Games with Names - 2011 AFC Championship with Matt Patricia | Ravens vs. Patriots

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

Matt Patricia is in studio! The former Head Coach and Coordinator is with us to breakdown a legendary Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots AFC Championship clash. We go back to January 2012 (48:45). We take a look at these teams (58:40). We get into the game (1:50:32). We get some never before heard Patriots stories in our first edition of The Chill Zone presented by Coors Light (2:21:36). Then we wrap up the show by scoring the game (2:54:03).Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I was laughing at him earlier. I was like, Do you remember my oldest Dom's first Halloween? I'm like, I came to your house, you know, for trick or treat. And so Rob, obviously, I know where he lives, right? So he comes to the door, and he's wearing the exact same clothes he wore to work with a knitted Santa Claus, like mask, like right on his face. So I'm like, all right. So I'm like, all right. So I'm like trick or treat, whatever my Dom's like one. So it puts it in. So I was talking to him

and he's got the mask on. I was like, my God, you get a lot of, you know, a lot of trick or treaters or anything. And he's not really saying anything. And I was like, I was like, all right. And he kind of like looks at me. He's like, how did you know it was me? And I was like, I know, I know where you live and you're in the same exact clothes I saw you in two hours ago. Like, what are we? Yeah, you're six foot eight in Foxboro.

260 pounds Jack Santa Claus. It was like the best, man. I love it. How did you know it was me? Welcome to Games with Names. They're Jack and Kyler. I'm Julian Edelman and we are on a mission to find the greatest game of all time and on today's episode we are covering a special

special game the 2011 AFC Championship between the Ravens and Patriots with three-time Super Bowl champion, former defensive and offensive coordinator, and actual rocket scientist, Matt Patricia, Mattie P. And we get into talking about everything, the time he almost killed Gronk. He takes off and starts to run, and I take the garbage can and I throw it behind me. And all I hear is, boom, boom, oh, ah, and I turn around and he's on the ground and he's laying there and he's not moving. This is Friday before game.

We get into the time he got Belichick's trust, you know, Matt's side of the Malcolm Butler interception, the call for high tower strip sack in 28 to three, the rival between the Ravens, and what it's like in Patriots coaching meetings, and when Matty P knew we were gonna were gonna win like we get into everything okay and we wrap up the show by bringing you the Chill Zone presented by Coors Light how cool is it to have Coors Light as a sponsor we're in the big leagues now the big leagues

boys so buckle it up this is a long one let's go games with this is a long one. Let's go. Games with names is a production of iHeartRadio. January 22nd, 2012, Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts. Baltimore lines up the game-tying chip shop with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Looks like we're heading into over... I missed it! Wide left! Wide left!

This is the 2011 AFC Championship game. Welcome to Games with Names and today we have a freaking really special episode. We get to go in the nitty gritty of the 2011 AFC Championship between the Ravens and the Patriots with one of the guys that had to orchestrate a defense this year with guys off the street, putting receivers there in the slot. One and only, Matthew Patricia. Welcome to Games of Names, man. Yeah, thanks.

I appreciate you having me. It's great to be here. We're so excited to have you because we've had all these Patriot coaches on, but it's been all offense. And we know what really wins the game. Defense wins championships, offense just sells tickets. But in one sentence, why did you pick this game?

I was waiting. Since 2004, when I got to New England, I think one of the coolest things that I saw that year was Troy Brown played defense. And I was like, that is, I cannot wait to do that again. And so we waited and then eventually you came. And when you showed up, I was like, that's the guy. That's the guy we're gonna get to play defense.

And it finally happened in the AFC championship game. So this one to me, because of you, Myra Craft that year was really special to me, to the team, to the Craft family. This is just one of those games, and it was against one of the teams that we battled. I mean, we won't talk about battle. This was a war with these guys. When we played them, it was physical, it was tough,

and we had to have tough guys on the field, and we had some injuries on defense that year, and you were a tough guy. We'll jump into it, but is this the greatest game of all time? The greatest game of all time, I saw the list. I mean, again, there's some championship games that I think are, you know, obviously up there,

but this is a special one of all time. Okay, special of all time. We like that. That's the first time we've heard it's not the greatest game of all time, but it's the world's specialist game of all time. It's one of the special ones. What is it, the SOG? The SOG. The specialist of all games. Specialist of all time, but the world's specialist game of all time. What is it, the SOG? The specialist of all games?

Specialist of all. Matty P, what's life looking like these days? What are you doing? So back home with my family, took this year, took the year off. Just was in Philadelphia last year. That was great. Great people down there, but my family was still in Massachusetts. Missed my kids.

My kids got big really fast. My oldest, Dominic, he came to visit me at Thanksgiving. And he was about chest level. And then he came back for Christmas. He's 13, and he was looking me damn near right eye to eye. And I was like, OK, this is going really fast. You know me. You know how I worked.

I worked life balance. It wasn't my strong suit. So it just had an opportunity to be dad and that's what I'm doing. You know, I tell this story why people always, they always ask me, why aren't you getting into coaching? And I always say, I did my time, okay. I was in New England and I would leave the facility.

I put my hours in, I put a 15, 14 hour day in, but I would leave. I say it all the time, I'd leave at seven o'clock, and you see Matty P, specifically, B-Flo and all these guys, talking to their kids, seeing their kids for the first time of the day, right before they had to go back in

for night meetings with Bill. Right. Like, I ain't doing that, and Matty P was one of the guys that was a cock guy We like to call him a cock guy because you you'd look into Matty P's office and you'd see the fucking cop because he slept There all night. Now, what are you doing 24 hours in the building? Explain this to me? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean there's a lot of times at two o'clock in the morning I'm like, holy cow. Like is this even what are we doing?

Just kind of how the day was, you know, I think my thing coaching and why I spent so many hours there is I was always paranoid that, you know, the next day would come and I wouldn't be prepared to give the players every bit of information they needed to be successful in the game. You know, it just kept me up. And the thing about it is everybody calls it work

and it wasn't work, it was my passion. So when you do something that you're that passionate about, time doesn't really matter. Just you got to get up at 3.30 in the morning, get up at 3.30 in the morning. Who cares? You got to work till one. Work till one, who cares?

If I'm doing something that I know I've got to have preparation and I got to be prepared to give the players, give you guys the information so you can go do what you're supposed to do. And I can stay up for days. It doesn't matter. Now you're kind of like coaching Belichick because you've got to get him prepared

with all this stuff and stuff and everything because you're helping him out with all his podcasts. So does it keep you up at night to have him fully prepared for all these podcasts and media gigs that he does? I think Bill's doing just great. That means you're doing a great, good, great coach. We got a great coach. We got a great coach. We're having a lot of fun. We have our podcast on YouTube Coach which... It's been killing it. I watch it. I watch it. Well, I like... Well, people don't realize I listened to this fucking guy, these guys, speak for 15 or for 12 years.

And I was like in the front, listening to everything. So it's kind of like, I watched that. I'm like, oh, it's kind of like normal. Yeah. It feels comfortable. Feels comfortable. It feels, yeah. And I also, I agree with a lot of how you guys,

it brushes up my knowledge in it. Cause it makes me hit stories when I hear you guys talking about stuff or how you guys break down a certain coverage or something. Then it sparked something in my mind that I can talk about. It's how we see the game. You know, so what happened? I see the game how you see the game because that's where I went to school. We did. We went to a doctorate program. I tell everybody all the time, like we went to a doctorate program of football and, you know, 20 years, you know, in New England, Bill and I, you know,

Bill's like my closest friend. You know, he's, he's, we spent a lot of time every day together, more time than with our families. Last February, I was, I was actually driving down to Philly and he's like, Hey, he's like, I got to go to New York. He's like, do you mind if I, you know, jump in the car with you? And I was like, Oh, come on, you know, we'll drive. So it was three hours. He and I just in the car and we were just going like we go, like we can, you know, the

stories, the, we're talking about the rosters in the league right now we're talking about coaches coaching changes we're talking about trees we're talking about players we're talking about past players we just it was three hours of game plans and just all of it and I'm pulling to Manhattan and he's like oh that was great and I was like honestly Bill I was like if we had filmed this whole thing for three hours I'm like everyone would have been like it just and the was great. And I was like, honestly, Bill, I was like, if we had filmed this whole thing for three hours, I'm like, everyone would have been, like it just, and the idea hit me.

And I was like, hey, I got an idea. I go, I'm going to go write some stuff. I said, I'm going to call you later and I have an idea. He's like, all right. So I did, I just wrote the show, you know, I wrote the coach show and kind of a bunch of different ideas, things that we could do. You know, it started off with a lot of,

hey, let's go through a normal work week like we would and kind of give everyone of different ideas, things that we could do. You know, it started off with a lot of, Hey, let's go through a normal work week. Like we would and kind of give everyone a behind the scenes, look at kind of how we game plan, like how we prepare to, Hey, maybe we'll look at some games. We'll talk about matchups. We'll talk about the players. Let's just teach some football. Let's just go teach football. Cause that's what we love to do. And you know, we were talking and we were like, you know, here's term all time double mug. This was actually what started the conversation. What's double mug for kindergartners? What is everybody like, what is that though?

That's the big thing. Like everyone's like, what exactly, we hear it all the time, but what exactly is double mug? So we just, I was like, hey, why don't we just break it down? Six on the line, why do they do it? You know, five on the line, what do those look like? You know, seven up and just, so it's been fun. You know, we get up on the board. I get them to do a couple of demos once in a while, and just, so it's been fun. We get up on the board.

I get him to do a couple of demos once in a while, which is good. He like, hey, beat the crap out of me on the one ball security thing. I was like, you don't have to hit me. It's like, it's okay. And we get to tell some stories. And my favorite, one of my favorite ones obviously was,

I got him to cut up film. I don't know if you saw that one, but we used to come all the time, like cut-ups. Hey, we're gonna watch this cut up. And we say all the time, and I was like, well, where did that come from? And actually, we used to physically cut the film. And you know, he just, that's when you get, you know, you pull Bill out and he becomes, you know, the guy we all know. It was awesome to watch him do all that stuff. So I think it's been great content and it's been super fun. I love Lombardi in there as well because he gives a whole

nother perspective and he's great at talking. If you want real content, this is what I think you need to do. I'm in. More pitching, baby. This is what you do. You get 15 to 30 of the worst fucking football plays of the week and you sit there and Low lights and you don't tell bill there's a camera in there

And you just say it's me and you guys and then you film it and then you have him discuss like what that is Yeah, and I think that would be just pure Fucking gold. Yeah lowlights when we would get those in the squad meeting, it was always gonna be real interesting for sure. Look, that's the beauty of coaching and certainly the way that we were raised, you know, in New England and we could certainly look at things we did well and learn from, but we definitely learned from the things that we did not so well in those team meetings for sure. Yeah, I mean that's part of the game. That's part of the game. Now, what in football right now or what organization are you looking at like, man

they got a lot of shit dialed up right now. I like how their coach and staff's doing. I like how their roster's built. Yeah, there's some deficiencies here but I like their theme of style of football. What are some of the organizations you like right now? Well, you know, just coming from Philly, I think this year, they're just doing a great job. St. Paul and Bartlett is not like a fucking different, I mean, Jesus Christ. I mean, it's awesome though, it's great.

Insane. I mean, he does the reverse leapfrog, and I'm sitting there with my son, and I was like, you will never see that again. No. I was like, it was the craziest thing ever. So you appreciate, as we know, you appreciate when you see greatness.

And I just think from top down, Howie, Nick, they do a great job, Jeffrey Lurie, of just bringing in really good football players, tough, you know, tough team. Their offensive line, you know, I love offensive line. I love the play of the offensive line. And Jeff Stoutland, who I coached with at Syracuse years ago, he's there. I think he's developed those guys. It's been remarkable to see how that offensive line's played without Jason Kelsey the first year.

Yeah. Now, granted, they have a generational talent running back right now that makes a lot of people right. Yeah. But still, they're beating fucking guys up. Yeah, they're moving the line of scrimmage. They're big. Swallow you up.

They just cover you up. And with a guy like Saquon, doesn't take much. That Jalen Carter guy, he looks like he's in shape right now. Yeah, so he is, last year in practice, there was a practice, he went out, we were in pads, and it was like one of those deals where he just destroyed practice. Yeah.

He was unblockable, and you were like, wow, that's next level stuff. So you couldn't wait to see him come along from that standpoint. But I think, you know, 2014, we went to the Super Bowl. And we know how hard that is. And we know how long the season is. If you remember 2015, at the end of 2015, we kind of hit a bad skid at the end before the season. We lost, I think, five out of six or four out of six.

Like whatever it was, it was bad until we got to the playoffs and we pushed to the championship game. And that year in 15, Nate Soldier went down an eight. Dion Lewis went down. I broke a foot. Like, so we didn't, like we were, we were blowing teams out that year. We were like, I thought that we were really good that year.

And then all of a sudden we, you know, you lose guys. So Philly last year, same thing. Same thing. But now come back a year later, they get a little bit more rest in the off season last year, now they come back a year later, and they're rolling just like we did in 16. So I see a lot of similarities there

with those, that three year stretch, and then, you know, kind of what they've been going through. So Philly, you know, I like Buffalo right now. I mean, obviously, Josh, I mean, look, I'm always going to look at the offenses of that will keep me up at night. Yeah, I don't sleep. Well, when you're playing Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, obviously my beard was big and black at the time and I would have these little white hairs.

I was like, okay, that's Peyton Manning. I'm like, this one's Drew Brees. Because you'd stay up at night going, how are we gonna disguise? I think there's so many quarterbacks right now and Josh Allen, and I think Buffalo's running the ball. They're doing the things they need to do to win. It's good.

They are doing very, very good. And I've been, since I've started doing TV, I always said, can we get them a fucking run game and take the ball out of Josh's hand 45 times of the game and let him use his superpowers on situational plays? Can we fucking do that? That's what they've done. The one thing that scares me with Buffalo.

See if you get it right, what do you got? They're light, their secondary's terrible. And they're light linebackers. They're light linebackers up front. And I love Milano, but he's got a bicep tendon. He's getting, he can't get off the blockers. And I just, I get so scared. They play that two show with the safeties in the run box.

And I remember whenever we struggle with them, they were always light and you could run the ball down the field on them and you could control the game. And look at the teams that are in it right now. It's like you sat in the meetings. It's like you paid attention. You literally, it's like you, you know, this is what makes me the happiest.

When I hear you guys, you know, Brew and everybody, you know, that does this now, or even when we used to be in the Saturday night meal room, we'd be watching college football. You guys would be running through situations on the screen and Bill and I would stand back and I would just smile because I'm like, they're listening. I'm like, they're listening. I'm like, they're listening.

But third, you're exactly right with Buffalo. And why are they light? Because they play nickel defense. Nickel defense, small. They play small. So the run, control the game, love it, control the game. How do you control the game? Run the ball, stop the run, cover kick.

Yeah. You know, and you nailed it. And you know, Josh, and then if you do that, I'll tell you a little template out here because we played Josh a bunch. Control the game, you run the ball, you have long drives. Then Josh gets a little antsy if you're scoring points. You get a little antsy and he'll give you three or four chances where you can pick him. Yeah, he's going to give you one.

Because he's got that gunslinger in him. So that is the one thing Buffalo has done this year. But that's what they've done this year. They haven't turned the ball over. That's exactly. And then another thing with Buffalo, this has been very remarkable. See, this was like three hours in the car with Bill. The way that we were all raised, we could grab on and we could do this for hours.

But with Buffalo, it's been really great to see this because preseason, we were all thinking, this is a rebuild year. And they didn't have the offensive weapons, but what they've done well is they've drafted that Shakir this is a rebuild year, you know, and they didn't have the offensive weapons. But what they've done well as they've drafted that Shakir guys, a difference maker, he's a safety blanket, little Beasley type that Alan loves to have in the middle of the field. Coleman's contested catch guy,

he's made a couple of those. Samuel, he needs to make a couple more, but they got the two tight ends. I was gonna say, what else did they do? The tight ends. 12 person. Yeah, two tight ends. And then they run in that bowl cook, so I like them too. And you're right, because with the defensive side of it, new safeties, you know, they get new pieces.

And we know. Raps good, I like Raps, but he plays too hard for his size. He knocks himself out. And could Buffalo actually win it this year though? I think that, but Kansas City, you know, again, they're, love Kansas City, love Andy, love my homes, love how they win. I still, it's hard for me right now

to bet against the Chiefs. Now, everyone wants to say, oh, they're, they're not playing good, they're not, you look at them on third down, they dominate. You look at them on gotta have a home Oh, I want to talk about this shit I would love to but they can win situationally Which scares me because if you look at all the other teams Buffalo can do it

But Buffalo don't have Kansas City defense They don't go that that defense, when you need a play, they can make a play. Yeah, Spags does a great job. And Spags knows how to win these games, and I don't like the plans of other offenses against Spags. So like, that's why I think that Kansas, the field needs to step their game up.

Yeah, the thing Kansas City does right now is five plus minute drives, they lead the league. Yes. Time of possession. So they are slowing the game down. They're not going to give the other offense as many possessions and that's in third down. So third down conversion, slow the game down, hold the ball. Situational football, Andy Holmes, bet on them and that's how they win. They may not have an explosive run game but you know what they have? They have an effective run game. They get that 3.8 yards every time. It may not be four, but they set themselves up

in those third downs, manageable, and then Kelsey gets to do his shit, then they got a couple of those draw fucking, draw after Friday practice plays that they fucking do in the red air. Like, they do it. I've seen it. And then you got my homes.

Which is, and when you have my homes, which has been the really craziest thing for me, because it's in a testament to Andy Reid changing and evolving, because I remember specifically, anytime we played the Chiefs in the Andy Reid team, coaching staff, Bill would always say, this guy does not wanna run the ball. He wants to throw the ball. It's in the ball. He wants to throw the ball.

It's in his heart, he wants to throw the ball, which he's kind of changed. Andy's unbelievable. Andy, 100% has doubt into the players he has and how to win in late, you know, late part of the year. And we all know control in the game and they do a great job of it. Without a doubt.

You know, and it's crazy how Shanahan came from that West Coast, but he, instead of using those short passes, developed the run game. So he's taking those... Right. But Mike's a little different now. Mike Shanahan, he was at Oakland, okay? And then when he got let go from Oakland,

he went to San Francisco, but George Seiford was the head coach. Okay, so he went and learned the West Coast in San Francisco, but all those other guys, remember, Holmgren, all those guys that left to go into Green Bay. So that whole tree had kind of gone over there. So he had the principles of the West Coast, but then he dialed into the run game. His run game that he developed at Denver was that zone,

but he had the change up of the power run game. And really. And that's what Kyle runs. And yeah, I mean, that whole family. That's all they do. And Kyle's evolved too, his own sense. But Mike Shanahan, I'll never forget, 2006, we played, okay, see if you remember this one.

I know you weren't there yet. 2006, we played in what was called the China Bowl. Look this way. I remember hearing about this. So we had to go to, we were going to China. We were gonna be the precursor for the Olympics. The Olympics were in 2008 in China. 2007, we were supposed to go to China in the preseason.

We were gonna play Seattle. We were gonna fly to Seattle, play Seattle. We were, both teams were gonna get on one plane, fly to China, be the precursor for the Olympics to get on one plane, fly to China, be the precursor for the Olympics. And so the year before that in 2006, we're playing Denver. We had the China Bowl. It's painted on the field. You know, all of it. We had jerseys in Chinese, business cards. You went to China.

It was crazy. We were going to China. So that game we played Denver. And I remember that game specifically because we're playing Mike Shanahan and we're ready for the zone team, ready for the zones. And so all week I've got Bruin Jr. and my linebackers, you know, and I'm telling them like, look, we're going to creep the line of scrimmage. You know, we used to play base defense, you know, three, four, we're going to move up to two and a half yards off the line because we got to go press these guards right now. We got to get them off of the defensive line, Vince and those guys tie and we got to get downhill.

Well, Mike went to the whole power gap, you know, duo run game, and it was all down blocks. And I got- What is power gap duo run game? So all kind of the same deal, right? Good question, good question. Depends on the side of the ball. Like zone is if you're getting everyone

trying to move sideways and you use space. Everyone's moving in the same direction. Now we go to the gap. What is that? The duo or the power. It's double teams everywhere? Double teams, all along the stretch. We're trying to move bodies.

So we're two on one. So it's 300 pounds versus. It's 600 versus 300. Okay. Yeah, 600 versus 300. So we're moving the line of scrimmage. Love it. So instead of pressing the line of scrimmage,

we actually linebacker wise, we got to stack. We got to get over the top, pull the double teams off. Well, Junior, you know, who was kind of, we were in the system, he's running through. And so we got gashed in the run game I mean think we won we gosh and so now we got to go in Monday to Bill's office and We got to go through the tape and it was not pretty it was not good We had it was a very long meeting. I've got Junior say out Teddy Bruce key myself Bill

Killing us because we couldn't fit the runs power. It's not zone. We practice zone all week you know ready for the shanahan stretch and I remember just walking out and Junior looking at me, he's like, I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've ever been spoken to by a coach like that before. That was the craziest me. And Teddy's like, yeah, we just got to get it right. You know, it was just coaching, you know, it was nothing new, but that was like the eye opening moment, I think for Junior like. Buddy. I don't think I ever.

Buddy, buddy. Because Junior had two different buddies, right? It was buddy and then buddy, buddy. Depending if he knew you or if he didn't know you. Buddy. Yeah, he had a couple different ones. So that was the China Bull. That was the Mike Shannon.

So he had the stretch, but they had the downhill run, too. So, Matty P, walk us through how you got into coaching. You're from New York. New York guy, Italiano. Like, how does an Italian rocket scientist get into coaching. You're from New York. New York guy, Italiano. Like how does an Italian rocket scientist get into coaching? Yeah, good question. So, you know, quick version of my story. I appreciate you asking. So born and raised in Syracuse, New York, right in between Syracuse and Utica. And my mom's from Long Island, so a little bit time down in Long Island and then up in Syracuse Family hardcore or hardcore Italian it is

Northeast Northeast Italian played Division three college football once a school. I was a center and guard center Yeah, I played tight end in the heavy packages in my young years in college But senior starting right guard and played center when you know is recruited as a center So division three is great because everyone's five, 10, or six foot and just whether you weigh 170 or 300, that's it, but everybody's the same height

and it's just depending on how much you weigh. So we were actually, I went to a school called RPI, Rensselaer. Engineering school, yeah. I wanted to be, originally kind of grown up, I want, like everybody. Wait, so the mascot's an engineer? It was an engineer, it actually was. Not like train, not like, I don't know, originally kind of grown up, I want, you know, like everybody. Wait, so the mascot's an engineer? It was an engineer, it actually was.

Not like train, not like, you know, I don't know, it's just engineer, like, and it wasn't even pocket, it wasn't even like a pocket protector, I don't even know what the hell it was, it was just near, I guess. That's tight, what's on the side of the helmet? Your number for a couple years or an R,

it was just, keep it simple. I would put like the, I would put like, Pythagorean theorem. Yeah, Pythagorean theorem. Actually, you know what the best one was that. Yeah We really you know F equals ma Force equals mass times acceleration because that's what we were doing. That's exactly exactly what we're doing. So first time is acceleration That would be that'd be a good one. Yeah So, you know want to play in the NFL and do all that stuff, right?

