwood has eliminated everything Michigan wise from his social media. It's like, this could be a disaster. Not. It is obviously not great. But you talk about for the future of the program. We're talking about devastation potentially here. AJ Hawk.
- [143:25]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, that's why I think Michigan's gonna have to. They're gonna have to act quickly and find a way to bring a big name in or make a big splash higher to try to shore up some of those recruits and figure out what you're gonna do. Because, yeah, like, just think a couple days ago for Sharon Moore compared to now. Like, you look around like, geez, what. What has happened in such a short span, especially if this guy's in jail and all the alleged situations that happen. Like, I wonder how heavy it weighed on his mind knowing, like, what's the end game to this? Like, if you knew all this stuff's going on, did he think he could find a way? You got to win a lot of games if you want to figure stuff like this out.
- [143:58]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And you're right. I mean, you talk about conscious all the time. You know, there's. I always wonder that with some folks. I'm like, how are you able to perform with all that going on? Because it's such a hard thing to be able to balance everything. Pete D. Told us earlier that there was an investigation from an Anonymous tip into this particular relationship that Sharon Moore was a part of. The Michigan. The University of Michigan did an investigation. It came back saying that everything was above board and good. And then within the last couple days they learned more information and everything kind of led. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum quickly. So I wonder if after said first investigation, like, all right, we're good, everybody said everything's good and then you move forward and then all of a sudden boom, boom, boom, boom. Everything kind of. That's crazy. Sorry. To everybody that is a victim in this situation, which they're are a lot because this is not fun. But in the sports world this is a very relevant conversation. Like a very, very. This is one of the most prominent schools in college football, one of the biggest businesses on earth, all of a sudden has a major dynamic shift because of off field issues that are obviously very serious.
- [145:01]
Connor Rogers
And like the victims, of course, very sorry, but there are a lot of people that, who aren't technically victims in this situation that are effective, that are effective. Rather like the number one running back in a country. And again, this is two separate things. Like serious situation in a sport, a game. But futures in a game matter a lot. Savion Hitter is the number one running back in the entire country and he committed to Michigan a week ago. Like we had Chris Henry Jr. On the program last week and he committed to Ohio State. That is a massive moment in these kids lives and that is now affected. Now obviously you know with that rule Thamil mentioned, when a new coach is hired, you get fire five days after where you can transfer. But does that even, does that account for incoming freshmen that aren't technically.
- [145:46]
Pat McAfee
I think so, yeah.
- [145:46]
Connor Rogers
Okay. Okay, good. But like that, that's just kind of the weight of everything. Like massive, massive decisions in these high school kids lives.
- [145:53]
Pat McAfee
Incoming freshmen can hit the transfer portal.
- [145:55]
Ty Schmidt
Well, and also that like Pete said how like the staff was just blindsided. Like none of these guys knew, knew. So like you have a bunch of like coaches now.
- [146:04]
Pat McAfee
Why was everybody acting like everybody knew? That was kind of like the overall last night. Everybody was like, everybody knows this. Everybody knew this was happening. It was like I was just there, nobody told me. And I feel like I pepper Pete a lot on like hey Pete even not just on our show, but like you. I've never been around a human like Pete Thammel before. Okay, Me, that's a flaw. I guess. This is one of the biggest robot nerds, but who also loves ball humans that I've ever been around. I've never had the opportunity to be around this human on a regular basis. It has been fun for me to learn about said types of humans, you know, and how they respond. Pressure, adversity, response, work ethic, all that shit. It's been fun to learn about the authority, Pete Thamel, but I feel like I pepper him a lot with information that I already know from the source that he's trying to get so I can hear what he knows so that I know what I'm allowed to say or shit that I think is pretty prevalent to a conversation. It didn't feel we were just up there. I mean, we're literally just up there, up there. There I. There was.
- [147:02]
Ty Schmidt
So you got all those guys who. A bunch of those guys are going to lose their jobs. A bunch of support staff people are going to lose their jobs because you're bringing in, you know, if they, if they get someone like Kaylin DeBoer, whoever, like, he's bringing in all. All his guys, all his assistants, all his people that he worked with. Like, so you have a bunch of people who it probably expected, like, oh, you know, I'll be at Michigan here for the next three to five years and then we'll see. Just getting the rug completely pulled out from under him. And. And now it's scrambling for them too. Like, what am I going to do next? If you have a family? Like, how at this point in the season, am I going to be able to go find another job for next year? Like, what. What do I do now?
