Games with Names - “The Longest Yard” with Kurt Warner | 2000 Super Bowl XXXIV: Rams vs. Titans

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

Today, we’re talking Super Bowl XXXIV aka “The Longest Yard.” The guys see what was up back in January 2000 (3:55). Jules & Sam review the game and each of these teams (10:53). Kurt Warner stops by to talk about his first Super Bowl and The Greatest Show on Turf (25:23). We discuss the legacy and score the game (1:09:41).Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science

podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life, because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity

to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straightway. They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. January 30th, 2000. The Georgia Dome. Atlanta, Georgia.

Six seconds left on the clock. The ball on the 10-yard line. The Tennessee Titans trail to St. Louis Rams 23-16. McNair to Dyson. As the clock hits zero, he reaches for the goal line. This is The Longest Yard. I'm going to do a different voice every time. I just do a British accent.

Hello, welcome to Games With Names, presented by Winbet. I'm going to do a different voice every time. I just do a British accent. Hello, welcome to Games with Names presented by Winbet. I'm Sam Morrell. And I'm Julian Edelman, and we're on the search to find the greatest games of all time. Today's episode, the longest yard, Super Bowl XXXIV. What is that, Jack? Super Bowl, what is that? That is 34. Super Bowl 34, the St. Louis Rams versus the Tennessee Titans. I did not go to fourth grade and learn my numeral root, whatever. And our guest.

We got Kurt Warner, man. We got Kurt. I'm pumped. I'm so excited. Disney movie, Kurt Warner. Is it a Disney movie? I don't know. It looked like it was produced by Kirk Cameron.

It was. It had like Christian vibes. He's a religious hero. He's a God guy. And there's nothing wrong with that. No. It's an incredible story. After watching that movie and then watching. I haven't seen it.

I heard it's great. It's a very good movie. I mean, it's one of those feel good movies like, if you're down in the dumps, maybe had a crazy weekend, you have the Sunday scaries, you're lying in bed, you throw that movie on, I tell you right now, you're going to feel good. Yeah, who doesn't want to feel good? Either that movie or opiates. That's the recipe right there.

First thoughts on the game. I mean, this game has got it all. It's big names. It's a crazy finale. There's huge plays. I mean, Kurt Warner, I haven't watched this game in a long time. Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Falk, Torrey Hull. And then on the other side, you got Eddie George,, Eddie George, Steve McNair, Kevin Dyson.

Javon Curse. Yeah, it had like, just like you said, a whole bunch of everything. You saw some defensive, great defensive stands in that first half. The second half is when the fireworks started coming. You saw special teams. You saw that were terrible. You had the block kick, the flub snap. You saw field goals that were made, field goals that were missed.

You saw big explosion plays. This is going to be an exciting game to break down with Kurt Warner with his inside thoughts on everything. This was such an iconic game that I remember it being referenced in the end of Castaway. Was it? Yeah, do you guys remember that? Yeah.

At the end of Castaway, Tom Hanks comes back and helen hunt is like we got a football team now you know lost just barely lost too and he's like cool i was on an island for 10 years so can we talk about that she's trying to talk about football that's how good a game it was she tried to bring up football after he was on an island with a freaking volleyball for four years she was she was a little i mean she was confused because she thought he was dead she went on married on had the kids with someone else but she still loved him so she didn't know what to bring up so she thought to bring up football because maybe it was one of his you know his his loves of his life life i guess football is better than us so i've been seeing this other guy's dong that's better than

that but it's still weird. Like we used to be married and in love. And now she's with this dude. Wilson. Classic movie. I love that movie. It's one of those movies you can't turn. I know.

You know what I mean? It's it doesn't even speak in like the first 45 minutes. But let's let's go back to January 30th, 2000. How old are you, Sam? I was 14. How about you? 86. I was like 14, I think. think yeah we're the same same age same age i think i was 14 crazy number one movie in america eye of the beholder oh it was a turd i saw it i saw it in hopes of seeing ashley judd uh full frontal and i'll be honest

there was a deal you made in the 90s early 2000ss. If Ashley Judd was in a stinker, you hoped to see full frontal, and this movie did not deliver. Shame on you, Eye of the Beholder. A 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. 9%? Terrible. How about next Friday? It was solid.

John Witherspoon's a legend. I loved him. Loved him. Yeah. I loved those Friday movies. Ice Cube, going into the suburbs, had to get out. I mean, what was it? Little Cholo dudes.

Remember what they called them? Yeah. Little Cholo dudes that were like punking them left and right. I mean, I used to. Mike Epps. Mike Epps. It was just tough because like as funny as Mike Epps was, we missed Chris Tucker. That was the worst thing about that movie.

Yeah. Chris Tucker single-handedly was probably the best thing on regular Friday. The first Friday. Smokey? Hey Smokey, you taking a shit? I don't know if we're allowed to do that voice. I don't know if we're as white men allowed to do that

voice. We'll cut that out. No, keep it. Hey Jules, so in the Super Bowl against the Rams that you played, I sat next to Mike Epps. Whoa. Fun fact. Fun fact.

Oh, Kyler, one of our producers slash directors, sat by Mike Epps in the Super Bowl against the Rams. Cheap seats, though. The Rams. Wow. Yeah, Mike Epps, big comic, playing Richard Pryor in Winning Time right now. Is he? By the way, yeah, yeah.

I watched a couple episodes of that. I think it's fun. I enjoy it. It's fun. Some ridiculous trends. The boy bands like NSYNC were dressed in all white and white banners. NSYNC, man. NSYNC.

I remember them. Backstreet Boys. 98 Degrees. I mean, don't act like you didn't listen to them yeah we all listened yeah you never could tell your boys you listen to them but you knew the songs oh i know every word i hate it i it's one of those things that you're annoyed that you know it's like i forget people close to me's names then i know backstreet's back all right what the hell it's an easy lyric it's it's an easy lyric. It's an easy lyric.

The Nokia. Classic. Dude, I used to play Snake on that thing in like eighth grade, trying there. That was before teachers knew you had cell phones. I would snag my mom's phone every once in a while. Take a look at that picture. Those were awesome.

Remember you had to hit the two, four, eight, and the six to go left, right, up, and down? Texting was brutal on that thing. But texting wasn't a big thing yet, so it was fine. Did you have a pager? I never had a pager. Did you? I had a pager.

Yeah? Yeah. I had to have a pager. It was cool to have a pager. Pagers are so weird because you're either a dealer or a doctor. Those were the two people who had the pagers. Or you're either coming to surgery or coming with a dime bag. Do you remember the pager talk?

The one, four, three, I love you to like your chick or your girlfriend. I remember the talk. Or like, what was it? Nine one. Or if your mom needed you, nine one one. She's like, get home. There was like a whole bunch of other things you could put in. I forgot about it.

Napster. That was huge. I mean, the Napster set the path for kazaa limewire bear share yeah dude i i mean napster was huge yeah that was revolutionary literally changed the music industry yeah they had to start touring you couldn't just chill at home and hope for uh if you were a musician you're like i have to go on the road now i have to i have tony bennett's like i'm 97 i have to start showing up to concerts now this is bullshit he's still doing it too and he's still doing it well survivor premiered i used to watch

that with my folks it was like a family thing the tribe is spoken thing out never saw it you ever saw it never watched one episode of survivor i was i was what was this richard richard was the first winner he was always naked right he was always naked yeah very very strategic on how he how he got that win as an athlete you must appreciate it nah you're a competitor though yeah i mean i would always watch like the the challenges like to if you got the immunity remember you used to get immunity if you won the challenge. I was like, so they would like stand on a pole and the person who could stand on the pole the longest.

Like I would think to myself, like I could easily, I could win that. And then if you got immunity, then you couldn't get voted off. So that was like the thing. So if you won a certain challenge, they couldn't vote you off. Interesting. And then you could give immunity to other people there was like a lot of politics into i learned a lot of negotiation and and uh friend skills from survivor i think it was also y2k i mean that was people were saying it was

going to be the end of the world remember that i remember going to lucky's we have lucky's out in the bay area like on december last last week of December with my mom, she's going grocery shopping, and there was nothing on the shelves. People thought because Y2K was coming, the world was going to end, the banks couldn't calculate a zero at the end or a two at the beginning, everyone's money is going to be gone. That was a shit show. That was a shit, that was a shit and it

was it's just a year it's just time but there were these people were like it says this in the bible somewhere and we're like all right i mean i'm stupid i'll play along i guess but uh j-lo that was another j-lo the green dress oh the green dress was great that was that was right see-through see-through in the boobs hanging out was pretty cool see-through aol what was your screen name sm swinger sm swinger yeah i was xxx edelman one we both sound like we both sound like pervs what the hell is with our name my sm swinger it was my name because it was uh the movie swingers but my mom was like that's not what swinger means in the movie you find out it's because of the restaurant but like i was a kid i was like sw that's not what swinger means. In the movie, you find out it's because of the restaurant. But I was a kid. I was like, swinger.

I'm a swinger. I like triple X because it was like a dirt bike thing. There's like dirt bikers like XXX. I don't know. It was weird. But I was like, we were 14. I don't really think that. XXX is such a hilarious name for a 14-year-old.

I'm into biking, mom. I like biking. It's like a's super bad. My name is XXXPlaysWithSelf at AOL.com. Remember? Because I play by myself on bikes. In sports world, January 2000, Mark Cuban bought the Mavericks from Ross Perot Jr. Wow.