And then my dad quickly sat me down said listen, you're Italian. You're gonna be about 510, you know, you're not athletic So the NFL thing is cool, but you're Italian, you're gonna be about 5'10", you're not athletic. So the NFL thing is cool, but you're not gonna play. So what else? I was a child of the 80s, fell in love with Top Gun, wanted to be a military pilot, I was all in, that's what I wanted to do, love planes. So was thinking about going to Annapolis, West Point,

to fly, do all that, and the academies. You know, you start junior or whatever. We had a pretty good high school team. So we were in the championship game. So you start getting recruited, you know, like everybody else. That's good. Even though it's Division III, you're still getting recruited. You can get money and go to good schools that maybe you couldn't got into if you didn't have sports, you know. So RPI I knew of, my uncle had gone there. He was a really successful successful engineer they had a great ROTC program at our RPI so I wanted to play football in college and I just decided to go there as an aeronautical engineer looked at what was called PLC which is platoon leadership for the Marine Corps at the

time which they were looking for pilots and kind of that was going to be my route that's where I was going so So design planes, fly them, all that deal, you know, maybe in the military after school and love football like all of us, you know, just love it, right? The smell, all of it. Blew out my shoulder. My junior year, the Marine Corps PFT is pull-ups. My junior year, the Marine Corps PFT is pull-ups. I can't do pull-ups with a shoulder that's wrecked. Plus, you know, I'm 5'10", I weigh 275, 280. So that's not a good look. Really hard to do pull-ups.

So luckily, you know, you're kind of able to get out of those programs. And I just, you know, rehab, got ready for my senior year. Played my senior year, we had a really good team. Graduated and was gonna go back to school for my MBA. So engineering, aeronautical engineering, MBA, kind of that route, and so I GA'd. So you wanted to design airplanes to sell them.

I mean, just put it all together, right? Just capitalize it and go. So I went back, GA'd, coached, coached the offensive line, I played offensive line, and I remember just the first half of the year going, you just, you miss it. You know, you're like, man, I can still do this. Like I could still play. Like, you know, you just, you're kind of like,

it's hard when the game's done. Like the game's done, it's done. It's done. Like you're not putting the pads on. We're not going out in the backyard and playing the game. So, but I remember, you know, I was coaching the offensive line,

this kid, Jimmy Schertzer, I don't remember his name, he was a right guard, he was a sophomore. And we're getting ready to play Coast Guard Academy. And I just remember teaching him like, hey, look, this is what's going to happen on the goal line. They're going to do this, make this block, we're going to score, it's going to be really good. And it happened in the game. And we scored. And the joy that I saw on his face by doing something and achieving it just like flipped it flipped everything for me yeah and I was like that's the greatest thing I've ever seen to watch somebody actually be able to do what

they work so hard to do apply it on the field help a team win and go that I just I got hooked now my dad was a he was a wrestling coach, you know, so I had, he was a teacher, my mom, my mom was a teacher also so, he was definitely part of, in my, you know, in my blood, but I just, I loved it, right? But I get, you know, I get done with that year and my mom was kind of like, hey, that, that's probably going to pay you really well. You need to go use it because your dad and I are like getting ready to retire, you know, they're like, to pay you really well. You need to go use it because your dad and I are getting ready to retire. They're ready to get you out of the house. Yeah, you're done.

This isn't 2026 where you're living in there until you're 35. No, you're 18. You're out. Let's go. Figure it out. Let's go. Italian. It is.

I left. I got an engineering job. I did engineering for two years, but it was the same thing. It was getting towards the fall. You start to get fresh cut grass smell and you start to just the sweat the lot all of it you know all that stuff just hits you and you're like man I miss this a lot so coach high school football you know and my my boss was great he let me do that and I was volunteering I was actually living in

Syracuse I was volunteering at SU with the strength staff at the time and I don't know I just I didn't love my job at the time. My boss was great. The people I worked with were great. I missed football. I interviewed for a job with electric boat. I had been talking to them for a couple of years. There was a, I was offered a job

as a nuclear maintenance engineer for all submarines and aircraft carriers in the United States Navy, right? So a huge job, great job, unbelievable. You know, planes are planes are great. Subs are super cool. So you know, diving into how those are designed and put together and all that was amazing. So I get the job. I'm literally driving home from the job.

Phone rings. It's one of my old college coaches. He was at Amherst College in Western Mass. He's like, Hey, he's like, look, I got a D line job here, pays like five grand. He's like, what do you think? He's like, you want to get into coaching? And I was like, I just walked out of a building

where they offered me like, you're 20 nothing years old. I'd been doing engineering for a couple of years. I had like a BMW, a Jeep, like I'm buying stuff. Like, I don't know what to do, right? You buy stuff. So very good offer from that company, good salary, all the rest of it, and like $5,000 a year coaching job. And I was like, yeah, yep, I want it.

Let me do it, I'm gonna do it. Because if I don't do it now, I'm never gonna do it. And if you're gonna bet on anyone, bet on yourself, right? So I called my mom, she's like, how'd it go? I was like, it's great, I got the job. She's like, that's awesome, that's amazing, like how cool. I'm like, I'm not gonna take it. She's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, it's great, I got the job. She's like, that's awesome, that's amazing, like how cool. I'm like, I'm not gonna take it. She's like, what are you talking about?

I'm like, I think I'm gonna go coach football. She's like, what? I was like, yeah, they're gonna pay me like five grand. It's gonna be great. I'm gonna go coach defensive line at Amherst College. And she was like, what are you talking about? We just graduated, got this. I said, yeah, I said, if I don't do this now,

I said, I'm never gonna do it. So quit everything, moved to Amherst, I coached defensive line, I was special said, if I don't do this now, I said, I'm never going to do it. So quit everything, moved to Amherst. I coached defensive line. I was special teams. And I sold everything. Because it just, you can't live with $5,000 a year. But you're saving everything you can. So I sold all my cars.

I bought a bike, a bicycle, which is great around January when you're riding your bike to work up a hill. At 5 o'clock in the morning, cars are whizzing by. You're getting covered. And you're just thinking bike to work up a hill, you know, at five o'clock in the morning, cars are whizzing by, you're getting covered, and you're just thinking like, if I just swerve into the road and one of these dudes hits me, like all's I wanted is a ride. Like just give me, I don't even care.

Just, just give me, like, I'm just, just drive me off up the hill. Cause this, like, I'm not a small dude. So I like, you know, a mile up a hill on a bicycle in January is not fun. Like it's not fun at all. So yeah, yeah. Coming down was good.

Cause you were coming down was good. We grew up in Northern California. He said he walked up hills both ways, snow uphill. Can I jump in here real quick? I didn't realize you coached at Amherst. Can you speak a little bit about the Amherst Williams rivalry? Yeah, well, absolutely.

The little three, right? And then Bill obviously went to Wesleyan. So that was another thing we talked about in the Nezcak. Huge rivalry, the two schools. I think the story was the president at Williams left. I think he took all the books out of the library, went to Amherst, created this huge rivalry between the two teams.

So I remember my first year, I'm like, all right, let's go, all right, let's go beat Union. And I was like, I was so like, just into like, this is my rival, it like, all right, let's go. All right, let's go beat Union. And I was like, I was so like, just into like, this is my rival, it's a rival game, let's go. And I was like, Union, Union, Union. And you can see all the guys like, what the fuck? What is he, we're playing Williams coach, like what a, so we actually won.

And it was the first time we had beaten them in like, I don't even know how long, four or five years. So that was really cool. I actually wound up finishing my masters at UMass. Mark Whipple was the head coach there. Don Brown was the defensive coordinator. They actually won the national championship around the same time.

So I left Amherst. I went back to Syracuse. I was lucky enough, Coach Pasquoni was the head coach. Went back there and I coached at Syracuse, George DeLeon, I went back to offense. So played offense, coached offense, went to Amherst, coached defense, coached special teams, went back to Syracuse, coached offense,

was the offensive line with Coach DeLeon. And really at that point, growing up in that area, for me, that was it. There was no pro sports. You know, it was Syracuse football, it was Syracuse basketball, back in the day in the old school Big East. That was unbelievable, the rivalries, the carrier dome.

And so going back to Syracuse for me was like amazing, and great people, great coaches. You know, was there three years and Coach P actually was gonna flip me over. I was gonna go back to defense. I was gonna coach linebackers there. And Brian Dable calls. Brian and I had played against each other in college.

He had went to U of R, I was at RPI. And he said, hey, he's like, they were in the middle of getting ready for the super bowl run and all this stuff. And the point is this, so this is oh three, three. And he's like, uh, he's like, Hey, he's like, look, we're going to have an opening here. Um, you know, I'm moving around. Some people are moving around. He's like, you know, do you want, you know, do you want to come out and interview? I was like, I hadn't even really thought about pro football at that point. And I was like, yeah, I'm like, let me go check this out.

You know, my draw to the game originally was, I felt, you know, probably the same in college as a college coach. My college coaches were incredibly influential in my life. I just felt college, I could really, really help. Yeah, really help these, you know, help. I just wanted to help, you know, just want to help kids and help them become, you know, young adults, young men.

So I thought college was it. So I go and interview, and there was Syracuse guys at New England, you know, Ivan Fierce, Syracuse guy, Mike Wozik was there. Wozik. So I go in, I interview, Dable, obviously, Josh, Charlie was the offensive coordinator. I was interviewing for an offensive position with those guys helping Dante, you know, Scar helping Dable obviously, Josh, Charlie was the offensive coordinator. I was interviewing for offensive position with those guys,

helping Dante, you know, Scar helping with the O-line because that's what I was doing at Syracuse. Three hours with Bill, you know, going back and forth, playing the football chess game, which he's very good at. But he- So what is that? How does that, what is football, what is Bill grilling you on?

He wanted to really figure out, how did I think? How did I problem solve? And I think that's what he was looking for in the job Which you know, I did a pretty good job of you know, and after that they now like what's a question like It's just stuff that's gonna be really common to us now Okay You're sitting there. Here we go. Okay. Here we go What are you gonna call in a third and three situation? Your fucking headset goes out all of a sudden your middle line

Like how are you gonna do this is that is that a situation he's asking you or is it like we would we talked a Lot about square root of we one forty. Yeah, we were definitely we were doing Pythagorean theorem And that's no we were talking about hey, here's a formation. This is what the defense did. Why do you think the defense did that? You know, things like what you would know as like a crunch call, right? So we could call cover two, but based on formation, you could bring the corner off the edge

because it was a short side or nub side on the back side. And now it looks like a pressure. So a lot of people are going to say, oh, no, they called a pressure here. But they didn't. It's just a formation adjustment to the defense. Yeah. Nasty split to the boundary. Yeah, nasty split to the boundary.

Yeah, nasty split to the backside. So things like that of just trying to see like, how did you see the game? How did you process? How do you problem solve? Of course, like, there's the grunt work that we have to do, the padding, which was brutal. But all of us that went in there as young coaches, right? So the young guys that got there, basically within a year or two of each other, was Dable, Josh, Casario, myself. Now again, Dable and Josh started on defense. I started on offense. Corey Onlin was on defense when I got there.

You had to cross-coach him. And then we flipped. Everybody flipped. Dable came over. Flo went to special teams defense. Josh came over. I took Flo from special teams. I had Brian Farrance.

He went to offense. He started with me. He was one of my QCs. Flo was my QC. Was Brian over there? What year was that? When he started, he started on defense and then we switched before the season. He went over to offense. To tight ends.

Yep. But it was all, we were just, you know, learning the game. So get the job, offered New England and basically never left. Like that was it. I went to the interview, packed my car. I had a car at that point. I bought another car, which was good. And yeah, I think I went from 5,000 a year to I think Coach P paid me like, I don't know if it was 17, it might've been 17 or 12, 15. I was like, I'm getting a car. This is great.

This is, you know, you got, I can afford lunch. You know, you do though, like, and coaches, you know, they're great. Older coaches would be like, Hey, I need you to go get lunch Here's you know 20 bucks like here's 20 bucks You know go get a sandwich and you'd come back and you'd be like get the sandwich wherever you get the change He's like don't don't ever give me the change and he was like, okay, so like they would you know, yeah Randy's do that to me as a rookie because I was a seventh rounder that except 20 bucks it would be like a

$800 order. Yeah for fucking right before travel. But he'd give me the money. The travel cash was great. Travel cash. You know, as you were a young coach, young player, you know, you had the older guys. Per diem. Take this per diem.

But our per diem was like the lowest. Totally less than everybody else. Yeah, it was like 36 bucks. I remember when I first got there, it was 36 bucks. Do you know what we used to do with the per diem? Were you there when we'd do the plane? Yeah, we used to, we'll be in the plane. Yeah, it was, as a young coach, I was like,

they'd come by and be like, okay, please, I need this. The raffle. This is like, the lights are being turned off in my apartment if I don't win the raffle on the plane. So everyone would put all their money in, you'd get, and you'd put your initial on it, and you'd put it in this bag, and one of the stewardess, she'd go out and she'd pull it out, or she'd pull out,

the first one gets his money back. So the person would get the money back, and then the second one would take the whole bag. Oh, you wanna be second all day. All day? Did you ever win? Listen, I would take either one. Because I couldn't afford to lose the $36.

I was like, I was done. And you can't not put it in. By the time I got out at about 64, Per Diem went up every couple of years. Yeah, if I lost at Per Diem, like I wasn't going to be able to leave the facility because gas had to stay in my car. Yeah.

Not that I was leaving anyways. Coaches, they got nothing. They were so broke. Yeah. They were so broke. I don't think I ever won. Damn. I know.

It's like the Ben D'Am Powerball. I didn't even put mine in, Matty P. I mean, so in the end, you're like, you won. Yeah. You were good. Even when I was older and I know it's like the big damn power ball. I didn't even put mine in. Matty P. I mean so in the end you're like you won. Yeah. You were good. Even when I was older and I had money I still didn't put it in. But um yeah so that was it I got to New England and just I tried to learn as much as I could you know I was on offense obviously for two years with Scar and then Bill came and he's like hey I'm gonna flip you over you're gonna in coach linebackers the other side of the ball And I was like, okay, this is just gonna be gonna be good. Wow. Yeah, so

Bill clearly did his homework on you though He's like, all right, dude wanted he he worked on submarines. I'm a Navy guy. He's he's a smart guy I'm a smart guy. Yeah, so we had. So he did- We had the Nezcat, Little Three, Amherst, Williams, Wesley. 100%. But getting, last before we move on, rocket science shit. Rocket science. All my friends that are actually rocket scientists get so pissed when people say that.

Cause they're like, bro, you don't even do this. Don't steal Valor. That's what I do. Aeronautical engineering shit. How does rocket fuel burn in space without oxygen? Great, great question. We're gonna cut this out of the entire episode. Why?

It doesn't need oxygen. It doesn't need oxygen? I don't know, I'm gonna text somebody on that one. Killing me right now. What about, why are, why are? Can we go through like lift, theories of lift? What is theories of lift? Of like, you know, coefficients of lift on a plane.

Like I actually was awake on some of those classes. You know what? It was so funny. Listen, I played football too. Like, I was like, what are we? I remember. Listen, here's the whole thing. I went to RPI, the valedictorian of my high school.

She went to RPI. I sat right next to her, super smart. I was like, I need a lot of help here. Like we're, you know, the rest of my football buddies are like passed out. They're taking like, you know, my electives in school, these were my electives. So like my main courses were like theory of flight,

thermodynamics one, thermodynamics two, Egan values, eigenvalues, you know, mathematical fluid mechanics, all that stuff. Standard. I was like, I need like a, can I get like an elective? I don't want to say easy, but I'm just like, Yeah, you got it. Therm it's like thermodynamics one, thermodynamics two.

I was like, I'm going to take econ, microeconomics, macroeconomics, those are my classes. I was like, okay, I just need a couple of these. Those are your electives? What was your course load at Kent State? I had African American studies. Reading one. Oh, I had a sex edge class.

I did a human sexuality class. Nice. It was fucking awesome. Nice. And then I had a bunch of business classes. When we had Ernie on the show, we were like, oh wow. Ernie loves that old academic talk. Ernie's one of the great things, Ernie, you know,

Ernie obviously loves football like we do. So I go to dinner at Ernie's one night. I go up to see my wife and Ernie lives in an amazing, cool old house. Right? It's 300 years old that his parents lived there. Yeah, exactly. Or his grand, it's been in his family forever.

He built a library in the attic of this thing that is the coolest historical playbooks. I was like, Ernie, let me learn about the flex defense. He's like, boom, grabs the book, pulls it out. Here's the Dallas flex defense, you know, Randy white the whole deal. And we're going like, I was like hours up there. I was like, okay, let me give me the whatever orange crush. Give me the purple people.

And it's like, we're pulling playbooks off. So that to me, I love Ernie. Like that was the best. Like, and again, I walked by his office every day and it was like, hi Ernie, what are we talking about today? Let's learn, let's talk. We'd go back and forth and- What was the best Ernie nugget?

Cause I always ask, cause I was always, I always used to use Ernie. Cause like people were like scared of him. Like, what does this guy do? He's eating a tomato by himself. Like who is this guy? And I would go up to him and be like, what's the, give me a little something on the punter.

What's good? He's like, oh, well, you know, he does this. It's gonna, you know. It's like we're just, we're just, impersonations. So my wife and I were going to Italy. We were going for three weeks and he loves to travel. Loves to travel and he's been everywhere.

And so he got all excited to tell me about a race called the Palaeo in Siena. Look it up, bro, you gotta go. This is the most insane thing. We've been to a lot of insane things. This was insane. So it happens twice a year. I think it was in July, we're going in July.

So he tells me he's all excited about the Palaeo, whole different story. That was crazy. It's a horse race. It's literally, I would say something nice way because my people, but it's like the, it's the village idiot on the village horse. I swear to you, it's like the most amazing thing. It's the most corrupt. I've seen videos. It's unbelievable. And it's in the center Piazza in Siena, but the pageantry, just all the villages come out the different sections, it's amazing. It's like majestic. And Ernie went to the fight? Ernie, he's the one that told me about this and he had gone.

So he had also told me that Ernie loves lions, like he loves lions. So he told me, so everywhere I went in Italy, you know, there's like lion heads, you know, from the Roman days and all that stuff. So my wife took pictures of all the lion heads and we made them a book, like a table book of all the lion heads in Italy. And he was like, it was just, you know, like you see that other side, like get them back. So it was pretty cool. So, um, yeah, there it is. It's part dude, we are, we are. So I'm in the middle, like see that craziness in the middle. So we get there. And of course, like it's one of those things, like see all the people sitting in the balcony,

like all those people out there. So I'm at the front desk in Sienna, the resort we're staying in, I'm like, hey, can I get tickets? Like, how do you like, and they call it like, yeah, they're like 2000, whatever it was at the time. Like I take it in somebody's living room, like selling bucks, like I don't think we're doing that

sitting in somebody's living room. They're like, well, you can sit in the middle. It's free. And I was like, okay books. I'm like, I don't think we're doing that sitting in somebody's living room. They're like, we can sit in the middle. It's free. And I was like, okay, we'll free. Okay, like, hey, babe, come on, we're going. This is gonna be great. So we got, see the horse with no rider? Bro, wait till I tell you this story.

So this is the one we went to. So I'm probably in this picture somewhere. I'm telling you, you're gonna find me. So it is 109 degrees. We're on cobblestone. Once you're in there, you cannot leave. They close you in there. So no bathroom 109 degrees. We're on cobblestone. Once you're in there, you cannot leave. They close you in there. So no bathroom, eight hours.

My wife's like, what are we doing? Cause it's all real fun when you go in there like nine in the morning, but by 5 p.m. she's like, what this is. Yeah, and you can't get drinks. Like you can't get anything. And everybody in there, what happened was, cause it was empty. I was like, this is great. We're right by the finish line. What you

don't realize is that they parade everybody through all of the villages, fill in their sections. So now you're in the middle of like crazy people that actually have a lot of money on these horses and they're betting and all the rest of the stuff. So it's three laps. So it takes off and the first last nuts. And it's like sand. They put sand on cobblestones. So that's real good, right? And the horses are slipping. The horse with no rider, this dude comes around the corner and like launches his rider into the crowd. So people just get wiped out by the guy. The horse bangs into the side. So he starts running because he's just running. So he starts running with the rest of the horses. He gets lapped too. He stops running because he's just running so he starts running with the rest of the horses He gets left to he stops now He's standing perpendicular as the rest of the horses are coming on like this is like bowling. This is gonna be amazing, right?

So all the horses scatter dudes get thrown off the guys are like trying to avoid now The horse starts running the opposite direction. So now here comes on the third lap. Everybody's running. They're running at each other Oh my god, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen lap, everybody's running, they're running at each other. Oh my God. This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. This is bumper cars. So now the two lead horses get around and I'm looking and the guy in the orange who won, he is whipping.

He and the guy in the red and black were the two. They're whipping each other's horses to try to like get them. They're not with they're like hit. It was the craziest. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. I want to see this race in Louisiana. I was going to say Kentucky Derby. Take notes. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. I wanna see this race in Louisiana. I was gonna say Kentucky Derby, take notes. It was, I mean, the whole town, it was unbelievable.

That is so cool. So that was Ernie. Ernie gave me the polio. Freaking Ernie, when Ernie, so we had him out here, before he came out, he looked at my address and he read up on the development of where I live in Santa Monica area in LA. Yeah. And when we took him out to dinner, he's like,

wait, is that Bell? Yeah. He's just so Ernie. I was like, oh my God, this guy is so crazy. Dude, getting to share a beer with Ernie at Hillstone's, like bucket list item, it was unreal. He ordered the ribs. He did. He ordered the ribs. He did.

He ordered the ribs. Let's go back to around- How about Ernie falling down when we were- Oh, we told the story. He looked like, I literally thought he was dead. And you know, it was Thursday, right? So Thursday of Super Bowl week, the families were coming in. So his wife was coming in.

And I remember I'm like, hey, Ernie, Ernie had to go get stitches. Like he split his head open. I'm like, he's okay. You know, and it's like, she just gets off the plane. She's like, what? She's like, I'm like, yeah, he tripped, fell backwards, split his head open. It's all bandaged. Doesn't look good. But he's all right. Probably probably got a concussion. Yeah, probably. You know, but he's in the protocol. He's in the protocol. He coached her. There was nobody at the rest of practice that was going to go light. Cause it was like Ernie just got back out out here. He split his whole, like, I think we can finish our Tuesday practice profusely. It looked like Carrie, the movie Carrie, there's blood everywhere, Ernie, and then 25 minutes later, we're all, we go through prior, then you see Ernie's coming out, stumbling out.

He's got a fucking, it looks like a mummy. Look at that Turkish hair transplant. It literally looked like the revolutionary one. I was like, I was like, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen right here. Let's go back to around January 22nd, 2012. That's when the game took place. And we like to go and talk about what was going on

outside of football. You can put whatever you want as far as what was going on in the real world. I have no idea. Like I have, you could, Contraband? Mark Wahlberg. Listen, I like now currently, currently, my wife,

she calls me like Encino man. She's like, I'm like, I don't know how to use the dishwasher. Like I don't know how to do anything. Like if it wasn't in that building, I'm out. You don't listen to music while you're game planning by yourself in the facility at 345? We actually all used to be in the room. We would listen to music.

