PMS 2.0 1491 - JJ Watt, Indiana Linebacker Aiden Fisher, Indianapolis Meteorologist Adam Feick, In the Trenches with AQ Shipley, Everything DB with Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

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The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 #1491 – Championship Weekend, JJ Watt, Indiana LB Aiden Fisher, Meteorologist Adam Fike, In the Trenches, Everything DB & AJ Hawk

Date: January 21, 2026
Main Theme:
A rollicking, deep-dive into NFL Championship Sunday, breakout defensive performances, coaching carousel intrigue across the league, the culture-shifting Indiana Hoosiers, wild winter weather, and all the moments that make football’s apex weeks entertaining—from the practical to the ridiculous.

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1. Episode Overview

Pat and the boys set the table for a pivotal football weekend: AFC and NFC Championships loom, with ample speculation on storylines, QB questions, defense’s resurgence, and legacy games for both coaches and players. The ensemble—Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, AQ Shipley, Connor Rogers, Ty Schmidt, plus special guests like JJ Watt, Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher, and meteorologist Adam Fike—unpack the big news in football and life, rich with humor, bold opinions, and sharp analysis.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Championship Sunday Looms: Matchups & Storylines

(00:00–08:55)

• Pat sets up the stakes: AFC (Patriots vs. Broncos) and NFC (Rams vs. Seahawks) title games will send winners to Santa Clara’s Super Bowl.
• Major plotlines: Patriots’ improbable run with Jared Stidham at QB after Bo Nix’s injury vs. Denver’s stifling defense; Rams led by Stafford and the resilient Seahawks rematch in the NFC West.
• The vibe: Championship Sunday is “special strictly because we got the four best teams in ball playing. Hell yeah.” (Pat, 00:26)
• Primetime exposure: The magic of your team being the focus of all talk for two weeks if you reach the big game and how those narratives are built.

Notable Quotes:

• “Championship Sunday is special strictly because we got the four best teams in ball playing. Hell yeah.” — Pat, 00:26

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B. Quarterbacks and Defenses: Belief & Skepticism

(10:19–15:13)

• The defense vs. QB debate: All four remaining teams boast strong defenses, but “two MVP quarterbacks still remaining” (Stafford, Drake May).
• The Jared Stidham question: Is he a playoff-caliber QB, or are Denver’s odds long? Connor and the crew debate.
• Sam Darnold’s journey: “Do we still wonder if Darnold can do it in the big game?” (Pat, 11:09)
• Defensive rise: NFL scoring is down; defenses have “cyclically” caught onto the spread/RPO revolution, demanding new offensive adjustments.

Notable Quotes:

• “This is the year defense is winning Super Bowl again?” — Pat, 10:19
• “Defenses across the board got better… It’s a lot of fun to finally see defenses getting some shine.” — JJ Watt, 19:05

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C. Deep Dive: NFL Coaching Carousel & Power Struggles

(23:54–38:58)

• Who wants these jobs?: Massive jobs open in Buffalo, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. Are the 'best' coaches gone?
• The politics: GMs outlasting coaches, who reports to whom, examples of contract language maneuvers (Harbaugh/Giants).
• The Bills presser: Owner Terry Pegula’s viral presser, power struggles between GM Brandon Beane and departing coach Sean McDermott—"It’s not lost on anybody that GMs stick around a whole lot longer than head coaches…” — JJ Watt, 33:16.
• A league in flux: New coaches expected to win “immediately” with MVP-level QBs or get axed fast.

Notable Quotes:

• “The new coach…needs to win immediately because it’s clearly been proven that what’s happened recently isn’t good enough.” — JJ Watt, 27:20
• “Power struggles…” — (JJ, Pat) throughout

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D. Defensive Football: The New Standard

(39:59–44:19); (145:32+)

• Broncos/Patriots/Rams/Seahawks: Four of the best defensive units—New England’s underappreciated D ("nine sacks, six takeaways, one TD allowed" in 2 playoff games), Denver’s opportunism, Rams’ creative front, Seattle’s physical play—it’s a defense-driven postseason.
• Analysis: Darius Butler & AQ Shipley break down film & schemes: why defenses have retaken the upper hand, good/bad D, and the chess match with modern offenses.

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E. Radio Row Antics & The Sports Media Circus

(02:38–04:50)

• Pat’s signature satire: Lampooning the “fat idiot” sportswriters at Radio Row, how media folks act face-to-face after a season of “talking shit.” The row as football’s daytime epicenter: “Radio Row is the Super Bowl.”
• Preview: Big pop-ins, guests, and "maybe starting [Friday’s show] with a different show."

Notable Quotes:

• "Radio Row is special. ESPN licenses this show…But they don’t go to Radio Row. Radio Row is the Super Bowl.” — Pat, 04:04

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F. Off-Field: Weather Mayhem, Exploding Trees & Real Talk

(102:03–104:48; 149:27–161:15)

• Special guest meteorologist Adam Fike on historic cold fronts, “exploding tree risk” (the physics: SAP expands, bark blows off during rapid freeze):
  • “When trees get really cold really quickly, the SAP expands and the bark explodes. It sounds like a gunshot." — Adam Fike, 151:28
• Blizzard stories, 80ft Russian snow propaganda, and the enduring legend of Pittsburgh’s Joe DiNardo: A fun tangent on communal experience vs. viral misinformation.

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G. Special Guest Features

1. JJ Watt (19:05–56:50+)

• Defensive love: “It’s good to get some defensive shine…There’s a lot of underrated players in here.”
• Coaching jobs: Why this cycle is “bird in the hand/two in the bush,” role of waiting for championship coordinator interviews.
• CBA & the 18-game season debate: Players rarely get fair compensation for more games; “Players get screwed in every single CBA argument and negotiation ever.” (55:07)

2. Aiden Fisher (106:15–116:52) – Indiana Linebacker/National Champion

• Team identity: “Even when I first came here, just a really good mix of guys that just want to win and are hungry for wins.”
• Coach Sig: “He’ll get on you quick… he communicates all out of love. He just wants you to be your best.”
  • On culture: “This team was so close…Once football was over, we’re going to go kick it with the boys. Just be a normal person…Cracking jokes, playing board games.”
• Smart, efficient leadership: Sig’s no-nonsense, high-accountability, low-bullshit model.

3. Meteorologist Adam Fike (149:27–153:06 etc.)

• Exploding trees clarified: It’s a thing, but not apocalyptic: “These air masses are so dry…there’s little to no moisture, but rapid freezing can pop the bark.”

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H. The Trenches & Everything DB: Film Study

(92:24–101:36; 164:01–192:12)

• O-Line Rankings (AFC/NFC Title Teams):
  1. Seahawks (run-game power, creative use of fullback/WRs like Puka Nacua)
  2. Rams (“they completely switched from 11 personnel…”)
  3. Broncos
  4. Patriots (big runs behind Onwenu, struggles for Will Campbell)
• Everything DB (Darius Butler):
  • Patriots' Carl Davis III: “Unbelievable play. Having vision on the quarterback, seeing the route develop in front…” (164:16)
  • Patriots’ D: Nine sacks, six takeaways, essentially carrying team through postseason.
  • “Great defense starts up front." — DB, 167:20
  • Dispute: Was Bills’ Brandon Cooks' pass an INT? DB/AJ say yes, AQ says tie…offensive ball.

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I. Around the Sports World: Basketball, NHL, and Randomness

(68:36–84:17)

• Who's watching NBA regular season? Playoffs are what matter.
• Big Ten basketball: UCLA’s Coach Mick Cronin roasted for being a “miserable, sawed-off little…” whiner (Ty Schmidt rant, 76:04+).
• Hockey: Fights, “throwdown teams,” goalie scraps, and the cult of pain/reputation.

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3. Notable Quotes / Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Football is the greatest. It’s always cooking and obviously we got championship Sunday coming up where we will find out who the kings of the AFC are…” — Pat, 00:07

• “Defenses have gotten better… Now offenses are going to have to adjust—it’s a cyclicality of ball and it’s a beautiful thing." — Pat, 20:05

• “The new coach needs to win immediately because it has clearly been proven that what’s happened recently isn’t good enough.” — JJ Watt, 27:20

• “If there’s one more cold day, we’ve had it.” — Satire about exploding trees, 140:45

• “I think winning on Sunday means more than actually thinking about the Super Bowl.” — Connor Rogers, 07:16

• “What’s a gift horse?” — AJ Hawk, 196:51

• “You have to get so lucky. That’s why what the Patriots did for 25 years—insanity.” — Pat, 67:15

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4. Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–09:56 — Championship Sunday setup, playoff team breakdowns
• 11:06–16:32 — Quarterbacks, “defensive year,” MVPs discussion
• 19:05–56:50 — JJ Watt: Defensive renaissance, coaching cycle, 18-game season debate
• 92:24–101:36 — In the Trenches: O-line rankings & film study
• 106:15–116:52 — Indiana’s Aiden Fisher: Culture, Coach Sig, and national championship recap
• 149:27–161:15 — Meteorologist Adam Fike: Cold fronts, exploding trees, and winter myths
• 164:01–192:12 — Everything DB: Patriots D breakdown, INT debate, game film insights
• 68:36–84:17 — NBA/NHL/Basketball tangents, Ty Schmidt’s Mick Cronin rant (~76:00)

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5. Language & Tone

• Conversational, irreverent, often profane; camaraderie mixed with detailed football analysis; frequent bits and running gags (e.g., “fat idiot” radio row, “exploding trees,” “good D” double entendre).
• Mix of playful insults, in-depth Xs and Os, and inside jokes.

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6. Summary for the Uninitiated

This jam-packed episode gives new listeners a perfect portal into The Pat McAfee Show’s brand: sharp football intellect, unfiltered hot takes, and a unique ability to thread the needle between hilarious nonsense and professional-level sports breakdowns.
You’ll get up to speed on every key storyline ahead of the AFC/NFC championships—including why defense is back in vogue, which off-field dramas to watch (from the Bills’ circus to coaching power grabs), and why you should be rooting for good weather (your trees may depend on it).
All that, plus film study, Adam Fike’s meteorological mythbusting, a national champion’s take on program building, and several roastings of sports media and basketball coaches—make this an all-time midweek spectacle.

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“Be a friend, tell a friend something nice might change your life. Team on me. Anything to say to the team, AQ?” — Pat, 197:41

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode. The Thunder go on this watt Wednesday, January 21, 2020 since this sports program begins right now, football is the greatest. It's always cooking and obviously we got championship Sunday coming up where we will find out who the kings of the AFC are and who the kings of the NFC are and who will be traveling out to beautiful Santa Clara, California to see who will hoist the Lombardi this year. The Patriots and the Broncos will do battle in the championship at 3pm and then we head out to the NFC west, the NFC's best. The NFC Championship between the Los Angeles Rams may be led by the MVP of this season, Matthew Stafford and the Seattle Seahawks, a stingy defense that can certainly be a problem to anybody. Have they been to the Rams at times? Have the Rams been able to beat the Seahawks at times? Kind of a split. What's going on in the NFC West? They're all great and they are going to decide who represents the NFC in the Super Bowl. Now, championship Sunday is special strictly because we got the four best teams in ball playing. Hell yeah. We get a chance to see if Rabel and Drake may take the field and see if this Patriots season that is improbable can continue. Can it go all the way to Santa Clara? And then how about Sean Payton in the Broncos? Well, Bo Nixon, his second year, certainly taking massive steps. The offense has certainly got better now throughout the season they weren't blowing people out, but in the biggest games and the biggest moments, Bo would make a play and the defense was absolutely swarming. I know Houston tries to claim that word, but going into the season, the Broncos defense was the one that we were talking about potentially leading a team to the Super Bowl. They might have to do that again because Jared Stidham, a man who hasn't played football in forever, is going to be their starting quarterback after Bo Nix broke his ankle on a play that looked very routine towards the end of it. Stood on the field, did interviews, didn't say a word. And then Sean Payton came back out after his press conference and said, bo Nix needs surgery, broke his ankle, he's out forever. And we go, whoa, AFC Championship. What a terrible time for that to happen. Nonetheless, it is a game of attrition in the Los Angeles Rams, in the Seattle Seahawks, healthy, ready to do battle, and we find out who is going to field the biggest game of them all. Super bowl in Santa Clara should be special. We'll be out there Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from radio row. Have no idea what the setup is but we do know on Friday might be a bigger day than most. Friday, we might start the show with a different show actually, that is all tbd, but there's a chance. We got a collection of people that are all going to have new jackets on, coming in at the same time on that particular morning. And then obviously throughout Radio Row throughout the week, there will be massive pop ins, huge celebrity conversations and people that we've certainly made fun of or talk shit about. Seeing us in our face for the first time.

[Connor Rogers]

Hope so.

[Pat McAfee]

Those are fun times, the talks on the table. Oh, also the other way people have talked shit about us, we can see for the first time. Oh, you fat nerd. Good to see you. They have shots for you, dude.

[Ty Schmidt]

Mm.

[Pat McAfee]

You fat, lazy bum.

[Ty Schmidt]

Fat idiot.

[Pat McAfee]

Look at you, Fatso. Have you been outside of your basement all season? I know that's cliche to say, but Jesus, the sun is allergic to you. Look at how bad you look. A lot of that. A lot of these sports media people run their mouth all season. And we see him at Radio Row and they all go, oh, it's good to see you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you for everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, fatso. I remember what you said about me. Remember when he said that we need to. That's not the energy we need. I need to get that energy out right now. You do too. You start jumping in there quick on these guys that don't even exist yet. Fats, we don't need.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, I said fat idiot. And you don't get many opportunities to call someone a fat idiot, so.

[Pat McAfee]

But Radio Roll is filled with a.

[Ty Schmidt]

Lot of fat idiots.

[Pat McAfee]

The toxic table is not everywhere.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, of course not.

[Pat McAfee]

We're just saying people that commit to eating terribly and writing very mean things about sports all day, every day, they do end up happening upon Radio Row. There's a lot of great people at Radio Row, too. Radio Row is special. ESPN licenses this show, okay? ESPN licenses this show. I'm lucky. Have been lucky for the last four years to be a part of college game day or whatever. Espn, for some reason, chooses not to go to Radio Row. Radio Row is the Super Bowl.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's kind of the only reason to go out there.

[Pat McAfee]

It is the Super Bowl.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, what's the Super Bowl? Well, it's the game, it's the events at night. But during the day in the city, the Radio Row is the super. That is where, you know, like that is.

[Ty Schmidt]

Everybody congregates there.

[Pat McAfee]

All the ball is in that room. You know, not always a good thing. You know, like we just mentioned about the fat idiots. But, like, there is. There's a lot of. It's amazing. Like, honestly, Radio Row is the place to be if you're gonna to the Super Bowl. So the fact that we have a spot in there, we're very grateful for. The fact that we're going to be back there is. We're grateful for. And then all the guests that will swing by trying to sell some bullshit. We can't wait to hear about the talks. Tables here at Boston. Connor and at Ty Schmidt, Con man. Your team might be out there for the Super Bowl. What a different week that would be for you as opposed to the last couple of years.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, big time. Especially right now. Like, right now is where the nerves are the highest. We talk about all the time. I won't say that just because it's been a while for you guys being in a conference title game, but for me and Ty. Me and Ty talk about it all the time. Like, the nerves this week are always bigger than the nerves next week. It means more to win the conference championship, it feels like just because then you get two weeks of talking about your team right now, you know, both sides. Everyone's kind of saying, hey, if the past don't win, they stink. Which, I mean, they say that even after we win, so it doesn't really matter. But right now, that is the fodder with Jared Situm. But the two weeks after the conference championships, those are the best weeks because it's only, hey, let's puff up these two teams. These are the two best from each conference. So the nerves are huge right now. But just envisioning that, you know, the Patriots being there, I'm not going there yet. Because. Because I live through the Nick Foles backup quarterback, come take your soul. Okay, so acting like Jared Stidham is some bump. We can do that. I'm not there yet.

[Pat McAfee]

Who's we? Nobody's doing that up here. Who's doing the Jared Simons?

[Connor Rogers]

I think. I think it's basically everybody, maybe, but here I think it's kind of. Hey, Jared, sit him. I mean, the bats are five and a half points.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you potentially in the trenches right now looking for everything that's negative to the P? And are you recording all these descendants Rabel, to utilize his motivation, or are you using these shows as an opportunity to tell the boys in the locker room, hey, boys, people are saying Stidham's a bum. He's not. I don't think anybody's. I think the low expectations are that Stidham hasn't played. I mean Stidham hasn't played football a year. Sean Payton immediately comes out and says, hey, our number two. I like our number two. I don't, I don't mind him. And then Jordan Palmer, quarterback expert, you tell me I learned this from you. And from nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. He said Stidham's on par with Drake May. Is that not what he said, con man? And he said he's on par with Drake, man.

[Connor Rogers]

That's what he said. But he's irrelevant. Like I'm even just talking about the actual books, like the sports books that know everything. They're five and a half point favorites on the road in Denver endeavors never lost. I believe this year. I think they're undefeated at home this year. So I think it's more so about that aspect of it and just the knowing what the fodder will be. I mean everyone picked the Texans to win. New England beats the Texans. And then the Texans could have beat the Patriots with 31. Other quarterbacks shout out Dan Arlofsky. He wasn't the only one with that sentiment. It'll be the same thing with Denver. It'll be more so about. Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That was crazy.

[Connor Rogers]

Well, and everyone picked him. Like everyone had the Texans winning. And I'm saying everyone again, outside of people in this room, I think I picked the Patriots.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. And AJ And I think everyone in here felt really good about the Patriots. I'm just saying outside of this place that feels like watches actual football and most people don't. But again, that is kind of why winning on Sunday means more than actually, you know, thinking about the Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

To your point about that, if you're in a Super bowl, it is like you're a team on primetime.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, primetime games, they spend the entire show, the entire talking about your team. Hey, here's the stars that you're about to watch on our primetime game. That's why primetime games are so important to brands. They're so important to teams. That's why Thursday Night Football, every team in the league was supposed to get a Thursday night primetime game because every team deserves. You would think the NFL ownership would say this. Don't we think that our team should be talked about in a state? And then a couple years back they go, we're not doing anybody Amazon just paying us billions of dollars. We're not putting every shit team up there. Can't do it. There are some teams that have no primetime games. Yeah, Colts, the first year you were not forced to Have a primetime game. The Colts were one of the three teams that did not get a primetime game. Yeah, we're not going to do it. So the Colts aren't even talked about really for an entire thing. There's no pieces on Jonathan Taylor, how good he's been. Quentin Nelson's been a pillar of this thing. There's none of that conversation. Primetime games are just a brand builder, a commercial for your team and then you hope the game lives up to the hype. The super bowl though, to your point, you get a two week period where it's just like, what are you talking about? Well, is this team going to win the Super Bowl? Is this team going to win the amount of Drake May stuff? We would see Sean Payton, super genius if they make the super bowl as the story and that defense and how it's going to go and then the NFC side, Sam Darnold wins the big game, goes to the Super Bowl. Is he going to be able to do it or is Matthew Stafford in the Los Angeles Rams going to be able to win in two different eras? There's so many storylines that can develop.

[AQ Shipley]

This weekend, great storylines. And I know what Connor's saying, you know, he's kind of doing what coaches do when you're pumping up your team. Hey, this is a good team over there. Hey, this is a good quarterback. Stidham, he's been in league for a long time. Remember what he did here, remember what he did there. If you lose to Jared Stidham at quarterback with him playing quarterback, great team, great coach, you will never hear the end of. You can't do it. Especially with Drake May having an MVP caliber season. He's just as, as worthy as the award as Matt Stafford is. You have that the defense, which nobody talks about for whatever reason, probably the best, one of the best defenses left in these top four. Some great defense up here with Seattle and Denver as well. So yeah, you can't lose this game. Five and a half point number. I think that's a good number. It is on the road. Patriots have not had a ton of success there historically, but yeah, got to win this game. On the other side, Rams, Seahawks, they go back and forth, I think two and two in the last couple of years. Offensive defensive head coach on both sides in both games. Should be some interesting matchups, but yeah, Patriots, we got to get it done.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you're back.

[Connor Rogers]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So he hasn't made an official announcement on what teams he's going to bandwagon going forward because his bandwagon teams are now ass, which is not the purpose of a bandwagon. Bandwagon supposed to be a good time, not supposed to be a bad time. I already got teams that are bad. For me to be an actual fan of my bandwagon needs to be put on places that are good times. Not a bad time to join the Patriots. Okay, so remember we had a B.S. or no B.S. with B.A.

[Connor Rogers]

That'S right, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Where we said that is right, buddy. We said this is the year defense is winning super bowl again. This is the year defense winning super bowl again. You look at these, These are four great defenses here, but also two MVP quarterbacks still remaining. And BA Said that's BS baby. You need a quarterback quarterback to win a Super Bowl. It's like, obviously it'd be great to have both. All these teams do except for Broncos with Stidham, which, you know, king of Friday Night Lights, good pro. We know he's been around a long time, been in a lot of buildings. Maybe this is his second opportunity to kind of go ahead and do his thing. There was a time in 2020 where Connor thought stum was maybe going to still be a Patriot right now and it was all going to continue to work out. So he's still in the league. That's a long time. And then Rams and Seahawks. It's like quarterback Sam Darnold, he didn't.

[Ty Schmidt]

Have to do much against the Saints or I mean the 49ers.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on though. Do we still wonder if Darnold can do in the big game? He won the number one overall seed.

[Connor Rogers]

No doubt about it.

[AQ Shipley]

14 wins back, still won.

[Pat McAfee]

He's the first guy, first guy in. In forever to be able to do that. They got him in Tom Brady type caliber conversations. We're still wondering if he can win a big game. Is that what you guys are doing?

[Ty Schmidt]

I think so. I mean, they. They returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown last week and that. And the game was over. They won 41 to 6. Like he literally. He didn't have to do anything. Now that's not saying that he didn't play okay. You know, but we'll see. Especially going against the Rams, who they've played twice already, I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

And 12 year NFL vet, Super bowl champion player. Coach Jackie Moon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, just center and king of wedge for the Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts, the Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. AQ Shipley's here. What are you shaking your head about for Sam Darnold? You don't think we've Seen if Sam Donald can make a big play, number one seed on the line.

[Darius Butler]

I couldn't agree more. I literally couldn't agree more with what Ty just said. Because the minute that that opening kickoff gets run back, that place explodes and you are just fighting an uphill battle. And we all know The San Francisco 49ers can't play from behind. So that was over before it even started. Instantly, the crowd gets into it. All of a sudden he throw. Sam Darnold throws a seam ball. Early in the game, it was 20 yards short. 20 yard short.

[AQ Shipley]

Oblique.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, yeah. Bad oblique. But then he followed it up with a pretty good throw to left. But I am still questioning whether or not they're going to do it against the Rams. And the Rams always play them tough. The Rams always kind of had had their number. But the other thing that's interesting about that, three of those four teams were in my top 5o lines and all four of them have fullbacks just saying run the football.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, we'll get to that later. Whenever you want to suck yourself off. But let's talk about the quarterback still, which is the conversation we were having. So Sam Darnold, you're not sure?

[AQ Shipley]

I'm not sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Jared Stum. We obviously have literally no idea what he's going to look like with Sean Payton.

[Darius Butler]

Second game I called in the booth this year was the Cardinals at Denver. Jared Stidham looked like Joe Montana. He started 15, 16, threw for 200 yards. He started back at his own four yard line. Three plays, touchdown. Big play to Evan Ingram to start the.

[Ty Schmidt]

Watch out.

[Pat McAfee]

You believe in Jared Stidham or there.

[Darius Butler]

Was three moves that Sean Payton made on the first day of free agency. Two O linemen. Jarrett Stidham.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so back to the answer. Do you believe.

[Darius Butler]

Yes, I believe in them.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm giving all. And Sam Darnold? No. Okay, so you don't believe in Sam Darnold. You don't believe in Jared Stidham, do you? We obviously have seen Matthew Stafford. Now he's getting to the mountaintop he's about doing. Do you believe in Drake May?

[Darius Butler]

I believe in Drake May.

[Pat McAfee]

You think in the big moment, Drake May will be able to make a big 1000%. Okay, so we believe in Drake and we believe in Stafford. Yep, we Stidham, you believe in Sam Darnold, you don't believe in. Okay, so that's where that's coming from. I believe in them all.

[Darius Butler]

They're all. They all got here. You're in the final four.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, Jared Stidham didn't.

[Darius Butler]

But if we're ranking. If we're ranking, yeah, that's true. But he looked like Joe Montana.

[AQ Shipley]

The second preseason game, Preseason game, championship weekend.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, just close your eyes and envision it like. Seahawks are down by 4, 24, 20. There's four minutes left. Do you believe in Sam Darnold driving down the field against the Rams defense? Score a touchdown.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, Jackson, Smith and Jigba just did something so cool. Denny, he missed him. Fuck. We got a second. I believe it's him. I also believe in that defense like so much. Now granted, that's not saying that the Rams defense isn't insane, because they certainly are. I mean every. All these teams are so good. But it is interesting that like the two MVP quarterbacks still around in the year in which the defense was like definitely much better than the offense across the board in the NFL, scoring different games were different, defenses kind of came alive this year. Feels like they might have got a better grasp on what offenses are doing. Or maybe the game has changed into the fact that defenses can be a little bit better. Maybe the RPO and all the gimmick stuff that had a little bit of a run five, ten years or so, defenses are catching up. Maybe a generation of football that has been used to this style of offense has gotten into the NFL. Whatever the case study says on why defenses has gotten better, feels like defenses have gotten better. And then you look at it, it's like, well, also the two MVP quarterbacks are still around for good reason. It's crazy how football works that way.

[AQ Shipley]

Absolutely. And both of their, both of these quarterbacks, MVP caliber quarterbacks, and we talked about it, they've had good defenses, great defenses at some point. The Rams were the best defense in the league for a while. Up until kind of the end of the season, they kind of fell off a little bit. And then the Patriots as well, Patriots had some great things. Their red zone numbers was the only thing that was bad. But Zach Core, he's been doing an unbelievable job, especially in this playoffs when you have. We always talk about the D line. Their D line is great, especially on interior. And then they have great cover guys on the back end so they could do a bunch of different things. So yeah, you got great quarterbacks. But to your point, the defenses across the board, I feel like were better. They made it a lot more muddy on the back end as far as for quarterbacks, like, it's. It's hard to tell. Is it quarters, is it two? Is it man? Is it zone Is it matching? Is it dry? So it was a lot of different things like that. And that's why we heard a lot of conversation from quarterbacks about, is it pure progression? Do we go to this thing? Do we go to that thing? So I think at some point offense was starting to figure it out. But defense is won. And defense is won this past weekend, too. The weather played a role in that, but defense is across the board. Spoiler alert. The good D, bad D today, it's all good d today. Yesterday, ba his game balls. Two good Ds. I mean, yeah, two great defensive plays, McMillan and Camp Curl. So, yeah, they showed their ass this past weekend. I think they'll continue to do so.

