Green Light with Chris Long - Andrew Whitworth! Greg Gaines! SB Winning Rams, Matthew Stafford’s Legacy & Mailbag.

Episode Date: February 16, 2022

(2:50) - Hello, Layup Line and SB LVI Review. (25:00) - Andrew Whitworth on the 2022 LA Rams, Winning the Super Bowl Against His Old Bengals Team, Receiving the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, Playing with Matthew Stafford and Super Bowl Parade Plans. (53:15) - Richard Sherman’s Opinion of Matthew Stafford’s Hall of Fame Resume.  (1:00:50) - Greg Gaines on the 2022 LA Rams, Winning the Super Bowl, Playing Next to Aaron Donald and Maybe Creating Max Gaines. (1:15:20) - Mailbag: Least Useful Home Appliances, Chris vs How Many Macons in a Gladiator Death Match and More. Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. https://www.greenlightpodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Download the app, bet big, win bigger. And I got to tell you, I really like the sound of that. And with WinBet, it's just that easy. WinBet has what you need to win, including boosted same game parlays for the upcoming NBA action after the football season. So if you're from Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, or right here in Virginia, sign up today to receive a special offer. New users can take advantage of WinBet's bet $10 win $200 offer.

Just bet $10. and win 200 in free bets. Download the win bet app now or visit WynN-N-B-E-T-com. Download the app, bet big and win bigger. And let's get after it. Bet 10 win-200 is not available in Michigan. Terms and conditions apply must be 21 or older and present in a state where win-bet is available.

Gambling problem in Arizona, call 1-800 Next Step. In Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Virginia call 1-800 gambler. and in Michigan, 1,800-2707-1-1-7. In New York, 18778, Hope, N. Tennessee, 1-800-9-9-9-7-89. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Got a couple Super Bowl champions today. First, Macon and Chris will give you their little recap on Super Bowl 56.

Then Andrew Whitworth is going to join us to talk the Rams this season, winning the Super Bowl against his old team, the Bengals, receiving the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, getting to block for Matthew Stafford and his upcoming Super Bowl parade plans. I'm going to talk about some teammates that might have a little bit of fun there. Chris and Macon are going to talk about Richard Sherman's comments regarding Matthew Stafford's Hall of Fame resume.

Is it worthy, is it not? Eli Manning will come to play there. Then Greg Gaines joins us. He also is going to talk about the Rams Super Bowl win, getting to play next to Aaron Donald. watching that ball fall harmlessly to the turf on the last play, and maybe he's going to create a little Max Gaines. After that, we have a mailbag from you wonderful listeners.

Thank you all very much. Have a great day. Boy, Meg. Muncie, Indiana. Hello! Why Muncie, Indiana, though? How did that come to you? Just like that.

Just like that. Into my head pictures, yeah. Nice. And sometimes it'll happen like that, Chris, where there is no rhyme or reason a place will just pop we want to do a layup line shuffle okay ready yeah you're up

Wild World Cat Stevens okay rock you like a hurricane scorpions my kids love that song High hopes panic at the disco high hopes panic at the disco Night Changes One Direction

Rough shuffle for M.G. Damn, dude. I feel like I'm going to get embarrassed today. It's just something in the air. Mansion on the Hill, Bruce Springsteen. Ever since I was a child. I can remember. Up all night.

War on drugs. I like that song. Rainbow stew. Merle Haggard, we already did that. We'll all be drinking that free bubble up. That evening that rain. Low down, Boz Skaggs, bro. I got one boss skagg song.

Lonesome, Honor, and Mean, Waylon Jennings. On a gray hound bus. I'm gonna go with the Waylon Jennings, man. Waylon passed away, I don't know, it was been like 20 years or something a day or two ago. How do you, I mean, like, how do you say that eloquently? February 13th, 2002.

the anniversary of his death. 20 years. That would be one guy that I never got to see that I would have loved to have seen. He died in Chandler, Arizona, where L.A. Rams quarterback, Bryce Perkins, went to junior college, now a Super Bowl champ. That's like a Kevin Bacon thing, huh?

Yeah. Oh, oh, by Scorpions. That's my nominee. Lonesome Honorary of Meen. Two days after his 20-year death anniversary, read, so just... Keeps out of mind. Three days by the time this company.

out. Scorpions are still alive. Keep that in mind. Scorpions. Oh my God. What do you have against dead country secrets, dude? Boom. Do you hear that?

Yeah. Might as well be a old actress six feet under. Huh? Good choice, though. Terrible choice. My kids are going to love that choice. When I play the podcast to them, which I never do. In fact, I might try to keep the podcast secrets, so never mind.

but what I could do is tell them that Reid picked the scorpions for them. Send this one out to Luke and Whalen. What's the other Greenlight, the Super Bowl ad? Is that crypto? Crypto. Just tell them you work for a crypto firm. That's a good. It's called Greenlight.

Idea. It's a good idea. And then I explain why we're not any more wealthy when it like goes to the moon. I was an employee. I didn't have any crypto though. Make. Old-fashioned good. a bad ugly?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Put a bow on that Super Bowl. Super Bowl 56 edition. Superbow. I thought the game stunk. You and I haven't talked about it. Dramatic, sure, in spots, but game wasn't terribly compelling,

interesting game plans. Am I interesting? I mean, not very good. Thank God it was close, right? But it was close. Right. Kept our attention. good off the bat a slam dunk lose yourself by m&m yeah yeah yeah the halftime show yeah that was a good

I mean but I would agree with you before we we get dive all the way into the halftime show I do think that game from like a quality of watch I would agree with you I it was dramatic you know there was plenty of storylines there you know it was brutal fucking both quarterbacks were about dead by about halfway through the the second half I didn't know if they were we're gonna get up after the next hit. And they traded some punches. Stafford's throw, that's a good for me. I did not realize just how no look it was Sunday night.

Yeah. I mean, it was kind of a blur, because they lodged you to sleep with no real explosive plays for what felt like the longest time. And then all of a sudden you've got a big one and it happens to be a no look pass. And it's cool for him that we can analyze that and look at all the angles because if it had

ended like that. We'd be talking about that overthrow in the end zone. That looked like he had the yips. Yeah, I would have been talking about that especially because I was seven yards short of a Van Jefferson new car. We were going to have a new car in here. Oh, wow. Damn. Yeah, it was like a big,

it was a big parlay. And we were going to wrap it and you were going to drive around town and then drive around the country and then drive around the world. That part was going to be floated. Yeah, the game wasn't that great. I agree with you. Good for me.

Aaron Donald making one of possibly the best five defensive plays in Super Bowl history. And it wasn't like a sack or anything. It was a pressure. And it was just like both those plays on third and fourth down, the run stop. That rush when your team absolutely needs it. Like that's what you dream about in the backyard. We talked about that Sunday night. And he came through and won his rush.

So extremely strong that guy. Like, I was looking at the best plays. defensively in Super Bowl history. So I'm going to give you six here. And somebody, like, I know there's probably an early Super Bowl that I don't know. Somebody made some big defensive play. But in my adult life, there was Mike Jones. Who?

The tackle at the one. You might be a head coach soon. There was a tackle at the one. Mike Jones, the tackle that kept Jeff Fisher from getting a ring. And gave the St. Louis Rams, the greatest show on turf their their ring. You had the Tracy Porter pick six, which sealed the game against the,

you know, against the cults for the saints that gave Drew Brees a ring. You had the James Harrison pick six before the half. And then now you've got the Aaron Donald and BG plays and the Malcolm Butler. Where do you put those plays like in order kind of? Which AD play are we talking about?

Aaron Donald's third down. Third down. or fourth down. No, I'm talking with the fourth down. Okay. Because the third down to me is just as impressive. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, the run play. I mean, if you put them back to back,

I mean, that's got to be up there. Because it's not a scoring play. Yeah. Games over. You make the play games over. That's kind of what I'm looking at. Either it's a scoring play like Tracy Porter's or, you know, or James Harrison's or it's a game kind of ending play.

Brandon Graham, we had to go out for one more possession, but I do feel like the game ended for the most part on that play even though it ended with a Hail Mary Aaron Donald effectively ended their chance to win a Super Bowl and he did it on the heels of a play

he just made on third down. I think you got to put Malcolm Butler probably won. Correct. 88% win probability before and then the James Harrison play because of how unreal it was maybe two for me.

Those are the only two I can see that I can rewind in my head. Malcolm Butler and James Harrison. I got to put Aaron Donald probably in that top five to six, but on the back end. That play the other night was awesome. It sealed the game. But these are some amazing plays we're talking about. James Harrison, Malcolm Butler. Yeah.

I got another good for you. Yeah. I made one wager on the game. What is it? Matthew Stafford over four and a half rushing yards. and one rush for seven yards on the second drive and then one thank goodness they're only 39 seconds on the clock

ish yeah 39 seconds so we took one knee to go to three two for six I believe and since he did not call a time out thank goodness because if they had he takes another knee he might go back two yards and then I'm back to four shit out of luck so that was great

your shit out of luck over And we were here thinking you lost that bet. Oh, really? Yeah, momentarily. We did. I was aware of the bet. I texted Kingston, yeah. Nobody was celebrating that you lost the bet.

