Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Early SB Preview, Coaching Hires, and Farewell to the Commanders

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Geoff and Matt discuss early thoughts on the Super Bowl, the coaching carousel, Super Bowl Week survival tips, and Matt's ode to the 2024 Commanders.Be sure to follow the pod to get notified when a new episode drops each week, and follow @GeoffSchwartz on Twitter/X for more NFL and CFB comments. Geoff Schwartz is Smarter Than You will be live streamed on Twitter/X and YouTube every Friday all season long.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It is Friday, January 31st. I'm Jeff Schwartz. That is Matt Ford. This is Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. We get to talk football, Matthew. No gambling this week because the Super Bowl is not this Sunday. It is next Sunday.

There's no Pro Bowl to gamble on. That happened yesterday. I think some sort of game was played yesterday between skilled professional athletes. I didn't watch a second of it. So we don't have to recap. And so we'll talk about a little bit of a Super Bowl preview. We'll talk about Super Bowl week.

I'm in there all week, most of the week with Fox. We'll be covering the game for them, but also covering them in this podcast as well. We'll talk about the coaching moves we've seen so far. Every vacancy has been filled, but the Saints who seem to be leaning towards the Eagles off as a coordinator. And we'll put a bow in the Commander season.

It's time for Matt to talk about his commanders. A great season for them, even though tough loss on Sunday. Matt, how long did it take you to get over the loss? It was pretty, it was also unfamiliar, Jeff. Like it was, the whole game, and we'll talk about them later, I felt, I kept being like, okay, well, they're gonna come back, because that's what they do. And it was closer whole game and you know, we'll talk about them later. I felt I kept being like, okay, well, they're going to come back because that's what they do.

And it was closer than it felt really until like halfway through the third quarter probably. So I, you know, I was pretty bummed out. I mean, I skipped the first quarter of Bill's chiefs. I was like, I just need to like kind of let this marinate for a bit. And but by the end of the, by the end of the AFC Championship, I was fine. I was very appreciative of the season.

And I got to say, like watching that Chiefs Bills game from the commander's side, where like I maybe was a bit cynical about football for the for the first half of that game. None of none of the Chiefs Bills game. At no point did I think the Bills were gonna win. Like when they went up, I was just like, uh-huh, yeah. So the Chiefs are just like, they're just gonna win. Like that's just how this goes.

Like this is the round where you can't hide the flaws anymore. And that was kind of an interesting experience. Like this, just seeing it the whole time being like, oh, nice play, like glad the Bills are up. Like that sucks, they're gonna get their heart ripped out again, like it was very interesting watching the second game. If it had been the later game, I think it would have gone into Monday for me,

but I was able to reset pretty fast. Yeah. Also expectations matter, right? If you're a bill of sand, it's your fourth straight season of doing this. You're a bug, if you're a commander, you're static to be in this situation. I don't believe in the idea of like house money.

Like you never know if you're back in the same situation ever again, but you know that your team is gonna be good with Jay Daniels and with Dan Quinn. And Kingsbury is gonna leave after one more year, most likely, but you'll find another OC. I think Dan is so good. It will matter who the OC is,

but not as much as maybe other quarterbacks, right? And you're gonna attract top OCs that wanna work with them too. Like that's one thing that's always gonna happen. You're gonna have the best of the best if you don't wanna work with with Jay and Daniels. I just hope that anyone who thinks the NFL is rigged has been making money betting on the Chiefs every week.

That's something you should be doing. If you're a rigged guy, if you wanna get 45 minutes of talking about the Chiefs and Chiefs and Rangers syndrome, I will point you to the What's Right podcast. That's when you can do that. We're not gonna do that here. I listened to the whole thing.

It was fantastic. Nick nailed all of it. It's nice that your team is good. And for so many years they weren't. Now you get to just unload for five years straight on people. It's the best. I did it when the now he gets to just unload for five years straight on people. It's the best. I did it when the Giants were winning

in baseball for five years. My Ducks haven't been there yet, Matt. I've been waiting. But the ammo is in the clip for the Ducks winning the championship. But yes, if you wanna listen to Chiefs, go do that. We're not gonna do that here. What we are gonna do is talk about the Super Bowl, Matt.

Chiefs, Eagles, close point spread one and a half, totals anywhere from 48 and a half to 49 and a half. I had bet on the Chiefs and I had bet on the Over. I think this is a high scoring game. I'm betting on the Chiefs to prove it otherwise. And a couple of things will interest me, Matt, about this game early on before we talk about Super Bowl week, what it entails,

we'll talk a little commanders and we'll talk coaches. First down for me is super important in this game. If the Eagles would like, I think, to do a Saquon Barkley game, it works for them, right? A Saquon Barkley game, 20 to 23 carries, limit, not the exposure to Hertz, but just the idea that Hertz has to carry the offense for four quarters.

And the Chiefs have to be good on first down. If they limit the first down run to second and eight, second and nine, get a TFL, then the offense might turn more to Jalen Hertz. I think the Chiefs like their matchups if it's a passing game with the corners they have and the pressure they can bring. Hurts is not the best when facing pressure, right, Matt?