What music, what was on the list? I mean, for us, it would be probably a lot of Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam. Is it Bon Jovi like the show shows? 100%. I mean, we love John. So Bill was out there, Bon Jovi. I'm a big Buffett guy.

So Jimmy Buffett, that's the last mango. Those are my guys. Jimmy was great. We played a lot of comedy, too, like just stand up comedians, just because you needed something going. Now there was also a lot of comedy probably going on in the room. We would sit in the staff room late,

whether it was Boyer and Flo and myself, BD. Who had the aux cord? Who was putting the music on? Who had the playlist? It probably changed. It probably changed. It would probably be the night, I'd be like, Flo, let's get some music,

or Boyer, let's get some music on, or whatever it was. BD would come in. A lot of times it would be fun in the fall too. World Series, some sort of championship game. So it'd be late night. October. BD, because he was hardcore in baseball. He'd be out there basically crying or screaming

based on whichever way the game was going, which was awesome. The late nights coaching, as much as it sucked, being away from your family, I think it was fun because you're just hanging, doing football. Who's some of your favorite comedians? That's a great question. I think there's like classics for me. You know, obviously you go back to like Robin Williams, I think Robin Williams at the Met,

it was George Carlin at Carnegie Hall. Eddie Murphy when he had the red suit on. Was that Delirious? That was Delirious, yep, that was a classic one. I got really into Sebastian Maniscalco. He's funny. Okay, you know. The hand movements and Italian, Italian, I love Italians.

But you know who the best guy that got me into all that stuff though? Who? You're gonna have to guess this. One of my favorite all time people to be around. Is he a coach? No, he was a special teams linebacker. Special teams Dane Fletcher.

I love Dane Fletcher. Talked to him the other day. Love Dane. Same time, Dane Fletcher and this guy. Nico Koudavides. Nico Koudavides. Hey, the Lavansier. So we had tradition in the defensive room.

It was, you know, so Pizza Friday. Pizza Friday. So Pizza Friday was a big thing. That was a big Dante thing when I was on offense and Pizza Friday, the whole idea and why Ted struggled with this. Right. And you remember Ted's first shot. Tell the Ted story too. Ted is the nutritionist. He came in, right. So that was our third. That was our fourth. Right. So Joanne was first. Then we had guy that was there for like a cup of coffee and then Joel took over for him and Ted, right. So, but we always had

Pizza Friday and the idea with pizza Friday was this, it wasn't about the pizza, it was about the mentality. So when you were in school and you went to school, you had pizza on Friday, right? Well, okay, Friday's gonna be a good day. Cause you went in, it was actually the, it was the only meal that was actually, it was actually the only good meal,

school meal that you actually buy and eat cause it's pizza Friday. But the idea for us was, and again, this back in the day before, it got crazy. It got crazy in New England, but literally, because I had to do the practice schedules. So I remember people were amazed. I figured out how to paste, it was Domino's and KFC.

That's what we had. It was Domino's and KFC. And I'd paste them on the practice schedules and be like, oh, it's Pizza Friday, thank God. But it was, the work week is, we're coming to the end. It's all positive. Let's not be yelling and screaming today. Let's go out, have a good practice.

Let's feel, yeah, let's feel good. Let's have a good mental day. Like, it's pizza Friday. Everybody be good. Now, Scar, if you remember, he'd be like, don't ruin pizza Friday. Don't make, cause Scar had the other side. That could come out real quick.

And he'd be like, don't ruin pizza Friday. I'm not yelling today. Don't get me. So in the defensive side of the ball, not only pizza Friday, but we used to have videos on Friday. Funny videos. Funny videos.

So originally started out as like highlights. We started off with like high school highlights. You know, it'd be, it'd be good. Cause you had some legit dudes that had a legit high school film. And then you'd have like, you know, whatever Rob Ryan's highlight of his highlight. You know, so funny stuff.

But then it turned into like, okay, hey, we need some comedy. And it was always usually the QC's job to get a tape. Quality control. Quality control, young coach. And it better be funny. Cause these guys, we've been yelling and screaming all week. We need something funny before we go on the field.

And Vince was the best because Vince When you leave I love Love Vince, right? So Vince wouldn't leave until we showed the video even though Scotty Oh had a meeting coming in It's like it didn't matter and like Vince wasn't leaving No, that next meeting wasn't starting now So and he wanted something funny well, Nico Koudavides finally comes in and Nico is one of the funniest best great heart

What did they call it? What who is the? What do they call it in the in the Italian world? Lavanciere or something? Consilieri? Okay, killing me right now. So you always call him Lavansier though. Yeah, I call him that So Nico would bring in the videos and he like he take time He he this was like the one like I don't think he knew any of the defensive assignments, but he nailed Friday. We would be laughing so hard. He had me dying.

He loves it, cause that's kind of Nico's humor too. Well, cause you know, Chicago Italian and all that stuff. Nico was great. But in the sports world of 2011 and 2012, as a sports guy, you probably know that the Giants won the Super Bowl. That was a bad one. That went stung. Rogers won MVP.

I tell you what though, you know what the Giants Super Bowl taught everybody, if you're paying close attention? Situational football. What situation did I have to execute in that game to give us a chance? This was tough now. It's Rolex. Rolex.

Rolex. Nice job. Nice job. Come it Rolex? Rolex. Rolex. Nice job. Nice job. Come on, Bobbs. So you know what happened with that? So at the end of the Super Bowl, what happens is you got the coach to play and all that stuff. Time is more important than points.

Time is more important than points, exactly. So within the two minutes or within three minutes at the end of the Super Bowl, all the sideline media turns on. All the cameras, all this stuff. So everything turns on, the headsets went down. And there was no stopping at that point. And I just remember, you know, Mayo and those guys on the field, it's, they're going in and it was like, oh my gosh, this is Rolex.

And I just hit him with the, it was like, hit him with the signal. There's no time to talk about it. I'm not talking through the helmet. It was like the one signal and everybody knew what to do. It's a horrible game, but I'm reaching for anything positive helmet. It was like the one signal, and everybody knew what to do. It's a horrible game, but I'm reaching for anything positive there. It's all right.

We made up for it. NC2A champion Alabama. Yeah. Yeah, that's easy because really, I think there was a stretch in there where we just rotated every other year. Every other year. They won or we won.

And it was back and forth. I mean, we should talk to Nick. Is this the first one of that? Of Nick? This was the second at Bama. The second. Yeah. You know Coach Saban at all? Yeah. How is he? He's great. I've never got to talk to Nick. This was the second at Bamho. The second. Yeah. You know, Coach Saban at all?

Yeah. How's he? He's great. I've never got to really meet him. He's actually great. And him and Bill together are great. Nick's really, he's been really good to me. Like I was the keynote speaker at their clinic one year.

Yeah. When, you know, I was coaching in Detroit, had a couple of coaches. We, he would call and we'd ask about guys. He always, you know, it was Nick, it was amazing. Um, you know, getting ready for the draft, it's obviously hard, right? So you're working, we're calling college coaches. We're obviously there.

We'd go there and spend a lot of time there. And, um, you know, you could call them like the day of the draft day before the draft and be like, Hey, all right, Nick, real quick, what do you think? And he would, whatever he was doing, he would tell you. He was really awesome. The thing, the funniest thing about Alabama was it was more like Will you know must champ and like Kirby who were the defensive coordinators there and that was a defensive coordinator obviously in New England and Like also like Bill and Nick would get together and they'd have a conversation and all of a sudden like Kirby call me like

All right. Listen, what what is this defense? You're running because like our two head guys got together and he's trying to like, what, you know, or Bill would be like, hey, call Will, call Kirby. They've got this, you know, Sonic boom, whatever. He's like, we gotta put that on. Like, could you just stop talking to, because it was more work for us, you know? But so we, so we, the three of us kind of laugh all the time about that.

Cause you know, it's just, that's all part of the tree. You know, we're all in that tree. I'm such a Nick Saban fan. I don't know. I think I've rubbed elbows just because of, I think he was at one of our practices or something. He came on time. He went to Kent State.

Played at Kent State. And I don't know, but I've heard through their gate, Brian, I could be completely wrong, but I heard he's our biggest booster. He gives our school the most money. I wouldn't doubt that. You know, that's fucking cool. He's still-

Nick has a huge heart. Huge heart. So I'm an Alabama fan. His wife is great. That's why I always root for Alabama. Well, not anymore, but I was always a saving fan. He's a golden flash. We'll be right back after this quick break.

Lately on the NPR Politics podcast, we're talking about a big question. How much can one guy change? They want change. What will change look like for energy? Schools? Healthcare? Follow coverage of a changing country? On the NPR Politics Podcast, listen on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Criminalia podcast. I'm Maria Tremarchi. And I'm Holly Frye. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical

true crime. Each season we explore a new theme, everything from poisoners and pirates to art thieves and snake oil products and those who made and sold them. We uncover the stories and secrets of some of history's most compelling criminal figures, including a man who built a submarine as a getaway vehicle. Yep, that's a fact. We also look at what kinds of societal forces were at play at the time of the crime, from legal injustices to the ethics of body snatching, to see what, if anything, might look different through today's perspective.

And be sure to tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in custom-made cocktails and mocktails inspired by the stories. There's one for every story we tell. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's going on everybody? This is Justin Penick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL.

We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen going to pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything. We break it down. Stats, analytics, and of course Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to football today on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run. What's up everybody? Adnan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts in the National Hockey League.

It's NHL Unscripted with Burke and Demers. Hey, I'm Jason Demers, former 700 game NHL defenseman turned NHL network analyst. And boy oh boy, does daddy have a lot to say. I love you, by the way, on NHL Network. We're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love, right? Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding We tweak the chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love, right? Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding

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Listen to NHL Unscripted with Berk and Demurs in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jackie, let's break down this game. Let's start with the New England Patriots and set the stage. Bubs. All right. Let's start with these with these pats 13 and three. This is, of course, head coach Bill Belichick. Billy Oh, running the offense. Maddie P was the primary defensive play caller this year.

Love that title. That's really great. It's great though. Been the defensive coordinator since 2010. Primary defense call. I was the high. I was the low as a defensive coordinator. I was the lowest paid outside linebacker coach or whatever. I was the high, I was the low, as a defensive coordinator, I was the lowest paid outside linebacker coach,

or whatever it was in my country, it was like ridiculous. Did you ask him on the three hour car ride why that was always the case? I mean, I know why. I know why we did it. As a young coordinator, Josh, when he came over to offense, so I was on offense, right? Charlie leaves, he goes Notre Dame.

Josh's on offense, he's calling the plays. You know, myself on defense 2010 when I started running the defense. Bill O'Brien when he started running the offense. So the thing was his young coordinators in the league honestly Bill was just trying to protect us. He was trying to protect us as play callers to allow us to learn how to be a play caller, learn how to run those meetings, run the defense, run the offense without having the direct, even though we did, scrutiny of everybody else. It actually really...

I've always wondered that. Yeah. So what happened was, you know, I was... So my first year as a play caller, so again, Boyer was with me the whole run, you know, and then 2010, 2010 I coached linebackers, I was a coordinator, you know, coordinated the defense called the defense. Pat Graham was my- Well that was right after Dean Pease left,

went to Ravens. Dean left in 09 with the Ravens. Blood zero, blood zero. Dean, so I coached with- Fuck that blood zero, Dean Pease. Yeah, yeah, so I was the linebackers coach, you know, the coordinator, and Pac Ram was my QC. Yeah, so defensive coordinator for the Raiders right now. Yep.

So after one year I said to Bill because look it was all about the way Josh and Brian and I were raised in the system was you know, Romeo was the defensive coordinator, Charlie was the offensive coordinator and we were raised to develop our own. That's been the philosophy at New England and that is what he wanted to do when he got there and that was Charlie and Rack and the offensive coaches that were or the defensive coaches they taught us how to be coaches. So you you know you QC'd you were a young coach and then you became a coach you know and that allowed Bill to coach the team. So the philosophy was look the coaches coach the players you know

the coordinators coach the coaches and the head coach coaches the team. So the philosophy was, look, the coaches coach the players, the coordinators coach the coaches, and the head coach coaches the team, that's everybody. So that's how it worked. And so again, we were trying to raise our own. So after a year, 2010, passing QC, Flo, who I knew was great coach, gonna be a great coach, and he was in special teams. And Flo again, when I got there, Flo was on,

he had gotten there too, he was in the scouting department. And then he came over. So I wanted Flo in defense. So I said, Bill, I said, listen, I go, let's move Josh, you know, Boyer, he was going to coach the corners. So let him coach the corners. I'll coach the safeties.

Let's make Pat the linebackers coach and let's get Flo over here as the QC. So that was like the plan for that year. And it was good for me to get in the back end again. And that's really what Bill did too. Bill did a similar thing in his coaching career. When he was coming up, he had hired a guy that was a linebacker guy.

So he moved from linebackers to safeties and coached the back end. So all of that was part of our training. Why is the back end so cool? Well, just because you got to learn all the coverages, right? And get all that married. And when you coach the linebackers, obviously you're coaching all of it.

You got to coach the runs, the run fits, the coverage, all that stuff. But then to get into the intricacies of the coverage stuff and be able to develop those guys. And we were, again, this was a transitional time for us defensively. My old heads had all retired and moved on. The Dailies Thomas era was gone.

This was the start of the new. I would say the era that was gone. After this was like the start of the real new. I would say the area that was gone was more of like the Bruskies, the Vrabels, the McInnesses. And all those guys. But there was like that tween stage where they were gone. But the tween stage was more like,

Mayo was our holdover. So I drafted him and that was eight. Told him, sit in the room, be quiet, just learn. You know, which he was amazing. He was rookie defensive player of the year. And so Mayo found Ninkovic. He was the holdover. And then the rest of it was, you know, we were piecemeal.

You know, Pierre Woods, Eric Alexander, who I heard from the other day, which was great. You know, yeah, yeah, so cool. All those guys. So this was the point where, OK, like I was starting to rebuild the secondary. Drafted Devin, had Pat. There were all the young guys that we were bringing in

to try to get them rolling. So I moved to the safeties for the year. The next year, again, Flo is the QC, I said to Bill, I said, look, just let me, I'll just do, coordinate the defense. So I don't care whatever title you want to give me. I don't care about titles. I'll coordinate the defense, but let's move Flo to safeties. start his progression and, uh, you know, and then we'll get the

next QC. So it was always, that was the idea was I was always trying to, I'll move positions. I don't care. It doesn't, what I'm doing isn't going to change, but how do we keep moving the young guys up? You know, and that's what we did defensively. And then eventually I got Stevie B and then Stevie, you know, he was my QC and then, you know, Mike and kind of just rolled through I got BD who came in finally and was coaching the D line and stuff So what did BD fucking have a great little thing going? Oh, yeah He wouldn't won three Super Bowls with us now. He's with the Chiefs won all those three. Yeah. Well this fucking guy So keep going on the team Jackie. Yeah, just to further contextualize this season we're coming off the can't wait game,

the upset individual round. In 2010, Brady's coming off an MVP season, the season before. This season was dedicated to Mrs. Craft, of course, the patches on the jerseys. Lost uncharacteristically, lost back to back out of the bye week, and then rattled off eight straight

to finish regular season. Wow, who'd we lose to there? It was the Giants and the Steelers. Oh, I remember that. I didn't address you. Steelers was always like the Ravens. Yeah. Those were the tough, physical,

these games were like, this was old school football. They did what they did though. You knew exactly what they were doing every time, and they still do what they do. They still do the same goddamn shit that when I was playing Tomlin's defense. Steeler football.

I'm like, what the, we still have linebackers covering the three slot? Every time we play the Steelers, I have at least nine catches. You would think that they would change it. No, but they do what they do. They got six and balls. Coach, how do you get away with it for that long?

Like just doing what you do and being that like steadfast. Yeah, they believe in the philosophy of how they play the game. And they coach it up well. Yeah. They're fucking, they're well coached. They don't make a lot of mistakes. And again, what do we, cause I heard you say this, heard you again, I'm doing my research, right?

More games than the NFL or what? They're lost than one. So if they don't make mistakes, they don't lose a lot of games. They don't, and they still don't. And then we beat them in the playoffs. Yeah. Sorry, I had to.

And some notable rookies on this team. We got Verene Ridley, Solder, Marcus Cannon. Josh was brought back for the playoff run to come in. Josh McDaniels, that is. Come in and do a little offensive work. Wow, that's a big draft. That's a big draft. Yeah.

Is that Benny? Benny. Ben Jarvis Greenell is. I have a great, I have a great Benny. We love a little offensive work. Well, that's a big draft. That's a big draft. Yeah. Is that Benny? Benny, Ben Jarvis Green Ellis. I have a great Benny. We love the law firm. What do you got on Benny? The law firm, what do you got? The law firm. It's a story that involves Junior Seau.

Oh my gosh. So we're getting beat up at Linebacker. We have some injuries. And Bill says to me, he goes, he goes, hey, where's Junior? Cause he wasn't, you goes, he goes, hey, he goes, where's Junior? Because he wasn't, you know, he was played for us, but he was, I was like, I don't know. He's like, give him a call, find out.

I was like, all right. So I said, hey, June, I go, where are you? He's like, Fiji. I was like, the island? He's like, yeah, I'm surfing. I was like, okay, well, Bill wants to bring you in, like we're, you know, kind of beat up, like, are you ready to go or what? He's like, yeah, I'm ready. I was like, all right, well, how fast can you get here? He's like, I don't know, I well, Bill wants to bring you in. Like we're, you know, kind of beat up, like are you ready to go or what?

He's like, yeah, I'm ready. I was like, all right, well, how fast can you get here? He's like, I don't know, I'll get there as soon as I can. I was like, great. So I go back to Bill and I was like, hey, juniors in Fiji surfing. I was like, I don't even, like Fiji's like. That's far.

Far. And he's like, oh, he's like, when can you get here? I'm like, he's trying to get here as soon as he can. We're playing Seattle, in Seattle. So I was like, well, I'm like, he, you know, he can get back to the West Coast. I'm like, he just meet us in Seattle. He's like, no, he's gotta come back.

He's gotta take a physical before he's on the country. I'm like, we're gonna fly him all the way. He's like, yeah, he's gotta fly all the way here. I was like, oh my God. So I called June, I was like, hey, bro, you gotta fly all the way to Boston. Like, you gotta get, so I think he was getting into Boston on like Thursday.

Like, I called him on Monday. I was like, you gotta fly, and then we're gonna get on a plane and we're gonna fly all the you got to get. So I think he was getting into Boston on like Thursday. I got called him on Monday. I was like, you got to fly. And then we're going to get on a plane. We're going to fly all the way back to Seattle. Like this is going to be awesome. So June bug's great, right? So June, June flies in, you know, does physical. Junior's like unbelievable human specimen.

He's always in shape, doesn't matter. Like, you know, so he's great, pass physical, get on plane, fly Seattle. He's like, he's like, buddy, what's the plan? I'm like, you're not playing, but you know, we want you to get on team, you play next week, get you in shape, make sure you're ready to go, all that stuff.

He's like, all right. I'm like, you're actually probably gonna be active for the game, because everybody's hurt. He's like, but I'm not playing you. He's like, okay, all right, no problem. So we get into the game. I think it was, I have to ask Brew on this one. So I think it was Gary Guyton, right Gary Guyton

So Gary's another one of my linebackers that you know, I kind of had George attack, right? Quick fact Gary Guyton set it up Slater with his wife Nice Gary. Nice Gary's great maker. So Gary and Gerard were like that was Batman around. That's what they were for me, right? So Gary I think takes out brew we're playing we're in the game, like hits him, like, you know. So now Brewski's- Friendly Friar. Yeah, Friendly Friar.

So now Teddy's down. So Teddy's at a game. So I'm like, Junior, you got to go in. He's like, well, I'm like, we're out of bodies. I'm like, you got to go. So put Junior out there, right before the half, throws like a little route. Now Deion Branch is on Seattle.

Yeah. So this is, you know, Deion obviously played for us. I love Deion, but so he's in Seattle. So Deion catches like a check down. He goes for like 60-some yards. We miss tackled. We have like 11 missed tackles on the play. I think like, I think everyone missed him like seven times. Junior missed him like five.

Like Junior misses him so bad on when he comes, he goes blowing by me. I grabbed him, I literally throw him back. I'm like, go get him! He's still running, so I throw him blowing by me. I grabbed him. I literally throw him back. I'm like, go get him. He's still running. So I throw him back in there. He takes off. All right.

So game's over. We're staying in California. It was back to back games. So we get in the meeting on Monday or whatever, and we're getting ready to go on Wednesday. And Bill's like, he goes, we were done practicing in Paz at this point, because it was late in the season.

He goes, hey, he goes, look, he goes, he missed, you know, he missed Dion like four times. He's like, he's got it. You've got to practice this tackling. I was like, okay. He's like, tell him to bring his pads to practice. I was like, what? He's like, tell me, get his pads, get his equipment, get out there for post practice. I was like, sweet.

So I'm like, Hey, junior, I'm like, bring your pads to practice. He's like, what? I was like, yeah, you had some missed tackles. I'm like, it wasn't, it wasn't good on tape. I'm like, you know junior, I'm like, bring your pads to practice. He's like, what? I was like, yeah, you had some missed tackles. I'm like, it wasn't good on tape. I'm like, you know, Bill wants to do some tackling after Priced. He goes, does he realize I'm like the NFL's all time leading tackler?

And I was like, yeah, well, you'd have one more if you just tackled him before the half. So I'm like, get your pads on, let's go, we gotta go. So he's like, so he gets his pads. And so I'm like, practice rookie. I'm like, hey, Benny, I need your help post-practice. He's like, yeah, coach, whatever you need. I love Benny.

Benny, Ben Jarvis Greenellis. I'm like, we're going to do one-on-one tackling you in junior sale, like post-practice. He was like, what? And I was like, yeah, it's going to be great. So they're like 10 yards apart, whistle, and you know, Bill's over there and throwing. So whistle goes and Junior's like,

pow, just drills him. And I was like, ooh, and I'm like looking at Benny, Benny gets up. Junior looks at me, he's like, we going again? And I'm looking at Bill, he's like, so, I mean, it was like, pow, pow. And now Junior's now like, is that enough? You guys good?

Have you seen nothing? Benny's like, helmet, I'm pretty sure, is sideways. It's just one-on-one blood sport at this point. I'm like, what are you going to make? I'm looking. I'm like, are we done here? This is post-practice. Are we just post-practice?

This is post-practice, on the road. Dude's surfing like a week earlier. I'm like, are we done here yet, or what? So yeah, so we did one-on-one tag on Benny. That's Benny. He took them all. He's a team guy. That's a team He took them all. He's a team guy. That's a team guy right there.

And he didn't fumble. Never. When we were doing the research for this game, to this point in his career, he never fumbled in high school, college, or pros. Mr. Ball Security. Ball Security is job security. There's nothing more important than the ball.