We were all sad for you. That sounds sarcastic. I muted the Chris Long and Greenlight feeds during the Super Bowl, so I could enjoy Twitter during the telecast. How about Greg getting the bag? Yeah. Greg getting the bag. Uber Eats.

You know, like getting actually paid. a big commercial with our friend from White Lotus, the Stifler's mom. I don't know. Jennifer Coolidge. Jennifer Coolidge. Jennifer Coolidge. Yep. Jennifer Coolidge and Greg.

Tanya McQuod. Yep. Tanya McQuod. Why McQuade? Why McQuad? I don't know. McQuad. Also, you were going to mention the halftime show.

Lose yourself by Eminem is always a good thing. Was he really kneeling for Cap? That was the deal? I don't know. I really, I think he, we had heard Sunday night that, oh, I didn't realize he knelt. And I had heard. Yeah, I had heard that the NFL had shut that down.

But that just seemed the way it was getting out was too weird. On Sunday night, it was reported that the NFL, like, didn't want him to do it. But then just yesterday, the NFL said that they were aware of it and had no problems. Yeah, I believe that. They can't say, yeah. first one. Well, no. I think the NFL is no choice but to say that. They can't say like, are they rehearsing?

And then Eminem takes a knee and NFL's like, you better not do that because this player a few years ago was standing up for social justice and it was a whole big mess. So don't you dare kneel? Well, I think how it goes maybe is that like the producer of the show like has to do this

in front of a bunch of people and probably gets leaked to the NFL or they ask the NFL for permission instead of forgiveness later. And now here we are. But people take knees in prayer all the time. I know, but there's kind of, you know, like Colin Kaepernick didn't get blackballed from the church.

For sure. And maybe Eminem said, hey, I'm going to take a knee for Colin Kaepernick. If he did that, I didn't see it. At any rate. But anyways, good for him. Good for him. Oh, good for M. Sorry. Good for him. No, I mean, like that halftime show, I called it the other night, the greatest one ever. I started, not a debate. It was more of like a

pile on of Prince fans that say, bro, you forgot about the Prince show. I don't know if you remember the Prince show. I do. I went back and watched it. Okay. I can see what you guys are saying, but I will say this. If I wanted to see a concert, I'd go watch a concert. That's a better musical performance. I don't even go to rap concerts. The reason I liked that fucking halftime show the other day is because it made me feel a certain way. And I think it had, you know, it was a lot of it had to do with my age and the good mood that the Super Bowl brings. And it was just an event, dude. You had Snoop, Dre, L.A., you had Kendrick.

I hadn't seen Kendrick like do something that, you know, big with that many eyeballs in a while. I didn't, I didn't care for that tune. Wasn't familiar with that one. Oh yeah? Yeah, I could have done without Kendrick Lamar. I could have done without Mary J. Blige. What's your problem with being alright?

You got something against being alright? frankly maybe yeah that might be it I'd begrudgingly wake up every morning and so and so the prince the prince deal was awesome went back and watched it there was CCR there was foo fighters

I mean the guitar is incredible Prince is a great musician who I will concede I'm not that into but Prince is a great musician Purple rain now on that topic a lot of people were like dude it rained it during purple rain. No. He played purple rain while it was raining, man.

It was raining the whole fucking day. People in my mentions were acting like... Oh, come on, man. Purple rain came on and it just started thundering. Dude, it was a torrential downpour in Greater Miami for the better part of 48 hours there. They could barely play the game. You really did a deep dive on that.

I just looked at it on YouTube. Hey, Shakira was awesome. how quickly we forget. I saw Justin Timberlake do an ode to Prince in Minneapolis. Did you? Likely the year he died or shortly after he died. Justin Till Lake still with us. I know.

No, yeah, J.T. is still with us. He was doing mirrors and such, but also did a little, maybe even it was Purple Rain. There was a Michael Jackson, was there not? Michael Jackson halftime show. Yeah. I mean, this one was very good. Yeah, it felt good. We young millennials realize we're now old people.

No question. No question. They are marketing to us now. I did apparently the entirety of the third quarter I did. Do do do do do do do do do. Do do do do do do. Do do do do do do. And my lovely wife said stop.

You were just doing that? You have to stop. Yeah. It was a sick halftime show. Set was dope. That's part of it. Like, you know, the print set was cool. But it was about the music.

So yeah, I mean like that that might be ugly, you know, how ugly it was in my mentions, but upon further review, the call on the field stands, man. It stands. Another good Super Bowl up 15 million viewers, right? Like from last year, pretty much. So, I mean, huge ratings. All hail the shield.

I mean, fuck. And football podcasts. Yeah, all hail football podcasts. I mean, like, think about this. I think you had one field goal game last year in the playoffs as a whole. You had three field goal game winners in the divisional round this year. You had five one score games, I think it was last year in the playoffs. The divisional round was, I think it was four one score games.

I mean, even the blowouts this year were entertaining. But divisional round this year, number ones went out for the first time, both of them in over a decade. So you get you have that divisional round with the, you know, kind of the parody. And then you have three kicks to win and an overtime walk off in the snow. I mean, that was your divisional round this year. And you get the Bill's Chiefs game. This was an awesome playoff.

And it got capped with at least a close Super Bowl. Like I kind of agree with you, it wasn't a high quality game, but the storylines were thick with two Cs. And we had this whole playoff and a big rebound from a year where it wasn't that entertaining. ending last year. Yeah, a bad for me called an ugly. That damn Super Bowl logo

went from the 18 yard line to the 32 yard line. I did not even notice. The 18 to the 32 on both sides. So it took up a total of 28 yards of the field. And so you look down quickly. You think somebody's at midfield.

Nah, the shield was at midfield. They're just playing on logos all the way down. Didn't care for it. Make that logo smaller. You know what? You're right. Kyle was saying that too. Yeah, Kyle was saying that, wasn't he? Kyle? Kyle was in studio. That's a good for me. At Kyle in studio.

Guy looks huge on the camera. I kept catching the camera. Well, he was a little higher, too. He looks like a bear sitting on a small seat. I mean, we really do look like Russian dolls, as Nate was saying. I don't know if we're saying that correctly. What's the other term for the Russian dolls? Nesting dolls. Nesting dolls. Nesting dolls.

Nesting dolls. Nesting dolls. Yeah, no, they're fucking big, and they're right there in the high red. And also, the L and the V and the I, the L, the bottom of the L was supposed to be the bottom of the Lombardi, but it didn't quite work. It was supposed to be translucent, and yet it wasn't. It looked like IVI sometimes. If you're going to make these sterile, cruddy-looking logos, at least make them read the right letters.

Oh, I'll give you a bad. Kanye got booed, but his kid was in a Howie Long jersey. That's cool, I think. That's good and bad. I hate to see somebody in Howie Long Jersey getting booed. And I hate to see Kanye's kids getting booed, but they weren't booing Kanye's kids. And I didn't, was Kanye was wearing the mask with the holes in it? I think so.

Yeah. I just, I really want to know, like what I really want to know, my biggest fly on the wall is what went into selecting that Howie Long jersey was it like just, on the table, you know, in the suite before the game. Was Kanye West like my dad, dude? Is that like a thing? Or is somebody in the family a big Howie Long fan? What happened there?

Yeah, well Raiders is iconic and they have a great jersey. I mean, and if you're gonna pick a Raider, who are you picking? It's either Howie Long or Marcus Allen, who Fred Bolitnikoff. Stork. Ray Guy. I don't know if he was a raider.

I don't know. Be a pretty cool jersey. Jersey. Bo Jackson. Oh, right, Bo Jackson. Yeah. But yeah, that was cool. I got something that's not so good.

The officiating, people are saying it's a wash. Well, yeah, it's a wash, but it's still bad calls. It's like a bidet wash. Right. I mean, Jalen gets his head ripped around. That was a miss. And then the Logan Wilson hold is a terrible call. Yeah, it's a bad call. They're both bad calls. I agree with you.

I agree with you. Logan Wilson, such a good game. Mard. And can you imagine if that's a good call fourth and eight. Game changing call. Yeah, incredible. I mean, they both were bad calls and I do feel like it was a wash, but it was bad. Yeah, bad.

I got a bad. LeBron trying to get a parade because because COVID, Disneyland, that title run kind of sucked. LeBron's like, hey, guys, I think we should all do a parade together. Bring the Dodgers too. They'd have the Dodgers so far back. Dodgers would be on like the last Clayton Kirchard would be back there like why are we here total wing men

LeBronges once a parade 26 and 31 9th place in the West yeah but let's have a parade for that Mickey Mouse bubble tournament well a good would be Andrew Whitworth oh this just came to me are you two the only ones to win

Walter Peyton man of the year in the Super Bowl year old team in the same year and be true and be sure well you're going to have to be that and potentially retire afterwards you're not get to wear the wall debate mainly the other thing we'll find out fraternity of two maybe we'll find out and you might want to stick around I mean we're not one champ

two champs we've got Greg Gaines number 91 for the Rams he's going to join us after now it's going to be confusing for you all but this is peek behind the curtain we recorded Greg Gaines first but Whitworth is going first in the podcast Everybody good. We're on the same page.

