Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - AD Swings a Helmet, Rookie Preseason Standouts, and Rodgers on Rogan

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Geoff kicks off today's show by responding to comments one television personality made about Geoff's tweets this past weekend. In the process, Gabe and Geoff examine Aaron Donald's helmet-wielding practice fight from every angle, and Geoff explains why he's firmly in the anti-helmet-swinging camp. Plus Geoff tells you whether to believe in the top rookie performers of the preseason, and Gabe shares what he learned after listening to three hours of Aaron Rodgers and Joe Rogan. Then, on Moving the Line, Tom Brady is still back, Vanderbilt is unfortunately not, and no, the Browns did not have any weed on their sideline.As always, be sure to leave a rating on the episode if you enjoyed, and follow the pod to get notified when new episodes drop Monday and Wednesday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's tuesday august 30th i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe goodwin this is jeff schwartz this morning you're powered by the varsity podcast network we have so much to get into we finally had a weekend of college football the nfl preseason is over and a top studio personality sort of called me out but in a weird way gabe how are you doing buddy you are uh looks to be that you're still not in this country. So it's, you basically live overseas now. I live overseas, but yeah. News of, of, uh, of your beef. I'm not really a beef news of somebody else's beef with you made it across the pond. Also, I should say, I want to, I want to put this out there. I am the one person in sports media who gave a full three hours to

Aaron Rogers and Joe Rogan. I listened to every word of it. I'm here to report on it. We will get to that. But first, I don't know whether this is serious or not. There's some serious words thrown into this first topic. There might be some serious feelings in it for you. I'm not sure. But I do. I just want to be careful how I set this up. so you posted a tweet after this fight happened between the rams and the bangles and uh you know aaron donald was swinging a helmet around and you said quote fights happen we know that and accept it however swinging a helmet is out of control and dangerous he should be suspended now i i didn't even notice that as an extra special tweet i just thought that was a pretty fair summary of what happened. Yeah. Not very charged up. Then Stephen A. Smith, the notable personality you mentioned,

said, I'm just going to read what he said. Quote, I'm not accusing any analysts of racism or anything like that. I'm just telling them how we take it. Whoever sent that tweet out and whoever thinks like that. Now I want to see if you say that about the white dude that does it if i don't hear the same language if something like that happens with somebody white now i'm looking at you with a raised eyebrow and saying what the hell are you trying to say now this came because your tweet helped set up a topic on his show so he was definitely speaking about what you said who knows in the longer quote he threw my name in there like the Schwartz guy, whatever. Yeah, the Schwartz guy, whatever.

Yeah, look, the topic was basically about the Aaron Donald fight, and Ryan Clark and I disagreed on the suspension part of it, which is fine. I argue with former players all the time. Marcus Spears and I were arguing about the Kayvon Thibodeau cut block. I know RC very well. We trained together. We're in the same facility for a couple of years. Like, I like Ryan Clark.

And Ryan was using my tweet sort of along Adam Schefter's joking part about the assault. He's like, assault! And I think he did it as a joke because he said that previously about Miles Garrett. Like, it wasn't a serious thing. And Ryan used my tweet to kind of start the process of saying, like, we shouldn't call this a criminal thing I never did that's all I said about it I one tweet that was it one whole tweet Ryan I had an exchange about the suspension part Ryan mentioned I've seen a hall

of famer do it I don't think it makes it right like I was a hall of famer too and I just I was shocked when I saw this from Stephen A because it's just lazy, man. Like, instead of debating my point, which is, is it out of control and dangerous? Should he be suspended? Immediately accuses me of veiled racism. Like, I don't even know what, he's not racism. But guys, I'll say it right now, Gabe. If a white player swings a helmet at someone, they're also out of control and dangerous

and should be suspended. Like, it's not that hard of a concept. And so I just think it's kind of lazy, man. Like, and I think Stephen A. Smith works hard. We know that. He works a ton of hours. He does a ton of shows. He's very good at a lot of things.

But this felt like a really lazy take. Like, I don't know this guy. I'm going to accuse him of some veiled racism thing. That must be what this is about. I'm done with the topic like right because there's no other example there's no other example there's no other reason why he'd even bring this up in this sense other than i just didn't want to talk about this and i saw the guy was white in his tweet and i'm going to say this yeah i i don't know that i can defend it um i you

know listen i should mention i used to work with steven. I know him a little bit. We're not close. I don't know how well he would even remember me these days. This even felt out of character. I know that Stephen has a reputation for big takes and getting a lot of attention. I thought this was odd. So I suspect it really had very little to do with you. which is always a dangerous thing to do with people who are good at speaking for themselves. I would imagine that he feels many people in situations like this are unfair and careless with the words they use in describing a black player's way of behaving. And oftentimes, I think he would be right to point it out. But in this case, and with you, those felt like strange examples. I don't know anyone who could make the argument that what Aaron Donald did wasn't really, really dangerous and worthy of a discussion about a suspension. And I don't know why he would even imply racism with you, which is not even close to the truth. I agree with what you said about that, that that has been the case. And look, I know that previously, as I mentioned, Ryan Clark discussed the idea of people calling this assault, right?