The other one he says, when you carry the ball, you carry the fate of the entire organization in your hands. He said, not just organization, the fucking region, this is a big region. Then he says, say less. I got you. Then he says, say less. And since we got Matty P here

and we're talking about this team, we gotta give a little shine to some of these defensive guys. Andre Carter, into the season injured, but had 10 sacks. Minko, six and a half sacks. I mean Kyle, anything. Andre was great. Andre Carter played my brother in championship

at CCS in high school. Really? Yeah, I remember going and seeing them at San Jose State. My brother played for St. Francis and he went to Old Grove and my brother's team beat him. My brother's team in high school, St. Francis was like, they won like CCS five years, seven, eight years in a row.

They were fucking legit. If you say one thing about Andre Carter that you remember, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Big hands. Vice grips. Huge hands. You shake his hand, you're literally risking breaking a finger.

His hands wrap around your forearm. It was just, it just, I was like, I don't really wanna shake your hand. Like Kung Fu grip. Oh, Kung Fu Carter. D Money, Vince, Kyle Love. Kyle Love's a great story. So Kyle, do you know where I found Kyle Love? This is how I found Kyle Love.

So I have to go to University of Florida two years before this, and I do a huge, Bill sends me down, and I do a huge workout because that team was loaded. They, we had half the team. We had half the team, but the game that we watched was, yeah, the game we watched was, it was Florida versus Alabama.

There was more NFL football players in that one game than you could watch in 20 other schools getting ready for the draft. So I go to Florida, I do a three hour workout with all the offensive guys, and we're in the swamp. And then I took a break and then another three hour workout with all the offensive guys and we're in the swamp. And then I took a break and then another three hour workout with all the defensive guys. So I literally worked out like 15, 18 dudes

that were coming out. And so I'm meeting with the Pounsees in the meeting. We're going through production. I said, all right, who's the hardest guy you had to block this year? And they're like, Kyle Love. And I'm like, I don't even have Kyle. Like I don't even have him on my notes. Who is Kyle Love? And so that's how we found out, Kyle Love. And I'm like, I don't even have Kyle, like I don't even have him on my notes.

Who is Kyle Love? And so that's how we found out about Kyle Love. Wow, through the Pouncy Bros. Shout out to the Pouncy Bros. The Pouncy told us that was one of the hardest guys they had to block that year and that's why we got him. They wouldn't know those guys were bad motherfuckers. That's how it worked with a lot of players.

Like, I mean, we'll get to your story, but like, I mean, the Ohio State game, you don't think we all watched that a hundred times? You played them tough. I was hurt. I had a torn PCL. Exactly. That's why we watched it. What kind of guys we're looking for? Yeah. Tough guys. Can you speak a little bit about the recruiting process or the scouting process of Julian?

We would pick really late in the draft, luckily, very fortunate, very blessed. But really when you get to the end of the first round, like you're really talking about second rounders and it just, as it goes down the draft, it's like that. So we would always try to find and still all through the years, who are the guys that we dig out that we can find that are going to make our team because they have the traits we're looking for, um, that might not be on everybody's radar. Cause that's when we're going to have to try to get them, you know, we're looking for that might not be on everybody's radar. Because that's when we're going to have to try to get them. We're going to have to try to find tough guys that we think can fill a role, can play, make

the team. Or what do we see their projection? What do we see them developing into from that standpoint? And that was Julian through and through, tough as nails. Just you went in the category of just a ball player. Like, you know, like Scar would say, ball playing Jesse. Ball playing Jesse. Yeah, that would be Julie. So it was like, what exactly,

is he gonna play quarterback for us? Probably not. Probably not. But, can we find a way, right? Yeah, no. Okay, so. He's taking the ball out of that guy's hands. Exactly.

So, but can we find a way for him to get on field? Yeah, he's gonna be tough, he's gonna be reliable, he's gonna be available. And he's going to be reliable, he's going to be available. And we were always looking for special teams, who were the guys that could help us be dynamic. And I think you came in, did all those things, you mentally worked through some catch things, right? Because that was real.

And got to the point where you became sure-handed. You became trusted. You learned the game the way that we, I don't want to say wanted you to, but the way that we played. You know, you were smart. And we just loved those guys. Like those are our guys.

Like those are our type of guys. So we would watch the Ohio State game. We were injured, but you were tough. You were out there. You know, yeah, you had some games where you lighten it up. Iowa State, Kentucky. Yep. But those games like, okay. But those were big schools for our school. It was, but Ohio State, we're looking at those guys saying, well, you know, this guy's fighting his ass off against this team. Like, okay, if you're on the other side of it, everyone's saying, well, yeah, of course he's an NFL guy.

Well, why is that not an NFL guy? Like you're seeing it against the competition you want to see. Now how did he, when we're hiring guys off the street, middle of the season for DBs, because we were banged up. Here we go, yep. Who the fuck asked who brought up to put me on DB? I remember it was Josh Boyer.

Yeah, I told Boyer, go get him. Go get him and bring him in. Boyer literally came up to me in the fucking locker room and said, yo, you're on a Wednesday. Yeah, go get him. Wasn't even on a Tuesday. No, no. He's like, hey, go get Jules.

This was a long conversation on Tuesday. But it wasn't, because one of the reasons I love this game, Myra, honoring her this year, playing Baltimore the way we won or they lost, how we look at it, because I think Myra pushed the ball. I think she pushed it out of the goalpost because that guy was really good. Really good. But it was, I told you my factuation of like,

when I got to New England, I thought that, I'm Syracuse, Division One, Coach Pascoean is a great football coach. But just the way that we looked at the game at New England, and again, I remember Troy Brown played the star for us. He played, you know, he was one of our best. He got a pick against Drew. It was like, first completion of the game was to Troy.

It was like, we got confused. But it was like, he, that whole, what I saw us do in 2004, I was like, that is the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to do that. That whole what I saw us do in 2004, I wasn't like, that is the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to do that. And then so as I'm taking over the defense, I would always look at the offensive guys going, okay, we get late. Cause I knew you're going to be at the game.

You know, cause you're always like, who's going to be at the game? That's what I need. You know, because once you get through those guys, roster management. So I was always looking at the offensive guys. What do you get 40, 48 on game day? Yeah, it was 47. 47 on game always looking at the offensive guys. You only get 40, what do you get, 48 on game day? Yeah, it was 47.

47. 47 on game day, 53 on the roster. And I was always looking at the offensive guys again and saying, who could play defense? Yeah. Not a lot of offensive guys that can play defense. But once you were kind of on the team, all of that stuff that you went through, I was like,

that's the guy that can do it. So I always had in my head, I was like, at some point he's gonna play DB for us. Which is so crazy for two reasons. I remember when I was getting worked out, Pittsburgh worked me out as a safety in a corner when I was coming out of Kent. And then the second thing when you told me

about the Troy Brown stuff, and like you said, oh, I finally got someone that I could do this with. When I first got drafted to New England, my agent, Don Yee. Yeah, Don. Don goes to me and he goes, I have a vision. You're the next Troy Brown.

I just, the team's gonna, it's gonna be hard for them to cut you because you're gonna, because that was a thing going into this. They had seven receivers my rookie year. Eight receivers, they traded for a guy. They had Randy Moss West. One of the guys was a special teams captain, Sam Aiken.

So like the roster spot was like hard. You can't get that spot. But my agent was just always say, it's gonna be hard for them to cut you because you could do a lot. You could do a lot. You were a ball playing jettie. And it's crazy you said that.

Fucking Don's a smart dude. But yeah, it was. And Josh Boyer, he was great at all that stuff too. So Josh was like, and I think he was in that same mentality. Josh was. And he saw the same thing. So it was Jules was going to play defense. We were going to go through it.

I remember Troy saying, a long time ago, I was like was like, Troy, how did you, he's like, well I know most of the routes. He's like, I run all these routes. So I know everything inside. Conceptually. Yeah. And situationally, that's what I would do. And then situationally, so you knew the same,

and then situationally you knew what we wanted to do defensively, and I knew you'd learn it in a very short amount of time. So, because I remember what I would do, Bill and you guys would always say, well Bill, I would listen in the team meeting. Yep. And Bill would always say,

gotta have it situations. The third downs, the four point plays. Yeah. They throw gotta have it routes to gotta have it players. Yeah, go to guys. So if you fucking study the gotta have it route. Give you the list. On that straight third down. Yep. And you fucking study the gotta have it route. Give you the list. On that straight third down. Yep.

And then you study the gotta have it player. Like all I would do is just hold on for dear life for the first five yards because I knew guys hated it and they just play to your leverage. But in this fucking game, which I want to get into, we had, didn't we go over lock and combo all fucking week? We did. Do you not see me making the fucking call and squaring it off? I did. And I'm not calling no one out, but you got...

We don't call anybody out. What are we doing? And then they're calling me out on the TV. I remember watching that when I was so proud. It was AFC championship. They're like, oh, we got a dumb ass Edelman in there. I obviously did not do a good enough job of coaching that. That's all I saw.

But I called it. I called it to him. Because the point was set. So what we're talking about is, and we'll get into it in the game, on a specific third down, and Quon Bolden, that late in the game, he motions it. They have a bunch. And what our game plan for that week was,

we were going to lock the point of the bunch, and you combo the other two guys, which means if this guy on the outside goes inside, I got whoever goes inside. Yeah. The other guy has whoever goes outside. Yeah. The other guy, when it goes in, it was an instant check to the bunch. If it was a check. So you see me square it off because I want square. So the guy runs into me so I can get a bump. I'm gonna pull out the game plan. I'm gonna pull out the game plan. Yeah. Well, I always loved you Yeah, and then the other guy came over and we fucking look like the Keystone cops out here

Yeah, and the guy runs free. We almost lose the game because of it So I'm sitting here thinking the whole damn time fucking I lost the goddamn Super Bowl for us So do you know like in this case so up into this game, I think, I think I had 15 straight defensive three and out series. Yeah. In this, in up, so I think the first two series of this game, they went three and out, maybe the third, three series of three and out. So, so I think it was total 15 straight,

and we're playing some good ball. Yeah, we were playing really. So on third down, when you give up a lock on it. And that's two offensive guys on defense. Yeah. So Matthew Slater was playing safety too. I put him down, when you give up a lock on the- Offensive guys on defense. So, Mathew Slater was playing safety too. I put him on, I was like, Slater, listen, I need you in the middle field, bro. Like, just go, like, I was, this was a-

I cut you off good. This in the back, the back end, and this was intense. Trying to put this crew together. It was very, it was very intense. Can I tell you my favorite part of this game though? Yes. This is great. So, you know, I put the call in, whatever,

Jules is out there. And Anquan Bolden, do you remember him yelling at Jill Flacco? Yeah. Flacco! It's fucking Julian Edelman, throw me the goddamn ball! He was so mad, he was so mad. So mad.

So mad, I laugh with him about that all the time. Hey. He was, he's like, throw me the ball. He got me one time, but I was, I was, see my strategy was, I wasn't gonna cover you. No. I wasn't gonna glove you up, but I was gonna be around to tackle you

and make you, it'd be a contested style type catch. And I was gonna grab you and fucking try to cheat as far as I could and hit you. Yeah. How would you sum up this team in just the 2011 team? I mean, gritty, gritty, gritty team. Tough, I mean, obviously the next man up mentality. So, but it was really just, I think everyone capitalizing

on their opportunities and just believing. Like, and again, it's why I love this game this year with Myra. We were really trying to do everything we could to honor her memory. And I think that every week we knew, like, hey, let's just everybody give their best and go out there. And we had a good bunch of young guys

that we knew were going to be great players on the team. So it was fun to watch them develop. And then some guys that had been there for a little while, and this was just a tough, gritty, wailing themselves almost to win. There's so many guys on this team, and people are like, who was that? Oh, I forgot about that guy. I didn't realize that guy was there.

I didn't realize that guy was there. And it was like, we went to the Super Bowl. We went to the Super Bowl. So you want to, anybody can go to the Super Bowl. We could have won that Super Bowl. But now you said 15 straight, three in outs. I think it was 15 straight, something like that. What's the art of the DC?

How do you, what's your starting point of when you're preparing for a team? Are you looking at players, plays, or has it changed situationally for each team? Like how do you construct what you're gonna plan for that week? Because you're a game plan coach, it changes every week. How do you break that in?

What's the art of coach DC? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. So being in New England, obviously our fundamental background, defense and philosophy, right? Comes from the Giants, right? 1980s, Bill at the Giants, those great defenses there. And then you got to really understand

So I had I had two playbooks, right? We had our playbook and then I had the Bible, right? I called it the Bible because that was everything like that I I was always keeping track of the history of where did all this stuff come from because I figured if you could understand Where it came from then we would know when to install it or when to use it So who made the Bible? So I did, you know, just copy, pull it together. Football. Was that making you a prophet? Definitely. I mean, I am, I was named, I am Matthew. Matthew is one of the prophets. Get out of here. So, so, so yeah, so eighties, right? And then you have the influence of our defense from Saban when Bill and Nick get together at Cleveland and how it morphs from cover two to cover three,

little bit of cover five, which was our two man, Nick with cover one, cover four. And then, so as we get to New England. Nick loves man. Loves it, right? So as we get to New England, Romeo, Rack is there early, what that was, Mangini, and then Dean takes over and we go all into cover four,

which was, that was his baby and that takes over, and we go all into cover four, which was, you know, that was his baby, and that was great for all those years, too. When Dean left, you know, Bill wanted to get back to some more traditional stuff. The game was changing at this point, right around this timeline. And I really think offensively, Bill had a great vision of where the game should go. And it was getting away from the 11s into the mixed 12s, personnel groups. But at this time, defensively, we

had gone back to a lot of base, cover two, cover three. We had young players playing zone, because in zone, you got more chances for turnovers. You can see the quarterback. You can see the throws. We're always good tacklers, right? Good tackling, defense. And so we had young guys.

So that's what we were in this era. We had our mans for situational football, because you got to play man in situational football, red area, things like that. And then really as our team developed, we get into other games, you know, when we get Akib to leave, everything defensively changed. Everything changed.

Akib was like one of my favorites ever, right? Walks in and he's like, Matty P. He's like, I got him. You figure out the rest of it. I'm like, cool. It was like, so we changed. We morphed. We would always morph the defense based on the talent we had.

At this time, we're also coming out of, this is actually the last year of a lot of base defense. So the next year after this, because of our 12 packages, I went into Big Nickel. That's where Pat Chung really comes into, this is where Pat Chung saves us for a lot of years. He does not get enough credit for the evolution of what we went to and where we were

for all those years after defensively. Devin also gets moved from corner and moved into safety, you know, after this, because of where we were, you know, Devin's like rookie of the year. And why do you do that? Why do we change the defense? Because, because you're 12 personnel. So there's a lot of 12 personnel, which means there's two tight ends,

but teams are still spreading people out. So the safety has to cover the tight end who's a better out runner these days. So Patrick Chung being the physical type player that could play decent against bigger, or very good against bigger guys. Very physical. Strong, great run instincts.

So that's why Patrick Chung was so good because he was a covering safety. He wasn't a big safety, which now all the safeties look like Patrick Chung, but at this time, this is when safeties were fucking huge. Yeah, still big, still coming down the hill. I'm just giving context to Maddie P. Love the history.

So defensively, our mentality in general was, how do we fit the defensive structure to the, so again, people are like, oh, you're a base cover two coach and I'm like, well, I was when we needed to be. But you saw our playbook, we had every coverage known to man in that thing and then some we made up. Or fronts and variations. So with that mentality of the defense,

that was just our mentality every week. What do we have to do? What do we have to play in order to win this game? Because that's all that really mattered. It was like, it doesn't matter what we do, how do we just win this game, complimentary football, with the offense, with special teams, with defense, and who are the players we have to do that.

And so it was always evolving, always changing. But when you game plan an offense for me, started with the quarterback, how are we gonna make this guy, how are we gonna play the game within the game against this guy? And then I went to the offensive line. You obviously identify who are the great players,

who are the go-to guys you gotta stop. Who's the ball going to and what situations? Make sure you got those guys handled, make sure you got them covered. But game planning affecting the quarterback was through the offensive line. How do we get pressure in his face? Is he gonna step up, is he gonna bail, is he gonna move?

Do we need to keep him in the pocket? Do we want him out of the pocket? Is he a scramble or does he extend? All of those, you gotta answer all of those questions. As you go through the game plan process. And then you got run game, you got all of that in there. What packages are you going to play? How are you going to call the game? So a lot of games I would have, I had different call sheets. So I had our main call sheet that everybody had, and then I would have adjustment call sheets. And I'd either have them or people ask me what time, so I always had a notebook in,

you know, always wore a hoodie, always had pockets. Number two pencil. You got one? Yeah, there we go. You got one? Yeah, good Ticonderoga. Ticonderoga deal. Yeah, of course, right?

But I always had, But only engineering shit here, but it's- But I always had notebooks with paper, you know, and I would rewrite different scripts, different series coming up, you know, like we come to the sign, like, hey Jules, next third down call is gonna be this. Next first down is gonna be called it.

Be ready to go in on second down and long. Second and short, we're gonna stay base. And I would write all of those out so that everybody had that during the game. I was money. I was money. Or dime, dime, dime. Dime, dime, yeah.

Early and then I went to nickel. Then you went to nickel. But yeah, so that's how we game plan. And you know, going into this game, they had good skill. They had, you know, good running back, obviously. A quarterback that was gonna sit in the pocket. So it was like, how do we disrupt the timing of the game? We had, we're able to generate some, Andre and Mark,

we're able, you know, Vince pushed the pocket. It was, Vince Wolfwerk, man. You hear, he's easily. Now does Bill come in to staff meeting? All right, boys, this is how we have to win this. Because he's going to give you the keys on what he thinks the whole collective teams, special teams, defense, and offense has to do.

So he pulls in, all right, guys, this is what we got to do. This, this, this, this, this. And then he pulls you aside. You guys break and you guys go install what you're going to do for that week, or develop what you're going to do for that game plan week. Now does he ever sometimes come in and are like, Matty P, you know, we're gonna score a lot of points

on these guys. Like, this is what we need you to do. So like, is that's what a good head coach, is that what he's doing as well? So we certainly would have, as we got ready for game plans, you know, we would meet, Josh would meet with Bill, I'd meet with Bill, I'd meet with Bill, and we'd talk about like,

hey, what are you thinking? How do you want to play this game? What do you think on the other side of the ball? We'd do that kind of individually. We'd talk, personnel was always the biggest thing we'd talk. Who do we got? It was always us first. Like, who do we have?

Who are the best 11 guys we can put on the field to help us win this week against, and who do they got? It was all, to me, the NFL, coming from college, the NFL was so much more the NBA than it was college football. It was the matchups. It was who is this guy? Who wears this guy? How do you play the game, you know, against these, the players on the other side of the field? And who do you have? So we would talk about the big picture. We would put the game plans together. You know, I'd certainly go in and talk to them like, hey, this is what we're thinking. What do you think? You'd be like, yeah, this is great. This is good. Hey, take a look at this. Maybe try something here, too.

So he'd always have, you know, he'd always have his say as far as things that he liked and then what we would do, which I loved, loved these meetings. They were super long. All of our meetings were super long. Oh, yeah. All of them. So, but it would be the night before the game and we would have a coordinators meeting and we would, and Ernie. So Ernie, Bill, coordinators. Ernie's phone was not ringing. That was the most amazing thing ever.

I know Josh, bro, you have no idea. I was like, everyone thought they were fired right. Okay, anyways. So we'd have these coordinator meetings. All time story. And so we would go through, we would go through the call sheet. So I knew how Josh was gonna call the game.

Josh knew how I was gonna call the game. I knew what Scottie O was gonna call on special teams. And we would, Bill would sit there and we'd talk about, okay, hey, does this fit the vision of how this game needs to go so that we give ourselves a chance to win? And that was the most fun. You know, that's a crazy thing.

We talk about all these sexy hires, all these play callers, you know, that these future coaches, you think that a good play caller could just be a great head coach? It's hard. It's fucking hard. Being a head coach is hard. It's hard.

It's really hard. Jackie, let's break down the fucking Ravens. These Baltimore Ravens. Let's get through these Ravens. They were in our division because we play them twice a year. Once in the regular season and once in the playoffs. Somehow it didn't match up this year against them in the regular season.

Well this year, oh yeah. You gotta be in first place. All the first place teams play each other. That's how it goes. Well that's what people don't realize about the schedule making. In conference, whatever you place, you play all those same places

and then you get a different conference division. So that makes up the 18, 17 games. The NFL schedule, the beautiful how it's designed. Like again, you think about the incredible run that we had. Like every year, let alone we were getting, whatever team we played, we were getting their best. Cause that was the benchmark. But you're also playing the best teams every year,

all the time. Like the mental fortitude, is that a word? The mental stamina. Toughness, oh favorite, Tommy. Like the, what do you say? Stamina, what was it? Competitive stamina. Competitive stamina, it's my favorite term

that he would use. Competitive stamina, it's my favorite term that he would use. Competitive stamina of you guys was unbelievable. Unbelievable. And that's what a lot of people don't realize right now with these chiefs. Everyone says, oh, they only won by two points. They don't realize that every team and every coach that's coaching against them, they're sitting

and they say, that's America's Most Wanted. If we beat them, we're gonna get paid more, we're gonna get a new job, we're gonna do this, every single team. And it's not like you're playing Louisiana, Lafayette Agricultural, school to the right, everyone's getting fucking paid. Louisiana, yeah.

Everyone's good. Everyone's good. So that's why it's impressive what they're doing. But that's what Mattie P was trying to say. Like, you know, it gets hard when you're winning first place every year, you're America's most wanted. So you're playing everyone's Super Bowl. It's amazing. You don't realize, you know, again,

we did this on purpose, right? So we were always kind of behind the curtain. Like, you know, we had that mystery about us, right? Which we loved because we didn't talk outside the building, like everything was in house. We loved it because actually it was an advantage, like Teddy would say this all the time, Brew would be like,

we had them beat before they walked on the field. Because everyone was like, how are they doing this? How are they doing this? And once we put a little bit of doubt in their head in the first or second quarter, it was done, we were rolling. Because we wouldn't the first or second quarter. They pissed down their legs. It was done. We were rolling.

Because we wouldn't make mistakes and they would. Yep, we had them. That's why the great teams embrace the bullseye, baby. You got to. You got to. You know what? Kyle Busch, this was great. Right?

So. He rubbed me when I was fucking starting to race in the New Hampshire once. When I was the pit car. Yeah. He fucking bumps me. Yeah, so I did the same thing. New Hampshire, go, right, go.

Do the same thing. So I go out, I walk out with him, and give him a check or something to him, whatever. So everyone loves to boo him. So I come on, they announce me, and everyone's kind of cheering. And then they announce him, they want to boo, but I'm on there, so it's kind of awkward.

And then he just looks at me and he goes, he goes, I love the boos. He goes, it means you're irrelevant. And I was like, I freaking like that. That is true. I like that a lot. Love that mentality. It was awesome. He was-

He drove the pace car? Yeah, I didn't drive it, I rode. So I drove it. I drove the pace car. Getting bumped. And he was the first, he won the fucking polls. So he was the first car. Ruben's racing. And he was the first car Robbins racing and that's what he did I went I was like hey, but was it days of thunder?

