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The Pat McAfee Show
PMS 2.0 1485 - Super Wildcard Weekend MNF Recap, Mike Tomlin Steps Down as Steelers Head Coach, Bruce Arians, Peter Schrager, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk
02:31:10
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- [00:00]
A.J.
Yo, welcome to the Pat McAfee Show. I am not Pat McAfee, obviously. I'm A.J.
- [00:05]
Pat McAfee
Hawk, sitting in for Pat his desk.
- [00:06]
A.J.
He is on business out in the world somewhere today.
- [00:12]
Connor
Football.
- [00:14]
A.J.
It's what we're talking about. Pat, what's going on, man? Obviously, the Houston Texans take on the Pittsburgh Steelers last night, 30 to 6, decisive victory. What do you think, man? How do you. Is it how you play? You thought it would play out, AJ.
- [00:26]
Pat McAfee
I just wanted to let you know, the way I think is that you look fantastic.
- [00:29]
Coach BA
Hell yes.
- [00:29]
Pat McAfee
Okay. You look phenomenal. You look great. Thank you for holding it down here as I. Yeah, I'm out of business for a good broker.
- [00:38]
Coach BA
Okay.
- [00:38]
Pat McAfee
For a good program. But I got a chance obviously to watch last night's game as I was in route Starlink shout out. We appreciate you so much for everything. But on that note, I think the reason why Starlink is going to be so good is because they got satellites everywhere, Elon, shooting these things up every. I think every day to pump up, pop up. We're sending satellites up there, so they're literally everywhere. It's like the Houston Texas defense, okay? Swarm this swarm. We got a special work ethic, okay. And then we have an attitude of resent, relentlessness and a mindset, I believe is what swarm stands for. There's an E in there, too. They hide it. The E is hidden and silent. But the Houston Texas defense, I watched it live whenever they came and played against the Indianapolis Colts and we talked about how they bring the boobirds and Pittsburgh Steelers fans aren't going to boo a poor offensive performance early because they're used to it over there. The stat is absurd. What's the stat on the amount of points early for the Pittsburgh Steelers?
- [01:41]
E
I think it's 77 straight games now that they haven't scored more than seven points in the first quarter.
- [01:47]
Pat McAfee
77 straight games. That's so long to think about not scoring more than seven points in the first quarter. Obviously that could be a Mike Tomlin thing where he super conservative. Let's not give it too much away. Let's not turn the ball over first quarter. We're just sparring to get to the second half anyways. But nonetheless, the Steelers fans understand that the games are going to start pre boring on offense. They know it's not going to be great. But this Houston Texans defense made their offense look boring all night. I mean, it was literally a situation where if you think the Houston Texans defense is going to give up anything, you're wrong. And There was a couple plays early where maybe DK dropped a ball and they kind of slipped or they gave up some coverage and the Demon picked up a third down late. Adam feeling and stuff like that. But the Houston Texans defense are just always there. They're always on top of you and they seemingly, and I think Schrager tweeted last night about their defensive coordinator, Burke should be getting head coaching opportunities. Like yes, yes. I don't know how he does it in this entire thing. CJ was hurt for a portion. Obviously you go to Dougie Mills, he plays some football for you. But the only thing that's been a constant is that this defense has just killed teams. They just killed teams. They came to Indianapolis, we could do a thing. We could do a thing and, and they dance in our faces and they sh. I mean it's just like a never ending pursuit of greatness with their defense. And yesterday I woke up thinking that Aaron Rodgers is going to have long day kisses defense because everybody's going to have a long day against this defense. And then I kind of talked myself into, oh, I'm in fear for my life from the long. They didn't even play it. That's how bad it was last night. I mean A.J. you're talking about worst case scenario for Aaron Rodgers, that offense is having to play that Texans team in wild card. And for Mike Tomlin, it's another playoff loss. That's seven straight now. And age. It's bad over there, dude. But that Texans defense, we knew that they could do that. I don't know why we forgot about that when we all picked the Steelers. I think it's because we all thought maybe gunslinger Aaron Rodgers goes for another run here knowing that the time is potentially short for him getting on the field.
- [04:00]
Ty Schmidt
Field.
- [04:00]
Pat McAfee
But that was never realistic, AJ with the way that defense is.
- [04:04]
A.J.
No, I mean just look at these stats. Three takeaways, two defensive touchdowns. Also, C.J. stroud turned the ball over three times.
- [04:09]
Pat McAfee
What?
- [04:09]
A.J.
Two fumbles and a pick. So the fact that you're able to win 30 to 6 when your offense has three turnovers but you score twice on defense. But it was more like, okay, if they're. They're only bringing four most of the time and they're getting four man pressure.
- [04:22]
Pat McAfee
On Aaron all night.
- [04:23]
A.J.
And if he does get rid of the ball, it's almost like a check down or a three or four yard route. And as Debut says, he is getting stapled to the ground as soon as you catch the ball. Against this Houston Texans defense, they bought Two there.
- [04:35]
Pat McAfee
I think they brought two there. I think no dropping back. It was just two ends, but maybe they, they had to recover or whatever. It was like maybe not this play. There was a play I was watching where they brought two guys and they got home. Two guys got home. And now I'm not saying that Aaron had a perfect game and that their offense could have maybe been able to do well, but it's just like they make everybody terrible. That's what they do be. But in this, in the secondary, nobody's open ever.
- [05:00]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [05:01]
Pat McAfee
How are they able to do that? This seems like they're cheating. I honestly, they might be cheating. This Houston Texans defense D. But yeah.
- [05:09]
G
A lot of times we talk about defenses, we talk about exotics or lining up and tricking you four guys over here, three guys, but they just line up and they do what they do week in and week out. It starts with the guys up front. Obviously. They got two unbelievable guys off the edge. Will Anderson Jr. And Danil Hunter. They're phenomenal. But then on the back end, when I was doing the all everything DB team, I said the whole. The entire secondary can be Texans with Kamari, Lasseter, Stingley, Petrie, Bullock. Like, they're all phenomenal. Bullock, he ended the game with a pick six. But his defensive front, if you can't do anything, if you can't block him up, up front, you will have no success on offense. There's going to be a few opportunities to beat this defense and you better capitalize on it. Once DK dropped that potential touchdown, that deep ball, you kind of knew it was over right there. You mentioned C.J. stroud. He had a tough night with the snaps and all type of shit. But this defense, man, this is a championship defense that can for sure carry this team to a Super Bowl.
- [06:03]
Pat McAfee
They're mean, they're big, they're fast, they're smart, they're physical. I mean, it's just everything you want from a defense that can maybe win a Super Bowl. And last year age, we saw the run game and a great defense, but the run game really carried the Philadelphia Eagles. I think that was the superstar conversation about the Philadelphia Eagles. Granted, their defense was phenomenal as well. But this team, if they were to go on a run, it would be like Texans defense won that super bowl and go back to like Baltimore, you know, with whenever Trent, Trent was the quarterback, shout out to him. Going back to Liver School Academy, we hope the Mustangs have a great season.
- [06:35]
Coach BA
Hell yeah.
- [06:35]
Ty Schmidt
That's right.
- [06:36]
Pat McAfee
We have the Mustangs have. We Love that Mustangs team down there in Nashville. But it's like this would be first time, long time where it's like defense carries the way and they could definitely do it. H. This defense, I think after what we just watched last night, what we've been watching all season with them, they could go win a Super Bowl. They could beat anybody. Josh Allen, obviously. And I mean, this goes into a full AMC conversation, which I guess we should slow down, but that defense can make anybody look terrible. I mean, that is just the real deal. So if on the other side you can do a little bit, which we know CJ can. We all have an immense amount of faith in him. Nico going out, obviously tough for them last night. That's not good. But like, I like the Texans more and more. More and more in tone. You have to hate what happened yet again to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And now, now all eyes go directly to Christian Kirk, obviously. Incredible game. The all questions go to. Is Tomlin Guy on tv. Did you hear that? That's what they're all saying.
- [07:31]
G
I did hear that. When you lose seven straight, especially at a franchise like that. We saw what happened with Harbaugh. That is the question. And it's a fair question at this point. Hey, has the. Has the message run stale? Do you need something new? Do you need some new blood? I'm sure Tone has strong feelings on that.
- [07:47]
E
Yeah. And, and, and not just seven straight, like, ass beatings.
- [07:52]
G
Yeah, this is bad.
- [07:52]
Pat McAfee
They've all been saying all of them.
- [07:54]
E
Yes, all of them have been six points.
- [07:56]
Ty Schmidt
All of the.
- [07:57]
E
The closest one was the seventh, farthest one away. It was Ben, I believe. I can't remember who was against Patriots in the.
- [08:05]
Connor
Yeah, it was New England.
- [08:06]
E
There it is. Patriots in the AFC Championship game with killer bees. So that's a long. That's a long, long time ago. And last night, 88 yards on the first two drives. Getting some gashes here. I was feeling really good. Up three, three zero. And then I actually tweeted right before the game, okay, there's only one way this game's gonna go. It's gonna be a Steelers win, and it's gonna be so ugly. Everyone's gonna be so mad. And that's how.
- [08:28]
A.J.
That's what it felt like.
- [08:28]
E
And that's how it was going 7 6. At halftime, they come out, they drive down to start the third quarter. Interception in the red zone. I'm like, oh, this is going perfect. And then they hit the 51 yard field goal to make it 10 6. And I was like, this Game's over. The Steelers are not scoring again. They're not scoring a touchdown for sure. As soon as that ball went through, I was like, oh, game's over. That's it. Because even if CJ gives us one in the red zone, we're not scoring a touchdown. Sure, we'll kick a field goal to make it 10, nine. But no, I mean it was, it was ugly. Like the last four or five games, run defense has been unbelievable. And you go up against the 29th ranked rush rush offense in the NFL, they forgot how to do that last night. Woody marks went over 100. Nick Chubb was running over everybody. That was ugly. The off the offensive line, who has actually been pretty good all year. Now I know it's an incredible defensive line, but they, they, they had no idea what they were doing last night. Pat Fryermuth is who's probably the second best weapon on offense. They don't even put him on the field. I don't, I don't know. I like. But here we're going to sign up for it again next year. We're going to run back the same exact lineups, same back coach, same exact coaching staff, and we're going to do it again. And I'll see you here on this day next year after another 25 point playoff loss.
- [09:41]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so that means that Aaron Rodgers coming back is what you just said there. If you're going to run it back with the same group, same crew, same staff, that means Aaron's coming back. I did. I don't know, A.J. you know him a lot better than us, obviously. Definitely have talked to him more recently than us. I'd assume him saying, I don't want to make a decision in the emotions or whatever. In the middle after his press conference, he said, I don't want to make that type of decision whenever there's this much emotion or something. I forget how he exactly worded it, but that means that he certainly is questioning it in my eyes because I would have assumed that. Now granted, after how that game goes, maybe that changes his mind. 30 to 6. I can't go out like this. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. I can't do this. And then how about the camera person standing his way? This is potentially his last walk off little red swim, red, red penny there. Please. Excuse me. Walking off field, Burt Lawton right behind him, legendary Endzer, obviously Pittsburgh PR guy, but like it feels like he doesn't know. I wonder when that started happening because I think everybody just kind of assumed this year was going to be his off into the sunset year and then him saying, even afterwards, like, I'm not going to make that decision now. It's like, oh, okay. So he's certain I'm not going to make any emotional decisions. That would have been easy for me to say time I got it wrong five times. But like, feels like he doesn't know that. Right. AJ is. Is that kind of like what I should take from that?
- [10:58]
A.J.
Isn't that how it's kind of been the last couple years? I guess. I don't know. Did we all just assume this was his last year? What did he say going into this season? Did he say, like, yeah, this is probably it?
- [11:08]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I think he told us that this is probably. Probably.
- [11:11]
A.J.
He said probably. But then, I don't know, I. Maybe he gets into. He gets into Pittsburgh.
- [11:15]
Ty Schmidt
He didn't say. He didn't say probably. He basically. Conor asked him and he basically said like, like the way my contract is set up, if you look at this, like, yeah, this is gonna be my last year. And even last night, like the NFL Twitter account tweeted out just legend at Aaron Rodgers. And then they did the whole, you know, steady cam on ESPN following him into the locker room. It's almost like they made. They're trying to like, make the decision for him. Like, this was your last game. You know, we're trying to kind of give you a hero send off. Even though the game obviously wasn't much of a hero send off.
- [11:46]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so shout out to the toxic table. By the way, Connor asking the question, Kai remembering it. That's. That's good journalism. And hey, to all the journalists that are a little fired up right now, we'll see who history says is more accurate, you know, with their take on how this whole situation is going to unfold, you know, like 10 years from now. Let's talk about it. But on that note, I appreciate all your incredibly hard work for the good of sport. But yeah, him saying he's pretty sure. Put that back up, please, as we keep it there.
- [12:17]
H
Sure.
- [12:17]
Pat McAfee
This is my last season and that's why we did the one year deal. I played 20 years and I've enjoyed it. Okay. There's no better way to finish it than with Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh Steelers. All right, so let's break down his words. His words matter, especially whenever you're talking to Aaron Rodgers, you know, super, super, super sophisticated human being, I'm pretty sure there in Gumpy, who post these live clips on X. Shout out Gumps. He. He has to be very diligent with the. The actual quotes. Boy, we've gotten into it a little bit. Missing word a little bit, you know, actual video of actual quote. But on X, the quote had like two words missing. Missed maybe the point. We get text from person that videos about, like. I didn't say that. It's like, no, yeah, you didn't say it. What are you talking about? And then why the hell does this say that? I said, okay, okay, we're sorry. We're sorry.
- [13:04]
Connor
We do that.
- [13:04]
Pat McAfee
So words are normally very accurate in these particular tweets. Right, Dumpy, I don't want to speak for you, but that is a. That's a huge part of the entire thing.
- [13:11]
E
Absolutely, brother.
- [13:13]
Pat McAfee
Who. We don't have to give away the names, but there have been people that have been certainly hot with the entire situation. Do you agree with that?
- [13:19]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah.
- [13:19]
E
Ask for tweets actually be taken down that were kind of word for word what they said, but that's it kind of word for word or word. No, they are. They were word for word. But, you know, if somebody got something wrong that happened, one person in general.
- [13:31]
A.J.
Does it rhyme with who?
- [13:32]
Peter Schrager
What the name.
- [13:33]
E
I'm not gonna do.
- [13:35]
A.J.
They didn't say. You misquoted me. They said, I just don't like someone.
- [13:38]
E
Who'S on the program pretty regularly.
- [13:40]
Pat McAfee
Aj, I have to. Aj, I have to like. Me having to have that conversation with Gumpy was awesome. Like, hey, dude. So this is what person's saying. And Gumpy goes, that's what they said. And I'm like, are you sure? And then he pulls it up, runs it in my ear. Is that not what he said? He said he's. What he said. It's like, he did say that. So then I gotta call person back, say like, hey, it's what you said, though. Like, there's nothing wrong with that. I know, but I didn't want it to say it like that. I was like, okay, that's on you. Well, I don't know know who that's on. You know, I don't know who that's on. But nonetheless, we try to get everything up as accurately as possible as quick as possible, because we appreciate the hell out of the people that maybe can't watch the entire show and are scrolling along. And not Doom's scrolling, but hopefully just scrolling along with life. So we try to get as accurate as possible. But anyways, I'm pretty sure. Okay, right there. Right age. That's what you're basically.
- [14:32]
A.J.
It's almost like property, right?
- [14:34]
E
Yeah.
- [14:35]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. And then at the end, there's no better way to finish it than with Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's like, okay, so back with the Steelers and if that's the case is what Tone said, right? Where they run it back where Tomlin goes, all right, this will be my last year. And Aaron goes, this will be my last year and it will be a retirement year. They had one year to kind of figure out what life was like together, you know, one year to kind of put these two first ballot hall of Famers into the same building together. See how they operate, how a Tomlin building operates, how an Aaron Rodgers operation operates. And then obviously Artie Smith, he's not going to be getting a lot of head coaching opportunities in this particular cycle. He gets another year in this entire thing. And then they say, guess what? This is it. Okay, we're oh mama in right now. This is the oh mama year. Going in. Fourth quarter is the last one. And then you guys get a chance to celebrate these two careers while potentially having your best season. You wouldn't like that.
- [15:27]
E
Yeah. If I had to predict this thing, it that'll be year 20 for Mike Tomlin and I believe that is the last year of his current contract. I believe it's the last year of Cam Hayward's contract. Aaron doing it one more year. Those three walk off together every single game. So I wouldn't be surprised.
- [15:45]
Connor
Yeah. Yeah.
- [15:46]
A.J.
Well, just logistically too though, who do they have in line? Will Howard's there. So there are quarterback position.
- [15:50]
E
So there is respectfully one quarterback coming out of this draft and it's Mendoza. Okay. He's not fallen to 21. So you're not going to probably get a quarterback that's going to make a difference in the draft.
- [16:02]
A.J.
Any free agents?
- [16:02]
E
Ty and I just looked at the free agent market. It's Malik Willis and nothing after that.
- [16:08]
Ty Schmidt
He's good ball.
- [16:10]
E
So he's played five games or whatever. So yes. Either you, you do.
- [16:14]
Pat McAfee
Tyler Murray might be available.
- [16:15]
E
True, true. Tua might be available too. Do you want to go there?
- [16:18]
A.J.
No. Clear path. Like if there was a young, I don't seem like a young stud that was like ready to take the reins as a starter. It'd be a much different correct story.
- [16:25]
Connor
Right.
- [16:25]
E
So but yeah, like and Will was what, a six round pick? So like and are the Steelers. I would love to see Will for a year just to see what he has, you know, and see what happens or whatever. But I there I don't think that team's going to do that. So no, I'd be, I would not be surprised at all if, if, if those two are back for next season and we, and we run this back one more, one more time, you know, nice little retirement.
- [16:47]
Pat McAfee
Let's go mama. Year. Oh my God.
- [16:50]
A.J.
When did he sign last year, Aaron? Yeah, I remember Pittsburgh. Everyone was all pissed off about. Because he was never going.
- [16:57]
E
I would imagine it was a long time.
- [16:59]
A.J.
Whatever decision is made, it's going to happen sometime much sooner than last year.
- [17:03]
E
Oh, you think, you think so?
- [17:04]
A.J.
I don't know.
- [17:04]
E
Is that what you think?
- [17:06]
A.J.
I would think so, yes. I would assume before the draft something happens, right?
- [17:09]
Pat McAfee
Hey, no. Well now the other conversation in there is Tomlin.
- [17:13]
E
Yeah.
- [17:13]
Pat McAfee
Okay.
- [17:13]
A.J.
Does he want to coach Tomlin?
- [17:16]
Pat McAfee
I, as somebody that was in the Pittsburgh area very frequently with a lot of yinzers during this Tomlin era, okay. I don't want to act like I'm the authority on this. I'm certainly not there day to day and haven't been. But just you know, experiencing Jensers experience, Coach Tomlin while also being in the league and all that type of stuff, like there's a lot of, you know, I feel like I have pretty good say or pretty good feel on it all. Like Tomlin is going to be a guy that's going to be welcomed in Pittsburgh everywhere forever. That guy would go to Penguins games, go to Pirates games, go to charity stuff. Like he, I think he really took on the. I should be ginzer, you know, his kids obviously through Pittsburgh. He's been there a long ass time. 19 years. A long, long time in one city, especially in a football town like Pittsburgh. But if he has a TV deal in his back pocket like Mike Florio's, potentially alluding to pro football talks. Mike Florio, also Pittsburgh Steeler fan from West Virginia, knows the area pretty well. I'm not saying he's plugged in with coach Tomlin, but Jake Blazer, who we know is plugged in with coach Tomlin, whenever he was talking about jobs going into Week 18 of the NFL season, he said what do you say? Jason Glazer, what do you say exactly about if he either wants to continue to coach for the Steelers, he can kind of make that decision or maybe he wants to venture into TV and I forget how it was exactly, exactly said.
- [18:37]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, it was basically something along the lines of he's gonna make that decision on his own, the Steelers are not gonna fire him.
- [18:43]
Connor
So if he wants to coach another.
- [18:44]
Ty Schmidt
Year, he will be able to coach. But he also does have a potential lucrative TV career that he could fall back on as soon as next year, maybe with, you know, me and the boys at Fox.
- [18:57]
Pat McAfee
Okay. I don't think Jay alluded to Fox, but I think everybody else kind of assumed. He's definitely talking about Jay Glazer knowing that. But it's not just Fox. I mean, Netflix is building a sports department, right? They paid L. Congrats to Elle, by the way.
