Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules - Highlight Reels: Tom Brady Stories Pt. II

Episode Date: January 4, 2026

Tom Brady's New England Patriots teammates and coaches give their best stories of what made Tom Brady so great during his time in New EnglandSupport the show: https://hoo.be/dudesondudesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. On June 11th, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. Hey, if they don't kill a cop and bury him, what are you going to do to me? What really happened to the missing deputy? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to games with names. I'm Julian Edelman

and we got a brand new compilation highlight reel starting now. Now Ted Karras tells his funniest story about playing with Tom Brady. That was just like 75 snaps in the absolute beating down Florida Sun at 1 p.m. And, you know, it's tough done that. I'd say that's an advantage to play it on them. But even so, though, you can tell towards, because I used to, I wear the elbow guards. And Tom was a big stick.

or if your center can't be wet. And so it's huge. Oh. And this is like a nightmare for it. Explain that. Oh, man. I mean, so I still do the towel to this day.

You can see me. Tom takes all the centers to the side. If you're going to play center at any point, even just an undrafted guy, he'll teach how to fold it and put it into your ass. And I still do to this day, every single day. Everyone's asking me, like, what is this?

Because it looks kind of dorky. and but I just like I can't I can't play center without it because that's just how I was I never played center before I got to New England so that was how I I learned center and an early moment the blue white scrimmage 2016 we do it every year and I had you know I was on Tom's team and apparently too wet for him and he literally this is a embarrassing moment he literally pulls me off to the sideline screams in my face that I'm a sweaty pig and then pulls my pants out and powders my ass with baby powder in front of everyone. Oh my God. So what are you thinking? I was kind of embarrassing. All the fans were looking were like it's like 15,000 people at Gillette Stadium. But I was like I better I started changing towels a lot.

I would sometimes change pants at half time. Deodorant or something. What's the fuck? I would I would baby powder myself every day before practice. And that's another thing. You go back to that picture, too. You know, Tom was really tall. So when, you know, he would always tell you to get your butt up.

So when we were under center a lot. So a lot of times, if you look at it, I'm like straight-legged, snapping it. Just because he's so tall, he's so much taller than me. But I would always just do whatever he said. Yeah. We all did. We all did.

Yeah. And we just liked that he was talking to us. Oh, me too. I'll do whatever you want, man. I'm looking at a New York Times article here in the headline. How do you avoid. swamp ass. Tom Brady does it by sticking the towel down the center's pants.

You had to learn how to get back down low to make a block. That's tough. Tall's a fucking, Tom's tall. Tom's way taller than one thing. They don't realize. They say 6-4, but it's a tall 6-4. It's a tall 6-4. Next up, Julian and Rich Ornberger discuss how Tom Brady defeated Father Time.

Explain Tom Brady. I mean, explain how he did it for as long as he did. I don't get it. It's a product of the perfect storm. Yeah. It's a his health and wellness lifestyle. Yeah. That's real.

That shit's real. Like the guy, you know, he wouldn't put anything in his body that he didn't think that was fucking great. Whatever Alex said, he did that. If Alex said eat a turd, this will make you fucking heal faster. I'm going to be honest with you. When I was in New England, if Alex Pereira asked me to eat a turd, I would have done it too. You know what I even like?

And I would have, too. I mean, if one's good, two is better, right? I mean. I would. I didn't select this shit. Nah, I ain't doing that. But then also, I think a lot of has to do with the rule changes as well. Yeah.

You know, he's the first quarterback that went from the medieval time football to what it is now. That's true. Where the quarterback is so protected. So these guys and he, and his build has always been in the pocket. So he hasn't had to be, you know, rat explosive. to get outside the pocket or this. He could work everything he had to work until he was 45.

And that's a testament to his hard work and his lifestyle. But it's also a testament to, you know, you watch some of these quarterbacks that got hit back in the day, or even earlier in his career when his helmet got taken off. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah. These guys were getting hit. And then we look at Trevor Lawrence, who goes down and doesn't think he should even be touched. Like, this is a national footballing. These are fucking animals. Dude, yeah. You got to protect yourself at all goddamn time.