And I get his point that, you know, there are languages used for different players of different races. I get all that. But again, to kind of throw in there, like, oh, this Schwartz guy, like, whatever. I want to see him say about this white guy. I'm like, what? Like, okay, I'll say about a white guy too i just thought it was odd and um i could have done the whole like twitter thing like call him out i just didn't i i i i guess i don't know man people i've had people be like you should call him out i'm like i what for what

purpose he's not going to answer me first of all and just it just brings more attention that again it was just a tweet like i said i was I was like in, I was in Vegas. I saw it happen, sent the tweet out, thought it was the end of it. The worst part, not, I mean, point where it was like, then I got picked up by some websites that I just, I don't want to be associated with having viewpoints of their websites. And now like, I hope I didn't cause some sort of, some followers to think, I think certain ways about subjects that I do not think about.

So, I'm hopeful that that was not the case. But, I thought it was kind of lazy, man. Like, just to lump me in with, you don't know me at all. You've never heard of me. I mean, I don't think, he would never have heard of me. I don't think he would ever have heard of me. But, Ryan Clark knows me well. And so, I think, I think Acho was there too.

I don't know Sam as well. But, I don't know. It's just very odd. But we can talk about what I said, which is dangerous, out of control, should be suspended. So here's the thing about fights. Fights happen all the time in training camp. We've talked about it on the show before. They're normal.

They happen. Two large men fighting in combat all day are going to get riled up. They're going to throw punches. I've been in fights. I've started fights. That'll happen. I was taught at a young age that you do not use your helmet as a weapon, that you do not swing your helmet at other players.

Look, when you fight, for the most part, no one's ever going to get hurt, right? The only time guys get hurt when they fight is when they have a fist, they punch a helmet, and they break their hand or their finger. You don't actually get hurt in the physical part of the fight. One time I had a fight in carolina a coach was uh in 2011 my offensive line coach big fight guy he wanted us to fight i wasn't playing well so i was i'm gonna start a fight today because i'm gonna like get on his good side started a fight and then in the middle of the fight my helmet got knocked off i got knocked to the ground from behind got punched in the face

like had a my cut above my eye like it's bleeding like that's that's like that's the most you're ever gonna have in a fight like again it wasn't let's put my helmet back on and continue to practice like nothing happens and the older you get to the the less you want to fight like you're like this is just too much work i'm not doing this right now and where this is different and and i agree with ryan clark saying look you know you're not getting suspended for things that happen in practice. Booker McFarlane said the same thing, and I agree with that. But this was a joint practice, right? This is different than just practicing with your own teammates.

Again, I wouldn't condone a helmet swing anyways. I remember in Carolina, too, we had an offensive lineman who got in a fight late in the season, like week 17, with a practice squad defensive end. It was coming for a while. The guy was going way too hard. He grabbed his helmet off the offensive lineman and was going to hit him with it and stop. He knew.

We're not going to do it. This guy had no helmet on. And did you see the picture, too, of Aaron Donald on impact? That helmet folded in half, man. It's a dangerous object. So the difference is, this happened in joint practice, which feels a little bit different than a regular practice, right? You're with another team and shame on the Rams and Bengals for doing a joint practice seven

months after the Super Bowl. Well, this is what was going to happen. Everyone's going to be pumped. You talk shit in practice anyways. Now, if a Bengals player talks shit to a Rams player, they're like, well, here's my ring. Like, you know, screw you. Like, what are you going to say to me? Of course, it'll be a fight. So I'm anti-swinging helmets. I have the same take about Myles Garrett, right? Long suspension. He should be suspended. So to me, and again, I'm not calling for one game.

Like one game. Like, dude, you can't do this. This shouldn't be allowed at practice. You're out for the first game. That's all I wanted the NFL to do. They're not going to do it, obviously, because they're not in charge of policing practices. But the out of control and dangerous part is absolutely true.

You're out of control and dangerous if you take a helmet and swing. Again, helmets fall off during fights. We all see it. 95% of us never pick the helmet up. 99% of us never even think about swinging the helmet. And yet he swung the helmet not once, but twice, made contact. And I thought that was out of control. And so you want to debate me on those points steven a ryan clark like again fine with me no problem with that but like calling me a uh what uh how would you describe it not a racist but

racist comment i don't know felt really out of line for what I said. Yeah, I'm obviously in your corner on this one. And, and I think it's a pretty serious accusation to make against essentially a colleague and a guy who doesn't have any kind of track record. Listen, if you were some guy known for trying to, you know, push these buttons and try, you know, speaking in these terms often and had like a long list of times where you said something that somebody might take the wrong way. All right. We know people like that. Easier to get after it. But this seems silly.

So fine. So who even would step in in the event that a suspension were going to happen? Who determines that? I'm confused. This feels like a weird area the rams do this is why and this is why as much as i have said the nfl should get out of the punishment business it's why they're in the punishment business right because the teams are never going to punish their own guys and so you know if you have a player that does this it's on the team

the rams are going to suspend aaron donald for the first game of the season thursday night football hosting buffalo he's not going to be out of that the first game of the season. Thursday night football, hosting Buffalo. He's not going to be out of that game. They'll fine him $100,000, tell him not to do it again, and maybe they never joint practice the Bengals again. You know what I mean? And the thing that's frustrating about the way we talk about sports is the no-nuance part of this, right? As I mentioned, if Aaron Donald had done this at Rams practice,

just standalone practice, Rams by themselves, I'd have a different reaction than I would have him doing it in joint practice versus different reaction than doing it in a game. And versus him doing it to a player without a helmet or with a helmet. Like if the player had no helmet on, that guy's in the hospital. Like this is, he is getting suspended then. I promise you that. Myles Garrett hit Mason Rudolph, a harmless quarterback, in the head without a helmet

on. That's serious. In a game, a harmless quarterback, in the head without a helmet on. That's serious. In a game. A quarterback. So there's different levels to this. And we do this thing in sports media. Well, I don't. That's why people listen to me.