[Pat McAfee]

Obviously the weather was insane up there in New England. Both teams had to play with it. But five turnovers forced by the New England Patriots, which is bananas to think about. It's like that's just the expectation now, if you want to be good in the NFL, your defense has to be unbelievable. I think the four ones up front is where the conversation kind of started, especially with how the Philadelphia Eagles went about winning is they just had four number ones, basically rushing to passer. And if you can get home with four, Debo, what's that mean?

[AQ Shipley]

I mean, you got seven in the back end.

[Pat McAfee]

How many eyes is that?

[AQ Shipley]

Fourteen eyes.

[Pat McAfee]

Fetty waps out of jail. Shout out to him. I just thought about, you know, make sure. I don't know if I think every.

[AQ Shipley]

Secondary member actually when I said it, not sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, sure. I haven't seen a patch or anything, but, you know, I think.

[Connor Rogers]

Not to mention third eyes.

[AQ Shipley]

We know. Come by combine draft time.

[Pat McAfee]

We should. Didn't even think about the third eye. That's on a couple of these guys for sure. They seem to be going on. Joining us now is a guy who certainly had that third eye and that sixth sense, didn't he?

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He had a size comparison against everybody else, too. That was just, I'm bigger and stronger and, you know, you smarter than you, more handsome to you. I end up being more wealthy than you.

[Connor Rogers]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

And I'm gonna end my entire thing owning a professional soccer team in every country that has one.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

When's he getting the MLS? It's America maybe. Ladies and gentlemen, join us now. J.J. watt.

[AQ Shipley]

Wednesdays.

[JJ Watt]

Here we go.

[Pat McAfee]

He's coming in jacked up.

[Ty Schmidt]

I like it.

[Pat McAfee]

Coming in jacked up. You know, last week you had a nice two hour appearance. Was kind of on you too long.

[JJ Watt]

Yeah, way too long on me. Big time. Big time. Too much, J.J. big mistake.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. All right. I like the juice that you're coming in with. Obviously. Championship week. Hey, championship week. We just had national champion crown on Monday night. Now we're going to have AFC and NFC championships crowning happening on Sunday. What we're talking about here is basically how this year became almost like a defensive year. It felt like. Felt like defenses across the board got better. We started picking teams strictly because of how good their defense was. Now, the Houston Texans defense, which obviously you got fired up in a round of playoffs and then chose not to cut a promo for them for their next game, which maybe was the reasoning behind it all, but what the Patriots defense was able to do, what the Broncos are able to do on defensive side, what the Rams are able to do on defensive side with the Seahawks obviously are able to do on defensive side, feels like it is a defensive run year. And then you look on the other side of it's like, well, both MVP quarterbacks still alive as well. What is kind of your synopsis on a state of ball right now? Feels like it's a better defensive unit across the board in the league. Do you agree with that?

[JJ Watt]

I would agree with that. I mean, I think. I think obviously when you're at this stage, you're going to have good defenses involved, but I do think that there's some, some very strong defense being played and it's a lot of fun for me to be able to finally see the defense is getting some shine. I mean, the Broncos, Vance Joseph is my DC In Arizona, was also with me at other stops. Seahawks defense, Mike McDonald, unbeliev Rams defense. Great Patriots defense played so well against the Texans, unfortunately for Houston. But yeah, I think it's good to get some defensive shine. I think there's some guys here, there's a lot of underrated players in here. Some guys starting to get the hype that they deserve. Zach Allen, obviously being one makes first team all pro this year. Rightfully so for the Broncos. Bonito phenomenal. You got the two inside the tackles for the Seahawks who are awesome and I think completely underrated, even though they are getting a little bit of shine. But a lot of really good players on the defensive side of the ball. Happy that we're putting some light on this.

[Pat McAfee]

It does. It felt like it's been a defensive year. Hembo sent us over a stat we just showed a few moments ago. The scoring per game this season through two rounds of playoffs is the lowest it's been since 2017. Feels like defenses have done well. Offenses are Going to have to adjust because it felt like defenses were adjusting to offense for the past whatever, 10 years. Now it feels like offenses are going to have to adjust the defenses. It's a cyclicality of ball and it's a beautiful thing.

[JJ Watt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Also cyclical. We're seeing it.

[JJ Watt]

I mean, that's. You're seeing the three tight ends. You're seeing a lot more of the big personnel offenses bringing in the XL offensive linemen. It's. We went to those. I mean, the conversation's been had many times, but you started to go smaller linebackers and more shelf coverages to account for these receiving tight ends and everybody spreading it out and throwing the ball around. So now as those small linebackers and shells have been implemented, now offenses are going back to heavier personnel and running the ball at them to take advantage of that size. So we're just going to keep twisting ourselves around and around.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that.

[Ty Schmidt]

I believe that is.

[Pat McAfee]

That is the flow rider. Oh, yeah. Before we dive into more football questions, have you ever been to a flow Rider show? No.

[JJ Watt]

Oh, good feeling. Big fan. Big fan. My house.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got 15 of them, J.

[JJ Watt]

He goes banger after banger.

[AQ Shipley]

Dude.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He needs the halftime super bowl conversation. I would like to officially announce official flow into the halftime super bowl conversation just strictly because we drove almost an hour to get to this event. Almost an hour. Signed up for 35 minutes. It ended up being 55.

[AQ Shipley]

It's Miami football shout out.

[Pat McAfee]

And even the people in Miami tell you the original time. Hey, how long would it take us to get there? 25 minutes. Okay. How long will it take us to get there? 40. What's the actual time? Probably. Probably an hour. That's probably going to take you about an hour, but it could take you 20. Like, if there happens to be nobody else moving in the entire city at the same time as you, there's a chance you'll get there. So we. We signed up for a timeless voyage, basically to get to this particular event. And it was all strictly to watch Flo Rida, just strictly because we hadn't been there. He lived up to the hype. We had Talk up on the stage. Talk was singing with him. Talk delivered as well. He might be on tour, but Flo Rider needs to be in a conversation for going right round, round, round, whenever we're talking about super bowl halftime. Okay. And you need to get to a show for Flo. Let's get into some ball talk. Now, you just mentioned Vance Joseph, where you played for him. I don't hear his Name a lot for any of these head coaching jobs. Has anybody really talked about that or.

[Ty Schmidt]

His name has been out there but I think like they're still alive so he can't really. He can't interview or you know do anything until they're actually done.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I'll be excited to see how many coordinators here from these four teams end up getting poached or interviewed or become the bells of the ball for this coaching cycle. Jade, you put out a couple of tweets about the coaching cycle which is fascinating. Nearly a third of the league is looking for new coaches. Each of the last two MVP winning quarterbacks, one a two time winner both in their primes looking for their new head coaches. One of the most historic franchises will only three head coaches in 69 also looking for a new one. Didn't mention the MVPs down there for the Pittsburgh Steelers but certainly a lot of consistency being turned over. You also put out another tweet about you know Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, Liam Cohen set the bar extremely high in turnovers and turnaround. Liam Cohen is certainly one to look at. It's just like late in the hiring cycle didn't know if he was going to be able to hire staff. Is Trevor Lawrence a guy? We don't know if he's a guy and then in one year they turn him into a juggernaut. AFC South Now I ask you this JJ Watt as you look around at the current hirings that have taken place got Harbaugh at the New York Football Giants. I thought he did well Shane introducing him. Very interesting. Shane should probably not be on a microphone I guess. Is that probably what we.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, never. They actually I think cut off his lips so he can't speak anymore and.

[Pat McAfee]

It felt like they kind of like had his lungs in a rear naked too where he's running out of air hard to breathe.

[JJ Watt]

We had a couple interesting press conferences the last couple days where it's people that aren't always up there tossing out some stuff that man you gotta be.

[Pat McAfee]

This yeah JJ we will get to today's been wild. Yeah we will get to Pegula for sure. In a Bill's situation that'll that's certainly another job opening that you certainly talked about there but let's just talk about the hirings that have happened already. Harbaugh, New York Football Giants. Stefanski goes to Atlanta, Salah goes to Tennessee. Halfley goes to Miami. When you think about what these hirings are saying do you think the best guys have gone off the board in like, who are you looking at now to potentially fill these other jobs? Because to your point, Baltimore, gigantic. I mean, it's a gigantic job. They're supposed to win a Super Bowl. Last year, that same roster basically going to be there. Josh Allen supposed to win a Super Bowl. Who's going to be the one that's going to figure that whole thing out? We'll dive into Brandon Bean and Pula's press conference, which. Incredible. We need to get Pagula on a microphone all day, every day. Let's get him streaming like he's Ishowspeed. Let's get him like he's streaming like he's Kai son. I need to hear every thought that comes out of his brain, because if he. If you give him an opportunity, it sounds like it's going to come. You know, it sounds like he's just spitting those things out. But when you look at these jobs, there's some massive jobs. J. Who the hell is going to get these jobs?

[JJ Watt]

I mean, that. That's what's interesting about, you know, this whole coaching thing and with the way the rules are set up with the coordinators in the championship games. Because obviously, I mean, Harbaugh was. He was going to be up there from the beginning, and you knew that somebody was going to jump on that, and it seemed like them and the Giants were going to line up. But then you start to get into this cycle of like, okay, we don't want to wait because we don't want to lose out on a guy. But we also want to see these coordinators for the championship teams, whether it's Shula, whether it's Kubiak or whoever it may be, Vance Joseph. So these, you have to, like, you're playing this dance of bird in the hand, two in the bush type situation. And it's also, I guess the coaches were also playing that a little bit with the Bills situation that pops up after both Harbaugh and Stefanski get their jobs lined up. So now you sit there and you wonder like, like, man, are they pissed. They didn't wait. Are they happy? But back to the tweets that I had put out there. I think this year, when you look at the situations that have come up, and I'm talking specifically about the Ravens and the Bills, where you have these guys who are legit bonafide already won MVPs in the national Football League, and you look at what Vrabel and Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen and then a year before, Mike McDonald were able to do with those organizations, don't get me wrong, those teams all have quarterbacks that were drafted high. Besides the Seahawks, they all have quarterbacks that were drafted high and have potential, no doubt. But none of those quarterbacks had won MVPs. So there's nobody out there saying that any of those quarterbacks were on the level that Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson were at that same time last year. So I look at those two jobs and I think you just fired two coaches who did a really good job for a very long time. No, they didn't accomplish that ultimate goal in these last few years with those quarterbacks. But you're not here to rebuild over time. The new coach there needs to win immediately because it has clearly been proven that what's happened recently isn't good enough. So now it's time for this to turn into a Super bowl in the next one to two years, and that is very hard to do.

[Pat McAfee]

John Walker, the fourth here. There had been three prior fodder. Fodder's father. Fodder's father's father. He was John Walker, walking around at the beginning saying, there'll be three more of me, hopefully four or five. He says, remember now, don't look too far back whenever these teams are absolute ass. Texans 3 and 13 three years ago, Patriots 3 and 14. And then two four, two four four C or four games. Four.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, four and 13 years.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah, a lot of numbers there. You get it. Three years ago, the Broncos 5 and 12, bears 3 and 14, Rams 5 and 12. It's like. It is crazy how quickly you can turn things around. And then if they were to put the Jags there, you would just say laughing stock for a very long time, even though they have players. And you talk about Liam Cohen going in there and not only the Duvall thing, but the actual convo was he wasn't going to be able to hire enough coaches like that. Remember that he wasn't going to be able to field a staff because it was too late and he burned too many bridges and yada, yada, yada, it feels like he did just fine down there. And now everybody else is going to be expecting the same damn thing.

[Connor Rogers]

Well, the other tough thing with those teams though, too, if you put that back up, like all these teams right, Texans number two, overall pick, they get C.J. stroud, Pat's at three. Drake may, you know, Denver at 11. Was it. Or 13 with Bo Nicks, Bears number one overall, they get Caleb and then the Rams, you know, they. Three years ago, I guess they already had Stafford but still, like, there is the argument you need to have either that top pick or, you know, you go like the Rams and you sell the farm and you bring in. Even that upgrade from golf to Stafford was enough to get him over the hump like it is. It's very difficult, too, because all those. All those teams have very good quarterbacks.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And if you just go 9 and 8 or whatever to your point, you're not going to be able to get up to the, you know, to get. That's where the Steelers were kind of living for a long time. Which is why Mike Tomlin stepping down is both a breath of fresh air, because if they're asked next year, maybe you're able to get a high pick or maybe a new voice comes in and does his thing. Coach McCarthy, I do believe, getting interview with the Steelers. Very, very, very, very real interview with the Steelers today. Coach Mike McCarthy. Obviously, he's a yinzer. We've enjoyed getting to know him. But, like, I wonder how Coach McCarthy feels about this particular coaching pool with how many jobs are open. I'm sure he's pretty pumped up. It's like, hey, I got a lot of experience, I got a lot of success. Stepped game for a year, maybe got to see it from a different angle. And there's a lot of jobs open for Coach McCarthy right now. Pittsburgh would obviously be one I think he would hold very near and dear to his heart as he turns it around. So, you know, old names, new names, they got a lot of jobs still open. And Buffalo, who's going to get that gig? Brandon Bean and Terry Pula did a press conference today.

[Ty Schmidt]

They sure did.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, Bruce Arians yesterday on our show, and we are, we would like to see, say, Brandon Bean's been very good to us. Like, very good to us. Maybe the nicest GM in all of sport to us. We appreciate Brandon Bean. We like what Brandon Bean does and how he operates. Great golfer. Everything about it.

[Connor Rogers]

Talk.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he's a talker. Like, we like Brandon Bean as the person now, granted, the conversation is certainly warranted.

[JJ Watt]

He also, like Dan Orlovsky. You got no problem going at him, so you got to have no problem going at your friends. Love it.

[Connor Rogers]

Love it.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm about to do. Yeah. McDermott gets fired, Bean gets promoted. That's a weird turn of. Even for us liking him. Like, that's a weird turn of events to happen when the same outcome happens every year. Yeah. I think you're also kind of intrigued by it. So then Bean and Pegula owner Terry Pegula have a press conference. And Pegula takes it upon himself basically to be like, let me set the records, do a power. Brandon Beane didn't come in and say, Sean McDermott can't get the job done. That's all. If he was power play guy, I'd sniff him out. I get him out of here. It's like, okay, you're going to continue to talk here and make us believe that you certainly have a clue on what you're doing. Then he, he continues, you know, he continues just kind of on. On rather or unravel.

[JJ Watt]

But he also didn't. He didn't pick the draft pick that. But it's not a power play. But he.

[Pat McAfee]

I. Yeah, yeah, the revenge. Things are coming out like actually Keon Coleman, everybody saying on Brandon Bean, turns out Sean McDermott up on table for this guy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Staff wanted him.

[Pat McAfee]

Pagola Sal was actually there. This guy got up on the table and said he wanted Keon Coleman. He guaranteed he'd be good. He said, if he's not good, you can fire me now, you know, that's why I fired him. That's basically what Pula did today. Nothing Bean did was bad. It was all on the people that were out of here. I appreciate him going to bat for his guy. Obviously he just promoted him and everything like that. Then the immediate counter argument was like, well, which ones did Bean? Like that didn't work out. That McDermott was maybe like, uh, I don't think that's a good play. Can we get more context on all this? This. But it is fascinating because Greenberg and you said this as well. Mike Greenberg puts out a tweet that says, somehow a team that has Josh Allen as a quarterback just made their job less desirable this morning. I don't think that's necessarily true because Josh Allen is an MVP and you get a chance to be his head coach. But it's a fascinating place that you're kind of walking into right now, especially after that presser jj.

[JJ Watt]

Any coach looking at these situations, and there's not many that have. Have carte blanche to choose whichever job they want. But any coach looking at situations going in with current GMs who have been there previously, I mean, you look at what happened in New York there like some of the. Obviously the discussion was around, who am I reporting to? How is this whole thing going to work? Who is telling the main boss, the owner, about my performance. I want to be the one talking directly to him. That seems like what the conversation in New York was Around, because we see what happens here when the coach reports to the GM and the GM reports to the owner. Well, the person sitting next to the owner in the booth every single game and the person reporting to the owner, generally that information is going to get sifted up a little bit differently than it actually is playing out. So who do you think is going to win that power struggle? 90% of the time, it's going to be the person giving the information, because they can give the information they want. So it's. It's not. It's not lost on anybody that the GM stick around a whole lot longer than the head coaches stick around. And if you're a coach looking at situations, I think you can't look at this way differently because you still have Josh Allen, but you certainly are like, all right, this guy just got promoted when his coach got fired. What does that mean for my standing already starting out?

[Pat McAfee]

If you're a young lad who shouldn't be a head coach, but getting an opportunity to be a head coach, having a GM who, like, oversees you and kind of decides what's happening, I think you'd be much more likely to do. But Harbaugh goes into the Giants, and obviously there was no. It's on paper, but we're collaborative. Shane comes out and says, Harbaugh reads that thing. The contract somebody reads to him goes, hey, you're gonna report to Shane. Shane then reports to the Mara family. Harbaugh goes, I don't think that's how this goes.

[Connor Rogers]

No, I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

And John goes, yeah, just change that for sure. And the agent goes, okay, you got it. Agent calls back over to the Giants, line four here, Clause two. It says that Harbaugh reports Shane, and Shane reports tomorrow. Yeah, just go ahead and get rid of that. Everything else is good or whatever. And then the Morrow family replies, okay, we'll call Shane to change that, because he's actually. His team is actually writing up the contract right now. Okay, call Shane. Hey, you need to get rid of the whole Harbaugh's reporting to you thing in there. That's not how this building runs, though, doesn't it? Oh, let me call Harbaugh then. That person has a call. So Shane says, it's just on paper. It's not that big of a deal. That's just kind of the chain of command. So then the agent doesn't even tell Harbaugh that. He goes, yeah, we're not going to do that, though. Harbaugh's still hanging out. Harbaugh thinks that thing has been removed. Removed. We're not gonna do it. That goes on for what, like a day? It felt like that took, like, a day for that to take place. And then inevitably, in the end, Harbaugh's like, am I going up there? And he just, like, hold. Gets called back. Do we remove that? Yes. Yeah. You're the guy in charge, by the way. Go ahead. Go up there. And then he walks up there. And then.

[JJ Watt]

What happened in Jacksonville last year, too? Is it not. Am I. Am I. I remember that correctly, right? Wasn't that a Jacksonville type thing last year?

[Connor Rogers]

Well, the Jacksonville. Yeah. The Jacksonville thing was Cohen Wentz didn't take the job because allegedly he wanted Trent Balki out. Then they fired Trent Balki. Cohen comes in. Gladstone gets higher.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember Khan, I believe in an interview with Balki on the call.

[Connor Rogers]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Goes. I will certainly move on from that guy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

In the zoom call like it was the Brady Bunch.

[AJ Hawk]

We need more owner.

[JJ Watt]

We need more owner press conferences is what we need.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what we were trying to do to Bashadi, like, making that song, like, bro, we need you out here.

[AQ Shipley]

Do we have a song for.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're gonna lose her with Pula. I mean, that was just the first.

[Connor Rogers]

Pipe down, Pula.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I mean, pipe down. Yeah. We could probably make a couple for Pula there. But it is, you know, because all of these coaches, all you hear them talk about is alignment. I want alignment. I want alignment at the top with the GM and with me and at quarterback, too. That'd be great if we could just have alignment at the top. That's all we really care about. All the people that have been head coaches before and have been fired, and then they go on to be a head coach again. Hey, why did it not work at the first spot? We didn't really. Second spot. Why'd you get alignment? Everybody was together, so there are.

[JJ Watt]

That is such a. It's like.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a.

[JJ Watt]

It's a thing that you would think as a fan of sports is the most obvious thing in the world. We are all doing whatever it takes to get our organization the best possible situation at all times. People just don't understand or. I mean, it's the fact that everybody is covering their own ass at all times. You have to look at when contracts are coming up for GMs, for coaches. What needs to happen for them to keep that job into their next contract, how they can spin it or manipulate it or make a certain move so that they can secure that next contract. It might not be what's best for the team right now, but it's what makes it looks like you're doing what's best for the team at that moment. There's a lot of that going on.

[Pat McAfee]

Has to appear as if it's good for the team and also has to definitely be great for mobs. You know that that. That is not just a football thing either. Almost has become a societal issue as we lack accountability amongst humans. But that is not for me to proc or forecast about because I'm a doofus who potentially falls in the same problem because I'm be looking out for us at all times, boys.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Just know that. Let's talk about a hiring that happened that got me jacked up. Jackal teams shout OUT Danny Smith just got the job down there at Tampa Bay. Love that he got hired. That does get me jacked up. Not what I was going to talk about, but good time to bring up up great ins or Danny Smith getting a job down there at Tampa Bay. How old is Danny Smith?

[Darius Butler]

72 years old.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm talking about. Acts like he's 35 though. He'll be down there for the next 20 years. They move on from coach Tom Moore who retires. They bring in Danny Smith. Need a senior with a lot of juice on the roster. So I appreciate them doing that down there in Tampa. I think there was a couple teams that wanted to hire Danny as their special teams coordinator. So Tampa Bay getting him, obviously great news, but that was not what I was referring to. What I was referring to was something that's going to boost the ball as a whole next year. Harbaugh has a new human he's going to have to talk about and describe out there in la. Go ahead, D. Bud.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, it's about a couple teams wanting this guy. I believe he removed himself from consideration for the Browns head coaching job and then got the job for the oc. Out in la. We had Dan O On last week and he said the Chargers would be the spot he would pick if he was an offensive coordinator. What's your thoughts on Mike McDaniels to LA?

[JJ Watt]

I think it's great. I think it's great from a fit standpoint. Obviously you got Herbert out there and there's so much you can do with that offense. Their offensive line gets healthy. They. They have untapped potential still. Obviously everybody kind of expects them to be something better than what they have been recently and I think this has a chance to help unlock that. But I mean from an entertainment standpoint. And like you guys are alluding to everything that comes along with it.

[Pat McAfee]

This.

[JJ Watt]

I would just. Could we get hard knocks there tomorrow? Like, the conversations, like the. The inside information, like, that would just be glorious to see those guys interacting well.

[Pat McAfee]

Herb too. And McDaniel, I mean, that relationship's going to be spectacular. You're not kidding. He's gonna have him jacked.

[JJ Watt]

He's gonna be like, all right, all right, we're gonna get you jacked. McDaniel's gonna come out next year just yolked up because of there's a chance.

[Pat McAfee]

And also out there in la, there'll probably be some sign, you know, shout out to McDaniel, getting a chance just to go back to what he probably wants to do, which is just offense. But the way Harbaugh is going to describe McDaniel's brain and offense is going to be spectacular. Like, this was just the first thing I thought of. Wizard of ball. He's going to be saying so many different things. He's going to refer to him as a little guy, which is so much.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Poindexter, maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

There's so many things he's just going to talk about. What if he walks into those off white Air Force with the tags on there? Jim just. This guy's got tags on his shoes.

[AQ Shipley]

Forgot to take circle.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, just everything Jim Harbaugh realizes about McDaniel is just going to be like an epiphany, seemingly, and then he's going to carry it right in the press. I was just outside. Guy got tags on his shoes, pants, shirt and hat. I've never seen that. Four tags. You ever had a guy with four tags still on his clothes? That's what we got around here. They're not franchise tags either. These things are for. From what I've been told, it's not just one year deal. Like just the thought of hard Boss sitting with McDaniel and being like, this is the guy.

[JJ Watt]

Imagine if he brings some Cuban coffee to him and he starts drinking the Cuban coffee, brings it over from Miami and I'm like, wow, you guys ever had this stuff? This is great.

[Pat McAfee]

I like this Cafe Sito. He said, oh, yeah, absolutely. Like, there's just so many opportunities, especially if they're good. Okay. Need them to be good. Their ass.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, if their ass. Harbaugh is going to be beating the out of him by about week 12.

[Pat McAfee]

Take the tags off your shoes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[JJ Watt]

Or he's just going to reg khakis on. Put some khakis on.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. We don't we're not wearing what. What do you call them? Jogger. I'm a runner. Okay. You put your runners on, take your joggers off. Like, there is that also possible outcome whenever mcdc said it wasn't a good fit. Right? Allegedly. That's what we're hearing for Detroit with McDaniel. Correct. That was fascinating for us because of all the weapons that Detroit has. Almost feels like a better suit for McDaniel in his office. A lot more speed, seemingly. A lot more weapons, a lot more options. So for Los Angeles Chargers to be the ones that are like, yeah, we want them, I'm pumped up for it.

[JJ Watt]

I mean, did you see him dripped out in the airport? Like, I feel like that outfit alone. I think he had a Bottega leather tie on, which is. I think walking into the Lions building with that on alone. Might have been like, all right. I don't know if this is the fit for the GRIT organization la, though.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, man.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, the. Is that tie.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, man. Is that a cow on your. What's going on here, man?

[Ty Schmidt]

All right, we're gonna wait till later.

[Pat McAfee]

But we're gonna have to head to.

[Ty Schmidt]

The bathroom right now. It's swirly time.

[Connor Rogers]

I'm getting pissed just looking at you.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance.

[JJ Watt]

Yeah, he had that fit on, man. He had the two Botanga bags on top of each other fitted out. He had, like, the. Those headphones that nobody else has. They're from, like. They look like they're old, but they also look like they're from the future. You can't really tell. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, good fit.

[Pat McAfee]

Just look at that, him walking into MCDC's office. Coach, what it do? Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Get out. Get the out of here now.

[Pat McAfee]

It's all about the right fit. That's what we've been saying this whole time.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

It's all about the right fit. Now, there was a fit in Cleveland that was seemingly out of sorts, even though they went to a playoff game. And one playoff game. Go ahead, Ty.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. JH1, what's your take on the whole Baker, Kevin Stefanski situation? Everyone kind of knew about this. Okay, There. There we go. So. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't know. I. I feel like everyone did know about this when it first happened, but now we're just kind of getting more information about how this shook out. And now Bait gets to play him two times a year. And I'm guessing you never had anything like this because you're. You're going to be a first ballot hall of Famer.

[Pat McAfee]

Like he fist fought a coach in practice.

[Ty Schmidt]

But you know, you know what mean? I mean, I mean, like no denial.

[Pat McAfee]

We still have yet to get the full story.

[JJ Watt]

We're beyond. We're beyond that. We're years beyond that.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, but just what is your take on this whole situation as we get more information coming out.