- [147:35]
Connor Rogers
And like, Kaylin DeBoer is the perfect hire. Like, let's talk about the other aspect of it where nobody wants to go to Michigan right now. And what happens if the guy that comes in or if they hire from within and everything just goes to like, okay, let alone did the current place, you're acting to shit. But now I'm the coach on a team. That's terrible. Like, what are my opportunities going forward after all of this happens? Like, the fallout is just insane.
- [148:00]
Pat McAfee
Caitlin DeBoer answered at the SEC Championship about the Penn State interest that was alleged. He said, I never talked. They never talked. I love being here. I love part of the grind. Said no. And there was a lot of people at Alabama, like, why didn't he address the Penn State? Why didn't he address the Penn State? I think from reading the tweets from the video from a couple weeks back. And then he finally, he was like, thank you for asking me about that. I would like to say this. This is how I feel. His name being in the Penn State Thing was interesting though.
- [148:23]
Ty Schmidt
Very much so.
- [148:24]
Pat McAfee
There was like Kaylin the borer not supposed to be in the South. Is that what people are saying? Just like the Brian Kelly thing. Like Brian Kelly wasn't supposed to be in the South. Are they saying about Kaylin, he's got Alabama in the playoffs. Yeah, I don't, I don't. But maybe Kaylin is like, I want.
- [148:39]
AJ Hawk
To get who they hire.
- [148:40]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. Weren't they the first team ever to beat five ranked teams in five straight weeks?
- [148:43]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I don't. And it feels like he has his guys in there now and he's been accepted into the Alabama community. Yeah, yeah.
- [148:49]
Ty Schmidt
Michigan is one of those jobs though.
- [148:51]
Pat McAfee
Yes, true. Yeah, Alabama is though too.
- [148:53]
Ty Schmidt
It definitely is. But I've always thought with him too is like if you're a competitor, that's one. But like he's never going to do what Saban's done. Like he's living in Saban's shadow or. No, Matt. Yeah, exactly. No matter what, for the entire time he's there, if he wins five national titles, he still isn't living up to Saban. Now granted, he'll be a legend in his own right, but like it just at a certain point, is it like, hey, no matter what I do, it's never going to be enough. And Michigan is a as blue of a blood of a program as there is in the country.
- [149:22]
Pat McAfee
They got 117,000. I mean everything that you possibly need. But his name was up with the Penn State conversation and he said there was no links and obviously the coaches are not supposed to be linked. That's what you have agents for to do it. So that means Penn State probably was making a run at him. Just making an offer, just a feeler. I assume all those coaches that got feel feelers from Penn State to places are going to get feelers from Michigan as well. Outside of Signetti rule, he might get.
- [149:45]
Tone
A feel or two rule.
- [149:47]
AJ Hawk
But I mean during the playoffs Michigan's got to hire somebody somewhat soon, don't you think?
- [149:52]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. What if it's Biff?
- [149:54]
Tone
They have to.
- [149:54]
Ty Schmidt
They would hope.
- [149:56]
Pat McAfee
Whoa, whoa.
- [149:57]
AJ Hawk
What you said maybe.
- [149:59]
Pat McAfee
No, their first sound was oh like an excited. It almost sounded like as an Ohio.
- [150:06]
Tone
But the portal opens on the second so like you would hope they would want someone by the second which is a couple weeks away also.
- [150:12]
Pat McAfee
You need to put the fire out right now.
- [150:15]
Tone
Yes.
- [150:15]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. And the thing Ty brought up to Thammel like, okay, let's say they hire someone in a week and then next week all their guys. Well that I'm transferring, and then they only have 30 guys for the bowl game.
- [150:27]
Pat McAfee
Six and a half right now. Six and a half. Texas is favored by Arch. Arch. All of them are playing down there.
- [150:35]
Tone
In Texas, except for probably the guys that are going the NFL.
- [150:37]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, but they got change, right?
- [150:39]
Connor Rogers
Young team.
- [150:39]
Pat McAfee
They said it was four and a half moved to six and a half. It was my first question to tone. I'm like, what's the immediate this morning? Hey, what's the line for this their bowl game or whatever? They're playing Texas, right? Yeah. That's got to be like 26 and a half. Like what?