It doesn't matter if it's a free player. You can't get hit. You know what I mean? So like, I think it's the perfect storm. It really is, is probably accurate. Like there's always an intersection of, and he's just great. Touched by God. Yeah. Touch by God. Right. So there's some of that luck factor. Whatever it is, I mean, met with the most I've ever seen anybody work on his body, on his diet, nutrition, health, physical fitness, body work. He hired a, you know, a guy to literally keep an eye on it so he didn't have to. It was like, I mean, every single aspect of his life was encompassing or was circled around being the best he could possibly be today. And that level of sacrifice, it's so rare and so unique. And it's also, it's, he's got like, he's got an extraordinary ability to compartmentalize.

that is extraordinary you know what I mean like it didn't matter what was going on in his life yep Tom Brady was the same guy every day at work yeah the like almost the nerd guy that was in there at first with his book taking notes hand up fucking heroically unflappable and it didn't matter if it was on the field it didn't matter if it was in the film room it didn't like what was going on the outside you had you would have no idea i mean like you said he could get leveled he could throw an interception on the past drive the next time he goes on the field it's dimes all the way down for a tutty and we're back on top of the scoreboard and you're like how but that's that's the perfect way to describe it but it's not even just those things it was the things outside of football like his he had family

problems his mom was like he was a fucking like you wouldn't know because once that's how that's that that's a that's a talent to like really he's got like this goal setting talent if he wants that fucking goal doesn't like he can focus on it yeah it's like some you know psychological murder shit no it really like it's almost sociopathic yeah that's what it that's how i was looking for her see rich thanks but but i but i but i but i i loved it so much because there was all that like the cold-blooded killer side and and and that's the the sundays time and the you know the practice time but then he's a guy who take his tray over to some knucklehead, you know, Dick Burger out of Penn State who just got drafted

in the fourth round and know my bio. Like would sit down with his cottage cheese and blueberries or whatever the fuck he eats or avocado smoothies and be like, you know, asking me about my parents and like, and you grew up in New York. Right? I'd be like, how the shit? Do you know that, dude? Like, yeah, I do. And like, we would go, like, he developed a rapport really quick with his teammates. So it wasn't just the football stuff. Like he understood it was everything that was important to having a whole team, to having a whole picture. And I loved it so much.

It was it was like having like, you know, an uncle or a big brother who was guiding the process and taking a lot of the thought out of it for you. It was pretty cool. But like your uncle, he was the guy that like started like Facebook and like he was like the cool uncle, but hella rich. Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah.

But he never knew he was. He was kind of adored. Mark Zuckerberg, cool uncle. Tom Brady's Mark Zuckerberg, basically. Next up, Scott Pioly talks negotiating a contract with Tom Brady. And it's funny because Don and I had some interesting and some complicated conversations sometimes. Because Brady, we'll talk about Brady's deal because I didn't get to do your deals. So Brady's first deal was, you know, the rookie contract.

And I'll say this. unfortunately we were doing business at that point in time, not thinking long term and relationships. It was a very bottom line way of doing things. And it was something Bill and I weren't comfortable with. So Tommy's first deal, he got less than he should have for his slot. There wasn't sloting back then, but everyone knew what the slot was. It wasn't called the slot. And we broke his shoes a little bit. Unfortunately, the people that were doing the contracts at that time. And then when it came time for Tommy's next deal, I was doing the next deal and then the next deal. And I'll never forget, we were at this one point in time. I think it was maybe Tommy's third deal.

It might have been. And Don and I weren't making progress. And we were trying to keep the team together, right? That was part of our thing. We didn't expect people to take home team discounts. We were hopeful that people would want to spread it and keep the winning because we felt, you know, high tides raise all boats. and the more that we won, there was all these other opportunities, marketing, et cetera, et cetera. And I'll never forget, Don and I couldn't get anywhere.

Tommy was getting annoyed because he was getting distracted. Not annoyed with anyone. He just want to think about ball. And I'll never forget. One morning he comes up to my office and he knocks and he comes in and he closes the door and he says, hey, can we talk about this contract? I'm like, Tommy, we can't have a negotiation. That's against the rules.

We're not allowed. He goes, listen, we've got to talk. But he and I had a really good. and close relationship. And he said, where are you guys at? So I told him where we were at, told him where you guys are at. And he says, what's the drop dead number?