- [19:12]
A.J.
January 23, Han was climbing the skyscraper.
- [19:15]
Pat McAfee
Yep, exactly. And Netflix is getting more and more in sports. Remember they were doing like the gimmicky tennis and like the gimmicky shit. Now they're like trying to get into actual sports on a regular basis. I think WWE kind of move them in that direction. Now we get the Christmas games. We assume there's only going to be more and more there, especially if they're hiring full time Netflix sports department. Congrats to El. We're big fans there. But Netflix is going to want to get in. Prime's going to want to get in. YouTube's getting in. ESPN obviously still very much involved. They just bought Sunday tickets, so they got a lot of NFL interest. Fox always going to. Cbs, always going to. It's like there's a lot of NFL jobs and we would like to thank the NFL for blessing us all with a profession for sure. But there's a lot of places that can give a lot of money to Coach Tomlin, man. We've all seen him on a microphone. And dudes never lost in front of a microphone ever. I've never seen a bad session from Mike Thomas. Always some form of entertainment. Missoula's catching up maybe, though. Missoula. Illegal screen, he did last night.
- [20:12]
Connor
Connor, illegal screen, that was.
- [20:14]
Pat McAfee
That was outrageous. What was that? Johnny Furfy, who hit the illegal screen. Was he so upset? I saw the Pacers beat the Celtics last night.
- [20:20]
Connor
Yeah, it was Siakam. Siakam set the screen, then got the ball back and then, you know, layup game winner. But it was an illegal screen. It's. It's impossible to argue with right here. Here comes. Yep, this is after it. But still. Yeah, that's how he got the ball. It's ridiculous.
- [20:35]
Pat McAfee
Spicy.
- [20:37]
E
Back to house guy.
- [20:38]
Connor
Yeah.
- [20:39]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Well, I don't want to say it's the Celtics, but I will say basers. Tyrese Halliburton from my.
- [20:45]
Connor
Was that right there, illegal screen right there? Yeah, that's illegal. That's illegal.
- [20:50]
Pat McAfee
That's an illegal screen.
- [20:53]
Connor
Learn the rules.
- [20:54]
Pat McAfee
That's what we did the whole press conference for.
- [20:57]
Connor
He did. He damn near dislocated his head.
- [21:00]
E
Maybe we don't crown Missoula for that.
- [21:02]
Pat McAfee
Oh, I like Missoula a lot. He's a West Virginia guy. They got West Virginia guys on their staff.
- [21:07]
E
Sounds like he's pouting.
- [21:09]
Connor
Rules are rules outing.
- [21:11]
G
Grow up.
- [21:12]
Pat McAfee
That's a crazy play for Missoula to do that. That's a big decision to do that press conference. Like, just every answer is going to be illegal. Screen love that. There was one point where I think one of them thought they were going to crack a. Are you only going to say that he sits illegal screen like. Yes. Okay. That was awesome. That was crazy. It was against the Pacers this early in the season with that particular play. Shout out to Joe Mazzola. But Tomlin, anytime he's on a microphone, it's awesome. The amount of one liners he has. I mean, his wife, who obviously another incredible citizen of Pittsburgh, has done a lot of charity stuff and Pittsburgh has done a lot of incredible stuff. She's built like a merch brand because think she's a fashion designer of sorts. She built a merch brand around like a lot of his one liners. So think about him on TV with one line. I mean, the television entertainment industry is going to be Very kind to Mike Tomlins. Can I. Very kind to Mike Tomlin.
- [22:09]
E
Can I ask you three a question?
- [22:11]
A.J.
Okay.
- [22:12]
Pat McAfee
Yeah.
- [22:14]
E
So no one has pushed back on saying, like on me saying that Mike Tomlin's going to be back next year. What other coach in the history of the NFL or professional sports when you haven't won a playoff game in nine years and you've lost seven straight playoff games, let's say it's playoff series in another sport.
- [22:33]
Ty Schmidt
Would. Would.
- [22:34]
E
Would come, like, would have the ability to come back. The decision to come back and losing like that every single year. Am I taking crazy pills?
- [22:44]
G
I mean, it's a good question, but it's one of one that. That still is organization. Obviously Mike Tomlin and his, you know, record throughout, you know, not no losing seasons and all these different. Different things. But yeah, that. How many coaches have you guys had in the last one?
- [22:58]
E
Three.
- [22:59]
G
Yeah. So I mean, that's. That's Pittsburgh Special.
- [23:03]
E
Recent 69, 101.
- [23:04]
Connor
Yeah. Different sport. But we just talked about basketball. Like Tom Thibodeau went to the conference finals for the Knicks and then got fired after they lost to the Pacers. So it does feel like it is a shot.
- [23:14]
G
Shot.
- [23:14]
E
And I went 14 and two ago.
- [23:16]
G
Exactly. So you're talking about franchises, sports franchises. You put The Pittsburgh Steelers up here and the New York Knicks are probably like the standard or how you do things. And I understand it from a fan's point, a point of view, like, you want a new coach. You want a new coach. I mean. Yeah. You want to win. How many? Six. Six chances. Yeah. So it's tough, I expect, especially going out like that on that stage. You expect a change. But what we know from the Steelers and their history, probably not.
- [23:46]
E
Yeah.
- [23:46]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Follow up year. Now, who would you take? Because you talk about how many coaches since when?
- [23:54]
Coach BA
Three.
- [23:54]
E
Since 69.
- [23:56]
Pat McAfee
1969. Yeah. That is a. We're pretty good. Whoa. Yeah. I mean, that would be, I guess, the only really answer. It's like, who has the ability at this point that you could forecast? Because Tomlin was young when he got that to 32.
- [24:15]
Connor
Yep.
- [24:16]
E
Yeah, he was super young. And I think he was at the Vikings as a DC for like a year. So. Yeah, that was.
- [24:22]
Pat McAfee
He was 32, I think. I think he was 32 years old.
- [24:26]
E
And you talk about. They do love young because Kyra was super young when he got hired as well. But you talk about winning in front of people in a microphone. Like, no one thought he was going to get that job when they interviewed him. And he did, and it's been an incredible run. But yes, to your point.
- [24:39]
H
Point.
- [24:40]
E
Who is out there?
- [24:40]
Ty Schmidt
Great question.
- [24:42]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I don't know who you would. Mike McCarthy going back to Pittsburgh. Howard's Mike McCarthy has changed. Signetti no longer on the high dive because basically everybody has said that's not real. But if you're trying to hire a coach in football. Feels like I'd at least try to snoop or. Not that he wants to. We have not talked to him. I actually texted him last week before the Peach bowl, something. And he still has yet to respond.
- [25:08]
Ty Schmidt
So. Locked in.
- [25:09]
Pat McAfee
I think he's. He's locked in. His boys are deleting apps, social media apps from the phone. Okay. So, like, the Indiana football team is locked in. We'll say completely. So I'm not saying Signetti is saying this. And we don't even know his agent. I think he just has a lawyer. From my understanding of how that last deal went down, if he has an agent in this entire thing. So I don't even know if that thought is even cross his mind. He's a king in Bloomington forever. He'll have a statue. He's got a nice house. They treat him well. His wife. I think he loves the place. I think. I think he is a college football coach. I think that is what he is now, granted. Does he want to be able to prove that he could also do it at the NFL? Maybe, you know, like, there's. There's a couple different trains of thought there, but I think he just stays in Indiana forever, especially with the new deal that he has where basically it bumps up anytime it goes. So let's take him out of the picture. Arbonne. The Giants feel like that's really heating up, right? Then you have dinner at Mara's house and Mara watched Is this thing on in Harbaugh's movie. What was it? So Giants executive Chris Mara told the Athletic and he met John Harbaugh for lunch Sunday and had an informal meeting at Coach's house. People on both sides say Harbaugh remains very interested in John Shop. Hey, great journalism.
- [26:24]
Connor
Good work.
- [26:27]
Pat McAfee
Now, granted, could we have found that out other ways? Potentially, but we appreciate you finding it out. If we had to, we probably could have. But on that note, Harbaugh and the Giants feel like that's a thing. I feel like the Giants is considered one of those big jobs, you know, by coaches. Like, yeah, big brand, but also for, like, coaches. It feels like it's a bigger job. I don't know why, but I think like in college there's always jobs that open up where coaches go. That's a job. Lsu, we just watched it. Michigan's one of those places. Like, there's some of these places that are held in higher regard. Feels like the New York Giants are. And do you think it is just because of Brand? What do you think it is?
- [27:03]
G
Brand, location, Jackson, Dart.
- [27:06]
A.J.
I think he would like. Well, I mean, in general, I think for a reason why Harbaugh would like it. He loves the potential. What he's done.
- [27:12]
Pat McAfee
The history, though, is just like the history of it all.
- [27:15]
G
History, brand, location, championships, all the.
- [27:18]
A.J.
Right now is that much better than the Jets. Brand. The jets over the Jets.
- [27:22]
G
Same.
- [27:23]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, the Jets.
- [27:24]
Connor
Jets are below the Knicks on the. On DBUTs.
- [27:26]
A.J.
Look, I'm just asking the question.
- [27:27]
G
It's true.
- [27:28]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, well, we all knew the answer. You knew the answer, too. As those words were coming out of your mouth. You knew the answer for that. But it's like it feels like Harbaugh's probably going to the Giant. It feels like that is at least something now, maybe it's Atlanta as Well, but Mike McCarthy, I think as this cycle and interview process goes on, I think he's going to do well with his jolliness, his youthful spirit, his deep thinking and his resume. When they start looking at the numbers. I think there's going to be a good argument for the nerds to kind of say, hey, he could be a guy, but con man, you texted me something this morning. It's a pretty good point. A lot of these hirings and things like that are about to be completely changed. Whenever these teams that are still in it, all their assistants and coordinators with no clear front runner other than Harbaugh, the coordinators that are still in this are obviously going to be highly, highly sought after. I think McDaniels is, what, the only guy we know that'll probably stay in New England even if he's offered the opportunity. Comment?
- [28:25]
Connor
Yeah, bingo. Like, the Patriots and the Bears are the two teams that don't really have any, you know, convos around their coordinators going other places. But if you do go from team to team with those, you know, last six, and I guess you could say Buffalo with Joe Brady maybe kind of off the table. But Sam Fran, you know, Salah is a hot name. Kind of goes to the jets point about how big of a dumpster fire that place is because he's getting jobs immediately, at least, you know, interviews Kubiak with Seattle, he is also kind of the young, hot offensive mind. It feels like in this cycle. Shula with the Rams, he is a guy that everybody seems to basically dub him as the next, you know, defensive guy. I know the Broncos as well are getting some with Vance Joseph, but it does feel as though aside from Harbaugh, all these teams, you know, at least the teams that are looking for head coaches are going to be looking for guys from these, you know, final eight. I know for the Patriots, Zach Core, the insider linebackers coach who's now become the DC has kind of become a hot ticket over the last couple weeks. You know, Burke, you guys mentioned with the the Texans has become one of those guys like, hey, why aren't we giving the DC of the best defense more interviews? Kind of makes a lot of sense. But aside from Harbaugh, all those teams should wait. Like what happens if down the stretch, you know, for instance, Seattle, like Kubiak and the Seahawks defense is the conversation, what if Kubiak and the Seattle Seahawks offense becomes this unbelievable thing? And then you think if you're the Giants, sure, Harbaugh, of course, but could you not think Kubiak could come in and kind of guide Jackson Dart? Like there are so many, you know, things that still have to happen and that might be the reason that all this is delayed for so long too. Like last year, Ben Johnson and Vrabel, they were slated. They were getting jobs at this point. Like, it's January 13th. We knew January 13th, 2025. Like, two of the jobs that are open are going to those two guys. Now, Harbaugh, you could say, is that one guy that's definitely slated for one of these jobs. The Giants, we all can see, but for the. For all those other places, and there's a lot of jobs open, it feels like they're going to come from these final eight teams.
- [30:29]
Pat McAfee
AJ I mean, there's a chance that there was a dumping situation at the house with Mara and Harbaugh. There's a chance.
- [30:37]
Connor
Yeah. McDaniels.
- [30:40]
Pat McAfee
Well, we don't know what all went down. We do know weak pipes up there in Massachusetts. Jim Merce just tried to drop a hog downer and, you know, can't flush. Can't flush.
- [30:51]
Connor
Wash towels.
- [30:52]
Pat McAfee
Okay, listen, he wipes his butt with towels. Rest in peace, Jim Ursay. He earned that. Okay. That's right, man. But we don't know. I am bummed out. I never got to ask him the actual his side of that story. Oh, my God. Him telling that story would have been Barnes. What do you want me to do? There's nothing.
- [31:15]
Ty Schmidt
Didn't have any toilet paper, no wipes.
- [31:18]
Pat McAfee
Sky. I almost didn't want to give him the job, brother. Because he didn't have toilet paper. That would have been single ply. What do we. That's a bad decision. I would have loved to hear, like, his side of it all, but maybe Mara in the Harbaugh meeting doesn't go as well as. We're just kind of reading this and thinking this and Giants fans are assuming that it is as we all are. So let's say he's on a market. You got eight jobs open. Okay. It's quarterly. And how many coaches do we have to hire these people? I'm very fascinated by, like, Liam Cohen came out of nowhere last year for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Came out of nowhere, late hire. We didn't really know him, and there was a worry that he wasn't these people going to hire. That's like the Steelers, they're just passing around these head coaches. McDaniel might get a job. Stefanski's going to get a job. Harbaugh is going to get a job. It's like, okay, so it. It didn't work. These guys just got fired at the last place. But it'll work in this building. I. I just. It's also fascinating right now because I. I think Back to Carly, Kaylin and Casey. The big three of the Indianapolis Colts deciding to stick around with Shane and Ballard. And I don't know what the GM front is. Who was the guy that just got hired in Miami?
- [32:27]
Connor
John Eric Sullivan, Green Bay.
- [32:29]
Pat McAfee
Congrats to him. We assume he's going to be great. He's out of the packers organization, going down to the Dolphins now. I do have a wonder if you can win in Miami with all the distractions and stuff. An team's bigger than a basketball team. You know, you got 50 some guys that have to stay locked in. Miami's got a lot of distractions. Maybe John Eric will be able to find the guys that can go ahead and navigate that entire thing. They got to get like a BYU team down there somehow. And I don't know. I don't know if that's going to be possible. That's my personal thoughts on it all. So, like, in the front office thing, we never know who's going to get the jobs because these people are kind of just like unassuming, not knowing people. But the head coaching stuff, normally we know the people a little bit. Liam, we didn't know it all. He's done great. It's like if the Colts would have moved on from Ballard, I think we would have found somebody that we don't know and they would have said, this guy's super genius. He was there whenever some good player was drafted. It's like, what, was he sitting at the table or was he sitting in the. In the seats over there? I would like to know, is he actually listening to the decision or making the decision? You know, these are all decisions that people have to make. The coaching one, though, like Shane Steich. Hey, D. But I think we got a guy. I think Shane Steichen right now. If he was available, I think he would get head coaching opportunities. I think Shane Steichen would get head coaching opportunities. Right now. That makes me wonder. Go ahead.
- [33:47]
G
Yeah, I like Shane a lot. We saw what he did with a healthy Daniel Jones this year. They were off to a historic start. I think he was great. There is a name that's kind of been coming up more and more often on the offensive side of things. World all looking for that next offensive super genius. And a lot of these guys have been connected to McVeigh over the years. Got Nate Shieldhouse, past game coordinator. I believe he's like early 30s, maybe 34, 35 years old. Yeah, I believe he's already getting some requests. Next big guy, Shield Hobbs, past game coordinator out There in la. Nate Shield House.
- [34:22]
Pat McAfee
Okay, so coordinator LA had stoner, right? They just got Stoner.
- [34:26]
Connor
Yeah.
- [34:28]
Pat McAfee
And now they got Shield Haas.
- [34:29]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [34:30]
G
Liam was there a couple years ago before he, you know. Yeah. So he's the next hot offensive name.
- [34:37]
Pat McAfee
A.J. you said? Yup. Like you knew who he was.
- [34:40]
A.J.
I just saw the story. They just did a whole thing on him about how he's like the next up and comer, rising through the ranks, like offensive guru guy that has been grinding and cutting his teeth. You know where you should cut your teeth? Like if a country music star cuts their teeth and nasty Nashville, you know? Sure, sure.
- [34:55]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, he was. Yeah. But if you're from Texas, I think that's pretty south too.
- [34:59]
Connor
Oh, yeah.
- [35:01]
Ty Schmidt
He was with Matt Campbell for a long time at Iowa State. He was the quarterbacks coach. That's what they said. Like his development of Brock Purdy and then Rocco Beck. Like he was there for a decent amount of time. But yeah, he is the. He's kind of the bell of the ball right now.
- [35:15]
Pat McAfee
Good for him, man. Good for a lot of coaching jobs open and I guess somebody will hit somewhere. But a lot of these maybe work.
- [35:23]
E
There was a. There was also a report earlier, remember when there was a report that like the Steelers were kind of looking at people just in case Tomlin decided to leave. And I believe Marcus Freeman was one of them as well. I would. I would not be upset with Marcus Freeman either.
- [35:37]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Marcus Freeman, I think he's getting a lot of NFL looks. I. I've heard a rumor of what he was offered to coach somewhere. Oh, the amount of money, that was a lot.
- [35:45]
A.J.
And he turned it down.
- [35:46]
Pat McAfee
You're saying the rumor. I mean, I don't know if it's real, you know, I don't know if it's accurate, but felt like it came from a pretty accurate source who would know it. But like I. I was told he was offered a king's ransom. I heard he was offered a king's ransom to go coach somewhere and he didn't make that decision. Now, is that just somebody from somewhere else trying to feed that info to get to. You know, you never know where things are coming from. But it sounds like Marcus Freeman is very committed to Notre Dame as whole. And then you think about Midwest, you know, teams and who represents a Green Bay Packer situation is interesting, A.J. you know. Now what is policy's policy going to be on extending a head coach who has an incredible winning record, a coach who, if he was to hit that coach's pool right there that we showed he'd be getting. He'd get a job literally the next day. It'd be like a hard boss situation. But probably even quit. He. I think it'd be even quicker because he's younger and you know, all that type of stuff. But it feels like the Green Bay faithful are out on him. Who are they going to hire if you guys fire. Have you thought about that? Ty Schmidt, who are you guys going to? Mike McCarthy. I guess those would be the two options. Who would you guys hire if you moved on from La Flor? And do you think that you guys inevitably end up moving on from the floor? It's an interesting situation over there with that contract. And like AJ Quick, before Todd gives this answer here.
- [37:20]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [37:21]
Pat McAfee
Am I out of my mind for thinking like the coaches contract's already slated. This is what it is. This is what you're making. And you don't have an owner. So it's not like you have to debate with the owner for the amount of money. You just, you have like a vault of money.
- [37:33]
Coach BA
Right?
- [37:33]
Pat McAfee
It's like, this is what is required to pay this person. This is what we have to pay. We have to justify it to a committee, I think. But you're able to get that, right? So like Schefter saying the price they offered him is just much lower than what he could get on the market because of what contracts are. So are they saying they don't want them by doing it? Like, why wouldn't.
- [37:50]
A.J.
Sort of feels like to me, because you're right, it doesn't count against the cap like that. It's not. You're not working against the salary cap. It's like a normal team is what is the owner willing to pay you? Because that, you know, that would be money that the owner could keep as profit, I guess. But when it comes to Green Bay, it's different. They don't have an owner. So it's like, what are they willing to pay? But is it almost like, hey, yeah, we want to work out a deal with you, but we don't want to pay you too much? Like, it's not like a weird. Like a good coach is in good faith negotiation. I don't get it.
- [38:16]
Pat McAfee
We like you at 10 million bucks, but we don't like you at 11 million bucks. It's like, what's the cutoff number and what does that mean? I don't think I've ever heard Shefte.
- [38:29]
A.J.
Said it was interesting when he said, like he threw out the thing. Like, well, what if they think okay, maybe we can get a few draft picks back if they could like move Matt LaFleur, I'm thinking. And like, if you don't want a guy and you can get something for him, then yeah, obviously you'd want to do that, right? Like, if you don't really want.
- [38:42]
Pat McAfee
John Payton went for a one, right? Sean Payton went for a one, I think.
- [38:46]
Connor
Yeah, I think it was like a one and a four or something. I think they got two.
- [38:49]
A.J.
If you wanted fire guy or not resign him. That's ideal for a franchise. Like, hey, let me get some draft picks for this guy, send him away and then we'll get to hiring a guy.