Bump you I rubbed you go. Yeah, Robin. He's racist. He's also a Broncos fan. So I know he's got a guy He was so cool though. He let you let me all right. Well, he let me do his trailer and everything But he's in your old definitely not He let me into his trailer and everything. 13 year olds, definitely not. Oh, yeah. Come on. 19. All right.

Anyway, these Ravens went 12 and 4. Fourth year of the Harbaugh era. OC, Cam Cameron, Chuck Pagano was leading the defense. Chuck Pagano. We know him, future head coach after this. Ricky Williams last year in the NFL. Yeah. Wild.

I remember that. Ricky was taking snaps in this game. It just blew my mind rewatching this game. Oh my God. Running. Shout out, Ricky. Fourth straight year my mind rewatching this game. Oh my God. Running. Hey, Ray. Shout out, Ricky. Fourth straight year making the playoffs for the Ravens.

Terrell Suggs, DPOY, defensive player of the year. And they swept their division, so pretty dominant in the AFC North that year. Dude, Jimmy Smith, I always say he was really, I liked him. He was a big physical guy that could get in and out of his breaks, because we played him so much. And then Torrey Smith, he was just, he was a really fast receiver.

Tyrod Taylor was a rookie. Crazy. They had the running back that was good. Yeah, Ray Rice was good. Ray Rice. Ricky Williams. Helodi Nada. That guy.

He's one of my favorite. He's one of my favorites. He's a fucking Helodi. He is. And he's a sweet guy. He's one of my favorites. He's a fucking unload. He is, he is. And he's a sweet guy. He wasn't like an asshole like all of the other ones. The amount of respect I have for him is off the charts. I remember, I remember Terrell, or no, that was Bart Scott.

Bart Scott went to Billy Oh's face, remember that? Yeah. And said, fuck you, white boy. Billy, like, I'm talking, this was like, I think the ref was doing the penalty for something and like there's dead time on the field And Bart went right up to him and did that and Billy Oh like starts yelling at him and also this was Jones late era Ed Reed for the for the Ravens second to last year in Baltimore now

How much did ed Reed man? How much did he talk about him in coaches meeting? Because in our regular meetings, we had have a 45 play cut up on a Wednesday fucking Ravens week of Ed Reed and the up and under on punt, the fucking punt return. Like, did Bill talk about him obsessively in the Tocotco? Yeah, we loved him. We loved defensive guys. What are you talking about?

So Ed Reed. He loved him some Ed Reed. So here's the thing. So we played, when I was at Syracuse, 2001, we played Miami, last game's the thing. So we played when I was at Syracuse 2001, we played Miami last game of the year. So we were actually really good that year. Freehne was a, he was a senior. Dwight was, he was rolling. That was our whole third down defense was, Hey Dwight, just go sack.

Yeah, Dwight's my guy. Just go sack the quarterback. So we play Miami. McKinney, right, is the tackle for Miami. So it's Dwight's story. But anyway, I was talking about Ed Reed. So, Ed Reed and Jason Taylor, literally I think we threw more pick sixes to those guys in that game.

I think they scored like four touchdowns a piece. It was unbelievable. It was a track meet. Like those guys were just, so Ed Reed, like even college, he was unreal. The way that he could find the ball. It was amazing.

He baits you too. There'd be some times where like, I remember just in our game plan meetings when we play against him, for an offensive skill player, when you're looking at coverage, you never look at the corners because corners can lie and cheat.

What you always do is you have to always take a pre-snap read of the safeties and then post-snap what those safeties are doing, you have to be able to locate them to see what responsibility they're trying to get so then that adjusts what you're doing. No field open, no field closed, all that stuff. You gotta see.

But whenever we play the Ravens, we had to like, we couldn't do that because Ed would fucking just completely go rogue on something. He would start up over here when he had to like, we couldn't do that because Ed would fucking just completely go rogue on a, on something. He would start up over here when he had to be the half field safety on the other side and then get over there, which we would get them. We would get it. We would, we would, we would, we would gash him with the touchdown here or there, but then there would also be a pick that came out of nowhere. Like that's just those games within the game. Like that's my game within the game of like the quarterback, the safety, like Brady and Annette.

That's fascinating stuff. Like people that love like that is just watching those two great players go at it with each other was amazing. Or, you know, like coverage you mentioned, where you'd find the fish, right? Who's the youngest guy on the field? Who's the youngest guy on the field? He's going to be the most scared about his coverage. So before the snap, he will be in the alignment he's supposed to be in. So just find the fish and that'll give you like, so whether it was a nickel, a star, a corner, safety. By the end I would look at,

cause you know sometimes I would hear like Scar and Brady and Josh, they'd talk about like the defense line. And sometimes you get keys from the defense line on what the coverage would be. Because if they were in like a bare front or if they were in like a five down diamond, you knew you were always getting manned because they were man it up.

You know, so like you. Or if you listen and you saw like, you know, guy has, he's normally got one hand down, all sudden he's got the other hand down. It's like, okay, he's dropping. Yeah, he's dropping. Oh, he's dropping. You know, he's not, there's normal stuff. There's all these little keys. There's no different when we look at offensive tackles. I'm like, all right, well, sudden he's got the other hand down. It's like, okay, he's dropping. Yeah, he's dropping. No, he's dropping. You know, he's not, it's normal.

There's all these little keys. There's no different when we look at offensive tackles. I'm like, all right, well, if his heel is up here, if the stagger's this, it's passed, this is run, like all those things you look for. But good players, like Ed Reed, you better be careful. Now, what was this offense for the Ravens? What was the keys to stop this offense?

What was so good about this offense in 2011? Well, I mean, coming out of the year before, obviously, the run game was going to be an issue, right? So we got to stop the run. But this was getting Flacco. We got to get Joe Flacco. We got to make him uncomfortable. He's not really going to scram.

He's not going to take off. We got to push the middle of the pocket. They're going to get some yards. They've been getting it all year. We just got to do a great job in the red area and then make them try to drive it and get some turnovers, which we did. We got a couple great.

I mean, the spikes pick in this game is a great play by. The one-hander? Yeah. Right there. That was a really good pick. Now with Joe Flacco, what I always saw with Joe. I mean, you want me to pull the book? I can show you.

We. Let's see what book we got. Yes, please. Yes. We're coming on. Patriot guys. I mean, we're coming on. Piole, Ernie, Matty.

Got all of them. We're good. Did Josh bring shit too? Josh didn't bring anything, did he? Nah, I don't think so. Josh. Billy-O, he brought a tea kettle. He got all pissed up.

So this would be, right? So this is your play sheet. So this would be the play sheet from the game How many times you refine that? So I was obsessed yeah, so you start out with probably like 800 plays So through the course of the week like I'd build it right so whether it was early downs third downs red area I would build them as we would go through. And then by the end I would sit there and just. Love it. Love it, thanks.

I'd sit there by the end and I'd build the call sheet and we always had, I had a little bit of a different call sheet than all the other coaches because they also had the personnel on the back. I wasn't doing the rotation of the players and all that stuff. So all the situational stuff was on the back. But yeah, so in the front of the game, you know,

we'd go circle the calls we were gonna start with in the game, go from there. And then I'd have like minis. Sometimes when my eyes actually work, my eyes don't work anymore, but I'd be able to call it off the minis if I wanted those. I couldn't find my notebook for this one, my handwritten notes during the game.

But yeah, so we had, you know, I got the evaluation of the game right here, things we did well, things we did poorly. So when you're about to call a play, you're looking over to see who's the signal guy to tell us what personnel we're getting. So Josh was, Boyer was upstairs. So Boyer was upstairs, he's going over to you.

We got 11, we got 11, we got 11. So you sit and you go to your 11 personnel group. There's nobody better upstairs than Josh. I know, he knows. His eyes, his, the way he saw the game, the information he gave me. I love Josh, he was at Kent. Yeah. So he gives you personnel,

and then you already know situation. So it's first and 10, you go to your first and 10 thing. All right, we got 11 personnel, all right, 11 personnel. And then you're changing up if you want 11 personnel blitz or this, that, and that's what you're making the decision on. Yeah, or, you know, based on how I think the game is going, or if I have a tendency on how I think he's going to call it. Like some guys get in run pass rhythms, some guys go run, run pass or whatever that is,

or- Or first down after crossing the 50, maybe a shot. All those situational things that come up. I mean, just if we get to the logo or- Low fringe, or a fringe shot. High red area fringe, high fringe. Yep. All those situational things that come up. I mean, just if we get to the logo or, you know, high red area fringe, high fringe. Yep. Backed up, protection, block it up, throw it outside

if you're showing breasts. Yeah, all that stuff. Can I ask the dumbest like at home fan question? Just hear me out for a second. The play sheet's laminated. Yes. You've got a pencil in your ear. Right.

Or I had a paper notepad. So you can see on the back there, those are the second, Julie's got it right now. I had, I was like staples now. I mean, I had. I had. So is this the adjustments from halftime? Those are the adjustments, or probably during the game,

you know, in the second half. Those are second halves. You had one of those markers too, that you could get on the left hand side. So I had my thin markers in my right front pocket. I had thick markers in my back pocket, because it would cross them out. I had thick markers in my back pocket because it would cross them out. I had pencil here. I had

a notebook in the front of my pocket because sometimes it was cardboard or paper because again the laminates great. The thing about the laminate was good was that you could mark on it and do all that but it actually when you laminate it made the the thing bigger so I could actually see it sometimes because you know it's hard but you know, it's hard, but you know, you'd be writing and doing all that stuff. But again, if it rained or if it snowed, like those markers are useless, right? So they don't work.

Paper and pencil always works, you know, cardboard works. And a lot of times, like if I had the call sheet here, I actually had paper in front of it. And then so during the series, as I'm getting notes, I would quick mark on the paper in front of it. And so during the series, as I'm getting notes, I would quick mark on the paper in front of me, in front of the call sheet, and then go back. And then when everyone came to Sideline, I would go and mark up in marker on the call sheet.

Because I didn't want to mark on the call sheet during the call. I didn't want to correct anything on the call sheet because I wanted the call sheet. That's where I was making the calls from. So I needed that as good as it could be. I mean, it got chaotic, some of these game plans. So I hand drew all of our game plans,

hand wrote, hand drew every call. You know, color coded. Did you type it into something though? Only the call sheet. So all that is, you don't have that, you know what you should do? You know what I would do if I was you? Tell me.

You want to be real smart. Usually. Would you have engineering power to do this? You know how there's Chad GBT? Yes, I'm into that right now. You should make Chad Matty P. Where you log all your football shit in, and then whenever I have anything, I could just say,

what is that base thing, this, that, you could type it in there and it'll take all the databases from all your notes and it'll be able to answer the question. Now that's AI, I can be behind. That's AI. I might already be on that. See? I might already be on that.

I know you're on that shit. I know you're on that shit. I am heavy into that right now. But that's what it's gonna be soon. That's what it's gonna be, yep. I can't believe you just told everybody. I can't believe you just. Oh, yeah, we were watching this

and I always remember sometimes you get in front when I would play scout team. Cause he would, when I was playing scout team at this time, Matty P would come coach the scout team for 15 minutes on what he wanted to emphasize on the period of the play cards. So he would go through all our play cards, what we had to go run against the real team or the ones.

And he would go and kind of try to coach how they would do it. And so a lot of times when we play these guys with Joe Flacco, he'd be like, he'd go to the quarterback, he goes, all right, I don't care if the guy's covered down the field. Just throw it up, because they're going to try to get a PI in half the time. Is that not true? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Because he was going to go to the 50-50, you know, everybody calls it 50-50 balls. But defensively, for me, it was always like, really, there's three things that can happen on the play when you play these guys. And they always had, it was either you could break it up, he can catch it, or they're going to get a PI and then get the ball down there. So I'm like, we could break it up. He can catch it. They're gonna get a, you know, they're gonna get a PI and then get the ball down there.

So I'm like, we have to practice that. If we don't practice that, we're not gonna be able to make those plays live and in the game. It was all like, cause again, you're downfield trying to play the ball up in the air. And a lot of times for the show teams, it's like, all right, well, I'm just not gonna throw it.

I'm like, no, I need this guy to get this rep. I don't care if he's covered because this is gonna happen in the game. And if he doesn't do it in practice, he's not gonna, it. I'm like, no, I need this guy to get this rep I don't care if he's covered because this is gonna happen in the game and if he doesn't do it in practice He's not gonna you know as a player You're not gonna have that confidence that you're gonna be able to do it right in the game And I just wanted to have that confidence going in the game So, you know, we'd be out in the field and be like hey, you've made this play three times this week Like I threw it you on purpose like just go make it in the game. You can do that

so yeah, what would you say the craziest little one of those types of things you guys made players do to work on players weaknesses? Because I have one. Like when you used to tape up the balls, you would tape, they would tape up, they would tape up DB's hands. They would tape up their hands so they couldn't grab.

If they got a lot of grabbing penalties, they would fucking tape their hands so they couldn't grab in practice. They'd be so mad. So mad. I would be, if I was a DB, I would be like, this is fucking crazy. Or if say another team was on vice versa as a receiver,

Bill and Mattie P would go into the other, you know, the scout team for the defense and he would say, line up off sides and hold the guy. There's no holding this week. There's no holding this week. There's no holding this week. Just hold him. Or pass rush. I tell the defensive ends, if you

had a good rusher for the offensive tackles, hey, just line up off sides. Yeah. Just don't worry about lining up on the ball. Just line up off sides, because that's how fast this guy gets off the ball. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

Yeah. That's what people don't realize. When I see all these situations, like when the defensive lineman sees the ball on the ground after a quarterback got strip sacked and there's a pile of guys and a guy tries to pick it up instead of just falling on it. Yeah, country and city.

We used to literally fucking practice that. Where they would sit there and throw a ball on it and say, all right, there's two guys. All right, you can pick it up or you have to get on it and cradle it. Country and city. Country and city. What are you in the country?

Pick it up. You're in the city, get on it. Get on it. That means too much traffic. Too much traffic. Jackie, what's the game? Let's blast through this thing. 32 degrees at kickoff.

This is the early game of the championship series. So it was still New York, San Fran on the back end. Bledsoe, honorary captain. Steven Tyler out there singing the championship series. So it was still New York, Sam Fray on the back end. Bledsoe, honorary captain. Steven Tyler out there singing the national anthem. This thing is getting kicked off. And we're coming off the Tebow mania end, Gronk 3 TD performance, riding high. And then of course, a little bit of bad memories

coming in here with the Ray Rice 87 yard TD to kick it off two years earlier. So that was a storyline swirling to, we alluded to this earlier in the episode, three and out Fest to start the game, three in a row, Big Vince was in there, tackle for loss, sacks, we're moving the ball down the field, three points in the first half, low scoring,

or the first quarter, sorry about that. Pat's up three, nothing. Tom throws a pick late in the first quarter, sorry about that. Pat's up three nothing. Tom throws a pick late in the first quarter, intended for Jules. That drive extends into the second. He's so mad at me. I look at like such a young player in that play. I hate it.

I hate it. The scoring opens up a little bit in the second quarter. 10-10, Steve Otaxon. Technically, the ball is supposed to be outside of numbers, two yards outside of numbers. This is why we are how we are. We've won so many games. I couldn't, like sometimes I'm like,

I don't remember that. I know every game, every bad play, like all, like we just, we obsessed. You know what's crazy? This makes me rehash and remember stuff. I don't just sit and remember. Because we were blessed and fortunate enough where we had so many.

Usually, if you're a guy that goes to high school, you play football, you remember everything from high school. But we've gone on to so many crazy experiences. And we've had a lot of them that like my processor can't handle it all. I mean we were like six Super Bowls, eight straight AFC Championship. I don't know how many total AFC Championship. I mean it's just like so lucky. Yeah. It's crazy. 13-10 at the half, Pats are up. Moving into the second half, we extend the lead with another

Steve O'Field goal. A lot of bend don't break going on on both sides of the ball. Baltimore gets the lead, first lead of the game on a Torrey Smith 29 yard touchdown. Then we have a tough sequence coming up here. Woody fumbles the subsequent kick return. Brutal, brutal. I forgot. Big red area stop.

Hold them to three on a big red area stop. Yeah, that was big. So it's a... What's the art of the red area stop? Oh yes. Negative play. Negative play. Decreases your chances of scoring.

It's resetting the line of scrimmage. Negative play in the red area decreases your chances of scoring by like 50% or whatever it is. So it was always like when they run the ball, like they, you know, you can never let them run it in. Never. And then it's the, you know, stop them on early downs and then it's the four point play on third down.

So it's always like when they run the ball, like they, you know, you can never let them run it in. Like obviously. And then it's the, you know, stop them on early downs and then it's the four point play on third down. So it's always like when they run the ball, like they, you know, you can never let them run it in. Never. And then it's the, you know, stop them on early downs and then it's the four point play on third down. We'll be right back after this quick break.

Lately on the NPR politics podcast, we're talking about a big question. How much can one guy change? They want change. What will change look like for energy? Drill, baby drill. Schools. Take the Department of Education close it. Healthcare.

Better and less expensive. Follow coverage of a changing country. Promises made, promises kept. We're going to keep our promises. On the NPR Politics podcast, listen on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Criminalia podcast. I'm Maria Tremarchi. And I'm Holly Frye. Together, we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime. Each season, we explore a new theme, everything from poisoners and pirates

to art thieves and snake oil products and those who made and sold them. We uncover the stories and secrets of some of history's most compelling criminal figures, including a man who built a submarine as a getaway vehicle. Yep, that's a fact. We also look at what kinds of societal forces were at play at the time of the crime, from legal injustices to the ethics of body snatching, to see what, if anything, might look different through today's perspective. And be sure to tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in custom-made cocktails and mocktails inspired by the stories. There's one for every story we tell. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's going on everybody? This is Justin Penick from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen gonna pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything. We

break it down. Stats, analytics, and of course Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to football today on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run. What's up everybody? I'm Dan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts in the National Hockey League.

It's NHL Inscripted with Burke and Demers. Hey, I'm Jason Demers, former 700 game NHL defenseman, turned NHL network analyst, and boy oh boy, does daddy have a lot to say. I love you, by the way, on NHL Network. We're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love, right?

Yeah, I just met you today, but we're gonna have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment, and pop culture. And you know what? Tons of back and forth on all things NHL. Yeah, you're going to soon find out we're not just hockey talk. We have all kinds of random stuff on this podcast. Movies, television, food, wrestling, even the stuff that you wear on NHL now.

You wish you could pull off my short shorts, Virky. That's sure to cause a ruckus. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Burke and DeMurs, the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So we used to do goal line seven on seven. I remember competitive. Like it was like we would talk. That's when he brought out the easy button. We it was like, we would talk. That's when he brought out the easy button. We talked about that.

Remember? We would talk shit and all that stuff. Like we would bat, you know, Brady and all that. So, you know, and Rob would always be talking, you know, so I would stand, I would put the garbage cans up because he'd be running the route like in the back. Garbage cans were for the linemen positions. Yeah. So I'd put them out and like make sure that they couldn't just run through because we

had, you know, only the Skelly out there. And so Rob was yacking. And so I had the garbage can in front of me. And I knew he was running across and around behind me. So he takes off and starts to run. And I take the garbage can and I throw it behind me. And all I hear is, boom, boom, oh, ah. And I turn around.

He's on the ground. And he's laying there. And he's not moving. This is Friday before game. And he's laying there and he's not moving this Friday before game and he's laying there He's not moving and I was like, oh my god. I just broke his leg Like I was like I just I'm like I'm gonna get fired right now Like I just killed him and so I'm like so now I panic go over and I'm like, oh my god

I'm like, are you okay? He starts laughing Used to like, you know, my kids would come after training game was the best right, you know And he would always take Dominic and put him on his back and do pushups. He's like, I gotta do my pushups. And he'd take Dom and he'd bang out the pushups. And I was laughing at him earlier. I was like, do you remember my oldest Dom's first Halloween?

I'm like, I came to your house for trick or treat. And so Rob, obviously I know where he lives, right? So he comes to the door and he's wearing the exact same clothes he wore to work, with a knitted Santa Claus, like, mask, like, right? So he comes to the door and he's wearing the exact same clothes he wore to work, with a knitted Santa Claus mask, like right on his face. So I'm like, all right. So I'm like, trick or treat, whatever. My arm's like one. So I was talking to him, he's got the mask on, I was like, my God, did you get a lot of trick or treaters or anything? And he's not really saying anything. And I was like, all right. And he kind of looks at me. He's like, how did you know it was me?

And I was like, I know where you live. And you're in the same exact clothes I saw you in two hours ago. Like, what are we? And you're six foot eight in Foxborough. In Foxborough, like. 260 pounds Jack Santa Claus. So it was like the best, man.

I love it. I love it. How did you know it was me? How did you know it was me? You know, he's like, Shane's like, Shane. I was like, it's stupid. I was like the best man. I love, I love, I love. How did you know it was me? How did you know it was me? You know, he's like, I was like, I was the best. But we used to talk, you know, and I mean, Tom, Tommy, right? So we'd talk so much.

And yeah, remember my old heads back in the day, Ray Bull, Bruce G, like those guys, they would go play show team just to play show team cause they were bored and they'd go out and play safety and you know, tell them to go mad. So it was always like, it's not going to remember, we're always competition back and forth between the offense and defense.

What was the one time that you, because I know Raves used to give it to Brady. Oh yeah. The worst. Was there a specific incident or a practice, you don't have to say what he said, that you remember where like, I think he may have went too far.

You would hear the helmet go flying, and it would be yard sale. Earpiece, mouthpiece. I was like, oh, they got him. They got him good. He'd be so mad. He'd be so mad. And he'd probably tell you too, the worst part

was that those guys probably messed up the look. He's like, they're not where they're supposed to be. And he'd get all my, because he knew. The cars covered three. they're not worth it. And you know, you know, he'd get all my cause he knew the car says cover three, they're in fucking, yeah, they're, you know, split field safety stuff and rolling. But with Tom and Gronk, this one was great too. We're, we would always do competitive drives to me and all that stuff. And it was a lot of shit

talking going on back and forth and Gronk's on the far side of the field. And I think I was giving him a lot of shit. We were, I was like, you guys, you know, we got you, whatever, he, Tommy takes a snap, he drops back and he just, he throws it. And as soon as he lets it go, he turns around at me and he looks at me and he was like, gives me one of these. And I was like, and I knew as soon as he threw it, I was like, oh my God, it's a touchdown.

Like he's about to like score. So he gives me one of these and he's looking at it, doesn't even look at the play, looks at me and I was like, oh, he dropped it. And he turned around, he was so mad cause he thought like Gronk dropped, Gronk caught it. It was a touchdown. He turned around, he looked back at me and I was like, oh, he dropped it. And he turned around, he was so mad cause he thought like, Gront dropped, Gront caught it, it was a touchdown. He turned around and he looked back at me

and I was like, dude, that was ridiculous. I was like, it was unreal. So much fun, man. And they said no fun over there. We did, oh my God, Matt Light, are you kidding me? Like he didn't even tell. What's up with the Matt Light story? The dinosaur barbecue one in Rochester, which he did the game.

That was amazing because, so being from Syracuse, that's where Dinosaur Barbecue was, they opened up in Rochester. So he texted, which he did the game. That was amazing because so being from Syracuse, that's where Dinosaur Barbecue was. They opened up in Rochester. So he texted, we're on the bus. Like we're literally trying to beat a snowstorm. And we're just like, we're going to get on 90, the thruway, and we're going to drive until eventually they shut the thruway down.