For $285 million. Did I pronounce that right? Perot? Yeah, you nailed it. You know what? That's French, I think. I think that's French, Perot. I have to say about the J-Lo thing real quick,

because you're a Boston guy, and I do feel the fact that she took Ben Affleck from A-Rod is an attack on New York from Boston. I do feel like a little, to me it almost feels like if KG, like his woman just started sleeping with Woody Allen or something. Yeah. You would take that personally as a city.

I mean, you should, but like, you know, Boston's a comfortable spot. She knew Boston before she knew New York. They're hitting cheers. You know, they're hitting cheers. They're going out, having a nice night on the commons. Yeah. They might go over the seaport, go to Strega, grab some Italian. I mean.

Boston's got good food. I got to give it to you. Some of the best seafood. Some really good seafood, but, I mean, New York's got insane food. New York's, I love it here. Let's get into the teams. All right. Well, the Tennessee Titans, they were 13-3,

coached by Jeff Fisher and his awesome old-school mullet. They say he was a rock star. I heard stories about him going out. Because Nashville, this is in Nashville. He was like a country singing rock star, always at the country song, like concerts, like hanging out with the guys. He was a fun coach, I heard, players coach. Undefeated at home.

Some of their offense, I mean, you know these names. Steve McNair, Eddie George, Derek Mason, Kevin Dyson, Frank Wycheck. Wycheck. Remember that, dude? He was a beast. The miracle in the Music City miracle. Was it a forward pass? Was it not? Wycheck threw it. Defense, Javon Curse, who we mentioned, Blaine Bishop, Samari Roll.

I mean, this was a stacked team. Stacked. And then you've got to takeaine Bishop, Samari Roll. I mean, this was a stacked team. Stacked. And then you've got to take a look at the 1999 St. Louis Rams, the greatest show on turf. Dick Vermeule, everyone knew him at the Eagles. That's where he got his start, got his second time around here in St. Louis. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Everyone knew about the Martz system with that.

What is it? Everyone knew about the March system. We'll ask Kurt more with that West Coast that they were doing from Bill Walsh. It's the team's first playoff appearance in St. Louis. Used to be the LA Rams back in the early 90s. And now they're back. Now they're back. Crazy for all you people that didn't understand that, but that's what really went down. Notable losses.

Titans, week eight, loss to the Titans. Got a little scout tape on them. That's always the best when you play a team that you play again in the playoffs or you match up again because you have that tape. You got that feel of going against that player, against their scheme, how they kind of – the flow of the game. That's always big. It's got to be hard to beat a really good team twice in a row.

Twice, very hard. Very different than other sports, you know what I mean? It's just there's so much preparation in football, and then the tendencies. I mean, these guys are crazy, Coach. Every regular season win was by more than one possession. That's why they were the greatest show on turf. Kurt Warner won MVP. Jack, this was the year that he took it over from Trent Green?

That's right. Trent Green went down in the preseason against the San Diego Chargers. San Diego Chargers. Who hit him? Rodney Harrison. Rodney Harrison, one of the toughest football players I've ever met, watched and learned from. Didn't get to play with him, but we saw a lot of tape with him on the offense. I mean, this is just these are some names.

Marshall Falk, Torrey Holt, Isaac Bruce played with Torrey Holt. Side note, he retired as a Patriot Ricky Prohl, one of the founding fathers Of the white guys at receiver Him and Wayne Corbett He was their third receiver And he was a really good receiver Orlando Pace On defense you had

London Fletcher, crazy stat about him I don't think he missed a snap In his whole career Only made one pro bowl was always at the top of the leaderboard at tackles small uh small school guy didn't miss a snap he was a dude in video games you're like i'm controlling this dude 100 he didn't miss a snap at linebacker dre bly grant uh whist storm grant wh Yeah. Kurt Warner, though, he did lead the NFL in red zone interceptions with five. We're going to have to ask him about that.

That's like a cardinal sin for a quarterback. And he played for the Cardinals, too. And he played for the Cardinals, took them to the Super Bowl with Larry Fitzgerald. That was a tough game. Steelers. Tough. We might have to talk about that one in another future episode over here with Games with Names presented by Winbet.

Now let's get to the game. Great uniforms. Great uniform game. Both of those uniforms are badass, especially the Ram helmets are pretty dope. I love the Ram helmets. Yeah. I like this generation Ram.

They went to powder for a second And now they're back to this The yellow and blue That's the Rams I actually like the older Rams I like the navy and white Rams Like the 70s Rams My dad was a Rams fan when I was a kid

And he always talked about it Like their uniforms Who was that? The defensive end They had a really crazy defense we should jack youngblood jack youngblood exact i mean we got that's why we got jack that's why we got jack your machine jack this is a rematch obviously we said of the regular season game the titans won 24 to 21 you think about about Steve McNair, you know, obviously he's no longer with us. He's terrible.

You rewatch this and you're like, man, this is one of the coolest players ever. Like, love Steve McNair. Air McNair? Yeah. I mean, he was so elusive and like the big playability he had. He'd always stick it on his guys. He had guys hanging off him. I mean, that last play on the last drive, or the play to set him up to have the longest yard.

I mean, he made three guys miss. He's retreating. If they win, that's the play. He's MVP. Yeah. He's MVP if they win. And he was incredible in the second half, as was Eddie George. I mean, there's so many big names, and there's also big performances.

I mean, this is uh how cool was it to see the the bob and weave in the end zone by the the rams after they scored they spun it they always they outlawed it right they outlawed it the next year yeah i mean no fun league sometimes but they're getting back to fun we're getting back to have the dancing come on we want the dancing, nowadays, you see people like rowing boats. You see people jumping in, you know, what is it? The big bucket thing. You get in trouble when you throw it into the crowd still, though. You get fined for that. How much is that? $7,500 when I did it.

They got you once. They got me on it. $7,500 for that? Why? Why is it so much? How much does the football cost? $80? You know, according to the rule of law, it could create a riot for people.

That's how the LA riots started. Someone threw a football. So 7,500. 7,500. I tried to go. You know, they reduced it. My agent, Steve Dubin, had a very compelling argument that, you know, after I scored a record-setting punt return action, I saw a, it was, I believe it was, it was like military day.

Yeah. We were wearing all the camo stuff. We saw a guy that was in the military, I believe a Navy man, up in the crowd, and we were trying to throw it to him in honor to support the military. Big military guy, of course. And we got it reduced to $3,500. Wow. That's pretty good. Kudos to old Dave.

It's crazy they still made you pay $3,500, though. $3,500. That's a lot of money for trying to honor our troops. What do we got jack looking like the nfl rule book has 7 210 for a first offense 12 360 for a second offense yeah you can't you don't want to do it they get you hard on the second offense i was the first time offender at throwing the ball in the end zone so you know was it worth it though did it feel good so good it was it was fun it was fun and it's gotta be cool for some i didn't you as a kid like dream of someone like throwing a ball to you or like a pair of gloves or like a towel like that was one

of the things i'd always do after a game i would have taken a jizz rag are you kidding me come on patrick ewing i'm right. I would have taken anything. Well, jizz rags. From jizz rags to things we may have forgotten. Tennessee's third season after leaving Houston. They used to be the Houston Oilers. Yeah, true. Eddie George was on that team.

He was. Yeah. He was. That was crazy. I loved the Oilers uniforms. Oilers was on that team. He was. Yeah. He was. That was crazy. I loved the Oilers uniforms. Oilers is a cool name. I mean, it's very... They were Houston, Texas. I mean, that's pretty cool.

They had a cool logo and the color coordination. What was it? It was pretty much the Titans. Titans is a good name, too. I mean, it's cool when the name fits the city. Like when you hear Utah Jazz, you're like, all right, guys, come on. Be the, you know, just be the Book of Mormon or something. Be something where we're like, everyone in Utah is like, hello, how are you?

I'm Brother Gary. Like that's the vibe. It's not the ba-doop-boop-boop-ba-doop. You know, it's not. Come on. Can you ba-doop-boop-boop? I can't that was i thought it was pretty good what about the lakers there's no lakes in la i know they came from they came from minnesota but like i i still the lakers sounds cool still for some reason yeah and it's la lakers lakers yeah you get the alliteration it's like a cool lake

and it's just the the logo's iconic it is it is but you're right it doesn't i guess jazz has become kind of iconic in utah too but like yeah what else is another one that doesn't make sense the washington commanders yeah i i like the football team a football team was cool i thought it was cool commanders just sounds just sounds like you needed something. You're like, Commanders. It sounds like an Any Given Sunday team name. I don't love Guardians either. The Guardians.

Yeah. I don't get that. It just sounds kind of like. But I think they have a thing because on the river of Cleveland, it was the Cuyahoga River. There's like the Guardian things that were given over. It just doesn't sound. I don't know.

Don't fact check me. Cleveland Commanders sounds better, actually. They should have just named't sound. I don't know. Don't fact check me. Cleveland Commander sounds better, actually. They should have just named them the Cleveland Brown baseball team. Yeah, the baseball team. I don't know. The Rams' defense was actually very good. Fewest rushing yards and fewest rushing touchdowns allowed. Crazy that they were this good on defense.

You want to know why though? Oh, because the offense was that good. The offense was that good. When you put so many points up, you're making a team one-dimensional where they have to throw the ball. So that could have been a huge part of it as a football guy. That makes sense.