- [38:57]
E
So Sean Payton. The Saints received the Broncos 2023 first round pick and their 2024 second round pick pick.
- [39:04]
A.J.
Damn, that's a lot.
- [39:05]
E
And the Broncos got Peyton and a third round pick from the Saints.
- [39:09]
Connor
Oh.
- [39:09]
A.J.
Huh.
- [39:10]
Pat McAfee
Interesting. Hey, Ty, now your thoughts on all that, because these coaching jobs, somebody would potentially give you guys a one for Matt La Flor with how much he would be wanted in the market. Like, what is your thoughts on it as we sit today a couple days removed from another loss out there?
- [39:24]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's tough because the big thing is, is like you said, you can't really, you can't really fire him and just assume, hey, we're gonna go, we're gonna go hire John Harbaugh, because if you do, you let him go and then you don't get Harbaugh, you're kind of out of luck. And they, I mean, the belief is that they are close enough with this roster and a healthy Micah Parsons and some of the other pieces they lost, that they're close enough to win the Super Bowl. But I mean, at this point, and this is kind of crazy to say, like, I almost feel like even a guy like Kevin Stefanski, like, I think I would be. It just, it feels like the proof is in the pudding with the floor. Like, he just, he's an offensive guy. Guy. They need a head coach. He's very good. He's a very good play caller. But the special teams has sucked for a long time and the defense is kind of just left to Jeff Halfley where it's like, hey, you figure it out. Like, we've seen like a guy like Vrabel, like, you don't have to be a successful, great head coach by calling plays. You can be the CEO and kind of just have your hands in everything. And I, I mean, I don't think that's going to ever Happen. But it's interesting, like you said, like, it seems like, like, the decision has kind of already been made. So I don't know why we're belaboring the point so much. Like, isn't it kind of just a done deal when they say, yeah, we'd like to work something out, obviously, but then that just means that they don't. They aren't comfortable going to the number that Matt LaFleur wants, and they're kind of just standing pat. And if that's the case, then, yeah, like, he's not going to sign an extension. And why are we waiting when all these other potential candidates are going to get hired elsewhere?
- [40:52]
Connor
Well, and that's the thing with the Patriots, and I feel like the Steelers and the packers, and you can even throw the Eagles in there because they're having the conversation about Sirianni, even though that might just be strictly on the outside and on the inside. Like, if you don't have a guy, like, there's no point to move on. Like, because if Harbaugh is going to the Giants and, like, the packers can't get him, why, like, pivot? Whereas, like, if the packers and the Steelers wait a year and then pull the trigger on a guy like Mike Vrabel, because the Patriots. The Patriots hired Jarod Mayo and then fired him after a year. Like, that never happens, especially with, like, the expectations of New England. New England wasn't supposed to be good. They're supposed to be one of the worst teams and then slowly get better. With Gerard Mayo, they were really bad. And then instead of waiting, they had Mike Vrabel and they said, you know what? Let's get rid of Gerard Mayo. Who cares? Everyone says we'll bring in Vrabel, and then, you know, I think this thing will look different. They were right. But it feels like unless you have that guy, you're going to completely screw your franchise guys by getting rid of the dude that you currently have. Wow.
- [41:55]
Pat McAfee
A Ring of Honor member who's a incredible football coach, just lingering around for everybody.
- [42:03]
Connor
Like, if Bart Starr is going to run through that tunnel, then the packers should pull the trigger and make that guy the head football coach. But unless not. Like, it is so hard to find a guy who immediately knows the culture, who immediately knows how to turn the place around, who knows the ownership. Like, the. It's hard, I think, to look to not be comparative when it comes to, like, the head coaching cycle and bringing guys in just because, like, the Patriots were so unique. The Jags, they were very, very unique. As well like it. It's so difficult to get that right. I luckily and very gratefully the Patriots did. But there is a very real world where the Patriots get rid of Gerard men. They don't end up with Vrabel and instead of winning four games, they win one game and it's even worse and you just completely change your franchise.
- [42:50]
Pat McAfee
It's fascinating thing trying to develop a squad, hire the right people. I was so incredibly lucky that I have a chance to work with the great group of guys that I work with every single day. The best in the base boys. Thank you guys for putting me in a position to not have to hire anybody else ever.
- [43:06]
Connor
Thank you man.
- [43:07]
Pat McAfee
Thank you man.
- [43:09]
Connor
Thank you for the drop.
- [43:10]
Pat McAfee
Hiring. Hiring sucks. Okay? It's really hard because if you bring in one shit bird, you can ruin everything that you have. Can ruin everything. And then if you bring in somebody that's not right for the job, like Connor just alluded to, you have to make another incredibly hard decision very quickly and then you also have to restart. It's not easy finding the right person to lead a multi billion dollar organization. Joining us now is a man who was tasked with that multiple times. 47 years he spent coaching football and his life. Multiple times super bowl champion, future hall of Famer, ladies and gentlemen. How are you coach?
- [43:44]
Peter Schrager
I'm doing great baby.
- [43:47]
Pat McAfee
Great to see you. You look wonderful. I love all the trophies behind you. I love the magic. You look incredible. I hope the golf game is going well. Let's talk about hiring coaches because we're starting to have. It's almost like we are getting to a point of reason and logic in coaches minds as this conversation goes because like when Carly or say makes the decision, Carly, Kalin and Casey make the decision to stay with Shane and Chris Ballard, everybody goes what are we doing? Why are we doing this again? And then whenever the Steelers don't move on immediately from Tomlin, Steelers fans go, what are we doing? What are we doing Packers? What are we doing? What are we doing? Who are they hiring? B.A. how many of these coaches, okay, just in your eyes you've been 47 years coaching football. How many of these coaches do you think are actually equipped to be head coaches? And is there like a trait that you've noticed that some good assistant coaches have that will make them great head coaches? And like what do you think is the biggest indicator on somebody being good? Because there's not obviously all these names we know but like eight head coaching jobs are up right now. There's going to be eight next Year, that's a quarter of the league. Like a lot of these guys are going to be ass head coaches, right? Isn't that kind of how we should look at it? How do they get it right? How do they get it wrong in your eyes whenever you're doing the hiring process?
- [44:58]
Coach BA
Yeah, I think it's very, very interesting to see who owners listen to. You know, is it the general manager, is it buddies that they have business with and sometimes have no damn clue.
- [45:09]
Pat McAfee
What football is all about?
- [45:10]
Coach BA
You know, they just sell cars or something else, but you know, it. It's hard when you look at these young coordinators. Some haven't called plays. They're just quarterback coaches. And now you're expecting them to be the head coach, coach and the play caller. I think that's extremely, extremely hard for somebody to do the first year. Some guys like go call plays for a while and then become a head coach. But I think this cycle is going to be all about rehiring ex head coaches, you know, because so many guys got fired a couple of years ago that went back and are doing great jobs as coordinators. Robert Sala, couple of guys like that. I think they're all the guys that are going to get these jobs as you year.
- [45:51]
Pat McAfee
Stefanski is getting an interview. McDaniel's getting an interview. Harbaugh's getting an interview. Obvious. And McCarthy already a head coach in there. Let's just to wrap up my question before AJ and the bullies have more for you. Especially about that Steelers game last night.
- [46:04]
Connor
Jeez.
- [46:07]
Pat McAfee
No renegade ba. No renegade even play a. There's no mama. No. None. No mama. No mama. Last night they would have to play.
- [46:16]
Coach BA
In the first five minutes.
- [46:18]
Pat McAfee
It's a good first five minutes, boss. Okay, but before we get to all that, what is the trait of being a good head coach? You think like if you were hiring, let's say you were owner, you were the Glazer family, they call you instead of calling a car salesman around town that they're friends with or their golfing buddy. What would you say is required to be a good head coach? What is the trait that needs to be. Needs to happen?
- [46:38]
Coach BA
I think first and foremost the guys leader of men, you know, it's, it's not, it's. As a head coach, you're responsible for everybody. The staff, the entire building. So you have to be a leader of men and have a plan. Everybody said, what's your philosophy? I don't want to hear shit about philosophies. Give me your plan. How are you Going to do it. Show me on paper. Talk to me about how you're going to get this done day to day and get all the way to the season and through it. So to me, it's a matter of experience. I think you're high risk when you go out for guys that have no experience as being a head coach, coach or like I said, never calling plays. And all of a sudden you're a head coach and you're going to be a head coach and call plays. There's just not enough time for a guy to get that done. I don't think it's very rare. The Sean McVeighs. Everybody wants to touch somebody from Sean McVay. And that's been the hiring cycle for the last, what, five years now. Offensive guys. And I think there's a lot of teams looking for that young offensive guy who they can help with their young quarterback and get cheap. But Nate's going to be. He's going to get a bunch of. Because he's. He's in that golden goose tree.
- [47:55]
Pat McAfee
Being brother I got.
- [47:56]
Coach BA
Yeah. Back in the day. Back in the day, if you were the quarterback coach as a Packers, you got a head job every year. When you go Andy Reid, John Gruden all the way through. I mean that, that guy got a head job every year. Whoever's quarterback coach a fan pack now it's anybody That's Touches Sean McVeigh, go ahead.
- [48:11]
Pat McAfee
D by yeah.
- [48:12]
G
Coach on Nate Shieldhouse, not just him, but just a pass game coordinator. Something you hear on the offensive in the defensive side of the ball. Can you kind of tell us what that is? Because obviously Sean McVay is calling the plays. But what is like a past game coordinator and what's the difference between that and then like an actual offensive coordinator?
- [48:31]
Coach BA
Yeah, you're. You're responsible for just half the game plan. You know, you're putting up the passing game game along with somebody else. You're not doing it all by yourself. You know, Sean's hands in there. Totally. And for me, you can't have the word coordinator next to your name unless you're calling plays. Unless you're in front of the room, installation meetings and calling plays. There are way too many titles out there right now that don't mean shit. I mean it's just, it's just a way to get a raise. Just, hey, if you're not in front of the damn room, Colin and Colin plays. You ain't the coordinator.
- [49:07]
Pat McAfee
Corporate structure has gotten into ball. That's what it sounds like. You Just said all the way. I'm executive vice coordinator of the offense. You know, what does that mean? I don't understand what that. Are you calling head coach?
- [49:18]
Coach BA
I'm assistant head coach, offensive run game coordinator, pass game coordinator, and I'm the offensive coordinator, but I'm calling the goddamn.
- [49:28]
Pat McAfee
Good luck to all these people hiring things. Now, speaking of hiring, firing, when do you know the time is right? AJ Has a question about, you know, Harbaugh. It was already made in Baltimore. Is there more? Go ahead. Age.
- [49:37]
A.J.
Yeah. B.A. we hear sometimes, like when a coach is out of place long enough that their message might get stale. Like it. Obviously, Harbaugh's an unbelievable coach, legendary coach, and he's going to get hired right away. But did his message get stale? And is that something as a coach you have to be aware of and try to always evolve what you're doing and not your philosophy, but your plan. Does it change over the years?
- [49:55]
Coach BA
Yeah, I think totally, A.J. i mean, you got to have a different message. You can't be the same one over and over and over. Now, game week, it is to me what I'm saying on Monday, I'm saying on Friday and Saturday. And maybe by then they've heard it, you know, if I say it five times, maybe one of them finally listened and got it. And. But I always check what my players were saying in the press, and if they were repeating the message, I know they heard it.
- [50:19]
Pat McAfee
Interesting. Interesting. There's a little homework assignment whenever you're talking to the media. Has this guy been paying attention at all to what we're trying to say this week? I love that. What was your message? Normally, Coach, five stars, other guys. I love that. That was my favorite one. That's the one I remember. That's the one I remember most because that's my favorite of all time. Night before game, BA Giving a speech to all of us, or actually it starts on Wednesday. Starts on Wednesday. Whenever we do the initial plan in the morning. Morning this week, our five stars are gonna cancel out their five stars. This game's gonna be won by you little out here. Okay? So let's. Let's make sure we. It was one of the funniest things I've ever. I was sitting there just not expecting it at all. And I'm like, God damn. That was like maybe the most blunt way I've ever heard somebody talk about a game. But it was right. You're basically. But. And then also all the other guys, they took on like, yeah, this is our week. It felt like a Super, super bowl almost. For the role, guys, in the entirety. I love that. Was that always your messaging? What was your style, you think? Did you. I didn't. I don't remember much storytelling. You?
- [51:20]
Coach BA
Yeah, I was never much of a. Of a motivating storyteller guy. I just want to tell the truth and what I thought was going to take to win or lose the game and keep it short and sweet and that way I know they're going to hear me. And like I said, I never gave elaborate speeches on Saturday night. It was just, hey, this is what it's going to take to win. God, do it.
- [51:39]
Pat McAfee
And then, hey, we want speakers next week.
- [51:42]
Coach BA
That's right.
- [51:44]
Pat McAfee
D. But what a run, dude. What were you there? Debut for the BA Run? Yes.
- [51:48]
G
Oh, yeah.
- [51:48]
Connor
Oh, yeah.
- [51:49]
G
That was my first year, first year here, obviously, with Chuck. And then once Chuck went down, BA Stepped up and, yeah, that was pretty much the message week in and week out. And him being in an offensive head coach at the time, he still kind of set the tone in practice with him talking shit to the defense because, you know, Luck wasn't that type of, I guess, quarterback. He went about his business in a different way. So BA Set the tone of that. But, yeah, when you lay out the plan, like you said, it's about being the leader of men. When you lay out a plan and what's the plan of action. And a lot of times you go into the game and certain things have to change. But nine times out of 10, coaches prepare you for how that game is going to go, how you're going to win this game, whether it's an environment, whether it's going to be a big red zone day, a third, whatever it is, they kind of lay it out and then the better ones kind of adjust as the game kind of unfolds as well. But BA Always had a clear message on who was going to have to step up and make that play. And nine times out of ten, it played out that way.
- [52:39]
Pat McAfee
Hey, that's no bs, baby. AJ you talk about. You talk about a message getting stale or not getting stale. You mentioned Harbaugh. Obviously Baltimore thought that was the case. Pittsburgh now is the entire conversation. Go ahead, Bone.
- [52:51]
E
Yeah, Coach, obviously you were in Pittsburgh for a long time, majority of it with Coach Tomlin. You know, how him, you know, the Rooneys, you know, the gm, Omar Khan. What do you think about the situation as a whole? Because a lot of people report and there's no way the Rooneys would ever just blatantly outright fire Mike Tomlin it would have to be him stepping away. Do you think he's someone who would step away? And do you have any thoughts on why they keep getting blown out every single playoff game?
- [53:18]
Coach BA
Yeah, I mean, they limped in, and they're not a very good football team.
- [53:23]
Connor
So when.
- [53:23]
Coach BA
When you. When you go up, especially when you get three turnovers from the quarterback at home, you would expect a whole different outcome than what happened last night. And like you said, you know, the last seven playoff games, they've been down at least 21 points in all of them. So it's. If that is the standard, then the standard bearer has to be held accountable. And nine and eight, and getting blown out in the first round has been.
- [53:48]
Pat McAfee
Going on for a long time.
- [53:49]
Connor
Time.
- [53:50]
Coach BA
And so I don't see the Steelers firing him because they haven't fired a coach since 69. So it's like, same old thing.
- [54:00]
A.J.
Great.
- [54:00]
Pat McAfee
I'm fascinated by the Pittsburgh story. Also the lingering messaging of Tomlin potentially having a TV deal. Who's putting that message out, you think? Not Tomlin, necessarily the direct person, but when we hear these types of rumors circulating. That's an agent working. Is that an agent working? What do you think that is, exactly?
- [54:18]
Coach BA
Yeah, I think. I think it's politically people setting it up for, hey, this. Don't. Don't piss him off, because he'll. He'll leave. And so if you want to make a move, make a move. You know, I don't know if Art's going to do that. I doubt it. But, you know, for me, it's time.
- [54:38]
Pat McAfee
Wow, that'd be crazy. Would you imagine Pittsburgh? I mean, Pittsburgh just spent $30 million on a wide receiver that didn't ever play football for them before. So that was abnormal. You know, there's been a lot of abnormal Pittsburgh Steelers stuff happening in this new generation. I'm not saying they fired a coordinator in the middle of the season. That had happened a long, long time. I don't know. It'd be crazy. Pittsburgh would be upside down. All right, let's talk about a place that seemingly got flipped upside down and then put right back into the same damn place, which is maybe a dynasty. Go ahead, Connor.
- [55:03]
Connor
Yeah. Ba. You talked about playoff experience. Drake May, he finally got his first victory, his first game under his belt. How huge is the this for the Patriots going forward, that he now has kind of the taste of the playoffs? And where do you see them kind of going here as the playoffs continue and Houston comes to town?
- [55:21]
Coach BA
Yeah, I. I think it was fantastic. You know, he did. He didn't play fantastic, but he played good enough. And that defense was just unbelievable. That, that they put that, that show that defense put on was unbelievable the way they confused Herbert and had him running all over the place. But yeah, Drake has his athletic ability, shows up, up. That ain't ever going away. You know, just play. Play natural football for him. Josh McDaniel's doing a great job putting him in very good situations. But again, Houston's defense, that's a whole different story, brother. That ball's going to have to come out quick and they're going to have to run the football a little bit better.
- [55:55]
Pat McAfee
Coach, we got 30 seconds here before a hard out in the first hour. What was the most impressive thing you saw from wild card weekend? Was it that Texans defense? I mean, that could be your interest.
- [56:04]
Coach BA
Answer has probably Josh Allen putting the cape back on down in Jacksonville. I mean, he keeps doing it, man. I don't know how he's doing it.
- [56:13]
Pat McAfee
But he keeps doing it. That's no BS, baby. That's no BS. BA's game ball. Josh Allen. How about the NFC?
- [56:21]
Coach BA
Oh, Robert Salah and the 49ers defense.
- [56:24]
Pat McAfee
The job he did with 4th, 5th.
- [56:26]
Coach BA
And 6th linebackers was just amazing in Philadelphia.
- [56:30]
Pat McAfee
We appreciate you, coach. You're the man. Thank you for spending time with us all season thus far.
- [56:35]
Coach BA
You got it, brother.
- [56:35]
Peter Schrager
Love it.
- [56:36]
G
Hell yeah.
- [56:37]
Pat McAfee
Love you too.
- [56:37]
Connor
See you.
- [56:37]
Pat McAfee
That's Coach ba. Yeah.
- [56:44]
G
This is Marshawn Lynch, AKA Beast Mode, checking in this holiday season.
- [56:48]
Pat McAfee
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G
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Pat McAfee
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G
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Pat McAfee
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G
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Pat McAfee
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- [57:40]
G
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- [57:42]
E
Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details.
- [57:45]
Pat McAfee
Hey, fans. Welcome back to Fansville's cheers and tears. Okay, so, like, everybody deals with losing, right? To a rival and a last second field goal, whatever.
- [57:57]
G
It's fine.
- [57:57]
Peter Schrager
I'm totally fine.
- [57:58]
Pat McAfee
But I cope with losing with an ice cold Dr. Pepper. Mmm. Those 23 flavors are, like, so delicious. They totally wash away the pain of your college football team taking a big fat L. College football. It's a pepper thing, Football. It's happening everywhere.
- [58:22]
A.J.
Last night, obviously, Houston Texans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30 to 6 in a route. Pat, what do you think? BA had some interesting insight about the whole coaching situation. I don't know what's going to happen out there.
- [58:32]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, it seems like Coach BA Just said it's time to move on from Tomlin. I feel like that's a pretty big deal, especially as a guy who's been in that building for the Pittsburgh Steelers and a guy who's friends with every coach ever, basically, that feels like a big thing for him to say. But I think he's also coming from a place where like, hey, baby, I've had to go to a couple different places. You know, like, he went to Indianapolis, he went over to Arizona. He was done. There was multiple times he was potentially done with football and then gets called back to the game, gets a rebuild re experience, reconnect with new people. I guess, like after Pittsburgh Steelers, he was done. Allegedly, he was heading to the lake. Now, would he have got sick of golfing and boozing and hanging? Maybe, but I think, you know, football would have come calling at any point. But maybe not. I mean, legit, maybe not. Allegedly. The story goes, is he was actually driving to get his stuff to go back to Georgia where he has a lake house with his wife. And Chuck McGanna calls him and goes, what's up, cuz? Like, any way you could come be my OC we got Andrew Luck looks at his wife, allegedly, and goes, ah, fuck it, baby, let's go. Turn right. You know, instead of going to Atlanta or down to Georgia, he just turns right and heads, you know, to Indianapolis, Indiana as he does that. So then obviously, that an incredible year comes. The interim head coach. Chuck Pagano wins coach a year, BA Wins coach a year, kind of together. Together. Then he goes to Arizona, has to reestablish himself all the way there. So he goes Pittsburgh, all the way up to Arizona and he's done. And then he's like, tampa. He goes back to Tampa. It's like he's gotten a chance to experience, like, hey, a New building, new fans, new messaging. Like Coach Tomlin. I don't know if BA Knows if Coach Tomlin's going to continue to coach or if he's going to do tv, but I think what he's trying to say is like, this. This feels like time. Not only for the Steelers fans, with how they've experienced it. Whenever you start lining up those stats, that's just getting your ass beat in the first round. Like, that's not a fun year. Hey, yeah, but you guys are above.500. Are we at the end of the year? Because it feels like we're the worst team in football every time the season ends because the way the last taste in our mouth goes. So BA saying that I thought was pretty big. I thought that was big for. I think he was speaking for both sides, though, too. Like, hey, Coach Tomlin, like this. This would be good for you as well. You know, like experience something new. And then for the Steelers, it's like, if not now, when, like, what do you. Is this just going to go on forever? Like, when do you kind of do it? So I think that's what he was saying, but that felt big coming his mouth. A.J.