When extra blitzers show up and things like that. That's what achieves excel, is finding weaknesses in your protection and taking advantage of that. That's where I think they wanna live. So to me, first down is a huge, if this becomes a second one, Barkley's seven yards on first down, Matt, is Eagles first down.

Cause then they get three plays, you get three yards, right? You want to avoid those third and shorts that turn into fourth downs. If you stop them, you want to avoid those situations. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles would love to be in pass rush mode as much as possible, right? And that becomes a situation where you win first down,

you become in pass rush mode. I am really worried about Chiefs being able to pass, to run the ball in this game, Matt. They moved their left guard, Joe Tuning, as we know, to left tackle. He's been good over there, but it's hurt the run game. Now you add in Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter for the Eagles.

How do you run the football in this game? That turns to a pass or a pass attempt game. So that's why I think it's high scoring. I think Chiefs are gonna sell out a first down to stop the run, which force Hershel to throw the ball. Mahomes is at 35 and a half or 36 and a half pass attempts. I think he's over that, Matt. The Chiefs have to throw the ball a lot in this game,

but they won't be able to run the football. Interesting. The Chiefs have not allowed, this is according to Jackson, 100 yard rusher in 18 straight playoff games. Correct. Pretty interesting. I think the things that I'm sort of most interested in, the Chiefs defense is sort of a bit of a polarizing topic

because I think the casual fan is now up to speed and understands like they've improved a lot. Chris Jones is so dominant. They have good pressure off the edge. They have a good secondary. They have good linebackers. Like it all seems to make sense, but I think they're a little bit more vulnerable

than we think. And Billy is one of those teams, like the feeling I had watching them last week, you don't want to be down-tend to them. Like when they're rolling and they have every option at their disposal, they kind of get this edge to them where they get kind of cocky, like they're kind of bullies. And I mean that not in a negative way, like they, they can kind of just get on top of you and just dominate. And I'm curious, like,

I think it's interesting you brought it first down, like first quarter, second quarter, like, can the Chiefs kind of come out and, you know, match the Eagles physicality on both sides of the line. Can that defense be so strong and, and, you know, stout against the run that then Philly has to sort of improvise a little, because I think that you're right. Like the, the most, the, the, if the Eagles are running the ball successfully,

they're probably going to win. Like it's, if Saquon is running downhill the whole game, they, it game, it's impossible to stop them. There's too many ways that they can win. But if they are, if they're getting away from the run for whatever reason, which sometimes has been self-inflicted with them, they could be in trouble. And I just, you know, I think, I think Spags and the, and the defensive unit will figure out a way to sort of keep them off balance. But the way they played last week, I don't think they would have lost to anyone. Like they were so confident.

They were just so, they were so versatile. Like everybody got involved from Goddard to AJ, to obviously Saquon. Like it was impressive. Like it felt overwhelming in a way that I don't know any other team the league can really make you feel. Yeah.

So that's a good point. And the thing that makes the Chiefs so dangerous, and this is why they keep winning, Matt, it's why you can't bet against them. And you sort of mentioned this as far as sort of the game flow and game script and how this goes is, if you make a mistake, the Chiefs are the best and maybe just the Patriots or maybe ever

of taking advantage of that, right? And so if the Eagles do make some mistakes or, you know, get in a situation where the Chiefs can take advantage of any little flaw, they're gonna do it. And the Chiefs defense, I think, sums this up really well, Matt, where, yeah, sometimes you watch a player like,

oh, it's not great, but then these big moments, man, they come through really, really well, Matt, where, yeah, sometimes you watch a player like, oh, it's not great, but then these big moments, man, they come through really, really well in these big moments. They win the big moments. That's what chiefs always do. And because of that, I think it's so hard now, we like the advanced data, right? We like DVOA, we like using Pine Sports Jackson, right?

We like using these tools to help us guide us through the season. It feels like the Chiefs numbers are never applicable to any analysis of them, right, Matt? Because you look at what they do, and Mahomes at times, you're like pretty pedestrian, then you watch some of the throws he makes, you're like, oh, geez.

I mean, that two-pointer version of watson he was basically standing parallel and threw the ball off one foot to watson and you watch all these big moments and the paper the the battle on paper doesn't show it but then in the big moments they all win a mat they all win these moments and so the numbers to me aren't i can can't preview the Chiefs based off numbers. But I preview how I watched them play football. I mean, there's just like, it sounds kind of like lame to say this, especially from like the two of us who never,

you know, was a professional athlete, but like there is just a difference in, like the difference between the Bills and the Chiefs is not talent. Like it's not, Mahomes is better than Allen necessarily. It's execution. And it's, it's champion mentality. Like they, when it comes down to like, they need to get the fourth down, they need to get the run play like they need to make the pass, like they just do it. And like, I grew up with a tennis fan.

Like you see that with, you know, we grew up with these men's tennis players. These like four guys who just had it. Well, the real men's tennis players, they're like, Oh, I'm going to play with a tennis player, like I'm going to play up a tennis fan. Like you see that with, you know, we grew up with these men's tennis players, these like four guys who just had it. Well, the rest of them never did. And you see it with my homes.