We get up in Rochester, we go to a hotel. It's like under construction. There's like stuff everywhere. And I get a text from Light. I always get a text from Light. He said, Dinos dinosaur BBQ, meet us. And I was like, oh, this is going to be bad. And I just, I just remember I was like, you know,

thank God there was like no videos, the phones of all that stuff. And I remember walking in and like boat races are going on and like all of that. And I was like, I'm going to have to babysit this. This is not going to be, this is not, you know, cause I was always the one that was like, Hey, let's get Maddie P he'll take care of it. That way if we get in trouble, we're okay. And I was like, not again. Cause like we do the same

when we would do training camp, this one's great. So we, all the coaches had bed check and your name would be on the board of who was the bed bed check coach that night. So like comes to me during training camp and goes, hey, listen, you got bed check tonight? I said, yeah. He goes, you gotta do me a favor. He goes, there's a new movie coming out. He goes, I rented the movie theater. He goes, but the whole team's gonna be there.

It's okay. He's like, but we're gonna be a little late. And I was like, you mother, I was like, why my night? Like, why, I always, I have the worst bed check. Everything always happened to me on bed check. Probably not even a movie in sight. Not a movie in sight. So I was like, what in the heck? I was like, okay. I'm like, well, I obviously don't say anything. I'm like, all right, I got you. I'm like, but I'm coming.

I'm going to the movie. So it was Anchorman. That was the movie. It was just come out. And literally the whole movie, it's the whole team is in the movie, popcorn, everyone, the whole thing. And I just remember team is in the movie, popcorn, everyone, like the whole thing. And I just remember it ending and it's like 11, whatever, curfews at 11. Like, look, everyone's got 20 minutes and I'm bed. I'm like, I'm going to rooms in 20 minutes. You better hurry up. But it was like one of those things where life's like, Hey, just, you know, it'd be good for the team. You know, how he could sell anything. I was like, Oh, this guy's so not right now. So, Mount Light, one training camp.

Every day at the end of training camp, we'd have two minute drill. And for the film, they would always go to the clock, which was you'd have fans under the clock and there's like a lawn, there's a bunch of fans under, but they'd go to the clock to see where it was before the play to see the time on the play. So like if you had two minutes to go after a play,

you'd have, you know, 130, no timeouts, whatever. But you get that shot of the scoreboard every single time. And so Matt had one of his buddies come up during two minute and he wrote a bunch of signs that he knew after each play to put the sign up before the thing for the cut up so the whole team would have to see it. And there would be signs like,

Mayo, I wish I put some mayo on those buns or he had all these crazy things. And so you can you- Well, girl, I'm wide. Yeah, I have them all. And they're in my garage. You still have these? I have, they were in the back of my truck.

Cause again, lights like, I gotta, I gotta hide these. I'm throwing them in the back of your truck. I'm like don't put them in my truck Like I don't I don't want the evidence like so we go into the team meeting and coach, you know bills he's up there and he's moe he's coaching and so No one's catching it like the first time it flashes over it, but you can see the players like wait What did I just I just see right there and then you know bills like go to the next play and players like, wait, what did I just see right there? And then, you know, Bill's like, go to the next play.

And then the next one comes up. And then, so now like part of the room sees it. And now part of the room starts chuckling. So now once part of the room started, I was like, what? And so you can see, I sat behind and I could see the whisper going through and I'm looking, I'm like, oh my Lord. I'm like, he did not.

And I knew, cause I could look over and light away. I knew when he was guilty, it was like your kids, right? I always knew when he was guilty. And I was like, I can't. So I'm staring at him and he won't, like, I know he can feel the, I know he can feel the heat coming off of me and he won't look, he won't look over and he's just got his, you know, his little smirk. And so now eventually everyone's, everyone's like cracking up and feels like, there's like 10 different signs. And then he's like, what the heck? You can see him. There's like 10 different signs. You can see him trying to process.

And then he's like, what the heck? You know, like just goes on the rant. The whole room erupts. And it was unbelievable. It was amazing. It was amazing. Now what does Bill say to that after, like, the staff meeting? I think you know what he says after that.

This fucking asshole. Jesus Christ. I think you know. But it was, that's the thing, like, you know what he says after that. This fucking asshole. Jesus Christ. I think you know. But that's the thing. Listen, I know everyone's like, hey, what's your best Bill story? Whatever. Bill's like my best friend.

We all get that. He's like my best friend. I'm like, well. No, he's my best friend. But the thing I don't see, people don't see is like, no, no, Bill having a water gun fight in my pool with my kids no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, We love football. It was our passion. We learned. It was hard. Don't get me wrong. Like it was hard every day was hard. Yeah but you guys That you guys made it fun like it was just like that was the best part of my day was like I would get done with the You know 12 hours. I would work at night and

I'd be I didn't want to see any of the other Anybody that coaches or whatever and then you guys would come in and be like, okay, the players are here. Let's go. Yeah, let's get going. And that was the great part about it. And that's what was so fun. But like stuff like that would happen. All like, you know, the pig's head, the pig's head.

Which one was that? So light would have pig roast. Yeah. Or a friend of ours would have pig roast. And all of a sudden there would be a pig head that would show up in the locker room in like, cause you know, we had used to have the one door and you'd open up the door and there's a pig head sitting in your locker, like right there. You know, guys are freaking, I mean, it was, he put

a duck, a live duck in someone's locker. One time I walked out of the once I walked out of the meal room and the running back room used to be right there. And Ivan was in there. It was late in the afternoon for Ivan. Nap time. Yeah, Phil might've been watching that. And I look in and light is literally doing the chicken. He's walking like a chicken behind Ivan.

And you know, like one of the cronies is in there with the camera and he's filming it and I'm like, what are you doing? Literally walking like a chicken in the back of the running back room. But getting to know the camera. Yeah, getting to know, he filmed everything. He has it all, like he has all that stuff.

There's some stories that we couldn't tell of how crazy Light was about certain things that he did to teammates. There was things we couldn't tell. Was there ever a moment where like, all right, he went too far, this is it? Like, he's getting at it, like he's to teammates. There was things we couldn't tell. Was there ever a moment where you're like, all right, he went too far, this is it? He's getting at it, he's getting cut. I would say with light, it was always borderline.

The stuff that got out of control, which actually ended all of it, was the quarterbacks. That ended it. What happened? You never messed with the guy that had real money. Because real money could really mess you up. Like guys that send moving companies to your house and move all of your furniture out onto the front lawn, You never mess with the guy that had real money. No. Because real money could really mess you up. Yeah. Like, guys that send moving companies to your house

and move all of your furniture out onto the front lawn while you're at practice and you go home in your entire house. Now, that would cost a normal person like $20,000. But, you know, if somebody has real money, like, you're messing with the wrong person. Wrong person. Wrong. Or, you know, you take whatever it was, three of the tires

off their car and hide them. I remember that. No, three of them in the locker and the fourth one's hidden. On the stadium grounds. Yeah. Not in the stadium, on the stadium grounds. Or you maybe alter someone's jersey and hang it in the shower so that it dries,

but when he sweats, the smell of how you altered it comes back in the middle of practice and you want to throw up. That was the worst. Oh my God. You'd put the, you'd take their mouthpieces and you'd spray them with deodorant. Cause you never put your mouthpiece in

until you got to practice. You put them in and the deodorant just sucks. Sucks all the saliva out of your mouth. And now you can't breathe and you can't. That was a good one. So we are at the Pro Bowl. We're at the Pro Bowl and he's there. And the Pro Bowl is over.

And I can't remember if we were flying home or we were just at the after party at the Pro Bowl. I think we were at the after party. And he's sitting there with us and he goes, watch this. He goes, I got this app. And he goes, I'm going to call. And Billy Oh is across the room. And he calls Billy Oh,

but it came up on Billy O's phone as Robert Kraft. So I'm watching, and Light's like, watch this. And so he dials it. And I'm looking at Billy, and Billy O's looking at his phone. Oh, fuck, he's like. And he's showing everybody. He's like, Robert's calling.

Like, what do I do? And so you can see him answer. And Light's doing Mr. Craft on the other end, like how disappointed he is in the game. And you know, we needed to show better in the pro bowl. And Billy's like answering them. I'm dying. I'm like, how is this guy have this stuff?

It was, he was, he was absolutely amazing. What did Billy do when he, did he fight down? Oh, we were dying. We were rolling. I think I have pictures of that somewhere too. Jesus. Just taking pictures of him as he's answering the phone. But yeah, you had to know the quarterback thing was that was crazy.

We used to have the FBI die that would turn purple. So they put it in like money bags. Yeah. And like if you got the money bag wet or whatever, then all the money would turn purple. It was'd put it in like money bags, you know? And like if you got the money bag wet or whatever, then all the money would turn purple. It was like a white powder. So you'd put it in everybody's cleats, you know, before you go to practice.

So you wouldn't know. And now you sweat during training camp and you come out of training camp and your feet are purple. And you can't, it's like, it's like grade whatever dot, you can't get it off. And you're just, so you know, like, you know, you're walking around the city,

and you're like, ah, he got it, he got it. He got it, he got it, you know, he couldn't tell. The worst was Pierre. This is the worst. This is too far. I lived with Pierre, he's my guy. Pierre's my guy, right? Yeah, I lived with him.

So, Light, this is so bad, man. Light had this stack of lottery tickets that were like fixed, like they were winners and they were like $10 million or something crazy. So it's Christmas, I think it was Christmas and he's handing out the lottery tickets and Pierre sit at the table and he gets one and he starts scratching and he's like, and he's scratching a little bit more and he's like scratching again. He's like, and he's like, Oh bit more and he's like scratching again he's like and he's like oh my god he's like I think I just want 10 million like 10 million dollars and like they're letting it go on and on

and on and light and I'm like son of a... I'm like that is not cool bro. Way too far. It's not. It's way too far right there. Thank god he didn't go to the damn defense room saying, fuck you guys, I'm outta here. Right, hey Matty P, I'm not playing this week, I'm done. Like I was like, oh my, that one, that one, I felt, that one was bad. All right, we gotta get back to this. Can you take us through the Sterling Moore punch?

Yeah, so driving in the two minute, which two minutes is brutal. So driving down. We fucked up the locking combo. Yeah, we had a locking combo issue. On a third down, third and sixth. Was it third or fourth? That was third. Third.

Third and sixth. So now they're in the French. And throw it up to the sideline. It was the far sideline. It was their sideline going away from the lighthouse. And we're beat at the line of scrimmage. And Sterling, the thing that was so special about him was he just had an unbelievable ability to play the hands.

And really, he was strong. His hands, his punch, his finish through was really strong. Good quickness, good change of direction. But this is high competition. This is at the end of the game. And so the ball goes up. obviously, you know, it's like trying to go with Super Bowl, all that. And you're like, Oh my God, we're beat, beat at a line of scrimmage and he's trailing, he's in full trail. And it just totally casual, you know, drops in and here. And then I was like, Oh my guys, he's going to knock it out. And I knew knew it was like, because we saw it in practice all the time.

He did that a lot in practice. He timed it so perfectly as he chopped through. And it is literally, they did a whole science thing. I think ESPN did a whole whatever breakdown of the science behind how fast he did it before the second foot came down. And he knocked it out and the control and the whole thing. It was just one of those plays where I was like,

somebody helped us right there. Like, you know, somebody, you know, cause we were beat, you know, that should have, that should have won the game. Yeah. Myra made up and then, you know, we needed it on the fourth down on the field goal and she did it again. So I think the Sterling Moore, like, you know, you think about plays in the NFL that happened for this game, for me, you know, you finally coming along and being the guy that I was

like, all right, we got a two way player. Let's go. We're going to do this on defense, right? Sterling Moore. you finally coming along and being the guy that I was like, all right, we got a two way player, let's go. We're gonna do this on defense, right? Sterling Moore, the legacy of Sterling Moore is really solidified in this game, right? So this is his game that people know who he is. And then, you know,

Myra pushing the ball a little bit to the left. Missed field goal. Missed the field goal and we're going back to the Superbowl. Now, what are you doing pre-snap before that? Are you going over your potential, before the kick? Are you going over potential calls for overtime? Yeah, all these situations, I'm always panicked, right? So I'm not, I'm never watching the kick.

I'm always thinking like, all right, it's tied. They get the ball. How are we going to play the next series? Which probably drove everybody crazy. And certainly, you know, Boyer's the one that had to keep me calm. Because I'd be like talking to the players, I'm like, look, they get the ball, we gotta do that.

And all the players are like, I don't wanna talk to you right now. Like I'm watching the kick and I'm like, I can't watch the kick. Like I gotta do something to take my mind off it. It was no different than the Super Bowls we were in when the same thing happened. So yeah, so I didn't really, I just,

I wait for the reaction to know where we're going with it. So yeah, I gotta stay busy. That was crazy. We missed that. know where we're going with it. So yeah, I got to stay busy. That was crazy. We missed that. That was for them to tie it. Everyone thinks it was for them to win it. 2320. That was just to tie it.

Yeah. That was like a crazy year for us, the aftermath, because there was that drought. There was a fucking drought from that 07 to that, and it was kind of a new team. We were rebuilding. We got to the end of 09, I mean, Bill and I just kind of looked at each other and said, all right, we gotta start over.

You know, and it was just like, all right, how are we gonna rebuild the roster? What are we gonna do with the pieces we got? Where do we gotta go? How do we, you know, what do we wanna be? You know, where's the league going? That was a great thing, Bill always knew, kind of like, hey, the league's going to shift here, shift this direction.

And we would always try to stay in front of that. Or the big thing for us, really, after this was, it was really probably this year, we were so predominantly base 3-4 defense at that point, because there was a lot of 21 and 12 and 22. You know, Baltimore played 22 personnel. And half of the league at one point was playing 3-4, whether it was branches of our coaching staff that was out there or Pittsburgh's, it just became harder in the draft to find

outside linebackers. So we kind of switched 2011, we played like really like one outside linebacker, we played more of a four man line, kind of like 4-3. And then after this, because of 12 personnel and the way that was going, it was easier for us to get in a four down front and play the big nickel, the sub packages, still have base. And so after this year, I really, I went in and I was like, look, every training camp, we start with the same run fits. We start with the same install. I said, I'm scrapping all that.

I'm like, we're going to start in sub, you know, and I started to change the defense 2012. We've got some more pieces. I got high, you know, Chandler that year. And those were new pieces of the defense 2012. We got some more pieces. I got high Chandler that year. And those were new pieces of the defense I was really able to create. Then the next year, Jamie came in, we got Talib. That changed another piece for me.

I started sending the linebackers, what's called like, people call like sim pressures now. We were doing those in 2013. You know, and I basically- What's a sim pressure? So where, you know what it is. So basically it looks like a five man rush pressure, but it's actually four and someone else is dropping out.

And you're trying to really mess with the protections. And one of the things I found out. They're changing, they don't know which guy's dropping out. That's what people, so that's why when you say you're trying to mess with protections, there's five guys coming the offensive line can pick them up But if you they don't know which guys not coming or you're dropping someone and you have someone do something then it confuses their Protection and that's when guys come out free. Yeah, and the quarterback throws pick. I mean Rob's pick against Peyton

Yeah, you know I dropped him that was a sim I mean Rob got his pick against Peyton. I dropped him, that was a sim. But the thing that was happening was I was doing all of sub defense in this timeline, but I was using three, four principles. So in three, four, you got the three down, but you don't know where the fourth rusher's coming from. And so it was just calls on the field

based on formation, things like that. So I just took that principle and I basically went to two, four defense. So the two defensive tackles, because I had Rob on the left. Chan was on the right. But then Chan got hurt when we bring in Akim Ayers, who's another outside linebacker type.

So it was like I had four backers on the field. Now I've got Jamie and High behind the line of scrimmage. And I realized, hey, when the protection slide's going here, the back's got to block Jamie or high tower. So I was like, look, just make a call, drop him. He knows what the drop is, outside linebacker, just switch it on the field. You go run over the back and go get the quarterback.

So we just created all of the on-field communication calls really out of a two-four system is what it was. And then eventually that, cause you have to have run fits on all of this, I moved the defensive tackle on the weak side. He started from like a shade to a two wide to a two, and then eventually two threes. You know, we get through 13 with what we had Tlaib,

who changed the coverage. So now we go from a two and a three team to really a cover one team. Man, middle field safety help, zone middle field, but lock it up on the backside with him. You know, Rivas comes in in 14. The defense takes another real kind of progression to five down looks. We had all the six up looks, the double mugs, all that was in there from 2004.

So I just used all those. And then the five down looks where I could reduce Chandler, walk now Jamie and high up on the edge, because now they had to go five down protection. Now I'm sending the other one through the middle because now he's back on the back. I'm using the same rush calls to just drop whoever I wanted to. So they had like four different looks and we're just messing with the front, moving the coverage behind it and just evolving the defense. We get to the Super Bowl, we're playing a lot of five down, but now I've got the quarterback

read option. So I kick both of the tackles out to three techniques. We go into, you know, we call it ball and chain, where now I'm sending the linebacker through the middle and the other guy's rapping fast over the top. So that's how that stopped that whole run system, you know, in the Superbowl. Which one?

The Seattle Superbowl in 14. And then by the time we get to 15, we're running that. We had some injuries, we get to 16. Now we're in more five down and then six up looks, you know, branch. We just kept evolving, and just it was always about what we have. And then we started putting on,

because the league, the offenses were changing. Yeah. Like this game, we're all 12. By the time of the end of my career, we were having like seven DBs on the fucking field. Yeah. Because the game has changed that much from, space game, 11 personnel,

now there's four wide groups. But if we see, if we all take a real look at all the dominant teams, they're all still using the old shit. Yeah. Because it goes in flows. Now everyone, you know, the full backs coming back where you could blow up these small linebackers.

No one's practicing base defense anymore. No one's practicing. So when you put 21 in the field, what was happening is you have three calls. You just don't have the time during the week. So you know offensively, hey, we put this unit out there. It's going to be one of three calls. Well, let's get our keys.

We know how we're going to attack this. You stay in 11. You let us run our sub packages. It could be four down. It could be six up. It could be five down. It could be odd spacing. We could be in a bucked look. You have all those plus be four down, it could be six up, it could be five down, it could be odd spacing, we could be in a bucked look.

You know, you have all those, plus all the disguises behind it that we were using, and the on the field, because we had smart players, on the field calls where we're swapping and switching. And versatility. That's a lot to deal with. Yeah, and we drafted a bunch, I mean, Jamie Collins, Hightower, Chan.

Yeah, and just all those guys I kept, you know, we drafted Chandler, Syracuse guy. I was like, we drafted pass rusher finally, but then I loved Dante. High was, he was the guy I just watched on tape. And again, there was a- He could do it all too though. There was an outside linebacker from Alabama

that was getting all the press who actually went to Baltimore. But High loved High. I was like, High will be the next signal caller. He's going to be the guy that stands in front of the huddle. And he's going to be the guy I talked to. And he could play on the edge. He could play like the versatility guys.

Because then I got Van Nooy, right? And he was another versatility guy. Or I just kept getting, again, we'd get however we could. But I was like, OK, what's the role? What can they do? How can they get on the field? How does it help us win? And that was so fun about the creativity.

I got Steph so we could stay in more of the lockup stuff with him, we could push coverage, we could have help. Devin was in the deep part of the field. Pat Chung was the key to all of it, playing the safety position. And we could just keep working around whatever pieces we had. And that was the fun.

It was so much fun to do that stuff and then create. And we would, we do all blitz pickup stuff before practice. I'd be trying stuff out against the offense, and everybody would get all mad. And they'd be like, what are we seeing? And I'm like, well, if you can't pick it up, then I think it's probably going to work. Or walkers, or we do ones on ones.

This is the worst one. The worst one was Mayo. So I call it double mug. He walks up inside. I forgot who the other inside backer was. And Rob's on one side chains on the other outside. And it was it was Josh and Gouge. So we're doing the puts right pre practice. And so make a protection call. So male looks at Rob and go switch. So they switch male walks up outside Rob comes inside. So now the offense

has changed it again, right? So now Rob switches inside. So we changed it again on offense. And then I looked at Mayo and I go, you know, it's like chaos. Like move it all. So Mayo flips everybody. So Mayo goes outside, the Chandler goes inside, Rob goes back outside. Like all four.

And it was like a three hour argument with Goudge and Josh on how they were going to pick it up. And honestly, we didn't do anything. Like we just, that was just smart guys. But you're in the operation. So you're practicing communication. And that's like 80% of defense is being able to communicate. Like the most athletic dudes on the field,

but I always say they're the dumbest guys I know. The dumbest guys I know. Here we go again. You know, lock and combo, the dumbest guys I know. Dumbest guys I know. Here we go again. I mean. Lock and combo, the receiver on the fucking field that doesn't play DB did the right call, and the guy who plays it for a living, making lots of money, didn't get the call.

I mean, just run a snack well. I mean, you've been running that since you're in third grade. Exactly. Very well. It's time for The Chill Zone, brought to you by Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit CoorsLight.com slash GWN. Celebrate responsibly.

Can you walk us through the Malcolm Butler situation, the interception in 14 on the Super Bowl, that whole sequence of plays, and what do you got on that? Yeah, so obviously you're talking about great games and certainly the 11 Baltimore team and the why and all of it, that's why I love that one, and obviously you. So I thought that'd be a great one,

but the 14 game, the 16 game, the Super Bowl, there's some crazy, crazy stuff that just happened in those games. And the thing about the 14 Super Bowl with Seattle, so going back to around this time, really, when I took over the defense 11 and 10, Bill would come to me every training camp. And again, in the Bible, I had all the calls.

And he'd be like, hey, he's like, we really, every training camp, hey, when are we putting goal line three corner in? And I'm like, yeah, we gotta get that in. We gotta get that in. I'm like, we're never gonna run goal line three corner. Like it's 11 personnel, like I'm not doing it. Like they're gonna throw, like it's just the whole thing.

So for years, I was like, yeah, it's going in. We never got it in. So as soon as we win the championship game, and'm like a new we were playing Seattle walked in the defensive staff room. I go I'm not gonna believe I'm about to say and they're all like what I'm like, we got to put goal line three-corner And I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm like, we're gonna need this call in this game I'm just telling you like we can't we can't go 11 personnel and not have as much mass on the field. I'm like, we got to figure this out. So I knew like that Monday and everyone was like,

there's no way you're going to call this. And I'm like, I'm just telling you, we're going to need this call. So I started drawing it up, going through the call. Why do you think you need the call? Because I knew that no one had seen it. We hadn't run it. We hadn't run this call. But what did Seattle do to make you think you might need that call? Because I knew that no one had seen it. We hadn't run this call.

But what did Seattle do to make you think you might need that call? Just 11 personnel inside the three yard line, trying to be able to stop Lynch, the quarterback run game, the receivers that are on the field. If you were going to go sub defense on the two yard line, just too much space. Just too much space.

He's just too good. Remember, I played Lynch for a lot of years when he was at Buffalo. Like my happiest day when Buffalo sent him to Seattle, I was like, thank like send flowers to Buffalo. Like get him out of this guy's unstoppable. I'm like, that guy was so good, so good. So I just needed to have enough size to stop the line of scrimmage from moving. And I couldn't give up any space.