I'm saying, Tommy, we can't have this conversation. I got to talk to Don about this. And I'll never forget, it was the deal when he signed, it was the, I want to say it was the six year, 10 million a year deal. Think about that. Six years, 60 million. It was like, and I'll never forget,

I said, that's probably our choke point. But we're playing this game. And Don and I, it's not a game. I shouldn't call it that. We're having this negotiation where one side's low, one team's high, and you're trying to find the middle spot. I'll never forget, Tommy looks at me, shakes his head, looks away, goes, if I can't live the rest of my life all for $60 million and my family, he says, I've got problems.

He's like, get Don on the phone. I'm like, Tommy, we can't, we can't do this. He says, get him on the phone. we got on the phone and put it on speaker and Tommy goes hey Don it's Tom he goes hey how you doing he goes and you know Don's all upbeat and he goes I got you on speaker phone I'm in Scott's office dead silence dead silence because and Don's like what are you doing there he's like Don listen man this is ridiculous he says I'm talking to Scott and I'm like sweating because it wasn't a negotiation we just asked and anyway

Tommy's like, listen, you guys just get this done. And I'm bringing this story up because I go back to Don. Don and Steve could have made so much more money if they didn't do what their client wanted. And Tom, you know, Don and Steve have left money on the table year after year after year by doing what their clients wanted and maybe not trying to talk their clients into something that would pay them greater 3%. Anyway, I don't mean to make that a long story, but it's just, I think the world of Don Yee. Yeah, Don Ye's, we call him the dragon, bro. He just calm, cool, and collect. Now, Brian Warrior on what it's really like to back up Tom Brady.

You know, New England, there's 15 personnel groups, so you have to like remember where you, and you change on everything. Yeah. And then the formations and then all the concepts. And so for guys like us, undrafted seventh round, like you couldn't afford to fuck up a rep. That's right. Or you thought you were getting cut. And there were so little reps for us that, like, you had, it was a Super Bowl anytime you got a rep in practice when the big dogs were watching.

That's right. I remember being in there like late OTAs and all of a sudden out of nowhere Bill puts me in with the first team offense. Yeah. And I'm like, holy shit, Moss, Ben Watson, Welker, like all these guys. And I'm like, don't fuck this up. And I remember we ran like a like shake route and I hit Ben Watson up the seam. And I was like, and I was like, oh.

All right. And you almost forget, like, you got to go to the next play. But you were like, that was kind of a welcome the NFL moment. Here I am undrafted, working my way up. And out of nowhere wasn't planned. Yeah. You're in there with the big dogs. Yeah. I know.

It's 1,000. And well, people don't, people forget. You know who the quarterback Hoy beat out to be the backup? Kevin O'Connell. Yeah. And coach him. KOC. He's doing a tremendous job.

How about him? He's done an amazing job. I don't know how much, I mean, clearly with Fox, you're probably staying up on this. But just seeing the behind the scenes that are. he has with his team. Yeah. Like that's the type of coach you want to play for.

He's, he was always like that. He was always, I remember, because we used to hang out, me, him, Slate, Wendy. Yeah.

You would come in there, but it was still a little weird with the backup. You guys, you know what I mean? So I had different groups. Yep. You know?

And he was always really great at like, the camaraderie of the group. Which is so important. And the mental toughness. I don't know how it was in your guys's room, but like he knew he wasn't better than you.

I remember, I don't know, he thought, I saw it, but I, I, I, I, I don't think there was any, like, animosity or animosity between you guys. And that takes a lot. And that's shown in his coaching that, you know, that mental toughness to do what's best for the team. Yeah. Like, it's crazy that he just got rid of Sam Darnold who had 14 wins. I know. And that's a lot of belief in Jay McArney.

That is mental toughness. That is mental toughness believing what's best for the team. That's right. What he thinks, you know what I mean? Yeah. No, it was, it was, it was, Kevin was great. And thankfully, we still have a good relationship. and talk from time to time.

But quarterback room is unique. Only one guy gets to play. You know what I mean? I think it's probably the one room where things can be really tight and really good. Or there's times where it can be a little friction. You know what I mean? And you try to just handle it the best way you can.