It's a little confusing for us in studio sometimes too. So big weight here and then Greg Gaines. I started taking athletic greens because I wanted to see what all the hype was about. With one delicious scoop of athletic greens, you're absorbing 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-food source superfoods, probiotics, and adaptogens to help you start your day right. This special blend of ingredients

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vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athletic greens.com slash greenlight. Again, that is athletic greens.com slash greenlight to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. I got Andrew Whitworth here. Another world champ. We just had your boy Greg Gaines on just a moment ago. Oh, man.

It's a special human right there. Nothing better than when you look over there sometimes and the defense is doing a walk-through and he's gotten hot and he's out there in a tank top doing his old motorcycle tank top, you know, doing D-line drills. He does a tank top walk-through guy. He's a tank-top walk-through guy. He'll get hot in the jersey. Just take it off.

Just let it all hang out, you know, just. Does Greg Gaines think he has a nice body? Oh, no. He just doesn't care. Okay, okay. But here's the deal. This is a podcast and we can edit. So Andrew Whitworth will be put ahead of Greg Gaines in the podcast if you're willing to

announce your retirement right here on this show. No. Gaines is more the guy that you're like shocked. You're shocked more with Greg whether he actually, why he even wears gloves or cleats. Like he would kind of think

he goes out there barefoot. He seems like a no glove guy. You just played a no glove guy in Trey Hendrickson. That was a battle, huh? Like he's a pretty good player. I thought you did a pretty good job. I was, like he's so fucking twitchy. I didn't, you know, like that's a real challenge. Talk to me about blocking tray this Sunday. Yeah,

man, he's an unbelievable player. I mean, I've been impressed with him for a long time. I mean, when he was in New Orleans, I kind of saw him similar to Shaq Barrett. He didn't get many ops just like Shaq was when he was in Denver, but he was the guy that you always kind of walked away from the game. Like, man, that guy can play. He just doesn't play many snaps. And so it's like he only gets these third down ops. So if he doesn't win, you don't hear his name a lot. And that's how he was in New Orleans. And then all of a sudden, he'd get some guys hurt. in that last season he blows up and kills it. And then, you know, Cincinnati signs him

and obviously he has, you know, does it again and has another amazing season. I think he's one of those guys is going to be a really good rusher. And obviously sets the tone for those guys defensively with the effort he plays with. He's a special one. He'll be a big difference maker for that defense for years to come. Absolutely.

Is that a team that you're like, you know, it's been five years now. I don't remember how you left. I don't know if it was, it was, you know, it was cordial or not. but you see them two weeks out of the Super Bowl, and you're like, okay, what's your first thought when they win that football game when you realized you were going to play the Bengals? Like, is that one of those things

where you're like, I don't hate the Bengals, so there's no draw in playing your old team? Are you like, this is going to be fun? Yeah, I thought it was going to be fun. I mean, to me, it's kind of one of those things that, for 11 years I'd been there and done everything and had a lot of opportunities to win a lot of football games and have a lot of awesome teammates

and love the city and be so, embrace there and us to be so involved in the community there that it's just a special place to us. So we kind of saw it as more like, wow, we could never draw up, you know, my last game possibly ever any better. I mean, how can you possibly do it? And so it's like, to me, that was kind of one of the draws where it was like, man, this is just honestly, it's kind of no stress, because it's kind of like I feel a little part of both places. I can't wait just go play in the game, try and compete and win because I really actually love both teams and love a lot of the people in both buildings. And so I thought for me, it was like, man, it was just an unbelievable two weeks.

It was a lot of fun. Yeah, that's the thing people don't realize. A lot of the staff and people, you know, they stick around. So it's a lot of those folks. A lot of the people I'm looking at, like, I'm excited for Merr, who's holding the sticks for you guys. I'm excited for Reggie, the trainers and those guys. And the fan reception was pretty great for you, like with the Cincinnati fan base and

that sort of thing. Yeah, it was awesome. Even after the game, I left and went to see my family outside after we celebrated some in the locker room and a ton of Cincinnati fans around. I got to take a bunch of pictures and kind of just see some of them and them loved me up a little bit. And it was cool to have some of those interactions. It's been a long time since I've seen some of them. So that was fun to do. And then, yeah, like you said, all the kind of people that you don't think about that are still there and still have something to do with the team. and even the equipment manager who was like the third or fourth guy when I got there in 06 is now

became the equipment manager and then now is like the football ops guy. Oh nice. So it's like cool to see him like he was the young buck like coming in like me like a rookie in 06. And now here he is running football ops. And so it's just it's just neat to see some of those guys in the positions they're at now with the organization and you all kind of came up together. That was pretty cool to see some of those guys. And then, you know, two days earlier, your name Walter Payton Man of the Year.

So big congratulations. I text you, but one of the best people, man, for people listening out there, you know, when I did, I always talk about when I did that literacy fund a couple years ago, Big Whit just stepped up. You know, you and me had played against each other, but we hadn't had a drink off the field, hung out for more than five, ten minutes, and for you to just step up, told me a lot about who you were and who you are as a guy and all the stuff you've done off the field. What did that feel like to get your name called and talk about the kind of the buildup to that

and going down there and trying to focus on the game, but also that award popping up on Friday night or whatever it was? Yeah, it was wild. I mean, you know, you think of all the different things you get to do throughout your time in the league. And for me, really, it's just it's exactly what I talked about. It's just like little investments in people and places and teams and everything else that kind of add up over time and lead you down. certain roads. And so for me, those two weeks was, it was really special because not only was nominated for that award, but a little that was wrapped in Cincinnati and a little bit was wrapped in LA because, I mean, I really and my career there and started going to Boys and Girls

Club when I was a young player, like going to visit kids and stuff at schools. And then that grew into running different things and being a part of different charities and groups and funds and all those things over time. And so it was really a synopsis of all those things kind of put together into two weeks was just, it was crazy. And then to have Walter Payman the year come up and like, all right, now you've got to put the speech together. Think about all that kind of stuff.

And you also are playing in the game. So, yeah, how long, how long did the speech take with? How long did getting the speech together take? Honestly, for me, I've kind of,

I've always felt pretty comfortable with that kind of stuff. So it really, I sat down Tuesday afternoon that week. And I think they made like three or four of us submit speeches. And I just kind of sat down. you know, after I get done, taking care of some stuff with the body and stuff like that until the afternoon. I sat down by a fire pit and kind of wrote down some thoughts and really just kind of went off the top of my head and then just used kind of the prompter just for, you know, if I'd forgot something I wanted to say. That prompter is big, though.

For those who haven't heard it, tell the story of Derek Barnes. Yeah, that was a great, a great little. Yeah, I mean, really special. It's, so I was literally, we played Detroit kind of mid-season, I believe it was, or maybe early in the season, actually, probably, we. week five or six. And I literally like during the game, the part I can get to include is like during the game, we'd have TV timeouts, you know, and you can kind of see each other, whatever. And I see this like younger player and he's kind of like always trying to make eye contact with me during TV timeouts because a lot of people don't know this about me unless you've watched

me play. I don't ever face the huddle. So I don't ever turn into my offensive huddle ever in a game. I grew up kind of martial arts and stuff like that. So I love to like face who I'm playing at all time. So I'm always making eye contact, staring at the defense. And over time, I've learned how to watch them, you know, Chris knows this talk about their games or their D-line coaches signal them stuff, whatever it is. So I'm paying attention to all that entire game. And I just kind of listen to the back of my helmet to what the quarterbacks have to say. And so I'm like watching him and like, I can tell he keeps trying to like look at me. And I'm like kind of nodding at him throughout the game. And then the game ends. And I see him start just darting for me. And I'm like, God, this dude, like, is this like, is this like,

I can't think of whether I played with him, like his brother or like, is he a coach's son or a player that I've played with? Did I wrong him? Yeah. Like, did I do something? Like, I'm like, God, is this a kid from LSU that I don't recognize? Like, I'm like, man, you know, I'm just trying to figure it out. And so he runs up and it was really cool.

Like he knew I wouldn't know who he is. So he took that stress off. He just walked up and he goes, hey, man, just stop. You're not going to know who I am. And I was like, wow, man, I was sitting here stress. So it was really cool. like wait for us to start our conversation. And then he's like, no, dude, my name's

Derek Barnes. He's like, I used to spend so much of my time as a young kid with you. You would come to Boys and Girls Clubs on Tuesdays as your off day and just hang out with us, like shoot some hoops or stealing steps with us and just tell us about stuff and your life and your experiences and stuff.

And he's like, that meant the world to me. And I wanted, like, I've been just waiting for this game all season because I'm a rookie. I made the team. I made it in the NFL. And like I just wanted to tell you like I made it. And I wanted you to see me and know that that was me that you put time in with. And I was like, man, just blown away.

And I even had me words for him. It's kind of like gave me a hug, told him I'm proud of him I was. And I was like, I remember getting in the locker room later. And I got our PR staff to like reach out to the lines. I was like, I want to get a hold of him. Because I was like, I don't feel like I said anything. Like I was just like frozen. I didn't know what to say.

You know what I mean? Just a cool moment of like, wow, okay. And I kind of in that round, in that time is when. they nominated you for Walter Spade Man of the Year for the season. And so that kind of was happening all at the same time. And I was just thinking, man, like, wow, what a full circle moment of like getting nominated for this. It's the fifth or sixth time I've been nominated. And then really him kind of sharing this with me.

