Green Light with Chris Long - Bruce Arians on Tom Brady, Social Justice among NFL Teams and Minority Coaches in the NFL.

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

0:42 - Open and Bruce Arians preview. 6:00 - Bruce Arians on Social Justice, Minority Coaches in the NFL, and coaching Tom Brady. 44:13 - Quick Hitters with Bruce Arians. 55:49 - Mailbag. Big thank you to Bruce, make sure you check out all the great work they are doing at The Arians Family Foundation: https://ariansfamilyfoundation.org/. 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. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greenlight Pod, Wednesday. We're going to get straight into this thing. The main event is none other than the man in the beret, Bruce Ariens. There aren't too many athletes, coaches, who have all you had was a silhouette. You could identify them. Bruce is one of those guys. We brought on Allbirds as a sponsor of the Greenlight Pod. And there's a reason we wanted to be involved with a company like Allbirds.

They did not waste a lot of time in showing us the decision we made was the right one. Let me read you a statement from Allbirds. Normally, this sponsored read would focus on what Allbirds does as a business and talk about one of our newest products, but there's something much more important happening in our country and around the world right now. Acknowledging injustice is not the kind thing to do. It's the right thing to do. As a business, Allbirds has always stood for the planet and standing for the planet also means standing for its people. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy all the Earth has to offer without fearing for their lives because of the color of their skin. And while we admit that we're not entirely sure what the right thing to do is at a time

like this, we know that just stating our support isn't enough. We need to take action. As a first step, Allbirds has contributed to organizations like the National Movement for Black Lives and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to support their efforts. We encourage you to demand change and make your voices heard. Black Lives Matter. I'm just going to admit it. When I first got to know, Bruce, it was from across the sideline. He was the coach of the Cardinals. And there was some back and forth banter between him and Jeff Fisher, somebody I'm fiercely loyal to. He took kind of a shot of Jeff. And I didn't like that. And I didn't like Bruce when I was a player. But I didn't know anything about him. I just knew he was the guy that coached the Cardinals. You know, when you're a player, you don't pay attention

to guys' histories or what they stand for. You just kind of look at him as football coaches. Well, he's proven to be a terrific football coach. Obviously got his first shot when Chuck Pagano had to leave to deal with cancer treatment, won nine games with the Colts. He's coached a lot of great quarterbacks. And he'll have another great one this year in Tom Brady. The big question is, can he get creative and get Tom on the same page with his program and his players? Not to mention, and we won't go into it.

the defense a whole lot, but that defense might be the reason they get a ring, if they get a ring, because that defense was stout last year and stout in the face of a lot of adversity. And by that, I mean sudden changes, a lack of complimentary football at times. And by sudden change, I mean, when you're a player, your defensive player, you get off the field, your dog tired, you go sit on the bench for some Gatorator, the towel. If you're in Tampa, a cold towel that's dipped in ice water and ice. And then somebody says, get your helmet and go back out there because James just threw a third pick of the game.

And you're sprinting back on the field, backed up to your own 30, that type of thing. That was a regularity for them last year. And they were still essentially a top five defense. Todd Bulls is doing a great job. So not to mention the weapons they have at one and two in Evans and Giles. They also have three talented tight ends. Their offensive line is becoming solidified. The questions for me are running back and filling those third and fourth receiver slots and seeing, you know, if they can distribute the football equitably among everybody, keep everybody happy.

But they seem to have the type of personalities that they can pull this off with. And Tom, of course, is what it hinges on. And can he get a 43-year-old quarterback to at least learn a little bit of his system, enough of his system? I'm sure they'll collaborate. That's what he's done with quarterbacks historically. But can they do enough together to become successful in a division where there's a lot of continuity, at least in Atlanta and New Orleans? It's the murderers row of quarterbacks over 33. And, you know, after Matt Ryan, who's 34, 35 years old, about my age, you've got two four,

40-year-olds were still playing at a high level. So stack division, a lot of question marks. Bruce Ariens, a guy I didn't know what to think of when I first got acquainted with him from across the sideline, but somebody I have tremendous respect for, somebody who's a very good coach and who most importantly has balls. I mean, he's a coach that has not shied away from having tough conversations. His whole thing on the football field is no risk it, no biscuit, which means we're going to play bold, we're going to take chances.