- [60:48]
A.J.
Yeah, definitely did. And the thing about. We haven't even mentioned with Tomlin, for some reason, the Steelers move on from Tomlin and Tomlin doesn't go to tv. Like, he has every other. Every NFL job open for him as well.
- [60:58]
Pat McAfee
He's.
- [60:58]
A.J.
You put him in line with hardball to where, hey, you pick whatever opening you want is yours, right?
- [61:04]
Pat McAfee
He's viewed above Harbaugh, isn't he?
- [61:05]
E
Slightly, I would assume. I would say.
- [61:07]
Connor
I think so.
- [61:09]
Pat McAfee
I'm saying just like, that's kind of. Yeah, I'm talking about ownership and like. Like national conversation.
- [61:15]
A.J.
Yeah, I'd say so.
- [61:16]
G
So pretty close.
- [61:17]
A.J.
I don't know.
- [61:17]
Ty Schmidt
10 years.
- [61:19]
Pat McAfee
You think they're close?
- [61:19]
G
I think they're pretty close. I think player wise. But, you know, listening to AQ and people who've been in that building, they love Har Ball. And I would say say the same thing for Pittsburgh. When we were players, everybody talked highly of him. If it was like one coach, he would probably be at the top of the list that players would want to play for. But now I feel like ownership and even like the higher cycles, just football coaches in general, like the football. If you view the football coach, I just pictured a NFL football coach 15, 20 years ago compared to now, it's a completely different landscape. But as far as, like, legacy wise and all that, I would say they're Pretty, pretty close.
- [61:53]
Pat McAfee
I wonder how much Brable's hiring is going to affect this entire legit cause. What a perfect Ben Johnson too. But I guess he's Ben Johnson's. Aren't you growing on trees? You know, that's what they've been saying the last couple of years, which is why everybody was trying to hire him. But like Vrabel, Ben Johnson super Alpha is going into these buildings just kind of in Brable already done it before. He has so much experience for it all. Basically, it's one perfect hire for you guys. Con man.
- [62:22]
Connor
Well, yeah. And Vrabel has seemingly brought back the like, hey, you don't need to be the genius offense or defense play caller. And you could argue this with Demico Ryan's too, but they are the encapsulation of CEO, leader of men, leader of the team, helping out every single aspect of the team not just focused on one thing. But Tomlin would then fall into that variable category of hey, screw whoever we have. Like, let's go and get like when we were just talking about the packers and are they really going to let go of Leflore just to let go and kind of move in a different direction. Whereas if Tom Holman was available, that is where you would think, hey, 20 teams, 25 teams, whether they kind of like their head coach or feel like it's going in the right direction or not, they're probably going to say Tomlin is better than the current option we have, whether we went to the playoffs or not. Like, Mike Tomlin's a guy that we can rely on for the next, you know, 20 years. Because like Ty mentioned there, he's 10 years younger than Harbaugh and they still do feel, you know, reasonably neck and neck. But yeah, to your point, Vrabel does seem to be that guy in that hire that has kind of changed that narrative around guys that aren't. Aren't just the genius offensive play caller.
- [63:35]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I mcdc did it with Detroit a couple years back.
- [63:38]
Connor
Yep.
- [63:40]
G
Sirianni don't call plays. But he, you know, everybody obviously shits on Sirianni.
- [63:44]
Connor
Yeah, he's getting fired every other day.
- [63:45]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [63:45]
G
But he's been there two Super Bowls every other week, winning percentages, up there with like John Madden or whoever else their star. So I think he's a name too, who's kind of in that, you know, CEO archetype because they're. It's been a revolving door. Offensive and defensive coordinators, you know, Vic has kind of locked down the defense, but offensively They've been changing coordinators and play callers damn near every year.
- [64:07]
Pat McAfee
DBut just sent me a tweet from. We'll send in the group. I don't know if D. Buddy sent that to Bruce yet or not.
- [64:14]
G
Yeah, I sent it to Bruce.
- [64:16]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, go ahead.
- [64:17]
G
Yeah.
- [64:18]
Pat McAfee
But it's very important, I think, absolutely mention at this moment.
- [64:21]
G
Yeah. We all. We're talking about it. We are. We definitely would need the audio for it to get the point across. But when Ben Johnson, I don't remember our initial reaction to him, you know, talking to the whole atrium and the whole building. But when you go into these interviews and obviously stuff we're not privy to, this is what the owners have to deal with. Okay, how is it, Is this a leader of men? Can this guy lead the building? Because it's not just the players front office. And now looking back on this, a year back, I feel like Ben Johnson. This was like a 10 out of 10 from the jump.
- [65:03]
Peter Schrager
Everyone get back to work. Listen.
- [65:07]
Pat McAfee
Thank you so much. My family and I, we are beyond excited.
- [65:10]
E
This is exactly where we wanted to be. This is exactly where we wanted to be.
- [65:15]
G
Where we want you.
- [65:16]
Connor
This is.
- [65:16]
Pat McAfee
This is a. This is going to be. I am well aware of that. I know what this division's about, and.
- [65:23]
E
This is exactly where we want to be. We're going to go after this thing.
- [65:27]
Ty Schmidt
And it's going to take all of.
- [65:28]
Pat McAfee
Us in this room, it's going to.
- [65:29]
Ty Schmidt
Take this locker room.
- [65:30]
Pat McAfee
It's nothing more important than that locker room and us serving that locker room and those players, all right? They need to understand that. They need to feel that from us every single day. And if we do that, that the wins are going to come, the playoffs.
- [65:47]
A.J.
Are going to come.
- [65:48]
G
All right.
- [65:49]
Pat McAfee
Can't wait to get, get, get to know you guys. And thank you so much for. For the warm welcome.
- [65:54]
Connor
Thank you. Hell, yeah.
- [65:59]
G
Yeah. So obviously that's awkward. Very awkward spot to be in, but I felt like he handled it well and kind of setting that message earlier, like, hey, the locker room, the whole building, everybody in this building. It's a ser. There was another kind of piece of it. Somebody zoomed in on somebody in the back, kind of making a face like, oh, shit, I never heard that message before. And then obviously, just like, the variable hire, you know, and if they make a move in Green Bay, like, going to these places that kind of have a quarterback in place as well, like a talented quarterback. We knew Drake would be a guy. We thought Caleb would be a guy. We know. We See, Jordan, love to be a guy. Like, if you can go into these places and you have a nice mindset and a nice, nice trajectory for the team and actually have that trigger man on the center as well, things can go well. You see it going well in Chicago.
- [66:42]
Pat McAfee
Ben Johnson being the bell of the ball for so many years. I guess it all makes sense now. Doesn't all makes sense right now, but that was. Detroit Lions were obviously reaping the benefit of Ben Johnson for a while alongside everybody else. They're about to lose their D.C. did you see that, A.J.
- [66:57]
A.J.
Yeah. He's interviewed for head coaching gigs, right? Kelvin, she.
- [67:01]
Pat McAfee
Hell, yeah, Shep. Shep Dog getting a head coaching opportunity now, we thought with potentially the way the season ended. First year defense coordinator Calvin Shepard, longtime NFL vet, former teammate of myself and Darius Butler, we love this dude. We are big, big fans of the way this guy played ball, the way this guy operated in the locker room, the way everybody felt about him, his energy, his aura, his passion for the game, you name it. We love Shep Dog fought with the way the season ended. There was no chance he'd be getting any head coaching opportunities. He was going to run it back for his second year as D.C. but now he's getting some head coaching spots. And I'll let you know this Evan Fox, if he gets in a room, he'll win room. He's good in room. Yeah, I believe that.
- [67:41]
H
I 100% believe that. But Shep's young and I'm happy he's getting these interviews. He's going through the process. I don't see him going anywhere yet. I think he'll stay in Detroit. And then we got Mike McDaniel right now in Detroit today interviewing for that OC job. So you got Chef Dog on the dark defense, you got Mike with Danny on the offense, and then mcdc back to being a CEO. I don't want him calling plays. I don't want him only worrying about the offense. We had so many holes this year, and I think a big part of that was because mcdc couldn't oversee everything. He was so locked in on that. So I'm hoping we get back to old MCDC, ground and pound football.
- [68:16]
Pat McAfee
MCDC was spreading himself too thin, man. Ty, what did MCDC say about McDaniel and kind of how he operates, who he is, and how he'd fit in in the mcdc culture up there in Detroit?
- [68:26]
Connor
All right, first things first, man. I'm gonna haze you a little bit.
- [68:29]
Ty Schmidt
Turn around.
- [68:29]
Pat McAfee
I'm gonna give you a Big wedgie.
- [68:31]
Ty Schmidt
And hang you up on where my.
- [68:32]
Connor
Coat goes on the back of the door. Okay.
- [68:34]
Ty Schmidt
I don't want any of this footing BS wearing, you know, your high waters, the cool glasses.
- [68:41]
Connor
We're gonna cut that out right away, man.
- [68:43]
Ty Schmidt
So I'm gonna go ahead and put you up there, rip your underwear, we'll.
- [68:46]
Connor
Head to the bathroom, I'll give you.
- [68:48]
Ty Schmidt
A swirly, and then we'll get the interview process started.
- [68:51]
Pat McAfee
Okay. I figured it was something like that. Then what was the interview about his offense or just mostly about him?
- [68:57]
Ty Schmidt
Well, he pretty much like right away he was just like, sorry I didn't.
- [69:00]
Connor
Flush the toilet before the. The swirl.
- [69:02]
E
I.
- [69:02]
Connor
All I could.
- [69:03]
Pat McAfee
There's poop in your hair.
- [69:05]
Connor
Why don't you. Let's get you back.
- [69:08]
Ty Schmidt
Get you back to the hotel, man.
- [69:09]
Pat McAfee
You can shower up.
- [69:10]
Ty Schmidt
We can come back in tomorrow and we'll really dive into the football stuff.
- [69:14]
Pat McAfee
There's a chance we don't know. Obviously, mcdc is an incredibly deep thinking man. I think it's obvious whenever list of super meathead but very deep thinker and obviously a stud. But McDaniel and McDC together would be much.
- [69:30]
A.J.
Just excited them to on the sideline.
- [69:33]
Connor
Like McDaniel jumping on his back after a big touchdown and McDC like going crazy. That would be.
- [69:40]
G
Oh, you could probably.
- [69:44]
Pat McAfee
If you see my backpack, man, the guy used to be a head coach. This guy used to be a head coach. That'd be incredible, dude. So he's in Detroit right now. What other interviews are happening? Stefanski interviewed somewhere.
- [69:56]
Peter Schrager
Right.
- [69:56]
Pat McAfee
And then McCarthy in New York today.
- [69:58]
A.J.
Right? Is that right?
- [70:00]
Connor
I believe Luanna Rumo also interviewing for the Giants. I'm not sure if it was. It's today or tomorrow.
- [70:06]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, I know. Every single team has reached out. Every team with an opening has reached out to Jesse Mentor to want to hire or, you know, set up an interview with him as well.
- [70:15]
Connor
How do you guys feel about that? With like the Giants? I. I guess you could throw the Dolphins in because they just hired them. Who else? Cleveland, the Raiders, where the GM's already there. And you know, instead of firing GM and head coach, like spy tech with the Raiders, he got hired with Pete Carroll. Only head coach leaves Andrew Barry with Cleveland. Like, we just showed Ben Johnson with the Bears polls already there. They held onto them. Like, how do you guys feel about that versus some of the other spots where, hey, clean house. We're going to bring in. In two guys together.
- [70:48]
Pat McAfee
Two different mindsets going in. GM is who you're working for. If you go in there and GMs already there. That's your boss. Then GM reports to ownership. That's just. You just got to have that mindset. You got to know that's what you're signing up for. You know, usually it's a younger coach that's signing up for that, who's thankful for the opportunity, you know, like, thankful for the opportunity. I will work for gm. Gm, obviously reports the boss owner, and that's kind of how this whole thing goes. But then if you come in together, you know, then, you know, you see maybe the power struggle is a little bit more like that. So that's kind of my mindset. It'd be two different mindsets completely. Aj.
- [71:19]
A.J.
Yeah, you just got to know your role. You got to know. And also, when you're in, if you already have a GM and you're interviewing head coaches, that GMs got to be in every single interview. And got to see, can you guys mesh? Does your guys. Do you guys think the same way or would you know? However, also, you need to know what you're going to do. There's some places where the gm, they set. They picked the whole roster. Hey, I will give you the roster.
- [71:39]
G
I will show.
- [71:39]
A.J.
Here's. Here's your team, and then I will stay out of it. I'm not going to get into any football. You do whatever you do. I'm not going to push you to play, to pay or to put players in if I feel like they should be playing, whatever. And the coach doesn't try to, like, get in the personnel side. So you kind of got to know what it is going in.
- [71:54]
G
It's different. It's always different. I mean, it's people. So it's always going to be shit that you got to deal with, and things happen. I personally saw a power struggle with the GM and the head coach that came in together as it went. And that's tough because as players, you know, players, you can't bullshit us. Like, we feel it, we see it. We know the decisions that are being made. We see guys that are maybe on a roster playing, and we know good and damn well they shouldn't be. So that definitely can be tough. When I came into the league, I was in New England. So Bill, he ran the entire show. So there was no, you know, it was one. One Accord. Everybody was on the same page. So it really just depends on the people. But it's working. I guess it's working in Chicago so far.
- [72:36]
Connor
That's what it made me think of. It just like, wow, respect to Ryan Pulse for just being basically being like, yeah, look, it didn't go well. You just tell me what to do. And maybe that's not how it goes. Maybe Ben Johnson had similar mindsets, but it's just. It feels like that is a very tough dynamic. Like, especially in Cleveland, like if Andrew Barry wants Jader to play over to Gabriel or Gabriel to play, however the hell that thing plays out. But if that is his mindset and then the coach has a different one, like how it does that even. How does that even work?
- [73:02]
Pat McAfee
Well, and then Haslam. Haslam's saying, well, desean's healthy too. Yeah, a lot of different conversations there. They started pitching GMs and coaches together during the interview process. That was like the last three, four years, during the cycles where agencies or coaches or GMs, whatever the case, whoever was a part of it, would tag team into the interview process together and say, hey, we can get along. We kind of see football the same. We understand what we want, what we don't want. We've been together. This song, we've been through it. You know, like Andy Reid brings over Veech, right, Whenever he goes to Kansas City. Veets working for him, you know, like into B. Butt's point there, Chuck. And Grigson is who he's talking about. He's talking Coach Pagano, Ryan Grigson, Coach Pagano, Ryan Grigson get brought in together, okay, As a unit. Then Chuck Pagano gets leukemia his first season early. He misses basically a majority of the year, then comes back for last week of season. Unbelievable. He beats leukemia and comes back to coach last year. Game of the season, by the way. It was. It was an insane story. All of it should be a movie. Chuck Austin, and we all love him and appreciate him. And then he coaches. Then Grinson won executive of the year that year, though. Okay. Chop wasn't there. So then all of a sudden, there is already a lot of decisions that had to be made in the first year. When you're setting precedent where GMs there present every single day. Head coach is not. So then a relationship is built and a standard is set. And then all of a sudden it's like catch up is happening for the people that are supposed to be together. So it was. That was an interesting, fascinating thing watching that kind of all take place. It was very clear on what side those two. It feels like those two may pick teams at one point. And I was certainly a pick for one side, definitely not a pick for the other side. So that. That that certainly felt like that since then, though. Had a conversation, you know, moved on. But there's a lot of problems in there. And I think that was the most amateur kind of part of it all. It's like you two have to get along. Like you two have to this. You two are very important to each other. And if you're not going to, it's like. Like you can't happen. This is where every coach that is trying to get a job says, I want vertical alignment. I want vertical alignment because I don't want anybody sawing me off at the knees if we don't play or coach if we don't play well because we have good players. GM gave me good players. I can't coach good. GM's telling that other things. I'm a. I'm not really a politic political person, so I'm not going to go say these players kind of ask for a system to kind of. It's always like. It's always one of these kind of happening. So got to get it right.
- [75:32]
G
Ego, egos, you know, those positions, everybody has an ego. But when you're a head coach, you're a general manager. When you're an owner, like big, you know, egos definitely become a big part of it as well. Managing those, how do you deal with those from the top is tough.
- [75:47]
Pat McAfee
Speaking of really cool things, before we move on, do you see the Pennsylvania hockey lads?
- [75:52]
A.J.
Oh, yeah, the little guys.
- [75:55]
Pat McAfee
Do you see that, aj?
- [75:56]
A.J.
Oh, yeah. I see these guys just knocking each other out. What are they, 8, 10 years old?
- [76:00]
Pat McAfee
Intermission game. Intermission game. Hey, just go skate. You're gonna be able to skate on. I believe it's. Is this the baby pens? Whose game was this? Hershey. This was in Hershey?
- [76:11]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [76:12]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. So just go get on the ice store in here.
- [76:15]
A.J.
I love that kid coming in late. What a referee.
- [76:20]
Pat McAfee
Boom. Yeah. That's a goalie coming in saying, what do you guys boo? I don't think so. I don't think so. So. So allegedly it's a Pittsburgh team and a Philly team. They're all throwing bombs. It's good to know. And back here, there's almost gonna be a one on one. Those two the stars out there, you can kind of tell they're the goal scorers, but the rest of the lads getting after it. I appreciate the boys scrapping out here and happy nobody was seriously injured. But I also like that maybe this generation still got it. Still got it. And Pittsburgh and Philly always gonna do that. I appreciate old buddy getting A buck too. Maybe somebody's gonna go scoring. Touch a bully again with a toss. Jack to the face as it gets back, guys trying to score.
- [76:58]
Connor
Yeah.
- [76:58]
Pat McAfee
Full chaos there. That is. I like it. That happened in sports and I appreciate Pennsylvania being the place to do that. Shout out to hockey. Winning the fight from my understanding.
- [77:12]
E
Yep.
- [77:14]
Pat McAfee
By the way, I just froze over here. That freeze over there.
- [77:17]
Connor
Yeah.
- [77:18]
A.J.
Good.
- [77:19]
G
Now, it's probably because you call it hockey. That's a lie.
- [77:22]
H
Well said.
- [77:24]
Pat McAfee
Well said, D. But she's saying it's too Detroit. What?
- [77:29]
E
Pronounced it hockey town. So it's hockey time. So is that what you're pro hockey.
- [77:35]
G
Yeah. I just repeated Pat. He called it hockey town, which is a lie. That's why he got throttled. Hockey town was in Detroit since sunrise.
- [77:42]
A.J.
Now it's off of Los Olas Boulevard.
- [77:43]
G
Perfect.
- [77:44]
A.J.
Okay.
- [77:44]
Connor
Yeah. To be fair, the Bruins did just beat the Penguins one. Nothing blanked them. So that's a good call by ud.
- [77:49]
E
First win of the year for the Bruins.
- [77:54]
Ty Schmidt
Kid, who.
- [77:54]
Connor
Who's the goat? They got zero goals.
- [77:57]
Pat McAfee
Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, Amanda might have more answers on all the head coaching jobs that are coming. He's an Emmy award winner, absolute stallion. Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Schrager.
- [78:05]
Connor
Yes.
- [78:09]
Pat McAfee
You look amazing. You were at the game in Pittsburgh yesterday. Your thoughts is a 30 to 6 ass beating happened against the Pittsburgh Steelers in front of their fans.
- [78:17]
Connor
Yeah.