You see it with like guys like Steph Curry and LeBron James and like all throughout sports. There's just this other level. And you know, the NFC game, that was a talent gap. Like I think Jane Daniels might have that mentality. There was, that was a talent gap. I think Jayden Daniels might have that mentality. That was why the Eagles won. In the Bill Chiefs game, it was just a mentality thing. And whether it was the refs were in their head, Buffalo,

or there was a great blitz at the end of the game, a couple of little moments, that's the difference. And the Chiefs nail 100% of them. And I think it's one thing when it's one person on a tennis court, it's one thing when it's one person on a tennis court, it's one thing when it's like 50 players, a coaching staff, like it's just an amazing feat that they're also locked in on these key moments. And I think you can't quantify that.

And I think that's why we have to sort of be realistic here and just say like, well, this isn't about Saquon and AJ and all these guys. It's like when it's fourth and five last week, Jalen hurts made a great pass. Will he be able to do that against the chiefs? Right? Like when there's a little bit more talent on the field, super bowl. Um, so I'm curious to see, you know, Jalen hurts look great.

And there are games where like, I'm convinced that guy is like a top, he could be a top five quarterback, right? It's like, he's right in that level below the top four or Jay Jayden and Stafford and those guys are like, he's right there. Well, let's see. He's really good. And he's running, he's impossible to really stop. If you, and the Eagles did a good job, they just played zone and dared the commanders to try to beat them. And it just, it's just not, they're not ready for that game yet. And cause me being out, I think hurt them as well. So we'll talk more about the commanders in a few minutes. Matt, I'm going to New Orleans on Tuesday night.

I'm there Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday morning. That's four days too long for the Super Bowl. Sure is. For those who are unaware of Super Bowl week, let's talk about it quickly. So there is what's called Radio Row, okay? It's simply at a convention center.

It's where all, not all, most of the media is located for the entire week of the Super Bowl. There's a pit that hosts like 94.7, the bowl from Milwaukee is there on like a table, okay? Now it's gone more elaborate over the years where people have pop-ups and whatnot and there's some of the big companies are there now. Underdog will have a big setup.

Then around the edge of the radio pit are the big SiriusXM set, the big FanDuel set will be there, there'll be a big DraftKings set, there'll be the Fox Sports Radio set, CBS, NBC, like the big networks will be around there. And then Fox Sports, who is having the Super Bowl, will have a separate set on Bourbon Street

where all their shows, including Bearbeth's podcast, will be filmed at. Yes. Yes. And as you can imagine, it is a shit show. Radio row is a free for all. Okay. So I'm, I'm people there all week. Some people are like the Kansas city radio stations will be there all week. Uh, so we'll Philly, a lot of people come in Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and leave Friday. They try not to stay the weekend.

They try to get their work done and get out of their mat. And Radio Row, how many times have you been on Radio Row for work? Probably five. Did you do, so obviously good morning football. I, yeah, I don't know if I ever went with them. You go for garbage time? Garbage time.

Yeah. Fox before that, when I was in New York, I was there with whatever I was doing. Yeah, I've been enough times to have seen a thing or two. So what happens is for people like me, I don't have a handler, okay? Like my agent will be there, but I love Debbie, but like she doesn't have to handle me.

But that you schedule like interviews, right? And you go to these radio stations and you do the 10 minute interview and you go somewhere else and do another 10 minute interview. But what happens is people start pulling you aside. So Matt, the producer will run up to me, hey, hey, Schwartz, can you give me 12 minutes? I look at my calendar and I'm like,

I don't know, man. And you're like, oh, well, I... Four teams. Yeah, yeah, like, it's just madhouse where you're just trying to grab people to do interviews. Because the point of being there is to get the interviews, right? Like, you can do a talk radio show from home,

but the advantage of being radio row is getting the in-person interviews with all the players. And then as the week progresses, Matt, so I'm normally like a Tuesday, Wednesday type of guy. Thursday, Friday come around. And that is where like the Joe Montana shows up with 12 people with him hawking a product. That's where all the big dogs come in on Thursday and Friday.

Joe Montana is a hustler, man. He's got a new product every year. Skechers, Guinness, the guy's cashing the checks. God bless him. One year I interviewed Tony Gonzalez for Mexicos from Avocado. Like I've done all the interviews and I'm doing serious radio Wednesday and Thursday

for three hours each day. We're gonna have like a list, like a spreadsheet of like the 10 guests we get with the stuff they're hawking. And as the week gets longer, it just gets a lot crazier in radio row. I once saw, it was obviously was staged, but two UFC fighters meet in the corner

and like try to fight each other. What year was that? I was there too. That was Miami, I think. Oh, that was Miami, that's right. I have the video of them doing that. That was in Miami. Yeah, that's Miami. That's right. I have the video that of them doing that. Yeah, that's right. That's right Um, and they just and just it gets progressively crazier

There are people show up from international like international media Yeah, that sometimes wear more provocative clothing than other people in the American media It's just a madhouse and And then there are the parties. So it's a networking event. That's why I go for like two days. I go to network typically, go to a couple of parties, see what I have to see, because I don't live where my bosses live.

My bosses live in Los Angeles, and now a little bit of Las Vegas, and sometimes in New York. And so I don't go to LA very much. I have a life in Charlotte. So I go to the Super Bowl. I get to see my bosses for the only time all season. It's like my basically,

what do you call the end of year meeting you do? Like a holiday party almost. Almost that, but like what's the end of your meeting you do with employees? Reviews, yes. That's where I get my review for the year, essentially. Oh, interesting, yeah. And you'd rather get it at the Madden party than in a coffee shop.