- [150:55]
Mike McCarthy
Excuse me.
- [150:56]
Pat McAfee
What do arching ever playing, right? Yeah.
- [150:59]
Tone
Seven.
- [150:59]
Pat McAfee
No, move the seven. I think a lot of people are probably seeing. We're see, this one might get taken off the board. Yeah, this one might get taken off the board. What happens if I get in here early just sending money back if it gets taken off?
- [151:08]
Tone
I believe so, yeah. I mean, each book is different and you have to read all the fine print if you really want to know.
- [151:13]
Pat McAfee
But Bruce just shook his head no. What do you think, Bruce? I think if you get in at.
- [151:16]
Connor Rogers
Six and a half, even if they pull the line temporarily, you're. You're in there.
- [151:20]
Tone
No, no, he means pull the.
- [151:21]
Ty Schmidt
Pull the game completely and never put it back up.
- [151:24]
Tone
No, they will void.
- [151:25]
Pat McAfee
What if they just pull the game, though? Haven't they done that before? They've just pulled games.
- [151:28]
Tone
Yeah, but they would if the game goes on. Like, if Michigan does play Texas, they, they will put the line back up. It'll just be at 20 or whatever.
- [151:37]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so I'd still be able to keep six and a half.
- [151:39]
Tone
I don't know.
- [151:39]
Mario Cristobal
That's.
- [151:39]
Connor Rogers
I, I think so. And then your cash out before the game even starts just goes like to the moon.
- [151:46]
Pat McAfee
Six and a half feels crazy. Seven, I guess is what it is now. Still, that just feels crazy crazy to me. I, I. Especially with how hard it is to win a football game, you know, with everything going on.
- [152:00]
Connor Rogers
This is so much worse than Penn State. Like you mentioned the last 14 days.
- [152:04]
Pat McAfee
Before Max Campbell transfer thing is two days after that, the transfer portal was two days after that. So the amount of money conversations that are happening right now with all them, I'm sure they're training for this cheez it bowl. Yeah.
- [152:16]
Tone
Yeah.
- [152:17]
Pat McAfee
Hard.
- [152:18]
AJ Hawk
What are you saying to. What are you saying to future recruits? Like, what are you saying to them? How do you make them feel?
- [152:22]
Connor Rogers
You just got to get.
- [152:23]
Tone
You got to stop the bleeding.
- [152:24]
Connor Rogers
Like, you're telling I don't know. Just because it is nil and it's all different. But, like, it is very hard to imagine that the number one running back in the country who's going into his freshman year next year at Michigan hasn't.
- [152:37]
Pat McAfee
Heard from some other school that was recruiting him.
- [152:39]
Connor Rogers
Matt Campbell, perhaps Penn State, who is maybe a more desperate team right now, especially in recruiting. And that's all they're. I don't know. It's just. It's insane.
- [152:49]
Ty Schmidt
I mean, you. You'd imagine that at this point, they're praying to God that Alabama gets kind of embarrassed in the first round by Oklahoma, and then they can just put the full court press on DeBoer and.
- [153:00]
Pat McAfee
Say then you can get hopefully DeBoer's recruits.
- [153:02]
Ty Schmidt
Exactly.
- [153:04]
Pat McAfee
From the.
- [153:04]
Ty Schmidt
Not to mention a couple guys who maybe will transfer from Alabama to Michigan.
- [153:08]
Pat McAfee
You know, Alabama would be in a.
- [153:09]
Ty Schmidt
Terrible spot then, big time.
- [153:11]
Pat McAfee
And Saban's in the building still. I saw you. Were you the one that tweeted that tone last night about Kaylin Debor maybe getting plucked to Michigan? And then who's in the building? Who's the interim coach? Oh, look who's winning an eighth national championship, potentially. Coach Saban.
- [153:22]
Tone
Yeah. People weren't. A lot of people weren't happy about that.
- [153:25]
Pat McAfee
Why?
- [153:25]
Tone
They. They didn't love that I AI'd Nick Saban.
- [153:28]
Connor Rogers
Oh, that was AI.
- [153:30]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I didn't know that. I thought he took that at the whole.
- [153:32]
Connor Rogers
I thought that was just Santa Claus.
- [153:34]
AJ Hawk
Looks pretty sweet.