He's just as bold off the field. And to him, I'll ask him this, but I don't think it's, I don't think it's something that he puts effort into when it comes to speaking up for the right causes or leading by example when it comes to hiring practices that are equitable and moving the ball in the right direction when it comes to the things that the Rooney rule are trying to address.

I mean, he has a ton of coaches of color, and that's been his history. He brings everybody to the party, and a guy of respect. So can't wait to ask him about all that and more. Here's Bruce Ariens, and after that, I'll have a brief mailbag. So joining me now on the Green Light Pod,

somebody I used to look at from the other sideline when he was with the Cardinals, head coach of Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce Ariens, Before we get going, check out the Ariens Family Foundation. They have masks available on their foundation website. That's AriensfamilyFoundation.org. The foundation also supports and develops programs to prevent neglect of children,

something we can all get on board with, and then also works with CASA. So a lot of great work they do. How are you doing, Coach? I'm doing great, Chris. How's everybody? Everybody's good, man. You know, we were just talking offline. It's just such a time where I wonder when the world

picks back up and gets going full speed again if we'll be ready for it. And you certainly have a unique circumstance with a new quarterback and a bunch of players who are waiting to get to work. And I know Zoom is about all you got to do right now. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. You know, the guys are so excited. Everybody wants to get together. Tom's done a great job of getting some of the offensive guys out of the local high school and working out and teaching each other the offense, you know, after the Zoom meetings. But, You know, right, we're missing, you know, that important team building time in the spring where you bring new players in or rookies. You know, our rookies, our rookies, we do something different, man.

We practice on two fields. Our rookies get 400 snaps. Yeah. And OTAs, which they've missed. They've got none. So, yeah, it's tough. The team building part, it's really tough right now. Well, it's a great point because I really do think teams are forged mostly.

I mean, certainly when the roster gets down to 53, the guys get closer, but where guys really learn about each other is when those rosters are swollen over the summer and the rookies are battling it out. You talked about the effect on rookies. They've missed 400 snaps. I've seen you talk about the effect on special teams. What are people missing about the challenges that this presents? I mean, everybody talks about distance and Zoom, but you mentioned, for one, you've got rookies who have missed snaps. You've got a quarterback who, albeit might be the goat, but he's starting to. somewhere new.

Yeah, I mean, when you look at it, I think back when you were a rookie and you walked in that locker room, went, oh, wow, there's so-and-so. Well, we haven't gotten over Tom Brady yet. Yeah. The young guy is walking in the locker room and seeing Tom Brady, you know, and Grownkowski and the rest of our guys, that all factor, you need to get rid of that in the spring,

you know, and now we're going to do it in training camp. And it's just setting us back. you know, but it is what it is. And we got to deal with it. You're dealt a hand, you play it, and, you know, you make the best of it. And you're no stranger to bumps in the road. You've had to deal with Chuck's leave of absence with cancer, and you're the winningest interim head coach in NFL history.

You had a plethora of injuries that I saw firsthand in 2014 in our division with your team kind of derailed it that way. I mean, you've dealt with, you know, controversy before you've dealt with bumps in the road. This is unprecedented. I guess if there's any saving grace is this is everybody's first time dealing with this problem. Continuity helps, though, and you guys do have a number of players coming back. Yeah, we're very fortunate. You know, we really have two free agents, three.