For example, my Fox Sports radio, I talk to Scott often on text message, but I'll get to see him and be like, hey man, how's the show go this year? Right. What do you have for suggestions? I don't get to do that otherwise. I guess I could call him and ask him.

So that's what Monday through Friday is. I'm gonna go to the volume party and all the Fox execs will be there, call them, like all the everyone will be there. I'm going, then my wife comes this year on Friday night. And then we go out and like, yeah, she'll come, she's coming for 48 hours. But dude, I'll tell you, it's so funny.

So she has come to a couple of Super Bowls previously, LA and LA for sure she came in Miami because my brother was playing. And we were younger and we went out Friday and Saturday night. And then for my brother, we went out Sunday night after they won, like late nights, like three, four in the morning.

I don't even drink, like sober, going to see Loud Luxury and Tiesto, and yes, we've been over this many times, the artists that we go to, and all those parties, right? Matt, and they're late, okay? And I actually buy tickets to them. I can't even get VIP. I have to buy tickets, which is fine.

I don't mind doing that. And this year, it's Friday, it's coming Friday. Friday night, we're going out with Debbie and Annie. We're actually going with both of them Friday night. And then my wife and I were like, so what do you wanna do Saturday? We were like, oh, I don't know. I think one night's enough to go out.

We're just too old now to do like the, like I'm like, let's go to dinner together somewhere and hang out. Like we're at the age now where we just, we can't go hard every night, like we used to for Super Bowl. The Miami one was the apex because we went to Lizzo one night,

Rick Ross and Chain Smokers one night. And then- Chain Smokers were there every year. Doesn't matter where. What? The Chain Smokers performed every Super Bowl week. And then- I've seen twice.

The night, we saw someone else I feel like, and the night Mitch won was Sunday night, we went out and then Pitbull performed in Flow Rider at the whole team hotel. Mr. Worldwide himself, unreal. Yeah, so we get to the Chief Super Bowl party. It's about, they get, the team gets back like midnight, 12, 30-ish. My brother It's about, they get, the team gets back like midnight,

12, 30-ish, my brother probably, yeah, like 12, 30, we met my brother and we go to the team party in the ballroom of the hotel. And you can imagine how insane walking into a Super Bowl party can be. The food was just, I mean, just everything. into a Super Bowl party can be. The food was just, I mean, just everything. And Rick Ross had, no, Floor Rider,

sort of just finished when we might've actually got into the party. It was like probably one o'clock, 1.15, 1.30. And there were rumors that there was another artist coming out at 2 a.m. 2 a.m. No, mind you, completely sober, just like living life. My brother at about 1.30, 1.45 was like,

I'm tired, I'm going to bed. I was like, fair enough. And then I looked around. There were no players there, Matt. The players weren't live. They were gone, they were sleeping. It's all just the family and friends. That's what it was there for.

2 a.m., buddy. Here comes Pitbull. Two to about 3.30, played in the hotel ballroom of the Chief Super Bowl. Now it makes me wonder, do both teams book the same artist and the winner gets the artist? Like if the Chiefs lost, Pitbull's probably not coming to the hotel, but it just goes to the Niners team hotel.

Well, that's so interesting. Yeah, it's like an election night party. It's like, you know, it's like all that stuff. That's so interesting. Like we were like, we were like legitimately, like Pitbull was like there. Like it was just, it was, I was, Eric Stone, she was there. Paul Rudd was there.

And we were just like all in this like mosh pit of friends and family of the Chiefs with no players, dancing a pit bull. And then we had these funnel cake fries at like four o'clock in the morning, we went to bed. We're not doing that this year is my point. You can choose your own adventure to Super Bowl. There's plenty of stuff to do or not do.

And all that's out, I'll go out Friday night with my agent Annie. There's a party Wednesday night I'll go out Friday night with my agent Annie. There's a party Wednesday night I wanna go to. My stay home Thursday night. It's just, it's a lot, man, it's a lot. Yeah. Jeff's referring to our mutual friend, Annie Agar. You should check out her podcast, The Offensive Line,

which the producer of this show and I work on. You have one flaw in your plan. You should, the way to win Super Bowl week is to fly out Saturday night. If you're not staying for the game, is to get out Saturday because dude, the Saturday night flights, like I remember my flight to Houston out of, from Houston back to New York

when I was living there. And the plane, it was like, it was literally me and like Dan Patrick. And that was the plane. It was just like, no one else was there. And it was really nice. Last year I flew back Friday night. Yeah. Friday night's great. But I have to work Sunday. Right. Oh, well then, then yeah, you're toast. I can work. I have to do two shows Sunday. Can I tell you two, uh, two Superbowl stories?

My favorite. Okay. So the best year I ever had was San Francisco for 50. That was the, the Broncos Panthers. And we were doing garbage time from radio row there. So we were able, we were like, right. We were right when you walked in, we were like the first thing. There were other shows at that set, but like when we were able, we were like right, we were right when you walked in, we were like the first thing. There were other shows at that set,

but like when we were there, it felt like we were kind of like the main attraction, which was very cool. That was a big convention center too. That was a big convention center. And there were tons of people walking around. Like I remember seeing like, like we had Jeff Goldblum on the show.