- [78:18]
Peter Schrager
I felt like that Sunday night game against the Ravens was a cool moment for Steelers fans as much as now. In refreshing reflection, they're like that meant nothing. It was a cool moment to end the Baltimore Ravens season and to end John Harbaugh's time as quarter as coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Essentially with that loss last night, they were hanging around, hanging around and the Texans defense was just too much and overpowered. What's fascinating to me is the timeline here with Tomlin. I've known Mike a little bit like he's going to be deliberate with his actions. He doesn't speak in hypotheticals. We know that. That I would think in the next 48 hours he's going to meet with Art Rooney and the two of them will come to an agreement or a decision of some sort. And we should know, I would imagine by the end of the week. I don't think this is one of those where it lingers on and I think it would be a mutual conversation and then it's anybody's ball game what he wants to do. And I. He hasn't really told anybody. I think everyone assumes that he still can. Coach but also assumes that he'd be great in broadcasting. So there are doors open for him and. And I'm fascinated with the timeline here. It could be today, tomorrow. I would be shocked if we went into the weekend and we don't have a word on what Tomlin's future is.
- [79:24]
Pat McAfee
Interesting. It's not going to be in the booth by the championship. We'll be excited to see if that's the case. If he was getting tv, we all believe he'd be unbelievable. He'd win every award that there is to do. Whenever you're talking in the microphones. And his football knowledge.
- [79:38]
Peter Schrager
Studio or game, what do you think?
- [79:41]
Pat McAfee
Whatever he wants. I think studio is much better for him. But he could do game and as well.
- [79:47]
Peter Schrager
Yeah. I worked at Fox for many years. Jimmy Johnson was an absolute legend and loved working with Jimmy. Then Sean Payton was in there as the coach. Fox currently doesn't. Fox turn currently doesn't have a coach on that panel.
- [80:02]
Pat McAfee
Jay Glazer. Jay Glazer is pushing throwing so much.
- [80:06]
E
Terry's getting older.
- [80:07]
Peter Schrager
Terry's getting a little older.
- [80:09]
Connor
But Terry not.
- [80:10]
Peter Schrager
I'll say you this. I, I have been with Glaze at the league meetings where there's the owners meetings and no one puts a party on like Jay Glazer at the meetings. All the current, all the current head coaches kind of get together for drinks on that Tuesday and it's all the, the neophytes, the young guys kind of like hanging around and like holding their beer. And then in that back corner it's Glaze and Tomlin just sitting at the top of the table and it's Tomlin just the king of the castle and I that's a real relationship. And when you bring in the history with John lynch and Ronde Barber, Fox makes sense not to that I'm playing the agent for, for Mike Tomlin or anything.
- [80:49]
Pat McAfee
Well, Jake Laser has been playing the agent because he's the one who on going into week 18 and we watched Jay Glazer on Sunday School Page. Right. And that what he calls it.
- [80:58]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah scoopage.
- [81:00]
Pat McAfee
And he only he doesn't do the day to day anymore. He wanted to. He could. He waits for Sunday so he can break it on their Countdown show and we respect it and they got him this big screen now that he stands in front of. I mean it. It's is the best Glazer setup we've seen in some time. So we're happy for him that it's taken place. But the way you talked about Tomlin and Harbaugh two very different things. He was like, yeah, they both been there a long time. Harbaugh could certainly move on from Tomlin. They won't move on. He might do tv. And as soon as I heard Jay Glazer said, I was like, wait, Jay Glazer and Tomlin are like very, very, very tight. And then the boys are like, boys are talking four fox right there. He's saying he's going in there. And if that's the case, case, football will get better if Tomlin is on a microphone every single week talking about it. And I don't know how the Pittsburgh people feel. Like, I wonder how the Pittsburgh people will feel if this decision is made in the next 48 hours where he stays. He's a coach and they're taking the tractor another round. So your boots on the ground. Aaron didn't give any definitives afterwards either. Say, didn't want to make a decision in the middle of the emotion. Didn't want to make any emotional decisions is what he said. So that means he's not sure either. What did your. What are your thoughts after being around there? What. What the future does look like for them?
- [82:06]
Connor
No, no.
- [82:06]
Peter Schrager
It's pretty reflective though, right? Like to do this thing again. I don't know. You know, I hate that his last pass was a pick six. I hate that he goes out as a wild card loser. But I do like the fact that Aaron, who is I think the most talented quarterback I've ever seen play talent wise, just sheer throwing the ball and we can get into that, those semantics. I do like the fact that he had that Sunday night win last week and I think it's okay if this is it for Aaron Rodgers now, if he has a burning desire to run it back one more time and do it with the Steelers or do it with somebody else that got, hey, that's his. That's his prerogative. But he left it on the field. Played the complete season at 42, won a division, won a huge winning in game on Sunday Night Football with the world to see where he threw for 400 yards. Like, I think he could hold his head pretty high saying, hey, I didn't go out the way it would have gone out if he had ended after that jets, those jets two see seasons.
- [82:59]
Pat McAfee
Congratulations to whatever decision is made and congrats to the Houston Texans. I mean, what an unbelievable win. Streggs. We. We talk. I've. I've seen glowingly of the Houston Texans defense since I watched them play against the Colts. They were so good so fast. Our crowd was booing within the first five minutes of the first quarter because they knew our offense wasn't going to be able to do anything against them. They did that last night and then some, obviously scoring like 14 points with a matter of what seemed like two minutes in the fourth quarter to kind of change the entire game. But you mentioned Matt Burke as being a head coach. No, I haven't heard his name at all. That one special defense over there. Right now, they're on the path to be historic. They might win it all because of the defense strengths.
- [83:45]
Peter Schrager
Let me tell you something about Matt Burke. This is a guy who has been around the league, has bounced around a bit, was with the Dolphins, with the Eagles, gets to Houston. And this is before they drafted Stroud and before they drafted Will Anderson. And d' Amico is obviously defensive coach this year. D' Amo gives up play calling duties on defense to Matt Burke, who very quietly has put together this season with d', Ameco, obviously a big voice in it. And these guys have been unbelievable all season. So week four or five, Orlofsky and I went out there and we called and I was on that broadcast crew that called the Seahawks, Texans Monday night game. It was part of a double header. Not a lot of people stayed up to watch it. But now you look at it, it's Seahawks, Texans, Seahawks won by 14 points. You don't think much about it. Whatever. The Texans defense absolutely dominated that game. And I came out of that thing being like, okay, like, I know they lost, but this team is legit. Then they beat the snot out of Josh Allen and the Bills, they eliminate the Chiefs, they go on, they get to the playoffs. And then last night on national television, Journey just absolutely destroyed the Steelers offense, which was clicking the week before top to bottom. And I give not only Dico and Matt Burke and the players a lot of credit. I give Nick Caio, the gm, a lot of credit because a lot of it's homegrown. They drafted Stingley before Sauce Gardner. Everyone was like, you're drafting Stingley before Sauce. Stingley had all the injuries, drafted Stingley before Sauce traded up to get Will Anderson. Petrie was a second round pick. You look at those different pieces. Bullock, draft pick. Lassiter, draft pick. And then bring in Al Shayer, right, bring in Daniel Hunter. This is a loaded team, all three levels. And it might be one of those years where everyone's like, anyone's guess who's in the Super Bowl. We wake up the Monday after the AFC Championship game. And we're like, holy crap. The Houston Texans are playing in the super bowl and they have the best defense since the Baltimore Ravens fielded two 2000. They're that good and they are that deep and they're that well coached. Sorry for this 6 minute soliloquy on the Texans defense, but I've been wowed by them four different occasions. Seahawks game, Bills game, Chiefs game, and this game where it's like holy crap.
- [85:59]
Pat McAfee
And when you get eyes on them in person, it's even different because they're all big, they're all fast, they're all strong and are gap sound and D. But you were talking in that. Troy was talking a lot about it week last, last night. They're like the old Seattle Seahawks defense, right? Where they're just doing their shit. You just know exactly what it is. It's not like Aaron was going to have some sort of advantage by being able to pick apart what they were doing. They're not disguising anything. They're just playing football, saying let's go and get it right. But what does that mean for like going forward?
- [86:27]
G
I mean it just means basically everyone knows their roles. So everyone and even the offense is coming in. They know, okay, this is where it's going to be. They're going to be playing this type of coverage. Just how we can attack it. But, but everyone knows their role. So if I'm playing with AJ I'm always in a curl flat and he's always in a hook curl. Like we almost know how each other's gonna play each down. And you talked about that Ravens 2000s defense, the lob, they were similar. Even that no fly zone defense in Denver, they kind of won that super bowl when Peyton was there. Like you knew what they were doing, lining up. Their guys were just better than they flied around. They were better coach and they, I mean the way that this team swarms and even when you catch the ball, like you're going to get a headache every time you catch the ball. And that's if the quarterback can get the damn ball out of his hands. Like they are unbelievable. Kind of depending on how they finish this playoff run can definitely go, go down as one of the all time great defenses that we see.
- [87:18]
Peter Schrager
I love that AJ and Darius are here also. It's Daniel Hunter's got 115 career sacks. He's 31 years old. We never, never talk about this guy. I mean we're talking about, about an all time legend putting a career together that is doing so in anonymously. You know back Minnesota and here just, just compiles this action.
- [87:38]
E
Should have been first team pro and.
- [87:40]
Peter Schrager
Yeah.
- [87:40]
Connor
Oh, that's rich.
- [87:41]
Peter Schrager
Huge season.
- [87:44]
Pat McAfee
I don't vote that.
- [87:45]
E
I voted for him as first team all pro.
- [87:47]
Pat McAfee
So did you?
- [87:48]
E
Yeah.
- [87:49]
Connor
Can't say that.
- [87:49]
Pat McAfee
The Houston station, brother. The Houston sack station. Danil and Will Anderson listening to Will Tom talk. Geez, he's a 55 year old man. Yeah, you know, got it perfect. How about the Miko miked up right before the game. That's abnormal.
- [88:10]
Connor
Like the first good pregame interview too. We always talk about how terrible those are.
- [88:16]
Pat McAfee
He was good, but he was on with Scott Van Pelt. He was on with, I think Ryan and Jason and swagu.
- [88:24]
Peter Schrager
Like.
- [88:25]
Pat McAfee
No, you signed up for it. Now granted, there's always an issue with the earpiece. Always an issue with the earpiece. We have it there. College game day has it every once in a while, those things. And then Dico had a little bit. I think it's because these new modern ears, things are supposed to be bent around the ear, but nobody wants to get in there and really bend. You got to really bend it. So then if you don't, that thing's sticking straight out the side, you know, like this as it's on there. Yeah, it's just the thing I've noticed.
- [88:50]
Peter Schrager
You go mold molded earpiece on game day.
- [88:54]
Pat McAfee
I know I use shirs. I got some shirs. S H U R E they mold.
- [88:59]
Peter Schrager
Them to your ear or.
- [89:01]
Pat McAfee
No, no, no, I don't like that. I don't want to do the. What's that they put in your ear.
- [89:06]
Peter Schrager
Where they feel like you're underground and it's like underwater. It's super. But like I have the molded loud. Yeah, I know.
- [89:16]
Pat McAfee
I like mine loud. My shit's very loud. Too loud probably. I'm gonna be deaf whenever it gets. I think those motor ones aren't loud enough because I think they to look out for my ears. So I need that pumped in there. I need that pumped in there.
- [89:27]
Peter Schrager
This is inside baseball for you viewers at home. This is how we talk about sports broadcasting. But when you're in a live event and then Pat's at these game day, you know, experiences and these guys are doing the alt cast.
- [89:38]
Pat McAfee
There's different earpieces.
- [89:42]
Connor
Oh, man. Was it nothing?
- [89:44]
Pat McAfee
That was. That was the loudest pop I've ever heard. I was there for John Cena whenever he came back in Fort Worth, Texas, I think. Yeah, El Paso, Texas. That was loud. That was an insane pop. Stone cold Steve Austin. In Dallas. WrestleMania.
- [90:00]
G
Oh yeah.
- [90:02]
Pat McAfee
Dong obviously is a kind of a different pop, but that's real. Last night or at the beach bowl, that pick six by Ponds first play because they were loud and juiced. First play they're already loud and juice making noise because Dante's out there. Oh, and then pick six it was. That was the loudest pop I think I've ever heard in my entire life. I. That was impressive. But yeah, you're right.
- [90:28]
Peter Schrager
I was in Seattle, Seattle for 2013 NFC Championship game Kaepernick vs Crabtree in the back of the end zone. And when that play happens, it's still the loudest I've ever heard a stadium in my life.
- [90:42]
Pat McAfee
Is that during the chain snap match?
- [90:45]
Peter Schrager
No, that was.
- [90:45]
Pat McAfee
That was Aaron Andrews.
- [90:47]
Peter Schrager
This was the Aaron Andrews afterwards where Aaron Andrews interview him Sherman's.
- [90:52]
Pat McAfee
Oh, you don't know this. Don't you ever talk about me.
- [90:55]
Connor
Try me the sorry ass.
- [90:58]
Pat McAfee
I love that. I, I like how Aaron handled that, by the way. Like a boss. Yeah, like a boss. Just like look just like Laura earlier this year with Herbert. Like a boss. Just like no big deal. We're in the sports world. Let's get back to the sports world. Go ahead. AJ AJ Has a question for you. Shreya Shreg's.
- [91:13]
A.J.
What about with this coaching hires in the NFL, obviously, is there any young or like say people under the radar that's going to get hired? We heard BA came on earlier. He think it's going to be like the recycled coaches are going to get these jobs. Like who is someone that we're not talking about that's probably going to pop up and get one of these gigs.
- [91:27]
Peter Schrager
Yeah, I'm looking for your list. I don't see this guy, Nathan Schiller.
- [91:30]
Connor
Okay.
- [91:31]
A.J.
Yeah, we mentioned him earlier too.
- [91:32]
Connor
What?
- [91:32]
A.J.
All of a sudden you guys just make a decision, we're going to pump this guy up today. What's going on?
- [91:36]
Peter Schrager
I've been talking about it for also. Yeah, I'm also, I'm also from the McVeigh camp, if you will, as far as talking to those guys. And they've been talking about him for several weeks and several years. So here's his story. 35 years old quarterback at Illinois, four year starter, quarterback in Illinois. Then goes and works for Matt Campbell for a bunch of years at Iowa State. I'm sure Ty Schmidt got to see his eyes on the shill House experience. And then he left and was like, I need to do more. So he goes to coach Frank McVeigh. The issue is this, he's never called plays, so he's not the play caller. He's the third guy on the org chart underneath Michael Flor and McVeigh. But everyone raves about this one. He's 35. He's got three interviews. He's got the Ravens on board also, which is an interesting fit considering Lamar. And we're talking about guys like Jim Schwartz and different older coaches for Lamar. Well, here's a 30, 35 year old who might be considered a peer. Maybe he's the voice you want. So that's one to watch. Kubiak and Minter got interviewed by everybody, and Minter's gonna interview with everybody. Those are sort of the young names. The wild card is this guy Grant Udinsky, who's 30 years old as of today. He's the offensive.
- [92:51]
Coach BA
Thank you.
- [92:52]
Peter Schrager
Happy birthday, Grant. 30 years old, but he was the OC for Jackson this year. And I heard you guys talking beforehand about Ben Johnson and what a difference that was. Like, how about Liam Cohen? And one year ago we were talking about this moribund franchise and why would you interview Liam Cohen? Got one slip for an interview. 1. And it was the Jaguars, and they just had this wonderful season. So all it takes is the right hire and the right juice and the right energy and things can change. They really can. And I know fans in Cleveland or fans in Miami right now are like, what the heck? Like, we can't get this right. Right. Like, if you hire the right guy, things can change.
- [93:29]
Pat McAfee
All the guys that are deemed not the right guys in a lot of these places are going to get hired at new places. Your thoughts? Meaning Stefanski, McDaniel, Harbaugh, all the floor. If they were to move on from the floor, I guess they would probably trade them, I guess is what people are saying. But they would get.
- [93:46]
Peter Schrager
That's what Adam was saying yesterday.
- [93:49]
Pat McAfee
Gets moved on from. He'd be a head coach anywhere he wants. It's just like all these guys, like, hey, if you hire the right guy. If you hire the right guy guy. It's like, well, maybe it's a. A guy who just got fired from another place where he wasn't the right guy. There's a chance that happens a lot on this particular.
- [94:01]
Peter Schrager
You know, Andy. Andy Reid worked, I think Mike McCarthy worked in Dallas for the most part. Like, had a nice second run there. Gary Kubiak worked in Denver.
- [94:09]
Coach BA
Like, there.
- [94:09]
Peter Schrager
It's worked. It's interesting because, you know, the Harbaugh stuff, the Harbaugh discourse is all over the map. It's Like Atlanta interviewed him and then I've never seen this before for beat reporters from the Giants coming out and being like, yes, but the Giants had a meeting on Saturday. Like, it's, it's all over the map and I think he'll end up somewhere. But I also would say hang tight on everyone, you know, Harbaugh being able to pick and choose where he wants to go. Not every team wants John Harbaugh necessarily as their coach.
- [94:37]
A.J.
Who doesn't want.
- [94:39]
Peter Schrager
I don't know who doesn't want him, but not every team looking for a man who's been coaching for 20 years somewhere else. And like, you know, they might be looking for the first time coach and a young voice who we haven't seen. Like, every team is different. So Harbaugh, I believe, is the lead dog for the Giants. I would imagine that's a great fit, you know, but it's not necessarily the perfect fit everywhere. And just because there's an opening doesn't mean John Harbaugh is going to be the head coach of that team. The team that I would say keep an eye on with Harbaugh other than the Giants. Interesting. Tennessee Titans. Makes a lot of sense.
- [95:14]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. What happened? Why is this happening? I heard this. We need to keep him out. Did you hear this, Els? No. Yeah, well, yeah, I saw it on the Internet. It might have been your tweet. I don't know if you posted, but I saw like multiple people posting that for some reason. Tennessee Titans might land Harbor. I'm like, get the out of the AFC South. What are we talking about? We got the Miko Ryan, Liam Cohen. We're about to get John harbor on the AFC South. I don't think so. And why would he like Tennessee? Because Nashville is the sweetest city in America. Is that what that is? That he loves punk. It's Tonks.
- [95:46]
Peter Schrager
It helps. It helps. Nashville's a cool city.
- [95:48]
Pat McAfee
We all love hon. I love Nashville.
- [95:51]
Peter Schrager
Blank slate, quarterbacks in place.
- [95:54]
A.J.
Cool.
- [95:55]
Peter Schrager
Good GM and Mike Borgonzi who everyone respects around the league. And an owner who's basically going to say, like, hey, here. As much as everyone thinks she's meddling, like they want to win, like, here. Here are the keys. Build it. Like, build it. And they have a new stadium coming.
- [96:10]
Pat McAfee
Coming. Yeah, yeah.
- [96:11]
Peter Schrager
Like all that stuff is exciting for now. You.
- [96:15]
Pat McAfee
It's a great city. Is awesome. Nashville's on. It might be the best city in America.
- [96:20]
Peter Schrager
So you think about it like that and then it's, you know, the Giants GMs already in place they have a young quarterback for Lombardi, trophies on the wall. Like a lot of like, you know, the Giants thing is like, this is a Giants type of coach. Tom Coughlin came in here, parcels came in. Like, the Nashville thing is a little looser if he wants to. And if he interviews well with them, I'm not even sure they're offering him the job. My point is this. Stefanski can interview.
- [96:52]
Ty Schmidt
He's got to impress him.
- [96:53]
Pat McAfee
Sorry. I'm sorry, Shregs, I'm stepping on you here. Just a couple of things you've said. I've been so surprised. Maybe the Titans don't want hardball and you know, for the Titans, I don't think you do. I don't think he fits the culture down there. No, I think we need to keep him out of there. I think we need to keep him out of there.
- [97:09]
Peter Schrager
The as an NFC south man, I understand AFC south man. I understand you saying that. I would add this. The Ravens, really interesting, right? They had their run with Harbaugh.
- [97:22]
G
It ended.
- [97:22]
Peter Schrager
It was time they move on.
- [97:24]
Coach BA
Whatever.
- [97:25]
Peter Schrager
They're going to be questions to everybody around the Ravens and everybody who's been around Lamar Jackson. If you're hiring John Harbaugh, well, what exactly happened there? Right. So there's going to be other side says, I'm just saying it's not Harbaugh having eight choices and picking. He's got to interview for these jobs and it's got to be the right fit. He'll get a job. If he wants to get a. He'll get one of these. But I don't think it's eight teams waiting on their hands while they're not meeting other people and not open to other ideas, saying, gosh, will John Harbaugh pick us or not? I don't think it's that deal. Look, Bill Belichick interviewed with one team, and everyone when he was done was assuming he was going to have his choice, one team, and he didn't get the.