And it goes all the way back to 16 years ago. It was just a wild deal. And then he recently here has tweeted a picture of us, actually, when he was a little kid, must hanging out in the backyard somewhere like outside the boys and girls club throwing the football. wall or something. That is so cool. And probably makes you feel kind of old. A little bit. Oh, there's no doubt about that.

Probably just a little bit. I mean, like, it's 19. So I'm like, geez. I mean, technically, you could be running up to me telling me I might be your dad. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, who's the guy you played with that would that would make you feel really old that like was the 15 year vet when you got in a league in Sensi? Well, Ted Washington was the nose guard.

Holy shit. Wow. I got it in the NFL. And I had Dante Hall on my team. That was pretty cool for like the first camp. All right. So you're getting ready for the Super Bowl. And I could never ask you this question as, you know, is your buddy, like, had you lost this game?

Because it's too painful is what I hear. But like, what's it like losing a fucking Super Bowl? And how did that weigh on you going into the second one where you're like, Rob Nnickovich told me like he goes, you'd rather be one in 15. So was that first Super Bowl way? on your mind or did you use it like positively? I think we used it positively. I think it was one of those things that we kind of felt like I remember feeling when

we played that game like we almost kind of thought, all right, we were so good during the regular season. We played really well. We had this break against New Orleans at the end of the game. We don't make a call, but we thought we were the better team in that game. And, you know,

it was like one of those things where it kind of felt like we thought we were just going to show up and play. Yeah. We're just going to show up and play and we're going to win the game. Like it's just, it's like one of those feelings. And I can remember this one. It was more about enjoying the moment, enjoying the week, kind of knowing what we were. And that was really, if you look at our season, just the mental toughness level of just a lot of things, losing guys.

Games not going always how we wanted them, but always finding a way to have a drive or have a moment where we could find a way to win the game. And it didn't have to be pretty. And I thought in 18, we were that kind of team, but we kind of lost that. Like somehow we forgot that that was just part of it. Like you had to find a way to win those games in the fourth quarter. And in that game, we just thought it was going to be a route. And it was like, oh, man, we're going to just play our best game ever. And we're going to win the Super Bowl walking away.

Right. And reality is, is like when you get in that game, those two teams are so good that three plays might literally be the difference in the entire game. You know, and I think that we had more of an attitude in this one like, hey, you know what, just whatever it's going to take. we'll figure it out as we go. And then sure enough, you get in the game, you start losing players. People are going down. We got our third tight-in the game who hasn't played any even remote significant snaps. Yeah, that changed your offense, didn't it?

Oh, massive. I mean, you lose Higby. That's a massive loss. But then Kendall Blanton comes in. He's barely played, and then he gets hurt. Yeah. And now you're going to a guy who's only played special teams of Bryce Hopkins and really played maybe two or three snaps of real football.

you know and now you're in a game-winning drive and it's like all right well you know I hope this kid knows what he's doing because he hasn't played much but did you change what y'all did like offensively with the loss of tight end with the loss of higby yeah i mean i think you knew you were going to have to throw it a little more just because not that he's not capable of it but you don't know how well everything's understood you don't know like hey well how many situations you won't put him in you might be at the point right and there's some decisions to make. And obviously they were playing us a little different in the run game, how they were doing stuff and bringing their safeties down and rotating and stuff. And so we're kind of like,

you know, you knew you were going to probably run it more. And plus he's more of an athletic catch pass catching tight in. That's his deal. That's why he's here. And so I think that you kind of knew that was really what you're going to have to do. Yeah. And, you know, we got it done. And I think that's a symbol of kind of just what the team was all about. It's just that that attitude of we'll find a way to win. Was there one play that people don't think about that was really key for you guys offensively on Sunday? You know how there's always that one or two, like whether it's a conversion or some hidden yardage all picked up?

Yeah, I think you look at it probably, you know, everyone points I've already seen like, you know, obviously Stafford's no looker to cup as a big huge play. The fourth and fourth and one conversion by Coupe on our kind of jet sweep action, you know, big play. But I thought what was a sneaky kind of big play for us down there was when Cam Acres, you know, got like six, seven yards there on one of those shotgun runs down there on like, you know, second and medium. And it kind of put us in that situation where you're,

because a lot of people realize this, that 14 and in yardage range, when you're, your first in 10 at like the 13 of the 14. That's the worst. That's the worst for, you know, it's like, man, for an offense, it's brutal. There's just, there's not gaps. There's not big windows to throw it in, you know, the run game, the safeties are up tight. Like you really, that's a tough window. And so that big run he had there to get to get a, down inside the eight, seven yard line with first and ten. Really it was like, all right, ooh, stress is off. Now Matthew doesn't have to try and fit a window.

He doesn't feel comfortable with to make a game winning throw in third and ten. Now you're inside that window where there's like everything's up. And that really, I thought, kind of relieve some stress there on that driving was a huge play for us. Talk about how banged up like the quarterbacks got in that game. It was so physical. Weddell was out there playing with a busted up, you know, wing. and he was a month off the couch.

I'm like, it's incredible. But I'm looking at, you know, Stafford's entire season. And I know a lot of times now, and this is a new thing in the NFL. Like, when I was hearing the NFL, nobody had any agents to tell people what was wrong with you. But when I heard what was wrong with Stafford, I actually believed it. Like, because generally he's been, like, he's had to deal with a lot of shit through his career. And I just know, like, some of the hits he took against, like, Jacksonville. and like he was probably banged up.

How banged up was he now that the season's over? Can you let us in on that? Like you don't have to tell us specifically. Was he fucked up? Well, I mean, I think you look at his career. He's had some really significant injuries in his time in Detroit. I mean, you know, the thing about significant stuff is like, yeah, you get past them, but they're not going away.

I mean, they still exist. So when you start getting through a season like this where, you know, you're getting hit and you have opportunities where we're playing in big, big games, like I always tell people. I mean, the people who think that. there's not a difference in like the teams who were two and, you know, 14 every year. And when 14 and 2, it's a massive difference. When you're playing big football games every week and you're playing the number one team out of every division, playing big games on Monday night football and Sunday night football,

there's just a whole different juice to it. And it's a different game. And so you're playing in big, big moments, a lot on the line. And you're going to have moments like that where he's having to fight through stuff and be tough for us. And I couldn't have walked away from it being more impressed. with just his level of toughness and his level of just like, who cares? I mean, he never wants complaints.

He never tells a soul. Like, he just rides. Like, you'll get up. You know, it's like you stop a play. I look. I find him like, oh, man, there he is. Like on the ground. You help him up.

And it's like the dude like needs a rocker to get off the field. You know, it's like, but he don't say a word. He's buddy Lee, dude. He's got buddy Lee energy. He just throw him off a building. He's good. And he does. And he just like, he just like, walk to the sideline.

He's like, oh, I'm like, dude, you're okay. he's like, oh, I should have got rid of it a little sooner. Like, yeah, it's like, that's it's all he has to say. It's unbelievable. Makes you want to block for him. Oh, dude. It's, uh, you can see, like, that's one thing being around him. You realize how magnetic he is.

Like there's so many people, uh, his circle is so big. There's so many people that are every game for him that are his friends and family and everything else. And it's not like a him trying to get people to the game. It's like all these people just want to be around him. And you can see why, just his attitude and how he carries himself. Yeah, he, he, he's, he's, he's, He's incredible. I'm so happy for him and so many guys. I mean like I just mentioned Eric

Weddle, you had a magical weekend. Aaron Donald has a ring now. I mean like that just validates what's already damn near a perfect career for him. It really did feel like a little bit of a fucking movie. I mean, just everything that happened for y'all. But before it all, and we kind of touched on this, I can remember watching Tennessee game and thinking this team's not a Super Bowl team. Like this is me being real. Like what did you think at that point in the season? you know i thought when we left uh the green bay game really after kind of that stretch where it's like you lose the tennessee yeah um you end up losing the green bay as well you know it's like staffer was banged up that game you know i've said yeah he banged up he's

fighting through stuff and i thought we really kind of um kind of somewhat circle the wagons and said all right look how like we got enough talent we got enough ability there there's no reason why we can't be a Super Bowl football team other than like, how do we find the best way for us to just kind of calm down and just play complimentary football? And that's literally was our only focus. When we went to the Jacksonville game, which is kind of the start of the streak,

it was like, hey, how do we play complimentary football? Like, how does the offense just make sure the defense is in a good spot? And the defense makes sure we're in a good spot and teams find a way to just keep contributing and making some splash plays for us. Yeah. And let's kind of, you know, if you go look at, the Jacksonville tape. It's like we start playing some big linemen. We start playing some 13 and some

12, which we're always just an 11 team. And it's like just kind of hitting people in the face a little bit saying, all right, let's just start smashing people a little bit, being physical and just trying to like kind of like kind of get back to the basics of ball. Like you know what? Take care of the football and offense. Play good defense and have really good sound special teams. And then let's let our talent do all the rest for us. All the extra can come from that. And I thought that really settled us in. And then we kind of just built from there. And it's like we almost started over.