It was just nuts. Like we had so many crazy people on the show that week. It's different. Radio Row is less, there's less people now than it was pre-COVID. And I think too, that was a big Super Bowl and it was a cool city. Like New Orleans probably will get some people,

but like, it's not a big ask to say to the actors, like, hey, just fly up from Southern California into San Francisco. Like nobody can. You know, New Orleans or like Minneapolis or Houston, like those are tougher cells. So I have a big segment that day that I'll talk about in a second.

But before that, where I'm in the crowd, sort of like warming them up for this bit we're gonna do at the end of the show. It's Friday, so it's like the biggest day. Yeah, like my crowd. And I'm talking to the crowd and then I'm sort of giving them, the guest later is gonna be Drew Brees.

And Drew Brees famously had this chant that he used to do with the saints, where he would like, you know, it was like one, two, win for you, three, four, win some more. Like it was this very, it was just like this cool thing. And my idea was I wanted the crowd to do it with him as our last segment of the week. So I'm warming up the crowd, I'm talking to people,

I'm giving them the sort of lyrics, and I give one to this guy, this tall guy, and I look at him and I'm like, oh shit, that's Kenny Maine, who like, if Jeff noticed that as if you're younger, he was like one of the funniest Sports Center anchors. Sports Center anchors, yeah. And was sort of like a direct line

from Katie Nolan to Kenny Maine, right? Like people who like saw sports a little bit differently were sort of off beat. He was sort of a predecessor. And there he is like watching garbage time, watching like some stupid bit that I helped come up with probably. And I'm like, what are you doing here?

Like, why are you like, you can come on the show, like you're Kenny Maine. And he takes out his phone to take a picture. He's a totally nice guy. He takes a photo and he's out of memory on his phone. And he's like, what do I do? And I was like, I guess you have to delete something if you want a photo.

And he's like, all right. And so he goes to his like Apple music. He's like, I guess I'll delete this. And he's like deleting Beatles songs. And he's like deleting Beatles. So it's like deleting like yesterday to take like a picture of Katie's back. And I'm like, Kenny, like, don't do that. Like you can be on the show. I'll take a photo for, I'll text it to you, whatever. But he did it. And then I was like, all right, did he stay for the show experience? Yeah.

He stayed for a couple of segments, probably. What was the hardest you had to work to get someone for the show experience? Yeah, he stayed for a couple of segments probably. What was the hardest you had to work to get someone on the show? So then Drew Brees, I had this whole thing planned. And like you were saying, you know, you go from thing to thing to thing to thing. And it was an hour show and he was supposed to be in our C's I think, maybe our D's.

Our C's go, our D's go. And it's like, we have maybe two minutes between before we go to break in the D's and I'm watching him on Doug Gottlieb show. He's late from the thing before. And then he has to walk like through a crowd of people across like some barriers to get to us. And then I have to like prep him on this bit.

Like, I don't know if he's gonna wanna do this chant. Like it's his thing with his teammates. So we finish our D's and I'm like, okay, he starts walking to us. He gets to us and then because it's the last show of the week, all of the execs from Fox are there. Every single person is watching us produce this last segment to say thanks to Katie, to whatever, the digital team,

like Shanks is there, everybody is there. Yeah. And so then drew breeze walks up and it's my segment and I'm like, Hey man. So that crowd of people, I've prepped them all day for this chant so that they can do the, you know, the one, the chant with you. And he's like, he's like, Hey man, like I don't really do that. Like I don't, that's like, I do that with my teammates. Like that's not a thing I just like come out and do. And I'm like, but dude, like they know all the words and he's like, how do that with my teammates. Like that's not a thing I just like come out and do. And I'm like, but dude, like they know all the words.

And he's like, how do they know the words? Like, I don't, like, no one knows the words. Like I make it up and I'm like, the one you did all of last year. And I just start doing it to him. I'm like, one, two, whatever you, and he's like, you've, how did you find this? And I was like, I watched all of them.

Like, this is the job. And he's like, okay. And so then like, this is all happening in a commercial break. So two and a half minutes, he gets up, Katie then has to like bring him up through the crowd. And the crowd like starts doing the chant. He's in the crowd.

It lands. And then we only have like four minutes with him. And it was just like the hardest crunch in front of every executive I've ever seen. And he delivered, thank God. Like he, thank God. He basically made me look like a non-idiot. I'll never forget it.

It was like the coolest, it was like the coolest production moment of my life. Did they get, did you get credit? Did Fox give you credit for it? Probably, yes. I don't know. I can't even really remember after. It's like, as soon as it happened,

I was just like, thank God. And then we just all got hammered for, and then I took a flight home that night. There is a lot of alcohol that weekend. Yes, there is. That week, I'll tell you that. And like the jockeying for parties thing is just, it's so frustrating.

Like, hey, can you get me into this party? That's why just my wife and I have just bought tickets for the parties. Like, we wanted to. They're depressing. It feels like a meat market. You're looking around. Everyone's just like, who's here?