Where it's like black or white. It's this or that, right? No suspension ever in practice for nothing ever. And people push back. And we're like, what if someone murdered someone in practice? Are they getting no suspension then? Because the NFL can't deal with it. Like, so there's got to be a give and take here, man.

And so to me, the excuses of, well, it was a practice. I get that. But it was a joint practice. It's different. Well, I saw a Hall of Fame player do it once. Okay. They didn't make it right, in my opinion. And like, we can debate that.

Like, that's fine. That's what sports debate is about. We disagree on something. Again, I've had plenty of discussions. I had one with Ryan Clark on Twitter the other day. Like it was fine. We know each other. Back and forth.

It's great. You know, me and Emmanuel Acho, we argue all the time on Twitter. Great. Back and forth. Like fantastic. So like I just think that it's never black and white really. There's always nuance to to discussions in football and this is one where it just got really i hate using the term black and white here but it

got situation where it was like all or nothing right where my take was that was not what my take was all right so last question on this and less about the you know you guys in the media more about what happened on the field so what is the if we're wondering why they even scheduled this you know inter-squad practice what would be the theoretical upside like what are you hoping for obviously you want a little bit tougher contact you want a little bit better competition you just don't want it to turn into a fight like it seems like you're trying to straddle a pretty complicated line here. So without the extra preseason games now, right,

it was only three, teams have turned now to joint practices to ramp up competition. There's also less practice time now, right? So you're less time in pads. And so they use these opportunities to get some working against someone else. And typically they match up with who you're playing, right? So the Rams and Bengals were playing in the preseason. And so they got this done. Also, a lot of times allows your starters

to not play in the preseason game, right? Because you get two days of padded practice against your opponent. You don't have to go then play the game. Like by that point, it's pointless for starters to play. You've done enough work. You know, ends up being where the monotonous part of camp where, you know, you just play your same team every day.

You get used to each other. Now it's boom. You play a different team. On the offensive side, you see different players, obviously, different schemes, different blitzes. It feels more game atmosphere. And I've only done one of these joint practices. It's a newer thing. And it was the most cordial thing ever.

We were in Detroit. We went up to Pittsburgh, played the Steelers in two joint practice like it was very I thought I was ready for fights Gabe year nine I was wasn't gonna participate in many of them but I was ready for them like I was ready to go and it just never happened I think because there was a respect level with Jim Caldwell and Mike Tomlin like the coaches said we're not fighting we're not fighting right like that's part of it too is a lot of times you see you know veteran coaches man like they just their teams don't fight as much like they just don't like you know fights waste time like they waste so much time that's why coaches hate them and they say they hate them because they do yeah do they like that there's a fire inside of you of course

they do of course they like that you're not taking shit from anybody, but also a fight takes time. It wastes, you only get a certain amount of time on the field now. It takes up time. Like it takes five minutes, three minutes, whatever it is. And then you have to break guys apart. And then you typically have to throw guys out of practice for 10 minutes. So, you know, if it's an important player, they miss a whole period of practice. It's, it doesn't help you win. And so a lot of times veteran teams just don't do it. So we didn't have fights, but they're expected in these joint practices because you've got a lot of shit talking.

Again, you just pent up like anger. It feels more like a game because it's sort of a game atmosphere. You're not scripting things. You're going off the cuff. And so that's why these happen. I think they're going to keep joint practices. It's important, I think, for these teams to feel like they get some game reps, even though it's not a game. Fair enough. Well, let's get to some game reps from some guys we haven't seen as often as Aaron Donald. I will just

say that I think it was this really silly thing for Aaron Donald to do because I don't remember him having a dirty guy reputation, but I have a feeling for the first few weeks of the season, people will be paying a slightly closer attention to how he is in the trenches. And if he, if he pushes someone or he starts yapping, I don't think they're going to look the other way, the way they might have for the rest of his career. They give him the benefit of the doubt before. I don't think they will the first quarter of this season, but who knows? No. All right. Let's talk about some rookies. So we, you know, we spent a lot of time, you you and i and probably just about everyone in our business here crapping all over the quarterback class this year none of us were all that impressed we weren't really sure it was worth

reaching to go get anyone well for whatever it's worth in the little bit that we saw in the preseason most of those guys that look pretty good so i'm gonna start with malik willis who is the guy i was the most skeptical of but has had you know according to many the best preseason but desmond ritter is competing potentially for a job at some point this season you know sam howell's out there kenny pickett looking okay why do you think we sort of downplayed these guys so much and then they started to overachieve in the preseason or Or is it, come on, it's the preseason, who cares? Well, all your opinions on players, your kind of biases come in, right?

So like if you had Malik Willis, it's like, I don't know if he can play. And then he played pretty well in the preseason. You're like, oh, okay, well, look at him go. If you thought he was going to be good, you're like, see, I told you. I told you he was going to be good. If you thought he was going to be bad, you know, maybe you, I told you. I told you he was going to be good. If you thought he was going to be bad, you know, maybe you're just like, well, this is a preseason.

It's just a preseason, right? I think that's the hard part about all this, right? With less and less starters playing in the preseason, it really is hard to judge what exactly you see. The preseason used to have a very familiar script, right? It was week one. Maybe the starters play a quarter, and you game plan a tiny bit like day before you just get general sense here's the basic stuff they run and then in the game too there's maybe you know i'm talking about offense lineman perspective right like you see base defense

and you might see one blitz the same blitz all game like they put in or they put in two blitz they put in the saw right the sam and mike off the edge sam sam will off the edge or they put single backer pressure, like you have one a game or two a game, it's all you see all game, that's all they're going to do. Game two ramps up a little bit, right? You play the first half of game two, game plan an extra day, you game plan for two days,

you're a little more complex, and then game three is a game week, right? Game three you're playing one drive after halftime, so either you're done at the end of third quarter, middle of third quarter, and you spend four days game playing, like a real game. You do the install. And so, then game four, it's mostly the young players.