A lot of special team miscues in this game. Three missed field goals in the first half. One flub snap, two misses. And then you had a block kick in the second half one flub snap two misses and then you had a block you had a block kick in the in the second half yeah i mean i bet you that uh del greco so del greco's the titans kicker and i'm just gonna bring out a story scotty o'brien special teams guru in the national football league i played under him for like six seven years he helped draft me they used to have this approach to the kick when

they were doing like onside kicks and they would call it the del greco because he would widen this is terrible this is a podcast so i'm like using my hands no no people watch it too yeah people will watch it but they would widen out and like he would do like an a certain approach and that was known as the del greco approach if they were tight it'd be just an art kick if they were wide you had to be sure for the del greco approach where they could give you a little sky kick over the other side try to be sneaky with you so shout out to old del greco who missed a field goal in this game but hey you have something named after you and this is a naming podcast pretty cool should we do our prop bet

the gaming corner presented by win bet so the relevant betting lines for this games uh the spread rams minus seven push yeah over under 45 shockingly. Shockingly under. With the greatest show on turf and a really good miracle in Tennessee football team. That was very, very crazy not to see that over go. But it's Super Bowl. Anything happens. We all know that. Playoffs a little more physical. These teams knew each other a little bit.

Refs aren't going to call as much. You're going to let the boys play. Yeah. So for the prop bet, if you're new to the show, every week we do a little bet to see what we can get out of the players, out of us, what can we do. I think for the over-under, how many times has Kurt Warner seen Coach Dick Vermeule famous for crying?

Famous crier. How many times has he seen him cry? What's the number we got to hit? I think three and a half because he probably cried. He probably cried. He probably cried. He cried after this game. For sure. We know that.

Yeah. He probably cried after like Kurt got MVP because Kurt's story was so good. And he's like, you could tell he's a loving type guy. Yeah. And then maybe like. He cried during like a Dawson's Creek episode. I heard he's a cry. Late 90s.

Maybe it was the end of that. What was that song? I don't want to wait for this time yeah um so yeah i think three and a half is that is that it we got it yeah i i i think it's three i'm taking the under on this taking the under is that crazy i'm gonna take the over all right i'm gonna take the over i I feel like Coach Ramil being a very player's coach type of guy who's cried a few times in the locker room after seeing he had to cut someone or if he had to do – Wow. You know, that's a cryable offense.

Well, this is the insider picks. I don't know. Hey, there's no insider information here. There's no insider information here. Well, we're going to hear from Kurt Warner, but before, let's do a quick break. And we're joined here, Sam. Big treat. Huge treat.

Such a big treat. They make movies after guys like this. Literally, movies. With the dude from Shazam. With the dude from Shazam. Yeah. We are joined by Kurt Warner, NFL legend, extraordinary, inspirational story that he went through. We're going to get to break down the longest yard, Super Bowl, 34.

I mean. That game is crazy. That team, the greatest show on turf. He's the engine. I mean, he is crazy That team The greatest show on turf He's the engine I mean he's the quarterback Let's just rattle off some of these things Yeah So Trent Green

Starting quarterback at the beginning of the year Everyone's heard about the Bledsoe Brady thing This is even crazier if you really think about it Trent Green goes down Gets hit by Rodney Harrison. Was it Rodney? Was it Rodney?

Rocking Rodney. Hits him, knocks him out. Gives Kurt Warner his opportunity. What's he do? He goes on, wins MVP that year. Leads the team to a Super Bowl. As pretty much kind of a rookie. He spent a lot of time in the or in the arena league 28 year old rookie

though right exactly exactly in this league but he played a lot of football he went over you went across to Europe right you went you went to Europe it was over in it so Europe for a year as well yeah like just what do they call it do they call it football and what do they call it in Europe uh well I mean because it was part of the nfl so it was nfl europe so we did call it football over there although you're right i mean every time we mentioned football they were thinking something completely different but so it was mostly american football is what the term would be for for what we were doing american football there it is but let's get back to this four-time pro bowler two-time first team all pro led two different

teams of the super bowl i mean his story i just watched his movie i was i was flying over here i think i turned on his movie and like he's the kind of guy you just root for yeah because of the adversity he overcame because of the kind of guy he is. I'm going to go off topic. I have nothing. We'll get back into the game. But how true is that movie? How true is that movie?

Not only that, I want to know, do you play a role in casting? Do they run the actor by you? Yeah. Okay, first of all, no role in casting whatsoever. I left that. If there was going to be any influence in our family, the casting, I was leaving that to my wife. Like I, I wasn't going to get involved. I wasn't going to screw that part up. So, but

they were like, uh, Josh Gad is going to play you. Yeah. I don't know. I'm not like, yeah, I'm not sure my wife would be so happy with it, but like, I like Josh Gad. So I think he could, he I think he could play the part. But we didn't have a whole lot of say in casting, even though they did run it by us a little bit. I had a little more say in the script because I kind of knew the story that I wanted to tell.

It was about, really about nine, ten years in the making to get the movie made. And a big part of it was just the script wasn't what I wanted it to be. It was the story that we wanted to tell. So I had more hand in that part of it was just the script wasn't what I wanted it to be. It was the story that we wanted to tell. So I had more hand in that part of it. But to your point, Julian, the movie is very accurate. Now, there's always a little bit of Hollywood.

There's a little bit of creativity there. But every story, every scene that you see in the movie was based off of real life, based off of something that happened. So there wasn't any scene in there where you go, oh, that was made up. So I'll just give you an example. In the movie, when I had my first arena practice, we're out in that cornfield playing with the bales of hay as the sidelines or as the walls.

Now, when it was my first practice, we were actually in a park. Well, they did have bales of hay up as the walls. Now, when it was my first practice, we were actually in a park where they did have bales of hay up as, you know, the walls. They took two big giant telephone poles and stuck them in the ground as our goalposts. So, you know, they dramatized it a little bit as they put it in a cow pasture. But the essence of the story and what it was like when I first walked up to that park going seriously, like, you know, if I throw a ball a little bit wide I got a guy going over the top of the hay bale like what are we doing here like how did I get here but uh you know so there's a little bit of Hollywood in there but it's all based on one real life well I I just want to let you know I think you're better looking than who they casted though Kurt awesome see how often you get to say that now i'm not sure it's true but i but

i appreciate you saying that yeah no so it goes from bagging groceries to the afl to his own movie to his own super bowl mvp i mean it's it's unreal now going into this game how crazy different this is your first time i mean he, he's a fuck. He was a rookie and to be able to have to deal with all the distractions. There's so many distractions going into a Superbowl, especially as a first time player in the league, guy gets hurt. Who's stud. Yeah.

I think he was a killer. But you're, are you like, kind of like, I'm ready, dude, this offense is insane. Do you just feel like something like someone just handed you the keys to the sickest car ever? And you're like, I'm ready, dude. This offense is insane. Do you just feel like someone just handed you the keys

to the sickest car ever? And you're like, enjoy. Well, you know, Julian, so much of this game is about finding the right fit for what you do as a player. And so obviously nobody knew anything about me when I took over. But, you know, going back to the idea

that I played arena football, the beautiful thing about arena football is we never handed the football off. Like, we threw it every stat. We were expected to score every time we had the ball. You know, we scored 70-plus points a game. So when I got to St. Louis and I had all these weapons around me, I was like, this is how we're supposed to play. You know, we had Marshall in the backfield,

but we'd rather throw it to Marshall than hand it to him in most situations. And, you know, I remember, you know, we'd be scoring 35, 40 points a game and people would be like, you guys are unbelievable. And I remember thinking, what are you talking about? We're putting twice a game. Like, we got to figure out this problem here because we're not supposed to be putting. So my mentality was to score, to throw, to throw to be you know to do what i was

doing in arena football and like you said the beautiful thing was i had a bunch of pieces around me that were so talented that allowed me to do what i had been doing for years so you know as much as you're you know you still have to convince yourself you can do it at the highest level right we're all confident we all get done with college and it's like, oh yeah, we can play in the NFL. But there's always that period where you really do have to convince yourself, like, I'm going to be there. Okay. Yes. I thought I could, I can do it. I felt I was more than ready for the opportunity. The system fit exactly what I did well and the aggressive approach that we took. And then, like you said, couple that with, I mean, Hall of Famers at both wide receiver and main wide receiver spots,

Hall of Famer in the backfield, Hall of Fame left tackle. I mean, it was like the perfect storm. Defense was freaking good. Defense was good. And, you know, what we did well, it played to their strengths. But, you know, Julian, I often tell people, like, my story was crazy, and it took me a while to get there. But if somebody looked you in the eye when you were 12 years old

and you were dreaming about playing in the NFL, and they said, by the time you're 28, you'll have won an MVP, won a Super Bowl, and won a Super Bowl MVP, would you take it? Heck, yeah, you'd take it. So it took me a while to get there, but because everything happened in that first year, I was kind of catapulted into the position I would have loved to have been anyways at that stage in my career. And I could just kind of hit the ground running and go from there. You know, and I'm a firm believer because I have a very similar type

story. It took me five, four or five years to get my position solidified into the offense I had to do everything I had to do that everything happens for a reason you know like you playing in the AFL that set you up to like all right throwing the ball all the time that's what I'm used to this this is what I do you know what I mean gives you that self-confidence like for me it was playing in Ohio in college, like in a cold weather area. Like I was a California kid. I would go out to Ohio, never been out there. And then it kind of like trained me that when I got to New England, like, all right, this is what I'm used to.