You can't talk. Like, my wife and I wanna go, we thought about Saturday night. There's a one with Timberland and Diplo, maybe. It's a Maxim party. And I text my agent, and she's like, it's a Maxim party. And I text my agent, she's like, yeah, no chance. I was like, fair enough. And then I text a marketing guy of mine

who represents two former players. One is a little, not does much media. The second one, not, he hosts a morning show on national television. Okay, all right. And he said that person has not been allowed, like not been on the VIP list for this party yet. Is it Nate? Yes, it is Nate.

And he was like, he was not- Well, if Nate can't get in, you're toast. So I was telling my wife about it, and she's like, why can't we get in? I go, Nate Berlison can't get in. Yeah, we can't get in, you're toast. So I was telling my wife about it, and she's like, why can't we get in? I go, Nate Berlison can't get in. Yeah, there's no room that Nate Berlison can't get into that you're at. Now Nate's gonna get in, he'll get into the party.

This is more of an anecdote. Yes, the party starts when Nate walks in. But Nate will get in the party. But the fact is, I just spend, I don't wanna say what it cost to have a shared ticket for VIP table, but it's, you know, it's been worth it because my wife has a good time. Again, I think we're too old to do this now, Matt,

but Super Bowl week is, it is what it is. I see a lot of my friends that I don't see all season essentially, basically I talk to the media all the time, which is nice to catch up with people, but it's gonna be a long week. Well, I'm glad you get to go, send photos. If you see Nate, when you see Annie, say hello,

we know a lot of the same people. Let's quickly- Paige will be there, I could decide to page. Yeah, Paige from Blue Duck, shout out Paige and Leah. Oh, Leah's gonna be there, I never met Leah. She lives in Charlotte though. She lives in Charlotte, yeah, she's the best. Okay, I wanna quickly talk about some of the coaching hires.

This time last week, the Dallas Cowboys had not hired Brian Scheinheimer yet. They waited until what? 10 o'clock Eastern to make that announcement. I think it was to the point where people were texting me at like six, seven o'clock Pacific in that like Hayes Friday night as a young parent, as you know, you're just sort of like, you have no idea what's happening in your life. And you're just like, what?

Like, huh, the Cowboys just hired who? So I don't know, that one stands out to me. The Liam Cohen thing stands out. Like, where do you want to go? Which ones, have you been impressed with any of these hires yet? Look, I think that the success or lack thereof, a lot of times it comes down to quarterback playing right now. You have a quarterback. So like P.O.P. Carroll, I think that the success or lack thereof, a lot of times it comes down to quarterback playing,

right, Matt, who you have a quarterback. So Pete Carroll, I think, was a hire by the Raiders just to make sure they're not terrible. But they're not gonna be terrible under Pete Carroll, but he's a quarterback, right? They're not gonna win the division, they're not gonna win the Super Bowl, but they just won't be bad under Pete Carroll.

That's my take on Pete Carroll. Look, Aaron Glenn's press conference was great. I loved it. But who's your quarterback?, Aaron Glenn's press conference was great. I loved it. But who's your quarterback? Who's your quarterback? It sounds great. I like what you said. Show me your quarterback.

Liam Cohen, the Duval thing was a mistake. For those who missed it, Jacksonville, Duval County, they say Duval or whatever, whatever, like whatever, I don't know however they want to say it. They don't say it like Liam Cohen said it. So the head coach is, Duval. Duval.

So my problem with that wasn't that he said it, Matt, is that it was very forced. And I feel like you should be yourself in these moments and not try to force something that's not you. And I understand that you wanna be part of the community, but I feel like all the fans wanted to hear you say was, we're gonna fix Trevor Lawrence and build a winner, not Duvall, right?

Like they didn't wanna hear that. So I thought that was a Unfortunate error by him. I the story of him sort of ghosting the Bucks Matt. I Don't know I didn't think he was that like in demand where he could just ghost a team. So Yeah, so maybe Phil folks anywhere. Okay, so I'll do Such a what happened was he interviewed with Jacksonville said no to Jacksonville told the Bucks He'd resign as the offensive coordinator make him one of the highest put of the highest paid offensive coordinator made after Jackson Yes after Jacksonville was not able to get him they fired their general manager because now they're oh for two they wanted to hire

Another coach. I mean Ben Johnson just said like no money I'm not even interviewing. So they fired the general manager. That was a thought of like, oh, that's because they couldn't hire Liam Cohen. They then call Liam Cohen to get him to come back to interview again. And he says yes and goes to interview and doesn't answer any of Tampa Bay's phone calls from Todd Bowles, from anyone, from Jason Light,

like everyone there, goes to them, like not a word. Now his family said it's because their kid was sick and getting treatment or in the hospital, which I fully understand that you're a parent, I'm a parent. There's also downtime when the phone could be answered and he wasn't Jacksonville and he went to, he's not the Jack. Now I don't really care could be answered. And he wasn't Jacksonville. And he went to, and he's not the Jack. Now, I don't really care, to be fair.