[JJ Watt]

I absolutely love this. I. This, the Ben Johnson thing with the Packers. Anything where there's like legit real animosity and it's being like, this is the National Football League. This is sports. It's supposed to be competitive. You're not supposed to like each other. We're not all supposed to be friends. At the end of the day, like, this is awesome and this is going to create some great television in this fall when they play each other twice this year. Like, this is what it should all be. And I like that we're kind of swinging this pendulum back a little bit to some of this hatred, to some of this animosity where people don't like each other. Like, we have the jersey swaps, we have all the pictures on the field after the game. We all have friends on other teams because everybody trains together. But there is nothing better when two teams absolutely hate each other. And it's like a deep down actual hatred and you can see it play out on the field. Can't wait to watch it.

[Pat McAfee]

I like that it's getting public. That's what you're talking about with the pendulum swinging. Like, I like that we know that there's dislike, that there's disinterest, that there's distaste for each other. I appreciate the Ben Johnson, Matt LaFleur stuff. I love that the whole entire McVeigh family tree thought that I'm themselves, this guy's attacking all of us. He's not just chopping down one branch, he's attacking the whole tree here. Whenever he's doing that to the floor publicly, this is all coming out. It's like, yes, yes. And then for this particular situation, I don't know if we ever heard from Baker right on it.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, not at all.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think we ever heard from Baker on it. And I don't think we ever heard directly from Stefanski on it other than what his actions were last game. Baker Mayfield was there. He had a, what, torn labrum and a fractured left shoulder. Correct. Both of them in his left hand or his left arm. And Stefanski went out there against the Pittsburgh Steelers, had him throw the ball 60 times. How many times exactly?

[Connor Rogers]

Four.

[Pat McAfee]

38 times. Okay. Had him throw 38 times. And in the game, he got sacked nine times. So you're talking about boom, boom, Boom Chubb, best running back, maybe in the game, off the field, playing against a team that has a great defense, regardless. So it's like Stefanski's trying to kill this guy. That's what we were thinking while we're watching the game live in real time without even knowing what was about to happen, where they basically run him out. Then there's shit behind the scenes happening with, you know, Odell Beckham Jr. S dad cutting up videos, and then nobody really from Cleveland saying, we want to keep him around here, even though he's making commercials in a stadium, saying it was his house. It was, like, very ugly. It was very Cleveland. Brownie, if you're from Pittsburgh, it's like, Cleveland Browns are doing everything that the Cleveland Browns would do. This is the first time we've really heard Baker, like, come out and say, like, yeah, I don't like him. I. I don't like him. It's like, all right, now we understand the. Exactly what the situation was over there. I think Baker has come out, though, and said that he's matured a lot through since that time until what he has become now, both at Carolina, out at la. He's got a chance to kind of learn and have a different perspective and all that as he was growing through it. But, yeah, it sounds like Stefanski and he did knock it along at all. Tysh?

[Ty Schmidt]

No, not at all. And, you know, now you're kind of starting to get the thing too, where, where people who are either were in the building with the Browns or taking Stevansky side and kind of saying, like, you know, Baker was a. He was a prick to, you know, support staff and people who work there and all that kind of stuff. And like you mentioned, that is when Baker was kind of like, hey, I had to kind of go through all that stuff to mature and become a better pro. And I. I mean, I don't know. I love it, too. Like, anytime a player hates another coach because everything is so either no comment, or I got so much respect for this guy. Like, it's refreshing when a starting quarterback in the NFL will come out and be like, you know what? This guy can't wait to play this guy twice a year and shove it up his ass.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. He said, sorry about that.

[Connor Rogers]

No, no, my bad. Just to add to the rivalries as we're Going through them all. Liam Cohen and Bob Sala twice a year now because of that whole entire feud after the Niners game, you know, we're cheap.

[Pat McAfee]

My name out your mouth. Yeah. Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

That's going to be incredible.

[JJ Watt]

I hope they keep it going. I hope they don't like. Nah, that's old news.

[AQ Shipley]

It's squashed.

[JJ Watt]

I hope they're like, no. Yep. Now he's got to see me twice a year. That would be awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we're in a little different positions now, aren't we? Jacksonville Jags, king of the castle. What are you, Salah. Oh, you're in Tennessee Titan. Learned. Okay, good luck over there, buddy.

[Connor Rogers]

Did Salah say like, too? Like, I will your world up, Liam, in that little, like, that little exchange. I'm pretty sure that was his verbiage.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we put a tail of the tape up and we had Liam Cohen's height wrong, you know, and he said when he came on the show later, you guys are trying to make me look bad on the tail of the tape. It's like, no, we. We put. I thought we put a lot of respect into that tail of the tape just in case you two were actually going to brawl, which we are maybe getting to the point where these coaches are actually going to fight. And I like, if the family trees are going to start taking offense to other family trees, you know, because then the leader of the trees are going to have to have a meeting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, at some point and kind of say, hey, this is the territory. This is what we need to do. Here's. You can't be doing this. You can't be doing this. That. And then you got to go tell your capo, which then goes and tells everybody down the line.

[Ty Schmidt]

You can whack this guy and then we'll whack that guy.

[Pat McAfee]

You can't whack.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, this guy.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy good. This guy not good. Can't do it. They're going to have a meeting of the minds here. And 6, 1, verse 6, 4, 2, 20 verse 250 is a little bit, you know, that's. That's potentially problematic now with that being said, head coaching records, if it comes down to that, Liam Cohen's going to be in a good spot. This was at the very beginning, obviously. Three, one, and. Oh, he's continued to work.

[JJ Watt]

I was trying to figure it out. I was very confused there for a second.

[Pat McAfee]

This was the tale of the tape that we put out. It has not been updated. We did not expect to bring it back up in this Exact moment. Good find back there. But with that being said, Liam, much better head coach than Robert Sala right now. Yes, right now. How we're supposed to talk.

[Connor Rogers]

Plus I lost a lot of weight from that. Just looking at that photo, Liam Cohen looks much better than that depict.

[Pat McAfee]

And we don't know if it's stress that he hasn't been eating or you know, know, potentially Liam Cohen. There's a chance or.

[Connor Rogers]

Or this battle. Maybe he was like, I gotta get in the gym now.

[Pat McAfee]

Preparing for Salah. Go ahead, J. Sorry about that.

[Adam Fike]

We're talking.

[JJ Watt]

I got plenty, plenty of insight into Liam Cohen's weight loss. Don't. I mean it's ridiculous topic to have a lot of knowledge on, but I do. We had him multiple times this year and it came up multiple times. It was bi. When he got there, like the very first day that Cohen got there, B was like, you. You gotta. You gotta get in shape. Ridiculous. You can't look like that.

[AQ Shipley]

Love that you look you fat.

[Ty Schmidt]

You're a fat idiot right now.

[JJ Watt]

He got him in the gym with him in the mornings and he was like they went through like a gym routine and like nutrition and stuff. And then Cohen just. He switched it to the afternoon because he was doing. He was working in the morning but he worked out all year long. And yeah, I think he said he's down 40 pounds.

[Connor Rogers]

God damn dog.

[Pat McAfee]

Salah, I don't know, bro. You're coming into a different AFC south jungle down there in Duvall.

[Ty Schmidt]

Salah is a brick house.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And his.

[JJ Watt]

Yeah, he's not also got a number one quarterback. I mean if you're looking at last year's again, we go back to that. Last year is you got. You had Lawrence, you had Caleb Williams and you had Drake May top three picks. Salah is now working with the number one overall pick. Those guys were able to turn things around unbelievably quickly with those court. You got to turn things around quickly in this world.

[Pat McAfee]

I like Cam. We got a chance to chat with him a couple times because he's come to the Miami games. Looks like he's excited, you know, bought in, just ready to play ball. Basically feels like he's just out.

[JJ Watt]

It's all going to come down to the OC there. I mean he's got to get a great oc. Like if you're going to go defensive coach, which I don't hate, obviously. I mean I think they're trying to set a culture. But you have to get Cam Ward a great offensive coordinator.

[Pat McAfee]

If we go Back to hard knocks with Salah. Salah's entire thing is like, his defense was great. The offense was ass. Right. And then I think the hard knocks, he actually finally just said it. Hey, we're going to be good on defensive side. You guys right up there just kind of circle the offense. Offensive line in particular. You guys are going to decide whether or not we're worth a shit this year. Could you please now let me tell you a story about an eagle and a crow. Okay. And then he did the entire thing, readied a couple lines and then got up to where the eagle can soar in the crow can't. That was gone. That's what I remember from his opening.

[Connor Rogers]

Yes.

[JJ Watt]

It's like the Vince Vaughn, the Jon Favreau clip where he's like, nobody's pointing fingers at anybody. You're a problem.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a problem. Sorry. I like that he was that blunt about it. And at that stage of his head coaching career, it was pretty obvious, like, hey, if this group right here could do anything, I didn't draft him. I didn't get to pay him. I am the head coach here. Our defense is going to have our shit, Right. If you. Big guys, you could say it. He wanted to say. He did not, though. He was straight. You big guys can get it together. We might have a good team here. Like that would be great if we were able to do that. He probably learned from that the first time around.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, yeah, we did.

[Pat McAfee]

I assume that is going to be main focus for this second time around. My brain, the what I am good at. We are going to have a good defense. We have to have the offense figured out. I assume is what he's.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. Now, he doesn't have the same talent I would say that he had on that jets defense with Tennessee. Right now up front, you obviously have Simmons and that's a great piece to build around. You got some other pieces that haven't quite worked out that they brought over, but you assume that he has a good evaluation of defenders and then him coming from. Well, he was in Shadow Shanahan's tree earlier, so hopefully he has another offensive mind. Maybe a guy we know, maybe a guy we don't know that he does bring. Bring over and kind of bring the best out of Campbell. We saw flash from Campbell, Ward, and like JJ Said, you get a great offensive mind around him. Obviously, pieces can. Ward could be one of the best quarterbacks in the league. We think.

[Darius Butler]

Think back to C.J. stroud's rookie year. Offensive coordinator was Bobby Slowik. They get rid of him, he goes to Miami, he's without a job. This makes all the sense in the world to go get him, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So slow it goes down. Tennessee don't love that. Back in the AFC south, causing us problems. The Titans currently right now, if you were to look at their win loss record since vra, they're the worst. Oh, yeah, they're the worst. They everything. There's the worst in everything since kicking Vrabel out of town and Vrabe's now in the AFC Championship.

[JJ Watt]

How's he doing?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, pretty freaking good.

[Pat McAfee]

Get him out of there. All right, last question here for you, J. Big topic of discussion around the NFL and it will be for the entirety of the offseason, it feels like. Go ahead, Connor.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, J. Bob Kraft was on WEI afternoons and he basically said, hey, the NFL has three priorities right now, one of them being an 18 game season, moving the preseason to two games, and then also an international game for every single team every year. What do you think specifically about the 18 games? It feels like we've talked about this for years, basically since the 17 games became a thing. But do you think they also have to change, you know, bye weeks? What are kind of some of the things you expect to see once that 18 games is implemented?

[JJ Watt]

I don't know if we have enough time between now and getting off the air on ESPN to go through all.

[Pat McAfee]

Of this, but there you got three minutes. Okay.

[JJ Watt]

The value of the 17th game was never given back to the players in a proper manner. And that's because of. We all know the pat, especially debut like the guys at AQ that know the CBA negotiations, everything didn't like. You have to fight for what this is worth. Do not give this 18th game up for less than it is actually worth. And unfortunately, that's just looking forward the way that it's all going to shake out. They're going to give a second bye week. They're going to take away preseason. A preseason game to an 18th game is not even remotely close to the same thing. A preseason game. Nowadays, people don't even play in them at all. So now you're taking zero plays and you're replacing it with 65 plays of the highest intensity. Most difficult.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no, they're throwing.

[JJ Watt]

Did I freeze? Did I freeze?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, somebody's.

[JJ Watt]

Somebody's trying to silence me.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep.

[JJ Watt]

Who's doing? Doing it? Who's doing it?

[Pat McAfee]

Could have been crap.

[JJ Watt]

Are you now in their pocket? Are you now in their pocket?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm on your. I was giving you A whole floor. I said you had three minutes. Do your thing, please.

[JJ Watt]

They're gonna try and they're gonna try and get you with a second bye week. No. If you play 18 games, yeah, you better have a second bye week.

[Pat McAfee]

That shouldn't even be.

[JJ Watt]

Don't let them use that as a negotiating tool. That's a non starter. It needs to be financially equivalent to what it's worth to you. And wasn't the same for going from 16 to 17. You have to find a way to make going from 17 to 18. The players get screwed in every single CBA argument and negotiation ever. Have one of the worst. Figure it out.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, the good news is, last NFLPA president was really using his time efficiently. That's what we learned. 1961 through 1977, it was 14 games, six preseason games. So it had 20 games there. Then it went 16 to four. Now it's 17 and three. 18 and two is probably what's next. I asked Roger Goodell about that at the draft and for you it's a funny thing that they are trying to make that an argument. And he was like, I think I speak for everybody. We'd much rather have a regular season game than another preseason game. Right. It's like, yes, certainly in the negotiation, who knows if it'll be treated the same. And you talk about players losing all the time. I agree. I think they're bad negotiators in there. But I want to let you know, whenever we get an extra guaranteed cold tub in every bill voting for that 18th game, people's knees are going to feel better.

[JJ Watt]

That's what I'm saying.

[Pat McAfee]

Two at a time. Two at a time. It's going to happen. Jj, you're the man. Why don't you go be the president of the NFL? PA Oh, I.

[JJ Watt]

We have. There are many, many deep discussions had during the last cba and it's. I understand completely the issue at hand with why it's difficult to get every NFL player on the same page because of the length of contracts, because of who's been in for long enough, who understands the dynamics of it all. It's very difficult. You know who also knows that? The owners. Which is why they win every single negotiation ever.

[Pat McAfee]

30 billionaires and their lawyers negotiating against you is going to be tough. You got to stand on business.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

And JJ would do that. That's why he's future first ballot hall of Famer. We're back on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice.

[AQ Shipley]

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[Pat McAfee]

Download the prize picks after they can use code TPMS and get $50 instantly in site credits when you play $5. That's code TPMS on prize picks to get $50 instantly in site credits when you play $5.

[AQ Shipley]

Win or lose, you'll get 50 bucks.

[Pat McAfee]

In psych credits for just playing. Guaranteed prize picks.

[AQ Shipley]

It's good to be right. Must be present in certain states.

[Pat McAfee]

Visit prizepix.com for restrictions and details. Welcome back to oh yeah, that's a pepper Thing.

[JJ Watt]

First up, we've got Harrison wrapping his.

[Pat McAfee]

Dr. Pepper in in a tiny quilt so it feels at home. Oh how tender. That's a pepper thing. And over to Becca, who's whispering affirmations to her can. You're sweet, you're unique, you're the best.

[Prize Picks Announcer]

Thing I ever poured over ice.

[Darius Butler]

She swears it makes it taste better.

[Pat McAfee]

It's not a science thing, but it's a pepper thing. Why do they all do it? All for that sweet, delicious, truly one of a kind taste of Dr. Pepper. It's a pepper thing. Hello beautiful people and welcome back to our humble above the ThunderDome on this watt Wednesday, January 21, 2026, hour two of the program begins right now.

[Darius Butler]

Football.

[Pat McAfee]

It's the best. It's just the best. So much drama. We got billionaires speaking for the first time. Long time. We're incredibly entertained. We got new jobs opening up, we got new hirings happening around the NFL. And oh yeah, we still haven't figured out who the champions of the AFC are or the champions of the nfc. Well, we only have to wait just a few more days. The New England Patriots back in the AFC Championship.

[Connor Rogers]

It's beautiful.

[AQ Shipley]

It is.

[Pat McAfee]

Taking on the Broncos back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

In the AFC Championship game. You know what? Teams haven't been in the AFC Championship game since the last time These teams were in the championship game who a lot. 85% of the teams have not been in the championship game basically since the Broncos, but more specifically the Patriots. They've done it again. These people are primed to have another 10, 20, maybe with modern science, 30 year run at the top of the AFC. And I'll tell you, it's a different vibe coming out of all the mass holes at Boston. Connor is a great depiction because they're still at the moment of saying, oh, they don't believe that we're back. They don't believe that we're good. So they're still fighting chip on shoulder all. And that's going to be for the first three, four years of this thing. And then after that they're going to be the. We are the kings. We are yet again the Kings. This is all possible unless the Denver Broncos with Jared Stidham at quarterback are able to topple them at home as five and a half point dogs in the AFC championship game. And then the Los Angeles Rams take on the Seahawks in the NFC Championship 6:30 Eastern, 330 local over there, the 12s will show up in a huge way. We expect both these games to be absolute bangers and the storylines coming out of them are going to be spectacular. But that's not where the storylines end. Storylines are everywhere in football right now. You know, the transfer portal opens up basically for Miami and Indiana for five days or whatever. So we still see mega moves happening around college ball. Coaches are being hired, coaches are being slandered, players, players are getting made fun of and owners are saying whatever they're thinking because they're billionaires and they rarely have to face any punishment for any of their actions. That's right. I make the game. So what are you going to say? One bad call. All right, change it then. You're the owner, right? That ref contract is up here in a couple months as well. So whenever you talk about the state of football being a constant flux, we're in it right now. We're also in the best time to be alive where we're just a couple weeks removed from the super bowl, which is going to be the best week out in Santa Clara. Cannot wait to get out there. Cannot wait to celebrate ball. And cannot wait to talk for another hour or so with these fine gentlemen. The toxic table at Boston, Connor and that Ty Schmidt. Ty, packers aren't in there.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, no, no, no, no, they're not. And you know, hey, maybe next year we'll see. You got to hire a good defensive.

[Pat McAfee]

Coordinator D. But the Eagles, the Chargers, the Dolphins and the Colts. Colts and the Panthers are not in there.

[AQ Shipley]

I did play there.

[Ty Schmidt]

But you're kind of starting to ride.

[Pat McAfee]

For him a little bit.

[AQ Shipley]

You know, Cam came back, beat the drum. I like, you know what Young did. Yeah, but they're not on my list.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but you're a fan of the cold train now, right? Absolutely. And you always Patriots bandwagon, always be offended the Colts.

[AQ Shipley]

I'll always be offended.

[JJ Watt]

Dolphins.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[AQ Shipley]

But also now my bandwagon, that's different.

[Pat McAfee]

But you. You put it on. The Patriots play for the Patriots, play for the Colts. You would assume he also a fan of the Panthers, right. Because he played for them as. Absolutely. That be the third team of his three team playing career. So you think he would just get on board with the Panthers. So you're saying, yeah, definitely. Good for Charlotte. But they're not a part.

[AQ Shipley]

I didn't get a text from Bill when he shipped me out of New England, so I almost want to send him one of those Baker Mayfield tweets right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Sent you like a piece of garbage.

[AQ Shipley]

You should ship me out.

[Pat McAfee]

The Patriots being back, outrageous. The Rams still there. Crazy. McDonald being able to turn over the Seattle Seahawks. I guess I should point that out. Seattle Seahawks back in the NFC championship game. We're not really giving that any love. That's a potential return to real greatness for them. And then obviously the Ram or the Broncos being back, it's a huge kind of what is old is almost new again in this world of football.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. Just huge for everybody on that graphic and more with just legacy, like, these are true, like, legacy games. We always talk about the regular season is the regular season. Then you get into the playoffs, then you get into these championship games to punch your ticket to the big dance. Then once you get there, whatever happens for coaches, for players, for quarterbacks specifically, like, that's like this is going to live on forever. So we only got three more. We got to enjoy them. You talked about the storylines. There will always be, you know, NFL will always, you know, dominate the storyline, be combined and it'll be the draft. But we got to appreciate these actual football games, meaningful football games that we have left.

[Pat McAfee]

You talking about legacy? Sean Payton, we assume hall of Fame coach, right?

[Connor Rogers]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Frable, we assume hall of fame coach, right. McVeigh, we assume hall of Fame coach. So he just got McDonald out there and guess what?

[AQ Shipley]

I think Vrabel got to win one.

[Pat McAfee]

Has to win super bowl as head coach.

[AQ Shipley]

I think so. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I think so. As well. I think that's accurate. We assume he will.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But not. No guarantee.

[AQ Shipley]

No, no.

[J]

True.

[Pat McAfee]

There's no guarantee.

[AQ Shipley]

We got to remember that too. With great quarterbacks, with great. Josh Allen hasn't been one yet. And you know, everybody on TV says he's the greatest, talented, most talented quarterback we've ever seen touch a football field. And I love Josh Allen as well. But it's not promised that you're going to get back to this point. Herb. Ben Johnson, in the press conference, somebody said, hey, how do you build off this year? He was like, look, we start back at square one. Just like every other of the 31 teams out there next season. We know every year it's a different group in their locker room. We see now with owners speaking up more some of the shit that goes on behind the scenes and why teams are bad year in and year out, decade and decade out. Not the Bills. The Bills are obviously a good team, but it's a lot that has to go right. Injuries for you to get to this point where you're playing on championship weekend with a chance just to get to the Super Bowl.

[Pat McAfee]

There's no building off of this. We go back to square one. Ben Johnson says, how do you build off this? There isn't any. We gotta. I don't think you guys. Well, you should actually, because you guys haven't been here in a long time. It's so hard to get here and then think about getting there like you're the Denver play Broncos starting quarterback breaks his ankle right before the championship. It's like, that's a heartbreaker. Crazy, that is. And it happened to the Ners, I guess when they played to Philadelphia Eagles a couple years ago. Was there six injuries in the first half?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, F. Like second play.

[Pat McAfee]

Rock party. Couldn't throw a football. Then somebody got leg whipped.

[Connor Rogers]

Got Bosa, I think got Bosa shoulder.

[Pat McAfee]

Fred Warner went down. It was like four injuries in like the first quarter. First drive for the San Francisco 49ers. It's like you got to get so lucky. Injury was. We're not talking even at this stage. We're talking throughout an entire season. You have to get lucky injury wise.

[AQ Shipley]

And comment mentioned earlier when. When Carson Wentz went down on that kind of MVP caliber season and Nick Foles thankfully stepped up and played great and you go. It did go right for them. You went on and won a Super Bowl. Like so many things just have to go right for you to actually get it done. And then people are going to talk about it forever. And a lot of times, a lot of that context is left out. Obviously, quarterbacks are different, but you could lose a star pass rusher, Michael Parson, like that go. You use a star receiver or tight ends banged up, or your guard is playing with him, you know, messed up injury. So it's a lot of things that got to go right from the coaching staff and the players.

[Pat McAfee]

On Micah Parsons note. Hambo sent us a stat on Micah Parsons. You know, do you think you guys had the lead whenever he got hurt or something like that from his injury on? You guys want 0 and 4? Yeah. Let's see. The packers were leading Broncos 23, 21. We're talking about the Broncos when Micah went down. They never won another game and had four sacks in their final four games. I mean, you talk about an injury just.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ruined everything for a team. That was the Micah Parsons injury. So back to the point of getting to championship weekend. So much has to go right on every single play for you to be able to get to a point to get here. Because the way salary caps are allotted, the way teams are. Are kind of pieced together, you lose one or two pieces just accidentally for three, four weeks without knowing, let alone a flu comes through. Yeah, something like that happens. That can derail everything you have going on.

[AQ Shipley]

A flag.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, a terrible flag. That changes the whole course of career. People have to move their families because of bad calls, which goes to Pula's point. One bad call.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's get these refs out of. Who's in charge of me? They're gonna listen to me. Yeah. All right. I'll say something.

[Darius Butler]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like, thank you. Go in there. Let's go ahead and make sure we do that. Gotta get so lucky to win. That's why what the patriots did for 25 years, insanity.

[Connor Rogers]

Well, and that's the amount, like, losing one or two pieces. And then some of these teams that are not even close to our radar gaining one or two pieces, like the Patriots and Drake May. They weren't in this conversation last year when we were forecasting, or the year before or the year before that. Like, we talk about Mendoza a lot, and who knows? Because a lot needs to happen in Vegas. But, like, Mendoza goes to Vegas. Are you that surprised if they become a legitimate team in the next three years with Mendoza? Like, a lot of these teams. Yeah, I guess. I guess Vegas, maybe. It is a little different. Definitely. With the jets, you would think that, too. But, like, some of these teams come out of nowhere. The command commanders, the commanders Weren't good this year, but if they're great next year with Jaden Daniels and he stays healthy, like, nobody's that surprised because they just went to an NFC title game. That's the whole, you know, conversation about Burrow and the Bengals. Like, if you look at the Bengals from when they went to the super bowl to now, it isn't a full blown collapse, but it's pretty damn close. It is. It's pretty close. Even the Lions. The Lions were the kind of class of the nfc, not the top, but they were up there. And then they missed the playoffs. Like, every year is so different. And that's why it's the greatest league on earth. Like NBA, all these other leagues, you kind of know who's going to be there.

[Pat McAfee]

The Pacers, obviously. Championship pedigree.

[Connor Rogers]

And that's a perfect example of a team kind of coming out of nowhere.

[Pat McAfee]

And also enjoy it.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Enjoy it while you have it. Because you never know, the next year, it might be absolutely awful. But also, who knows, because no one watches the NBA. But again, that is.

[Pat McAfee]

Now, on that note, I heard the numbers were up. Were they not up? Yes, I think their numbers were up.

[Connor Rogers]

I don't know. I haven't seen them.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, so I saw last night, it was Lakers Nuggets, I believe. I turned on in the middle of a. Luca.

[Ty Schmidt]

Luca was getting bit of a scorcher.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I think he went from 26 points maybe to 33 points in like a. Like a minute and a half run or something like that. And it was like, okay, Luca still did. LeBron had a cool pass per high school. Okay. And then I changed the channel. I want something else. Should have stuck on that because I basically just did an Internet clip on the actual tv. Yeah. So I think I gave him a rating. But that is what NBA is. It's hard not to just digitally take in the NBA. Show me the three highlights that happened last night.

[AQ Shipley]

Come on, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

And what's. I'm telling you, it's hard for me right now, man. Maybe once football's over, I'll dive in. Last year was easy because it was like, yeah, Tyrese is in there. His grays. His gray shoes are by far the best ones he's had. I had him on yesterday. I should have worn today. I didn't know I was going to shout him out because obviously everything is scripted in this particular show. But whenever you watch just, like, highlights and get the score, who's in, who's out, that's really all I'm doing with The NBA right now. And I don't like that because I think we should pay attention to these sports more.

[Connor Rogers]

But, but the playoffs.

[Pat McAfee]

I think everybody's doing the same thing I'm doing. I think that I know if you're.

[Ty Schmidt]

Flipping through the channel. Channels and you laying on an NBA game and they don't have starters in, it is an absolute certainty that I will not be returning to that channel unless I'm watching the Celtics and Luca Garza is just out there.