You know, I'm used to this. And like your story always has these crazy little things that just end up always working for you. Oh, this is an inspiring guest, man. Next time I have diarrhea, I'm going to be like, this is going to inspire me to eat better tomorrow. So it's all about the greater plan. So Kurt is an inspiring player, man. And this year you're going up against the Titans who like,

they're a sick team. I mean, you're going up against Air McNair. Eddie George was a beast. Curse on on defense he's thinking about curse yeah i saw you take so many like in the movie again i'll go back to the movie did your college coach always tell you to stay in the pocket okay so that story so here's here's part of hollywood right julian that actually the kirk drill uh where I had to do that say in the pocket, get hit by all my buddies, actually happened in high school. So because we didn't really tell my high school

story, I started playing quarterback when I was a freshman in high school. And I was a wide receiver before that, so I just wanted to get out. I just wanted to run out there in space. I didn't want to get hit. So that drill actually happened through my high school career. They just kind of pushed it into the college atmosphere in the movie because of that. But that drill was real. I hated

that drill with a passion. I didn't want to have any part of it. But, you know, to your point, when things happen for a reason, you know, when I started playing quarterback, that was my greatest weakness. My greatest weakness is I didn't want to stay in the pocket. I wanted to get out of the pocket. I wanted to move. I didn't want to take a hit. And if you ask people to define my career, one of the things that would define my career when it was all said and done was I would stand in the pocket and take a hit and deliver a throw like very few guys in the league. So ironically enough, those kind of things that you're talking about helped to define me, helped to shape me and would ultimately be, you know, those things that set me

apart when I actually got to where I wanted to be. And, and Sam, that's, that's very, you know, that's a competitor at the highest level is someone who can actually take in coaching. There's a lot of guys that work hard. There's a lot of guys that go out and run and sprint, and they'll sit and do the throws all day. But it's really about figuring out what you have to do, working hard at that, and then when you get results from that, that shows you that that's why he's so great, because he sat in there, in the pocket.

Because, I mean, you watch this game. I mean, that was a physical defense and you sat up in that pocket. I saw you get your, your, your pickup of your teeth a couple of times off the, off the ground with that way these guys were hitting, especially back in those days. Yeah, no, it was a, it was a game. They had a good defense. And so ironically enough, when we're talking about that game against Titans,

you know, we were six and oh that season and actually played the Titans. So very similar to the whole Patriots dynasty starting. You know, we played them in the middle of the year. We beat them. We played the Titans in the middle of the year. The Titans beat us. They gave us our first loss as a team that year.

But we were down like, yeah, exactly. We were down like 24-3 in that game or 24-0 in that year. But we were down like, yeah, exactly. We were down like 24-3 in that game or 24-0 in that game and came back and we missed a few goal at the end to tie that game up and then whatever happens. To me, there were so much about that game that helped to define who we were, right? That it's easy sometimes to have things going well

when you're not playing good teams, 6-0. What happens when you get hit in the mouth? You know, what happens when things don't go your way? And the first time with that group, we had to respond. We had to see what we were made of as a football team. And so ultimately, all of that stuff, okay, we played them. They beat us. We played them in the Super Bowl.

But we knew what we were capable of. We knew what happened in that game. We knew we had a chance to beat them in the Super Bowl, and you take some of that stuff and you take it with you into the Super Bowl of, okay, this is what it's going to take. This is the type of team that we're facing, but they were good. They were aggressive. They would hit both offensively and defensively with Eddie George on the offense.

They were all about punishing you and making you feel it. And on defense, they were going to blitz you and hit you. And they came after me a lot in that game. But there was that fun cat and mouse of them blitzing and us trying to figure out how to attack the blitz. And great football game. Great football game. There was a bunch. Was it a bunch of man blitz?

I didn't have like a coach cut up. I was watching it off the things because you guys were running a bunch of crossers. And then it seemed like when they hit the zone, you'd hit that deep out or they were going into like a quarters coverage or some kind of soft coverage. You were hitting like the bows and the deep outs and stuff.

Is that true? Is that what it was? Yeah, no, there was a little of both. But, you know, we like to do a lot of empty stuff, so it was almost like they had an empty check. Anytime we were going to go five out, they were going to come after me and hit me. So it's like, okay, you can complete the ball, but we're going to make you

feel it. And in that game, I mean, I don't know what in the first half, we threw for almost 300 yards in the first half. Lighten it up. Only problem was we couldn't get in the end zone. We're doing all this fun stuff between the 20s, but none of it mattered because we couldn't get in the first half. Lighten it up. Only problem was we couldn't get in the end zone. Red area offense. We're doing all this fun stuff between the 20s, but none of it mattered because we couldn't get in the end zone. I mean, we could have blown them out early in that game, but, you know,

we scored 16 points, I think, at the half, and we just couldn't put them away. And that's ultimately what would lead to, you know, what happens in the second half and then turn it into, you know, just a great football game, what happens in the second half and then, and it turned into, you know, just a, just a great football game, especially down in the end. Well, in the, in the second half, Aaron McNair turned it on. Eddie George was running all over you guys. I mean, when you,

when you make that play to Isaac Bruce, when you, when you. 999. That was, I mean, what was going through your head on that drive? Well, I mean, you know, here's the thing. I don't know how much you win. It's the same for you, Julian. I know you played some quarterback. But growing up, like, if you dream of playing in the NFL,

you play the, you know, the Super Bowl in your front yard over and over again. You know, whether you're the receiver that's making the play or the running back or the quarterback. And so, you know, every time I would watch – every year I'd watch Super Bowl and then me and my brother are going out in the front yard and we're playing the Super Bowl in our front yard. You know, and every time you play it in your front yard, the ball is in your hands with, you know, a few seconds to go

and you're down and then you always throw the touchdown pass to win the Super Bowl. So, when I get into the Super Bowl and actually we're up 16-0, Titans tied at 16-16, you know, Dick Vermeer will actually be talking to me on the sideline and he's just like, Kurt, you've played this game a million times. You know, you wanted to have the ball in your hands with two minutes to go and win

the Super Bowl. Now go do it. You know, so I played it out in my head, but in your head, like you throw the pass as the clock's running out, right? In this game, we get the ball with two minutes to go, and it's the first pass I throw. I throw the pass to Isaac, and he runs for a touchdown. And so, you know, kind of in your mind based on what's happened before,

you're like, we just won the Super Bowl. And you don't really realize, hold on a second, there's still a minute 50 to go. And there's great players or great players on the other side that have an opportunity to win it. You can't just walk away just because you threw that touchdown pass. So it was a great moment because everybody dreams of that moment of making that play in that moment to win the Superbowl.

It was just the only problem is that I had to stand on the sideline for the next minute 50 and watch as Steve McNair and company methodically moved the ball down the field and had a chance to steal that victory from us. Now on that play, when you hit Bruce on the sideline, it seemed like a two-man type play. Was it a two-man or did that safety just get over there? No, it was just a fan-man or did that safety just get over there no it was just it was just a fan play so single high divide we talked about that all week long because back in the day

samari roll and company with the titans they'd love to play high shoulder technique julian so we knew that if we were going to throw go routes no routes that you know that year and again it wasn't like now like now the back shoulder is like, I mean, that's something that everybody goes to. Back in that day, back shoulder wasn't really a thing. But we knew they played eye-shoulder technique. And so, what we

worked on all week was if we're going to throw that go route, we're just going to try to set it up there and kind of keep it on my guy's back shoulder. You know, it's not to drive it now, let him turn and catch the back shoulder, but just kind of keep it on my guy's back shoulder you know it's not to drive it now let him turn and catch the back shoulder but just kind of lay it on his back shoulder because we knew we'd have an advantage there and so when he called that play they were showing a quarters a four high look and but oftentimes they would drop out of that four high lift and so it worked out just perfectly calls 9 999 on the first play, we just all go, right?

Double seam, all go, however you want to say it. And sure enough, safeties rolled on the spot, laid it up to Isaac. The guy that came flying over was the backside safety. Yeah. He was trying to fly in the middle. But Isaac, I mean, obviously great job, not only adjusting to the ball and catching it behind him, but then making that move and getting into the end zone.

So, you know, you remember all those details when you're in those moments and you're so focused and you're thinking about it all, you know, you're practicing all week long and then, you know, we get all the way 58 minutes in the game and we've never, we didn't even call the play, you know, but you work on that stuff. And then sure enough, in the biggest moment, it plays out exactly like you had talked about it playing out, you know,

all week long as you're compared to the game. And then, you know, you got a great play, make it a great play. The crazy thing about that is like, so situationally on two minute with this, a tied game,

like we, we had a Rolex situation. We used to call it Rolex where times almost as important as points, because you want to suck it down, suck the clock down as much as you can like so it was almost they scored so fast it was like oh we kind of messed up you know you know what i mean especially in like a super bowl i love the idea of a coach yelling you were supposed to suck it down right well i mean here's the thing is like in that super bowl julian I wasn't thinking about any of that. Like I was thinking about get the ball in the end zone and go win this game.

Right, right. But due to that game, I was fortunate to play in two more in my career. And in both of them, it played out exactly like you're talking about. We score with a certain amount of time. Boom, Tom Brady comes down. They kick a field goal with no time on the clock. We score with two and a half minutes to go. Big Ben comes down, throws a touchdown pass to Santoni with 30 seconds to go.