Joe Haig, Rob, and Tom, the defense is back. That was one of our top priorities was getting that defense back, you know, and not starting over with new guys. And that was huge for us, especially those young guys on the back end, being with the same front seven, hearing the same things. Offensively, Tom, it's not like we're starting with a rookie. I mean, I really pity Joe Burrow and those guys that are starting with new young quarterbacks and missing all the spring, you know. Yeah. It's such a, it's such an unlevel playing field for the teams that have returning players, you know, especially if you're coming back in tact, coaching, staff and players, I think it's a huge advantage in September, you know, for those teams. Yeah. And you've got, you've got young players who will get into it a bit, including a stud

tackle, maybe a swing guy from Iowa and worse. I think he could play all up and down the line, which is great. But he's a guy you'll count on. And then you've got Tom and we'll get into Tom. But, you know, in the midst of all this kind of what the hell is going on from a player perspective, you've got the state of our country right now, and that's all anybody's been talking about, rightfully so. You have spoken out. You've never been one to be shy on issues like this. You were the first white player to room with a black player at Virginia Tech. I mean, and that was Tiki and Ronde's dad, which is wild to me. By the way, it's nice to have the Commonwealth Cup. About 15 years, dude. It took you 15 years to finally get it.

I got assholes reminding me I was 0 and 4. That's why I wore this hat today. It's all good, man. You know, it's funny. It's hard to call it a rivalry the way it's been. I'll admit that. But I do respect the program as much as it pains me to say. I've never quite, I might hate tech, but at least I respect them.

With Maryland, I don't respect them and I hate them as well. I hear you. There's a big, there's a fine, fine line. But you've seen a shitload of stuff in our country. I mean, you experienced what you experienced being kind of a part of that situation at tech. Was that intentional? Did you volunteer to do that? Take me back to Blacksburg.

It was dorm. We all lived in the dorms back then. And, you know, it was 50 years ago to this year. A bunch of us are going to try to get together here soon. And it was our freshman class 50th reunion. So, yeah, I mean, I came in, you know, and I was just happy as hell to have a scholarship. I got kicked out of high school. So, I mean, I had one offer. And it was, it was tech. And, you know, I bleed Hokie throwing through just for that reason. But,

no, J.B, J.B, they told me, hey, we can room with James Barber. I said, cool. My best friend in high school was black. You know, I mean, I played on a predominantly black young high school football team. And then, you know, so it was, it was kind of the norm for me, not for Virginia at that time. Yeah. Which I found out later, I had no idea about what I thought I lived in the South in Virginia until I moved to Mississippi. Right.

Yeah. Then I found out what the South was really. Yeah. That was one of your next stops coaching. I mean, did you get a lot of blowback for being a part of what you thought wasn't a big deal, but obviously was in this state? Yeah, there were some players that would come down, you know, and wait for J.B. and asked me what it was like, you know, living with a black guy.

And I say, I'm a lot better with you, man. I've seen your room. Shit. He's first of all, he's a great dude, you know. But yeah, it was, it was, yeah, we hung a sign on our door, Salt and Pepper Incorporated. It was, and we went on from there. I love it. But you, so you, you've experienced that from day one.

And the country's changed. Any American could see that over the past 50 years, but you, you've enjoyed a vantage point within football that certainly there's a lot of change going on in football and consciousness of some shortcomings within our game one of the shortcomings and i did a pot on this in the fall and i really leaned on some of the black coaches i i know around the league and i've made relationships with to tell me what they think are the shortcomings of the Rooney rule where the NFL and NFL coaches are missing the boat you're you're one guy that came up in conversations a lot you know you've got 29 coaching staff positions list on the website.

I count 11 minority coaches and two women. You're the first head coach with three black coordinators. But I don't feel like you're somebody that feels like you have to go out of your way to do it because you hire the guys that you believe are the right guys. What goes into your mindset? Yeah, I mean, when you're putting the staff together, I mean, one of the reasons I got back into coaching was because my staff was available. You know, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't.

going to call plays. And had Byron left which trained, he'd gotten, you know, he got baptized into it and did a fantastic job for us last year, calling plays. And, but yeah, I mean, did I intentionally go out and hire four minorities in the top spots? No, they're the best dudes I know. Right. You know, Todd Bowles played for me at Temple. He's been ahead. He was my defensive coordinator in Arizona. Keith Armstrong played for me at Temple. It was a great. Special Teams coordinator in Atlanta played against him all those years. Harold Goodwin's been with me 17 years

as assistant head coach, offensive line coach, run game coordinator, and then Byron. But I felt like former players, former players that want to find out if they want to coach. We started this program back in Arizona and our owner was gracious enough to call

to Bill Bedwell Fellowship. All right, guys come in on a two-year deal. All right? And it's more does their wife want them to coach? Right. You know what I mean? You might want a coach, but you're... I know.