- [153:36]
Pat McAfee
He's still. I got to watch one of those games with him. Vandy. I think I got to watch Vandy play against him. Alabama, maybe tennis. Vandy. Wow. This season really all kind of goes together.
- [153:48]
Ty Schmidt
I think it was Vandy.
- [153:49]
Pat McAfee
He's still. Every play. I mean, they scored a touchdown. He stood up, fixed his hands, didn't even know where to look, did one of these, and then he just turned back around. The whole stadium's looking at him. Then he sat back down. It's like, oh, this guy didn't even say anything. Like, I'm sitting. I'm standing right behind him. Gumpy, I think you were right next to me, right? Yeah, Me and Gumpy are standing. There's a. He's like. There's three rows of seats, and then there's one of those bars. We're standing at bar. He's second row. Ms. Terry's first seat on the outside. That was kind of a rotating seat. Come sit, talk to Coach Saban. The entire thing. But it is Ms. Terry Seat. Then it was Coach Saban. I think Reese was right here. And then somebody. And we're kind of standing back here because, you know, it was pretty good. There was a good set. They had a great setup for us. I will say the Sabins always deliver every single time, which is why he's a goat, she's a goat. They are goats. You get it? But every single play he was living and dying with, having a conversation with him. Yeah, right. He's coach. What do you think about that, huh? Yeah, I don't like it. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. That doesn't have the headset on, but he might as well. I mean, he is still. He's in the building every single day. And whenever he says, he'll slip up every once in a while and say, we gotta be able. Alabama's gotta be able to. It's like, he's still very much. And I think that's a cool thing that he has done for DeBoer.
- [155:03]
Mike McCarthy
Awesome.
- [155:04]
Pat McAfee
By the way, he's done a lot of that for DeBoer. Like, hey, I will support the hell out of you. I'm not gonna try to make your job as hard as it already is. So if DeBoer was to leave and it was a Lane Kiff and Ole Miss situation, it does feel like there is a guy that just said, all.
- [155:19]
AJ Hawk
Right, he's in there for sure.
- [155:21]
Connor Rogers
I don't see why you would, though.
- [155:23]
Pat McAfee
Like, Deborah.
- [155:24]
Connor Rogers
Like, what? Yeah, why would I don't.
- [155:25]
Pat McAfee
Deborah's already put his culture in and they like him.
- [155:27]
Pete Thamel
I think agreed.
- [155:28]
Pat McAfee
At this point. Now, granted, he loses the Oklahoma. By then it'll get loud all off season, but it's like he had to work his ass off to get to this point where he's like, kind of.
- [155:36]
Connor Rogers
In there, like, welcomed.
- [155:37]
Mike McCarthy
Yeah, like.
- [155:38]
Connor Rogers
Like an Alabama, you know, like going up to Michigan, you're just. I don't know.
- [155:42]
Pat McAfee
You gotta do it again.
- [155:43]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, I gotta do it again in a much shorter. Shorter and who knows, Quicker time.
- [155:47]
Pat McAfee
They don't like.
- [155:47]
AJ Hawk
Don't they. They don't have a president right. In their ad. They don't know what the situation is. Like, they don't know anything going on.
- [155:52]
Ty Schmidt
That's why May and maybe. Maybe you have to just go the NFL route because, like Pete said, like, you know, Elijah Drinkvitz, it's like, listen, nothing against that guy. Like, he will get chewed up and spit out at Michigan, especially with all the stuff that's happening. They're very. Need a Michigan man if you get a guy. I mean, we Saw the rich. If you get a. They hire a guy who's not a Michigan man and he doesn't do well, this guy. Get him out of here. So maybe it is like, hey, what's Jon Gruden. Right. Doing right now?
- [156:19]
Pat McAfee
Or what's Brian Davis Portnoy obviously a very important alumni there in Michigan. I think he's given everything. He's obviously employed Gruden. So he has a great relationship with Gruden. We've been told numerous times by Jon Gruden not only to us, but also to the public. Like, I'm preparing to coach, man. That's literally what I do all day, every day. And anytime I hear him speak, I think to myself as a high schooler, college kid or now. And it's like, I'd run with that guy right there. And he's certified. And he's certified. The guy is actually certified. So that's why I didn't fully understand why a lot of teams weren't like pressing for Gruden. Like, why isn't Florida pressing for Gruden? Yeah, why. Why isn't. I was confused by it. But hey, they got it right. The guy's got two hats on now. You know, he took two lane.