- [98:00]
A.J.
The job.
- [98:02]
Pat McAfee
Interesting. So we'll see what happens with Harbaugh. We assume he's going to get a job, but there's another guy that you talk about. Baltimore allegedly did get an interview. Not 100% sure. Didn't expect this name in the cycle, but it could get hot. Diggs has a question for you. Shrigs. Yeah, I do.
- [98:14]
E
Shrigs. I did see that. Cliff, I believe, did interview.
- [98:16]
Connor
Sorry.
- [98:17]
E
Cliff Kingsbury, OC for the Commanders, former coach of the Arizona Cardinals, did interview with the Baltimore Ravens. Do you have any insight on kind of how that ended in Washington, because it was. It was kind of surprising. As far as, you know, there was reports about they had a meeting and then they decided to part ways after the meeting. And is Cliff someone who do you think could get in a head coach job or. And will definitely get an OC job if he doesn't get a head coaching job?
- [98:42]
Peter Schrager
Well, he wants to work and I could tell you it would be just. I think he would be fine with me saying this. It would be an honor for him to be able to work with Lamar Jackson. That is something that is very exciting. I think, for Cliff and Washington. At the end of the day, they wanted to make a change and he was more than fine to no longer be the offensive play caller in that building anymore. And he loves Jaden and he loves Dan Quinn. I think it was just time. And they're moving on to David Blau, who's a 30 year old, and they get their fresh new start and excited to see where that goes. It actually ended on good terms with him and Quinn. Cliff goes on now.
- [99:18]
A.J.
They don't like each other's strengths. Why are they parting? They don't like his system, his scheme. They run him to run something that he doesn't want to run.
- [99:23]
Peter Schrager
I think that was it. I think they're looking to get more into a different scheme and really mirror what they did in San Francisco and, you know, some of that stuff that Adam Peters brought over there. And I think that's fair. What Cliff does is different. It's not what they want to run. So they're going to move on. And again, both sides are cool with each other, happy, and Cliff's going to get an opportunity. Now what's interesting is, well, you know, dq, like Dan Quinn was like broken hearted, actually say goodbye. He's like the greatest guy in the world. So, no, okay, it's fine. But with Cliff, he interviewed yesterday with the Ravens, did it in person. And he interviewed both for the head coaching job and the offensive coordinator job, which I think is really interesting. And I think Mike McDaniel is going to do the same thing with Baltimore as well. They're bringing these guys in and it's Dacosta, it's Sashi, and it's. I believe Bashadi has input, but I don't know if he's in this round of interview interviews. And they just want to hear you talk because they haven't had a fresh voice in there for 18 years and they want to hear what your philosophies are and they want to hear what you're going to maximize and do with Lamar, because this doesn't come from the Ravens side or Cliff, but you know, Lamar, this is. This is one of the greatest offensive talents we've ever seen enter this league. And that window, as huge as it is, well, with his contract, all that stuff, like, I don't know if Lamar plays the same way at the later part of his third. So right now, the next three, four, five years, like, we have to strike the iron. You have to make the right hire, and there has to be a connection between quarterback coach and offensive coordinator. So what I thought is interesting is McDaniel, Cliff, they can meet in person because they're currently not employed by these teams and they're interviewing for both positions. And maybe Salah's the coach and Cliff's the OC or maybe Jim Schwartz is the coach and Mike McDaniel's the OC. See? Pretty cool way they're going about this. They just want to meet and learn and hear about everything. And I believe Cliff has a request for Tennessee to interview for their head coaching job, but that hasn't been scheduled yet. So Cliffs wide open. I think Baltimore makes a lot of sense either in that head coaching job or offensive coordinator, but if it doesn't go that way, he's cool, he's open. He wants to see what's next.
- [101:31]
Pat McAfee
Also fascinating interviewing for both jobs. Good luck to all parties. McDaniel going over there would be fascinating. He's in Detroit today. Right. McDaniel interviewing with MCDC. Is that accurate?
- [101:41]
Peter Schrager
It is. He's in there today. Mike interviewed with. Interviewed with Cleveland and Atlanta yesterday for their head coaching jobs.
- [101:52]
Pat McAfee
That would be interesting. I. You know McDaniel very well. Obviously, we've gotten a chance to chat with him a couple times. I don't think if I was a fan of a team and they hired McDaniel as a head coach right now, after what just happened in Miami, I'd be pumped. But, hey, everybody can rewrite whatever they want. Him being an offensive coordinator, though, I think he's getting a parade in every place he gets hired. So, you know, just two different ways to kind of look at it. I have some source telling me that rather large news is coming in about 15 minutes or so. It's 1:45 Eastern, I believe, like 15 minutes out. Shregs, you getting the same information that I'm getting at text messages here?
- [102:30]
Peter Schrager
Is it. Is it what I started the show with? Saying that the next couple of days we'll know. Is it that topic?
- [102:35]
Pat McAfee
I don't know. I don't. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know, though. I don't know, though. But yeah, I. I've heard there's going to be. So I heard we're going to hear some news here relatively quick.
- [102:44]
Peter Schrager
I tried putting out some breadcrumbs when I came on just saying. And gave myself a little bit of a Runway.
- [102:48]
Connor
Whoa.
- [102:49]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Hold on. No, don't be trying to take my tank right now. Okay. Don't be trying to take my tank right now.
- [102:54]
Peter Schrager
I did not say today. That's fair.
- [102:56]
Pat McAfee
Well, because I'm not saying. I'm not saying what it is. Okay, Right now.
- [103:01]
E
You guys are alluding.
- [103:02]
Pat McAfee
You're alluding no, I'm not alluding to anything.
- [103:05]
G
You are.
- [103:05]
Connor
You're alluding right now.
- [103:09]
E
I'm not.
- [103:09]
Peter Schrager
I have no idea.
- [103:10]
E
I'm getting butterflies in my tummy.
- [103:12]
Connor
Little Trager sound.
- [103:13]
Pat McAfee
You should. From what I'm not alluding to sounds like you should get pretty excited. From what I'm not alluding to good.
- [103:22]
A.J.
Butterflies or is tongue to be happy or sad?
- [103:25]
Pat McAfee
I don't know. I'm not alluding to anything.
- [103:27]
E
Am I going to need happy tissues or sad tissues issues.
- [103:31]
Pat McAfee
They're all position to have to celebrate something. Hey, do I kind of. Hey, buddy. I look like that south park character from Canada with that thin cross? Hey, buddy. I'm not your buddy guy.
- [103:45]
Peter Schrager
Terence. What?
- [103:47]
Pat McAfee
Terence. All right. Anyways, yeah, there's. They're allegedly. According to My source, we're 14 minutes out. Allegedly from my source or something.
- [104:00]
A.J.
Is there like a presser coming up or is there just news?
- [104:03]
Pat McAfee
I have no idea. And I think the person that texted me is just hearing a rumor, too. But that person would definitely know the.
- [104:08]
Connor
Person that said, dude, just break it. Just break it right now. The news. Just do it right now.
- [104:14]
Pat McAfee
I've heard enough of tweeting eyeballs. No, no, I'm doing that. I'm doing the eyeballs tweet right now. That's what I'm doing right now.
- [104:21]
E
I just sent it out. I just sent it out out for you.
- [104:23]
A.J.
I'm gonna do it.
- [104:24]
Pat McAfee
Okay. Thank you.
- [104:24]
Connor
Thank you.
- [104:25]
Pat McAfee
That's my tweet. Triggs, I don't want to dive into the insider world, but anytime, honestly.
- [104:31]
Peter Schrager
Whatever, I have nothing. So this is all you, baby.
- [104:34]
Pat McAfee
Anytime I put the eyeball tweets out and then news breaks, like 30, 45 minutes later, that's just me saying, hey, I knew it this time. You know, because you're doing the eyeball, you don't know what it is I said I would do it for you.
- [104:47]
E
You said enough.
- [104:49]
Pat McAfee
Okay. It could be like your news could.
- [104:51]
Peter Schrager
Be Fred Warner ran today at practice and everyone's like, I told you I had the eyeballs.
- [104:55]
Pat McAfee
I knew it was coming.
- [104:56]
Connor
That's big. Eyeball worthy.
- [105:00]
Pat McAfee
Maybe Fred Warner, maybe. If we didn't know that he was potentially going to be back, the eyeball worthy would be there. He looks amazing. His recovery, if he was able to get back on the field, obviously, that'd be absurd. We have massive respect for him. The Niners being able to win without him in both that have been absolutely outrageous. Alongside Trent Williams missing a game, Brock Purdy missing some games. Kyle Shanahan's a beast. Now let's pull go to a couple quarterbacks through their story. What do you want to know?
- [105:26]
Connor
I. I just got a text too. Yes.
- [105:33]
Pat McAfee
I wonder if it's the same as mine. I wonder if it's the same as mine.
- [105:36]
Peter Schrager
All right.
- [105:36]
Pat McAfee
Hey, debut's up, by the way. I think he's going back to Patriots fan base. I don't know if you heard about this. He's hopping a bandwagon. Are r I think that is. I saw him in McCordy.
- [105:44]
Peter Schrager
I saw him and McCourty hugging in a photograph.
- [105:47]
Connor
Lovely.
- [105:47]
Pat McAfee
He's getting recruited deep. Getting recruited to take his bandwagon to other places. It's insanity. But I'll tell you what. D but got to keep four teams in a holster. Never know who's going to let you down. Okay, let's move along. Couple quarterbacks that their story is obviously potentially not a great ending but could change massively. Connor has question.
- [106:07]
Connor
Yeah. Shrek feels like next in line for a new home would be Tua and Kyler Murray when it comes to, you know, next year and where they're going to play. Do you have any read on what teams might be interested? Whether they're going to be traded, whether they're going to be cut? Like, what is that situation with Tua and Kyler and do you fully expect them to be starters somewhere next year?
- [106:28]
Peter Schrager
No. Tua, I don't know. I don't think Tua will ever.
- [106:32]
Coach BA
I.
- [106:33]
Peter Schrager
It's. Again, I have to say this with like a giant. I don't think two is gonna be the quarterback of the Dolphins next year. Kyler, I don't know. Kyler finished the season hurt, obviously, and everyone's assuming they're just gonna get out of that contract. But let's see who they hire as a head coach and what that head coach's vision is. Because a lot of the conversations there in Arizona are going to be, what is your plan at quarterback? Because Jacoby Brissette played well, but they didn't.
- [106:58]
Ty Schmidt
They to.
- [106:58]
Peter Schrager
Didn't want win a game the final, I think 10 weeks of the season. So I'm interested on both of those as well. Those are two of the names that are going to be like those veteran guys that might be out there. Mac Jones is another one and then Malik Willis is another one. Those are four names that are being circulated as like, who's your Baker Mayfield? Who's your Sam Darnold? Who's your, you know, reclamation project that you can get behind this year and say, hey, he's either a bridge quarterback or he's a guy that you could be a, a competent veteran starter that maybe isn't going to cost you 50 to 60 million.
- [107:25]
Connor
What are some of those team strikes, which kind of team? You just listed four. But what are some of the teams you would say, hey, they're not going to do, you know, the entire, hey, let's go get a young guy. Let's draft a guy and build around him. But where would you kind of pin as a team that might do a bridge year for a quarterback? Maybe, you know, Pittsburgh, any of those.
- [107:45]
Peter Schrager
I think Cleveland is a. Is a possibility. I look at Minnesota, I don't know what we have with J.J. mcCarthy moving forward. I don't know if they were blown away. Like, do you bring in a TUA or do you bring in a Malik Willis or do you bring in a Kyler Murray to Minnesota and say, all right, we're going to challenge JJ McCarthy. It's year three and we haven't seen anything really that's given us the proof that this is the guy moving forward. So interesting with all those teams and of course the jets are on the board, but after the Justin Fields experiment, I think, you know, be cautious them giving a big contract to one of these other reclamation points projects.
- [108:19]
Pat McAfee
What about Aaron Rogers to Kevin OConnell's offense? Like we almost saw this year, Remember that That was a potential possibility and I was bummed out if, If a. What's that?
- [108:28]
Peter Schrager
I. I just say, I say bro, because like, that's not a crazy thing if Aaron still wants to play and that roster still to this moment is built to win.
- [108:40]
A.J.
Have you heard any rumblings between them? You heard anything about the how.
- [108:43]
Peter Schrager
Oh, there was rumblings. There was rumbling rumblings during the whole Rogers wait and see. And that was real. Like, you know, that Darnold going to Seattle was One move and then you were like, well, what's the other shoe that's going to drop? And then there wasn't. It was just JJ's team. And then when JJ got hurt. No offense to Max Brosmer, but it wasn't necessarily built to win, you know. Carson Wentz, August edition.
- [109:07]
Connor
Come on.
- [109:09]
Pat McAfee
Brosmer's a real Brosmer. He'll be in the US xfl. We know that. And he'll do.
- [109:14]
Peter Schrager
He'll be an NFL quarterback.
- [109:16]
Ty Schmidt
But.
- [109:16]
Peter Schrager
But, you know, he wasn't. He's not Aaron Rogers.
- [109:18]
Connor
He's got a lot of wins in him.
- [109:19]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, I mean, maybe Brosmer is an NFL quarterback in my eyes. He's got Birmingham Stallions written all over.
- [109:28]
Ty Schmidt
Him and he'll be learning under the tutelage of AJ McCarron.
- [109:33]
Connor
Kind of good, good coach.
- [109:36]
Pat McAfee
That's what I'm saying. Maybe goes to the Columbus, maybe he goes to the Battle Hawks.
- [109:41]
Connor
Sure, Ricky.
- [109:42]
Ty Schmidt
Keep roll.
- [109:42]
Peter Schrager
Jordan.
- [109:43]
E
TA might still be.
- [109:46]
Pat McAfee
Great.
- [109:46]
Peter Schrager
Anthony Beck. Anthony Beck still with the Battle Hawks. Wasn't he the coach?
- [109:50]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, he's coach still. Yeah, he's entering his fifth season with the Battle Hawks. They obviously own a new ownership there as a whole. They're excited. They still have that stadium.
- [109:58]
Peter Schrager
Shout out to Rocco Beck joining the Penn State Nittany Lions, I believe.
- [110:02]
Coach BA
Right.
- [110:03]
Pat McAfee
Good for Rocco. He. He feels like he's 27 years old. He's only like 23 or whatever. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. There's somebody looking for seven years of eligibility the other day. Who is that?
- [110:15]
E
Somebody was trying to UVA's quarterback.
- [110:18]
G
Camera.
- [110:19]
E
His name off top of my head, there's a couple of them.
- [110:24]
Pat McAfee
Okay, what else do we need to hit? No shred. You have the answers on stuff. That's what I'm trying to make sure we make sure we get from you because you have the answers on all the shit. Okay. Yeah. Last question here from Congress, man.
- [110:38]
Connor
Yeah, yeah, sure. You mentioned a bunch of different quarterbacks there in different locations. What about Atlanta? Is Penix and Kirk, are they just rolling with those two? Are they going to be in kind of the quarterback conversation when it comes to, you know, new head coach coming in, possibly new frontman as well.
- [110:55]
Peter Schrager
So Atlanta is a really interesting deal. So let's go through it. So Raheem doesn't think he's getting fired. Gets fired after winning four straight games. And then we learn after the fact. Fact that, you know, conversations informal were happening with Matt Ryan. Anyway, they go through this entire search for this head of football operations deal. They interview Brent Tillis, who's The man down in Carolina. They interview Mike Disar, who's in Detroit. Foxy might know that name pretty well. He's been part of that whole rebuild. And in the end they're like, it's going to be Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan is doing his press conference right now. Fine. But they don't have a GM yet and they don't have a head coach yet. And there's also, you know, Arthur Blank, who's an owner in his 80s, and Arthur Simon son, who's 29. Josh Blank, who's been working at the league office for years and is now sort of taking a bigger role with. So there's a lot of voices in that room already of like, what we're looking at vision. And Matt Ryan's there to kind of synergize it all. I say all this because I don't think I could give you a valid answer on what their plan is at quarterback because we don't have the head coach, we don't have the gm, and Matt Ryan's voice is going to play such a large role in the vision of this team. So anything, anything I thought would have been from the previous regime. And before the last couple days, Matt Ryan's not coming in and saying, hey, Pennix is the guy, or Pennix is not the guy. That's why you do the interviews. That's why you meet all these people.
- [112:11]
Pat McAfee
Excited to see that he said he's not going to pull a Philip Rivers and play football. But we'll soon never know. Let's see. We'll see with Matt Ryan. All right, Shregs, we appreciate the hell out of you. T minus five minutes from my checking my non watch.
- [112:25]
H
Yes.
- [112:26]
Coach BA
Go.
- [112:28]
Connor
Oh, that's a. That's a real one.
- [112:30]
A.J.
Yeah, that's a nice one. It's like Chefy Flauntess.
- [112:33]
Pat McAfee
Hey, press one button for automatic start. Stand to close. Car alarm might bark. That's what they say. You know, we got rolling out here. But this is also black and yellow, you know. Interesting. Appreciate you.
- [112:48]
Peter Schrager
Love you guys.
- [112:49]
Connor
Yeah. What was that little ticket nugget.
- [112:53]
Pat McAfee
I'm telling you, dude, this could be big. Big. This could be pretty big.
- [112:57]
E
I was getting a transfer Portal quarterback tall.
- [112:59]
Connor
I hope no freaking Mace is resigning with the Steelers seven.
- [113:04]
G
Might be.
- [113:04]
Pat McAfee
Maybe. Oh, maybe Ben. Ben was on the super Duper cast last night, right, with Manning.
- [113:10]
E
Yep, yep, yep.
- [113:12]
Pat McAfee
I didn't get to watch much of it. Was he bummed out the whole time?
- [113:14]
E
He was a bit bummed out. He also was.
- [113:17]
Pat McAfee
He loved the Steelers.
- [113:18]
Connor
Dude.
- [113:19]
Pat McAfee
Dude. He loves the Steelers.
- [113:20]
E
He does. And we love him. And he was trying to get like he was trying to talk about the game and Peyton and Eli just wanted to talk about goofy faces of quarterbacks and stuff. So yeah, it was. It was super enlightening.
- [113:30]
G
Love bumble return happened when he was on.
- [113:33]
Connor
No, no, that's not a fumble. No, it was pretty good.
- [113:37]
Pat McAfee
Certainly. Certainly was. And Rank is just picking that up just casually and taking that to the.
- [113:42]
A.J.
Crib after he bull rushed the guard too. Beautiful play by this front.
- [113:46]
Ty Schmidt
Fell on it.
- [113:47]
Pat McAfee
AJ I think there's huge news coming in four minutes. The sports center will obviously be on top of that here on ESPN. We'll continue digitally on ESPN Plus, YouTube, tick tock and X. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. I'm doing something right now. Shaking some hands because the fact that you give us a chance to do this every day. We hope you come visit us tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell friend something nice might change your life. Goodbye Am Got it. Can I hit it?
- [114:12]
Connor
Oh, yeah.
- [114:13]
A.J.
Perfect.
- [114:13]
G
One of the screws this is.
- [114:17]
Pat McAfee
I think we should take a break.
- [114:18]
H
Should we?
- [114:19]
Pat McAfee
We should wait it out. We should wait it out.
- [114:20]
A.J.
Okay.
- [114:22]
E
Silence or talk.
- [114:24]
G
Silence would be cool.
- [114:25]
A.J.
Okay. Like three and a half minutes of silence.
- [114:27]
E
That'd be sick.
- [114:28]
A.J.
Like meditation. Maybe Mick could do like a.
- [114:32]
E
There was some break while we were on with strags.
- [114:36]
A.J.
What?
- [114:36]
G
Oh, yeah.
- [114:36]
Pat McAfee
Oh, yeah. Greg Roman. Oh, offensive coordinator for Los Angeles Chargers has been fired. Now is it his fault that the offensive line couldn't stay healthy? Is it his fault they couldn't protect Herbert? Is it his fault? I think a lot of people over there are saying we don't care if it's his fault. We need something new. Obviously Greg Grubman and Jim Harbaugh, close friends. They were living in an RV together whenever they got out there trying to flip this entire thing around. Now they will move on. A lot of great offensive coordinators available. Justin Herbert D. But is certainly something that would draw a lot of people's interest to the Los Angeles Chargers building.