And so, there's kind of like a rhythm to it, right? So, you know, if you played well in certain moments, you were playing against the starters. And that's not the way it is anymore. So, Malik Willis, Desmond Ritter, Kenny Pickett, these guys, you don't know how much the other team has game planned. I don't know how much they've game planned. I don't know if you're playing the starters. Are you with your starting offensive line?

Are you not? These are hard to put together in the preseason. Now, that being said, though, it's good that Malik Willis has played well. It's good that Desmond Ritter has played well. It's good that Kenny Pickett, like these are all, it's not bad, put it like that. But also it's hard to tell because again, how much game planning went into this right now. Malik Willis is not going to start the season. I think Matt and I talked about this.

Ryan Tannehill's under for yards was like one of our favorite wagers because we just didn't think Tannehill was going to play all season. That actually has been my big takeaway is Malik Willis is going to play sooner or later because of his ability to just use his legs in bad situations. But they're playing the Giants in week one. The Giants are not going to have two weeks to prepare. Again, Malik Willis is not playing. But if they were, two weeks to prepare.

It's different than the preseason, right? Atlanta's playing New Orleans in week one, right? So if Desmond Ritter was going to start, which he's not, Mariota's going to start, again, two weeks to prepare, so it's going to be a lot different in week one. But again, it's good they're playing well. Like, never take it for granted when guys play well in the preseason. But it is worth noting, again, who they're playing against,

how much game planning, we do not know that. And that, to me, is where we stand with a lot of these guys. It's like, yeah, good job, but it doesn't really count at the moment. Okay. Then let me throw one follow-up on this about Willis, which is I hear you loud and clear on the game planning and what you can and can't learn from that. And obviously, you know, with all of these guys learning the difference, learning a playbook and learning the difference between NFL game and college game is hardest for a quarterback. But there is something to be said for just like, oh, shit, that guy's fast. We're like, yeah, oh, it translates.

Like because because we didn't know Malik Willis hasn't played against almost anyone who will ever make the NFL in his whole college career. And now he's running around. And by the way, when he when he did, he didn't play well. Like Ole Miss and stuff. He didn't play as well as... But I mean, even against Ole Miss, we're talking about a couple guys who might make the NFL. He's not played against people who can keep up with him.

Well, he ran pretty well. And you can't hide speed, right? Isn't that what they say? So like, I guess we've seen a pattern now of guys who are exceptionally quick and mobile but maybe not proven passers get uh doubted heading into the league i mean i don't have to point out lamar jackson um even jalen hurts to a degree like sure we could see something in common each of these guys are black guys but but other than that i think the mobile guys until

we see them run against NFL defenders we don't know if they're as athletic as we thought they were now do we know well I think with Malik you do and I think that's why he'll play earlier than later because you have a quarterback who's so kind of immobile and Ryan Tannehill is not immobile that's unfair I guess but he's not very mobile right and so you know, Ryan Tannehill doesn't have the capability to escape when there's issues, and there's a sense that Malik Willis can make those plays, right? If you're in a situation where

you're getting beat and your offensive line's not playing well, well, he can make you no plays. Now, in the end, I will always say that pocket passing is the most important attribute to have. Like, can you throw from the pocket? So, eventually he will have to develop that game a little bit better but nonetheless yeah he'll play sooner or later because he can move all right fair enough we we don't need to spend as much time on on howell i

don't think but pickett who the heck knows what goes on in pittsburgh this is going to be a weird year for quarterbacks after over you know almost two decades of. Did Pickett show you anything that's worth talking about? He looked good when he got the opportunity. It doesn't seem like he's going to start. Here's one thing to note, too, when it comes to some of these quarterbacks is, okay, so Malik Willis is not going to start, right, right away. Desmond Ritter's not either. That's good for them.

And I'll use the example of Pickett because if the Steelers start with Pickett, he doesn't play well, and they go to Mr. Biscay or I saw Mason Rudolph might be traded today, that you really, A, you're admitting this season's like a wash for that quarterback, right? Like they just don't have it.

But B, you're also kind of like admitting like, yeah, he might not be the guy. You need to let the quarterback work through the issues. If you start with him on the bench, what they're going to do with most likely Kenneth Pickett, Wills, and Ritter is then he can come in

at some point this season and now it's his team, right? Win or lose, play well or not, now it's his team. Like you've shown a month in, Trubisky's not your guy, bring in Pickett. Win or lose, he's your guy now.

12 games, get it done or not. Because you're typically not going to go back to Trubisky after that, right? Unless there's injury. So that's why I think you start with the young guy on the bench and you work him in when it's time. Because you don't have that pressure. This is why Jimmy Garoppolo needs to not be on the Niners roster. He probably won't be because you can't have that temptation

of going back to Jimmy Garoppolo if Trey Lance plays poorly. And again, with here, start with Ryan Tannehill, start with Marcus Mariota, start with Mr. Biscay or Mason Rudolph, and then add in the quarterback at some point, the young kid later this season

and let everyone know it's now his team. Yeah, fair. There is one difference though in Pittsburghittsburgh which is that mike tomlin doesn't have to worry about anything anytime soon like he can lose a lot of games even lose them badly and look like he was out coached he's not worrying about his job but i think a couple of these other teams with these quarterbacks who have to play that game of like, do you build in the excuse by going to the young guy and that gives you a few extra weeks of losing? Like, I wonder about that sometimes. So it'll be interesting to watch in Atlanta where they obviously have weapons for a quarterback to throw to.