So what you're saying, I didn't really understand it in that moment because I wasn't even thinking about the others. Like, just get points on the board and we win the Super Bowl. After going through that game, fortunate to win the next two times, that was the first thing on my mind. When I threw that touchdown to Larry with the Cardinals against Pittsburgh, and I ran over to the sideline, everybody's like,

we just won the Super Bowl, boys! And I'm like, relax, people. There's a whole bunch of time and a lot of good players on the other side. So, you know, to your point, I didn't think about that in the moment but i thought about it every moment after that when i was in one of those two minute situations well because of those situations i mean bill belichick i mean we would go over this stuff

all the time you know to start the two minute drill you want you obviously for us we would always want to get it started get a play that you're comfortable with, you're confident in. Then you always wanted a chunk play, which is always 20 or more yard play that keeps things going. Then you get in there and do that. The coach would never get mad at you if you score. Of course. Clock management, I understand.

Then they have all this time. McNair is just relentless. There's that 16-yard play to Dyson where he almost goes down, but he somehow breaks free. He's such an elusive runner. Hits Dyson. They run. They make, of course, the final play again to Dyson

where he's tackled at the one-yard line. I mean, what is the vibe on the sideline? Well, I mean, again, your vibe is simply just somebody make it play like you know that's that's all you're asking for like it's usually in that setting right duels is somebody means that somebody make a sack make a sack and all of a sudden they're in they're in second and long and you're like okay yes we got this you know the ball gets tipped up and you know so sam as you're talking about, I mean, there was one play where it was like two guys had Steve McGair.

And it's like, this is it. This is going to finish it. He's like 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. And the dude shakes off both of our guys, got one hand on the ground. And not only does he shake himself out of that, but then he buys time and he hits a 20-yard throw down the fifth union. So you're just kind of like come on. Is this possible? And because McNair was running around,

we had a couple really good players in Kevin Carter, DeMarco Farr. Those guys pulled themselves out of the game because they were completely exhausted. And you're sitting there going, dudes, there's a minute left in the Super Bowl. You cannot pull yourself.

But they were so exhausted because Steve McLean was just, I mean, he was so incredible because he was so strong. He was so elusive. But that's just, that was my mindset. It's like somebody just step up and make a play. And I would say it's the worst part of our sport and the best part of our sport, right? Like you play baseball, you get a chance to hit and field.

You play basketball, you play offense and defense in our sport you do your job and then you've got to count on everybody else to do their job and it's the hardest thing about it is sitting on the sideline going okay come on somebody's got to make a play somebody's got a marriage right it's like i mow the lawn you clean clean the goddamn dishes. Yeah. But then you know, Jules, but then the best part of it is when you go down and score and then, you know, somebody comes down on the other end, Malcolm Butler comes down on the other end and makes that play on the one yard line to finish the game. You're like, there's nothing better than celebrating, knowing everybody on your football team needed to play to a certain level for you to win a championship. That is the

greatest thing about our sport. The greatest thing about team sports. But it's tough standing over there on the sideline because you always believe, well, if I'm in there, I'll make the play. Like, I trust me, but now you've got to trust everybody else to do their thing, and that's the hardest part about it, but also the most rewarding part. It is the ultimate team sport. Like, you really have to rely on other people, and everyone's accountable in this sport. 53 men, not just the offense, not just the defense, the special teams guys.

I mean, you could lose a game on special teams with the flub snap block pun anything like that everyone has a role and everyone has to do their job that's i mean that's said by a professional that makes it almost does that make it sweeter i mean you're like we all did something we all this is all of us you know that's pretty cool no i it is i mean there's no question about it and i think it helps you to truly appreciate what our game is all about and you know and i think one of the cool things too about that year was as you guys talked about everybody was talking about our offense like we were all about the offense it was all about our weapons it was all about the

greatest showing that's all anybody talked about j Jules, you mentioned it. We had a really good defense. And we had a lot of really good players in our defense that did, I mean, our defense scored for us a number of times that year. You know, we got the points. You know, we set the records, but our defense set us up for so many things, but they just never got the credit.

So that was another beautiful part about that Super Bowl is those guys needed to make a play. And those guys stepped up. And the reason we won was because they made that tackle. They made that play in the moment. And so I think that was pretty special as well because they didn't get nearly the credit they deserve

because everybody was looking at us. Is that the greatest offense in the history of the game? Yes. I mean, yeah. No, I mean, I think it was. Again, I say that, you know, because there's obviously been some great offenses. You played on some great offenses. Yeah, I mean, the Denver team, whatever.

07 Pats lost the Super Bowl, though, Julian. I know, Sam. He's a Giants fan. But it's a team sport. It's a team sport. But the reason I say that, Jules, is because we did it at a time when you weren't supposed to be able to do that. Like, now, everybody kind of does it.

Like, you know, everybody plays a certain – we played the game a different way. Back then, everybody thought, well, you've got to run the football to win. You've got to run the football to be successful. And we, you know, threw caution to the football to be successful and we you know threw caution to the wind and said no you don't like if you're good enough if you've got the players if you can execute and so we kind of ushered in a new era of football and what we did consistently for three years coupled with the players that we had right i mean i think that always is a part of it. We had great players as well as we consistently played well. But over 500 yards, 500 points, three straight years in an era

where you just didn't see that sort of stuff. And then again, to usher in what we see as the NFL now, I still think, you know, I would put that offense up against anybody that's ever played in this era or that era. Like, I believe that offense up against anybody that's ever played uh in this era or that era like i believe that offense could step into this era and we would set records in this era that's how good i think we were yeah they revolutionized the game they basically yeah they had the offense that every offense is now i mean this west coast i mean you got a little bit more this run game with like the Kyle Shanahan stuff, but

you know, the spread them and shred them. Yeah, that's the greatest show on turf and it almost can't. It was almost an advantage because these teams were built to stop the run. It's kind of like when the old Niners would go out and play in the 80s when Bill Walsh would have the full

back catching little diagonals and they're getting their run game through short passes. These teams were built with the old 46, the old bare defense, these big-ass linebackers. They weren't made to cover. So it's extraordinarily revolutionary for these coaches that actually implemented this system to go on. And, I mean, it's changed the game.

It's changed how players are. It's changed the size of's changed how players are it's changed the sizes of players the speed of players because of that offense and that west coast now you got defensive linemen that are running 4-4 that are 223 pounds 235 pounds when they used to be 260 big old dudes that would plug the middle of that you know that that field it's it's changed and i do believe that they could step into this game right now yeah and be an elite team with i mean i think you'd probably be better because you wouldn't like you sneeze on a quarterback now like you get a penalty i mean you sneeze on a quarterback now you give him covet

that's what happens no you know uh it's so true. And Marshall was really such a weapon because he could run the ball, but then he's as good as any receiver. He was unstoppable. He was, you know, he was the key piece, you know, that our, you know, we had good players all over and could have been successful, but Marshall was different. And it was unlike anybody else, like you said, that played. We could put him anywhere.

He was our ultimate pawn. You know, we could line him up outside. He could run routes like a wide receiver. I mean, it was – and, Julian, back to your point about the best offense, that I think what also really made us special was the way we played offense. Like, we would have 225 pass plays going into a game. You know, it was our level of execution and timing. Even though we had great players, we played so efficiently

and we did so many things efficiently and well and different that that to me is I think what sets us apart from some of the other teams. Not that there weren't other unbelievable offense that you can make your argument for. It was just, we were just a finely tuned machine. And it was all about timing and me letting it go. And then here comes Isaac just running out of nowhere. We just, we had the guys to be able to run a system like that

where it wasn't just, let me throw it up to Isaac and he'll jump over somebody and make a play. You know, it was designed in a certain way that really made that group unique with all the things that we did. Steps and timing, the old West coast. And the fact that they could have 225 plays a week, that tells you how smart their players are to be able to execute that many plays. So that means everyone's got to work together.

And if you have a team that's smart, I mean, I've been, i've been that's you know that's that's the reason why we won a lot you know we had guys that could change personnel groups different you know formations and you scheme up all this stuff like that's an advantage yeah you know a lot of teams can't do that a lot of teams have you know 14 and there's different philosophy in how to coach. A lot of guys say, hey, this is what we do. We do what we do, and come beat us. It's just there's different philosophy. That's a testament of smart football play. No question, because 225 plays, you can't practice 225 pass plays in a week.

You don't get enough reps in practice. So we would have plays that we would run in games, and we'd throw touchdowns on, and we'd never ran in practice. Wow. To your point, you know, we would have plays that we would run in games and we'd throw touchdowns on and we'd never ran in practice. Wow. To your point, it would be like we'd draw it up and we'd talk about it and these guys were so smart and were willing to put in the time and go, okay, I'll learn that play even though we didn't run it in practice. Sure enough, defense gives us something, Mike wants to call it,

and our job is to go execute it. And so that kind of stuff was so much fun because it's like how do you know how's somebody gonna stop us like we got all these plays we got all these things to pull from about these great players and then we got smart guys that no matter what we need to do in the moment we can adjust and make those adjustments and go out and execute it was it was so much fun to be part of that group. That's also, you know, the coaches having a big trust in the players because like the reason why you rep all this stuff is like throughout the week is so your coaches can sleep on Saturday before the game. They want to be able to see it.

They want to see it. They want to see the execution or in the walkthrough or in the, you know, the fact that a coach put something in and trust you to go out and do that, that means there's a trust between the players and coaches that was obviously so special that you guys are considered one of the best. That trust was incredible. We got to ask you. Oh, go ahead.