I'm a non-confrontational person by heart. So I always want to make sure I get along with the people in the room and do the best you can to do that. No, I always explain to people what I think the role of the backup quarterback is. And I always bring it to you. Yep. Like when Hoyer was a backup quarterback for Tom, like it's not just, okay, you got to be ready to play. It's like a shoulder for Tom to lean on, a guy that he can talk to with his problems. Like, it's a whole different dynamic. It's like you have to be a, you have to put so many different

caps on as a backup quarterback. He's got to get the scout team going. He's got to make sure that the coaches are given the quarterback. Like, there's so many communication levels. Can you explain that dynamic of a backup quarterback? I mean, I look at my time backing Tom up in two separate eras, really, because the first three to four years I was just learning. I mean, I look back now, Jules, and you mentioned beating out Kevin O'Connell. Like, that was the year after Tom come back from this huge ACL. There was no way I was ready to play.

Yeah. There's just, I mean, I look back at like how little I knew where I was fundamentally. My fundamentals weren't very good. And, you know, just by good. performance, I end up being the backup. But those first three to four years, I didn't really do much for Tom. I mean, I was just learning, just soaking it all in. And, you know, it was more like just be ready to play and don't get in his way. Yeah. But then, you know, I go off. I play a lot of football, different teams, learn about myself as a player, get better, and then came back in 2017. And I felt like I

actually could provide some assistance to him. Like, hey, when I was playing in San Francisco, we ran this play or, you know, I really learned about zone coverage from Kyle Shanahan. Like, you know, this is how that Seattle three is trying to play. And we had a different relationship at that point, which was great. But you're right. Like at that point, he was a little bit older. Remember, I was practicing almost every Wednesday, sometimes Thursdays, which was great for me because I got the reps. And that made me really believe that I'd be ready to play if I had to. But it was a different role then. It was more, it was less like mentor learning. It was more like, I'm here with them and I'm helping with ideas that he's coming over the sideline. Would you

on that play. I didn't really get asked that a lot, you know, first three years of my career from him. You know, it reminds me a lot, like, with that situation. It's like a head coach that gets fired that becomes a DC OC on a team. It's so great for that head coach that hires him to be able to bounce ideas off each other because he has experience of running the ship. He knows through his experience of different situations, which you had that experience as a starting quarterback that you could say, hey, Tom, when we played him like this, you know, that's just such a huge help for a quarterback. Information is gold.

And that's what you were when I saw you as a backup. You had great information. Whenever there was like, like those Wednesday, Thursday practices that Tom, if he didn't want to, you know, if he, you know, he was getting that, whatever, like the offense still clicked. We could still get work done. It wasn't like it was a fucking, we couldn't get the play call. We couldn't get the right throw.

And early on, I don't know if you were. remember this, but there was an instant probably like first second year. Moss was still there. So it had to be first season. And it was late in November, early December. It was cold as shit. The wind was how we were in a stadium practice. And Tom had to take the day off. That was the playoff game. So this is the first, I know what you're talking about. That's when he fucked his thumb up. But this is like our rookie year. And Tom had to take the day off. He was nursing injury, whatever it was. And I went out there. I probably completed 50% of the passes. And we pull up the team. after practice and Bill's like, where's Hoyer?

And I'm kind of lingering in the back I walk for. He's like, how do you expect our team to have a good practice when you come out here and completely suck it off? And I was like, oh shit. But it was literally like one of those practices where you went to throw a go ball and the wind just carried it out of bounds. Yeah. And it was not my finest moment.

But that was probably one of the first times I ever had to step in for Tom. To your point, you go back and now I come back in 2017. That was what I had been accustomed to. I've been a starter in three different places. So I knew what it was like to go out and have a good practice and make sure the team kept running, which, you know, that was, it was great work for me. It was great for Tom to get the rest he needed, the recovery. And to your point, I never wanted practice to take a step down. Yeah, you can't.

Was it the most Bill ever gave you something? Was that like the biggest one? I mean, there was a few in those, in those low-light meetings. There was the one. Remember, Tom broke his middle finger messing around Isaiah Standback before the Miami game, our rookie year. Yeah. And I was like, there's no way this dude's playing, like broken middle finger. But, you know, there was Alex working on it.