Two guys who were great, great, great, all-time great college quarterbacks. Neither, well, one's a rookie in Ritter, another who has never been a great quarterback in the NFL in Mariota. That's a more interesting situation to watch for me because I feel like the coach has to really take some gambles. Agree? Yes, but it's also worth pointing out that these guys are third-round draft picks, right? Like, there's no call. Like, Kenny Pickett's going to be like, hey, we need to play this guy.

He's our young guy, right? We're trying the first call. Like, Kenny Pickett's going to be like, hey, we need to play this guy. He's our young guy, right? We're trying the first round. So, yeah. But, you know, Arthur Smith and Atlanta, they're really just building right now. And I think if he can get eight weeks out of Desmond Ritter to end the season and play as well, you feel more excited about what he's doing there. Like, Barnard is not their guy. Like, he's not going to play all season.

Okay. All right. Fair enough. You know, you did a great job of previewing the linemen going into the draft. Now you've seen a few of them play. I'll throw a few names at you. Did anyone stand out to you? Trevor Penning, obviously, a guy we've had an eye on.

He's hurt. So Penning's hurt for a while. Charles Cross has played really well. Evan Neal's played well. The Cowboys are moving Tyler Smith now from guard to tackle, which I don't like. He's played well. The Cowboys are moving Tyler Smith now from guard to tackle, which I don't like. He's played well at guard so far early on. I mean, it seems like a lot of young guys have come in pretty well

and done a good job, especially the early round guys. Linderbaum, your boy Linderbaum, finally back on the field this week. So it looks like we got some young players that are playing well. But again, the back to us about quarterbacks, like who are they playing against? I watched Charles Cross play, and I put it out on Twitter, he had an elite levelbacks, like who they play against. Like I watched Charles Cross play. Yeah. And he had put out on Twitter he had an elite level play, like just elite. But, you know, again, like I think his chest,

his opponent's chest too much. When you play week one, you're playing the Broncos, you got Bradley Chubb, like a little different, right? So I think that that's, you know, just we'll see how it goes. But I've been very happy with the young offensive linemen. All right. I'm going to transition us to – yeah, you need a second. I'm going to go pee real quick.

One second. Oh, he's going to go pee in the middle of the show. Interesting. We're going to leave this in. Jeff's going to pee. I'm thinking about all the crazy things I want to bring up from the three hours I spent listening to Aaron Rodgers and Joe Rogan. All right.

Sorry about that. I'm back. I'm back. I had to pee. I had to be prepared for the Aaron Rodgers talk. Let's do it. Yeah. Well, you got to be healthy.

And that was a big part of the three hours I listened to with Aaron and Joe Rogan. So, listen, I saw two or three things shared in social as like the big takeaways, at least for sports fans on what Aaron talked about. We'll get to those. Let's just set aside his views on COVID, how the NFL handled COVID, his own vaccination status, all the time we spent talking about that. I actually found the conversation very interesting, but I don't think there's any need for any of us to talk about it anymore.

Go listen to him. Things that did jump out, besides the fact that his ego is still massive and he has more of a Michael Jordan chip on his shoulder thing going on than anyone on the planet. With less playoff success, so cool. Yeah. Aaron is an exceptionally smart person. If you give him the benefit of the doubt, he is very thoughtful and like cares a lot about getting things right so he he got into an interesting topic and joe was knowledgeable about this when he started talking about painkillers and you know that the kinds of drugs that are

prescribed to athletes and he said that he had he had played while on percocets and i guess hard to define what he means by on perercocets, like in the game, but he spoke a lot about how often guys are prescribed drugs that we now know can be very, very bad for you if misused, and talks a lot about natural ways of curing pain. So I'm just curious, in 2022, Jeff, where do you think the NFL is going with its prescribing of painkillers to players and opening up to alternative ways to deal with pain? So I found his comments on that relatable, not really in the sense that I ever had to do that, but just knowing. I've been fortunate where I have not had to play a game on painkillers, but I've used Toradol before, which is not a bad. People, the thing around Tordol, like,

it's not bad if you don't abuse other drugs with it. Like, if you don't drink a bunch with Tordol, you skip your anti-inflammatory that day. Like, it's not a bad thing. Nonetheless, there are players I know that have used a lot of painkillers. I had a teammate one time ask me for my painkillers that I had for surgery. I wasn't using them. He asked me for them.

I gave it to him. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't have. I was young. A week later. He asked me for them. I gave it to him. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't have. I was young. A week later, he asked me for more and I was like, nope, don't have any more of those. I realized that that problem, like that guy has a problem. Like I realized that I never did that again.

No one ever asked me again, but I was like, yeah, I don't, I never took my, even after surgery, I didn't, the only surgery I ever take pain medicine after was at least like the first, after two days was my first ankle surgery. Like it hurt. And I had to take medicine for two weeks, mostly because you know, with painkillers, like the pain backs up on you. If you don't take them regularly,

it kind of just like catches up with you, especially at night, it's hard to sleep. So we have a job that's painful, man. And some guys have got to play on pain medicine. And they take it, again, because you have to take it the entire time. Otherwise, again, the pain backs up on you. You don't want to take it just on Sunday. It doesn't really give you much relief. And so it wasn't surprising to hear him say that.