[Pat McAfee]

You gotta have a personal connection.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

CKD locking down Wemby.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Now all of a sudden I have a personal connection to that. Yeah. It's like, wait a second. Kevin Durant was originally the potential full NBA changer. Too tall. He, he, he, he's too skinny to be how tall he is. He's got pull on weight. Slim. Reaper said, I don't think so, Paul. Okay, actually, I'm just going to go ahead and do all this other shit. So for him to now have to face the next, hey, this guy's going to cheat. Is the game changer in this. And then for him to take it upon himself.

[AJ Hawk]

Love that.

[Pat McAfee]

I love everything about it. KD still got it. I like that everything's happening and this isn't a playoff game. This is middle of January. Him locking it down. It's like there's always good highlights, good storylines. And the NBA will get us through a time whenever we need them. We need to remember that the NBA will do that for all of us.

[Connor Rogers]

The playoffs are incredible. That run. When it is like NBA and NHL playoffs every single night, multiple games. Those are great. The only problem is, like in the NBA especially, it's typically 1, 2, 3, 4. As far as seating goes. That's going to be in the quarters, then the conference finals and then the finals. There is never really a surprise seven or eight seed making a massive run in the NHL. You can make an argument. All eight, you know, can. Can go and win it. At least. The eight seed can at least go and win it. That's how the Florida Panthers basically started this entire run.

[AQ Shipley]

But seeing is kind of stupid too. That's one thing I don't, you know.

[Pat McAfee]

I love about the NHL.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, I don't like the seed.

[Pat McAfee]

You're from Hockey Beach.

[AQ Shipley]

I am. Hockey town.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, the town, AKA Hockey Beach. You're a hockey beach. Yes. You're not a hockey town.

[AQ Shipley]

You just gotta get in a dance this year. Oh, sorry, Foxy.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Playing like a bunch of hockey beaches.

[AQ Shipley]

I just saw Bobby come out of the Net and start throwing him things. Now I don't.

[Connor Rogers]

It was sick.

[AQ Shipley]

He didn't get the best of the other guy, but I liked. I love to see. I didn't know. I didn't know that happened.

[Pat McAfee]

Red goalies.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. I never seen his goal. Holy scrap.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's usually pretty dramatic situation because think about the crowd. Crowds all back. They could see the entire. You see a lot of pads in movement coming from one side and then obviously you see the other one agreeing. It's like everybody immediately gets excited about it. The least amount of fighting experience.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

The, you know, probably the most to lose if they were to hurt themselves. Right. In this situation. Them getting after each other is a beautiful thing. Yeah. This is good for. He obviously rips the helmet off. I'm keeping my helmet on, obviously. Nope. Boom, boom, bang. With all those pads, it's going to be tough. And when you lose these hockey fights, which we are fans of. We are fans of the hockey fights. We like that in 2026, the sport has fighting still as a way to handle business amongst each other. Like, hey, yeah, what you just did, we don't like we're going to have to fight for that. Then let's move on. If you're losing those, I feel like, you know, in boxing how you just like kind of hug hockey. You got to get that thing to the ice. Because as soon as you get to the the ice, normally help is on the way. Now I have seen guy getting his ass beat, like, oh, we got to get this to the ice. Guy picks him up off the ice, continues fighting.

[Connor Rogers]

That's.

[Pat McAfee]

That is. That's the worst case scenario, I think in some of these fighters, not these goalies, obviously. And once again, we can't say thank you enough to both these. Over in Shark Cage and down there in Hockey beach having the goalies kind of get after it, you know, anytime that's happening. But some of these hockey fighters, fighters, I think they could have been professional boxers if they wanted to. And then they're like six, seven as well.

[Connor Rogers]

What was Zadano Achara on skates? I believe was six, nine. I think he is six, seven or six, six off skates.

[Pat McAfee]

And he was a professional fighter.

[AQ Shipley]

Could you see him in the business?

[Connor Rogers]

Unless he was 6, 9 and then 611 without skates. There it is, 6, 9 without skates with him. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And he was an actual professional fighter.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, he's tallest ever.

[Darius Butler]

Tom Wilson's like 6, 4, 2, 5, 50, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And he's a menace. He's a problem that whole capital's team is just so mean.

[Ty Schmidt]

Ryan Reeves, Revil.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, Revo got his bell wrong.

[Darius Butler]

I saw that.

[Pat McAfee]

OVI will run you too. OVI will run you. He's not. The Russians aren't scared to kind of run you. Gino Malkin will get in a fight if he has to. How are the Penguins doing right now?

[AQ Shipley]

How do you think, Pat?

[Pat McAfee]

Pretty damn good.

[Connor Rogers]

And Malcolm? I've seen Malkin get called kind of a crybaby. Not as much as mix it up. I mean, and look, I'm. I'm. I'm a fan of the bad news bees. So all we do is throw down. Granted, we got our freaking shit pushed in by the Dallas Stars last night, but that's because we. That's because we're a throwdown team. In Texas hockey, they're finesse. And finesse wins, you know, every once in a while in a seven game series, finesse wins three times, you know, but that's the thing about one of those teams. Rooting for a team who actually is trying to just beat your ass is one of the best parts of being a fan. True.

[Pat McAfee]

That was the Florida Panthers.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

There was like audience video coming out from the bench, from the coach, just saying, hey, listen, we're up 4, but let's make sure we're getting bodies on these guys. Game six, game seven, let's see if their bodies can handle it. It's like everything is a spar, basically every extra little shot. Just trying to make them survive in the NHL. The injuries, they'll tape you together.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

They don't care.

[Pat McAfee]

Literally flip you up, put you on the ice and kind of just shove you out there. Do it. Go, go do it. I'm getting paid less than every other sport. You're lucky to do it, right?

[AQ Shipley]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You got a broken spine. Cool. Let me tell you about Mario Lemieux. Guy had cancer and a broken spine. Scored two goals and had an assist. So I have a broken mouth either. Go ahead and get out there and do it. That is kind of the hockey culture beautiful thing. We can't wait for full NHL time and NBA time. Is Big Ten basketball happening?

[Ty Schmidt]

Full swing right now, baby. We are.

[Pat McAfee]

Is Big Ten the power conference in basketball?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes, it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Who won the national championship last year?

[Connor Rogers]

Florida.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, that's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so that's the sec, obviously, right? They had what, how many teams were in there? Thirteen or something?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, they, they were the conference last year that a bunch of teams you normally. Big Ten.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh. So this Year Big Ten is back to being on top whenever it comes to hoops. Who are the teams I'm hearing about? Because there's some blue blood basketball schools up there in a big tent.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That I'm excited to kind of watch. Take March Madness.

[Adam Fike]

Sure.

[Ty Schmidt]

You know you're always going to have your Michigan states. Michigan this year is arguably one of the best teams in the country.

[Pat McAfee]

The Nebraska.

[Ty Schmidt]

Nebraska, yeah, Nebraska, Purdue as well. You know, the Iowa Hawkeyes are pretty solid. But if you're, if you're watching Big Ten, the only team you're probably going to hear about is the UCLA Bruins because their head coach, Mick Cronin won't shut his mouth. All he does is and whine about everything. Any opportunity he gets to. They just beat Purdue, number four team in the country the other night. And how does he spend his time at the podium? By going at the Big Ten and bitching about their schedule and pouting about how they got to go on the road and all this kind of stuff. Listen, everyone deals with it, okay? The Big Ten wasn't asking for these fucking schools from the west coast to be in the conference. But guess what? They're more on of a commissioner basically said like I want this anymore, okay? Pac12, no more. And they folded the whole league in the Big Ten said, you know what? Ucla, you're a blue, but you're a blue blood. Usc, you're a blue blood. Oregon, we'll take you for football. We're going to need you for football. So yeah, we'll give a home for you guys. They come in, you don't hear anything from Oregon complain about travel because guess what? That's kind of just the way it is. When your commissioner decides, hey, you're not going to play schools around you anymore, you're going to start flying to Piscataway, New Jersey and shit like that. But for some reason, Mick Cross Cronin, that little sawed off, he's the only one who's got any issue with it. And he complains all the time. And if it's not that he's complaining about his players or he's complaining about Nil, or he's complaining about, you know, that it was 68 degrees in Westwood in LA instead of 75. This is the, this guy's the top five highest paid coach in NCAA basketball. Quit acting like you're a garbage man, pal, okay? Your job's not that difficult, okay?

[Pat McAfee]

Just shove.

[Ty Schmidt]

Shut up. Do what you got to do. Especially don't be bitching after you beat the number four team in the country. I hope Tony Petiti calls him today and he's like, listen, you little rat bastard, you like coaching in the Big Ten? Okay? Do you? Because guess what? We'll, we'll toss your ass out of there. We'll bring, we'll bring in Cal State Northridge to the Big Ten.

[Pat McAfee]

All right? So let me, I sense a little bit of.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm sick of it. I've hated this guy since he was at Cincinnati, okay? And whatever, that's fine. UCLA is, you know, John was Wooden the great, the greatest to ever do it.

[Connor Rogers]

Statue downtown.

[Ty Schmidt]

Statue downtown. He'd be rolling over in his grave if he knew Mick Cronin was coaching the Bruins. If you are a Big Ten basketball fan, you hate this guy. You just do. Everyone does. And I'm sick of it. I'm sick of hearing it. I'm sick of all the potting. This Guy lives in LA and he's making like $7 million a year. Shut up, okay? Just shut the up. I, I've been wanting to say that for, oh, I don't know what, what is 2026? I've been wanting to say that for about 10 years.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, 2016. You're pretty well prepared. Yeah. I want to let you know you nailed it. I don't know how many times you practice that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, I've said that verbatim to, you know, anyone who, who will listen many times over the course of the last 10 years.

[Pat McAfee]

So why we waited 10 years for this exact moment is because he's now he's attacking the Big Ten and you're like, excuse me, sir.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, shut up, pal. Just be happy with you your seat at the table. Okay? Okay. And again, if you want to. And, and like if they, if they played five out of their first seven games on the road, you lose all five of those or four of those. Sure, you can bet you want a little bit about that. You just beat the number four team in the country last night. Maybe, you know, and, and he's a self serving prick, so he'd never do this. But, but maybe, you know, shout out your players, say, hey, congrats to my guys for fighting their asses off and getting the top five victory. But what does he do now? He pots about how much they got to fly on their private planes and you know, all that kind of stuff. I'm done with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is another Big Ten hero. He's a college football national champion, super bowl champion, Ryder cup winner, Big Ten human of the Century.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk. Did you know this. Have you caught this diatribe before about Coach Mick Cronin? Cronin, or.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, a little bit. I actually talked to Ty about it, I think on the trip, because the Ohio State Buckeyes had beaten Mick Cronin in the UCLA Bruins a couple of days prior to that. So, yeah, I got to see a little bit of. Of him on the side. He's a fiery coach, I would say, on the sidelines, no doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He's not just fiery. I guess what Ty's saying is he's miserable all the time. You win a game, you're whining. You lose a game, you're whining. You don't have a conference, you whine, you end up in a conference, you whine. It's like, hey, you're UCLA dude. Like, let's go ahead and. Let's go and do this thing. I do remember that he and Ty, I think a lot of things you said. I do not know Coach Cronin well enough to know if I. I don't.

[Ty Schmidt]

Know him at all.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, this is just from outside looking at.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

This is our. This is your thought. Until I meet him, I would like to reserve judgment.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

It does seem like he is a bit negative on a regular basis.

[Ty Schmidt]

All the time.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. He buries his players a lot, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

He does.

[Pat McAfee]

In that kind of the thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That might be his style of motivation. He's one.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Yeah. He was good at Cincinnati. I mean, he's never won at all. No, no. He never won the big one. You kidding me, guys? Five, three. Sawed off little.

[Adam Fike]

You think these guys want to.

[Ty Schmidt]

You think these guys want to listen to him when he's getting under their asses? I don't think so.

[Connor Rogers]

Any have a team that, like, fought everybody at Cincinnati.

[Ty Schmidt]

Cincinnati and Xavier gotten a big time scrap? I can't remember if he was there at that time. I think he might have been, but I just. I just don't like it. You know, you can be like Sig Sig is. I mean, he's a boy. He's a hard ass. You know, I don't think he's having too many lovey dovey conversations with his players. You know, it's probably not that easy being on, like, a Sig coach football team. You ever hear one of those guys say anything negative about him or any of those guys who wouldn't run through, you know, a hail of bullets and. And bombs to play for that guy?

[Pat McAfee]

No, I don't think.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't. You know, you don't hear too many guys defending Mick Cronin. That's all I'm saying.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll see if he wins if an Addie or not, you know, because he might just beat the number 14.

[Connor Rogers]

He won't.

[Pat McAfee]

He just beat the number four team in the country.

[AQ Shipley]

Number one team right now, you know who.

[Pat McAfee]

Who?

[AQ Shipley]

Arizona. Cole Peak.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we like Arizona right here.

[AQ Shipley]

Number two team UConn. Huskies. Michigan.

[Pat McAfee]

Men's.

[AQ Shipley]

Purdue.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

Men's number one in women's undefeated 181 men's 13 game win streak.

[Pat McAfee]

So you guys stay independent because of basketball.

[AQ Shipley]

They are still. They're in the Big east. Basketball.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, so they're not independent. Just football's independent.

[AQ Shipley]

Just football.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

No one wants them, unfortunately. They recruiting in the northeast.

[AJ Hawk]

You guys keep all that money. That's why.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. If they make the playoffs, they got.

[AQ Shipley]

To figure it out.

[AJ Hawk]

But coach get a lot of money.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you do. If you. If you're an independent like Notre Dame and you make the playoff and everything, it's really good for you. But if you're an independent like Yukon, it kind of stinks, I think being independent.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. They're saying. They're saying John Candle is pretty much next signetti though.

[Connor Rogers]

So he's gone then?

[AQ Shipley]

No, he's going to build. He's going to bring his.

[Ty Schmidt]

Isn't his name Justin Candle?

[AQ Shipley]

No, it's Coach Candle.

[Connor Rogers]

All right. I mean did your last coach went to where it.

[AQ Shipley]

He's irrelevant right now.

[Connor Rogers]

He went from Yukon to Jason.

[Pat McAfee]

I apologize.

[Connor Rogers]

Jason Candle, John Candle.

[AQ Shipley]

Hey, sometime Jay, come on. We talking to Mike a long time.

[Connor Rogers]

Sometimes you mix Candle. All right, to your point. Johnny Candle. I. I believe in Johnny Candle. Jason Candle, I don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Jason Candle's a good one.

[Connor Rogers]

It just makes me think of Jason Campbell. And then my first thought is why isn't Jason Campbell Campbell the coach?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, it would be cool if that was the situation. Jason Candle, though, I heard is from Wachita. Oh, every once in a while you speak get some things wrong.

[AQ Shipley]

I think he's proud of Wichita.

[Pat McAfee]

D butt said he's. He gets people daily that come up to him and say, wachita, how'd you do it? He said, I believe it.

[AQ Shipley]

I believe that's a signature moment WWE game. The video game. Yeah, it was on the game side. On the game. It's the business, kid.

[Pat McAfee]

That is the business. I was lucky to be a part of the wwe. Unreal on Netflix aj Sweet. That debuted Yesterday. I appreciate the fact that it exists so I could show mackenzie when she gets older and if Baby Boy and everything, and hopefully they're grandkids. It's a cool thing to kind of remember and have and keep. When I originally heard about the WWE Unreal on Netflix concept, I like everybody else. I think that's like, wrestling fans hated the idea of it. Just like, I. I don't like that we're doing this. Like, I understand that now we're in a world of having to make content, having to keep up, having to evolve, having to see all this other stuff. I just thought, I don't like it. I like the suspension of belief. I like people thinking that what they're seeing. I like whenever the wrestlers live their gimmick full time. I don't like hearing other names other than what I see on tv. Like, that's just kind of what I grew up on, I think, as a wrestling fan. So as soon as I heard about this WWE Unreal, and I'm not saying anything that anybody else hasn't said, it's just like, I hated it. I did not like that it was happening at all. So then he watched season one, and it's like, all right, is this going to ruin it for future generations? Like, are fans going to stop being fans of wrestling? Because now they legitimately know. There's obviously always. Everybody had an inclination, Everybody kind of maybe knew. But once you see it, then it's like an actual reality as opposed to just in. Cause you always want to have a little bit of belief of what's going on is actually naturally happening. Like when Adam Cole came into our studio, that was a shoot, brother. Yeah, that's right. That was a shoot. It was shoot means for real work means work. Feels like they're making everything look like a work. And you can't feel as if there's a shoot happening strictly because of this WW Unreal. That's what I was worried about. Because you want people thinking a shoot's happening even though it's a work. And you can't work yourself into a shoot. If it's a work, it's a work. You can't let it be a shoot. So whenever I thought they were giving away Unreal, I thought they're giving away the work for shoot. But instead, what I learned is it was pretty cool to see how the sausage was made in the storylines. And I think learning a little bit more about this business that I'd been a fan of my entire life was cool. Cause even though I Was able to work there and lucky enough to be a part of some of the things they had going on. I didn't know all the other stuff that was still happening up in Connecticut or in behind scenes or anything like that. I wasn't even handed script whenever I was commentating. I had no idea what was about to happen. I knew like carryover from last week. I knew the storylines. I thought what was, could, could happen. And maybe I'm the first commentator ever. I don't, I'm not 100% sure you would have to check with that. But I legitimately had no idea for most things that were happening now if I was involved, obviously it would have to be because there's a lot of pieces. But like, I enjoyed the thought of like, this is, this is entertainment. I'm going to disappear. After watching Unreal. It was cool to watch. And then when I was asked if I wanted to be of a part, part of it, I immediately said no. I said no. They bring camera in here. I say, this is my building. Turn camera off camera Guy. I'm good friends with everybody basically at WWE behind the scenes, we get along very well with. They're all hard working, good people. Guy puts camera somewhere else, hides it in there, Tells me, you know, afterwards, like, hey, we did get some stuff, just so you know that. And I was like, joey, I appreciate you doing that, but also, why'd you do that? I hope like that I'm a part of this. He said, you're gonna like it when in the end though, you're gonna want to remember this. You're gonna want to remember this. And that's how I feel after watching it. Like, I hated that I was a part of it. I didn't want to be a part of it. Obviously there's other people in the wrestling world that should certainly be spotlighted, I think representing the wrestling world as opposed to me, outsider who just had an opportunity to do some things with them. But after watching it, I'm like thankful that they documented it, you know, Like, I'm very thankful that I have a chance to relive it if I have to, you know, later in life. And, and I think it's only helping the business after learning how people have become fans of the business because of the show. So I didn't really think of that angle. I thought you were gonna lose people. I didn't even think about the people that became fans of wrestling because of that show. So lucky to be a part of it. Thankful to be a part of it. It's available now on Netflix. I think Jelly Roll has a segue on there somewhere. Seth Rollins and Becky lynch were a part of the episode, the first episode. And yeah, it was interesting watching it all back. And then that is interview. That camera was really close to my face. Do you guys know how close that camera was to my face?

[Ty Schmidt]

It didn't look that close when they set it up up there.

[Pat McAfee]

That lens was my face ain't supposed to be like that. That's first thing I thought to myself, geez Louise, you can't be that. That's. That's not a good thing. And then it was the whole thing. I was like, okay, good.

[AJ Hawk]

Let's see how this do the. Do the wrestling marks, are they appreciative of the. The series?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. I think at the beginning of the Halum, but now it just all adds fodder for them on the Internet. So I think they like it because it adds more stuff. You know, I think, I think, I think it's cool.

[AJ Hawk]

It shows how much like goes, how much everybody cares. Like, that's what I, I take from it. Like, I think it should bring more fans on that maybe are casual or don't really watch much wrestling. They would watch that and be like, yeah, okay, I'm going to check out the product now. Because these guys are like, they are so all in. And just there's so many moving pieces too.

[Pat McAfee]

I think the effort and the thought behind every decision that is made is showcased in there, which I appreciate. Cause, like, once you hear about all the things that are going into one particular thing and how many opinions and ideas and thoughts and breakdown, it's like, wow, there's some really deep thinking stuff happening right here in front of our face.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, it changes too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And on the fly, injuries, you talk about injuries, travel, all that type of stuff that changes on the fly. I think it's. Overall, it's good for the business, but boy, at the beginning, I hated it and I did not want to be a part of it. Thankful that I was lucky and honored that I was a part of it.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. As a fan, growing up as a huge fan, huge mark. And then kind of getting away from it and getting him back into it when you into it. And then when, when Paul Heyman came on the show, I think the unreal stuff had just came out. And I don't. I forget who asked him, but I feel like he gave a great answer and that kind of was like, okay, it may be cool to see a little more behind the Scenes and talking about, you know, being in 2026 now with all the access and all the different, you know, shoot sports as well. So it is interesting to see.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was. It'll be a cool thing to show the. The later lineage of my life, you know, to say, hey, this is what was. You know, there was. I mean, Bruce Pritchard pitching. I was win. Shout out, Bruce.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Appreciate you, Bruce. It's a shoot sport, though. You know, it's a real sport. So how could you have somebody beat somebody in wrestling? That's not supposed to do that.

[Connor Rogers]

And that's why I'm out on it for now.

[Pat McAfee]

That was crazy. There were some things that were said in there. I was like, oh, it's interesting to do that. Like, Chelsea Green can't beat these. It's like, why?

[Ty Schmidt]

Why not? Why anybody can beat anybody.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think that it adds that, too. I think that adds to that whole thing with Unreal. It's like, well, who said a ranking system? Like, who the per. It's rest. It's.

[AJ Hawk]

Yep, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we're down on espn. Completely down on espn. Oh, yeah, it just came back. It looks like. And 5, 4, 3, 2.

[Connor Rogers]

And. Interesting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Still blue screen.

[Connor Rogers]

Wow. I still see blue screen over there.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely.

[AQ Shipley]

Talk about the business.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what. Jeez, Lucian, you put a blue screen up there. This could be good. We could act like we're doing it on purpose. You know, we could act like we're doing it on purpose.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's back.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. You know, back in the day, what's his name, the guy?

[Ty Schmidt]

Andy Kaufman.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He would put in static into the actual show, so people would have to stand up and hit their TVs, like, just trolling as he's making TV. Awesome. Only had, like, three channels. We're forced to watch this thing. This guy puts in the middle of the. Starts going like this. Everybody in their houses gets up. Come on. Starts hitting the tv, Then it goes back to work and make him sit down just on purpose. So we'll act like that was on purpose.

[AQ Shipley]

A lot of people still don't know F bombs muted on espn. They think something's wrong with the audio because it is muted. I think far too long. It's like a good three to five seconds when it drops. When I'm watching on, like, espn, I'm not on the show. A lot of people.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, what?

[AQ Shipley]

Something's wrong with the audio? No, just watching on YouTube, and if.

[Pat McAfee]

You want, they're very long. And. Yeah, I have multiple times I've said, like, can we shorten that? Or whatever, we should shorten that. And they go, well, you know, this is just a safe buffer. Unless we were to hire somebody that did it on this side, I don't think they are ever going to agree to shortening it from my understanding, from what has happened. But with that being said live and uncensored right here on YouTube, baby.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Like we always have been. Now, speaking of being, we got to do a segment that we do every single week live. You know, AQ Shipley travels out from the desert. This guy's number two color commentator around the NFL via some poll.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Poll certainly happened. He said he was good. He's also a guy who loves ball. He's a Super bowl champion, obviously, and a guy who watches every single minute and every single play of every single game of the big boys. The offense alignment. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to go in the trenches with AQ Shipley. Aq, we cash you this week with ranking the four offensive lines that are left for championship weekend going forward. You came back to us with this list right here. Seattle Seahawks number one O line and championship weekend Rams number two. The NFC's got the big boy. Then the AFC championship teams. The Denver Broncos come in in third and then dead last or third runner up. The New England Patriots offensive line is the lowest ranked offensive line of championship weekend. Aq, would you like to explain your rankings or how do you want to break this down on how you got to this point?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, we'll start with the worst of the weekend and the worst moving forward. And it starts with just one guy. It was Will Campbell. He's, he's been struggling a little bit recently. Ever, ever since he came back from his injury. But the other, the rest of the group. I texted con man, I said not bad, pretty good group. But you can't give up all the pressures and all the sacks off the left side. I really like this group, but if you take take a look at this particular play, they need to do more of this. They need to run behind big on wenu. We've talked about him a bunch this year. This is a cross dog blitz. If we can run this back real quick, AJ knows a lot about this. He ran a lot of this in Green Bay. So the first linebacker to the right, he's going to blitz and they're going to get someone over the top. Look at on wenu, transition into the double team. Get that, get everybody down inside, bounce it outside. You get a huge Run off the right side.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. What is his dems on wenu?

[Connor Rogers]

I believe he is 6ft 3:30 and I, I believe he's about 3ft wide.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's that guy like an actual spark plug there. What a body mover. This against Houston Texans defense, obviously.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Incredibly heralded. Now you're saying Will Campbell struggling since returning from injury. What is it? Power, finesse, technique, everything.

[Darius Butler]

Well, the big thing is he. I, I thought this whenever he was coming out of college. I thought he struggled a little bit against the bull rush in college. Early on in the season, he's getting a lot of finesse guys off the edge. He did a good job job, but anytime he gets pressed, anytime he gets the long arm bull rush, which Will Anderson ate his lunch in this past game.

[Pat McAfee]

What is the answer to that as a. A tackle? What she be if he was going to the shipyard? Will Campbell showing up at the shipyard every single morning. What's the answer to potentially stopping that fire? Because that's going to continue as long as people know that that's quick set.

[AJ Hawk]

To make you or quick set.

[Darius Butler]

I think the biggest thing is you just got to anchor quicker. When you watch him, he walks his feet back. You got to anchor. So once you feel the bull rush, you can see it once they're up the field and they turn into you, that's the bull rush. Immediately get your hands on anchor, get both feet in the ground, and then we start rolling. Then we start rolling.

[Connor Rogers]

There.

[Darius Butler]

There it is. That's called bull hop press right there.

[Pat McAfee]

You.

[Darius Butler]

That's a perfect technique.

[AQ Shipley]

It's great reps. Perfect.

[AJ Hawk]

Good couple, good reps, you see.

[Pat McAfee]

And also the same.

[AQ Shipley]

Grind.

[Pat McAfee]

Holding on.

[Darius Butler]

That's it.

[Pat McAfee]

Hopping backwards.

[AQ Shipley]

Is that why the arms are. Are big deal with tackles?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, that's the other thing. They, they questioned his arm length and I know a lot of O line coaches have questioned that. But again, at the end of the day, played against a lot of these guys with long arms in the sec. So I don't necessarily fully attribute that. I think he's just a young guy that's got a. He's got to. He's got to figure it out against these guys who are studs when they turned into a bull rush.