And he ended up playing. We lost down in Miami. He threw for like 350 yards. And so the next day I was doing- I was doing- I was doing an event at Reebok, like a charity event. And some reporter was there was like, hey, we saw Tom's was on the injury report. Like, did you think you were going to have to play?

And I basically said, like, look, like, Tom's as tough as they come. I knew he was going to be ready to go. Blah, blah, blah. The next day in meetings, Bill's like, why don't you just let Tom speak for himself and you just worry about yourself like you don't need to are you in his body do you know how his finger felt and so i mean you learn real quick i mean hoi if anyone would be in tom's body no i don't know it would be hoyer look i didn't follow him out to california oh oh oh it's called a business decision oh i already said look there's not two people more who followed tom around more than you and i and like i said i think it was a wise that we played forever you i mean i learned so much you you and was able to implement it when I played, which is why I played as long as I did. You became his go-to receiver,

the guy he trusted Super Bowl MVP. So those were wise business decisions. People can hate on us all they want. But I think the resumes speak for themselves and to your point, when you're an aspiring athlete, you find someone who's doing it the right way. And luckily for us, it wasn't just Tom.

We had guys like Matt Light, who I know you had in here, Kevin Falk, Brucey. I mean, so many guys that we could watch as young players and say that's the right way to do it. 1,000%. And what's it like watching film with Tom? What did you take from watching film in the quarterback room with Tom Brady that you took on

when you became a starter or that you used when you were a backup or anything? How is film session with Tom Brady? It's amazing how he sees film. You know what I mean? And as a young player, you come in and I'm like, all right, I'm going to watch this film. I'm going to watch like the offensive plays. Like, no, he's watching for techniques of corners. He's like, all right, the stars inside.

that's giving me the read that it's going to be covered two. Now he's outside. It's going to probably be covered through. I mean, the depth of which he would watch film and the things that he would find, like I said to me, that first time I backed him up was learning mode. And so then when I went out and had an opportunity to be a starter of my own, it gave me a good foundation of how I wanted my routine to be. Like, okay, I know early in the week he's just going to watch a bunch of games. And then when it gets to Wednesday, he's getting to cutups of early downs. And then Wednesday night, it's third down. You know, you're breaking it down. It's a lot to take in.

And then the other thing, too, I remember as a rookie, I forget who we were playing. I'm like, oh, I'm going to watch this game. He's like, don't waste your time with that. Their offense is absolutely different from ours. Like, the way that the Ravens played them is going to be totally different. You've got to find teams that run a similar system to us or similar play calls. What is Garneucos say? Do businesses, businesses, businesses being in.

Fellas, same car, just different license plates. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. But it's funny. like, you know, for me, growing up in our system, in our offense, and then the first time I went out, I played for Kyle Shanahan, completely different. Completely. Completely. Completely. Completely. Completely. I'm saying the differences between the Charlie Weiss system that evolved to the McDaniels, Billy O, whatever you want to call, and the West Coast system that came from Bill Walsh and his running stance, Shannon, and all that shit. We could turn this into a four-hour show if we wanted to.

But honestly, the one thing that was unique about my career was, I played into three family trees. There's the Earhart Perkins system. There's the West Coast, the Bill Walsh. And then there's the North Turner, kind of the air chorale system. And I got a taste of them all. But the thing about the Patriot system, it really put the onus on the players. Right? They taught you how to react.

They taught you how to think for yourselves. And you went out there and we had alerts. We had audibles. We had changed the protection. change your route, changing routes, all of these things. Whereas the West Coast is really, you talk about they're the same, what is the same license plates, they're just changing the number. Like, it's a lot of the same plays, but they dress them up a lot of different ways.

Motions, motions, shifts, try to make the defense communicate late, but really run the same plays. Now, Brank Julian on Tom Brady's Hall of Fame induction and his impact. How about that night? That was a fun night. Oh, what a night, man. What a night. What a freaking night, man. Tom Brady night at the Patriots.

I think it was June 12th, 2024. Everything had a meeting. It was pretty cool to just have a bunch of guys that we went and competed with in the same area for like for Tom. It was really cool because we had so many different teams. A lot of the guys were there from different generations of the Patriots, the guys that we heard about when we were playing, to the guys that we played with, to the guys after us.