And I liked the NFL finally basically said, we're not going to test for marijuana anymore. Because I've realized over the years, and I actually almost started smoking weed too during what i played my wife didn't let me i don't know why like we were i told her like we already the drug test is over like we used to be you test for weed once a year during in a period between long enough like 420 and the end of training camp and it's one test you passed your one test and that's it for the rest of the year for for street drugs i used to feel bad when i got the test early in the spring because i didn't smoke

weed like i wanted to donate my test to someone else like hey buddy like take take my test and you can start smoking weed again but like it's it's a good pain dollar like it helps and guys smoke a ton of weed as they should because it's better for you than taking Percocets. And late in my career, I remember I had a massage therapist who was telling me about it, and I was like, you know, I thought that's something I need to do for my ankle. I didn't do it. I actually wish I should have.

I kind of wish I would have. I wasn't taking pain medicine either. My ankle just hurt. Like, no pain medicine, no weed. I took Celebrex, some anti-inflammatory, some Indusyn, stuff like that. But, yeah, that did not surprise me, some Indusin, stuff like that. But yeah, that did not surprise me, Gabe. But I think the NFL has done a better job.

Again, they're not testing for weed, essentially. And obviously, they're not testing for psychedelics either because Aaron Rodgers appears to be on them all the time. And that, I mean, maybe there's more of that happening than I know of. I mean, guys micro-dosing and maybe there's guys on his team now that have learned from him about how to micro- micro dose and take psychedelics and have other ways. But again, I mean, I really, I don't really care. Like do what you got to do to play. Don't abuse drugs, I hope. But if you take a psychedelic, you take a mushroom, you smoke some weed, whatever, man. Yeah. Well, so they did get into that quite a bit uh yeah aaron seemed very eager to

discuss it with joe uh it seems like aaron's a big fan of joe uh and was very pleased to be on with him and say back to him a lot of things he's heard joe say um they did speak about it joe asked him if he thought other players in the league were taking psychedelics or if guys had reached out to him and he sort of implied that maybe so, but he didn't really go in there. The only really amazing part that came out of this, they got on a long tangent, and Joe often does, about how Santa Claus is a myth and it's actually a mushroom covered in God's semen.

That's what's... Aaron to this or Roger to this? Aaron to this or Joe? This was something they both seemed to have read about in some book somewhere. And it was like, that was the moment where I was like, maybe I didn't need to spend three hours listening to this. But that's, you know, for people to go listen to.

It was a pretty interesting conversation. And here's the other thing that jumped out to me. i'm curious if this ties back to football for you he he definitely remembers when people slight him right and he oh yeah he's claiming that he went on this psychedelic journey uh to like kill his ego and to to find kindness and to be a better person and to just kill the ego within. And I was joking to Hank earlier, like, I think he might need to do another round or two of ayahuasca then because the ego is not dead. You know, he's still absolutely sure he's right about everything and everyone else is out to get him and they're an idiot. And it comes across and I'm not even rooting against Aaron Rodgers, but it's just a strange psychology.

I've thought about this a lot. I mean, the biggest motivating factor in sports for individual players is that they don't believe in me, right? And I'm an underdog, even though, again, it's just not true. Aaron Rodgers in no sense is an underdog. Four-time MVP, twice in a row, Super Bowl champion, highest paid quarterback. Not highest paid, but highly paid quarterback. You know, he is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, maybe one of the best quarterbacks to ever play football, right?

Or he is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play football. But the arrogance also comes because he basically lied about his vaccine status, which again is, in his own like fine, whatever, he lied about the vaccine status, which again is fine, whatever, you lied about the vaccine status. Other people did too. But he got away with it, essentially, right? Nothing happened to him. He's taking psychedelics. Nothing bad has happened to him.

He's won two straight MVPs doing all these things that a lot of us have laughed at him about. And it's worked, because he's playing really good football. And so I get his arrogance, right? Gabe, like, screw you. I'm not getting vaccinated.

I won the MVP. It hasn't hurt me at all. I missed one game for COVID, right? Whatever. You know, again, I'm taking psychedelics. I'm happier than ever. I'm playing really good football. Like, all the things that we have, and again, we as broad,

laughed at him about, ends up he, the right one in the end. And that's what arrogance I think comes from along with him being very bright. Yeah. He's exceptionally smart. So here's the last thing that came out of it that I wanted your take on. And I don't think people would shout at him or laugh at him for any of this. He spent a lot of time talking about diet, making a bigger difference in his performance and his health than anything else that he could do. Right. So like, you know, and what he chooses to eat or not eat, it's not even worth me describing. But he basically described he's very, very careful with everything that he eats and things that he won't eat.

And he swears that that's cut down on inflammation. And that's why he's, apart from some freak injuries, that's why he's stayed very healthy and still playing at 38 and playing at a high level. Do you think that more and more guys are starting to think that way, that diet really makes a difference? Oh, yeah. Yes, by far.

When I came to the NFL in 2008, there was no talk about diets and eating healthy and making sure we get our greens. It's all changed now. Look, Tom Brady is 45. I know you dislike that guy. He is very relatable with some of his comments he made last week about his age and the issues he has at home.