Yeah. And it's all right, let's start building from this moment. Yeah. And you had to figure out what to do with Odell and Robert Woods was banged up. I felt like Sean did a lot of really good adjusting. I think he's not a lot of really good adjusting over the last three, four years. When you look at it, you know, Todd Gurley not being a part of that offense, you know, some of the old linemen that left, like you guys have had to adjust a lot of things.

and including in this year hitting the curveball a few times. So I think the Sean McVeigh factor is huge and for a guy that was on the cusp of losing another painful game to Kyle Shanahan, I know that matters to him, to now he's a world champion. What a swing of a couple weeks.

Talk about like what he meant to you guys down the stretch. Like what's his mindset at halftime? I can remember I had two head coaches in a Super Bowl, very different approaches, very different like mindsets. what has Sean McVeigh's mindset been and was it any different for the second time? Yeah, I thought it was great. I mean, I really thought the last really month, a month and a half of the season, just all throughout the playoffs.

He had a tremendous attitude and mindset. Like, he just kind of knew he had a really good football team. And all he had to do was just be himself and just lead like he always does. And things were going to work themselves out. It's just almost like he had that constant resolve and attitude about it. And I can remember the NFC championship at halftime. It's literally like, you're down three, you know, they're kind of being, you know, same kind of games,

kind of going the same way it's been going. What are you going to do to change it? And it's like in the NFC championship, he literally just walked in there and he's like, hey, guys, listen, like, I refuse to believe we're not winning this football game. Like, all I know is you guys are about to go out there and you're going to find a way to win this game. I refuse to believe any other result. And that's all you need to understand.

And we just walked out. It was like almost this complete resolve that one way or another, who cares whether It's pretty like I feel like at times you can get caught up into like what does it look like, like, hey, man, you know, I want the ball to look a certain way. And it's like, dude, when you start playing great football teams, it's by any means necessary. Like, find a way to win. And that's what the great ones do. And you don't, you know, I'm a golfer.

I always say they only look at the scorecard, right? And you can get a whole on one. If you shank it off the wall, you ain't got to tell you by that. Lons it went in. Hey, no, exactly. And to me, that's what great football is about. When you play great teams, you find a way to win, whatever that takes. And so I think that was kind of the attitude and mantra that we kind of developed going

into Jacksonville is we're going to be a physical football team and we're going to win by whatever means necessary. And that kind of carried us on throughout and we almost grew from it. I thought the San Fran game at the end of the season was something we actually became a better football team having gone through that game. I'm curious, did 17 games feel different than 16? Yeah, exactly, because you're one that would know. I boycott it and got COVID.

No, well, that leads me to my next question. How many times did Andrew Whitworth practice in the Super Bowl run? In the playoffs and the Super Bowl run, I would go out every Thursday, which is our padded day. Very noble. I do individual and probably like the first 10, 15 snap. So it's like, let me call it a day. So you must feel pretty good right now. I do.

I feel great. Yeah. So how? Are you with? willing to announce on this podcast that you're coming back. I'm going to ask him. I'm going to ask yeah. There we go. Are you willing to announce in this podcast that you're not sure yet? I am willing to say that I don't know what's going to happen in the next couple weeks. We'll see. Okay. So you've cut out nightshades. That's in the notes here, okay, which is just an incredible.

How have the last couple days been for you? They've been unbelievable. I mean, you know, I can remember after the game going, you know, spend some time with the team, obviously, and hanging out to everybody that's a part of it. And then we kind of have a little more intimate deal later where, you know, go to a deal with Stafford and Coop and their families and some other people that we kind of put together for most of our families are in town. And just hanging out there. And then, I mean, shoot, I think I got home at 3.34 in the morning, went straight to,

I think I did like, Good Morning America's Today Show, CBS, like all these things, straight, no sleep, just a couple cups of coffee to sober up a little bit. Yeah. And then ended up going and doing some other TV stuff. the day and just kind of just went ahead and just wrote it out Monday night was my first time going to sleep after the game I hit it pretty hard yeah then today you know it's like a little ease in today but we'll be back to celebrate tomorrow when it's parade time yeah no Stetson Bennett performance on the interview then you you were you look pretty sober and good you held

it together a lot of deep breaths a lot of deep breath give me one thought on coach O'Connell now head coach O'Connell right he's the Oc for you guys guys now he's going to be the head coach in Minnesota. I know he's a tall guy. I know he's my draft class. We're the same draft class. I don't know much else about him, dude. So tell me about what people can expect in Minneapolis. Yeah, he's a great dude. You know, I think very similar probably from my time being around him to Zach Taylor. I mean, I think they have similar, what I would say, like personalities and kind of, you know, one of those guys that's really sharp, going to be a guy the players love to be around,

going to have kind of similar to Sean in the sense that he's going to be a real guy that's going to believe in like speaking life and positivity and energy into the building and doing things a certain way and big on culture and all of that. I mean, I think it's been enjoyable for Matthew for Stafford. You know, they've been together,

working together all season, and I know Matthew thinks a lot of him. And I think Kevin will do a great job, man. He's a detailed guy. He kind of helps us every week by putting in our packages to pick up all the different things. defense is due and the third down, second and longs and stuff. And always commands the room really well.

So I'll be interested to see how he does as a head coach. I think he'll do a great job. Andrew Whitworth has got a parade coming up. So he's got to get some rest. So I'll ask him just one or two parade, most likely's, some likelihoods here. Most likely they take their shirt off during the parade. You can't say the entire defensive backfield. I mean, you know, let's be honest.

I think if we can get one drink in Aaron Donald, that shirt. And why not, dude? And I would take it off just every day, just to do it. But, you know, he's a modest guy. He's a nice guy. You know, he didn't want to do that. But I bet you if we can just get one one beer, one shot just and it's coming off. And that 99 chain's going to be hanging.

He's going to be whole flexing on everybody. And it's going to be fantastic. How about most likely to, uh, to get tanked and just, and just slur their words on local news? I mean, it's probably Sean McVeigh. That's good. Okay. And most likely to give a Jason Kelsey type speech. Ooh, oh, man.

That's a good one. You know, well, you know, he doesn't drink, but he's definitely most likely. He's going to be Eric Weddell. I mean, that guy had missed a microphone in his lifetime. It's okay. He's going to be looking for the microphone. I can assure you that. Okay.

He'll give it to us if he can, I promise. And you can confirm. Eric Weddell re-retiring. Okay. Andrew Whitworth, we're not so sure, dude. He looked like he's got about another five years at him. So Big Witt, congratulations, man, on everything so well-deserved and great to see you again, man. I appreciate it, brother. You ought to save me a spot on that couch, all right?

Dude, any time, Kyle Long sat on this couch, so we can definitely, well, I don't know if we can definitely fit Whitworth, but both of you big motherfuckers can come watch a game here. All right, buddy. See you. If you're in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, or Virginia, and you haven't tried the WinBet app yet. I got great news for you. WinBet is now offering $200 in free bets for new users.

That's right, 200 big ones. WinBet is basically giving you free money. Don't pass it up. Download the WinBet app today. Terms and conditions apply must be 21 or older and present in a state where WinBet is available. Gambling problem in Arizona, call 1,800 Next Step. In Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Virginia, call 1-800 gambler.

And in Michigan, 1-800-270-7-1-17. In New York, 18778, Hope, NY. Tennessee, 1,800-889-9-9-7-89. Is Matt Stafford a Hall of Famer? No, no. Your team Sherman. Yeah, no. 40-plus game-winning drives.

Oh, so he was really bad throughout his career for three and a half quarters? He's got a Super Bowl now. He's 10, 12, all time, and passing touchdowns. yards. Is Eli a Hall of Famer? You've said no before? Of course he is. But he is.

Yeah. I would argue the Stafford should definitely be in if Eli's going to be in. I'm with, yeah, I'm with Sherm. Hall of Fame. It should be... But it's not. Joe Namath is in.

Well, then... Quarterback is the one position that they judge differently than the other positions. I mean, like, sure. Matt Stafford, passing heavy era a lot of bad teams so

you know he's catching up but how much better would he be somebody Mike Sando asked Richard Sherman this in on the you know in the replies if he had your defense how many Super Bowls you think you'd have Sherman was like great question

couldn't pass up an opportunity to be like hey great question we were pretty fucking good but that just goes to show you with the quarterback thing I just feel like this is a very unique situation where he validated all those bad years. Prime Matt Stafford with a good defense. Gonna compete for a Super Bowl every year.

I don't know, man. I don't know. I'd be like... They're 362 members. Yeah, it's not exactly like fucking... Does your dad want to keep rushing the people in? It's not exactly like being a justice or something. Maybe it should be.

Maybe one in one out policy. Ooh. Relegation. That big fella knocks on your door. Hall of Fame. Mr. Long, we're going to need that jacket. No, he doesn't do, he's not the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is always like a little guy with an iPad.

Somebody that you wouldn't like. Josh McDaniels type. Yeah, Josh McDaniels comes to your door. Sorry. You got to go. Yeah. No, I hear you on the Eli part of it. Well, it's not just Eli.