I mean, it was just a fun night to celebrate the goat, you know, and I was in the show. I was like watching the show and, you know, Tom, how he's just a genuine dude. Like everything he said and everything he practices when or he preaches about, he practices. Like he's really that kind of guy. And people are going to get to see that when he gets to go out and broadcast now and see what kind of guy he really is. I'm really excited. It was a great night. I want to hit on what you just said again.

again because you really don't see that anymore in this generation. He really practices what he preaches. There's no ands, ifs, or buts about Tom Brady being Tom Brady. What he puts out there, what he preaches, he practices it. Yeah. And there's no doubt about that. There's a lot of people out there on social media or at a lecture. they're, you know, reminiscing about this is what you got to do to be great.

This is what you got to do to be successful. Well, Tom Brady does what he says on a daily basis. Daily basis. There's no doubt about that. He takes care of his body on a daily basis. He takes care of his mind on a daily basis. He competes on a daily basis. And that's what makes him so great as well.

And he's like the ultimate family guy. Yes, he is. And on a daily basis. No Peter Griffin. No, Peter Griffin. We were all up in there. Thankful to be brought, Jules, as a guest of honor. But I got a two-fold question here.

What was each of y'all's favorite part of the night that wasn't seen on the live stream? Not up on stage. Something else. Backstage. Cool moment. Favorite person you saw, something like that. My favorite part was just having our little table.

It was me, Grong, Danny, Camille, you guys. And just like, the little. chatter that we would give during the the speeches or something, you know, like the heckle here that we all knew about. It was like an inside joke of some sort. The chirps. The chirps. And just seeing everyone like, you know, Scott Pioly was pretty cool. I never really got to meet him. You knew so much about a lot of these guys because of the stories and the coaching, just the coaching examples of you'd hear like, oh, this is what this coach did, this. we got to meet all those guys. It was really cool. That's my favorite.

How many ex-players do you think were there? Oh, my God. Oh, we have an Excel sheet. It was a lot. There's a lot. 50, 60? No, more than that, man. I feel like there had to at least be like a hundred. I made an awful joke when we walked into Kyler that like if a meteor hit Gillette Stadium that day, the entire Patriots organization from start to fit is wiped out. Wiped out. Like everyone was there. Everyone. Stanley Morgan. I saw Stanley Morgan.

Crazy. Yeah, Stanley Morgan. Morgan came up to me. That was the first time I've ever got to meet him. Same. And the first time I've ever talked to him was when I beat his touchdown record. I think he had 79 touchdown records. He had the most touchdowns in Patriot history.

I think I beat it when I was playing a game in Pittsburgh versus Steelers. And then the next day, Stacey James put him on the phone. And Stanley Morgan congratulated me for beating his touchdown record for most touchdowns by a Patriot. So that was really cool to meet him in person. and we had a great conversation. I thanked him for setting that record. And he said, hey, man, not a problem. Records are meant to be broken.

Congratulations, Grank. And we just hit it off, man. What a great dude. Also that Randy, standing O was pretty cool. That was a pretty cool moment. And Randy Moss deserved that standing ovation. It was great to see how emotional he got as well. He had a couple tears coming down from his eyes.

I mean, just think about what he did in his first season here. as a New England patriot. I swear Tom Brady will always be Tom Brady. But Randy Moss made Tom Brady like untouchable, I feel like. You know what I mean by that?

That was the first air raid offense like era. He took Brady to a whole next level. Same with West Walker. That duel right there in 07, 08, like 09, like they just took Brady to a whole another level. They were scoring like no one's ever scored before in the

NFL and just the way they're airing out the ball as well and then just, you know, shoving that dink and dunk past to Welker underneath as well. It was unstoppable. It really was. And it's pretty much what the league looks like now, you know, just the air raid offense, you know, and then also with you coming in in 2010, you know, and really redefining and putting like an exclamation point on the tight end. It was already getting there with Tony Gonzalez and the shockies of the world.

But, you know, then Gronk and then, you know, our other one that we don't really want to, can't always really say Hernandez. I know. It's so sad, actually. It's disappointing because he was such a valuable. I'll just hit on it real quick because he was a valuable piece of our organization at the very beginning. So it's kind of hard to just blank him out. It's hard. It's hard to blank him out.