But dude is still slinging the rock band at a high level. It works. Dieting and not dieting just lifestyle changes right eating better reducing foods that cause you inflammation inflammation you know slows down the recovery process it's all important i i am overweight i need to lose weight but you know i don't have sugar in my diet i don't do that many carbs and really helps my body feels good i don't i don't swell up very often i don't i lift a bunch i don't have problems working out like i don't have issue with soreness like it matters i think if you eat like shit you're gonna feel like shit and i think

athletes are understanding that their diet is important to them and their ability to be able to recover and play at top level all season long helps them be better players. Yeah, well, he seems very sure of that and everything that he says. I found the whole three hours to be interesting. And I don't know. I think there's a lot of nuanced ways to react to everything Aaron's been talking about for the last year and a half. But anyone who was super critical of him or maybe agreed with him should go listen and judge for yourself if this guy was just talking out of his ass or maybe he had a method to what others called a madness. But I found the conversation

interesting. So you mentioned Tom Brady. We're going to get to him in our moving the line game that comes next. We'll take a quick break. We'll come back right back. We'll do some over-unders. Next, we'll take a quick break. We'll come back right back. We'll do some over-unders. All right, here we go. Let's keep rolling. Tom Brady.

So he came back to training camp. You helped us debunk the Masked Singer theory. Yeah. There's a lot of other theories about where he's been. He did a press conference the other day and when asked about, hey, so where were you? Like, what was with the 11 days off? Like, what's going on? He gave this answer that basically summed up to like, guys, I got a lot of shit going on. I'm 45 years old.

Yeah. Yeah. So one theory that I'm going to ask you about is over under 0.5% chance he was just getting some face work done. A little eye lift. All right. He's not getting work done during training camp. Okay. Well, people are asking.

Smart people, funny people we like are thinking that's what it was. And his face does look like it's had some work done. But we're saying no to that, right? No. He wasn't there for family reasons. I've told you guys this for a long time now. He was not he just looks you know why his face looks even more defined as he looks fucking tired dude he looks tired because he he's there's a there's an off-air discussion about tom brady and there's an off-air discussion i'm not the one to be breaking any news on tom brady and

i'm not certainly gonna talk about. But the family thing is real. And he just looks tired, dude. Like, I think he's being legit honest about, like, I'm just tired, man. There's some family stuff happening right now. And it's been a long 11 days. I went home to deal with that. I'm back now.

But I just think he looked tired more than he looked like he had surgery. Okay, I agree with you. And I also don't want to get into guessing as to what that family stuff might be. But here's what I want to say. Nobody asked you to do this. You retired. You came back.

Like, I don't understand why his response to disarm the media is like, guys, I'm just 45, man. I got some shit going on. But then he still wants us every game this season to talk about how, can you believe at 45 he's still performing at this level which is it is it a is it miraculous and part of your legacy

that you're playing at 45 or do you need a pass for tough questions because you're 45 i i want it to be one or the other i don't see how it can be both i just love how much you hate tom brady it's like the best i don't I don't hate him. I hate the way he's covered. I really just hate the way he's covered. That's what gets lost in each of these conversations. He's just a guy, which he said, I'm just a guy. I got problems going on, but then just be a guy. Why, why are you still playing? Well, that's maybe why he was out for this time. There's some questions about, you know, why is he still playing? No, I mean, that's certainly fair to be like, you know, you can't have it both ways.

But again, I mean, I just, I get his sort of idea of like, hey, a lot of shit's happening. And in this moment, he did feel like he was very honest. You're exactly right. It's being covered both ways, right? Like we give him credit for playing a 45, but now we're saying like, well, we get it, buddy. You're just old. Yeah, sorry, sorry.

We won't ask questions to the GOAT as he tries to go win another Super Bowl. We won't ask any tricky questions about where you were during training camp because you're right, you are 45. I mean, we are bad. Sorry about that. We'll just go over here and not talk to you. It's just, you know, it's cheap. It seems like PR helped out.

Let's move along. Vanderbilt, apparently, I didn't watch a single second of this, but I'm reading it here. It says they smoked Hawaii in week zero of the college football season. So knowing they've already got one win, well, over under one and a half SEC wins for Vandy. They've got one non-SEC win. No, Probably not. But the most important thing to come of this, A, I hit the over on this game.

Great. Was, are you a craps player, Gabe, by any chance? No. I've never played craps sober. Don't know how it works. But when I'm really, really drunk. Wait, you've played drunk? I've only ever played drunk.

So you have played. Oh, okay. Well, I don't drink, so that's not my reason. I'm in Vegas. And this game is on while i'm rolling some dice and there were these uh these heavy spenders across the table from me they're putting down 700 800 thousand dollars a hand and in craps you can play against the the shooter against the roller, right? Called don't pass line. Those people stink because they're betting against everyone at the table. Because once you roll a point, so let's say you roll a number that's not a 7, 11, 2, or 12.

So you roll a 10. That's now the point, right? If you roll a 7, you crap out. But if you roll anything else, someone's making money somewhere. Well, that player is betting that you roll a seven, you crap out. But if you roll anything else, someone's making money somewhere. Well, that player is betting that you roll a seven. So he puts money on the don't pass line. I roll a seven. He collects his money.

Everyone else loses their money. That guy's a douche. We don't like that guy. So he was doing that when I was rolling. And I rolled a bunch of points. And I rolled a bunch of sevens when I didn't have the point on. And I cost this guy like five figures at least. And I was rolling. And I rolled a bunch of points and I rolled a bunch of sevens when I didn't have the point on. And I cost this guy like five figures at least.

And I was very happy. There was a famous actor who was playing right next to us. He had a mask on, but his voice is very distinctive. Like hard to miss. And he was like, give me some attaboys.