Like, I just know what the Hall of Fame has kind of boiled it down to for quarterbacks. And it's kind of been this slide. the riding scale of fame, titles, and regular season numbers. And it's, depending on who it is, it's more or less emphasized when it comes to the winning and the Pro Bowls and the accolades.

Like, I really, like I get we should go off Pro Bowls. Like if a guy has six Pro Bowls, that probably means he was pretty fucking good. But, you know, to tell me that Matt Stafford didn't go to Pro Bowls with regularity, I mean, he's only been to one, I think. that that matters, it just doesn't because Mac Jones went to a pro bowl this year. Okay, like you're going to tell me that Mac Jones

who probably end up with more Pro Bowls than Matt Stafford if he plays this current level, like Mac Jones played like Mac Jones this year for the rest of his career made five, six Pro Bowls, you're going to tell me he'd be your surefire Hall of Fame over Matt Stafford? There are only 26 quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame, according to the Hall of Fame. Same number of headcounts.

coaches, 26 head coaches, 26 quarterbacks. Now there's only one quarterback on the field. 48-0 linemen, 38 D-Linman. We're slowly getting up to 362. Now, there were a few dual running back quarterbacks there for a while. If you're going to add the Sid Luckman's of the world. Like the guys in the 30s. Yeah, you might get the number up closer to 30, but I thought that number would be higher.

26. Yeah, and listen. You're going to tell me Matt Staver's one of 27. Judging by who they put in the Hall of Fame in the past, he's also, he also had a great postseason. I mean, like the one run they went on. I'm not saying, listen, if I had a lean, I lean yes based on the context of the people that are in the Hall of Fame.

I just look at some of the people that are in the Hall of Fame and I say Matt Stafford's numbers are up there. I know that it's a different era, and I know he didn't have the Pro Bowls, but, you know, like somebody said, like he played in Detroit, Richard, and Richard Sherman was like, yeah, well, Calvin Johnson went to the Pro Bowl all the time. I'm kind of like, well, yeah, name five Pro Bowlers outside Calvin Johnson and Matt Stafford in that

entire era in Detroit. Name them. People weren't going. So, you know, I don't think judging him on not going to the Pro Bowl is the way to do it. And not winning playoff games, well, he has now. And he threw for 1,100 yards and a bunch of touchdowns and big conversions and gutsy throws. he wasn't perfect, but he was really good. There are also 26 contributors in the Hall of Fame.

Do you think I one day could be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame if we keep at this long enough? Maybe. Maybe. Can you buy your 32nd birthday be first in yards and third and touchdowns? See, that's what I'm saying. It's not as ridiculous as Richard Sherman made it sound to think Matt Stafford could be one day in the Hall of Fame.

He's also 31, 32 years old. He's going to play in. another four or five years. Keep going. I'm just saying of these 26 quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame, I've heard of 26 of them. I think probably at one point they were the best quarterback in the league at that time.

I don't think we can say that about Stafford. Not true. Not true. Joe Namath wasn't. Terry Bradshaw wasn't. Okay, maybe not Joe Namath. Joe Namath had one of his seasons. He had a one to four touchdown to interception ratio.

And he played, he started in eight games. Troy Aikman wasn't the best quarterback in the league. Yeah, he was. 95. You think? Maybe he was. But he also had the weapons. You sure did.

Matt Stafford's better than George Blanda. Nah, that's crazy talk. I see what you're saying. Let's fantasy draft quarterbacks for next year. Stafford's going what? 11th? Well, he's also, part of the point is like what might have been for me.

Okay. Like, it just justifies all the numbers before this year. The first chance he had. And let's not act like the Rams, although they had some really good players, were a super team. I mean, they had some really good

free agent acquisitions, but they weren't Vegas best odds to go win this thing. I know he's racked up numbers. It's never looked like, oh my God, look at how good he is. And especially in the Super Bowl, and I get it.

He's older and he was banged up. I think that no look pass, the no look pass was sick. It just, he doesn't jump off the field as, as one of the best players in the field. That's fair and I see that side of the argument.

I just also know that a couple guys are in and you take another four or five years of this guy's career. I don't think he needs to win another Super Bowl, but once you have the one Super Bowl, it unlocks the potential of your name being up in those rafters predicated on your stats. And now he has that one like unlocking factor. So we'll see where it goes the next four or five years.

I don't think it's as ridiculous as Sherm put it. Well, he's got Aaron Donald to think for that. Well, he does. Richard Sherman has the entire Legion of Boom and a dominant front to thank for his enthrinement one day. Now into maybe a future Hall of Famer, Greg Gaines. I got Super Bowl champion number 91, Greg Gaines on the other line here. I was asking Greg how he's feeling.

He was saying he's sore. That was an incredibly physical playoff run, wasn't it? Which game was probably the biggest rock fight you guys were in? Definitely San Francisco. Yeah. They give us a tough time every time we play them, you know, and they're really good at the run game, and stopping them is always tough.

So that was definitely, I think, the most physical game in the playoffs. What was the mindset going into that thing? Because, you know, we talk a lot as former players about who has the upper hand when a team has lost to a team twice, playing them the third time, kind of that maybe it's a mental edge,

maybe it's a scheme edge, but like something's up. And then like what goes into y'all's kind of game week? I know McVeigh was like, I'm not thinking about it. But as players, how much were you thinking about it? Well, I mean, dude, I feel like beating a team twice in one year is tough. Right. And I was like, all right, they beat us twice. There's no way in hell.

They're beating us a third time. It's just not possible. There's no way. And I didn't. So I mean, because I've had to do it in college too. Like when you play a team the second time, They're pissed off. They really want to win.

They have, like you said, like that little edge. And I think there's definitely an advantage there for sure. So I was glad we won when it counted. So you're sore. You're sore. You're tired. I don't know. We were going to set the, how many hours of sleep have you gotten?

We were setting over under at nine and a half since it's been two nights. Dude, last night I got some good sleep and about zero on Sunday night. Okay. So I'm going to take the, well, he told us it's probably the under. Well, what was last night? Last night could have been 12. Yeah. Well, last night was from, I went to bed at 9 o'clock until 7.30. There it is.

Damn, he knocked it out. There it is. But that's true, though. You got to get that one night. It's usually the second night after the Super Bowl. Yeah, I was so stupid. Yesterday I was dying. I was like, I was sitting on my couch dying.

And I looked at my phone and I seen the AD at Disneyland. And I was like, that sounds like the worst thing in the world right now. You know, he's such a nice guy In a lot of ways He's got a big heart I'm pretty sure he found a way To dig deep and do Disneyland But holy shit

I had one hour of sleep Oh my God What was the party like afterwards man Oh the party was awesome They had gunna there And like Dioro It was sweet All guys making nose

I don't Like the baby The baby Yeah something like that Just like that Just like that Take the fans through from the minute the Super Bowl ends, the craziness on the field,

like your timeline of finding your family, changing your hats, the beers, like talk to us about the first four hours after the game. So right when the game ended, obviously we all ran on the field, confetti's flying, they're passing out hats and shirts.

They do the Lombardi, like hand out the Lombardi. We all take pictures with it, hoisted it up, gave it a couple kisses. Did you kiss it? You kissed it. Yeah, of course.

Did you look to the right and be like, who's the fucking guy who's kissing it right before me? I did. It was my friend Mike. I was like, damn, I got the sloppy seconds. Oh, God. You got Mike sloppy seconds. But then, yeah, we all, like, everyone started like, the family started coming out. Like, we all got like a couple people that come on the field.

So it was cool. My dad and my wife came out there. Got some pictures with them. Like, they were meeting all the guys and stuff. And then we all went in the locker room. there was like a ton of cigars, beers. We all had the goggles on, throwing beer everywhere. It was sweet. It was awesome.

That first beer will have you on a little bit of a buzz there after a game like that. I think I only had like three in the locker room and I was buzzing already because you're so dehydrated. You're just toasted. And then the parade's coming up. So you got to now it's like a cycle of hydration. You've got to start again in a day. I'm a pedi light today. I'm good to go.

We're going to do the parade. going straight to Vegas after it's going to be a the party just does not stop that's amazing you were born in the year 1996 had you heard of Dr. Dre I have I've heard of that good that's good what were you thinking when the rock was yelling that was one of my biggest questions dude because you got to wait so damn long to play in that football game all the go out up the whole thing and then the rocks out there in like a smetium just doing a wrestling program for like three minutes dudes are out there standing at the 40 yard line

try to stay loose like it's madden and the game is paused. What are you thinking during that thing? Dude, this game was nuts. Like just waiting an extra weeks suck. Like I wanted to just get that game going the week right after like just get it done that Sunday. So you're an extra week and then like

yeah, you just stand in the field for like an extra half an hour before the game. They sang like four songs. It's just like I just want to get this kickoff going. I was like, you know how you have the butterflies like that's my first step just sitting there like nervous as

hell waiting for this damn kickoff. Can't stay loose. Imagine being old. Imagine being warm. We're all like over there on the sidelines. Imagine being Eric Weddell who was fucking on the couch a month ago. He's, I mean, he's barely

hanging on. He's like, just get me through this Super Bowl. He's got to do pliometrics for 30 minutes while they sing those four songs. A recital breaks out. The recital of national anthems and God bless America. Yeah, I'm only, I'm only 25 and I was struggling out there. Those dudes are like, that dude, Weddell's like 40. Yeah.