It is what it is. It's a business, it's competitive. But I think he owed them just the courtesy of saying, I'm taking this job, which it sounds like he didn't even give them that courtesy. It seems this whole thing, including the Duval, like it's all, it all comes off a bit, like maybe he's not totally sure who he

is yet. It feels a little bit disingenuous. And I think that was the issue with Tampa was they were, he had made, I sort of tried to butt in with this, like he made a statement on social or to a reporter maybe that was like, I'm coming back. Like I'm excited about Tampa. You know, I'll be back. And then immediately lies to his employer, which like, if you've ever been on a job interview, you have to do that. You have to say like, I have a doctor's appointment or whatever. And then you go and do the job interview. That's how this works.

But I think it was just like, the whole thing felt very, um, orchestrated. Yeah. And just, and just a little disingenuous. And then he gets up there and he's his first press conference was like, the, the core of our team is gonna be honesty. And it was just like, come on, man. So I feel like, you know how sometimes,

I mean, it's been a while for both of us, but like in our dating lives, that you could kind of tell in two seconds, it was just like, yeah, this might not work. Like I kind of get that feeling with head coaches now in year 36 of being an NFL fan when sometimes I'm wrong. Dan Quinn. I didn't think that one was going to be a hit. Turns out it is. Uh, you know,

sometimes, you know, you're right. Like not sure if, uh, I don't know who's a good example. Like Zach Taylor, that was one I wasn't totally sure of. Uh, but whatever. I think that sometimes you can just sort of tell Brian Schoenheimer's another one. It's really strange what's going on in Dallas. Just feels like they're entering this huge rebuild without even really saying it.

But Dallas one is essentially feels like they just hired someone who they can control. That press conference was just about Jerry Jones. Yeah, it's a little insane. It wasn't about Braun Schoenheimer at all. That's just a bad hire. I wonder if they hired him just to get through this year and stink and then fire him and hire someone better.

Like maybe Belichick after the year wants to come coach the Dallas Cowboys. But Belichick said, like there was that weird story that leaked of like, well, his contract isn't signed. And it came out around when McCarthy was sort of hamming and hauling. Yeah, but by then he's already knee deep in Carolina stuff.

Dude, he quit from the Jets after they already hired him. Like he's not above that. It's a little different in college football with the recruiting though. Like he was already out recruiting and getting players to come. Yeah, but who cares? Like have you seen Bill Belichick?

I don't disagree. I don't disagree. I think that, I just think that Dallas, it's just so interesting, like Dallas and now the Saints still an open job. It seems like Kellen Moore is getting that job though. Cause he's getting second interview this week. Sure, but like Kellen Moore,

like these are head coaching jobs. And we're talking about like yeah Mike McCarthy seems to have passed Cliff Kingsbury passed like it's gonna hire who's better. I Think that's just kind of my point is you know in the years past We've and in that's why I think it's interesting Pete Carroll. What's the Raiders like what an uphill battle? It's gonna be there Straightening that team out facing, you facing three playoff teams in that division. I think the Raiders are just glad to be nine and eight with Pete Carroll.

Oh, dude, they'd be happy to be six and 11. I think honestly with just like no BS, but I just think like, I think that if things are changing a little where there are these like just bad situations that that guys are steering clear of that I don't recall seeing like I don't recall seeing this even my stupid team a few years ago, like they could get Ron Rivera, right? Like you can get real coaching candidates.

But it's just it felt like Chicago and New England were really desirable jobs. They got the two best candidates. With quarterbacks, yeah. Yeah, and the quarterbacks, of course. But yeah, I don't know. I'm curious to see who New Orleans goes with. I assume it will be Kelley Moore, but like, yikes. Yeah, before we do your happy commander's talk,

I was waiting for the Daniel Snyder story to come out. And I try to be respectful and not text you like that early, but I maybe text you like a 5.50 in the morning, Pacific time, which I hope it doesn't wake you up in the morning, but I couldn't wait to send you the article. It was, was it Seth Berkisham or Don? Or Dawn? It was both.

The ESPN, the partnership that breaks all those stories. And it was about the commander's Redskins football team's former owner, Dan Snyder, being miserable that the commanders are good now. And I can't imagine any made you more happy that morning than seeing that article. Yeah. It was surreal actually.

What was really surreal about it was, I kind of like blocked him from my memory in some ways. And I don't think I remembered how close it was to all falling apart. And even like the name change, the sale, like they were all kind of forced upon him, which doesn't happen in sports ownership. And like the price of the franchise,

like it was this ludicrously high price that was intentionally sorted there to scare off buyers. Like it almost fell apart. And then the second the team excised this horrible owner, they make the NFC championship and the story comes out and like the whole sports world was like sort of high-fiving each other, which was so surreal because you know, obviously like this team has been the butt of a joke

for so long, but yeah, what a crazy story. And it was kind of nice to just see like the Washington's sort of like Detroit a few years ago now where everybody's just like happy to see them in the mix for the next couple of years Which is nice. It's nice to be be on that end of the goodwill The thing I think that I maybe not knew not known about the story about the I'm trying to blow up the sale At the 11th hour and I think the article I didn't know that yeah his wife was like it's time