And I also knew that no one had seen it. And it was gonna be one of those calls where I was gonna make them panic. Like they were gonna panic. I wasn't sure what they were gonna do. We knew that they would have a check, which they did. We knew we'd kind of get them into that throw, the rub route.

So we get, I draw it all up, I get it ready to go. We go down. Remember we practice like three days before we leave and then we go and I kind of told everybody I'm like look we're gonna put this in as soon as we get down there. But I wanted the week to really work through all the problems like that's just kind of my problem solving. I wasn't gonna give it to the guys and then change it. So we get down to Arizona and you know I put it in and I kind of had the guys in the right spot that I thought we practiced it. Now we ran that pick route we ran it like and

of course of course we ran into the cards but like we that was like one of those cards like we need to see this card like this is this is what five times yeah we did it but we did and the thing was everybody saw it like it wasn't the same guy every time seeing it we ran all all the combinations. So we get into the game, or we get to the end of the week of practice and I looked at it and I was like, there's something here I don't really like. I need to move. You know, I switched Jamie, I switched him, I switched high, I kind of moved somebody up and I kind of switched it after we practiced it like the last day and we kind of just walked

through it and I was like, all right, because it was really about stopping the run. Like I was going to stop the run. And really the combination with it to that side was a snack, seven flat. I didn't worry about the other side because we knew what that was. So practice it, change it at the last minute. I was like, okay, it's ready.

I'm going to need this. And it's literally written, it's like three letters in the bottom right hand corner of the call sheet. It's like the most tiniest call on the sheet. So we get into the game. We had talked about how tough this game was gonna be. The first play of the game is my favorite play of the game.

Like you watch the defensive guys, because we knew their offensive line looked to clean the pile. So as soon as Lynch got the ball, they were coming to take people out. And I was like, look, we're gonna tackle this dude in the first play of the game. I'm like, but as soon as he's down,

everybody else go find someone, go find someone and go knock their heads off because they're not doing that to us. And to the point of like one of my favorite compliments of all time, and it was probably in the 12 error was Chris Berman, who's great guy, great friend came up to me and he goes, he said to me, he goes, you have the best tackling corners in the NFL. And I was like, if our corners tackle at a high level, the whole team's going to tackle at a high level.

I just, I took so much pride in that. So in that first play of the Super Bowl in 14, we tackle Lynch, everyone turns and looks and starts to take dudes out. And like, Rivas is like, take, he's going to get like one of the biggest linemen, you know, the tackles they had at this coming. So I'm like, okay, like we're, we're on this, right?

Like we're, we're, we're coming. So I'm like, okay, like we're on this, right? Like we're coming. So we get into the second half and, you know, going into halftime, we were struggling with some coverage matches, right? And they scored right before half. I was, that was hot. That was hot. This was a bad, it was a bad series, a bad play.

So I am literally, you know, I'm like, we're changing. Like I'm switching some guys up. Malcolm's going to come in, the whole deal. So get into the second half and they have, it was kind of back and forth, right? Like they were moving, we were moving. It was like, you know, the defenses in the Superbowl get worn out.

It's just what happens, you know? If you can control it early, you have a chance. But you know, if you're playing like, those games are long chance. But you know, if you're playing like those games are long and if you're moving the ball or in the first half, the second half, you're worried about, you know, how well is the defense going to hold up? It's going to be, you know, be a shootout. So both teams are moving the ball and I was like, ah, man, this is, this is, we got to get one stop in the red area.

We'll be okay. So it's a series going away from, you know, like the last play of the game is the left of series going to the right end zone. And third and two. So I call, I call a call. One of our stackbacker left. So the idea of the call was we're going to walk up on the edge, the defensive end, who's now in Ninkovic, he's going to crash down hard and he's going to take out Lynch and then backers coming off for the quarterback. So call stackbacker left, third and two, Rob goes in and nails Lynch, and we stop him on third and two. So I was like, we just stopped him on a nickel defense, really two yards, giving the ball to Lynch. Like that's pretty, so I'm like, okay, that's going to change what they're going to,

that's going to change what they're doing right now. So we get the last drive, they hit, you know, they're coming down, they hit the big play down the far sideline. It's on the opposite side. The rule chain, you know, Deron jumps over the pile. It falls. He catches it. Now again, I'm sitting here 2014, seven years later, in the same stadium, in the Superbowl, where David Tyree, who I coached in college,

who was a special team, didn't catch anything in college, catches this thing, right? And I'm like, holy F, did that just happen again? I was like, I was just like, I was like- Great play by Malcolm too, on the seam. We're talking about the seam where he tipped it and Kersh ended up doing a back thing. Malcolm's great, there's a great play

that Malcolm makes on third down earlier, where he goes up and through the pocket and then rips the near hand and gets the ball out. There was a big play in that game earlier to kind of get him off the field to get the ball back to the offense. But so now they line up on him. I click into high, I'm like, they're going to run it, man. And now I'm looking at high's got one arm.

I'm like, they're going to run it. We were stuck in the defense. And he makes it. That's an unbelievable tackle. Unbelievable tackle. One arm gets him down. So now the clock is moving. So I know the situation.

And so this, I mean, it's one of those moments where really like life slowed down for me. I don't know exactly how long the seconds were, but for me, it felt like a half hour. So I know the call I want to make. I'm hearing 11 personnel going in the game. And I slide over next to Bill, because I wasn't going to put it out there

and let them call timeout. I didn't want them to see, no one had seen this. And then so I slide it next to Bill because I didn't, I wasn't going to put it out there and let them call time out. I didn't want them to see, no one had seen this. And then so I slide it next to Bill and I was like, Hey, I'm like, are you calling the timeout? And he's staring, he's just staring across the field. And I'm like, Bill, I'm like, are you calling the timeout? And he's not saying anything to me. And I was like, Hey, I go, I need to know because I'm not putting this out there. Are you calling the timeout? And he's like, yeah, just make your call. And I was like, OK. So I click on him. I'm like, hey, goal line three corner.

Get it out. Make sure we got Malcolm. So they're all, I'm down with Bill. Everyone's out on the sidelines. So Flo, I hear Flo. He's like, Malcolm. He's like screaming, because we had changed the coverages. So later, I'm talking to Bill.

I was like, what were you watching? He's like, well, I was watching Pete. He's like, and I'm watching their offense, trying to figure out, they put the personnel. Could they sub? He was watching. And then once we put goal line, he's like, and I'm watching their offense trying to figure out like they put the personnel, could they sub? He's watching and then once we put goal line, he knew we subbed it so late, they weren't going to be able to change, they were going to go to the check. So we were just waiting it out to see who could get it out there last. And I was like, cause the helmet communication shuts off. So they weren't going to be able to check

the play to Russ. So we get goal line. So they just see goal line. We're signaling goal line. So they goal line is line. We're signaling goal line. So goal line's going out. Well, automatically to them, they're like, all right, well, we're going to throw. I have like 6,000 pounds of flesh sitting there. I have like Chandler Jones, Dante Hightower, Jamie Collins, Branch, Vince.

This is like an 18 wheeler out there. I understand, just give the ball to Lynch. But we had just stopped them on. These are some of the best players in wheeler out there. Like, you know, I understand, like, just give the ball to Lynch, but like we had just stopped him on, like these are like some of the best players in the NFL right there. So I was like, they're gonna panic, they're gonna throw it. I was worried about the snags of them flat.

So that was built. So I watched them build. So I'm watching in my end, I'm watching the left side. And I'm like watching them build, they bring the receiver over. I'm like- Did you think that the rub was, is all good? I was like watching them build to bring the receiver over You think you think that the rub was is all good? I was like we're good on the rub like they're gonna go to the snack 7 flat

They gotta have a play. Yeah to the other side. They're gonna pick the linebacker. So I'm like So I'm on with hi. I got hey make sure you don't get picked here I'm like Lynch is going to you know, this is gonna be snacks. I'm flat to your to your side so I'm watching the left side of the offense, the right side of the defense. And ball snapped, and I look, and it snags 7 flat, and we get picked. Chandler's peeling late, because he had the peel call.

He had the from the high to high. I'm like, give Chandler call. So Chand's peeling late. But if it was a good throw, I was like, this is going to be a touchdown. And I look, and I'm like, and then they picked the linebacker. So I'm on the headset, and I'm like, all right, here we go.

I'm like, all right, it's not the run. I'm like, yeah, we're going to get the snag 7 flat. I'm like, and then they pick the linebacker. So I'm on the headset and I'm like, all right, here we go. I'm like, all right, it's not the run. I'm like, yeah, we're going to get this next. I'm flat. I'm like, oh my God, they picked him. And then everyone starts screaming like, no, he picked it. And I'm like, who picked what? I didn't even see the play. Oh my.

I didn't even see the play on the other side. I was so worried because the guys opened in the flat. So everyone's going crazy. And I'm like, what? I don't even know what. I'm like, what happened? Obviously, the best part of the story is Browner, who I love. Browner is the one we're going to have.

He's like, Browner knew that personnel so good. He's like, put me here, put them there, put them there. So to be a good coach, the best thing you can do is just listen to your best players, listen to your smart players. So that was the matchups that we did. But when they built the stack, Browner looks at Malcolm and goes, listen, I'm going to choke the shit out of them.

You just go. And if you watch the play, Browner looks at Malcolm and goes, listen, I'm gonna choke the shit out of him. You just go. And if you watch the play, Browner's, he's literally got his hands around his neck. Yeah. And he's, and he's, and then Malcolm just goes. So I didn't see any of that. I'm like, we got picked. Everyone's like, no, he picked it.

I'm like, who, I didn't even know we had the ball. Yeah. So that was like chaos is going on. So now again, I'm nervous because I'm looking at the clock. I'm like, oh my god, I'm like, the ball's like on the inch line here. There's safety. Right, so I'm like, they're going to get the ball back.

I'm going through situational plays. No one wants to listen to me because I'm like, what are we going to do? What are we putting out there? Because I'm panicked. We're going to be back on the field. And obviously, we get the thing, the games. And I turn around and Rivas is running at me,

and he jumps. And I catch him. Do you know how thick Rivas is? Rivas did? He's so, he's his lower. This is what he was so good. He was so strong. So he bent, he cracks my back.

So at the end of Super Bowl, I crack my back in the celebration because he jumps up on me. I didn't care. Who cares? Who cares, right? Doesn't matter. Stevie B's running on me. I didn't care. Who cares? Who cares, right? Doesn't matter. Stevie B's running around me. Everybody's freaking out.

It was amazing. Malcolm's still crying. I think I choked out Josh. Yeah. It was total chaos. And my best play, if you watch the coaches' copy of that tape, if you watch the end zone copy, because again, we had the extended end zone because we watched the celebration and of that tape. If you watch the end zone copy, because again, we had the extended end zone

because we watched the celebration and all that stuff. In the back of the end zone is the Seattle mascot. It's my favorite thing in the whole world. He's standing there and you can see him as, as right before the snap, he seems like, you can just see like, you know, his face, his expression hasn't changed. You can see him, okay, he's like,

we're about to go back to back. We're about to hand this thing to Lynch. We're about to like score here. And they snapped the ball and You see him, he's like, we're about to go back to back. We're about to hand this thing to Lynch. We're about to like score here. We can, and they snapped the ball and you see him freeze. And then the ball's picked and he just takes his hands and he puts his hand on the front of his beak and he stands there like this and he doesn't move. And you could just see him like,

what the hell just happened? It's the funniest shit ever. I'm just telling you, it's hysterical. And he doesn't move. Like there's chaos going on. He doesn't move for like five minutes. He's just standing there. It's amazing.

But you know what's crazy? That's not the first time a coach has pointed out a Stan thing. Oh, we watch the Stans all the time. Because they watch so much film. So much film. With Bill and them. So they sit there.

Chatty L would come in there like, look at this guy pour beer on this guy in this play. My favorite, every year I'd watch. What the fuck, man? I would like, look at this guy, pour beer on this guy in this play. My favorite, every year I'd watch. You'd be like, what the fuck, man? I would watch, every year, there's a guy in Buffalo, and every scoreboard, he sits in the right corner of the stadium, and it would be the middle of December.

He's got no shirt on, he's got a big beer belly, and he looks kind of like, you know, he's got long gray hair. So I'm like, and he's, every year, he's there. And I always check, I'm like, he's still there. No shirt. It's middle of the seventh. Or in New Orleans, where the scoreboard,

there'd always be a crew that, in Halloween, would dress in costumes and sit above the score. So you just, you're looking for stuff always. But the mascot and the end zone of that thing, it's really, we had an extension. It's one of the most amazing things. But that was, that play, how that was put together, the game, the halftime, the fact that it was like, I can't believe

we're going to install this. This is like six years he'd been asking. I'm like, nope, here it is. We need it. We're going to have it right now and put that in in a week and have that thing go out. That was crazy. And honestly, that whole defensive year,

give that like Vince Wolfork and I sat down, cause he wanted to win again. He was unbelievable, man. His leadership, his guidance of like, hey, let's do this. Like we gave the defensive guys a book. We read, you know, Legacy, the All Blacks, and we put all our words together

and just kind of like all the way through the season, you know, the night before the Super Bowl, I kind of read it to the defense again and like, hey, this is what we said we're going to do. And, you know, when you win the Super Bowl, yeah, I think that was a year I kind of told him like the trophy, you know, what it's like to hold the trophy, you know, and it's heavy at the top. And it was kind of like the thing, the story. And I explained to him how, you know, when we won in 04 and being able to hold the trophy and what that's like, and just all of that expression in Vince leading the charge. And then, you know, we tell them, like,

you went to Super Bowl, like, you're bonded for life. Like, you're bonded for life. Like, it doesn't matter where you are or when it is. Anybody on those teams call you, you are bonded for life. I have a great picture of you. I was actually just looking at it the other day. It's you and Rob and Chan after the White House. You guys are walking down the side of the bus. It have a great picture of you. I was actually just looking at the other day. It's you and Rob and Chan after the White House. You guys are walking down the side of the bus.

It's just the three of you. And I just snapped it. You know what I mean? I think you got a lip around to here and like, you know, like the whole deal. We were just spinning the white. And it's like, it's the coolest shit ever. You know, but that play,

the time is just one of those moments in life where just time stopped for me. And I just like like here we go And we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna do this. It's gonna be crazy. It just hit me two of the last couple plays One on defense and one on offense other than the one we were running out the clock Were adjustments added after practices after all our prep was done. My return route, we added that on Saturday night. In the hotel, right?

Goal line. Yeah, goal line, three corner. Three corner, added after practice. Had to adjust it. But that shows you how smart our coaches were to understand that we needed to put that in and how smart the players were to be able to execute it without a rep of practice.

That's right. It's not us, it's you guys. It's you guys. But still, having the hint, having knowing that we may need this and it comes down to it. That happened a lot of times in my career. But how fast you guys process

and put that stuff together, man. It's just, it's amazing. Like I just, you know, like, look, I'm, I'm just lucky to be there and kind of help and do whatever I can to give you guys a chance to go play and execute. But watch you guys do that up close, man. That is, that is a treat that, you know,

I'll have with me forever, thankfully. That was the Chill Zone. Thanks to our favorite beer, Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit CoorsLight.com slashors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit Coors Light dot com slash G W N celebrate responsibly. I just remember one of the things in New England, like you listen to a lot of coaches, right? And it's like, oh, hey, he's in the barn. And I used to walk in and be like, listen, there's no hay, there's no barn.

Like we are working until we win. Yeah. And we will keep working until the game is over and we have won. That is it. And that was just the mindset that we always had. Now I can see that for the coaches, but sometimes you have to put that on, you have to say that to the player. Because the physical work, the mental work. That's pizza Friday.

We're good. Pizza Friday is good. You can't give us no more physical work. But that was pizza Friday. Pizza Friday was shutting it down. But we always, you guys, listen, the edge that you guys had is that you did keep working from the time, like most teams, Friday at 1 o'clock, they're out.

Everybody's home. Like that's 48 hours before the game. You guys stayed sharp all the way up into the game. And that's the walk-throughs in the hotel. I know I watched, like, you know, the walk-throughs in the hotel, the meeting. Look, we all tried to do it in different ways. Sometimes it was a meeting. We just rolled through calls, but the sharpness that you guys were going to the game, the confidence that that instilled that you guys

brought to the table. Unbelievable, man. Yeah. I mean, I always say it, you know, the Patriot way, everyone always, what is that? I go, well, you know, the coaches had a template. They had the laws and they picked certain players to be sheriffs to go make those laws enforced. You know what was really easy for us though, was if you, like I would stand back all the time and I would watch Bill or I'd watch, I'd say to Bill, I'd watch the team

and I'd be like, it was, it was a herd, right? The team moved in a herd. And every once in a while you'd look and you'd see like, man, that guy's not in the herd anymore. Like once in a while you'd look and you'd see like, man, that guy's not in the herd anymore. Like, what's going on? And if you just watched the team, you guys told us everything we needed to know

on who you trusted and who could go out on the field and help us win if you just watched. You guys did it probably without even knowing it, but if you just watched, you'd be like, okay, we're really good here. Like, we gotta look at that. There's something really good here. Like, we've got to look at that. There's something awful there. Yeah.

So by 2014, crazy. The 2016. The high tower sack. What do you got on that? Yeah, I mean, same call. Isn't that crazy? Stack back or left. Same call I just talked about with Ninkovic.

It was the same call. But let me go back. So this is you. So obviously, we're in a lot of five down. We're playing really good offense. It's coming at us fast. We're struggling on defense. Yeah, this is one of the highest scoring offenses

in the history of the league. Yeah, offensive MVP, best coordinator with Shani, coordinator of the year. Everything. Yeah, lost. OK, so coordinator of the year, best off, and all that stuff, right? So first half isn't going good.

I'm trying to make adjustments. It's long. And then this is another one of those weird things, right? So the night before the game, you know, we got extra time. So I'm like, hey, let's watch this game. Let's watch this game. Let's watch this game. So I had watched the Chargers game and I was like, I need to show this game.

So it was the night before the game, I sat down with the defense and I said, listen, I go, this offense can score points. I go, but if we just play the game all the way out, I go, we'll be okay. So look at this game. So the Chargers in that year got down early. They got down big.

But as you watch the game- To Atlanta. To Atlanta. As you watch the game, they just started chipping away, second half, chipping away, chipping away, and then they scored, and then they stopped them, and then they turned the ball over, and it got all the way down to the end of the game, and the Chargers actually kicked the field goal and won the game. They came back from it, it was a big deficit. It was good, kind of like, I was like, I'm going to show this game. So I

remember, you know, before the first half ended, I was like, all right, I need to, we gotta go in this locker room. We gotta remind everybody, like, we're okay here. Another half of this game. And we just saw on tape how they, you know, there's a window here. So we go in the locker room.

First thing, you know, we do, cause it's half times longer. I'm like, all right, everybody do what you gotta do. It took a couple seconds. And I just got to the defense. I said, listen, here's what we're gonna longer. I'm like, all right, everybody do what you got to do. I take a couple seconds, and I just got to the defense. I said, listen, here's what we're going to do. I'm like, Julio is ridiculous. Like, you know, we had the whole like, oh, he's injured. He can't play it off his right foot.

He's only going to be able to break left. No, he can break wherever he wanted to. So we had to, because I was cheating alignments based on that injury information. I was like, don't worry about it. And then again, you know, we megged the backside of cover two, we undercut him, I think it was Logan, and he reached up over the top of Logan and took the in cut.

And I was like, oh shit, we got a problem. So that was in the first half, it was like first year of the game or whatever. So we go into the locker room, I said, listen, we're going to all the red area calls. I said, I'm just, we're going to play the red area calls. These are the calls we're going to do. Went through the staff, go back to the players.

And I said, fellas, listen, I go, first of all, first half, here's the issues. This is what happened. I go, remember what we watched last night. I was like, the charger game. I'm like, we're gonna come back and win this thing. I'm like, we are gonna be fine. Like we just go play every single down.

We got it, we put ourselves in a hole, but we got to play every single snap. These are the calls we're gonna make. I go, you gotta believe right now because we're gonna be fine. Like we just go play every single down. We got it, we put ourselves in a hole, but we gotta play every single snap. These are the calls we're gonna make. I go, you gotta believe right now because we're gonna do this. And what was happening was, Daron was on the bike. You remember this?

No. Daron was on the bike and he was trying to stay warm. And so I let the players, I get done with my meeting and the players are going to the coaches and Daron starts chirping. He starts chirping, he's like, we got it. Like he just, I just, and I was like,

you could feel the energy and you could feel the belief. And then all of a sudden you come in and you're like, we gotta go. And you start chirping with Daron. And you guys are chirping back and forth and the energy is building. And I remember walking out, I was like, holy fuck, we're gonna win this game.

And I just, I just, cause I don't know where you came from. I don't know why you were on our side. And it was like, and it was like, you two are chirping at each other. And it was almost like, I don't know if you were trying to pump us up or he was trying to pump you up or whatever it was, but it was just, it built. And I was like, I walked down and I was like, holy shit, we're going to win this game. And I told him before we went out, I said, here's what's going to happen. We're going to get a negative play on the first run. They're going to run the ball. I was like, I walked down, I was like, holy shit, we're going to win this game. And I told him before we went out, I said, here's what's going to happen. We're going to get a negative play on the first run. They're going to run the ball. I'm like, hi, if they run it at you, this is a TFL.

I'm like, the first third down, they're not going to throw. We're going to double over here. It's coming backside. It'll be three by one. You got to make the play. It was Eric made the play on the backside. So the very first series, they had the ball, TFL on the first play. They run it to high.

Third down, they throw it to Eric. It was like third and long because we had put him in long yard situation. We break it up, they come inside and I go, here we go, they run it to high. Third down, they throw it to air. It was like third and long, because we had put them in long yard situation. We break it up, they come inside, and I go, here we go. It's going to happen. So we go through the game. And what happened was the series, they're going left to right. So they're going that way in the end zone.

Second down run, Coleman is in the game. Coleman was the third down back. Freeman was the early down back. So Coleman comes in, hands it off. And I look, and he's on the ground and he's injured Screwed up his ankle and I remember watching I was like, it's third down Coleman's out and I clicked on I say hey Hi, I said hi. Listen. I said Coleman's out Freeman's in I go we're going stack back or left. I go don't show it I go walk late. I go he'll never see you. I go go get the ball scoop. We got a score, bro

I go you got this right now. I just it was one of those like Like, go get the ball, scoop, we got to score, bro. I go, you got this right now. It was one of those like, Colman got hurt, it clicked in my head, Freeman was in there, he was going to miss the protection. Don't show it, walk up late, we're coming right at him, and we're about to score. We didn't score, I thought we were going to score.

But I was like, I just, so I'm on with High the whole time. I go, wait, wait, wait, wait, and I can see the quarterback give Freeman the mic point, and I can see him scan, because he's got the mic and he's got scan, and he's got scan. And he sees High inside. And then High, he goes outside. I go cool, all the way outside the bunch.

He walked all the way outside the bunch. And he comes ripping off the edge. And I was like, I was like, no one even sees him. And he stripped it. I think Branch recovered it. I was like, I thought we were going to screw this court. But it was the same call as Rob. I had a call in 2014.