I mean, this game has Hernandez in it. And he rushed the ball as a tight end five times in this playoffs. game that we're going to be talking about for 61 yards as a tight end. First, first drive, he had like a 30-yarder. Making guys miss hitting the hole like a running bag. It was crazy. And what people don't really realize about, like, they always ask, oh, what was it like with Aaron and this and that?

I mean, he was a stud for a reason. That guy practiced his ass off. He knew, like, he was an asshole about knowing everything, but he knew everything. He would digest all of his content or all his info. stuff and he knew what was going to be called before the play was going to be called because he studied hard he worked hard he'd be on punt punt team when he was you know making 30 million dollars just to try to pit he was kind of an asshole in there but he was doing that to make other guys better like he just liked to compete he was a really good guy a little weird yeah we all we all

heard the stories and stuff but like the guy worked his dick off and he was really good and one of the smartest football players i've ever been around i mean i'm talking i didn't really play my rookie year, my first eight games. I was sporadically put in for about 15 to 20 plays for about the first eight games because I really couldn't get a grasp of the playbook. And that kid, I'm telling you, within the first two weeks of OTAs as a rookie, he knew the whole entire playbook, the X position, the Y position, and the Z position and the F position because he was lined up all over the field. And he knew it like back of his hand after two weeks. It was incredible. It was. you know, we don't condone anything that happened with everything.

We're just talking straight as a football player. I mean, he worked hard. Yeah, he was kind of weird and did all these things, but he was like, he knew everything about everything. You could tell he studied. You could tell he was watching all the film, and it was crazy. Did you see Coach Belichick? I did not see Coach Belichick at the ceremony.

I saw him on stage, obviously, deliver his speech. He did a great job. I think Coach Belichick may be my new favorite. person ever since the roast ever since he also got rosted out of head coat out of the head coaching job as well and like I feel like that guy can just take a punch man and he can throw a punch as well he can throw a serious punch well that's because he was throwing serious haymakers throughout his whole career as a head coach anyways and then we finally got to throw some punches back at him at the roast but man that guy man his personality is great outside of football and like he

turned into my new favorite person at the roast, just the way he presented himself. And if he just showed that personality at all while he was a head coach, I still think we would be playing for the New England page and winning Super Bowls. If he just showed 5% of what he has been shown over the last month, man, we would have

10 Super Bowls with New England. My favorite thing about his speech to Brady was not that he was just talking about Brady being the greatest player of all time. It wasn't that. It was that. It was that. Brady was the football player who sucked the least. Made the least, the fewest amount of mistakes. Yeah. That was something.

Well, I would also give some credit to Coach Belichick for that as well because that's what Coach Belichick engraved into us as players. He said you can't win in the NFL. You keep from losing. Before you keep from losing. So you can't beat yourself down or else you're never going to win. And Coach Belichick just harped on us. about that and he engraved that in the time and that's also a part of the reason what made tom so great

is he made the least you know bad mistakes out there there's no doubt and everyone just as a as a team overall a player individually i would say you know didn't make those mistakes because of coach just harping on us every week a week in and week out thanks for listening remember to tune in every tuesday for a brand new episode and every sunday for another games with names highlight A new year doesn't ask us to become someone new. It invites us back home to ourselves. I'm Mike Delocho, a host of Sacred Lessons, a space for men to pause, reflect, and heal.

This year, we're talking honestly about mental health, relationships, and the patterns we're ready to release. If you're looking for clarity, connection, and healthier ways to show up in your life, Sacred Lessons is here for you. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Deloach on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyankawali.

And I'm Hurricane Dabolu. It's a new year. And on the podcast, Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health. Which means being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that or am I just depressed? Health stuff is about learning, laughing, and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind. I am the absolute worst call for it when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. You know Roll Doll.

He thought up Willie Wonka and the BFG. But did you know he was a spy? In the new podcast, The Secret World of Roll Doll, I'll tell you that story, and much, much more. What? You probably won't believe it either. Was this before he wrote his stories? It must have been. Okay, I don't think that's true.

I'm telling you. I was a spy. Listen to the Secret World of Rolled Doll, starting January 19th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. On June 11, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. Hey, if don't kill a cop and bury him, what are you going to do to me? What really happened to the missing deputy? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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