Yeah, like why Joe Gibbs who you know? Was the only person that seemingly could get through to Snyder from the Organization, he just sort of said like it's you got to let this go Does he get an EPL team? It's a great question. It's from ear league. I don't know if it from ear league, but it could be like, you know type deal those costs for those costs for an EPL team is astronomical I did did you notice that, you know,

the every sort of like the capitals wish the commanders good luck, right? The New York Rangers wish the Knicks good luck. Like there's sort of that city synergy. The 76ers did not wish the Eagles good luck because the owner owns both teams. I love that. So for those who, the owner of the 76ers

is the owner of the commanders. Shaw Sharer's the same owner. And there's, yes, and the Eagles fans are upset that the sixers have not commented at all on the Eagles successes this postseason because the owner is the commander's. Yeah, and Daniel's already made more conference championships than Joel Embiid

in one try versus 11. Well, I mean, the Embiid thing, I saw he's basically played as many games as he's missed in his career, which is just wildly insane. But hey, man, make the quarters 10 minutes. That's what Silver wants. All right, anything else on commanders, Matt? What do you wanna say?

I know you've been waiting. I guess I just wanna say, you know, I didn't have some grand speech planned. I think that, or maybe I'll speak for Commander's fans here. I was a season ticket holder of that team from, my family was, from I think 1999 to like 2010. I think it was Jim Zorn who was, we were the one who were, we were just like so long, we can't do this

right before right before RG 3 though I went to some of those games too and Man it just like reconnected me with my childhood in a way that it's like this is why we watch sports and I'm really grateful to that to that team for that and I kind of wondered how all these other fans feel. Just like when you can actually, I mean, you played, so you're maybe the wrong person to ask this, but you get your hopes up when your team is good. You're not worried about what's gonna happen

if the stadium falls on the opposing quarterback as he's walking into the locker room like that's the kind of thing Washington fans were worried about when the stadium literally fell on Jalen Hurts a few years ago and it sort of reconnected me back like with family and like memories and just these nice experiences that kind of like reminded me what we do all this for. Like this is why people care about sports is because it brings out like the child in you in some ways. And it was really refreshing to have that experience.

And like, that's what I'll remember from this year is like actually remembering like what it's like to hope for your team and just be like, yeah, they suck. Like make fun of them on podcasts, like ignore them in rundowns of shows I work on. And that's just like a super unforgettable experience for me. So I'm glad for it. I hope they come back next year.

We'll have plenty of time to talk about their off season and others in the next couple of weeks. But yeah, it's been fun. Thanks to all our listeners and viewers for letting me sort of indulge on that topic for the last few weeks You know sports and we're obviously big sports fans, not just you know NFL but like It really does Make your life more happy when your teams are good

like like it's you invest so much emotion right into being a fan and There surely gets a point where there's some apathy, but the commanders were, were like, I have some teams at root forward now that are just sort of boring, the Giants baseball, they're just boring. Like I watch them play, but, eh, just like, eh.

I don't feel any sort of way inside. Watch Oregon play, I feel a certain way. Certainly they're number one for me on that. The Chiefs, I don't feel as much as the Oregon. Lakers, not as much. But you want that feeling, right? You want that, even though it goes bad sometimes, you still feel like you have this,

I don't do a lot in my life, Matt, where I get that adrenaline rush, I would say. You get that watching sports though. Watch your favorite team, win or lose. Like you get that and I do appreciate that. It's a lot of football too, because it's such a long season and there's so few games that everything matters so much.

NBA obviously not the same way. Baseball's not the same way. The Wizards, six and 41 now, Matt. You've been following the Wizards season at all? Can't say I have. Can't say. They're putting the Lakers like, Bronnie got like five points last night.

Yeah, great, good, bully for him. You're not an NBA, not NBA. Do you have any shows, NBA shows? We do. You have some NBA shows, yeah. Yeah. You don't have to watch, you don't watch NBA much? I do, I do. But you some NBA shows. Yeah. You don't watch NBA much? I do.

I do. But you, more when football's over. Mostly starting now. Yeah. Same with me. What about college basketball? I keep, I stay familiar and then it's like, oh, it's all-star break.

Like, okay, now it's time to pay attention. What about college basketball? Yeah, where? You know, I'm up to speed on both the men's and lady Terps. Like, let's go. How the men's Terps doing? They had two, three straight top 25 wins.

Two on the road, so feeling good. Oregon stinks now. We lost a couple games in a row. All right, anything else? No, man, have fun in New Orleans. Have fun with Meredith, and I'll see you next Friday, yeah? Yeah, we man. Have fun in New Orleans. Have fun with Meredith and I'll see you next Friday. Yeah Yeah, we'll do a lot from New Orleans. We'll talk everything super We'll have props will have pine sports as usual be part of that discussion

Go to pine sports calm Slash subscribe promo code Jeff. We do get the email saying people have subscribed. We do everyone promo code Jeff we do get the email saying people have subscribed we do appreciate that 50% off Matt and then you also just check them out on social media they have daily props that Jackson puts together for NBA for NHL no college about just just pro sports and then obviously what baseball student enough and we'll keep this podcast rolling here as we get to take it to the off season. So one more week next week of gambling on the National Football League, Matt.

We'll do it big for Super Bowl. And then before we know, draft will be here and we'll be rolling into the summer. All right, guys, take care, everyone. Have a good weekend. We'll talk to you guys next week. Have a good one. Take care, everybody. guys next week. you