Rob stopped him on the third and short. And it was just one of those things where it was like, it just clicked in my head, it was like Freeman's out. You know, they're not gonna, they're gonna screw up the third down protection. Let's go get him. So that was the turnover, which really then, you know, now we're feeling it.

Then we had the tree flowers sacked. So then later in the game, now they're driving, they throw Julio's right there. He, and I was with Julio last year, he's like the best, right? And I was like, bro, how far out of bounds did you reach? The ball was literally 10 yards out of bounds. It's ridiculous, right? I'm in the coaches, it's past me and he catches this thing.

And everyone's on the headsets like, he's out, he's out. I'm like literally looking at his feet. I'm like, he's not out. I'm like, he just caught it. So now they're in field goal range. And I was like, oh my God. So I'm like, hey, Dev, we got a blitz. So blitz Dev, we get the TFL.

And so now it's taking a long. So everyone's like, they're going to run it again. They're going to run it again. And some of my head was like, they're not going to run it. They're going to throw. And I'm arguing on the headsets with Bill. He's like, they're going to run it. I'm like, they're not going to run it.

I'm like, they're the quarterback of the year. They got the offense coordinator of the year. They're throwing the ball out of place. They're going to throw it again. They're going to get in their own way here. So I called, I actually called it three man rush because I wanted to have max coverage, but it was a five down look.

But as they lined up, I look and now I've got one, I got Jabal, who's great, sheered, he's on the outside. But now I'm like, oh shit, it's the wheel route. I'm like, oh, oh, I'm like, this is about, I'm freaking out because I'm like, this is, it's the wheel route. I'm like, uh oh, I'm like, this is about to, I'm freaking out, cause I'm like, this is about to be a touchdown. And so sure enough, back, I think it was Freeman, he releases, I see Jabal, he's peeling on the wheel,

I was like, oh my, like, here we go. And Trey just, cause I put him on the nose, cause of his quickness and his length, and I knew that they would struggle. Alex Mack was hurt. Yeah, he had the ankle, and I knew he was gonna struggle with the redirect, and Trey's arms were so long, he could get into you, knew he was going to struggle with the redirect and Tray's arms were so long he could get into you and he was skinny and

he just skinny through and he gets in and he sacks him and I was like he's I mean saved my life. So then what happens is on that play, that one or the next one, Hightower, he's on, I think it was long, on the other side and Hightower gets held, totally buried. And they didn't call it. And I see high talking to the official, and I was like, they're going to call holding. I was like, so I start down.

So I'm like, hey, high, go again. So he rushes again. Flag comes out. I was like pushing them back and forth. I'm like, I don't know how the hell. Like, you just see that stuff. So then, again, the whole thing was they weren't in control of the game.

We were controlling the game. We were running, we were stopping the run now, and now we got to cover a kick. And those guys made an umbwi while they pin them deep late in the game. And I remember clicking on, we stopped them on first time, I remember clicking on the bill and I go, hey, we're about to win the Super Bowl and the craziest rule that no one's ever seen before. I'm like, be ready for a free kick. Cause I was like, if they don't get any more yardage, I'm like, we're going to fair catch this thing and we're going to, we're about to win the Super Bowl and the craziest rule that no one's ever seen before. I'm like, be ready for a free kick. Cause I was like, if they don't get any more yardage, I'm like, we're going to fair catch this thing and we're going to win the Super Bowl. It's going to be crazy.

I think they got like seven put aside just out of it. You know, they kicked it out. I was thinking walk off because I went down to return the punt. Yeah. I was sitting there like, all right, man, if I fucking walk this off, man, I'm going to have the best. It's going to be unbelievable. So, so then, you know, we go to overtime. We go to try some other shit. Remember we tried the game cock.

Bro, I mean, blue is hamstring. I was the, it was like, that was so bad. Gamecock was like the annexation of Puerto Rico. Play for us. Real guy. Like a fumble, roosky, give it to this guy. Fake Neil handed over and fucking. Yeah, that was a crazy game. Rusky, give it to this guy. Fake Neil handed over and fucking. Yeah. That was a crazy game. That was crazy. So then we win. Yeah.

It's bananas. So we go through all this. I get on the bus, right? So I get on the bus. Tommy's in the back. It's Josh, Laura, myself, Raina, Bill. Tommy's in the back. And I'm literally like, did we win?

Like I don't even know what happened. And Josh was looking at me and he goes, hey bro, he goes, I didn't see any of the defense. I didn't see one play of the offense. It was because every series was like, this has to go right, then this has to go. So your catch, I didn't see that till the next day. I was like, I didn't see any of that happen

during the game. And Josh was like, what happened to you? And I'm like, bro, we got that stack back or left call. He's like, you should have just catch Julian May. And then we ran this and Josh and I are trying to fill each other in because I'm like, I don't even know if we won. And Bill, Bill turns around and he's like, hey, look,

he goes, listen, he goes, you know, we got to play these guys next year. It's probably going to be like the first game of the year. They'll probably do that. Why don't we get back? Let's make sure we write down like, what was good? I'm like, I don't even know if we won, bro. I'm like, we literally are on the bus.

I'm like, what are you talking about right now? I'm like, I'm like, yeah. I was like, I was like, holy crap. Josh and I, Josh and I just looked at each other, started laughing. I was like, what are you talking about? I don't even know if we won the game. When was the moment you knew we were going to win 51?

When was the real, you were saying right out the locker room at halftime. I did. I was like, we're going to win this game. I was just trying to be a rah rah guy, man. You were. It's going to be a hell of a story, man. It's going to be, hey man, you gotta fucking believe. But you picked the right guy to talk to because Duran was in that mode.

I was so blessed to be around great guys. I mean, so many, but it was unreal. Obviously, I mean, my favorite, Amandolo, I gotta bring him up. Of course, Italians love Italians. The same thing I had with Welker. I said to Bill, I was like, we played Welker one year at Miami,

and Orlando Mari, who played at Syracuse, pulls his calf and warm up. So I'm like, I'm gonna just pull his calf. And then I'm looking, I'm like, Wes Welker is kicking. Wes Welker kicked off, kick field goals, extra points, caught like 130 yards on me. I was like, we got done with the game. I was like, Hey Bill, can we trade for this guy? Cause I don't think I want to cover this guy anymore. This guy is Bruce. So we traded. So the same thing we're getting Amidola. I was like, I don't, I want to game plan you man. Like, can we just get you over here on this side and like, I want to game play in you, man. Can we just get you over here on this side and like,

let's just go? Look at that. They all went out car shopping. They had the car in the garage already. We had a good bottle of tequila. They had the real car in the garage already. We're just trying to get as many as possible. So yeah, so Amandola and I, I loved that.

I wanted to kill you all when you signed Amandola. You know how much of a better player you are. I know, but I still wanted to murder you. Good. You should. I think that's what Bill liked, too. Bill used to sign me these contracts where he knew it was enough to make me satisfied,

but also enough to piss me off. Listen, you and me both, he did that with all of us. You know what it's like trying to negotiate a coaching contract in there? Hey, Bill, I don't think I should, don't you think we should do a little bit more here? He's like, yeah, no. All right, I'm just going to keep drawing plays. The yeah-no's are real.

Yeah. Yeah, no. Yeah. That's the beauty of Bill is like, it was more intellectual than it was, like I've been around coaches just like, berate you. Eventually you're like, all right, I'm good. But it was the intellectual mind bombs that would go off later and you're like,

what did he just say right there? Yeah, he would give you a clip later. Two hours later, you're like, son of a, what did he say? The thing like you guys wouldn't see is like we would go on road trips and we'd have the bus drivers and stuff and everybody would be on the plane, Bill would be out there like giving him cash. He'd be we'd have the bus drivers and stuff. And everybody would be on the plane. Bill would be out there giving them cash.

He'd be tipping all the bus drivers and making sure that they were OK. That was all the stuff where. He has a heart. Killing me, bro. Killing me, bro. Let's name the game, Matty P. Now, these are the names that we came up with.

Sterling Steel? Sterling Steel. Sterling Steel, I thought it was a good name. I like that. Sterling Steel. There it is. See, he's a fucking aeronautical engineer. Bro, bro.

I got it. Score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Matty P, zero to 10. Decimal's okay. What are the stakes? Yeah, I love this game.

It is an AFC championship game. So it's definitely above a 7. It is above a 7. It's hard to put it above a 9 because it's not a championship game. So I'm probably in the 8. What are we doing for decimals here? They're OK.

8.2? 8.2. See, fucking Matty P did his goddamn homework, probably watched about 15 of our shows, just the grading. You know I don't sleep. He probably situationally watched this show. All right, he's gonna, all right, let me see what the intro's like.

All right, let me see what the interview's like. All right, let's do the score segment. Okay, this is what they do in the, all right, yeah. Yeah, Maverick's owner, he too much. Let me see. Yeah. I would say an eight flat. Eight flat. At a nine three. Hi. Hi. The other thing about this game. This was a start of us turning it around. We had

gone through a couple years of rebuilding and then we had the young guys that maybe had a couple years in. We were still going to add some pieces. We knew we had to add some pieces, but it was the start of what would become a very long, great, great run. And again, if you think about it, 2010, we had a really good defense, 2010, we played. But we weren't the best team. But again, like,

We were young still on the offense. We were young. Yeah, and we were building on defense. We hadn't started drafting all the defensive guys yet. We had a couple. But 2001, right, to, is kind of like 2011. 2001 starts a run of 10 years of unbelievable. 2011 started a run of unbelievable play.

It's crazy. Unbelievable. Star power. This is one I struggle with because, again, the beauty of this game to me is that I think the star power is low on our side. Their side, I think it was high. I mean, look, we got Tom Brady. So that trumps all of it, right?

That makes all of it. You're young at this point, so young gron can play. So I think that's why I love the game is because the star power is kind of low. It's kind of scrappy, kind of gritty, kind of like, you know. But winners, now, if you take where they went to, where's kind of scrappy, kind of gritty, but winners. Now, if you take where they went to, where all you guys went to, Star Powers, out the chain.

So if you graded at the time, it's low. If you graded now, we're in the nines. A lot of really good names on that. So I graded current. At the time, that's why I was trying to get a little clarity, because I'd like this one to be up there a little bit. I don't want to be in that 54 range or whatever that was I saw last time on this thing, right? So I'm just saying, you know overall so I was trying to bump it up to like current would be like a 9

Or then for current where was during the time say it's it's probably an eight eight For us. Yeah, I mean you got two first ballot Hall of Fame coaches. Oh We're cool coaches. It, we're including coaches? At Star Power, there's people in stands. Who's at the crowd? Oh, God, Steven Tyler with the stars. Steven Tyler was there.

I had to go find the lady that made that so my wife could get one. Oh, I mean, there's a lot. I want that. That's an integrity score. Can I bump it up? Oh, yeah, you can bump it up. I mean, two Hall of Fame coaches.

Steven Tyler, this is pretty big. This is real mean, you're two Hall of Fame coaches. Steven Tyler, it's pretty big. This is real big, potentially more Hall of Fame coaches because there's still a lot of meat on a lot of careers, a lot of meat on those bones for so a lot of these guys. Too nice, you're too nice. Eight, nine. Eight, nine. Can't go nine.

I'll go eight, five. Okay, talk you into that. I went nine, one. I did eight, eight. I'm going high, baby. See, Jackie glazes Patriot games. I do. I'm a homer. I am an unabashed homer. I love it.

The gameplay of this game at EP. Back-forth. How it's left field goals. I know people don't like field goals. People want touchdowns. But when you're calling defense, that is stressful. There's some stressful back and forth here. There's back-to to back turnovers.

We picked it off. They picked it off. You think you're good, then you're not good. And we throw a shot to Slate. That's right. So the back and forth in this, the stress level of this game, it was pretty good. There was a lot of riding in it.

You put what we were playing for, Mirocraft, all the rest of it. I was stressed. This one was stressful. This was a 9-1 for me. 9-1. Nice. For me, there's... You could just get a lock combo in this one, I was stressed. This one was stressful. This was a 9-1 for me. 9-1. Nice. For me there's You could just get a lock combo in this one. I'm sure there was probably, you know We got receivers playing fucking DB in this game. Do you think the gameplay is gonna be flawless?

Jesus Christ, what do we do? I'm gonna go I'm gonna go 8-8 Because it still was it was an exciting fucking game. And it's Baltimore. We missed the field. Baltimore hated it. They hated it. And they came into our stadium and beat our ass the last time in the playoffs.

I went 8-9. I went 8-5. Missing a kick at the end of a game always is a little bit of a detractor for me. Giants won a Super Bowl doing that. And then they didn't have a good gameplay score. Wide right. I think missing a block in a field goal, Missing it, I think missing it blocking a field goal all that stuff I think is just because they missed doesn't mean they didn't affect the kick. Don't think the rush didn't

affect the kick. Okay. Don't think the stadium. You might be convincing me on that. Don't think that making us make them kick it in the closed end zone late in the year when the pattern of the wind goes from the open lighthouse across the field to their side and the kicker is going to over correct for that and the wind dies right before the kicker. And then you put the rush to the right so that he has to think, get it away from the rush. I'm going to move it up.

I'm going to move it. We would go to stadiums and I'd be like, all right, what flag am I watching? Because you couldn't watch the uprights. So there's every stadium, I had a list of what flag in that stadium was gonna tell me the true direction of the wind Wow. Yep. So who's the flag scouter? Like who did we hire on the staff to? Which flag is the wind flag, you know Scotty Scotty Oh We'd be calling other teams like hey, what flag are we watching for the, like, hey, we're just trying to do everything,

anything we could to win. We had the Buffalo wind, I mean, cause that was crazy over there. I played the night before in 2008, you're talking about the 2008 win. 2008 was ridiculous. Those four weather games were the most amazing things I've ever been a part of.

I played the Saturday before you guys played in my last college game at Buffalo. Did you really? That's awesome. Against Buffalo. That's awesome fact. And that wind, that crazy wind game where you didn't throw, remember?

Yeah. I'm not talking about the Mac Jones one, the one in 2008. No, no, 2008 was the most amazing wind I've ever seen. I'm 20 years in the NFL. That was like 60 mile an hour gust. They had chains, they had chains holding the uprights from just ripping off.

I literally told the DBs, I said, listen, because the wind was blowing across the field to their sideline, I said, play the top of the numbers as the sideline. That's it. I go move everything inside. They're not going to be able to throw it outside. That was gnarly.

It was unreal. I changed my score to 8-6. I was convinced. That might be a first in the history. And Matty P, lastly, to top it off, we had a score the name of the game, which you came up with the fucking killer little name that I just... Yeah, I kind of like it.

The Sterling Steel game. Sterling Steel, man. This is like a guy's legacy right here. We're talking about a dude's legacy. Sterling Steel. Fucking Sterling. Sterling Moore. Made him some money. Got us to the Super Bowl. He's definitely made a couple of duckets off of it. That's pretty tight right here. You know, got a whole.

He's coaching right now, I think. Is he? Yeah, whole highlight on ESPN for him. This is a nine-five for me. That's a good name. Nine-five, Sterling-Steel game. I'm gonna go with an eight-two. Eight-two.

That's low. Well, I mean, you gotta think about this, Matt. I think about it. We did the Immaculate Reception, culturally. Do you, we're talking about that game. We're not even sure if he caught it. Huh? We're not even sure if he about it. We did the Immaculate Reception, culturally. Do you, we're talking about that game. We're not even sure if he caught it. Huh? We're not even sure if he caught it.

We're not. But we know that game from 1970 something, and it's 50 years past. 50 years. What did you give that one? High. High, high. Okay, so go a little bit lower.

I went seven, three, or low. No, no, no. I didn't go high, high. I gave that one maybe like a nine. Really? What's a ten? You played for Coach Belichick. There's no perfect game.

I won a Super Bowl MVP and I almost had a perfect play call out sheet, but I still remember three plays that keep me up at night. So it wasn't a perfect game. Like when you eat a burger, have you ever had a 10 burger? And if you're telling me yes, then. Definitely eaten some nine five burgers. Nine five, it's like, knock you off your socks, like you'll go back.

I've eaten nine nine burgers. A seven five will bring you back. Seven five will bring you back. So anything in nines is like, oh my God, what the, you're talking about it publicly. Hey, don't talk me down, I'm trying to talk you up. All right. It's this cultural impact.

Can I get an attraction? You can change it, Jack, you want to change it. All right. Let's go. I did an 8.1. I'm going to go for Terry Bradshaw did a 10 even on the immaculate reception. He might be biased. He should. With my with my retraction, we're going 8.4. All right. What does that put us? This is going to be high. Oh, baby. 8.69 puts us right here. 10th. It's just ahead of the Statue of Liberty game, 2007 Fiesta Bowl, boys' state first to Oklahoma. And just behind the 1999 Women's World Cup, China, USA.

This is the diving board to the next generation of the dynasty. This 2011 team, this hardship that we had to learn the very two weeks, the next two weeks later, whatever. The leadership you guys learned. You know, like again, like I'm just remember like all the young guys that came in, like you guys had big, you guys had ginormous shoes to fill. Oh yeah. Ginormous shoes. You think I loved hearing about fucking the other Patriots? Yeah. I wanted to win Super Bowls just as so Bill could stop talking about Teddy Bruce ski Troy Brown Don't you think that was the brilliance of it? 100% I mean like my linebacker room like Teddy Bruce ski Mike

I'm a bulk junior say I'll Willie McGinnis Roosevelt Colvin Adelius Thomas Larry is Oh, but it motivated me to it motivated me to want to say I want to make our stamp on it Yeah, so like it make our stamp on it. So it was a great motivation factor because you definitely, you love the guys to death and you respect them because they were always around. But we wanted to be something. You wanted to be in that level.

You have to be. And so that was a fucking, a shooting star that you were looking at. Yeah, you guys grew. But they went back to back, we never did. Fuck. Close. Fucking bullshit.

Still three, still got three. We still got three. Back to back, we played, we won 21 in a row. You know how hard that was? 21 games in a row. We didn't lose until it was Halloween in Pittsburgh, 2004, so 21 in a row. You haven't lost in 21 games in the NFL.

That's crazy. Man. We're at the end here? Yeah. Because I got something. What do you got? Something. Well, before that, did we miss anything from this game?

Thank you. The guys that were out there, and like I said, I've been waiting like 10 years to get an offensive guy on the defensive field. Again it was just I wouldn't say there was there were stars on the field but there was stars waiting to be born on the field and that's cool. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die.

I got something for you. So when I got back for you. I got back to New England. So I left for a little while, took a cup of coffee on the Midwest. I come back. New England is my home. The fans and I love it there. My kids were born there and all that stuff.

And you guys. So I got back to New England. It was very emotional for me to go in that building. Now I'm coming in a different role. I'm coming in because Nick left and Bill needs me to do the gym stuff and kind of oversee and just be his eyes and Ears and all that stuff. So as the GM when I get back You know Your situation was coming up. So talking to Don

Don's amazing. He and I like it's on he amazing conversations. And so you were Amazing conversations. And so you were going to retire. I was in the situation, I was like, all right, well here's a legendary Patriot player that I've watched just grow up before my eyes. Someone I admire, someone that worked hard, just did it our way and really special. You're a special person.

So when it was all settled and everything was worked out and you were going to retire, so my office was Nick's office which is next to the personnel room. So I walked into the personnel room and we had the personnel board in there for the Patriots has all the players on the team. There are open magnets and the name tags. So usually when someone retires or leaves or whatever it is like you know like one of the young guys in the scouting apartment comes in and just grabs the name and he gets thrown away or it gets maybe put in the back corner or whatever.

And I just, you know, I always felt like those names to me that we had up on that board represented so much more than just a piece of paper. I just, and knowing you, I just kind of went in and I was like, I don't know, I just got to take this off the board. And I took your name and I opened it. My guy. Made me start crying, Matty P. What do we got here?

So that was your name tag that was on the personnel board at the Patriots while you were playing. I don't know if it always got updated because it was on there for a while, but I didn't want that to just go anywhere. I thought that it should go to you. And so for whatever reason, how many ever years it is now, I back then grabbed it in the moment and I've just kept it all these years and Yeah, thought it was it's got my salary on there. Yeah. Yeah

There's no doubt we have a salary on there, of course, but what is nine and a half? Okay 29 nine and a half. Is there your hand size? Is that my that is my hand size? I am that's that's a big hand for my size. But that was, to me those tags on the board represented more than just a piece of paper. Dude, I appreciate that. I love you man. I love you too buddy. This is when you go into a general manager office, they always had the, they could slide something so you couldn't see the names. I would always sneak up in there once in a while,

look and see. See the depth chart. See that you can see what the guys were thinking through their depth charts. You know, they'd plot out the team on how they wanted to build it. Thank you, man. That's so, I appreciate you.

I love you to death. Matty P. Love you too. Thanks for having me on, I appreciate it. Appreciate you coming on. Anything else from you guys? That was unbelievable. I feel like my ball knowledge is,

oh, man, that was an honor. Oh my God. Thank you so much. That's why we do the show for conversations like this. 100%. And everyone go out and check out Coach, Matty P wrote it, he's helped producing it. I think he's doing all the nuts and bolts of it. It's Matty P's in it, Coach Belichick, Mike Lombardi.

It's in, I listened to it every week just because that's how they would talk in our team meetings a lot of time. But also then you hear the buddy buddy shit, what they would say probably in the staff meetings. So I always like to hear that stuff. But it's a great content. I appreciate you coming out. The man, last before anything, best friends with the big guy. Yeah. All right, so we gotta go.

Why is he dodging me? Why is he dodging me? Why is he dodging games with names in the NUT house? I think he's just, you know, he's busy. He's busy. He's got a lot of stuff going on. You're on the West Coast. Had a lot of stuff going on in my life.

You know what he told me to do? No, put it in the drawer. He said, take everything and you put it in a fucking drawer. And when the season's over, you could deal with it. Yeah. Okay, I put it in for 13 years. Put it in the drawer, coach. I just want you to come talk ball.

Yeah, well, just think how full his drawer is. There's a lot in there. coach. I just want you to come talk ball. Yeah, well just think how full his drawer is There's a lot in there. Yeah here. How about this? I think I'm gonna have to join social media. We are you I think I'm gonna do it tomorrow Let's go. Yeah, who's running coach Belichick's Instagram? Thank you for coming on Maddie What a game. The lighting has changed audience because we're still here 48 hours after. Day has turned to night. Night has turned back to day.

You don't become a rocket scientist by just not knowing everything. Great episode. Amazing. Man, he's he hung around later too. It was great. Yeah. Maddie P is a good one. He's one He's a good dude. We're smarter ball knowers from from hearing that it's good to have defense perspective It is you know if you don't know what a double mug is by now you didn't listen to this episode You didn't listen to the goddamn episode Okay, but Matty P got us you gotta explain it to kindergarten people. Okay, you're gonna be in TV You know you can't say double mug fire zone six.

This that I mean, come on. Part of what makes Matty Pills a pro safety blitz. And that's been another episode of games with names. Subscribe on Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast, comment a game you want us to do, and remember, rate and review. Remember to follow Games With Names on YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok, and Snapchat. Leave a message on the old hotline at 424-291-2290.

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