[Pat McAfee]

So the bull hop drill is the one that would make his offseason better for him next year.

[Darius Butler]

Absolutely. We got bull hop press. We got to get a little stronger. We got to get a little stronger. Got to develop a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

And VRA will do that certainly in the offseason. Excited to See what Will Campbell will do. And once again, there's only four offensive lines left. So saying they're the worst ranked. Correct. This is championship weekend. So this offensive line got the Patriots to the AFC championship. Obviously you wouldn't make it without them.

[Darius Butler]

They were also my number six. I know we only ranked the top five throughout the year, but I showed con man they were my number six throughout the year.

[Pat McAfee]

Good offensive line. Just whenever it comes to championship weekend. All good offensive lines. Let's go to number three.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Let's take a look at the Denver Broncos here. I got a two clip sequence here. These are back to back plays. The reason why I want to show this. Take a look at number one, Evan Ingram. See him right there in the wing? He's going to go out. This is an rpo. Look what it does to the linebacker. That's how you get the big gaping hole. Okay, cool. We did to the left. Let's go back to the right on the next play. Evan Ingram. Send them out again. They must have had a tell on Buffalo's defense. Again, another big gaping hole.

[Pat McAfee]

Need to more of that.

[Darius Butler]

Need to do a lot more of that. Because they kind of abandoned the run a little bit. They wanted to get the quarterback involved in the run game, which obviously ended his season. I wish they wouldn't have done that, but just hand it off. And there's a possibility that J.K. dobbins is back this week.

[AJ Hawk]

We got to play some zone aq. We can't be chasing guys in the flat and they're running right behind us. We got to play some zone there.

[Pat McAfee]

So that's what you meant by tell AJ you think is what AQ said. Like they knew that that was man to man coverage. If we. We just flare this guy out, we should remove a body from the box. A.J.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

You don't have to block him. I've been a part of that early on in my career. We're matching up tight ends and they come out with 12 personnel tight ends on the line, both sides, and just run us to the flat. And our two outside backers are gone. We're on the sidelines and the guys running right behind.

[Pat McAfee]

And you guys are just married to your assignment. So you have to go there. Even though probably your intuition from the way people talk about the way you played ball was telling you you need to be inside to make a tackle.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. But then you peek inside and make a tackle and he pulls it and throws it to the guy in the flat and he turns up for four.

[AQ Shipley]

That's the other. That's the pass option.

[Pat McAfee]

And who's that on?

[AJ Hawk]

Yep, that's on you. You got both. That's all you. Your number one responsibility is that guy in pass coverage. But hey, I'm like, all right, well, the guy's almost knocking me over running behind me.

[Pat McAfee]

And do you think that's why every coach says, do your job, just do your job, do your job. Because something might feel stupid. Like, for instance, you're definitely just getting run to your own sideline right now. But if you don't, there's a chance it's on your ass right now. It's on everybody else's ass. We need this to just be on. Do your job. Just do your job.

[AQ Shipley]

I was obviously on Sean McDer. That's why they kicked him the hell out the building.

[Connor Rogers]

But.

[AQ Shipley]

And then as a pro, you got to. Sometimes you just got to massage it. Sometimes you got to show the quarterback one thing, maybe game and get back in there.

[JJ Watt]

Yep.

[AQ Shipley]

You know, got to play. Got to play the game.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go to the nfc, the two best offensive lines remaining in aq Shipley's eyes. Los Angeles Rams. What do you think about their offensive line?

[Darius Butler]

I love their offensive line, but here's. Here's a big reason why. Look what they do with Puka Nakua. Nobody does this. They might motion him across. They use him as a fullback on the front side in an ISO scheme. Then we take a look at the backside combo. Coleman Shelton, the center, the right guard, Kevin Dotson. They get him back from injury for the playoffs and all of a sudden you get movement and there's another big gaping.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I love everything about that. The Los Angeles Rams able to run the. Run the ball. Everybody talks about Sean McVeigh is this offensive. A lot of it goes through the ground.

[Darius Butler]

A lot of it goes through the ground. And they completely switched. I know I've mentioned it at nauseam. This year they've switched from an 11 personnel team to a 13 personnel team. The other interesting thing that they do is even when they're in 12 personnel, they can use Puka Nukua as a tight end or a fullback and it becomes 22 or 13 personnel. And what they're able to do with him, I mean, he inserts as a ISO fullback on this play. And it's incredible. Incredible. And gets the kick out. It's incredible.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they were doing that with Malachi Tony down there in Miami. It's an interesting little new wrinkled. If you have a skill position that can be added into your Box. Basically, you got a new big body. Okay, let's go to the number one offensive line. You say for the rest of time this season. Seattle Seahawks win the super bowl. That's what AK basically.

[Darius Butler]

Let's start with their fullback, Robbie uts. I love this guy. And ever since they got him back, Robbie uts has been fantastic. He was a tight end. He was a tight end at Alabama. They make him a fullback and they love to go eye formation. Look at Cooper cup setting the edge. Get this thing started on the edge. Pull some guys around, you get oots out in space, outrun. And what a fullback does, we've talked about it over and over again, is it creates leverage. It allows the offensive lineman to work back. Gray zable. Another phenomenal game. This rookie's been outstanding. Cooper cup in the run game. Outstanding. And this is one of the last plays you'll see of charbonnet this season. But Kenneth Walker's a dog.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, Kenneth Walker be walking. Three touchdowns. Obviously. Uts in the fullback position. They're the nickel of the offense. You know, you have to be a linebacker and a corner. The fullback has to be an offensive lineman, a tight end, a running back. And oh, yeah, he has to know everybody's play and don't be too slow to get in the way. What oots is doing there is special Oots.

[Connor Rogers]

His boots going up and down. I mean, look how fast that guy is.

[Pat McAfee]

Oots his boots all over the field. I mean, I love that his name is oots. That's a perfect fullback name.

[Connor Rogers]

How would.

[Darius Butler]

How do you think you spell oots?

[Pat McAfee]

Can I get country of origin?

[Connor Rogers]

I would guess.

[Ty Schmidt]

I would guess Czechoslovakian, I guess.

[Pat McAfee]

Sure. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

[Connor Rogers]

O, O, T, Z, O.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think.

[Darius Butler]

It'S O, U, S, Z, T. That's wrong.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that sounds like something.

[Darius Butler]

Something like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Country of origin would have helped. I think we would have got.

[AJ Hawk]

That definitely would have helped.

[Pat McAfee]

That's top four. Congratulations. Number one overall offensive line in the trenches is the Seattle Seahawks. Their defense is outrageous too. Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, Patriots. I guess we lost signal. Sending to them. They lost signal. Bruce was telling me in the middle of that why we want pato blue. Blue on the thing. There's a little transmission issue. Maybe it's because of the cold. Hey, listen. Possibly they're saying it's about to get so cold trees are going to explode.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Connor Rogers]

What? Yeah. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's awesome.

[AQ Shipley]

Wait, what?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, trees that have been forever and.

[AQ Shipley]

Ever and ever and ever.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So these trees have been able to weather storms in the past forever.

[AQ Shipley]

All of them.

[Pat McAfee]

From what we're reading, there's a chance these trees say, I can't do it anymore.

[AQ Shipley]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Max velocity. Okay. Exploding trees possible in the Midwest and northern plains on Friday and Saturday as temperatures forecast fall below 20 degrees below zero. So explode tree risk is right here. Across the top. You see most of the. Most of Michigan's really in trouble. Minnesota, the Dakota's really going to look out there. And Illinois misses it. But when Wisconsin. I'm sorry. So good luck as you roll over there.

[AJ Hawk]

Footage of trees exploding.

[Pat McAfee]

Saskatoon is up in California.

[Ty Schmidt]

More north.

[AQ Shipley]

That's Calgary.

[Pat McAfee]

But on that note, I would have thought that these trees in this particular part of the world could have been through cold weather before. But they're saying now's the time.

[Connor Rogers]

Historic.

[Pat McAfee]

We got messaging from the trees. They said, if there's one more, one more cold day, we've had it. Saw a video of a tree blowing up in Iowa.

[Ty Schmidt]

You did?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

That's what I want to see.

[Pat McAfee]

Had a lot of smoke. This one has 87,000 views. We have no idea. So cold in Iowa. Trees explode. Just so happen to have a perfect camera shot on this particular tree.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Connor Rogers]

That's what happened before.

[AJ Hawk]

No human interaction there, right?

[Pat McAfee]

No, no. But all I'm saying is is it's about to be cold. Okay. Obviously the things that have just been reported by those people and not by us, just look out for the trees. Maybe go have a talk with your trees before it gets a little bit too cold.

[AJ Hawk]

Cut them all down. I'm not going to cut them all down and get them away.

[Connor Rogers]

That's a danger.

[Pat McAfee]

I got to cut it.

[AJ Hawk]

I got my. My place is tree lined on three sides. I got a long couple days ahead of me.

[Pat McAfee]

And I'm not laughing because I think this is all bullshit. I'm laughing strictly because I've never heard this before. I'm 38 years old. I feel like it gets cold all the time. So now just this popping into my life is awesome. And I appreciate where we are as a society.

[AQ Shipley]

Joe never told you that before.

[Pat McAfee]

Joe. Nara say, let's go bundle up. Going get cold out there. Them trees. Boy, the bark's been through a couple. It's about to go through another one. I think the only time trees are mentioned, maybe smoke some was dropped by the door, you know, every once in a while. Hey, we got blizzard coming. Hey, let's go to hammer. Don Todd, what year was that. That blizzard where they told us basically Just go ahead and lock it down for about, I don't know, two weeks. You don't have school. That was at the 1 in 94.

[Darius Butler]

95, is that what you're talking about?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think it was 94, 93 maybe. Was.

[Darius Butler]

It could be early 90s.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think it was a 93 Blizzard. Joe. Joe, I think you're right. 93 Blizzard.

[Darius Butler]

I think so. The Blizzard of 93.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you remember?

[Darius Butler]

I do remember.

[Pat McAfee]

Just nothing for like two weeks. Yeah, Joe, Nora basically got on TV and was like, hell's coming from the sky. Everything shut down. Nobody leaves their house.

[Darius Butler]

There was another one in was, I.

[Pat McAfee]

Want to say, 2009 through 2010. You would have been D in Morgantown.

[Darius Butler]

Snowshoe, West Virginia got a bunch.

[Pat McAfee]

It was a big one too, that Joe talked to us. Russia's getting 100ft or something.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, they got 80ft of snow.

[Darius Butler]

How do you, how do we believe that one?

[Connor Rogers]

People are jumping out of their building.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that propaganda?

[Darius Butler]

I mean we question, we question everything. We question the moon landing and we're not going to question 80ft of snow.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so the grock put together the 80ft of snow. Know what we hope happen? Oh, you think this is like a, this is like a race between Russia.

[Darius Butler]

I don't trust anything that comes out of the ussr.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so this is a rekindling of the Cold War with. We're the coldest. We got 80ft of snow, they beat us. Is that what you're saying?

[AJ Hawk]

Are those trees exploding? I mean, you would think that's much colder than here.

[Pat McAfee]

The snow is keeping them bundled up. They're war.

[Connor Rogers]

They don't have cruise in Russia.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a national champion who needs to stay away from any cold trees because this man's future is incredibly bright. Obviously what we've seen him do over the last couple years where he transfers from jmu, goes to Indiana with coach Signetti, becomes a multiple time all Big ten player. Now he's a national champion. We can't wait to see who's drafts him in the NFL. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us, linebacker Aiden Fisher. Aiden, how you doing, buddy?

[J]

Good, how you guys doing?

[Pat McAfee]

Watch out for these trees. Aiden, I don't know if you've heard, there's a chance these things are going to.

[J]

I'm hearing them. Yeah, well, don't, don't north man.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, all right, stay south. Go train down south. Congratulations on winning the national championship. You made some huge plays obviously in that game down there, but Your team seemingly always perfect, fundamentally sound. That's how we talked about your defense. You guys obviously heard the outside noise about how perfect and attention to detail your defense was. And did you take pride in that? Why do you think that was kind of your guys's M.O. throughout the entire team?

[J]

Yeah, I think for us, you know, everybody talks about, you know, the misfits thing, and nobody's really the fastest or the biggest, the strongest or anything, but, you know, we just do all the little things. Right. And then when it comes down to those little details that you talk about, I think that was kind of like the separating factors in a lot of these games where, you know, we came out, you know, on top. But, I mean, yeah, it's just a bunch of guys that just really wanted to win. Even when I first came here. Just a really good mix of guys that just want to win and are hungry for wins. We just kind of got the intangibles that were made up of the right things.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was fun to watch your team. I like the way you guys celebrated together. I like the way you played together. I love the way Sig operated. I think you guys got a celebration coming on Saturday down there in Bloomington. Excited for the city to kind of show you love and your state. Show you love. Can you talk to me about, you know, Fernando wasn't able to really go as much as he had the previous two playoff games. Felt like it was going to have to be the defense that answered the call. Did you guys take that onus apart upon yourselves before the game? During the game, is there a moment where it's like, hey, offense, obviously not gonna be able to score 50 today. It can be us. You guys get a blocked punt for. For a touchdown. You make crucial plays whenever you had to have stops. Is that happening during the game? You guys are having that chat saying, we can win this, or is that the mindset of the defense for the entirety of the season?

[J]

Yeah, I think a little combination of both. You know, those close games that we knew we were going to be, you know, points were going to be scarce, you know, it was going to be a. A lot harder to score a lot of points versus, you know, great teams like, like this. And then we kind of knew at halftime, going into that third quarter, you know, it was just going to be a war and that we need to, you know, tighten down. And when it came down the stretch, you know, we're going have to make some plays, we're going to put some points on the board for us, you know, we're got to eliminate, you know, a lot of their points. So obviously Miami was a great offense. You know, their O line was great. And they have, you know, guys all over the field. They're going to play on Sunday. So we knew that we were going to have to, you know, really lock in for the last couple position possessions. And I'm glad my guy, Jamari Sharp was able to get that pick to seal it.

[Pat McAfee]

Him taking off his helmet was spectacular. We were right there, you know, we were standing. Did you see us? Do you not see anybody? Can you guys know that we're there? It feels like we are a bit distracting. It does now that I'm looking back on it. I mean, Connors, when that kid misses that 50 yard field goal. Yeah, Connor's in the end zone going like this, right next to the ref with his Adidas jumpsuit on. And when Sharp gets that pick, he runs two yards in front of us, basically. And I see him contemplating on taking off the helmet. And then you see the moment where he goes, ah, it, Yep. Won the national championship in my hometown. Can you talk about that moment and what you guys did and what you guys said immediately after this, knowing that you guys just won the national championship in Miami Stadium?

[J]

Yeah, first I, I, I spotted you early with the jacket on, so I, I was able to see you behind the goal post. But, you know, just seeing Sharp go up and get it, that's a guy that, he's just as humble as ever, you know, I'm so happy he was able to do that and you know, his hometown against his home team. And then once he did it, it was kind of just like disbelief, you know, I think if you would have told me two years ago, transferring from JMU to here, that we were going to go win a national championship, it would have been hard to believe, but just an unbelievable feeling, you know, these guys, it was an emotional moment for, you know, everybody involved. And then we finally got Sig to, you know, crack a smile for longer than five seconds. So that was good to see.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And it seems like he's still a little joyful. You know, he's got a, he's going to have a busy couple of days here.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

At the state of college football, he's got a busy couple of months, actually. We're just right back in it for sake with the way college football is. Tell me about his demeanor a little bit and how you guys feel about him. Because we love it, obviously outside looking in. We don't have to play for him. But it feels like he is an accountability driven coach, but he isn't an asshole, it sounds like. So like how do you, how does he kind of balance it? And why do you think the outside world is saying he might be the greatest coach in ball? And do you agree with that particular sentiment?

[J]

100% agree with that. You know, Sig does a great job not only with this, you know the football details when it comes down to schematics, you know, practice scheduling, everything like that. But I think the way he communicates, you know, he'll get on you quick, he'll be yelling, he'll, he'll say something to you to kind of get you to check your temperature a little bit. But right after he's going to come back with a smile, a wink. So he knows the way he, that he communicates and operates. It's all out of, you know, love. And he just wants you to be your best. I know a lot of guys talk about it. He just demands your best and wants you to be the best out of love, not only for the game, but for you as a person. And I mean that's just Sig to a T. He just wants to win. He wants the best out of his players and he just wants to hold more trophies up.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead. A.J.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Aiden, I've seen where some scouts have called you a supercomputer in human form. I don't know if you have heard that compliment that they have given you you or not, but obviously it's very high compliment. Like you're speaking of what you can do as a leader on the field and seeing things and your instincts. Is that something you always had or did you develop that over your time?

[J]

Yeah, I think it's definitely something I developed in high school. I played quarterback. So like I'm a little familiar with how, you know, some offensive things work. But then obviously getting with Coach Haynes and the coaches I've been around, it's been more so learning about football instead of here's your job, go do it. I think that's really helped me a lot. And it's just been great to, you know, learn football. Not only just the X's and O's, but, you know, what is everybody looking for from specific players and kind of what they like to do and things like that. And you know, having Coach Haynes makes my life a lot easier.

[Pat McAfee]

Aiden, they said there was a milk check on you. They didn't know that blitz shake was coming, you know, in the national championship. That was stupid. I mean, you quadrupled. I Mean, you want glove side, then you want stick side. I mean, you were all over the place. Aiden, that was beautiful. Now, you transfer, obviously from jmu. D Butt has a question for you.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, but speaking of Coach Haynes, what was this game plan going against Miami and how did it change? Because we have a perfect perspective. We can see you guys are very gap disciplined. I know Fletcher had the big run. You guys are always kind of on the same page. What was the specific game plan going against this team?

[J]

Yeah, first of all, we just had to stop the run. You know, their O line is huge. They do a great job, you know, getting people off the line, the ball. And then the running backs were elite and, you know, great weapons on the outside. So ours, our whole plan was really just stop the run, you know, and then when it came down to obvious passing situations, we were going to have to show a lot of disguise. We're going to have to hide a lot of blitzes. And I think that's something our defense has really been built on all year. A lot of looks we give you. Anybody can come, anybody can drop. You guys have seen Coach Haynes. He'll drop a nose guard, he'll drop a D tap tackle. Like it doesn't matter for him. He just wants to do some crazy stuff. The exotics.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you all right?

[J]

I'm getting choked up just thinking about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, me too. It happens to me all the time, too. Especially, you know, potential good times were available, you know, the last couple days, national championship. Good times. Let's talk. Yeah. Amen. I heard you guys have been celebrating. You don't have to out yourself for any particular place, but can you quickly. We got 30 seconds before, like a hard out here on ESPN. We'll continue on digital. But can you tell us a little bit about Fernando Mendoza, the teammate? Because I love the fact that he drinks beers with the boys, let alone the fact that he's a super nerd. Can you tell us a little bit about him, the human that maybe the rest of us don't know?

[J]

Yeah, I mean, I think what you see in the media is really what you get with him. He's such a good person to be around. He makes everybody not only better, you know, obviously players, but better people. He. He is. He really is special. Just being around him. I mean, the dude's hilarious. I would love for everybody just have a conversation with him at some point instead of just hearing him speak in the media. Like, the dude is funny. You know, he cares about everybody. He will do anything to learn everybody's name. I'm pretty sure there's a story that everybody's walking in for a team meeting one day and his little brother has the roster up so Fernando can look at the person and say their name to him. Just so they think like, okay, he already learned my. My name. So that's like, that's just the type of guy he is.

[Pat McAfee]

Special stuff. We continue digitally. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Hey, you nailed that. Holy wow. That's a super computer. You saw the countdown on the screen there.

[J]

I was working on. I saw the 20 seconds. I was like, I gotta speed it.

[Pat McAfee]

Up a little bit.

[AQ Shipley]

I gotta get going.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but you chose to tell a story there. Like that was a good decision because some people panic. I think NFL people should be looking at what just happened there.

[Connor Rogers]

Impressive.

[J]

With Hosier right there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. And, and also forecasting, you're like, what's a good story that I can get in this short amount of time? That is kind of on the same note that I'm telling. I mean the catalog of shit that you had to cipher through there pretty good because could have won. Let's go. What he did at Kilroy's with the boys, could have done like as he sunk the biz at Knicks, could he done that? Hey, we were potentially at 11 the other night. He did this instead. Not the right story, not the right time. What's a good one that I could tell quickly. Oh, the gimmick with his brother holding the roster. Bang. Then you make decision.

[JJ Watt]

First one.

[Ty Schmidt]

There it is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's. That was good. Hey, Aiden, that was. That was good.

[J]

Appreciate it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, no problem. You didn't choke all over yourself. But on that note, you said he's hilarious. Also incredibly hardworking. Was that your guys culture, you think? And that's just like the only guys that come to Indiana and will that be able to maintain? We saw a lot of turnover obviously from last year to this year. We're about to see that again. I mean yourself kind of moving on. So what do you think the Indiana culture is going to be able to remain? And is that one of them? Like you got to work your ass off while also being a human or kind of. How do you guys balance that and think of the culture?

[J]

Yeah, honestly, I think that's what it is right there is, you know, just guys that come in and work extremely hard. But I think even coach Zay kind of talked about this team was so close and so special that it was like once football was over, you know, we're going to go kick it with the boys. You know, we're going to go do something, like if we're just kicking at the house, watching a game, you know, really doing what, whatever, and this, like just be a normal person, you know, we're cracking jokes, you know, playing board games, like just doing anything, like anything stupid that we can, you know, get our hands on, like just having fun. But I think this culture and this program is kind of built on, you know, hard workers. And I think it's going to be like that for, you know, the rest of time, at least for when Sig's here. But I think the guys they brought in are all guys that just want to win. You got to look at where people have come from with the Michigan states, the TCUs, guys that are hungry to win. And I think they're kind of like minded, like the guys that are here right now.

[Pat McAfee]

I love to hear that, especially as somebody that lives about an hour and a half north of that place would like to see that place continue of celebrations on the weekends. Yeah, I like that there's a national championship celebration taking place. You choose to go and follow Sig to Indiana. They were the losingest program in the history of programs or whatever. Whenever you guys get over there, the recruiting pitch, I guess was something that was either easy or hard. Not sure the exact story. Go ahead, Ty.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Aiden. A lot of times when we hear these coaches taking bigger jobs and guys go with them, like, it's always a glowing review of the player, talking about, hey, this guy's, you know, the best there is. He's going to fit in great at this new place, even if it's a level up or whatever the case may be. And I don't know if this was exactly how it was, but the phrasing was basically like when Sig was pitching you to come, he's like, you know, I, I think you could be a pretty good player. Like you said something like that. Which obviously isn't exactly what you'd expect for someone who went on, on to, you know, be a, an all Big Ten linebacker a couple years ago. How did that go? And like Pat, Pat said, like, did you have any expectations when you came here? Like, did you. Were you aware that Indiana was like the losingest program in the history of Division one or how did that entire process go?

[J]

Yeah, it was wild. I had no clue that Indiana was like losing his program. I just knew they were in the Big Ten and you know, I knew kind of historically they weren't great, but I didn't know, they were as bad to the degree as the most losing program. But talking to Sig when I was getting recruited here was, you know, all about, you know, stick with the development, stick with the growth of the coaches. And then we sat down and went through the schedule, you know, one by one. And he gave me every single reason why we're going to beat this team, this team and this team. And we went down, you know, 12 teams doing that. So at that point, I was pretty convinced that he was going to turn this thing around. You know, if I could have predicted this two years ago, absolutely not. But, you know, I'm glad I did. Coach Sig is the man, and it's unbelievable what he's been able to do here. It's.

[JJ Watt]

It's unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's talk about Coach Sig a little bit more. Go ahead, Connor.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, Aiden, congrats again on the natty. When you think about Coach Sig and even, you know, the D.C. brian Haynes, like, did they change anything at all when they went from JMU to iu? Was there any sort of philosophy or even just, you know, demonstration demeanor, team meetings, anything like that that you would say, like, yeah, jmu those first couple years might have been better at IU because of the change, or was it more so? Hey, everything was the same start to finish. And that's why, you know, the continuity was a reason you guys won it all.

[J]

Yeah. Outside of, like, schemes growing, you know, these coaches growing as people and, you know, the way they've been able to level up what they do, everything's been the exact same, which is crazy to me. Like, team meetings are always the same same. Our schedule for practice is the exact same it's been since I got to college as a freshman. Like, little tweaks here and there, but, like, other than that, it's been identical all four years. So even coming here, like, they're like, so how's practice look? Do you think he's going to change it at all? I was like, no. Thursdays are going to be red zone. Wednesday, third down, like, giving them the whole rundown. And nothing has changed about it in four years, which is crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

He's been given a lot of speeches about his philosophies. I mean, maybe not a lot of them, but every. Every one of his speeches that he's given publicly about philosophies have been ripped, clipped and posted in, like, leadership councils and business councils. Like, hey, this is how this guy thinks. And a lot of it revolves around, like, being efficient. I think, like, most of his quotes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, like, my practices really quick. Team mings four or five minutes or less. If it's over an hour, I'm wasting somebody's time. Don't want to waste kids time. Don't want to waste my time. I like to be quick and efficient with every single second I have.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that accurate? Is that what is actually happening inside the building? From what he is saying in these speeches that go very viral and being like, this guy gets what 20, 26 is, maybe more than anybody.

[J]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. I mean, we are in and out with practice team meetings. He comes in, he gives us the all right, and then he starts and maybe five minutes and he's out. So everything was just so efficient and quick here. He just values your time, and I think a lot of players are really appreciative of that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, does he. So it appears this is good. We're sorry. We're just trying to learn as much as we can about this thing that is signetti. Because, boy, what an insane run from whenever we were at jmu. And he goes, do we like the ncaa? And they just boo his. They boo it. It's like this guy has now become the person that, like, in my world, like, billionaire business people are like, hey, who is. What is the story about this guy? And we just so happen to have known him for a few years, so I think everybody's kind of learning about as we go right here. He delegates a lot of the communication with the players to his assistant coaches. Is he talking to you? Like, how does he kind of manage that? Because we'll see the timeouts on the field and him smiling, shouting out his dad, too. Rest in peace, Frank, who was a football coach, definitely what he's doing right there. God, Jesus, everything. And also his dad saying, hell, yeah, Massive smile. Then the Gatorade bath that he's been waiting for, what, his whole life. I mean, that is legitimately what that is. That's a special moment. But how. How is that whole process with sick. Like, what is he? Is. Is he. Is he. Do you. Does he coach you directly? Does he coach his coaches? Like, are that. Because the timeouts. He's standing there looking. We don't know where he's looking. No, we still. We've seen it every day. He's looking either at the stands, he's listening to something. He's look. We don't know what he's doing. He's got good pose. Obviously, the face is what it is at the time. But the huddle's behind him. He's not like interjecting himself, himself in there. Unless it's, wait, we're not kicking a field goal, we're going for it, or something comes upon him. How does the day to day go? It's the coaches, it's him. What is your relationship with him, if that makes sense.