Exactly. And like all our interns, we came in. We were former players. Yeah. Six or seven for spring and camp. And like, hey, coach, man, I love this shit, but my wife ain't digging it. You can't coach, bro. It ain't going to work.

Right. And because you're going to have to move. I moved my wife 19 times. Yeah. And, I mean, it's hard. That's one of the hardest things about being, I think, an NFL player, especially nowadays and why we don't see as many former

players as coaches, you know, they make all this money playing, it's hard to convince a guy who doesn't need anything unless they're just addicted to the game and, you know, basically institutionalized by NFL facilities. I mean, like, I get it. I've been in them for 11 years.

I would be the last one to leave a lot of days. I'd just be sitting around not doing anything, and I know some guys when they go home, they might miss it. But for the most part, it's hard to convince a player to come back and coach. because of these long hours. You're not a guy that prescribes to that, you know, more is more in every situation thing.

I've heard you talk about family time and such. Is that what makes it more attractive to be a former player and come coach for you? I think it helps. I spoil them. You know, I mean, we've got a lot of former guys that played for me. Larry Foote went from playing linebacker to being the linebacker coach. He was ready.

Yeah. He was ready. And we had guys that could help him along, you know. So I think it's just the mentorship of guys to find out this really what I want to do. Right. And, you know, I think that, you know, Steve Hayden came to Indianapolis for training camp. He and Brandt Boyer. And, you know, Brand got hired as assistant special teams coach.

I hired Steve as a tight end coach. It's just, yeah, my man, I'm all in. Right. And when that hook sinks, when you just wall all that hook in coaching, you're done. You don't ever give it up. Yeah. For the next job. It's a necessary vocation.

We need coaches. We need good coaches. But it's always great to see, you know, former players getting shots and thriving. And you've had a number of them because I do think that although, and I'm not some elitist as a player that thinks that if you didn't play, you can't coach. some of the best coaches of all time played not past the high school level. But I do think there's that element of communication and empathy and respect between guys that live these situations that are very stressful.

And I think it's great that you've got them. Regarding the Rooney Rule, I know that you've put your head down and just tried to be a part of the solution by being who you are. But knowing that not everybody is like you, and there are a number of coaches, we've seen lately because nobody can hide and you have to speak on it that don't get it yet. What would you tell other coaches and are there any tweaks you would make to the Rooney Rule? Because sometimes I look at it and it's not just the pool of head coaching candidates. It's the entire pipeline.

It's the access to the quarterback room. It's the access to the O-Line room. How would you tweak the rule to be more exhaustive? I think the new tweaks were good. The more interviews, the more chances guys have to wow the only. you know and that's what it's going to take the and you're going to have to have some form of relationship I don't think you just going cold and get a job there's very seldom as that happened but to wow the GM and while the G.m. the owner the ownership

group you got to have an interview you got you got to have so the more people that get in that room the better opportunities so the more we can mandate you have to do these things, coordinators. Then the quarterback coach things, that's a hard one, man, because they're hard to find. Right. Like you said, former players made a lot of money

and they don't want to coach. It took me four years to get Byron off the couch to get off the golf course, really. You say, yeah, man, I want to try that. And so it's not the easiest thing. That quarterback situation, I think, is going to be the hardest. And I love the fact I'm going to speak at the symposium on the 22nd and 23rd to answer questions for that quarterback situation that they're building in Atlanta with

Jimmy Ray setting up and Shaq and those guys. And I think that's a great step forward. Just find them. You know, find out who they are where they're at. And let's see what opportunities. Is there a former player that you, you know, that you, you're coaching above right now on your staff that you're saying that guy's a head coach one day. I'm sure there's more than one, but is- Oh, yeah, I've got three or four. I mean, Byron will be a head coach, I think, fast. Todd Bowles, if he wants to be back as a head coach, he'll be a head coach again. I think Larry Fritt, Mike Calwell, I think Harold Goodwin should be a head coach.