- [157:01]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, that's right.
- [157:02]
Pat McAfee
But Jon Gruden's still making matches magic on the Internet, which we are grateful for. But it's like, I don't know why his name wasn't brought up more. Is Michigan the right spot for him? Who knows? They have all the facilities. They have everything you possibly need. It may be maybe.
- [157:12]
Tone
I hadn't heard about drink until Pete brought it up because he's a southern guy. He's been in the SEC the majority of his career. So I don't know if like that was a thing, but like Jed Fish kind of makes sense because he was at Arizona, turned that program around, took over Washington after DeBoer left and got them back to where they at nine win season this year. There's a. There's another name floating around out there and it's kind of similar to Matt Campbell because he's done a good job job at a place where they haven't always been good. And that's our guy. That's our guy.
- [157:36]
Connor Rogers
P.J.
- [157:37]
Mario Cristobal
Fleck.
- [157:37]
Pat McAfee
Really? Minnesota. Would he be concerned? Man, they get sick of his. Never enough get sick of his.
- [157:44]
AJ Hawk
I'm sorry, you don't think.
- [157:44]
Connor Rogers
Ty, what about.
- [157:45]
Ty Schmidt
No, Michigan's not hiring PJ Flat.
- [157:48]
Pat McAfee
Well, he started up there in Michigan. Western Michigan.
- [157:53]
Connor Rogers
What about Chip Kelly?
- [157:55]
Pat McAfee
He just interviewed for the Offensive coaching role right.
- [157:58]
Connor Rogers
At Georgia Tech.
- [157:59]
Pat McAfee
Georgia Tech. Clark Lee was a name that Pete brought up.
- [158:02]
Connor Rogers
That would be Manny.
- [158:04]
Tone
Still think Manny Diaz is, I think, mentor, man. I do.
- [158:07]
AJ Hawk
Yeah. Mentor would make sense.
- [158:09]
Pat McAfee
Why would mentor do it?
- [158:10]
Connor Rogers
That's the head coach in the NFL.
- [158:14]
Tone
And his show clause just ended. Like, he's already.
- [158:17]
Ty Schmidt
And they can't afford, like, the Chargers are going to the playoffs. We just talked about the whole, like, the timeline, like, they can't afford to wait until the Chargers get a little eliminated from the playoffs to hire someone.
- [158:26]
Pat McAfee
We think he'd be good as the head coach. Michigan, we would like that to be known. We just don't know if that would even be something that he would. Especially. He left with. How.
- [158:34]
Tone
Yeah.
- [158:35]
Ty Schmidt
How do they feel?
- [158:35]
Tone
How does that staff that, you know, got all those sanctions stuff that. From that feel about.
- [158:40]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And how does Michigan feel about that staff, especially throughout this attack, like, if.
- [158:44]
Tone
They want to get away from it.
- [158:45]
Pat McAfee
Kevin Bowen just posted a video from Colts practice. Put the clock up. Put the clock up. Put the clock up. Please, please, please, please.
- [158:53]
AJ Hawk
A good pat and go session.
- [158:55]
Pat McAfee
Don't you worry about what session it is. Please. Don't you worry about. It's in a group text. Bruce, if you could please find it in the group text, it is. Boom. Full screen on that thing. Thank you, Kevin Bowen. We appreciate your morning show host here.
- [159:05]
Ty Schmidt
That's.
- [159:06]
Pat McAfee
I don't think that was him.
- [159:08]
Connor Rogers
I hope not.
- [159:09]
Pat McAfee
I don't think that was him. Definitely not him.
- [159:11]
AJ Hawk
He's not one seven in.
- [159:12]
Pat McAfee
That's him right there. Boom.
- [159:13]
AJ Hawk
There he is.
- [159:14]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Yeah. That was over the linebacker. Did you see that?
- [159:19]
AJ Hawk
A layered throw, as they say, right?
- [159:21]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Right over AJ's stupid hands.
- [159:24]
AJ Hawk
You're right.
- [159:24]
Pat McAfee
Did you look at him getting around the edge, too? That's. Is that Freeney? The sound effects, Was that Freeney moving on him?
- [159:30]
AJ Hawk
Yeah, I think it might be.
- [159:31]
Pat McAfee
Might have been Mathis. I'm not 100 sure.