[J]

Yeah, most of the time it's really just the assistant coaches are kind of giving us the day to day stuff. Sig will do the team meetings and he'll kind of give us the rundown of the day. You know, he'll break down the opponent a little bit, but it's mostly, you know, our assistant coaches kind of going through the thing and then during games, you know, he'll like timeouts or TV timeouts or anything. He'll kind of come up and give us the situation. You know, even when we were in this last game, it was, you know, this is the situation you're in. This is how many plays that they can probably run, including timeouts. And then he just kind of gives a rundown. But I think the, you know, play to play everyday coaching is more so, you know, Coach Haynes, Shanahan, and then the assistants as well.

[Pat McAfee]

What are your thoughts on the paisan's eyebrow that he drops on a lot of things? Is that everyday practice as well or just in the games?

[J]

Oh, it's every day. I think it's hilarious. I think Fernando does it the best.

[Pat McAfee]

See, that's what I'm talking about. Fernando's a dude. Sounds like Fernandez dude. He is, yeah. Okay, good. All right, last question. Let's talk a little bit more about ball and what you have planned. Go ahead, Aq.

[Darius Butler]

Congrats again on the national championship. I know we're going to have to turn the page like we always do in football. Celebrate quick, move on quicker. Right. And so what are your plans as far as training All Star Games, Moving into the NFL. NFL draft?

[J]

Yeah, I'll be starting training next week. I'll be down in Fort Lauderdale training Bomberitos.

[Connor Rogers]

Hell yeah.

[J]

And then, you know, taking it from there. We'll kind of see how it goes. I'm excited for it.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no exploding trees down there, I don't think.

[Connor Rogers]

No, it'll be all right.

[Pat McAfee]

It was cold. Hey, that was not like a warm national championship, though. It felt like it was perfect for ball.

[J]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[J]

You had a little breeze going too. Roof open. It was nice.

[Pat McAfee]

How was the grass? Slick? No, not slick like.

[J]

No, it was good. Compare the. The grass that we played on a couple weeks Ago. And this grass was great.

[Pat McAfee]

The Rose Bowl.

[JJ Watt]

Oh, yeah.

[J]

We were sliding everywhere.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys demolished Alabama, man. That had to be. So that flight back had to be spectacular. I couldn't even fathom.

[JJ Watt]

It was a good time.

[J]

It was a good time.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, because Alabama, you, like, obviously you played at jmu, but, like, throughout all of our lives, yourself included. You're younger than us. So mostly it's like, Bama. Bama. People in other conferences were like, we want Bama. Like, that was always the statement. And you guys being counted out, underappreciated all year. I was very lucky that I saw you guys on a regular basis because I live here. So. Like that Oregon, prediction. I've never been more sure of something in my life. Whenever I pick you guys to beat.

[J]

Oregon, it's like, that was sick.

[Pat McAfee]

It was. Hey, thank you for winning, dude. That was a big fucking deal for me, too. Obviously, for you guys, it's good. But these people in the college football world, some of them hate my guts. So when I get something like that right, it is.

[J]

Hey, and way to stick with us this past week, and you were the only one, so we appreciate that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. When do you see that? Afterwards? Before the game?

[J]

Yeah, afterwards.

[Pat McAfee]

Afterwards, yeah, because that's happening right before kickoff, basically. So you guys don't know until afterwards. The Oregon one that you guys saw before the game?

[J]

I think some of us did see it before the game because that was the later slate, wasn't it?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. 3:30.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[JJ Watt]

Yeah.

[J]

So we got to see that one.

[JJ Watt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Because they talk about how much motivation this generation, your generation uses from this. How much outside noise do you guys, like, kind of acre and utilize as motivation? Shoot.

[J]

In this program, not a lot. A lot of these guys don't even have social media. But seeing things like that just, you know, when you turn the TV on, that's pretty cool. And get you motivated a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I think Saban says this generation more so than any generation in the history. If they can build up any disrespect, it's like, let's find it as much as we can.

[J]

Oh, yeah. Bond.

[Pat McAfee]

Sig says donate it.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Here's disrespect. We've never won a national championship. Okay. His school had 2,000 people in the stands last year. Let's keep this thing going. Congrats on Turn Around Indiana. We appreciate you coming out here and doing that for the state and enjoy the hell out of this national championship celebration.

[AQ Shipley]

Absolutely.

[J]

Thank you guys for having me on today. It's Been awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you weighing? What are your dims right now?

[J]

My 230. 35 solid.

[Pat McAfee]

How tall?

[J]

Six one.

[Pat McAfee]

That's not bad. No, perfect.

[J]

Not bad.

[Pat McAfee]

Perfect.

[Darius Butler]

It's a perfect height.

[Pat McAfee]

What's your projected run? You don't have to give like an exact, but you'll run. Not embarrassing, right?

[J]

I don't think I'll embarrass myself out there. I think I'll be all right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And then the. I'm gonna hit a six for a sack in the backfield. Let's go, Aiden, the computer. Let's go get.

[J]

Absolutely appreciate you guys, man.

[Pat McAfee]

You too. Ladies and gentlemen, Aiden Fisher. How do you say he's not gonna embarrass himself running? That would be the question, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

Just naturally those rookie. That's why you always talk about the rookie wall and how long the rookie like just got off a natty going down to Florida. Start training next week. Combines of what, a month?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Training's not easy for you. That's like some of your hardest training of your life. This life goal is about to happen right here.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh yeah. He's trying to get your body obviously in the, in the best shape because you know they're going to pick you apart at the combine. Whatever injuries which we all get injured. Especially if you're going through a 16 game season which is insane and then you're trying to get a little faster, you're trying to shave off, you know, whatever tenths or Hundreds off your 40 yard dash and all the different, you know, 225, all the different shit. And then you got to go and actually learn the playbook, try to get on the field, probably play some special teams. Like it's never done that before in your life.

[Pat McAfee]

Got to figure that out.

[Ty Schmidt]

Although at iu. Yeah. In this program there's a chance he did.

[Pat McAfee]

That's crazy to me. I mean Charlie Becker, we thought he was bad. Bad spot. Thank God he wasn't for Indiana. Yeah, thank God.

[AQ Shipley]

Plays best ball after that game.

[Pat McAfee]

I wonder if they gave him something because he looked like that was not good. And maybe it was his fear of what it could be more so than actual injury of what it was. Cuz sometimes something feels real bad and they're like oh no, oh no. And then you get to the sideline and it kind of all figures itself out which is probably what happened here. But Charlie Becker ends up ends up getting obviously a fourth down catch and a later third down catch. Does a celebration, just does contested catches which is what he's been Doing since November, Tone, Is that the date? What was the date? November like? First, he only had seven catches, I think, on the entirety of the season. Is that accurate?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it was.

[Darius Butler]

And then he, obviously when Surat got.

[Pat McAfee]

Hurt for those couple games, he had 100 yards in each of those games.

[Darius Butler]

And was like, oh, this is a guy.

[Pat McAfee]

We need to go at him every single game. Is he coming back? Yeah, he's a true sophomore.

[AQ Shipley]

He'll be back.

[Pat McAfee]

And then they got wide receiver from Michigan State who's really good, Right? Very good.

[AQ Shipley]

Yep.

[Darius Butler]

Nick Marsh. And then they also got a kid from Tulane who's really good at wideout. And then their. Cooper was an outside guide last year. He moved in the slot this year because their projected starting slot got hurt early in the year. So they'll. They're. They'll be fine at the wideout position.

[Pat McAfee]

Al, Cooper's back. No, no, no.

[Darius Butler]

I'm saying the guy who Cooper moved into the slot for was hurt all year. He'll be back. Cooper, I think he is a red shirt junior. I think so he could be back, but I think a lot of people are expecting him to go.

[Pat McAfee]

He felt like a Sunday guy, the way he runs, catches, had a little nuke to him, had a little D hop to him. The way he was moving. I. I really appreciated the way Coop played. I like it. And then Surat, I mean, he just makes.

[Ty Schmidt]

I like him.

[Pat McAfee]

He's outrageous. Yeah. Indiana. Indiana.

[AJ Hawk]

Noakowski. Noah Kowski. Don't sleep on him. That dude's valuable.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Touchdown and handoff. Touchdown in the national championship for one yard. He. I mean, he was in motion in the Rose bowl and the peach bowl, like 65% of the place. Not a lot in the national championship of Noakowski. Motion.

[Ty Schmidt]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

I wonder why would that have mattered? I guess mix it up.

[Connor Rogers]

Switch it up.

[AQ Shipley]

Cooper Jr. Has some big plays in motion.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

He did big conversions. He's their best separator. Like, he'll create separation with the guys. The other guys, they're just going to go up and make tough grabs.

[Pat McAfee]

Alec Pierce.

[Darius Butler]

I can't wait for that play because I've never seen that in the NFL where they send the guy in motion, make it look like it's going to be like a tush push, and then he basically helps the center on the combo. So C85 or 65, whoever that is in motion. Yeah, that's actually their starting left tackle that they put in motion. He goes behind and then it ends up being being like a three on one double team. Essentially.

[Pat McAfee]

What's it in the middle? Duo.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, it's basically duo. It's just a quick inside dive. So it's duo blocking, but it's just a quick handoff.

[Pat McAfee]

I dropped a duo during the national championship. Was I accurate? Do you know?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, you were.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

So I think that's a duo right there because it was center and guard.

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

I felt real smart on that. You guys make us smarter. Let's get smarter on the other side with everything dbd. We don't even got any bad deal.

[Connor Rogers]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Only good dea. Go.

[AJ Hawk]

Wow, that's. So you just couldn't find any bad D, is that right?

[AQ Shipley]

You know, just so much good D out there. Pause. They just had to run with that.

[AJ Hawk]

Love that good D. Okay, good.

[Pat McAfee]

He was gobbling up all the good days watching film.

[AQ Shipley]

Good defense was playing out there putting bad.

[Pat McAfee]

He said Hungry Hungry Hippo. Ing all the good D of divisional round. That's Darius Butler football.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

There was a lot of good D slinging around there. Oh, yeah, that D was here. That D was in the East. Yeah, that D was in the West.

[AQ Shipley]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

And DBOT said that D was the very best. No bad D. Just great D all over the place. Let's get some of that D on the other side.

[AQ Shipley]

Jeez.

[Pat McAfee]

Please.

[AJ Hawk]

Geez Louise.

[AQ Shipley]

He said, you gotta relax on X too.

[Connor Rogers]

The games are going.

[AQ Shipley]

I'm trying to focus, post replays.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, the first couple times I did it, I didn't at you. I needed you to also experience, you know, the immediate response. I added somebody. I've been adding people into my tweets just so they can experience the ride, the mentions. It's been one of my new things. Like, the person that I'm talking shit to right now needs to experience what's about to happen, because I'll send these out into the void out index. And I don't. I mean, it's good that I don't think about it. I should a little bit. I don't even think about people, like, taking some of these things serious. Like, hey, you should pick through what you should take seriously. Not. So that's. That's putting a lot of pressure on people that are on X. So there'll be people that say this.

[AQ Shipley]

And just no idea what the saying is.

[Pat McAfee]

No, not yes. Yeah. So I would like you to take the. So now I'm at. And the people that I'm doing the inside jokes with, just so you can kind of experience what I'm going through as well.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, But I mean, you could have, you know, been like, wow, Denver. Talk about an all you can eat good D buffet. I mean, you could have said that, but you didn't, you know, so maybe this weekend.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Hey. Holy. With that. What that Seattle defense is capable of. Oh, top notch west coast D coming out. There's a chance.

[AQ Shipley]

Good defenses out there.

[J]

And.

[AQ Shipley]

Bruce, is that you using light mode? People still do that?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's me.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, you too? Yeah, I do like mode too. Yeah, that's what. That's what the app is. No, you're not. You're not in the minority. I think. I think a lot of people use dark mode.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, I'm dark mode.

[AQ Shipley]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I was flustered that people did do dark mode, though. Really? Yeah. I didn't know as many people did dark mode that. That do. Like, right now, there's gonna be people calling me a serial killer because I don't do dark mode. That's what I've been called over the past. But this is what the app is like. This is what the app has always been so, like, in my eyes, this is the app. It's just how I feel. And also, I use it as a flashlight all the time.

[AQ Shipley]

Okay, that makes sense.

[Pat McAfee]

Gotta turn down the brightness, though, because at night, that thing.

[AQ Shipley]

Plot of blue light.

[Pat McAfee]

Lot of blue light. So what if we were really worried about that for a bit?

[AJ Hawk]

We're not in those glasses work. This work really well.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And people fell for it.

[AQ Shipley]

I mean, we got new. We got trees exploding out here.

[Connor Rogers]

Exactly.

[AQ Shipley]

We got to keep.

[Pat McAfee]

Aj have you heard about these trees?

[AJ Hawk]

I hear they're. It's not just a cold weather thing from what I'm hearing.

[AQ Shipley]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[AJ Hawk]

Check the chat.

[Pat McAfee]

Check the chat. Yeah, yeah, you mentioned that Aiden wasn't gonna have to worry about that training down on the floor. Turns out they do explode in heat as well. Allegedly, trays are exploding in heat.

[JJ Watt]

Is that from the same source from Max Velocity?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, if Max Velocity. I'm out on this guy after reading this tweet right here. I lived in a long time. I never heard of exploding trees, Max. Well, I think that's why I. I kind of wanted to bring it up is because I've only lived in cold weather climates. People have wondered why. You know, a lot of different people that don't. You hear Nick Saban's thoughts. You got to pay. People go to the north, brother. It's cold. Cold. I never once hear a tree explode. So whenever Max Velocity thinks of a different angle to describe the fears of what could come from cold. I get jacked up about that. This guy's reinventing the world guys. Reinventing threatening universe. I appreciate that. Now if Max Velocity is right and all of a sudden we just gotta.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's not good. If that's the case, you need to go board your house up right now.

[Pat McAfee]

No, board we don't want.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

With all the wood, all the trees cut down.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well that. That's what I'm saying. Board up. Just as in like cover your windows. Cuz we got trees exploding.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm saying. We need steel. Cuz the wood on your windows could potentially. Well, pipes can explode too.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's a good point.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

Floors that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Cuz the boards are that why I just assume the. The boards that I'm putting up are treated.

[Pat McAfee]

No. And watch your paper too.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, we. No one's safe.

[Pat McAfee]

What. What does this do for oxygen?

[AQ Shipley]

Paper's good. We already killed the tree for.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't wait to some of that. Whenever.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, the exploded tree.

[Pat McAfee]

They get one of these redwoods somehow somebody needs a bottle of that. Put that thing into one of those volcanoes. Get one of those bags back. That thing around. The Iowa video said that the tree.

[Ty Schmidt]

Filled up with ice.

[Pat McAfee]

And then it's got nowhere to go.

[AJ Hawk]

And eventually it just explodes.

[Pat McAfee]

So who's dumping water down these trees?

[AJ Hawk]

How would it blow up? Like that thing I can understand like. Like just cracking all over. But to blow up and look like there's a. An explosive charge to it. That's a bit far fetched for me.

[AQ Shipley]

Gas, Jenna.

[Pat McAfee]

Max Velocity says it might be far fetched. That's why I'm giving you a warning.

[AJ Hawk]

Did Max Velocity build the graphic that said exploding tree? Risk any shaded. Is that his graphic?

[Pat McAfee]

We have done nothing to Max Velocity's work strictly because we do not know Max Velocity. Can we call Jim Cantor please? I would like to know if this is real.

[AQ Shipley]

I think I'm with Foxy. This guy, he doesn't know.

[Pat McAfee]

We're going to find out. Yeah, we're going to find out. We need to. We need to call weather P on Jim Cantor.

[Ty Schmidt]

There's no way we're going to get a hold of Jim Cantor right now. That guy is in a fucking snow drift.

[Pat McAfee]

10. Do you have his direct number?

[Darius Butler]

I'm looking.

[Connor Rogers]

He's in Russia, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Can you facetime him?

[Ty Schmidt]

No.

[Darius Butler]

He's an American hero. He's not in Russia.

[Connor Rogers]

You never know for the weather to discover weather. Yeah, I think he'd go any. I think he'd Go to Antarctica if he had to. If it was a new weather thing.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So I was about to rank places there. Antarctica or Russia? Which one you head into first?

[Connor Rogers]

Just for. For like vacay or for.

[Pat McAfee]

You would only go there for seemingly work. Let's say you're filming.

[AJ Hawk]

Find the aliens and all the special bases that they have built up in Antarctica. That's where you're going.

[Pat McAfee]

And a portal maybe and everything like that. Antarctica's got great conspiracy theories.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes, great ones.

[AQ Shipley]

Russia too.

[Pat McAfee]

Russia Questions. Good ones. Yeah. Like is what's real? What is it? We'll never know. 80ft of snow.

[AJ Hawk]

Did they get their yachts back? I know a lot of their yachts got seized.

[AQ Shipley]

That's a good question.

[Pat McAfee]

So I actually read a story about somebody's yacht. I think Larry Ellison got a yacht and the name of the yacht. Did you guys see the story? No. No. It's crazy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Not great.

[AQ Shipley]

Name the name of it.

[AJ Hawk]

Poopy pants or something weird.

[Pat McAfee]

The name was Bat in Reverse. So he would have had. Sure.

[Ty Schmidt]

A little pig Latin move whenever he looked at it.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think it read out something that was not really good at all. Did he change it? Change the. Change it to Ronin, I believe. R O N I N. Great movie name. He changed it to Sly. Yeah. Speaking of Sly, you know he was Miami Hurricane Greg.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[AQ Shipley]

Learned that.

[Pat McAfee]

How about the list of names of people that went to Indiana and to Miami?

[Connor Rogers]

Unreal.

[Pat McAfee]

That was crazy. That was really crazy.

[Connor Rogers]

President of Ireland.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, four year president of Ireland went to Miami. Indiana. Sorry. Indiana. He looked like he was 120 years old.

[Ty Schmidt]

He probably is.

[Pat McAfee]

That's the Irish.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, we.

[Pat McAfee]

We age. He might be 47.

[Ty Schmidt]

He didn't look 47, but he could be.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's get to a break. On the other side, we'll. What will we be doing?

[AQ Shipley]

Watch. Good defense.

[Connor Rogers]

Why'd he rename his yacht? I don't understand.

[Darius Butler]

Understand.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you look it up?

[Connor Rogers]

I am looking at it right now. I don't understand the.

[Pat McAfee]

Just read it backwards, I think. Not publicly, but.

[AJ Hawk]

Did he not know this when he bought it?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that. That was my big surprise. Larry Ellison. He's worth four. Founder, Oracle. I think 400 some billion. I think it came out on like an actual tabloid thing. Let's get to a break. Gotta be careful what you're buying.

[AQ Shipley]

You can changed the name too.

[Pat McAfee]

Not ships. Ships.

[Darius Butler]

Ah.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Ships is an interesting.

[Ty Schmidt]

I can see why he changed it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I think ships have a thing about like name changes.

[Connor Rogers]

And if you name that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Why would that person, name it that, that.

[Connor Rogers]

That's what I'm. Yeah, whatever.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know.

[Ty Schmidt]

Especially when you look at the country of origin.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't know. So that's an interesting story. Might not be real, but.

[Connor Rogers]

Bet the knee, though. That's interesting.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's keep an eye on out for everything, shall we? Let's take a break. Exploding trees, new topic of discussion. We had a polar vortex a couple years back. That was a sick thing that came out of nowhere. All right, we're going to rain and then guess what's coming. Polar vortex. Go freeze it like it's Jack Frost's birthday.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what's coming to your front yard and your driveway and your sidewalk and your streets. I want to leave the house about two weeks and now. Do you live in a place where there's trees and it's cold? Yeah. Fucking watch it. These things are sick of it. Sure, you might have heard of previous cold temperatures in northern Minnesota, but these trees now. Fucking done with it. What they say one more time.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, one more time and we're fucking done.

[Pat McAfee]

Self destructing source says from the trees said we're not doing anymore. We're sick of it.

[AJ Hawk]

They're killing themselves.

[Pat McAfee]

No, they're sacrificing themselves, they said for the betterment.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, either way.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I guess. This is a square rectangle thing.

[AJ Hawk]

What if one of us does get killed by an exploding tree in the next two weeks?

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance I've talked a little bit too loud about it. I have started to think it'll be a good clip.

[AJ Hawk]

Good clip to put out.

[Connor Rogers]

Hopefully we get it.

[Pat McAfee]

I guess I would. What's that?

[Connor Rogers]

Hopefully we get the clip.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I mean, talking.

[Ty Schmidt]

And then.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, maybe you'll have footage of, oh, hey, like you pick up security footage of one of us walking and boom, we just disintegrate because the tree decided to explode.

[Pat McAfee]

I think we all do happen upon trees.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, not anymore. I'm taking a wide berth. When I see the next tree, I come.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you think the radius, the.

[AJ Hawk]

100Ft, 100ft, 100 yards maybe.

[Connor Rogers]

We saw exploding. Wasn't that big.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, Small trees, but I think that.

[Pat McAfee]

Was kind of a smaller tree there.

[AQ Shipley]

I gotta start hitting fairways.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, you do. Yeah, true, you do if you're golfing, I guess. There was a heat wave. Major winter storm is coming. We hope everybody will be safe Friday through Monday. It's about to be very cold. Large Arctic high ushers in cold air. Upper level disturbance. Pools and moisture. Sprawling system tracks across the south. Significant ice and snow for 30 plus states. All right, so hell is coming from the winter. We agree with that. It's gonna be hard for me to believe trees are gonna explode, but I'll tell you what. Keep an eye on.

[Connor Rogers]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's keep an eye out. Max velocity. He's out there. He might know some things. Did Jim Cantora answer our cold facetime?

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't have his cell phone number.

[Darius Butler]

I sent an email.

[AJ Hawk]

So call the other guy on the morning show. It's been there for 200 years.

[Darius Butler]

Okay, yeah, we'll just call some other guy.

[Pat McAfee]

No, the.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Al Roker.

[Ty Schmidt]

We gotta get the guy who interrupted the football game a couple weeks ago. The local guy?

[AQ Shipley]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

His name?

[AQ Shipley]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

What was his name? What was his name? He's from Pittsburgh, I think.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, he is.

[Pat McAfee]

He wore the suspenders.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, the other guy.

[Pat McAfee]

I know you want to watch the game. We are legally obligated to be on the screen right now.

[Ty Schmidt]

Again, don't know why they have me up here. It doesn't look like the storm cell is that extreme. But again, you know, we can see it over here kind of forming.

[Darius Butler]

Kind of forming.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a chance. If there was to ever be anything, it would certainly be in this area. But. But there isn't. Shout out to that guy. What was his name?

[Connor Rogers]

There it is. Adam.

[Pat McAfee]

Adam F. Yeah. Feck Fike weather. All right, we're gonna try to get a hold of him, see about these exploding tricks. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. Might change your life. Take fight.

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[Pat McAfee]

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[Darius Butler]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[J]

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[Darius Butler]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[J]

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[Pat McAfee]

Hello beautiful people. Welcome back to our humble about the Thunderdome on this journalism. Wednesday, January 21, 2026, hour three of the program begins now. Football is the best. That's AJ Hawk. And obviously we got championship weekend ahead of us. Denver Broncos will be hosting the New England Patriots. The Seattle Seahawks will be hosting the Los Angeles Rams. The talks to tables here at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt, nine year NFL vet host of Everything db. Who wants good D? Darius J. Baller.

[Connor Rogers]

Yep, baby. Dbutch.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll get to everything db Slinging good D from DB here in a matter of moments. Host of in the Trenches, ladies and gentlemen, 12 year NFL vet, Super bowl champion. A guy who looks like a lot of people on the Internet that they say don't like a lot of people. AQ Shipley. Don't you think that is the biggest comparison you get? Because there's always somebody that kind of has this version of white that is saying or doing something that you know and everybody done like, I'm a happy person.

[Connor Rogers]

I like a lot of people.

[Pat McAfee]

Except for whenever they steal your skeletons, then they're dead. They come back, do some push ups.

[Darius Butler]

You know, then they're back in the.

[Pat McAfee]

Good grace, put them back together. This guy hold out from 190 yards out.

[Ty Schmidt]

What?

[Connor Rogers]

What?

[AQ Shipley]

Wow. Justin Rose.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, Justin Rose. Yes, he was real life in real life.

[AQ Shipley]

Good.

[Darius Butler]

What club Seven Iron.

[Pat McAfee]

197 Heaven Iron.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Geez, guys.

[Ty Schmidt]

Piping the golf ball.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you golfing a lot right now? Are you like doing golf, right?

[Connor Rogers]

No.

[Darius Butler]

That was the first time I've golfed in a long time. I was, I was feeling pretty good. I was feeling pretty good.

[Pat McAfee]

What hole is it?

[Darius Butler]

14 uphill, little drive, bunkers left, bunker right. You guys will see it on the Phoenix open here shortly.

[Connor Rogers]

14.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, okay.

[Connor Rogers]

Up the hill, up the he.

[Darius Butler]

Up the hill and there's a little bank off the back right. You'll see it. One hop into the bank up the hill.

[Connor Rogers]

My caddy says, oh, that's gonna be good, boy. Started jumping.

[Darius Butler]

Luckily they ran down the fairway because I did not want to run 200 yards.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, so you walk in there? No, no.

[Darius Butler]

Had the cart. But I was in the middle of fairway.

[JJ Watt]

There's no way.

[Pat McAfee]

Music. Music playing.

[Darius Butler]

Music was playing.

[Pat McAfee]

You're boozing a little bit.

[Darius Butler]

Boozing a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

So you're boozed up. You're banged up. This is 14th hole.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

I was feeling good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I bet you were.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe you get into that tournament. Phoenix Open.

[Darius Butler]

I think I should get an exemption.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. What is it? The Waste Management. You're playing on the course. When's that tournament happening? Just next week. Right.

[Ty Schmidt]

Super bowl week.

[Pat McAfee]

I forgot.

[Darius Butler]

Same week as super bowl week.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. That's impossible to get to.

[Darius Butler]

Kepka's playing, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. Kepka is back. What, next week?

[Ty Schmidt]

I think so.

[Connor Rogers]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

He'll be back next week, I think. And then he's playing in the Waste Management. He's going to get a huge pop at that par three.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Sheffler. Scheffler's playing in it. I think seven of the top 10 are in it.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Where are we at? Santa Clara. How far is that?

[Darius Butler]

That's hour and a half.

[Connor Rogers]

Like, come on.