I mean, those guys, and Keith's age is going to get him like me, you know, but they're all qualified. It's just getting the right opportunity. Keith had he had interviewed to follow me in Arizona, and it was real close. Do you ever wonder, because, you know, it does take, it's not, you know, there's certainly white coaches who had to wait a long time. You know, I'm not, that's not to minimize the obvious plight of a black coach in the NFL. I mean, even your experience of having to wait a while, I don't know. If Chuck doesn't get sick, how long do you think you're waiting?

I don't think I ever hear of. Yeah. That doesn't happen. You know, I'd probably still be there with him. You know, after Super Bowl 43, we made that drive to win the game and beat Arizona when I was in Pittsburgh. Never even got a phone call. I kind of figured it wasn't in the cards for me. It wasn't going to happen, you know.

And at that time, I never had an agent. I never believed that stuff was that important. Then, you know, once everything happened and, and, in Indianapolis, I learned a little bit more of a lesson. Yeah, back to the topic in hand with everything swirling around football and in our country right now. What's a coach's job right now? Because, you know, coaches can't solve this problem alone. Most NFL coaches, you know, although they might benefit from a system where we get a leg up with their white coaches,

they're not trying to perpetuate it. And certainly they didn't create it. but they coach locker rooms full of black men who are hurting right now, very obviously hurting right now and dealing with a lot. What's your job as a head coach? What do players need from their leadership at this point? I think the first and foremost is listen and give as much advice as possible, but just listen.

Just listen and, you know, I don't know what else we can do right now. I think then when the, like I said the other day, when the protests are over, let's take action. Yeah. So let's go back on the couch and say, hey, I hollered, I screamed, I protested. And that's just the beginning. Let's go take positive action.

And, you know, I look at this generation of six to eight-year-old kids who just missed half their school year because of the virus. Half of them didn't get fed because they got fed in school. And who's who's talking to them? who's helping them, the kids without parents or single families? Who's helping those children right now? Because that next generation is the one that's going to break it. Right.

We can't break it. It's too late for us. But the next generation of children, we can help them break the system. Yeah, I do. There's a lot of hope for me, and you've seen multiple generations swing and miss at this thing. And, you know, as much shit as I might want to give generation. or whatever you call them, these young kids, they might be the ones to chip away at this thing and to put that next generation that you're referring to in a position to be that final piece

of the puzzle. So I'm hoping that, you know, all this attention. And I think it's key that we are uncomfortable that these protests are happening, that people are making their voices heard. I think that's a necessity. The acknowledgement is a necessity. But to your point, the action following it is big. On the football field, you know, we dealt with the cap thing four years ago.

I don't think, I think there were a lot of players, coaches, people in this country, and I've had a number of them in my mentions on Twitter and that sort of thing to say, shit, man, four years ago, I didn't get it. I get it now. You know, and that protest played a role in that acknowledgement and awareness, I think, puts us where we need to be right now. And it's also empowered players to talk. So in the fall, if you all get back to work, I know there's going to be players protesting.

Do you encourage your guys to do that? How do you handle that? I think for them, whatever they feel is right. That makes them feel whole and it helps them get through it. Yeah. If it's kneeling, if it's a fist, if it's whatever, you know, whatever, it's such a personal thing for each and every individual guy, you know, and it's not for everybody.

Right. You know, but everybody's got to acknowledge each other. And, you know, the beauty of the locker room is that everybody's got each other's back. Yeah. You know, that's the one safe haven is the locker room. And to listen to each other, to help each other in those times, because it's not going to just go away. You know, it's going to be something that we have to keep addressing and keep addressing. keep addressing until the next generation fixes it.

I mean, you got it at times on some of these issues work really faithfully because you might not see the fruits of your labor or the collective fruits of our labor. You know, and this time, I mean, you and I might not see it, period. I love what Anquant and those guys are going. Yeah. Our ownership is fantastic. We've got a social justice program and our guys are active. I mean, they had a big zone meeting all the guys.