Like, thank you for that. Also, this group of individuals that was playing one of their friends literally walked up right in this guy's face and said that's not him guys and walked back around it was one of the rudest things i've ever seen it was 100 this actor um the best part was this guy was just playing like us, like 25 bucks a hand, you know, just kind of there to hang out, wearing a mask,

obviously to just not be noticed, just drinking like, I don't know, Crown on the Rocks, something, Jameson on the Rocks, super chill. But yeah, I was very happy. I was watching this Hawaii game, hit the over, cost this D-bag over here.

I mean, he kept putting, I was shocked, i roll i'd roll seven he loses money he put another thousand dollars down i roll 11 lost his money again then i roll a 10 he put you know again he put his money down i hit a couple you know number six eight fives ten boom lost his money again he just kept betting against me it was wild i'm not a great thrower i'm not good at throwing um dice god there was this guy that came down i was so jealous of him his name was ray he had no money with him he just came down and goes i want three there's him

three thousand dollars uh he had to sign a slip he had credit obviously or he you know they just knew he was they all knew him by name his name Old man, man. He's double masking it, too. 80 years old. He was so good at rolling. It was so much fun. I enjoyed my time in Vegas watching Hawaii Vanderbilt play football. You think you took five grand off the guy who was trying to fade you the whole time? Oh, no, ten.

At least ten. He lost a good, like, it was a lot of money. He lost at least 10 times against me. It was bad. My birthday is 7-11, buddy. I roll a ton of 7s and 11s. Obviously not good when the point's on, but still, it was very funny. Who do you think had more of an issue with you in the last 72 hours? That guy or Stephen A. Smith?

Probably Stephen A. Smith. last uh 72 hours that guy or steven a smith that uh probably probably steven that guy didn't i didn't want to look down there either but they weren't dude they had so much money the hundreds just kept rolling out of that side guys fine and then and the best part was when his buddies were rolling like they had half the table they know they bet on the on on the pass line like they bet for their friends. But when I was rolling and my buddy was rolling, they're betting against us. See, that sucks. That's the only thing I do remember about the rules of craps

is you can bet with the table and make the whole thing a giant party and it's fun for everyone. Yes, everyone's cheering. Or you can be that guy. Yes, and that thing is like, and really I think that being that guy makes more money

because you're not wagering on everything else that you can lose. Like, the problem with craps is that you need a lot of money on the table if you're going to win, if you're going to play the way everyone else is playing, right? You've got to bet the pass line, you've got to bet behind, you've got to bet six and eight and the hard ways, and you can throw money everywhere, right? But if you just bet against the roller, who is technically, like, making money for the house in the end, no one leaves with any fucking money, you're going to make money.

It's one wager. And how many times is that guy going to crap out? Happens all the time, obviously, because no one leaves with any money. So I get it. But it just was very sucky. And everyone was cheering against him. And I did some good things. All right. was very it was very sucky like and we were everyone's chair against him and i made i did some good things all right we had a few more things in the rundown but uh i think we're better off leaving it here on your crap story i certainly feel like i got a lot smarter today uh especially

about this aaron donald situation when we got past the steven a drama just hearing you explain how these practices work and what you really think about what should happen with aaron that's interesting to me and uh i'm i'm personally glad I spent three hours preparing for this show by listening to Joe Rogan and Aaron Rodgers. How do you – how does Joe Rogan sit for three hours? Like what's he on for these shows? Well, I mean, I don't think it's any secret that he's definitely smoking cigars and I think oftentimes weed during the show.

Well, I saw Rodgers having a cigar. But, like, I just – I do radio for three hours. We get breaks. Like he just goes for three hours straight. It's wild. I don't, I don't know how he does it. But there's like, that's one of 10,000 things that are confusing and interesting about Joe Rogan's existence.

This conversation was a lot more grounded in reality than some of the ones he has. So people should listen if they're interested. I learned a little bit more about Aaron Rodgers. Oh, here's an ender. Was the bag of something that somebody zoomed in on and people wondered, could that possibly be a bag of weed on the Browns' sideline? Is there any chance some guy was holding two bags of weed

on the sideline at a Browns game like the internet thinks. 1% chance. Over, under. Internet is fucking stupid. Okay. It was sunflower seeds. What are we doing? It's not holding a...

It's not... It just has... Not even rolled. Just two bags of weed just hanging... Not rolled. Nothing. Just hanging on the sidelines.

He's going to chew it? He's going to roll a joint just on the sidelines? I figured it was some gorp or some seeds also, but you know, the sidelines? I figured it was some gorp or some seeds also, but you know, the internet thinks it's weed. What's gorp? What'd you say? Good old raisins

and peanuts, man. Come on. Oh, I didn't know what that was. That's a good camping snack. Some granola. Yeah, I don't camp. It's too fat for that. It's too big. Just don't want to do it. You guys are previewing some more stuff this week,

and that'll be fun. AFC West this week with Matt later in the week, and then I'll also give you my favorite wagers. Gabe, how about this? So I give out Pac-12 wagers in 2019 and 2021. 2020, weird COVID year. I didn't do it because it was a weird year. 65 and 27, that's a spread.

That's 72%. I'll take it. So I'll have my Pac-12 wagers this week with Matt as well. So we head into the first weekend of college football, and we're so close. By the time you hear our show on Thursday, we're one week away from the NFL season. So hope you guys enjoyed the show today.

Hope you got smarter. Varsity Podcast Network. We'll talk to you from the NFL season. So hope you guys enjoyed the show today. Hope you got smarter. Varsity Podcast Network. We'll talk to you in a couple days. Please rate, review, subscribe. Talk to you guys then.