Oh, because the next year you play the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Tom is in kind of a similar situation as you're in. Do you see yourself in Tom a little bit that season, him stepping in for Drew Bledsoe? Well, I mean, obviously a lot of correlations from the standpoint of, you know, nobody really knew who we were. Nobody necessarily expected it. You know, Drew, I think he just signed his $100 million contract or whatever.

Maybe the first $100 million man. Trent had just signed his big contract with us when I ended up getting hurt. So I think there's definitely a lot of similarities there. You guys mentioned a little bit earlier, the difference was I had played a lot of football and I was 28 years old at the time. Wasn't just a second year guy coming out of college

to get in the scene. But of course, you know, there was there was definitely some similarities to how it played out. And then the fact that it played out, you know, so close together, you know, within two years of each other, kind of the same thing happening. And then sure enough, they end up in the Super Bowl. And obviously, Tom ends up leading his team to a win in the Super Bowl, you know, a late win in the Super Bowl. And obviously, Tom ends up leading his team to a win in the Super Bowl, you know, a late win in the Super Bowl. So there were so many correlations. And they beat you.

Or you guys beat them in the regular season. Yep. Yep. We beat them in the regular season. Then the Giants beat us in the regular – or we beat the Giants in the regular season. Then they beat – it's just – it's crazy. It's crazy, yeah.

How history repeats itself. Well, and then we got to ask you, you know, Coach Dick Vermeule, known as a crier, how many times have you seen him cry? You can't put a number on. Wow. You know, one of my greatest stories was I remember, you know, we were in the little training camp, and it was right around the times that they had to make cuts.

And, you know, we had this guy or a team that was like the fifth string tight end so like everybody knew the guy wasn't making the team like you know not the personal and we were all but everybody knew he wasn't making the team and you know i remember dick vermeil coming into our huddle after he had to release this guy and so you know for most of us it's probably probably like, oh, they're releasing him? Good, I got a better shot to make the team. But Dick Vermeule's in the middle of this huddle in training camp, and he's crying because he had to release our fifth team tight end.

And we're like, what's going on here? Like, what's really – it was just kind of a Peter inside of who Dick Vermeule was. Like, he was all about his players. He wanted what was best for all the players. He wanted everybody to truly make the team. Like, I know, you know, how much this hurts me that this guy, cause I think he's a great guy will not be able to fulfill his dream.

And so there was story after story like that with Dick Vermeer that you just, you know, he's just such a phenomenal individual. And I remember when I was playing for him, I talked to guys that played for him when he was a high school coach. And they would tell me how Dick would call him every two weeks. And they still had a great relationship. And, you know, always wants to call and know what's going on. I mean, he's just such a unique individual that truly was,

as a head coach is, should be, out for every single one of the players. That was the most important thing, is each one of these guys individually trying to help them to achieve the best of what they can achieve. And so I was very, very fortunate to be around a guy like that. And, you know, I think my greatest compliment for him is that, you know, when people ask me about my coaches, that's kind of the first guy that comes to mind, you know, and I've had some great coaches over the years, but it's the first guy that comes to mind. And when I go back and

think about it, what you have to realize is you can count my year before we won the Super Bowl, but, you know, I was third string guy, whatever, wasn't in that role i i only played one year for dick for me like that year we won the scene he retired right after that super bowl so in my mind the first thing i think is oh yeah you know coach for meals the coach i think about like we were together forever we had this great relationship and i have to actually sit back and go oh my gosh we were together for one year that was the kind of impact that this man had on me in one year because of the person that he was more than the coach that he was. And that, to me, is probably the greatest compliment that I can give.

Don't bring up how little time you spent together because it might make him cry. So we don't want to – Yes. That's a good leader, though. I mean, that's leadership right there when you care that much. That's going to make it contagious for other players to want to be able to work hard for.

I love that he cried so much. You're like, what happened? Did you just watch Schindler's List? He's like, now we cut the fifth string tight end. That's what happened. Exactly. Exactly. Well, what about the bob and weave?

Did you ever do the bob and weave? Did you ever hop in? I only did it one time, June. So first of all, I'm way too slow so you know we scored from a long ways away oftentimes so bob and weave is usually over by the time i got to the inside um but i i did try to stay out of it i kind of you know tried to let that be the other guys thing is that you know whoever scored and then our offensive linemen love to run down there and try to jump in and be a part of that bob and wheat and so i want to take the shine that's a that's a leader telling you he's inspiring me right now the guy just you just inspire me it was

fun to watch everybody you know just enjoy that moment like i you know i got enough you know the spotlight for different things and for what I was doing that season. It was fun for me to watch those guys have their moment and those guys get together. But that actually came from the late, great Frank Gans. It was a great special teams coach in the league. He was unbelievable in terms of the way he motivated guys, you know, quarterbacks never go to special teams meeting, but whenever we didn't have our own meeting,

we would find our way in there because he was so great with motivation. And so the Bob and Weave came from a video of Muhammad Ali that he was showing the guys, trying to get them fired up for something that, you know, it was Bob and Weave and him always dancing around and moving. And somehow out of that is where we came with this Bob and Weave, which was, you know, kind of a boxing reference um

but that became you know our kind of symbol of what we were all about and bob and weave and kind of like you know muhammad ali you know we're kind of the pretty ones you know we're the greatest show on turf and it was kind of a fun little mantra for our guys because we kind of played very similar to way muhammad ali boxed yeah that's, I never knew that. I didn't know it came from Ali. I got a quick, quick question and we got to settle something. You know, we had a little interaction on social media recently about the gloves and you know, I want to apologize, but I do want to let you know, you were one to know in a Superbowl where you didn't have a glove, and then you lost a Super Bowl when you had the glove.

So technically I'm not wrong on it? I mean – Why'd you go to glove? You can have your preference. It's actually a – it's a great question and a great story. You lose grip strength? Well, when I was in St. Louis, I suffered a number of hand injuries. And – There it is.

That happened to me in La Quinta Inn recently. A lot of speculation on, you know, why I ended up not staying in St. Louis after that. But here's what happened, Julian, is that, you know, when I would be out there practicing and throwing the football, and even when I played after some of those hand injuries, I was completing 67, 68 percent of my passes. I was completing the balls that I expected myself to complete in practice, all of this stuff. But I remember reading an article that said, you know, and again, I'm sure it was more speculation than anything. There was no way to back up the facts, but basically saying, oh, the Kirsten I didn't say Lewis anymore was because he suffered these hand injuries and he doesn't have the same strength and can't control the

football like he did before. And so part of me, like I think a lot of athletes want to do is we want to take that, you know, article and rip it up and throw it away. And it's like, that's a bunch of BS. Like, I don't know what they're talking about. All they got to do is come out and see me throw blah, blah, blah. The other part though,

the other part, but the other part said, what if, what if there is a little bit of spruce to this, you know, what could I possibly do? Right. And I think to me,

that's what, you know, we all want to be as great players is like, I know what I can do, but is there something, Tony, your point earlier, is there something that's holding me back? Is there something that's possibly stopping me from being the best that I could be?

Yeah. And so, so when I got to Arizona, I actually wasn't starting at the time, but I went like on a nine week quest, trying all the different gloves, like a sticky wide receiver gloves. I've ended up watching Ben Roethlis play on a monday night in cold weather so ben in cold weather every once in a while i would throw a glove on with the leather the leather gloves yeah the old leather gloves and so i'm like hmm never even thought about that i didn't even know they made them at the time so i went and got myself some leather gloves and went through the process,

started to get comfortable with the gloves. And I'll never forget that Matt Liner was playing. He got injured, you know, second to last game of the year in 06. And, you know, so obviously I was going in. I heard my quarterback coach coming over to me and going, hey, Coach Green wants to know, are you really going to play with those gloves? Because I had never played in a game with the gloves before. I had just been experimenting in practice.

And I'm like, two games to go. We're not going anywhere. I mean, I've been trying this out. We've got to give it a shot. So I played in that game, played really well, played really well in the last game. And then I said, okay, this is a full-time thing now. So from then on, i got the gloves i wore the gloves and before you ask that question jules i'm just going to say to this day i have

no idea if the gloves help me or not like there's one thing there's not one thing i could point to to say oh yeah when i put the gloves on like it's really well better than i did i don't know but my whole point was it didn't hurt me so and i wanted to make sure that nothing held me back from being able to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. And so it all led back to that one article where someone was critical of me going, hey, I got to challenge both sides. And that was in 2006. I was at Kent State 2006, 2007, 2008. And I was playing quarterback. I remember seeing him wear a glove so i went and wore a glove

and the reason why i always said i don't want to go with the quarterback who's wearing a glove because then i was only doing it because i couldn't throw like i couldn't grip the ball i wasn't a good thrower so i was trying to get anything like he said to get a pretty high passer rating high passer rating but it's different but. So going back to the point of me not liking quarterbacks with gloves, because I was that quarterback that was already pre-snap thinking, hey, is this glove going to work? If I'm thinking about my glove, if I'm thinking about my grip, how am I supposed to read a defense, get a play communicated, go out?

That should be the last thing I'm thinking about. So I don't know. You know what I mean? So that's why I went on that. I just wanted to apologize. I didn't want to offend you. There's more for other guys. Don't put your mindset on me, Jules. I was never worried about whether I was going to be able to make a try.

That never crossed my mind when I went up to that. So just because you had that mind, that was not my mindset. I know, but I've also thrown with thousands of quarterbacks and anytime a guy comes on with the glove, I mean, I've done a little data analysis. Okay, let's go. Bring it on.