- [159:33]
AJ Hawk
It's going to be awesome. Honestly, I can't wait to watch the Colts game.
- [159:36]
Connor Rogers
So pumped.
- [159:37]
Pat McAfee
Hey, he looks good. He is moving.
- [159:39]
AJ Hawk
It's great. Look how quick his release is. Obviously. That's Phil.
- [159:43]
Pat McAfee
Thank you, Kevin Bone, for that and that. Pause, please. Pause. Pause, please. That's what it's all about, right there.
- [159:50]
Ty Schmidt
Character.
- [159:50]
Pat McAfee
Bingo. What's your character exactly? We know what Phil Rivers is. He's a dog. And in 73 hours, 42 minutes and 35 seconds, he's going to showcase that to the entire world once again.
- [160:03]
Tone
Speaking of characters, if Wazowski was On.
- [160:05]
Ty Schmidt
The field for Phil Paul. Game over.
- [160:08]
Pat McAfee
I think we take Su or Wazowski at this point.
- [160:11]
Connor Rogers
So su's up, Sol's locked up. You can't get him, but signed a.
- [160:14]
Tone
Five year deal with Chargers.
- [160:15]
Connor Rogers
We'll see if how he nuts up.
- [160:17]
Pat McAfee
How much is sully getting paid?
- [160:19]
Connor Rogers
Yeah. 380 guaranteed. Million 520 overall. Excuse me, 530 overall.
- [160:25]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah, but the 530 is not real. It's a three. The guaranteed money always with these contracts is with the one that we're really looking at.
- [160:32]
Connor Rogers
Yeah, but the, the incentive just after one game. I mean, he's a quarter of the way there on his incentives. Two touchdowns, two interceptions, two fumble fours.
- [160:40]
Ty Schmidt
Two fumble recover, bunch of sacks.
- [160:42]
Connor Rogers
Yeah.
- [160:42]
Pat McAfee
So, all right, we'll take Wazowski, I guess, if we can get him.
- [160:45]
Ty Schmidt
Wazowski is a good player. You'll be. You'll be happy with him.
- [160:47]
Pat McAfee
Let's make some picks for tonight's game. Let's get the hell out of here. AJ NFC south on Amazon Prime. Falcons, Bucks. Kirk Baker. Mike Evans is back. Drake London is. Raheem Morris is obviously feeling the heat around him in Atlanta. They're four, nine, taking on a team, but still trying to win the NFC South. Fresh off a loss is both of these teams. AJ who do you like? How do you like it, man?
- [161:12]
AJ Hawk
I know as coach Mike, we heard him say it's a lot of points in division, but I like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I like Baker Mayfield and what they're doing. Obviously Mike Evans coming back. Let's go, Bucs. I think they win and they cover this.
- [161:24]
Pat McAfee
I agree. I'll ride with you into tomorrow.
- [161:26]
Ty Schmidt
Tomorrow.
- [161:26]
Pat McAfee
And I won't be live from anywhere tomorrow. I'll be right here. So thankful. So pumped to be here.
- [161:31]
AJ Hawk
John Cena.
- [161:32]
Pat McAfee
John Cena will be right here. Right here. He's here now. He's waiting. Okay, we'll see you tomorrow.
- [161:43]
Connor Rogers
See you, John.
- [161:46]
Pat McAfee
All right. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. The NBA is happening. Christmas Day. Five games, one unforgettable lineup. That's what Christmas is all about. Buckets for breakfast, breakaways for dessert. It's the holiday tradition, Christmas all day.
- [162:09]
Pete Thamel
With star power from across the globe. The stars, they are going to be out.
- [162:14]
Pat McAfee
The best gift. You don't even have to unwrap it. Happy New Year. NBA Christmas Day begins at noon Eastern on ABC and ESPN.
- [162:25]
Connor Rogers
Hi there.
- [162:25]
Mario Cristobal
Surprise.
- [162:27]
Pat McAfee
30 for 30 presents. Booyah. Can I get a witness from the congregation?
- [162:33]
AJ Hawk
You can't stop.
- [162:33]
Mike McCarthy
Authenticity.
- [162:35]
Pat McAfee
Boo. Yeah. 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 stream.
- [162:49]
Connor Rogers
Booyah.
- [162:50]
Pat McAfee
Presented by Modelo right now on the ESPN app.