[Pat McAfee]

It is. I think they. You guys have invited us every single year. Every year, which we are very thankful for.

[Connor Rogers]

We would love to.

[Darius Butler]

We would love to host you.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, that's what I've heard. I've heard. It's like. And it was. We saw it. I didn't know what I was walking into. Just got done with our show. We're in Arizona because of the super bowl being there. We're talking to a man who owns a lot of golf courses in Arizona. Not the one that we were necessarily in.

[Ty Schmidt]

Doug Goat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Doug Goat. Yeah. Doug Goat. Bob Parsons. So we head over there and right into the Parsons three Challenge.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

The shot of glory.

[Pat McAfee]

The shot of glory. Yes. And you always end the show. You know, who knows what's being. Somebody gave me a lollipop, I think, and, like, some other snacks of some sort. And they might have a little bit higher. Whatever. Thc then I. I thought there'd be none in there. Turns out there was probably like 100, maybe 120 combined in there. Walk into that shot of glory. I had no idea what I was doing. Then we got a chance to look around. That seems like the greatest golf tournament to go to. If you were to go to a corner golf tournament. It does feel like the best one. It's just always during Super Bowl. So anybody that goes to the super bowl cannot go to the Phoenix. The Waste Management Open. It's tough.

[Darius Butler]

It is tough.

[Pat McAfee]

The perfect setup. Move that. Why don't you pick that up? Why don't you move that to.

[Darius Butler]

I know.

[AQ Shipley]

It doesn't end on Sunday, does it?

[Pat McAfee]

Where have the Super Bowl Sunday.

[Darius Butler]

I'm not kidding you when I say this. Last year Thomas Dietri was the winner. He, he makes the putt, hand the check. I drive home and literally walked in the door as the ball was getting kicked off.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, so it's perfect timing for you. Everybody else, wow, Phoenix is best. That place is the best.

[Ty Schmidt]

Love it.

[Pat McAfee]

How long have you lived there now?

[Darius Butler]

2014. 11 years. Crazy. 12 years.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a full time Arizonan, brother?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, I'm Phoenician, if you will. Phoenician?

[Pat McAfee]

You are a Phoenician.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You are.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You're, you're a Phoenician, aren't you?

[Darius Butler]

Crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

Crazy to think maybe one day you could be a Phoenician. AJ Joining us now is a man who's going to describe something that I don't think any Phoenician would ever have to experience. Ladies and gentlemen, this man is a weather extraordinaire. He is a meteorologist G. He is a man who interrupted a football game just a few weeks ago and understood that there's going to be a lot of people that weren't happy about it. And he's just telling you what he's legally obligated to do right now. Man From Pittsburgh, Yinzer. Now out here in Indianapolis, ladies and gentlemen, Adam Fike. Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail.

[Adam Fike]

On the head right there.

[Pat McAfee]

I have to, yeah, I was legally obligated and I appreciate the fact that you were telling us because everybody was mad for sure. Because we're looking out our window. And anytime anything's interrupted live sports wise for weather, if you're not the direct area that's being affected, there's nothing more infuriating. Okay. Like you're talking about two hours away from here and right now I can't watch the game because of what's taking place. What you were trying to tell everybody is like, hey, this is the rules. I, I don't know what to tell you. This is naturally. Gotten your phone. This is what has happened now. So we appreciate the reality of the business. Now let's talk about the reality of the business. There's big cold front Snowstorms coming to 30 states in the United States right now. Is this the winter storm from hell that we're going to have this season? How can you describe what's about to take place? And do we have to worry about trees exploding in the northern areas if it gets colder than 20 degrees below zero we where do we stand with all of this right now? Adam, if you could kind of be a weather expert for us as we watch ahead for a cold ass weekend.

[Adam Fike]

Yes, exploding trees are weird. I haven't gotten to experience them, but it's when you get those huge temperature swings, it goes from warm and then temperatures drop rapidly. But to not be a complete nerd, because no one wants that.

[Pat McAfee]

No, we do. That's why we called you. Yeah, we did. We actually said we need the suspenders guy on the program and then we got to oh shit. Yes we do. Adam, if you could be a complete weather nerd, that would be cool because you, then we can ask you what the hell you mean if we don't get it.

[Adam Fike]

Okay, so in easiest terms possible, there's basically two low pressures that are going to work through. One is just this weak little Alberta clipper. What this does is it brings in this really cold air so you can go from temperatures above freezing to your as cold as negative 20. These bring very little preset, but it brings very rapid temperatures drops. So that's what you're going to see with the exploding tree risk. So basically you got moisture that's in your trees, you got SAP. When that gets really cold really quickly. Anything that's liquid, when it freezes, expands. So what happens is your SAP that's in the bark is moist. It starts to expand like an ice cube. Like when you put water in ice cube tray, it expands a little bit, starts to overlap over the top. This is the same with those trees. When it freezes so rapidly, what happens is it expands. It sounds like a gunshot goes off as the bark is exploding a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So it's not the inside, the inner working of the tree explode because we.

[Adam Fike]

Thought potentially it can be, it's more so the SAP that's underneath the bark and, and in the tree as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. And you said not a lot of precip. Whenever it comes to this particular drop in pressure, it goes from warmer to colder and then all the moisture that's within the tree right, right now expands and boom. All of a sudden we got boom.

[Ty Schmidt]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what you just said. Basically.

[Adam Fike]

These air masses are so dry. Think of this.

[Pat McAfee]

No precip, no precip stays over the.

[Adam Fike]

North Pole most of the year. It's so cold, it's so dry. It's that dry that your lips are just constantly chapped for like a week straight. There's no little to no moisture with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. And that's what we're getting this weekend they're saying they're predicting how many states and where from.

[Adam Fike]

So that's going to be north, that's going to be your southern Canadian provinces. That's going to be the great as far as the northeast of us and that sort of what's colliding with the warmer air that's to the south towards the Gulf coast, the Mississippi Valley. And that's why you're going to get this large area of heavy snow. You're going to get that large swath like it's showing of the freezing, freezing rain, sleet, all that fun stuff. Well, but with how strong that low pressure, well the high pressure in that cold air masses with all the warmth and moisture is, well, it's just going to be a large swath of every precip, even light precip. You can see through the Northeast, through the Central Plains, still could see some snow showers. Well even here in Indy, it's, I mean Friday, Saturday, Sunday, temperatures are going to be well below freezing. It's easily can see high temperature stuck in the teens in some spots overnight, very cold. But I mean it's just going to be crazy. I don't think it's going to be some big historic, big event. Everyone you see on social media all the time, everyone trying to hype up everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Trees are exploding. Yes. Trees are exploding. Yes. That's why, that's why talking about right now, yes.

[Adam Fike]

But yeah, it's, it's going to be crazy.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so you think it's going to be crazy, but it's not going to be generational is what you're saying. So let me just try to, if I can maybe try to understand what you just said there a little bit. So we got the North Pole dry cold, okay, hitting some southern. We got no precip in this one. Okay, we got no precip. But the south, especially around Mississippi Valley area, you got some precip there. When those meet, those are going to entangle and all of a sudden you got that cold and you got that precip and then we got bullshit all over the place. That's what you were saying is about to happen. Now on that note, when it's warm and cold air and you're not saying the south pressure is necessarily warm, it's still cold, but is it vastly warmer than the cold air enough are we going to get tornado, isn't that how tornadoes start and then warm and cold air hitting each other creates a tornado? Is that, that's what I've learned.

[Adam Fike]

I mean you're correct there. There's different ingredients you need for tornadoes. This is, is a. Since it's a low pressure, you don't get tornadoes that form in the low pressure.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Adam Fike]

You get tornadoes that form along some sort of boundary or front. So you have your look. Let's say your low pressure is far to the north. Your cold front is going to sag through. You're going to get storms that fire along the cold front. This isn't necessarily going to be a cold front driven storm. It's a very strong low pressure that just moves through. So it's a large area rather than a small narrow area.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. Adam, how long is this going to last? Do we know? Are we 100% sure how long this could last? Or could this be forever? Is this the rest of our lives?

[Adam Fike]

I mean it depends on how long you live.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's a good call, Adam. That's a good call. Let's assume we live normal.

[Adam Fike]

Never know when you're going to die.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you're right. 100 we have no idea what tomorrow is going to be. You're 100%. Well that's what I was alluding to as well when I was like, hopefully, you know, if we were to live normal lengthwise, if I was to live another six months or so from this exact moment, which we all hope we.

[Ty Schmidt]

Will, hopefully longer than that.

[Pat McAfee]

But just say I am though sure we're going to get out of this thing. How's this winter going to be? Because I don't know what the groundhog. I don't know what. I don't know what punk Stony Phil said. How long is this going to be and are we expecting a very cold ass next couple months or what's the projections, Adam?

[Adam Fike]

So right now it looks like the rest of the month, even to start February, it's just going to continue to be cold. It's oh like, like this low pressure we're seeing moving through to the north. This little clipper system that's going to bring the cold air. It's just going to be clipper after clipper after clipper that just continues to bring shots of cold air. Doesn't mean it's going to be cold the entire time. It will get warm at times, but it's just, just going to continue to be these shots of cold air, especially through the end of the month.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Adam Fike]

At least in terms of the storm. Yeah, it's more so just going to be a Friday through Monday. Once we get past Monday, we see this specific storm out of the area.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I was talking about there, Adam, mostly is, is when am I gonna not have to deal with this particular clipper coming in. Now you say no precip here. This is that area. Boom. We got up here, little Saskatoon, a couple of the Dakotas, they certainly gonna deal with problems. Maybe some exploding trees up here, you know, because the SAP gets into the bark aq. And when it gets cold, just like an ice tray, you know, the water boils over a little bit because it's a little expander. Boom. It's Alexander gun shop. But really it's not that big of a problem until it is. Okay, then down here you got a little precip coming here. You see these arrows Banging a boom ba da boom. Right here. We got a lot of stuff coming now. Where's that going to go? Is it going to go here? Is it going to go here? Is it going to go there? Is it going to go here? We're not exactly sure, but what we think is low pressure. Not a lot of stuff coming through. Just going to take a big air. Going to take a big air. Everybody's going to get affected. 30 different states. Okay. It's going to do this entire thing up here. You know what it is? Okay. It's football time. Weather sucks in here. You know what it is? It's cold and gonna be shitty. But we got no precip coming from the north. So your face is gonna be dry if you're looking north, but your gonna be moist. We appreciate you, Adam. Thank you for the breakdown, buddy. That was great.

[Adam Fike]

Thank you. Hey, face the camera a little bit more when you present. Don't leave your back to the camera.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Come on.

[Connor Rogers]

Okay.

[AQ Shipley]

Okay. Fike, are you currently chasing the storm?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. What are you out there right now with this low pressure? Pressure right now I'm in the wind.

[Adam Fike]

In a unclassified location.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you looking for some exploding trees?

[AJ Hawk]

Unclassified?

[Ty Schmidt]

Nope.

[AQ Shipley]

Okay.

[Adam Fike]

You can't know.

[Connor Rogers]

Sick.

[AJ Hawk]

What's on your back window? Are those those gun mounts on your back window? What is that?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, for Gatling, Those are strobe lights. You're chasing a storm right now. All right, ladies and gentlemen, not right now.

[Adam Fike]

Couple months down the line probably will see me chasing a couple tornadoes.

[AJ Hawk]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe, maybe one tornado becomes two tornadoes, becomes Jim Cantor looking in his heels. Wait a minute.

[AQ Shipley]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

This is Adam F. You're the man. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam F. Yeah. All right, so that middle area is where it's going to be a lot of dancing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. Where we Are that Alberta Clipper. It's coming.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, they got a couple different clips coming.

[Connor Rogers]

Clipper after Clipper.

[AQ Shipley]

A lot of preset.

[Pat McAfee]

So get back to the mask. But Denver's got going on today home game. Can we call him back? Where was he? He's on.

[Connor Rogers]

There he is. Mr. F. Holy Fike.

[Pat McAfee]

Mr. Fike.

[Adam Fike]

You know what, Pat? I'm impressed you got my last name. Not a lot of people get that, right.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[Adam Fike]

I'll get flick, frick, feck, thick, some other words. But you hit the nail on the head. You got it right first try.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't even know country of origin either, which we do normally try to ask for to pay our respect. People call me McAfee all the time. And then I have to go, it's MacVee. And then they say, like the antivirus. And then I have to say it's not just an antivirus. They're actually full scam detection. And John McAfee, rest in peace. I think everybody's saying at this point they're a great app. But anyways. Hey, where's Denver at? And what are the Denver Broncos have to deal with? They're hosting Sunday massive championship game. Massive AFC. Massive AFC championship game. Mr. Fight. The microphone's here, though, or this one.

[AJ Hawk]

And they can't meet to the camera. That's the rule. Meet to the camera.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Me to the camera. But what about the buzz to the ears, these two. What's going on in Denver? Fike, can you please. Can we talk about Denver?

[Adam Fike]

Well, it help if the graphic didn't cover up Colorado, but.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, right here.

[Adam Fike]

For them, it's likely snow.

[Pat McAfee]

I like low pressure. Pressure is.

[Adam Fike]

Low pressure is basically going to form once it gets past them. But still could deal with some snow showers, especially since they're in the higher elevations.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, Fike. We appreciate you, man. Ladies and gentlemen, it's got all the answers.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Might be the next dinardo, which you know what that means.

[Connor Rogers]

Don't easy. That's a tall task. We don't want this guy climbing ever. Sun, you know, today.

[Pat McAfee]

I know, but he's. He's taking say he's got strobe lights behind him. That's right.

[Connor Rogers]

Denver's looking like I'm nowhere close to Denver.

[Adam Fike]

DiNardo. You can't compare me to him. That dude's a legend.

[Pat McAfee]

That's how we know he might be on his way.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

He might be on his way.

[Adam Fike]

And there's many more Pittsburgh meteorologists like Dennis Bowman as well.

[Connor Rogers]

They don't sniff dinardo's bike. Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

They trained under him.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Fike. This is his first time on the show. He doesn't know us yet. He can't be doing what you just did.

[Connor Rogers]

No, no.

[J]

But.

[Connor Rogers]

But he gets it High. High of 26 on Sunday in Denver.

[AJ Hawk]

It's not bad.

[Pat McAfee]

Well. Well, after a storm comes through, it's going to be a no pressure zone. But before then, you might have a chance for some prep.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, the question is how much prep.

[Pat McAfee]

I like that. We just got up within modern lingo.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Clips coming in.

[AQ Shipley]

What coaching tree is fight from Denardo?

[Pat McAfee]

Pittsburgh.

[AQ Shipley]

No, he's.

[Pat McAfee]

He's not from n. I don't know if Dardo's got a tree. You're from the same hometown as him. You should have.

[Darius Butler]

It's got to be Dennis Bowman. Is that what he said? It's got to be Dennis Bowman's tree.

[AQ Shipley]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

For sure. Who's Dennis Bowman?

[Darius Butler]

I don't know. I don't know why he just mentioned.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, you hate dinardo's got.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Darius Butler]

Dude, I'm on the train. Come on. Don't. Don't start that.

[Connor Rogers]

You just told us you went back to Moon Township and pissed on his grave.

[J]

Didn't say that.

[Pat McAfee]

You said that.

[Connor Rogers]

Did not say that.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, boy. I waved.

[Darius Butler]

I waved to his water tower as I drove into town.

[Pat McAfee]

That's very nice of you to do that. There's no snow coming to Denver. Just going to be chilly. Just going to be chilly.

[AQ Shipley]

See? Not from Dardo Tree.

[Pat McAfee]

Knew it.

[Connor Rogers]

Blow. Jeez.

[Pat McAfee]

Joe. He said he didn't have a map in front. He said he could have seen. Well, Dinar would have had hand drawn one. That's. That was the difference back in the day. Could you imagine back in the day, the technology. Dardo just literally got out of bed, maybe smelling the sink. Watch the. They blow. That's about 10 miles an hour. Dinardo waking up in the morning every morning, smoking a cig. Looks like it's gonna rain out there, doesn't it? Yeah, it does.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, man.

[Pat McAfee]

About 20% or so. Go right to this. Go right to the set. We can feel it. I bet you that's what he did.

[AQ Shipley]

Love you, Joe.

[Pat McAfee]

He was the greatest. That guy was batting a thousand. Just strictly off of eyes and feet.

[Connor Rogers]

The game has changed.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got arthritis in his knees. He knows when a storm front's coming.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Ah, Lee. Gotta be a storm coming. Headache. Massive headache.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Gotta change in the atmospheric pressure. For sure. I'm gonna Add a little pressure change on that thing. Rest in peace, Joe. We said it would.

[Ty Schmidt]

You've done good, Joe.

[Pat McAfee]

And it did.

[AQ Shipley]

20, 26. Drive around, gimmicks on his back. Don't know the weather.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. He pulled people over.

[AQ Shipley]

He's coach. You up though?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he did tell me I needed. I. I almost. I didn't want to get too deep into it. It's an interesting microphone situation. Fight. Okay, but on that note, this one always sounds. There it is. See? And then we're back to this one.

[J]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Two different ball games. And every once In a while, AQ's microphone will get in there, especially if the person's sitting there.

[Connor Rogers]

Yep.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Which he does.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, he does. Yes, he does. You like to bat that thing around, don't you?

[Darius Butler]

I don't.

[Pat McAfee]

You like to bop that thing all around, don't you?

[AQ Shipley]

Jesus.

[Pat McAfee]

Speaking of Joe Nardo, he'd be what we like to call a great D. Great Dardo. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to get this some good old D with everything. Dbs, DB Darius J. Butler.

[AQ Shipley]

Like I said earlier, we have some great defense from last round last weekend. This is the New England Patriots, once again, a defense that's not talked about enough, in my opinion. This is Carl Davis iii. Great job in quarters coverage. Just having a great feel, having vision on the quarterback, seeing the route develop in front of his face. Running back to the beginning, this is a route, especially throughout this year, we've seen Ran Moore because you kind of find a weakness in the quarter's coverage. You pause here. The slot receiver, he runs like a little hitch route. Once he does that, he kind of belongs to that quarter flat defender, the corner can get ran off by that number one receiver that's in his face. But when you have vision, you trust your safety. You can see the route develop. A little bit of pressure on Stroud as well. Helps this. And then he sees the player and makes a fantastic catch along the sideline. Gets his knee down, adjusting his mouthpiece while doing it. Just an unbelievable play. Play by seven right here.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It feels like your guys defense has been special for two years now. Right? Don't you think last year, even before Vrabo, defense was good or no, it was okay.

[Connor Rogers]

But not like this. It wasn't dominant. Like this is one of the better defenses in the entire NFL. Obviously you saw that kind of play. A factor in the preparation with them getting zero credit. Again, play amazing, still don't get any credit. Stroud's fault. Not the. Not the cause of the defense. And that's why Sunday like Sunday, especially with that temperature, like no matter what, even if Bo Nicks was playing, it feels like it was going to be a massive defensive battle. Can't wait for Sunday.

[Pat McAfee]

Patriots D in the playoffs thus far via Hembo. Nine sacks, six takeaways, one touchdown allowed. Only four defenses had ever done all three in a two game span in the playoffs. The Giants, the Bills, the Bears and the Steelers. You know Steel curtain conversation talk back there. The bears obviously celebrated 1992 bills. I assume that's the legendary of the four falls defenses and then 2000 giants who led that one stray and them must have been.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Was that the record? I wonder. They. They also are the first defense since the 1985 Beers in the playoffs to allow less than 250 yards in both games, 16 points in one of the games, 4 yards per rush and have three sacks in both games. Yes or sorry, less than 16 points of both games.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that between the numbs right there? He had a couple other ones as well. There's a lot of stats coming out about this Patriots defense that is like hey, we were talking to the Houston Texans defense for good reason because like what they were doing and winning games and we saw what they did to the Pittsburgh Steelers. 14 points literally within a minute and a half flipped that entire game open in Pittsburgh end an era for Mike Tomlin. It's like holy, this Houston Texans defense is unbelievable. And then we, we talked about about how this year there's been more great defenses around the NFL as opposed to like one or two. We never really brought up the Patriots, you know, never really brought the Patriots because Drake May MVP season.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Was the conversation schedule and or I mean the negative was the schedule. But the Drake May MVP season was the positive push for the Patriots. Normally only one purse per team, you know. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

One dominating storyline.

[AJ Hawk]

They're in a good spot though. What a great spot for that defense. So defeat like they definitely feel disrespected by the national media. No one talking about them. So they're going to continue to roll.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, definitely feel disrespected because it wasn't even a chatter about it. And then oh, this is the number one defense in the world. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And that is exactly the message that got sent was okay and it's like they can win the Super Bowl. It feels like just buy them damn sales. It's going to be hard to get a yard against him going 1000%.

[AQ Shipley]

They got a couple young safeties in there and Gonzo. Which isn't talked about a lot because you know he doesn't get targeted a bunch and when he does, he doesn't give up. Not a lot of ball production with picks and things like that. So you won't see a ton of highlights of him. He had a great force fumble in this game, but he's phenomenal. But we talk about defense, especially great defenses. We all know it always starts up front. And Milton Williams in the middle, he has been dominant. Barmore's been great as well. But this play right here, this pick six, it started with Milton just dominate. Penetrating trips up the tight end trying to come across and be in the flat. And if he's in the flat, he's kind of like an outlet for C.J. stroud. He could just dump it off. Instead Stroud makes a terrible decision. First and ten, just eat this or throw it away if you can. He just throws it up for grab. And Marcus Jones, he is, he's dynamic. Every time he gets the ball in his hands he has a chance to score and he did right here. And this kind of changed the game. It was a back and forth fourth game, a ton of turnovers. Houston, they obviously caused a bunch of turnovers as well. Great defensive battle, but this is a big time play when you're able to not only stop an offense but turn it into instant points for the defense.

[Pat McAfee]

That's the first time I've been able to see his front face shot there. Whenever he was running with the ball, he doesn't see a damn thing and he's just running as hard as he possibly can. Blind and ends up running into the end zone. What? He can't see anything. Just legs just doing the job. When he to head this way. Incredible touchdown. Just an absolutely incredible touchdown. And finish right there. And then obviously a nasty face mask could have your neck broken potentially there instead. Get up and do your dance. Yeah. Dogs everywhere.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. He's unbelievable with the ball. How many touchdowns total?

[Connor Rogers]

I believe that's his fourth touchdown this year.

[AQ Shipley]

With punt returns, any interception returns. He's unbelievable. And this was a another big time play by this defense.

[Pat McAfee]

Milton, you know, causing a disruption. Highest paid Patriot of all defense player.

[Connor Rogers]

Of all time across the board. All Patriots.

[Pat McAfee]

Highest paid Patriot player of all time. Was supposed to be a Carolina Panther on free agency frenzy day. Instead Vrabel comes in. At the time people said overpaid paid a tax to get him to go up to New England. And then the big dogs make big plays. I forget the big dogs show up in January. I think is What Vrabel and the D line say to each other. And he certainly has every game he's wrecked.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, him and Barmore, I mean, I think that was the big disrespect from last week that they took from it because all the talk was Anderson and Daniel Hunter. Whereas Barmore and Milton Williams, by far the best duo in the middle across every D line. You know, Jared Verse, of course, he's. He's great. And to what you said about the May being the conversation, the Rams had the same thing. Rams defense, amazing. But the conversation Stafford, you know, like the MVPs do hog those, you know, headlines. Rightfully so.

[Pat McAfee]

And the teams want those conversations to be the headlines too.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Because the team would like Drake May to win the mvp. So it's like the more conversation about Drake May the MVP better. But I think what is getting missed is, I mean they might have the defense.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, absolutely. If you go back to the clip, you don't even need to run the play. Just pre snap. What they. They play a ton of nickel. They almost don't care. Like true nickel, not even like big nickel. Obviously Marcus Jones is the biggest guy in the world and you're only able to do that if you have some dogs up front that can kind of handle the run game. So Marcus, Marcus Jones right here. This is 12 personnel, one running back, two tight ends. And they're in true nickel. And I believe earlier in the season, Dano, which he had to kind of pick something like an Achilles heel for each team. And he said there are a number of nickel snaps, nickel reps could come back and bite him in the ass at some point. He had to pick something. So I'm not trying to, you know, say he pointed him and say he was wrong. Love Dan O. But when you're able to do this with the dogs up front, then obviously you can keep a push playmaker like Marcus Jones on the field. It'll definitely help that defense.

[Pat McAfee]

Unbelievable that they're able to do this so quickly.

[AQ Shipley]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

Flip it around and be known as a defensive genius squad through and through. Dogs everywhere and shut down, lockdown corner and Gonzo. Oh, they got Reavis island at one point. Now they got Gonzo just locking it down. Nobody's talking about it. New England Patriots love it. Their fans are getting mad at everybody and now they get a chance to prove there may be the next 20 years of dominance is happening. I don't like they even think it's about that. Milton's got to retire after this season. No, he's Gonzo.

[Connor Rogers]

This is his first deal. Gonzo is 23.

[Pat McAfee]

Gonzo's retiring too?

[Connor Rogers]

No, he hasn't got paid yet. He hasn't even played his best ball.

[AQ Shipley]

I got two rookies playing safely.

[Pat McAfee]

No, they're retiring. If they win super bowl, maybe they're done.

[Ty Schmidt]

Where I just one sorry Frable retires, goes out on top.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Says I never had to cut off my might to win another Super Bowl. Yep.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, their defense is all young.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, they hit on legitimately. I mean, not even including free agents. I guess if we include free agents, they hit on like 15 different signings. Like half the guy. I mean, the guy that pressured right there, Casey Chase on. I mean, that's a one year, $1 million player. Like every single person. 44 right here, every single person that they've brought in has made a massive impact.

[Darius Butler]

Arguably the best signing on offense is Morgan Moses to play right tackle.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

And he's a aging veteran that they.

[Connor Rogers]

Bring in on a low deal, let alone Garrett Bradbury. Garrett Bradbury.

[Pat McAfee]

So now they're doing good deals. Yeah, Frable, they're young.

[Connor Rogers]

Kind of ruin that. You can make the argument we basically broke the Bills.

[Pat McAfee]

A gola needs keep talking.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. Pat and Terry Pula. Exactly. Yeah. That guy broke him. McDermott, Sia Bean.

[Pat McAfee]

Promoted, though.

[Connor Rogers]

Being promoted. And by the way, I checked back in on that. Since the show started, he's getting buried even more. He said. He said some interesting again. And we like Brandon Bean. He basically said, unless Jesus Christ is up for getting drafted, we're taking Keon Coleman tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

No more bus. Did you hear a buzz?

[Darius Butler]

Small.

[Connor Rogers]

I heard the bus wasn't that small.

[Pat McAfee]

We're kind of buzzing about the bones on the jumpsuit.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, buzzing a bit.