- [115:08]
G
I think absolutely one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league. A lot of people were putting Greg Roman's playoff stat side by side along with Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert. The lack of success. Success in the playoffs. So you kind of saw this coming. So now it's three jobs with quarterbacks and with very good offensive weapons in my opinion. The Chargers, the Lions and the Rock Ravens now who have open spots at some head coaching and some offensive coordinator Spots. So I'd be interested to see what big names they get into.
- [115:37]
Connor
Building.
- [115:38]
G
Building.
- [115:38]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. You talk about Baltimore, Detroit, and now Los Angeles. I mean, Cliff Kingsbury, McDaniel, this Shield Haas guy. I guess because he's not calling actual plays in la, he's available.
- [115:53]
G
Promotion.
- [115:55]
H
I got a name that no one's talking about that would fit really well in Detroit. If you guys want to hear that one.
- [115:59]
G
I already know.
- [116:00]
H
I think Dan Orlovsky, with his history with the Lions, former teammate of mcdc.
- [116:07]
Ty Schmidt
True.
- [116:07]
H
The guy knows everything about the Ben Johnson offense. He loves Jared Goff, accurate quarterbacks, all those weapons. ST Brown, JMO Gibbs, Monty Laporta when he comes back, can you imagine, imagine Dan Orlovsky on a pen and paper or in the VR writing up plays for the Detroit Lions next year and sending us to the Super Bowl.
- [116:29]
Pat McAfee
Dan Orlonski, maybe to the Lions. That would be awesome. That would be the best case scenario for our show for sure. Yeah. Now. Well, mcdc. Now we probably wouldn't be able to talk to Orlovsky after he gets up there, but would mcdc let Dano be Dan? Dano. Like, is he gonna let Dano say Fudgeon and do all the tricks that he wants to be able to do? I think he would, man. Dan Orlovsky back with the Lions to right the wrong of the 016 season, to right the wrong of the 11 yard end zone, to right the wrong of his story in Detroit and make it a better one alongside a former teammate of his to bring a title to Detroit. Oh, A.J. oh, it writes itself. Get Dano up there, Foxy.
- [117:17]
Peter Schrager
That's br.
- [117:18]
Pat McAfee
Brilliant.
- [117:19]
A.J.
We've been talking about it for how many offseasons now where Dano is. Has he officially interviewed for any of these jobs? Like I feel like he used to a couple of times. He actually interviewed for.
- [117:26]
Connor
He's interviewing every day, brother. But and the other thing too with the Lions is, you know, they were boohooing because Skip was retiring. Guess who's not retiring anymore if Daniel's coming in? Skip.
- [117:36]
Pat McAfee
Good point, Decker.
- [117:37]
A.J.
I mean, what about Dano for head coaching opportunities? Why are we talking coordinator? Why don't you just go right to the top?
- [117:42]
G
Well, instead, D.C. brought him in. He probably be nervous. That true. He'd be great.
- [117:47]
A.J.
Point. He's a threat.
- [117:49]
G
Yeah, absolutely.
- [117:50]
A.J.
Hey, all. All the boys are asking for Dano would be head coach. And now that he's here. Yeah.
- [117:55]
Pat McAfee
Foxy. Dan Orlovsky or McDaniel, offense coordinator for the Lions.
- [117:59]
Peter Schrager
Yeah.
- [117:59]
H
So I put a Tweet out and I said, lions fans, who do you want to hire as your coordinator? And I got a lot of responses on that. Not one Orlovsky one. So that might just be me. But over one support for my Mike McDaniel. So if he gets the job, I think Lions fans will be very, very happy.
- [118:17]
Pat McAfee
I like to hear that. It's two o'. Clock. Have we heard anything? I don't know, man. I'm refreshing. Where's the news?
- [118:23]
Connor
Just break it. I want to know so bad.
- [118:26]
Pat McAfee
Well, I don't know if it's real. That's why we got to wait for this thing. Like, you know, we need journalists to go in there. Well, actually, Fox or Tone, you should just call the people you know in the place that you know and see if anything happened within the last. Let's take a break. Let's take a break.
- [118:43]
Connor
Okay.
- [118:45]
G
All right.
- [118:46]
Pat McAfee
Refreshing. I think it's pretty big.
- [118:48]
Connor
Still refreshing.
- [118:49]
Ty Schmidt
Nothing yet.
- [118:50]
Connor
Who can we just facetime muth from the. From back.
- [118:55]
Pat McAfee
I don't know. What do you. So why do you think it's from what do you said you have a.
- [118:59]
A.J.
Black and gold watch?
- [119:00]
Connor
Yeah, black and gold watch was one of the dude. Yes.
- [119:03]
Pat McAfee
Big story for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- [119:06]
Connor
Every time we go to break when the something like this happens, it breaks. As soon as we go to break.
- [119:11]
A.J.
We'Ll come right back.
- [119:11]
Connor
Can we do like a fake? Like. All right, let's go. See you guys later.
- [119:15]
A.J.
And then they'd be waiting and we don't go boom.
- [119:17]
Connor
And we.
- [119:18]
Pat McAfee
All right, so we'll act like we're going to a break. All right, so you guys go to the bathroom. When we come back is we're going to cover all the sports stories that you need to know about. So be a friend. Tell a friend something nice might change your life. Take. Take five.
- [119:35]
A.J.
See ya.
- [119:35]
Pat McAfee
Update, refresh, Update, refresh. Anything?
- [119:38]
Ty Schmidt
No, nothing. Nigel Sealy just tweeted, but I don't think.
- [119:44]
Connor
Darts. Darts.
- [119:45]
Ty Schmidt
No. It looks like he's retweeting a Mitch Michaels tweet about his chat with Lorenzo Musetti.
- [119:53]
A.J.
Oh, yeah.
- [119:53]
Ty Schmidt
Interested in that?
- [119:55]
Pat McAfee
What do they say? What do they say? What do they say?
- [119:58]
Ty Schmidt
It's a YouTube link to the inside in tennis podcast.
- [120:03]
Pat McAfee
Can you read his tweet, though? Can you read Mitch Michaels tweet there in Nigel's.
- [120:07]
Ty Schmidt
Oh, yeah. Here's the video of my chat with Lorenzo Musetti. Remember, you can watch every episode of.
- [120:14]
Pat McAfee
The inside in tennis podcast on the YouTube channel.
- [120:16]
Ty Schmidt
It's y o u t u be forward slash 3 gr 6 q y 2 a k 9 o? S psi 3 dots. You could get the rest of it at YouTube.
- [120:29]
Pat McAfee
Is Lorenzo Musetti gonna tell us why I could just sign up and go play in a pro tennis game? I would like to know that.
- [120:36]
Ty Schmidt
He might.
- [120:36]
Pat McAfee
That lady, that lady that was in there. That's awesome. That's one of the best sports stories I've ever heard. What was her name?
- [120:43]
Connor
Abdel Dakar, I believe from Egypt.
- [120:46]
Pat McAfee
That sounds right.
- [120:48]
A.J.
She wasn't even like a.
- [120:49]
Pat McAfee
Where's the news?
- [120:50]
A.J.
An average tennis player. That's a. Made it better three minutes.
- [120:54]
Pat McAfee
There supposed to be something going on here. But hold on.
- [120:56]
A.J.
What kind of news could break? When you say like whoever you're talking to, your sources source is, there's going.
- [121:03]
Pat McAfee
To be a piece of it. There's going to be a piece of information delivered to a group of people. Allegedly at 2pm One of those people that are getting. Getting information will certainly roll over the info.
- [121:13]
Ty Schmidt
It says that the Steelers have a team meeting that started at 2pm local per league sources.
- [121:18]
Pat McAfee
Oh, you're alluding. Alluding. He's eluding Tomlins.
- [121:24]
Connor
Oh, there's a Tomlin.
- [121:26]
G
What's that from?
- [121:27]
Pat McAfee
I don't know if that is a Tomlin watch. All I know is my watch in my bladder saying, I got to go to the bathroom. So let's take a break.
- [121:38]
Peter Schrager
As you know, managing maintenance, repair and.
- [121:40]
Pat McAfee
Operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your best.
- [121:46]
Peter Schrager
From professional grade products you can count.
- [121:48]
E
On to fast, dependable delivery, they're there.
- [121:51]
Peter Schrager
To help you keep things running smoothly.
- [121:53]
E
Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions.
- [121:58]
Pat McAfee
And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your.
- [122:02]
E
Partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.
- [122:06]
Pat McAfee
Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by.
- [122:13]
Connor
Football.
- [122:16]
A.J.
Pat, what happened? We took a. We took a 30 second break. Something happened. What's going on?
- [122:20]
Pat McAfee
We knew exactly how this was going to go. As soon as we decided to take a break, news broke. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Tomlin, a man who had coached the Pittsburgh Steelers for 19 seasons, who led them with great success, never had a losing season as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers informed his team at a team meeting at 2pm Eastern today that he'll be stepping down down as the Steelers head coach. Now, obviously this is a gigantic decision that Coach Tomlin had to make. There was a lot of conversation and conjecture about whether or not he should be the head coach going forward? Are the Rooneys going to fire him? Would he ever not be the head coach unless he decided he wasn't going to be the head coach? Well, it turns out he decided he didn't want to be the head coach anymore. He is stepping down. Did that come after conversations with the Rooney family, the ownership group on the Pittsburgh Steelers potential? Did that come after conversations with his family that come after conversations with the fans? What led to this decision we do not know. Hopefully we'll find out more as we go forward. But Mike Tomlin no longer being the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers is a insane thought. John Harbaugh 1 week ago Loses to the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 18, misses out on an AFC north championship and a home playoff game. The Baltimore Ravens move on from John Harbaugh. And now a week later, after a wild card drumming, to the Houston Texans, Mike Tomlin gone from the AFC North. It's a dawning of a new era, certainly in the AFC north, but definitely in football as a whole and in Pittsburgh. This is wild to think about. Let's go to 1/2 of the Hammer Cowboys AP tone is that what you're getting, butterflies in your stomach? For about 16 minutes ago, whenever you think thought this was potentially going to be the news and now it's officially happened, how do you feel and how do you think Pittsburgh feels about it?
- [124:04]
E
Yeah, I, I, I, to be honest, had no idea how I would react if this happened. And at this moment I kind of like hearts racing because first and foremost, obviously thank you to Coach Tomlin for 19 years, one Super bowl, two Super bowl appearances, multiple AFC championships and what he did for the team and the city to carry it on from what Coach Cower had done and Coach Noel had done, had done like an incredible job. And he will never, ever be forgotten in the city of Pittsburgh for what he did for all these years to go 19 seasons and to be in the playoff race every single season and for a lot of those seasons to have super bowl aspirations like he started when I was a freshman in college. So I've basically spent most of my adult life with Coach Tomlin as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So first and foremost, thank you, thank you to him. But when you go nine years in a Steelers organization without a playoff win, seven straight playoff losses and none of them being particularly close, like it's just a situation where, yes, he's a great coach, but has its, has it run its course in Pittsburgh? Most likely probably so. You know, I'm shocked. I'M surprised. I didn't think I would, that this would happen. Happen. But like I said, when you go nine years in, seven straight playoff losses, this does happen. So now I think the majority of the city is going to agree with this. I think they're going to agree with. What he did in Pittsburgh was incredible, and the whole run was incredible, and he's a great football coach. But I think people will be happy with the move, and I think people will be happy and now optimistic with what the future could bring.
- [125:46]
Pat McAfee
Okay? Because it could be different than what it has been for 19 years. Now, Coach Tomlin, I think BA mentioned it in the first hour where he said he doesn't think Rooney will fire him, but it's time. And I think when Coach Ba said that, that was a surprise to me that he actually said that publicly. But I think Ba was also speaking from Tomlin's perspective. It's like, hey, man, you've done incredible things for this place. And seemingly at this point, you got a stadium chanting to fire you right now. Okay? You got. He goes out to go in public. Obviously, everybody's a fan of Mike Tomlin, but also there's a media to his family, to him, hey, when are we going to win a Super Bowl? We don't look. We just got killed again. Is this another year? It's like that was his life anywhere outside of football and outside of his family in Pittsburgh. That's what it became, basically. And what is it? You're the dire hero. Live long enough to see yourself become the villain or whatever. It's like that was Tomlin in Pittsburgh for sure. And in this modern age, being able to stay in the same place for 19 years is wild. That's a crazy thing to even consider. That's why what Harbaugh is doing in Baltimore, crazy. And what Tom. So now you got 20 NFL teams that are trying to call Tomlin and his agent to see, hey, is there any chance that he still wants to coach football? Football? Or how does this whole thing work? And if he signs up to do tv, is he going to be in the booth this weekend? Is he going to be on a. A kickoff show this weekend? Because obviously, this is the biggest time for all these shows. It's like there's a chance Mike Tomlin will have options with what he wants to do next. I cannot read the rest of that because the thing is cutting off. Still can't. He could put it in between me and AJ still can't. If he could put it in between me and AJ Maybe. Boom Mike. Tom will have options with what he wants, wants to do. He can take the year off. He can have a job in television as an analyst. He gets to do what he wants. But it won't be coaching for the Steelers. Yeah, I mean, good for Coach Tomlin. Now that he has all the options in the world. He's worked his ass off to get to this moment. Good for the Steelers. Good for the faithful Yinzers who obviously have a sense of optimism and hope about, okay, we got some change, maybe we can go win it. And who do you hire next? D. But I guess that's the question. Do you. With the model the Pittsburgh Steelers have, they're looking for a lot of consistency, which you would think maybe a younger coach. But Mike Vrabel goes back to New England. The reason why he does such a good job there is because he loves the place, has a history of that place. He's in the ring of honor, that place. Mike McCarthy was born and raised about three miles from the stadium, four miles from the stadium. He's available. He would. Obviously he wanted the Pittsburgh Steelers to win a Super bowl this year so his mom and his family could have a good time like the good old days back in the day. It's like, who is the right answer now for the Pittsburgh Steelers? I guess they have to find that out for the first time in 19 years.
- [128:16]
G
They definitely have to find it out. Long time. Tomlin's basically lived out a dream, every coach's dream, to stay at a place like the Pittsburgh Steelers for 19 years. We're getting old. You know, all these kind of chapters are closing. Bill Belichick in New England, Pete Carroll in Seattle, Harbaugh in Baltimore, and now Tomlin in Pittsburgh. Based on a history. Kyle was pretty young when he got hired, too. First NFL head coaching job when he got hired.
- [128:41]
E
Yeah, he was. I believe he was the special teams coach in Cleveland before he got hired, if I remember correctly.
- [128:46]
G
Yeah. So that was his first opportunity in Pittsburgh. Then Mike Tomlin got his first NFL opportunity in Pittsburgh. History would tell us it'll probably be another coach getting their first opportunity to take the team forward. But we shall see. It's a tough decision to make. It's an iconic franchise once again. You know, Tone, being a fan, being from Pittsburgh is different, but me being a fan of just football and, you know, physical, defensive football, championship caliber football. So I have the utmost respect for Mike Tomlin and the job that he's done. And like, I, I personally, and this is me personally, I can't see him coaching anywhere else. This is just me, so I can maybe see him going into tv. I can't see him with other colors, another hat or whatever on the side sideline personally. But we shall see. We know how these coaches are wired. They want to coach forever. So we'll see what. What's next for Mike Tomlin.
- [129:35]
Pat McAfee
Big part of this entire thing it's being talked about online is Tomlin stepped down, he wasn't fired. So the Steelers still remain or retain his rights. So this is what Ari Miro at my Sports Update, former real estate guy, I think he was, and then he got into aggregating information for the NFL on the Internet. I don't think he went to journalism school, but he does a great job job of aggregating a lot of information on a regular basis. I don't know if he sleeps. He might be one of those guys that's actually plugged in, which is pretty cool that we get to experience that. But if Mike Tomlin was to go do television with Fox, I don't like the photo he used of Mike Tomlin there, by the way. But if he was to go do television with Fox, it would be very similar to situation Sean Payton did with Fox where go do tv. I think Sean Payton crushed it. I think he did well. I think Tomlin would do better than anybody. I think Tom will be the best guy on tv as soon as he gets on tv, I think that'll be like a matter of fact. But if he doesn't enjoy it or for some reason does yearn to get back onto the football field, somebody's gonna have to trade for the Pittsburgh Steelers to go get him. So to your point, B Butt, I think he's going to go do TV and become king and he's going to feel respect and appreciation from the entire NFL because the way you view Mike Tomlin is the way I think everybody outside the Pittsburgh Steelers fan base views Mike Tomlin. This guy's cool. This guy's awesome. This guy always wins. Must be nice Steelers fans that you're complaining about him not winning a Super Bowl. You guys are in the playoffs every single year. That's what the rest of the NFL thinks. So now that he's going to be able to speak to them, I think it's. I think he's going to be a king if he does tv. AJ I think he's going to live like a king, get treated like a king and feel like a king if he does TV and get paid like a king if he does tv AJ that's. Those are a lot of four royal things to kind of change your life a little bit.
- [131:09]
A.J.
Yeah. I think. I'm not sure who mentioned it, but yeah, we could see him in a week or two doing playoff coverage, sitting at the, at the desk somewhere doing it. But I know Rap Sheet said what he that he informed the team that he plans to step away from coaching. Meaning one of the greatest to do it will take a break. So does Rap Sheet know that he's not going to coach this next year?
- [131:27]
Pat McAfee
Jake Glazer is the guy we need to be following here.
- [131:29]
Connor
Yeah.
- [131:31]
Pat McAfee
Glazer is the one that we need to be following. He's. I think him and Tomlin actually like.
- [131:36]
A.J.
You heard Triggs, remember the, the video Jay Glazer put from the meeting. Like they're all sitting around kind of having a drink, smoking a cigar at the end of the coaches, their owners meetings. Like it was like a whole situation.
- [131:47]
Connor
Yeah.
- [131:47]
A.J.
That Tom went and Jay are the guys and that's what Schlage talks about. Like yeah, these guys run this whole play.
- [131:52]
Connor
Yeah. Now that becomes the best like one of at least the top jobs. I mean the AFC north now there's three coaching vacancies and the Bengals are the only one that are keeping their guys act Taylor and that might only be for another year but I don't know how you guys would feel but for a place like Pittsburgh, would this be a spot where you kind of have to bring in someone who understands it like immediately. I was thinking Brian Flores because Brian Flores was there for a year. Kind of got back into coaching with Tomlin. Now he's the DC of the Vikings. Kind of very similar goes Minnesota to Pittsburgh. Like would you would. Do you think they're going to go that route or more so do like the veteran like McCarthy.
- [132:29]
E
So the last two I, I was wrong. Cower was the special teams coordinator at the Browns, but then he was the DC at the Chiefs and then he got hired to the Steelers. Obviously Mike Tomlin was a DC at Vikings and got hired to the Steelers. So if the Rooneys stick to their ways, it would be a young defensive minded coach who is a leader of men and that's what they do be Flo kind of fits that model. He, he is, he is younger in that situation. Chris Shula fits that model. There's others that fit that model. I would, I don't know.
- [133:00]
A.J.
Maybe they want to change tomorrow.
- [133:01]
Peter Schrager
Yeah.
- [133:01]
Connor
They want to have an explosive offense.
- [133:02]
E
Yeah. Which they have recently. They've been doing things differently than they have in the past. So that could be something as well.
- [133:07]
Ty Schmidt
Do you think McCarthy's ties to the city too, play a big role in this? I mean, like, you know, I, I guess Tomlin isn't from Pittsburgh, but by the end of it, people who don't know, like, you just assume, oh, Mike Tomlin's from Pittsburgh. And then obviously Bill Cower, like, does that play into it at all?
- [133:22]
Pat McAfee
I think so. I think it does, man. I think. I don't know. Just once you start going through McCarthy stats and residents resume and everything.
- [133:32]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [133:33]
Pat McAfee
And with the way he'll impress in the conversation, which he certainly would if he took that.
- [133:38]
A.J.
He'd be so emotional with Pittsburgh. Like his opening presser. His different because he. He was. He'd get emotional. Speaking to the Green Bay packers when I was there, speaking of things going on in Pittsburgh and growing up and all these different stories. If he was actually living it as the head coach of the Steelers, it would be amazing. Amazing to watch. Yeah.
- [133:57]
Pat McAfee
Gingers would like him if he won, obviously. And he knows that if you become the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're stepping into a. Yeah, I mean, that's a. That's a little bit of a beast pressure situation.
- [134:07]
E
Obviously.
- [134:07]
Ty Schmidt
They would like.