Bring it on. I'm waiting. We're going to go out. We've got to run some routes. I've been training with some young guys, and so I've got to throw it every once in a while. Let's go. I'm ready. I'm ready.

I've been training. Let's go. You've been such a great. You've been set on the double gloves and the quarterbacks that you want to play. Well, dude, you've been such a great guest, Kurt. We really appreciate you giving us your time, and this was such a fun game to revisit.

Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it, Kurt. Thanks for having me. And I really do mean when I say he's like just his story, the man he lives, like the guy he is with his family, his on-the-field performance, his off-the-field performance, just his ability to be a great man is really, truly inspirational. I'm a better man.

I think I hit you once. I hit you up one night. I think I may have had like a cocktail of me. I saw a story about him. I was like, damn. I DM'd him like, Kurt Warner, I just want to story about him. I was like, damn, I got, I DM'd him like Kurt Warner. I just want to say you inspire me. Do you remember that?

I do remember. Yeah, I do remember that. I love a shit face, Julian, just hitting you up like, dude, you're the best. It's cool. At the end of the day, right? I mean, we can have our great performances in Super Bowls, but I think at the end of the day, we realize those come and go and players come that are

better than us. You can leave some kind of impact and impression on the people around you, then that's when you've really wanted the game alive. So I appreciate moments like that. All right. Well, thank you so much, Kurt. It was a pleasure talking to you. Appreciate you, guys. Thank you for coming on. How crazy

was the year before Tom Brady gets his opportunity by the starting quarterback getting knocked out, the same exact thing happens for Kurt Warner with Green. What is his name? Trent Green. Yeah, that's got to hurt that you don't remember his name. Like, you're not forgetting Kurt Warner's name.

Yeah, and that's a my bad because forgetting kurt warner's name yeah and that's a that's a my bad because trent green does a lot of our games we've had production music he was a really good football player but terrific quarterback but he's not kurt warner well everybody could have been could have a lot of its opportunity right coulda shoulda woulda coulda shoulda woulda there's an old saying i hope your co-worker doesn't hear that that's painful i know it's but it's, I mean, that's the realistic. Yeah. You know, Kurt Warner goes on, gets MVP of the season, MVP of the Super Bowl.

Yeah. And then is part of one of the most legendary offenses of all time, which he does believe he could dominate. Did he say dominate in this year, this league? Yeah, I agree, don't you? This league now, 2022. That offense, don't you think they could still dominate? They'd be pretty good.

They were built for it. They were going to spread them and shred them. Let's get five wide. Let's get Marshall Falk on an insane matchup against a linebacker and let him do his work. The linebackers would cover a little better now, though. Yeah, true. The linebackers would cover a little better now, though. Yeah, true. You know, the league has changed.

Back in those days. But they changed because of a team like this. Because of this team. Yeah. And honestly, it's really because of the 49ers. That's what happened back in 85 when they threw out the bare defenses, an old 46. Yeah.

And the Niners came out, and they were the team that were spreading the ball out. They were getting two, three-yard passes and getting catch-and-run plays, which, you know, that's where it really started. They moved on and developed it into their little shtick of their day. Shtick. Shtick. I've never heard anyone describe football as shtick.

This is how you know you've got two Jews running a podcast here. What shtick are youick that's i've never heard anyone describe football this is how you know you get two jews running a podcast here what shtick are you planning for the next play the offensive shtick i think uh it learned a lot from kurt warner for one thing he did not care for my masturbation humor uh that did not go over well he's a god guy he's a god guy he's a god guy he's a god guy really that doesn't land with them all i really blew it there that was uh i really i really bombed for a legend uh no he's a he's a he wasn't professional though you see how he didn't really show you no that like he didn't like it but he he kind of you saw it in his eye and then he kept it he kept it moving he didn't he didn't acknowledge it which almost hurt more than disgust.

Where you're just like, oh, you're nothing to me. I'm like, all right. But no, he's incredible. He was fascinating. We learned for the over-under, for the prop bet, Dick Vermeule crying. It was supposed to be 3.5. It sounds like it was more than 3.5, but we didn't get a number. Can we go to the books?

What do you think? We're going to count it as a win. As a win as a win now if this was a if this was in vegas right now and i was running a casino i would say that's fucking bullshit really yeah you didn't give no number i would maybe i'd maybe issue a push a push he said countless countless i believe it sounds like the number was huge is what i'm guessing because he because he cried about a guy a fifth tight end getting cut. So that's got to be like, if you're crying about that.

What a man with a heart. Maybe. Maybe he's just a bitch. No, no, he's clearly a good man. I remember. He's a wonderful man. Isn't he the one who gave Vince Papali his opportunity with the Philadelphia Eagles? I believe that's right.

You know how LT used to send hookers to the opposing team? Maybe the opposing team would send Dick Vermeule a copy of Marley and Me or something. Just break him. Just break him before the game. What do we got, Jackie? Jules, I got a quick six degrees of separation stat check here. Dick Vermeule, 1963,

on the coaching staff at the College of San Mateo. CSM, Bulldog, baby. They do have a picture of old Dick Vermeule in the Bulldog locker room, framed right next to old John Madden, right next to Bill Ring. A lot of great people came out of College of San Mateo. Shout out, Matty-O.

Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog. Wow. Is the greatest show on turf the best nickname for this offense? I mean, that's probably the greatest nickname for an offense. Yeah. That's pretty tight. Back in those days when you had a team that played on AstroTurf, the game's almost – it's a faster game.

Yeah. And that's what that offense was. You just saw speed, guys running across the field, crossers, catching runs, these old, like, Jerry Rice-type plays because they did have that West Coast offense, which was, you know, when Bill Walsh came out and started back in Cincinnati, so it should technically be called the Midwest offense.

How about, like, Marshall Falk now? Because he's, like, would he be, be like a Debo Samuel type of guy now? Or what do you think? He runs like better routes than 30% of the league at receivers run. Yeah. So, I mean, he's,

he was a matchup problem and he definitely have, he'd be one of those guys that you designed to get the ball to give them out. Like, I mean, that's what they did though. Screen game, draw game, you know, little ram routes across the middle on a linebacker, little option routes on the outside to, you know, against the linebacker seam routes.

And we used to do a lot of those types of throws in New England with our third down running backs. You know, started with Kevin Falk, went to Danny Woodhead. Shout out who might I think he's he might qualify for the u.s open i think he's close let me check in on danny here but uh another really good like route running uh running back shane vereen and now james white which we saw earlier in one of our episodes you know these guys that are just matchup problems because they can run routes but also you can give them the ball in between the tackles yeah absolutely who would play who would play you in a movie julian because we had uh kurt warner had the shazam dude who's playing julian

edelman i would want denzel washington to play me are we talking like malcolm x denzel or like training day training day training day alright he had to be crooked to took it what lyric was that I forgot you remember what song I forgot

what song is that let me check in on that thank you is that your favorite Denzel movie I love John Q never saw it it makes you

if you send that to Dick it'll make him cry I'll tell you that right now it's when you know he's got the sick son he's got cancer and it puts him

in a desperate situation where he has to rob the hospital to even to get his son, you know, some treatment. Oh, wow. And so he like,

like, like holds a stand up and hostages and I don't know. That one really touched me. I love all of Denzel. Denzel's one of the best. Who's playing me?

I don't know. Who's playing you? I have no idea. no idea hmm adam carolla what do you think who would play you yeah we're gonna get back to who would play you i would just cast you you really yeah you act now you're in the joker you're the one who made the joker become crazy everyone says that you're the stand-up comedian that put the joker into an insane mindset hey you're the stand-up comedian that put the joker into an insane mindset hey you know joaquin won the oscar could have been me who was nominated you never know best supporting actor yeah we have we have an oscar nominated in our hearts supporting actor on our squad right now that's how my agent's gonna push me for greece in our

hearts he was nominated like we don't know what that means no one knows what that what else so warner and that's definitely that was a pretty that's a that's a cinderella story oh yeah it's crazy i mean this is this is a miracle team type of thing i mean this is no one that saw it coming he's on the bench like it's cool to see a quarterback become a star like that and we we saw it back-to-back years, as we said, with Warner and then Brady. Bagging groceries to hoisting one Lombardi. Pretty crazy. I watched that movie. That's why we had all the questions about that.

I was flying, and I watched the movie R&D for this interview, and it was awesome. Jack, do we forget anything here? One clarification, it is Boston Common, not Boston Commons. Jeez. Who said that? I'm a Boston guy. You said that?

Yeah. Damn. But don't you call it the Commons? I think Common. I mean, what have I been saying? My favorite rapper is Common Sense. I swear I've said that to people in Boston. They're like, yeah, I'll meet you over there.

Where? The garden area? What's the other side? The duck pond? We got the duck pond? We got the duck pond? You got the duck pond. You got the public garden. Public garden.

Be skating through there all the time. On my little electric board. Oh, we got a stat check on Denzel there. That was, the line is from the movie, but then it was also referenced in Jadakiss' 2000 song. That's what it was. Jadakiss. 2004, why?

In the song. Jadakiss was good. I liked Jadakiss. We that's what it was 2004 why in the song jadakiss was good i like jade we used to listen so i was a california kid so and from the bay area growing up we would listen to like the hyphy music like mac dre mac maw uh e40 andre nicotina and so when i went over to kent state in ohio full call full california kid and then there's a kind of a cult following Andre Nicotina. And so when I went over to Kent State in Ohio, full California kid, and it's kind of a cult following of our music over in that area, I linked up with a bunch of guys from like Maryland, Virginia, and they introduced me to Jadakiss.