[Pat McAfee]

That could have been what it was.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's back.

[Pat McAfee]

Buzz. You hear a buzz? Yeah. You heard a buzz? I do not. Let's get to some good D. There's a bad buzz, though.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you hear the buzz?

[AQ Shipley]

I don't hear it.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you hear buzz? The man.

[Ty Schmidt]

Not right now. Not currently.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's do some good deeds.

[Connor Rogers]

Speaking of beating Bill, I heard the buzz that time.

[AQ Shipley]

Sorry, is it like a quick.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, and it's a weird one. This one's coming from somewhere else. It's like Truman Show. Like we're hacked if you like. It's like a deeper fight. Adam fight could have tapped our systems. Oh, Fike off was a low pressure system, though, so no prep. Got a couple clips coming through ears my right now.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

One wave after another.

[Connor Rogers]

No Pressure Fike is going to be a perfect way to say on espn, by the way.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, my God. I didn't f. Think. Holy f. There was a show from Ireland. I think Mrs. Thomas's boys, Browns. There. Yeah, there it is. Mrs. Brown's boys. And instead of saying they, I think they say might be Fike.

[Ty Schmidt]

That could be with the.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that, A.J.

[AJ Hawk]

I didn't say anything. Is it better than fudge or fudging?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, yes.

[AJ Hawk]

Obviously I knew the answer.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you gonna drop Mrs. Brown's feckin is what they say. Yeah, yeah. Feckin. Yeah, there were Mrs. Brown's Boys is a great show. I will say. I got introduced to that on. On computer one day in the Internet. Just pop. Popped up. Unbelievable idea. That guy runs over there, I think. Sorry, Mr. Brown runs. All right, let's get some good D. Here we go.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was interesting.

[AQ Shipley]

Absolutely. Talking about killing the Bills. This Broncos defense, another great defense coming into the year. Obviously the pressures, the sacks. One of the things where they weren't creating a ton of turnovers and they have been doing that. That was the story of this game. Bunch of turnovers from Josh Allen caused by this defense. This one is kind of of like a. Some type of quarters look. So if you see Hofanga up on the. The offense's left, he's kind of going to pass this off. And you'll see PJ Lock come out of the middle of the field and just beeline undercut the receiver and pick this off. Great job reading the quarterback now. Josh Allen, it kind of looked open. If you can see it from the back. Copy kind of looks open at some point if he throws it, if he leads him kind of over Huanga's head. But it's all about angles and where you throw his ball. And when you're a DB and you have the opportunity to undercut it, you better put two hands on it. And PJ Lock did. This was a big time deep throw that turned into a big play by the Broncos. Big time play by PJ Lock.

[Pat McAfee]

Josh Allen just off or what? What do we.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, he was off this game. He was off this game. I don't think he completed a pass that had like over 20 air yards.

[Pat McAfee]

Broken thumb or something. What happened to him the week before?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, he did get hurt. I don't know if it was a broken thumb, but Finger. Yeah. What's that?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I read Ray's. He might need foot surgery.

[Pat McAfee]

Correct.

[Connor Rogers]

Stafford had the thumb and finger because he hit it on somebody. But Josh Allen, his knee got twisted right at the goal line as well, like he had a couple different little dings. But I do believe Sean McDermott made him throw that ball. He pulled him out.

[AQ Shipley]

And Hufanga Ben there kind of forced him to put a little more air on it. And it's just a great read and a great play. And I mean, it didn't look like anything was physically, to my, in my opinion, wrong with his throwing mechanics, per se, but just a great play by the Denver Broncos and been a little sloppy with the ball. This ball right here, this is obviously, you've seen this clip a ton of times now with Jaquan McMillan in the slot against Brandon Cooks. Man to man coverage, basically 3rd and 11. So you bring your pressure, you're going to drop like two robbers spies in the middle the field, because always his legs are a threat. You hear it all the time with Tony Romo on the call. So great job and great position. And once again, if this ball is put out there a little bit more, Brandon Cooks even now still has the speed to get behind defenders. He kind of got to stop, go up and high point it. Does a great job. Just doesn't come down, finish the catch. McMillan does great job finishing his play for a fantastic interception.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, interception says D. Bud. It's actually on. Good D. AQ Shipley, what do you think this was?

[Darius Butler]

I think it was a tie. As they hit the ground, Ty goes the offense.

[Pat McAfee]

Final answer? Final answer. Still at this moment.

[AQ Shipley]

Interesting.

[Pat McAfee]

You believe that the Buffalo Bills got screwed right here.

[Darius Butler]

Based on the language in the rule book, yes.

[Pat McAfee]

A.J. hawk, do you agree with A or do you agree with good Ds DB?

[AJ Hawk]

I agree with DB. I believe this was an interception.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so defensive people in this particular setup are saying that was not a catch. He never, ever caught the ball. The ball was definitely not on the ground.

[AQ Shipley]

Got to finish it through. If he rolls over and this ball just goes out and rolls on the grass, it's an incomplete pass. I don't think anybody's saying it. That's a catch. He had it going when he went down.

[Darius Butler]

So you could say that about every tie ball in the history of football.

[AQ Shipley]

I'm saying, remove McMillan from the pitcher. Let's just say he goes over as he finishes the rollover. The ball is just out.

[Darius Butler]

I'm just saying every single tie ball where the defense comes away within the history of football, you could say.

[Pat McAfee]

But you're saying it's a tie ball. They're not saying it's a tie ball. A tie ball would indicate that he ever had it. They're saying he never had.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, like tie ball. The tie ball where they're like both on the ground ripping at it and stuff. Yeah, that goes to the offense, but that. That's not what this is.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they're saying the situation right there.

[Darius Butler]

He's got the ball right there.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's got the ball.

[AQ Shipley]

He's rolling over right there.

[Ty Schmidt]

He.

[AQ Shipley]

He's down there.

[Darius Butler]

Hip was down, but you got to.

[Connor Rogers]

Possess it to the ground for it.

[Darius Butler]

To be a catch. Survive the ground. You could say that on again, every single tie ball in the history.

[Pat McAfee]

So you're saying you're 100% sold, not.

[Darius Butler]

Just a screenshot based on the language.

[Ty Schmidt]

Of the rule book.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Interesting, because I thought Cooks never officially had possession of ball, but I guess while falling has it in his hand.

[Darius Butler]

And then hip hop touches.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And then what would count as a catch?

[Darius Butler]

Hip touch.

[AQ Shipley]

Surviving the ground.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly. But what would they call, like, did he have a possession enough of it before the hip touch down for them or hip touch down for them to call it a.

[AQ Shipley]

We saw this call to interception, too, with a. What is it? Joint possession.

[Darius Butler]

It was called a. It was called a catch for Devonte Adams.

[AQ Shipley]

The one otten otten and Lions. Yep, Lions. And it happened another time, too.

[Connor Rogers]

Browns, Bengals.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, you're saying Higgins y the next day.

[Pat McAfee]

You're. You're talking about the other one that happened this weekend where.

[AQ Shipley]

What about with this angle Aus catch.

[Darius Butler]

Hip down. That's a catch.

[Connor Rogers]

The ball's moving.

[Darius Butler]

It's a catch.

[Pat McAfee]

All right.

[AQ Shipley]

Guess this is a microcosm of Internet. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Also, that's a subjective call, cuz clearly if AQ or somebody like minded AQ was calling D down, that's a catch. Think about where we would be in this moment. Think about where we would be in this moment right now. See, I just. Was a catch.

[Ty Schmidt]

I assume more people were pissed that they just didn't review it. They just called it an interception on the field and then just ran with it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but they're definitely. I mean, that is 1,000.

[Darius Butler]

I mean, we bring up one tweet where one guy sides with that. What about the other 9,000 tweets? And also we got a guy that drives a Batmobile to practice.

[AQ Shipley]

What are you talking about?

[Pat McAfee]

We haven't shown the tweet yet. Foxy, put this tweet on the back just as a. Do we want this aq? You actually called for this to be shown. Okay. You called for this by bringing it Up.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

The amount of people that don't understand what it catches in a rulebook flabbergast.

[Connor Rogers]

Me talking to you.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's not the officials. The two plays yesterday were not difficult calls and they got them both right. Joe Burrow says that's an offensive guy.

[AQ Shipley]

I didn't even know Joe.

[Pat McAfee]

That's his first sweet in over two years.

[Darius Butler]

He's going to go hybrid.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, okay. All right.

[Connor Rogers]

Well, you don't like Batman.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't think Joey Burrow has a right to have a opinion on a catch?

[Connor Rogers]

I do.

[Darius Butler]

I'm just saying there's a 9 billion other tweets saying it was a catch.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, those are all Bills fans.

[AJ Hawk]

You like fossils?

[Connor Rogers]

Aq.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a good bones.

[Darius Butler]

Love you.

[AJ Hawk]

Want any bones for a Christmas gift?

[Darius Butler]

If I got a fossil for a Christmas gift, I would give up a sack the next week.

[Ty Schmidt]

Love it.

[Connor Rogers]

Yes.

[AJ Hawk]

Just don't take the gift.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what they did.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thought I figured.

[Pat McAfee]

All right. The spite runs deep, I guess.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, man.

[Pat McAfee]

What if it was T. Rex? Little baby T. Rex. Didn't they have a little baby Rex in there?

[Darius Butler]

That was kind of what people called me. That take even more of a slight.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, you'd be upset about it. Oh, this guy.

[Darius Butler]

Miss a cut block.

[Pat McAfee]

See you. Good luck.

[Connor Rogers]

Thanks for the mammoth tooth.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go to some more good de, shall we?

[AQ Shipley]

I don't believe you. You had it right in your house. Soon as you walk in, we see that. Yeah, of course.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed. I'm on your side. Yeah, It's a dinosaur.

[Darius Butler]

Quay would walk in and break it a immediately.

[Connor Rogers]

What the.

[AQ Shipley]

Is this thing not breaking that?

[Pat McAfee]

It's not Legos, dude.

[AQ Shipley]

Millions of years.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah. Anyway, Chris Shula's defense. What's that? Dinosaurs.

[Pat McAfee]

How many years? How many years dinosaurs? I don't know.

[Connor Rogers]

It really just depends on your beliefs, I guess.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what I'm wondering though. How many years ago would dinosaurs be?

[Ty Schmidt]

Carbon dating would indicate 300 to 400 million years ago.

[AQ Shipley]

Go.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's a hell of a run. They're still getting bones for gifts. That's a good gift.

[Connor Rogers]

It's great gift.

[Pat McAfee]

You're remembering 300 million years ago.

[Darius Butler]

I can hear the. In your voice.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[Darius Butler]

The. The disdain.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I can hear it. I think it's awesome. Now that I'm learning it's 300 million years old, I'm even more excited about that.

[Connor Rogers]

I was changing week to week. Hubble telescope. Discovering new stuff all. All the time.

[AQ Shipley]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

We're at Mars I think I saw. I saw us in Mars. I think we're out there. They were doing some time conversation there about how long that place been dried up in their expectations.

[Connor Rogers]

They did that with the moon. The moon dust.

[Pat McAfee]

And then you look at it, it's like, that's Arizona. Doesn't it look pretty similar to what we got here? That's so far away. How'd they get that thing all the way there? And what's it Mars? What's it talking to?

[Ty Schmidt]

Good question. Great astronauts at NASA in Houston. That's who they're talking to.

[Pat McAfee]

You need to have respect for fossils if they're gifted to you though, is what I'm saying. Okay. That doesn't need to be something you're holding against Joey Burrow.

[AQ Shipley]

I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

What Joey Burrow was thinking is I'm giving a 300 million year old gift. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

And these guys don't know that. I just went and bought these at the local Toys R Us. They have no idea.

[Connor Rogers]

They think guys, they're big dumb idiots.

[Adam Fike]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

They're Lyme and they don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. 3D printed. Yeah. ChatGPT. How do I make a fossil?

[Connor Rogers]

What do fat people love? Bones.

[AQ Shipley]

Bones.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, bones. Let's go some more. Good D, shall we?

[AQ Shipley]

Here we go. Durant cover two. And as an underneath zone defender, he always. A lot of times you are the defender in conflict. A lot of times you have high, low routes. You got routes in front of you. Usually you have routes behind you. This one, Loveland, he's going to be the number one wide receiver. He's going to run. We used to call this a China route. Some people call it Indy route, but it's going to be Indy 7 concept. So he's going to go inside corner season and then he's going to sink back and play high to low. Now on the broadcast, I forget who was calling this game, he said the receiver Loveland, in this instance should have probably sat down. If he sits down, he holds the corner. I'm not sure. We're not in those meetings. So he goes inside. Makes it much easier. I will tell you, from a cornerback's perspective, makes it much easier. Much easier. I'm sorry. Once he vacates my flat and I can just sink back. We kind of saw it with Jamari Sharp in the national championship game. Once you don't have a threat in front of you and you are a flat defender, you can keep sinking back, have vision on the quarterback, go up high point and make a big time interception against Caleb Williams, Caleb's not expecting.

[Pat McAfee]

Him to be there.

[AQ Shipley]

Or, I mean, you kind of. From my perspective, you see him drop back, and if Caleb knows the route concept, you. You should know that this tight end is going to keep me moving. If he does sit down once again and it becomes an easier. If you see Durant go high, you just throw it to 84. If you see him sit, you throw it behind him so you can kind of see him. And even in his next interception, it'd be something similar. You see him there. A lot of these throws are anticipating anticipation throws you're throwing to a spot to beat the zone coverage. Durant does a great job reading it, filling it. I don't think Williams did a great job filling it in this point.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so that's the development of a quarterback.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, just take that.

[Pat McAfee]

That is exactly what we're referring to.

[AQ Shipley]

You want to take that profit right there now it is.

[Pat McAfee]

But also knowing that that guy's going to drop off of his responsibilities. In theory, he's supposed to be out here, but we don't have a wide receiver out here to eat up his time, so he's probably going to drop back. That is like the development of understanding defense.

[AQ Shipley]

So not only for Caleb, but for Loveland too, because he's a rookie. And once again, these routes, a lot of time, these routes is dictating on what the coverage is doing. So sometimes if that. If you have a zone defender sitting there, quarterbacks just want you to sit in the space. Like, instead of continuing to move, you kind of find either the first hole, the second, second hole. So you got two under routes here, two indy routes. So if he just sits here kind of on the numbers, once again, I'm not in the meetings. I don't know what he's being taught. But if he sits there, you give another option to Caleb. Because a lot of times, especially NFL at this point in the season, you can see the pressure in Caleb's face from his right side. It's a lot easier to make these reads and decisions when you're sitting on a microphone looking at a screen than it is when you have big D tackles and DNS in your face. But it's not only the development from the quarterback position, but from the receivers as well. And this is a. A young, you know, great tight end. I think he'll be great for a long, long time, but I think this is a learning experience for the quarterback in the tight end.

[Pat McAfee]

Fernando said it's like a puzzle every time. This is kind of like what he was referring to. Exactly. And what you have to learn when you get to the NFL, it's like, hey, yeah, they're in this. You should know that he's not going to do this because we don't have a route for that. It's like, okay, what do I got to know? Well, I got to know my play perfectly. I got to be able to diagnose what they're in and then I got to remember what everybody's role and if we have somebody to occupy it or not. That's like the quarterback position that like whenever you talk about Tom Brady, you talk about Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, these guys. It's like not just knowing what your team's doing, also knowing what they're doing and what the right answer to what they're doing is.

[AQ Shipley]

And that's why you rep it so much. That's why you have walkthroughs, that's why you have meetings. And these quarterbacks, especially all the veteran quarterbacks that we've been around, these are things. You'll hear them, hey, I want you to, when they give you that, I want, I want you to sit right here, like, this is exactly where I want you to be. And that was a perfect example in the game. This is second and long. You hear us all the time say, like during games, hey, get back on track, make it third and manageable. If you just take that duck at check down, now it's probably third and eight and you're in a situation instead of a turnover, just trying to force a ball into a place that you want to be open, you expect it to be open. But the DB does a great job, not only sinking back, taking it away, but going up and getting an interception. That was critical in this game.

[Pat McAfee]

Man, quarterbacks gotta do it a lot.

[AQ Shipley]

It is, and this is another example of it right here with Cam Curl making pretty much the game winning interception to set their offense up in overtime. Empty formation for Caleb. He reads it. DJ Moore is up top, is going to be two in breaking deeper routes. DJ Moore, I think Caleb expected him to come flatter across the field and maybe run a little harder. Because a lot of times with these throws, they're anticipation throws. And once again, the windows, if you run it back to a little bit, you look at the zone coverage and you look at all of the underneath droppers and if you pause it right here, you can see that when you're throwing deep or kind of in the intermediate parts of the field, you have to layer and get it over the underneath droppers, but you also want to beat the deep droppers. So when you play good zone coverage, you guys on the same page, everybody's getting to their space, into their spots. We saw it with the Indiana defense and national championship. And then you have to anticipate these throws. Good protection up front. So you had an opportunity. Once again, it's second and eight. If it's not there. Tucking and run, pick up a first down, do all these different things, these different. You know, he can break it out to his left. We see him do it all the time. Maybe up the middle, maybe just throw it away, but instead he wants to take the big play. Once again, this has kind of been the conversation around Caleb since coming out in the draft. And cam curl makes a great read in a phenomenal interception. Once again, fully extending, turning around, holding on to the ball in these conditions. You know, throwing his tough out, obviously, but catching the ball is tough, especially for DBs. And this was a big, big, big time play by cam curl. Man.

[Pat McAfee]

That's it right there.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, that's it.

[Pat McAfee]

Chicago Bears fans have their heart basically ripped out of them.

[AQ Shipley]

What you see a. I saw you pointing early on the wide copy.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. So as you said, you wanted him flatter. They always say, like between 18 and 22 yards. You want this. This deep kind of over route. He continues to take that angle up here. If he goes 18 to 22, much cleaner across the ball, exactly where he threw it.

[Pat McAfee]

I have a question for AJ Linebackers all drop to the sticks. You guys just have like 3 yard drops, 4 yard drops, 6 yard drops, 2 yard drops that you all know, or is that just strictly feel right.

[AJ Hawk]

There when you got second and eight, you got to know the down distance because you know you're dropping like just beyond the sticks. Most likely. Stay square, keep your eyes on the qb and you can let them. A lot of defense have like a five yard, no cover zone they call where they'll let you catch it within five yards and we want to come up and smash you and staple you to the ground.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you have. How often are you at stake? Is that basically all the time.

[AJ Hawk]

Like I feel you're in a zone. Yeah, if you're in zone, absolutely. You. You need to be at the sticks every single down. No, I mean it depends on down a distance, obviously. Like second and medium to short. Yeah, you need to be at the sticks. It doesn't do you any good to let them catch it at 5 and fall forward to 7 yards. Get a first down like you need.

[Pat McAfee]

To know first and 10, where do you drop?

[AJ Hawk]

About the sticks? Yeah, depending on what they're running, you know, off the route, combinations. You're. You're like, you got to initially push out, get, get to your drop and then get square. And that's when you break on a 10 and you gotta pass everything off and everything.

[AQ Shipley]

Then you have different droppers, have different keys. So like, you can see like. And depending on formation too, if it's a three by one, if it's two by two, you know, in the team that you run, some teams are like just sticks based. Like they're gonna get someone at the sticks damn near in every concept. So sometimes if you see like if I may in cover two, cover two carry, and I'm carrying my number two receiver, but I can see vision, I can see number one stick sit down. I know instantly I can drop down and settle in my drop because I know my safety doesn't have that same stress from number one. So he can squeeze and relate closer to number two. So all these different things are happening in different downs. And then in this defense, it's more of like a spot drop defense. We just call it high school zone. So a lot of times in NFL you'll run zone, but it looks like men because you're matching the route that comes to your zone. But this is more of a spot drop. So we're getting to our spots. And you'll see once Caleb gets zone ready to throw, those two interior droppers are kind of rallying, about to rally to that, that running back right on the C. So if he catches that, turns around before he even turns around and gets square, he'll get vice tackle and it'll be third and short. But they're not breaking on that until they see the breaking intention. So it's all these different things that go into different coverages. And then when you're back, then you have that depth as a deep safety and you can read and see and feel what's going on in front of you. And then you just go and you know, be an athlete, make a play on the ball. And that's what kids cam crew do right here.

[Pat McAfee]

There's so much going on, dude, all the time. The NFL is awesome.

[AJ Hawk]

You gotta rep that a thousand times. That's like breaking. Like you get your spot and you break. You'll do that every single day. You have to be lightning quick. Like, like you say break on intentions. I'm not waiting for him to like cock the arm back and throw. Like, I'm When I see that he's committing, he takes his hand off the ball, boom. We are flying for, like old school Chicago Bears with Earl Aer in them and Lance Briggs and those guys. They were unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

So you were a very explosive athlete. You would say linebackers have to be very explosive because they're from a full standstill to full quick burst of speed.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, you would hope. Yeah. It's all relative to.

[Pat McAfee]

How much did you weigh? How much did you weigh?

[AJ Hawk]

I weighed 248 at the combine.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you weigh now?

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, I. I drank water. I was. I. I thought I needed to be heavier, so I was chugging water before weigh ins.

[Pat McAfee]

Eating bananas Smart peanut butter. Just chugging water. Just water weight.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Just before the weigh in.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah, you can put on about six, seven pounds.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, those bottom. You hold those jugs.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

We can transfer this.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

We can't hold the jug when you're on the scale. Okay. With my hands, you.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And most guys are trying to go the other way. You know, you got aq, drinking down whatever they give the nice. The night before colonoscopy.

[Connor Rogers]

So.

[Pat McAfee]

So that he can just dump out everything in his body. Oh. Before weigh in.

[Darius Butler]

Magnesium citrate.

[Pat McAfee]

There it is.

[AQ Shipley]

Oh, see, that's once you get in. That's right.

[Darius Butler]

Combine. I was trying to. I was drinking, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Water.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah. I played at 295 in college. I think I weighed in 308, 310 at the combine, Something like that. So I was trying to get up.

[Pat McAfee]

During the. During your. Your best years, what were you weighing?

[Darius Butler]

305.

[Pat McAfee]

During your bad years, what were you weighing?

[Connor Rogers]

Pushing 320.

[Pat McAfee]

It's gonna happen. The job requires different things, Especially. Especially on the different jobs that you had. King of wedge. We need a little padding. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

I had 11 kickoff returns against New England in the AFC Championship. 11, 11.

[Connor Rogers]

I think it was 49, 16.

[Darius Butler]

You were on it. You were on the thing.

[AQ Shipley]

You told me.

[Connor Rogers]

I think it was 49, 7, I think. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

His. His bonus. What was that called? The player performance. Player performance bonuses. Huge. Because those kickoff returns. Yeah. Guys getting extra reps all over the place. I don't know if it's keeping up with the brain trauma, but certainly a little bit more money in your pocket.

[Darius Butler]

Still sharp. Sharp as a.

[AJ Hawk]

He is.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's head to hammer. Todd, why don't you head on over here, brother? Will do. All right. He got ready for hammer. Don's giving out winners, right? Hey, Gumpy, Are you guys on a winning streak or Losing streak. College basketball was pretty good last night. We got another full slate this evening. Okay. College hoops is where you. You do eat. You are a. You are a good gambler. Giver, I believe, during college basketball. Right. Because you're betting on the teams which never heard of. Yeah. Like Miami Ohio were getting two points last night. They're 20 and 0. They have lost all year and every game they're like a short favorite. It is an insane. There's a chance. We talk to their coach pretty soon, I think. Yeah, I think there's a chance. That's a good story coming out of hoops. Finally got ranked this week, first time all season.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, if there's a coach we should talk to, his name's Mick Cronin.

[Pat McAfee]

Jeez, Mick Cronin.

[AJ Hawk]

I hope he gets that clip of time.

[Pat McAfee]

He definitely will.

[Connor Rogers]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Is there a way to change that around? You think. You think maybe a meeting of the minds between you?

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't think so at this point.

[Connor Rogers]

Isn't he from Iowa?

[Ty Schmidt]

No. No.

[AJ Hawk]

Maybe.

[Ty Schmidt]

I believe he was born and raised in Cincinnati and then coached at Cincinnati. So he's a bit of a hometown hero there. And then they obviously got sick of his and he went out to. To ucla. He's a good coach. That's the thing. He's. He's a winner. He's a good coach. He's just. He's a sawed off little. And I haven't liked him for a long time and I'll see that changed.

[Pat McAfee]

And anytime soon, you guys need to meet each other. That might just be his entire gimmick. You say he's a good coach, that might be his whole gimmick. Could be never satisfied, always miserable. Players need to get better. Big Ten stinks. You know, that might just be his motivator, his driver.

[Ty Schmidt]

I just don't like him looking a gift horse in the mouth.

[Pat McAfee]

The Big Ten.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Fucking lucky.

[AJ Hawk]

What's a gift horse?

[Pat McAfee]

It's a horse that shows up with a gift. Yeah. What?

[AJ Hawk]

Have you ever. You ever met one?

[Pat McAfee]

Many times I've looked a gift horse in the mouth and said, no, thank you. You. So I think we all have.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Here we go.

[Connor Rogers]

Times you have to.

[Pat McAfee]

At some point, you have to. Yeah.

[AQ Shipley]

Gift horse.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, it's not always a horse.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, that was some good D appreciate. That was good trenches.

[AQ Shipley]

Thanks, boy. Same thing, too. Seattle, top rank, offensive line. Don't trust quarterback.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Feels like the Eagles from a year ago. Wow. Everything's kind of the same as it was in the Past interesting. Except for this weather. We got trees blowing up.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's keep our eyes out.

[AQ Shipley]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Be careful. Thank you for traveling out here, aq. Great.

[Darius Butler]

Thanks for having me.

[Pat McAfee]

Boys.

[AQ Shipley]

Brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Great work. Boys town. Good to see you. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice might change your life. Team on me. Anything to say to the the team? Aq?

[Darius Butler]

Hey, it's championship Sunday. Every single single ounce of effort you put in since April shows up this week. 60 Minutes.

[Pat McAfee]

All you got.

[Darius Butler]

Bring every thing you got because the super bowl is on the doorstep.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go. Okay. So you were talking to the teams that are playing.

[Darius Butler]

All four teams.

[Pat McAfee]

Emmy and.

[Darius Butler]

And Conor.

[Pat McAfee]

Bring everything you got.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, always do.

[Pat McAfee]

Super Bowls right around corner.

[Darius Butler]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Feel like I nailed that. You did.

[Pat McAfee]

You did. I think the boys are going to actually just listen to that right before you. Game perfect. Cronin might turn that thing on.

[Ty Schmidt]

He might.

[Pat McAfee]

Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team.

[Prize Picks Announcer]

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