What was that like when Weddell came back? I love E-Dove. He's a good dude. We're energy. Were guys shocked that he was able to do that? I don't know. Was he training his ass off being ready for a run? Well, he just, like, he said he was like, he played basketball a lot.

Like, he was playing basketball like every day. And, like, you know, keeping up with his, keep it in shape. He was working out every day. Yeah. And obviously that shit worked. I mean, unbelievable. He played pretty well. He played really well for us.

So we were so glad to have him. No, he was awesome playing out there with a torn peck late in that game. And then you, plaiting screws, plate and eight screws in your hand before we. That sucks, man. Yeah, let me see that paw, dude. How did that feel the first time you roll that thing out there, eight screws in a plate? Terrible. Because I got surgery done like Monday night right after the game on the 26th.

And we had the, and of course, it was like a super physical game. We play the Baltimore Ravens. Oh, yeah. And I still, like, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to play or not. Like, they said I could as long as you can handle the pain. And I was like, right, I figured out. Like, we had to cast it up. I really didn't even use it that much that game.

I was playing with one hand. I got hurt really bad. And then, like, I got a, like, on one play, Taylor Wrap put his whole, like, I had my hand on somebody. Yep. Making a tackle and T-Rap put his forehead right into it, full force, just right on my hand five days after surgery. friendly fire that's how it's always the thing that hurts the most Taylor rap now married right

or engaged engage we I don't want to skip the engagement part but uh did you guys know that he was considering doing that after the game he told us like uh I think he showed us the he was showing us the ring at breakfast for the Super Bowl like we were in her pregame meal he like had it in his pocket and he was showing us at the table and I actually found Danny for him I was like because I was looking for my wife and I saw her and I was like do you rap she's over here. Oh, that's amazing. He's the John Stockton to that engagement. Yeah, but what if you had lost?

Yeah, what did he have a... Then they might not ever get married. Wow. Yeah, they wouldn't have never got married. That's crazy, dude. I mean, love was on the line. Love was on the line for T-Rap. All right, so talk to me about this because I thought you had, everybody thought you had a

really big, you know, mismatch with these guys. I mean, it was no secret. They were giving up a lot of sacks. You watch a Kansas City game. They did a little better job, but you guys do such a good job, pressure with four, some of the games you guys run. You set up Floyd on a sack. What are you thinking in the first half when, you know, the numbers aren't there yet? Is it just the stay patient thing? And then the second half, kind of the gate, you know, breaks open and the floodwater's coming. We knew it was going to be like that.

Just because we knew, like, they couldn't handle what we brought. So we knew they were going to be, everything was going to be quick game. We weren't going to have any time to get to them. Right. I remember looking at the, they like some stats up on a score. board and they were showing like how much time the quarterback has a throw he was at like 1.87 seconds on average time to throw yeah we were like we were getting there we were getting good pressure he just we had to wait to that point in the game where he has to drop back and he has to sit there and read and he has to make those decisions and that's when sacks start coming do you feel like playing with Aaron is actually a benefit in pass rush because I used to observe that yeah it's nice playing with

Aaron but then the the clock is going to speed up a lot of times like people are going to be so terrified of him that the ball is going to come out in two seconds or less. That's true. He's like, that's true. But on the other hand, you're playing next to Aaron Donald. Well, because, I mean, coming from college and stuff, I always got, like, I was the guy that got all the double teams. So now I get one-on-ones, which is cool.

And it's something I never really got to do. So, I mean, it's really fun playing next time. I would trade it for the world for sure. You know, when somebody like pokes Aaron in the face mask after the player, like, gets the last shove, are you guys all just like, hey, dude, why? Are you doing that? Yeah. It's like,

let's go, what just went through your head right now. Yeah. I will toss you across the field. You do not want to see him upset. That's the last guy I'd pick a fight with for sure. I mean, in 67 or 66 or whoever was was pushing him by the sideline,

and I was like, okay, now they're fucked. You guys are both listed at 6 foot 1. Are you the exact same height? I'm definitely taller than Aaron Donald. Ooh. In writing. And are you north of 6'1 or is,

There's the 6-1 generous for Aaron. Six-one generous for Aaron. The 6-1 official at the combine, 6-1.01. Wow. Nice. I was so excited when they said that. You get that extra little... It's the game of hundreds of inches.

So talk to me about that last possession. You guys are about to just... You know, Aaron gets that... Basically wins the game. And on third down, another great run stop by you guys as well. What's being said in that... in that huddle before you guys go out there. Dude, we were just like, this is like,

like the offense did what they had to do. Like, offense got it done. Like, it's come down to us. And like, it's just, that's the way we like it, you know? Like the games in our hands right now, this is what we had to do. Like, we can win this Super Bowl right here right now. I mean, that's pretty much all that we were thinking about. And what's the call, you know, on that fourth down, you know, effectively?

What are you guys looking to get? Like, Aaron wants to go line up on the right guard. He's going to line up on the right guard. That last, you talking about that last play? Yeah. Yeah, that was like, it was like fourth and one. So we weren't super sure if they were going to pass or throw. Like we were in a regular flex front.

So AD always goes to the three tech and I play the two eye. And so it's just based off the tight end. So but during the game, if he's trying to get one on ones, does he generally kind of move around if it's a regular nickel situation? Whatever side he, I'll just, I kind of wait for him and just like see which way he goes. If it's just a regular jet, like a rush, like we know it's past. But usually he goes to the back. Yeah.

hoping that they'll slide away from the back once in a while, but like he's telling him, like, just go against the guy you want because they're going to slide to either way. Yeah, exactly. You might as well. It's funny. Every week in meetings, our coach is like,

we're going to wait and see what they're going to do. They slide to Aaron or not. And it's like, they're going to slide to Aaron. Like pretty much, just go on. I don't know. But the only was Tampa Bay,

and that's the reason I think they lost is they slid, they slid away. They kept their protection true. They say jet protection the whole time. No way. I had a double team every pass play. that game and AD got the one-on-one every time. So that was pretty ballsy of them.

And boy, did that turn out to bite them in the ass. How long did it feel like that ball was in the air before it hit the ground? I mean, after Joe Burrow flung it. What was your vantage point there? I was like literally two feet in front of it. Like the ball flew right past me to the left. And I was like, there better not be somebody over there. Like he just literally spun around and even know where he was looking and tossed it.

And luckily it was nowhere near anyone. and we just immediately knew we won the game. We started screaming, celebrating, running around the field. It was awesome. So repeating, what do you think is the number one thing you got to worry about when it comes to repeating? I know you haven't done it before, but what do you anticipate is going to be the hardest thing?

I mean, just having that target in your back, everyone's going to want to beat us. Everyone's going to bring their A game. So, I mean, that's definitely the toughest part about being a champ. No question. Everyone wants to take you down. Greg's got a baby boy not named Max. Were you tempted to bring a Max Gaines into this world?

Are you tempted if you have another boy to bring a Max Gaines into this world? No, I never even thought. Good idea. Never thought of it. Max Gaines. Max Gaines. We're big bulk guys over here. Hey, Greg Gaines, number 91, World Champ.

Greg, congrats on everything. Man, you had a huge role in that defense. and enjoy the party. Get some more sleep and get ready for that damn parade, buddy. All right. Thank you, man. That's awesome. If you're in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, or Virginia, and you haven't tried the WinBet app yet, I got great news for you. WinBet is now offering $200 in free bets for new users. That's right, 200 big ones.

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Got away from you a little bit there with the Max Gaines, huh? Didn't even cross his mind? That's mind-blowing. guy's last name was Gaines. I wish y'all at home could have seen the kid's face. And he's, and he's, and he's, and he's six, one, three, 15. He flexed at the camera talking about his height. I don't.

So he likes, he likes Gaines, obviously. Well, when we learn here in about nine months, when, when Mr. and Mrs. Greg Gaines are having a little boy named Max, we'll, uh, we'll have them back on the show. Max Gaines. Um. Your last name is Gaines. What are your name when your kid? Big.

Big Gaines. Making Gaines. Holy shit, you idiot. That's boy number three. Yeah. Max and Macon Gaines. Max Gaines was born September 21st, 1894. He was a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book.

Hell yeah. Thank you for that, cowboy. Macon Max Gaines. Full name. That's better than making plays. Definitely. Making Max Gaines. Yeah, making Max Gaines.

All right, so we're done with the football stuff. This is look ahead to what the great unknown is, the offseason. Now, I know you floated. You want to take some time off, but the show must go on, and that means we've got to talk about bullshit. So what are we going to talk about now, guys? Most people here are off season, and they think vacation, relaxation, less work here more work because we don't have the built-in content that is the national football league

we'll roll some mailbag here this is from at co underscore mo underscore jo assuming there's a gladiator style death match between you two with gladiator style weapons how many makins can Chris take it once. What are the weapons here? A ball on a stick. Dope swords. Yeah, like maces. Maces?

Yeah, like the things that hang on the chain. Yeah, that's a maze. It's got a three foot long stick. A mouse is something you spray in somebody's eyes. So sometimes there's multiple meanings. Yeah, not like one of those. Yeah. It's a homonym.