Classic. You probably listened to him, right? I love Jadakiss. Yeah, New York guy, right? I mean, he was killer. I remember he and 50 had beef, right? Remember that? Yeah. I mean, I remember all that.

Great, great. I mean, I enjoyed them both. What was his sound? It was like, It was something like that? That was pretty good. It was something like that. Julian's got crazy range in so many ways.

That was impressive. I remember that. Is's got crazy range in so many ways. That was impressive. I remember that. Is that the sound jack? I believe so. I was a little more partial to Pusha T's. Yeah. But still a good one. Okay.

Everyone had a scene back in that day. Yeah. I can't do it. Little John. Yeah. What else do we have, Jay? I'll run through a quick little list here. London Fletcher, 256 career starts, one of only five players to never miss a game.

That's insane for a linebacker. Linebacker. Yeah. How many Pro Bowls does he have? I think he only had one. To be a guy that has to plug up the hole, and he wasn't like a big guy. He was like a smaller linebacker, came from a small school. There's just like big bodies around

you could like it's not even the fact that you're contacting all the time there's like ankles that come up when you get rolled up on or your knee or when you're pushing the pile guy hits you or you know there's like so many variables that are just going on the field to not get hurt yeah i mean that's that's that's all that's honestly that's like kiss by god london made four pro bowls four i mean he's a john carroll guy john carroll four pro bowls is impressive john carroll shout out we had like half of our staff was from john carroll i believe daniel mcdaniels is there josh mcdaniels dave ziggler jerry he always gets mad when I don't put him in that group. Ohio school. Yeah.

D2? D3. That must be crazy rare. I mean, that's insane. It's very. There's very few guys that come out of, you know, Division 2, 3. They got that, I think, Mount Union's over there, which is a huge Division 2 team in Ohio.

But that's a big, like, coach school. A lot of coaches come from that school. So, London Fletcher must have had some of those smarts to stay healthy. Damn. Avoid that stuff. iowa but that that's a big like coach school a lot of coaches come from that school so london fletcher must have had some of those smarts to stay healthy avoid that stuff all right i'll hit these real quick we talked about the guardians uh in cleveland they're named after the guardians of traffic which are yeah monolithic art deco sculptures um they're on the bridge bridge yep we know their fan base real well Oh good Art Deco

This is what we want to scream for Piss drunk in the afternoon Dude how about Major League How great were those movies They would be like wild thing The guy in the stands Hitting the drum They'd have bags on their head

Let's get Charlie Sheen on here and do Major League. That's a game with names. Or you can get Willie Mays Hayes. Remember Danny gave a reference to that in our interview with all the gloves? I'll give a little shine to the Rams' defense that year. They were fourth in the NFL in points allowed, first in run defense, and tied for the lead league with 57 sacks. We also mentioned Drew Bledsoe.

He signed the biggest contract in NFL history that year, 10 years, $103 million guaranteed. First $100 million contract gets hurt. The rest is history. Tom Brady's going for number eight in 2023. And then I got a quick update on our man Danny Woodhead. He advanced in the local qualifier in Omaha, so he's one step away from qualifying for the U.S. Open,

which will be held at the Country Club in Brookline. Brookline, Mass. There's an old story that they wouldn't let Brady in. What? Said he was too popular. They don't want that distraction. I heard he had to get in through his wife. He didn't tell me that.

I never asked him that. That's what I They wouldn't let Tom Brady in because he was too popular? Yeah, you know the country club people. What a backhanded That's like a woman being like, I'm not going to fuck you. Your dick is too big. I'm not doing it. That's ridiculous. It's Tom Brady. He's a legend. Yeah.

He's a Boston legend. I think he got in, but he may have been waitlist. It's Tom Brady. He's a legend. Yeah. He's a Boston legend. I think he got in, but he may have been wait-list. I don't know. Who wait-list Tom Brady in Massachusetts? That's crazy. That's what I've heard. Did you guys hear that story, or am I completely wrong? I remember it, yeah.

That's crazy. The Brookline Country Club. Well, shout out to Danny Woodhood, who texted me earlier this week asking for Tom Brady to sponsor him with Brady Brand. I said, hey hey we'll give you some je11 dude what's going on but then i'll forward your your message to tom too uh probably a good thing i didn't get many chicks my freshman year of college because i had a danny woodhead fathead on the wall of my dorm room that's when fatheads became huge. Your wood head prevented you from getting wood head.

I'll blame it on that. Last, we got two stat corrections. Kurt was technically a second year QB that year, as was Tom Brady when he made the Super Bowl and played against Kurt. But they both didn't play, though, right? Yeah, they didn't play. This is their first time. Right.

So technicalities here. So name the game. Is it the longest yard, the reach game, the greatest show on turf, the tackle? I mean, to me, it's the longest yard because the greatest show on turf, that's the team. Team. Yeah. Yeah, it's got to be the longest yard because Burt Reynolds,

the longest yard back in the 60s, they redid it with Adam Sandler. And Rock. And Rock. Yeah. That was fun, fun remake. Did you see that picture of Eli and Peyton next to the Rock, how tall those dudes are? No. They dwarfed him. Really? Yeah, dude. That was fun. Did you see that picture of Eli and Peyton next to The Rock, how tall those dudes are? No.

They dwarfed them. Really? Yeah, dude. It's crazy. They're really tall dudes. People don't realize they're like a tall 6'5". Wow. Yeah, I mean, Peyton seemed tall.

Eli, for whatever reason. He just wears it. He wears it. You know, he's sneakily tall. Sneaky 6'5". It's nuts. I mean, that helps you be a great quarterback. You could see over people, right?

Yeah, I mean, there's guys that do it shorter. I was always a small quarterback. I didn't always think that, but it's true. It's definitely true. You can see. You see a lot more. Let's score this bad boy. We got to score.

What are we doing? So stakes, it's a Super Bowl. You got to go high, right? It's got to be high. What are you saying? 9-5, 9, Super Bowl. It's got to be like a 9-5 because it wasn't like a back-to-back Super Bowl. There was like, you know what I mean?

And they went back the next year. Yes, they went back the next year. Now that one, the stakes would have been, if they won it, probably higher than this one. So we got to go, what, 95? We'll go 95. Star power is pretty damn big. I mean, we're looking at McNair, recognizable name.

Eddie George, Marshall Falk, Kurt Warner. We've named all the names. I think Bruce. I think, was Eddie George on the cover of Madden this year? He might have been. It's either this year or the year before. Eddie George was a monster. I loved the Tennessee Titans because of Eddie George.

Yeah. He was one of my favorites. I would play with him a bunch. What was this, Madden 2000? He was on Madden 01. So it was after this year's. Yeah. But the big running backs of this era, I remember being like Falk, Eddie George, Edrin James.

Edrin James. There were some badass running backs. Well, yeah, the running back probably had- Sean Alexander. The running back was more relevant then. Towards the end of the ground and pound type thing, you had Bettis. Remember Jerome Bettis?

The boss. You had Garrison Hurst, and you had early Frank Gore. It's coming back. It does. That's pendulums. It's coming back. Because once you start getting these small- Saquon. Yeah, could be. It's It's coming back. It does. That's pendulums. It's coming back. Because once you start getting these small.

Yeah, could be. It's got to come back. Come on. We drafted a running back very high. Please come back. Well, it has to. I mean, that's why you see the Patriots. They are always running the ball because linebackers are so much smaller now.

Yeah. It's harder to plug up. They're built for speed. These guys are fast. For sure. So, you know, it's a matchup thing. How's your team going to plug up those. They're built for speed. These guys are fast. For sure. So, you know, it's a matchup thing. How's your team going to match up? That's why all these coaches are so obsessed with running the football.

Running the football. Running the football. Star power. Where are you going? Like nine? It's a lot. Yeah, it's a nine. It's a nine.

It's a nine. Gameplay. You know, the first half was, like Kurt said, they just couldn't get it in the red area. They couldn't score. But then that fourth quarter does, you got to give it props. Lights out. Yeah.

McNair play, unreal. McNair and Eddie George in the second half are amazing. Eddie George, but also Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce linking up on that, giving them a lot of time. You remember? That was gameplay. I'd say we have to go a nine. Yeah, nine is fair.

It was so like the last play. The last play is crazy. You were at the edge of your seat. Did he score? It made it here for a reason. And it's not just the names. It's a crazy Super Bowl. And then the name. It's tough because the longest yard, you mentioned the movie.

So that does hurt the name a little bit. Kind of hurts it. But isn't that what you think of when you think of the longest yard? But you don't think of this. Like the greatest show on turf it's unbelievable nickname but it's not the game it's not the game i'm going like eight for the name yeah we'll go eight what's that give us an average this is still a high ass total 8.875 that's a high score 8.8 yeah that's like a bb plus depends on who set the curve high b plus we could round up to 8.8. Yeah. That's like a B+. Depends on who set the curve.

High B+. We could round up to 8.9 here, right? I mean, well, this is a classic game. Kurt Warner was a great guest. That's all for this episode of Games with Names, presented by Winbet. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you to our sponsors. Follow us on social media, at Games with Names.

I'm Sam Morrell. And I'm Julian Edelman. And we'll see you next time folks History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th,

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