- [134:08]
E
They would like that. He's a yinzer first and foremost. They would like that he's an offensive guy and has had success at two places. I think the only drawback is that he's in his 60s. So you're not getting a coach that. You're not getting a coach that can be there for potentially 15 plus years. Because I believe, yeah, Cower was there for 15. Tommen was there for 19. Chuck Noel was there for 23 seasons. I'm not saying that that's going to happen or whatever, but 10 years is.
- [134:34]
Pat McAfee
A long time, though. Ten years, yeah.
- [134:36]
E
For sure.
- [134:37]
Ty Schmidt
He's also like quarterback whisperer.
- [134:39]
E
He's also the only one who you would hire that I think Aaron would come back for, if that's something you want.
- [134:45]
A.J.
Big Mike and Aaron reunite in Pittsburgh. Oh, they might be roommates. They might just move in together. That'd be amazing.
- [134:54]
Pat McAfee
He didn't like what was being said about Tomlin. He didn't like what was being said about LaFleur. Aaron said, I don't like the way we're doing things around here anymore.
- [135:01]
Peter Schrager
This.
- [135:01]
Pat McAfee
What is this NFL? It's like. It is a what have you done for me lately? League. But for Tomlin, how many Super Bowls have you won for me lately? None. Get the hell out of Town. Him stepping away from coaching as his messaging is interesting. I mean, I. He's on a microphone. Football just got better. Football got so much better than we got Tomlin on an open mic. Like, I can't stress that enough. Just as somebody who has paid attention to Mike Tomlin speaking for a very long time. Just. I think we used to run a segment just Tomlin speaking, didn't we? Yes, yes.
- [135:33]
G
Tomlin is.
- [135:34]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah. I mean, yeah. Tomlin isms or something like that.
- [135:37]
Pat McAfee
Yeah, that's. Well, Tomlin isms, I think, is what Tomlin's shit is called. But we used to run a segment whenever we were just on YouTube. We're in the old office where we would just pull a random Tomlin scrambling clip. Had not listened to it. Let's just pull this and see what it is. And he would just drop some gem in there. It would just be some ridiculous tv, like, movie, like Gem. And it's like, now he's gonna be focusing on that and working on that. Plus hanging, chilling, has to be in studio. I don't think in the booth would be great, but, like, football got better today. Football got better today. If Mike Tomlin's becoming a nice national, you know, kind of voice for the league, for the sport as a whole.
- [136:20]
G
Can we put Sig back on the springboard now?
- [136:22]
E
He's from Pittsburgh.
- [136:23]
G
Is this the Trump.
- [136:24]
Pat McAfee
Pittsburgh's not leaving.
- [136:26]
G
Are you sure?
- [136:27]
A.J.
Nope.
- [136:29]
Pat McAfee
Not sure about it.
- [136:31]
A.J.
I'm not sure, but, man, no, that'd be. Why would he pay him $25 million a year and try to lure him away from Indiana? I don't know.
- [136:38]
Connor
Well, like, in Harbaugh, like, do they even. Like, we're talking about Harbaughs if he's locked in. But does Harbaugh. Look at this like, I've been on the other sideline for a long time, and the Steelers are a place that they. They care more about football than damn near any other city.
- [136:51]
G
No, no.
- [136:54]
Connor
But why not? No, I'm just saying.
- [136:56]
E
No, you don't.
- [136:57]
Connor
You're not going to bring in the guy who's a part of. Who's a part of the Baltimore team just to at least hear what he has to say and what they did over there and what. What he thinks that you could have done better and. Because it's all about gathering information. Right?
- [137:12]
Pat McAfee
All right, boys, I gotta go. I do. I have to go.
- [137:17]
A.J.
Business.
- [137:17]
Connor
We got you.
- [137:18]
Pat McAfee
It's 223. I got some at 230. This is. This is wild that this all happened. Congrats. To the Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Feels like you guys got what you wanted, right, Tone?
- [137:28]
A.J.
Yeah. Not all of them.
- [137:30]
E
Yeah, I had majority.
- [137:31]
Pat McAfee
I think all of them.
- [137:32]
Peter Schrager
Yeah.
- [137:33]
G
Fresh start.
- [137:34]
Pat McAfee
Especially after last night.
- [137:35]
A.J.
Yeah. Turn the page.
- [137:36]
Pat McAfee
Especially after last night. I. I think it became a pretty big. Okay, we're not doing this. This is not what we're doing. You gotta remember, Pittsburgh is a blue collar time, okay? Blue collar people talking. A lot of Italians, a lot of Irish people. These people, pretty emotional group. Okay. And they. They also hold on to grudge judges. Okay. These are people that will remember everything yet elephant brains all over the place in Pittsburgh. Okay. A lot of that. This is just the demo of humans. So whenever things start piling up and it's like, oh, we're doing the same thing again. We're doing the same thing. Doing the same thing. It's like inevitably everybody's going to buy in. It kind of feels like it got to that in Pittsburgh, beating Baltimore with the missed kick. Kind of had a moment where it's like, okay, we're back. Holy hell, maybe this guy does have some magic. And then a slaughtering on primetime in a way. It's like, nope, just like we thought it was. That's kind of. I feel like that is how it went down. Do you think that's accurate?
- [138:36]
E
Yeah, I agree 1,000%.
- [138:38]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. I think that's kind of how it all went. So good for Tom and not having to deal with that anymore, you know, because if you're this person, it's all going this way against you. Like, good for you not having to deal with that anymore, too. That's a life change that I think he's going to welcome. The sidelines will miss him, but the sport is going to thrive with him on a microphone. So I'm very pumped and thankful that that's happening. And congrats to him on a hell of a. And thank you, Tom, and for all the happiness you brought. My family, my friends, my home. And then now let's see what's next. That source was right, though, I guess.
- [139:11]
Connor
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [139:12]
Ty Schmidt
Good source.
- [139:13]
E
Keep that source around.
- [139:17]
Pat McAfee
Maybe we will.
- [139:18]
E
Can't believe Joe Hadley knew.
- [139:21]
Pat McAfee
Are we gonna start. Are we gonna start being an insider, too? Because all these journalism people doing what they're doing.
- [139:30]
Connor
Good.
- [139:30]
G
Just the eyes. It's a good gimmick.
- [139:35]
Pat McAfee
I know. All right, I'll see you guys. I appreciate you all. Aj, thank you for traveling. Hope you take this thing home in a beautiful fashion.
- [139:42]
A.J.
Of course, man. Have fun over there.
- [139:44]
Pat McAfee
I gotta go do one of these. Hey, how you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we love it. We love everything you're doing. We love what you're doing.
- [139:51]
A.J.
It'd be great, though.
- [139:52]
H
Love it.
- [139:53]
Pat McAfee
You guys got great ideas. I don't ever do this because I live in Indianapolis. So by choice, all media people are in New York and la. Not saying that's where I'm at right now, but that's where all media people are. And they all have happy hours and they all run into each other on such a regular basis. And I never do any of that. And I love it. I do. I don't think anybody would necessarily say that's the right way to go about building a media business, but for me, I enjoy. Every once in a while, I got to do it for the good of the program, for the good of the boys. And today's a really cool day for Pittsburgh, for us, for the league. And the divisional roundup is set. I cannot wait for Saturday and Sunday. I cannot wait. Bill's Broncos. Let's go, dude. 4:30 on CBS. Number one beat top five defense all time Denver Broncos taking on Josh Allen. Is Josh Allen going to be an alien? Probably. San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks. Oh, we've seen this a few times already, have we not? Yeah, Seattle won. Oh, well, now 75% of the bets are in San Francisco. Early shot to DraftKings for the numbers. Then Sunday, Texans, Patriots, Rams, Bears. Wow. And a national championship on Monday. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, boys, don't get too much zipper burn, okay? Don't get too excited. There's things happening. There's great things happening, and we're going to try to enjoy them all. All right, boys, I will see you tomorrow when I'm back in there.
- [141:17]
Ty Schmidt
Sounds good.
- [141:19]
Connor
Enjoy.
- [141:19]
A.J.
Enjoy it. All right. That. That game. I always want to talk about you before we pop off. Indiana.
- [141:23]
Pat McAfee
Miami.
- [141:24]
A.J.
Oh, Debo, what's the final score?
- [141:25]
Connor
Why.
- [141:26]
Ty Schmidt
Why would we do this right now? On.
- [141:28]
A.J.
I'm just asking for the final score before we.
- [141:30]
Connor
Before I pop off.
- [141:32]
Ty Schmidt
Oh, Tuesday.
- [141:32]
G
Excuse me. You don't tell me the final score. I gotta, I gotta.
- [141:35]
A.J.
Okay, what's the line?
- [141:36]
Ty Schmidt
I get it.
- [141:37]
A.J.
What's the line?
- [141:38]
G
Line.
- [141:38]
Pat McAfee
Seven, eight.
- [141:40]
Connor
Move.
- [141:40]
A.J.
Is that disrespectful to Miami?
- [141:42]
G
Very. I. I think.
- [141:44]
Ty Schmidt
And everyone.
- [141:44]
E
All the bats are on IU.
- [141:45]
G
Yeah, we're nine and a half point dogs.
- [141:47]
A.J.
Wait, they're nine and a half. Half point dogs. And the bats are on IU.
- [141:49]
Connor
Eight and a half.
- [141:50]
G
I'm saying we were nine and a half point dogs against 85% and that's the common opponent.
- [141:55]
A.J.
Is it just because Indiana's been running through everybody?
- [141:57]
Connor
What is that?
- [141:58]
G
Yeah, yeah. But after shellacking in the Rose bowl and then what happened in the Peach Bowl, I mean, I, I guess I get it. But I mean, you also seen what Miami has been able to do on this run as well. Like I said, what I go back to as a common opponent. Ohio State in the Big Ten championship for Indy Indiana and then Cotton bowl for Miami and Dog fight Indiana. I feel like we were there. I feel like Miami kind of bully Ohio State late. So we'll see. We got to play the game on the grass. But a lot of people are excited about this one.
- [142:25]
Ty Schmidt
It's also interesting. We'll see what the split ends up being. But they're the. The line is set like this game is being played at a neutral site like Miami home, you know, so we'll.
- [142:35]
A.J.
See what's it gonna feel like, who's gonna be there? How does anybody coming to the game.
- [142:40]
Connor
All these big games, super bowl national championship. It's never as many turns corporate. Yeah.
- [142:45]
A.J.
The problem is it turns corporate because corporate people.
- [142:48]
Ty Schmidt
We haven't had a team like Indiana.
- [142:49]
A.J.
In this where like people legitimately home national championship.
- [142:52]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah, exactly. Both ways.
- [142:53]
E
So I think each school gets an allotment. I can't remember how many it is for each school. And then the rest of the tickets are out on the private market. I know IU has given out their allotment to their season ticket holders. Miami has not given out their allotment yet. I've heard offered them.
- [143:09]
A.J.
Offered their allotment at like face value or face value.
- [143:13]
E
And I, I have a speculation why, but I'm not sure.
- [143:16]
A.J.
I don't.
- [143:17]
E
They're worried that the Miami fan base is going to sell their tickets to IU fans. But yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it shakes up.
- [143:23]
Pat McAfee
I think it'll happen.
- [143:24]
A.J.
It will be weird if there's like, if there's more Indiana fans.
- [143:28]
G
I just hope it's real college ball fans in there. I expect the Miami fans to show up, but looking at the prices and I don't know how that all plays out, but I just hope both sides. I hope it's real fans in there because like comments here, you get to the super bowl, these national championships and you get a bunch of corporate people and it's.
- [143:45]
A.J.
That have no rooting interest. Like I'm just happy to be here.
- [143:47]
G
Yeah. It's not the same. So I hope we get a real college environment down In Hard Rock.
- [143:51]
A.J.
We have so far.
- [143:52]
Connor
Yeah. I mean you would expect Indiana to travel. They've proven it. They, they went all the way to Pasadena. Pasadena, we know is a shit show getting in and out of that place. They went to Atlanta, packed it out legitimately, 95 to 5%. That was the biggest disparity that we've probably seen as we've done the college Football playoff games for the past few years. That was the biggest Indiana showed up. So I would expect Indiana to be there, but I mean $5,000 as the average.
- [144:19]
A.J.
Imagine if you've been following them all along too.
- [144:22]
G
Yeah.
- [144:23]
A.J.
Like this is your thing. Third game. You're going to of flights, hotels and then ticket prices.
- [144:27]
Connor
Yeah, yeah. And we know how it is. Getting in and out of Hard Rock like it's a pain in the ass. That's why I could see Miami fans not going just because it's like, look, that place is a nightmare. Okay? I'm not, I ain't going in there.
- [144:40]
A.J.
All right?
- [144:41]
Connor
They're at, they're at home. That's their advantage. They don't need fans too. And then same thing for Indiana. I, I would assume they're gonna go just because of the fact that that Indiana they probably look at as it as we might never ever get back here for the rest of time. Whereas Miami could also say that.
- [144:58]
G
But it's been a long time.
- [144:59]
Connor
As long as it's a good game. Dude, that eight and a half scares me.
- [145:02]
A.J.
Do we know how it's work? So for Miami, are they gonna go stay in like the team hotel and.
- [145:07]
Connor
Do all that like the week of.
- [145:08]
A.J.
Like if they were on a way.
- [145:10]
G
They'Re practicing their normal facilities and doing that stuff. But I would assume they're going to try to keep it at as similar to a home game as possible. And as far as the fans go, if they can get in, they can't afford it. The Miami fans are definitely going to show up because you talk about like hierarchy and sports. Like Miami football is up there at the top. Miami Heat, obviously, you know, with the championships they won. You know, Panthers, you know, it's hockey still in Florida. So they're still growing obviously back to back champs, the Dolphins. You know, you know what that is right now.
- [145:40]
Connor
But this the game to your point, this is like hey, the used back to use back. This would be the one.
- [145:46]
G
Yes.
- [145:46]
Connor
Like indoctrination at all. Yeah.
- [145:48]
A.J.
If you have any kind of attachment to Miami, you're gonna want to come back for this game.
- [145:52]
G
Especially these alumni like our age, like the last time that they were good, like, we were kind of very, you know, young. So you. You're getting back there. We're the, you know, kind of group age wise, that have the money and the means to get out there. Maybe bring your kid, bring your friends. You know, you got a chance to go up against the number one team in the country, and you're underdogs in your own stadium by over a touchdown. Like all the. You see all the legends that have been coming back every week for. For the Hurricane. So I expect every alumni that can get in there will be down there. It should be a great environment.
- [146:23]
A.J.
Think about that. Think if you're one of the. Some of the Miami, I don't know, execs, whoever work in the ticket office, how many alumni you have asking to come back, asking for free tickets, sideline line passes, or just be able to buy tickets.
- [146:35]
Connor
Yeah.
- [146:35]
A.J.
Here you go.
- [146:35]
G
Here.
- [146:36]
A.J.
7, 500 bucks. You can get a top row. Like, that's gonna. It's gonna be interesting to see the atmosphere once we get there.
- [146:41]
Ty Schmidt
Like Connor said, I hope we just. Because the. The game we had in Miami last year, Notre Dame, Penn State, that was arguably maybe the best game of the College Football Playoff last year. So I just. I don't know. I mean, like, it was awesome at the Peach bowl, but I mean, that game was over 10 minutes into it, you know, so it's like, hopefully we just get a good competitive one that goes, you know, till the very end.
- [147:02]
Connor
Well, it's your point, Joy. The Natties haven't been at as close. Like, you can say the Ohio State, Notre Dame game was close, but it really wasn't for three quarters. And then, you know, the year before that, Michigan rolled Washington. And the year before that was the shit show.
- [147:16]
G
Georgia.
- [147:17]
Connor
Georgia beaten TCU by 50 fucking points. So, like, the. The build up to the Natty has always been top tier. It's the Natty itself. And it does feel like this year is different. Like, I mean, everything we just talked about age and just the teams in general, it feels like they.
- [147:33]
G
It's not the normal.
- [147:34]
A.J.
It's not the. The teams we've been watching play.
- [147:36]
G
No.
- [147:37]
A.J.
Georgia, Alabama, storybook.
- [147:39]
Connor
All the stuff.
- [147:39]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [147:39]
Pat McAfee
For.
- [147:40]
Connor
For both schools, like, this is a storybook finish or the. The night, the nightmare finish. That's why it feels like the. The game is just like heightened even more.
- [147:50]
G
All the connections too.
- [147:51]
Ty Schmidt
Like with.
- [147:51]
G
With Mendoza going back to Miami, the. The Cor.
- [147:58]
Connor
Everybody. Dad.
- [147:59]
G
All the different relationships, man, you're muted.
- [148:02]
Pat McAfee
Oh, no.
- [148:03]
E
Heatherman with Sigs as DC and Sig.
- [148:05]
A.J.
Huge comment saying right. He's one of the best football minds there is.
- [148:08]
Connor
Yeah. Yeah. Chris Bald offer Mendoza scholarship.
- [148:11]
A.J.
This is, this is rounded up to be an amazing.
- [148:13]
Connor
I mean Reuben Bane Jr. I'm pretty sure just put out a bunch of highlights of when they were in high school of him sacking Mendoza. When Mendoza played for Chris Christopher Columbus High School.
- [148:23]
G
That was a young. That was. Was Albert. Yeah. He was killing him. That was Miami Central against Columbus.
- [148:30]
Connor
Hey. No, it was elbow.
- [148:31]
G
Yeah, Elbow's kind of been just making his presence known. I'm excited about his future waiting in the week.
- [148:37]
A.J.
Hope he sticks around.
- [148:38]
G
I hope so too. I hope so.
- [148:40]
A.J.
I wonder how that goes. How those conversations go.
- [148:42]
Ty Schmidt
I mean Indiana's already got like the best team next Sig's got every good.
- [148:45]
G
Guy in the transfer.
- [148:47]
Connor
Yeah.
- [148:47]
Ty Schmidt
Just every day loading up on his guys. Number or two?
- [148:50]
Connor
Two.
- [148:50]
Pat McAfee
Targeting the portal.
- [148:51]
Ty Schmidt
Number three. Targeting the portal. Number five. Targeting the portal.
- [148:54]
Connor
I you.
- [148:54]
Ty Schmidt
Yeah. Where are they all going? I you.
- [148:56]
A.J.
It's amazing. Recruits itself. Once you win games you. It recruits itself. That's how you recruit. You just win every single game. Don't look back. Right.
- [149:02]
Ty Schmidt
I mean they'd be the first, first.
- [149:04]
Connor
Team ever to go 160 I believe. First college team.
- [149:06]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [149:07]
Connor
Because obviously more games.
- [149:09]
A.J.
Yeah.
- [149:09]
G
Like Yale from like the 1800s. Yeah.
- [149:12]
Ty Schmidt
That was when they're playing like five minute games and beating teams five, nine.
- [149:15]
Connor
And every team was within didn't have.
- [149:17]
A.J.
A forward pass in the playbook.
- [149:18]
G
No black guys on the field.
- [149:20]
Pat McAfee
Yeah. Well.
- [149:23]
A.J.
Different brand of football to watch. But that being said, we will be on the on the call Monday night. Obviously. 7:30 Eastern is going to be awesome. Can't wait to get down there with you boys. That being said, we're going to wrap this sucker up. I believe Pat will be back here on this desk tomorrow. But yeah, man. Mike Tomlin, thank you for your time. Thank you for your service.
- [149:40]
E
Right Tone. Yeah, that was like that's what I was wanted to get across first. Yes. I'm excited for the future and stuff like that but when you're a head coach for 19 years in a place that's insane, you're doing something right.
- [149:49]
A.J.
You're there 19 years to be in.
- [149:51]
E
A playoff race every single year. That's insane. Like he. We never experienced losing. I mean you lost in the playoffs and stuff like that but like you never experienced.
- [150:00]
A.J.
You never terrible.
- [150:01]
E
You never like season where it's like. Yeah. Ever until week 18. So that's awesome. Being a fan, the last however many years has been tough because you just. You kind of, like, you're tired of losing the playoffs and the jokes about the over.500 record get old or whatever. But overall, I mean, an incredible coaching career in Pittsburgh.
- [150:21]
A.J.
Yeah. Mike Tomlin. Yeah. We all appreciate your time. 19 years. You're doing something right. It's really tough in the NFL, as Mike McCarthy says, like, to win consistently in the NFL stage. It's very true. I believe it. I. I agree with him right there. All right, boys, here we go. Ready? Bring it in. Everyone in the back. Here we go. Team on me.
- [150:39]
G
Team on three.
- [150:39]
A.J.
One, two, three.
- [150:40]
Pat McAfee
Team.
- [150:41]
A.J.
See you.