Okay. I don't know that it's a hominem. I don't think so. They don't sound the same. I know. Well, they do sound the same. Yeah, they are hominemes. Motherfucker.

Okay, all right. Didn't realize it was an English 702 here. Yeah. Galaxy brain. Huh? But the answer is seven. Hey, do you know what? Do you know what a, you know what hominets?

Can I say a couple hominems? Sure. Okay. Stare and stare. Seven is the answer. Seven of me? Yeah, I think probably. Like number eight gets you?

No, is it all at the same time? All the same time. You know what though? Honestly, with some of those gladiator instruments can kill you. I've seen it happen. Silver screen. Maybe it's two. Might be two.

Honestly, I don't want to get like, yeah. I mean, I got to be careful about while I'm body slamming you, could the other make and fillet me with a fucking mace? Right. If I'm going to be in a fight, it's going to be a blind side sort of deal, sucker punch. I think it's two. I'm going to, yeah. If my family depended on it, if my wife depended on it,

my lovely wife depended on it, maybe seven. For sport, two. For love. Just to clarify, you're saying you could handle the two or the two would get you? Probably I could handle the two. That's the maximum amount of medieval makings. Okay. I agree with that answer.

Family on the line seven. My family on the line, the same number as my first answer, because my family is my life. Would you rather go back to your freshman year at college knowing everything you know now, all your memories, everything that will happen between your freshman year and now, or lose all your memories from the last two years and stay where you are now?

What? So we know the script for every day in college and we just can't get out of it? Can we change it? Yeah, no, it goes back to the first day in college. you know everything that's going to happen you can take a you know divergent path oh easy hell yeah i'm playing a little less good yeah i'm gonna go out there and fucking miss a few sacks fall to the middle of the first that's funny yeah of course send me back i'm just gonna stay home every night in college

because i'd probably drink a lot less go out a lot less because i know i find the woman of my dreams you know in that uh what was the class we met in but yeah if i knew that that meg and i were going to get married i would have just stayed in no need to go out you can you can you can change things here i wouldn't change anything nor would i i would i would already you could change things here i would have already met my lovely wife it uh our our our our chance encounter being a middle school what was the other uh alternative it was your mind gets erased from the last two years Oh, like pandemic. Is that what they're saying?

Exactly. Yeah, so that would be my marriage. Can we go back? My kid. Oh, God damn, dude. I'm probably going to go with the college option. Another reader asked, or another listener asked, what would you tell your younger self,

a la the LeBron crypto commercial? Well, hold on a second, read. I'm almost going option, too, except for the fact that, how about these playoffs? We talked about that earlier. Playoff. I don't want to miss that.

Eh. Super Bowl sucked. Oh, you know what's funny about the LeBron younger self commercial? Players Tribune did an entire media hub on that bit. Do you remember that? Like every article on Players Tribune was a letter to the players younger self. I think LeBron's been doing the to my younger self for a while now. IG, Twitter.

He stole that from Jeter. He stole it from Jeter. That was Jeter's baby. I, you know what I would tell myself. What? After that fateful day when I was told that I was going bald at 17, I would say, it's all right. It'll be there when you're 35, enough of it at least, and stop worrying so much. Yeah, your head looks good, dude.

Thanks. What's the most popular or premium kitchen or bathroom feature in which you have no personal interest? Name some. So most popular among other people, like your kitchen faucet. Yeah, this is about the bidet. This guy sent it in, inspired by the bidet conversation. We'll do Fawcett.

There's the ice water dispenser on your refrigerator, refrigerator, mini-refrigerator, wine-cool refrigerator. Wine dishwasher. Wine-cooled refrigerator. Yeah. Yeah. Wine cooler, no need. Bought a house with one, took it out.

Bangorang. here's another the bench in that shower no you know what happens if someone are you sitting on that bench no but sometimes if I'm really just fucking stressed out I'll sit on the ground in the shower no problem yeah on the ground you ever sit on the ground in the shower bro

not a lot of real estate in my shower when you have a bad day bro try it if you have the room in your shower sit on the ground in your shower okay just sit for how long fucking until your wife walks in and she asks if you're okay. I'm just sitting on there. I'm just taking a fucking break.

Ballpark. How long? Yeah, I've done 17 minutes. Oh, and it doesn't feel good as a water boy's founder. Water conservationist over here. Yeah, but you know, I've had a, you know, like sometimes you need a moment. Or 17.

You know what? I worry more about the almond milk in my fridge than the 17 minute ground showers. Yeah, I've heard about that. kitchen appliances. I don't use the microwave. I use the microwave a lot. It probably is giving us cancer. Probably.

Do you have one of those toaster ovens instead? No, but I have the oven. How about this? I got this blue, I got this broil function. I got this aura ring, finally.

Made it jammed it on my pinky. It's good for your health, right? It's also Bluetooth activated. So give me cancer at night. but also helping me sleep more. Yeah. Scale. Don't need one.

Oh, kind of like speed limit. I don't need to see a speed limit posted. I go with the flow. I go with how the road feels. Just like I don't need to scale. Right now, for instance,

I'm out of shape. Need to get in shape. Vanities. I'd like to one day transition away from vanities. Which part of the vanity? The whole thing. The entire thing. Yeah, I would.

Okay. The vanities are what's wrong with society. It's the first thing we do when we wake up. That's why they call it a vanity, man. We might need to, we might need to. Hold on a second. You wake up in the morning, first thing you do, after you check your phone as you walk in

and you look at yourself in your vanity. A lot of body image problems, a lot of shame from the night before for a lot of people. A lot of like, am I getting older? Get rid of vanities. little fucking school desk with your with a cup and your that's it and there's essentials a sink too no you fucking brush your teeth in the shower dude wow live simple okay what if a bunch of people with patagonia gear live simple what if i could just repackage the uh hard cut what if i could just repackage

the name maybe it's a terminology issue it's not vanity take the mirror off the vanity It's manatee. Manity? Manity? Yeah. One of my favorite animals. Yeah. Cattle of the Sea is what they call them. You might not like them.

No, I don't. Yeah, vanity's got to go. If you made a plan to fake your own death with a 100% success rate, what's the plan, what would you do after, when or how would you go about telling your families? Eaton by a shark. overdose on drugs a little too realistic for you guys or what where's the body

where's the body oh we'll just give him well I'm gonna OD on drugs we'll just take Pete Davidson's body will kill him be like that's making okay then first thing I'm doing is attending my own funeral I want to hear what the people have to say

hey shout to LD yeah who actually wasn't LD LD didn't like Albert Brooks one at the fake funeral Would you What disguise would you wear to your funeral Or would you wear a disguise? No I'd be uh I'd be up in the rafters like

Tom Sawyer or something Huck Finn Some shit like that No no here's what I would do Here's what I would do Chris Long Discovers he has a twin brother all along Okay build up You know we're flying him in

To Charlottesville right now we're going to do a big press conference i'd die on the way to the press conference oh dear and then it's your twin yeah what's his name grant grant long why was there a press conference in the first place it's a big deal podcaster that's a long lost twin that we thought was dead faking my own death that would fucking actually work dude think about that don't you just don't you take your car and you just put over a canyon into a canyon over a cliff and into a canyon yeah I would

feed Bradley Martin to a great white shark that was Chris Long I would pretend to save people from a burning building but actually just sneak out the back oh that's smart that's really smart oh that's good you should set the fire too well what you're just going to happen upon a burning

building and you got to fake your own death yep exactly set the building on fire What building? Studio of Jay. Hey, hey,

hold on. I'm going to go literally build a well, provide clean water to thousands, and then a fall down the well

in the construction of it. You don't have to, you want to arrange this? I know a guy. No, I don't want to actually die. I have a lot of responsibility.

Okay, got it. So I read an article today in New York times that said over the last two years vehicle crashes have been surging so like a lot more automobile accidents why do you guys think that might be phones people are looking at their phones that's probably it any other brain busters well yeah that's the minus 600 i'm looking for the the tough conspiratorial angle here what else could it be because we've had phones for the article sites like maybe people are angry during this time.

Impatient. I've got nowhere to go. I've got to get there so fast. Drunk on drugs. Logan Trey Nuevae asked, what is the realest sport that making could defeat Chris at consistently? Tennis. Tennis. I would beat you in chess.

Like I think I could, I would beat you in like horse, but you're a more effective basketball player. So we need to do a free throw contest. Then I. Yeah, sure. any time anywhere. Tennis, tennis will be the answer. I didn't know you were a chess guy. I'm not,

but I could beat him in chess. The queen can move in any direction. That's right. The rook does a fucking L. You want to take my palms. The bishops goes diagonally. I don't need them. You know?

Yeah. The king me. No, the rook actually does in the horse. Is that the horse is the horse? The rook, yeah. The rook is the castle. The castle goes in a straight line. line. It's just testing to see if you know what the fuck you're talking about out there on the

squares. Yeah. I do. Bobby Fisher, bad guy, good chess player. Queens Gambit. Watched all of it. I see a chessboard on the ceiling anytime I look at the ceiling. People play chess by the water in parks. Old people do it oftentimes. All right. Well, that's enough. It's enough of this. We'll catch you next podcast. Take care. Oh!