I stay out of it, you know. I mean, because it's their team. It's not my team. Right. I mean, that's the first premise we make. This is your team. Well, I think it also helps that you've already made that acknowledgement on many occasions. I mean, you're not one that's ever hid from it. So I don't think, you know, like for some coaches, this might be their first week grappling with this stuff and their players might be introducing them to these realities. And although we all need to listen, you know, you certainly, you're not a rookie at this or, you know,

somebody who's had your ears and eyes closed. Last tough on football question, I promise. I can't wait to talk about sports. I mean, I love it if this shit went away and we solved this problem, but obviously it's going to be a while. In the meantime, they're still sports. You were the head coach at Temple. You had a runner up in the Heisman race, Paul Palmer, signed with an agent earlier.

They had to vacate some wins. You know, the amateurism question in sports right now. I feel like we hold these guys to such an unrealistic standard who are putting in a lot of work. You've coached at both levels. Where do you think that needs to go? Oh, I think, I love the fact that they're going to be able to sign and get autographs and get paid. But again, I mean, if you're a female volleyball player, how much you're getting paid for your autograph?

Right. I think it's got to be equal. You know, a long, long time ago, I think in 1983, a professor, I might have been Stanford, said, you know, 1% or 2% of all gross revenue needs to go back to the. student athletes. You know, whether it's your sport, which is a, you know,

football is going to get paid, volleyball's probably not. But it's, I think all those, the student athletes have to have some kind of stipends, much, much.

When I had $15 a month in, in 1970, for they call it laundering money, that's my only 15 bucks. Right. You know, I had to make it work. And so I think,

yeah, there's, there's got to be something done. to help these guys because they're generating billions of dollars of revenue for the universities and they're not getting enough back. Yeah, absolutely. Tom, okay, Tom Brady, that's what everybody wants to talk to you about. But, you know, you've got a guy who is, most people call him the goat.

I'm not going to ask you to weigh in on that whole discussion, but you're a quarterback whisper, well known to be one. Do you have anything to whisper to him about? What do you do when you're dealing with somebody like Tom who probably knows he's made the mistake? He probably knows how to correct it. You guys are certainly brilliant in your own rights, but coaching him has got to be way different

than coaching other players, or is it? Yes and no. I think it's for me, I love his enthusiasm. and his energy diving into our offense. And then, hey, let's learn our offense. Then you and I sit down, hey, whenever we can, hopefully soon. And you tell me the 10 best things you like. And we'll work it together and mesh it out.

You know, I want you going into that New Orleans game as comfortable as possible, whether it's stuff we do or stuff that you've done in the past and we rename it. And we teach it the way you want to taught. And I love collaboration. I've always, that's the most fun in coaching is me, is collaboration with quarterbacks and picking plays and picking game plans and those type of things. And Tom's been fantastic.

And the fact that that he has his resume, he's acting like a rookie right now. Right. And I love it. Yeah, I've always said he was one of, you know, I only spent a year up then, New England, but he was always one of the most every man. superstar, quarterback, leaders that I've ever been around for somebody with such a transcendent brand. He truly was inquisitive. He took coaching. He treated all his teammates with respect. And obviously

right now there's not as much, you know, whole team congregation. But I remember he would treat the 53rd guy on the roster, just like the first. And I think that's huge. And I think that'll translate. But schematically, you guys push the ball down the field. That's what you do. Obviously, we James, who was very aggressive. Tom's arm isn't what it used to be. How do you guys collaborate on the type of tougher throws that you're used to seeing that maybe he can't make at this stage, which is fairly reasonable. He's 43 years old.

Yeah, I mean, he made the best statement, man. Throw it to the dude. It's open. Right. And is it the deeper? Now, in our offense, maybe he hasn't been allowed to look deep first, you know, but still got to get it out of your hand. You can't hold on to it.

Right. But we do look deep on majority of our stuff down to short. We have a lot of stuff where we work short to deep. Right. And we run a ton of empty, which he's done well, and play action game that they've used in the last four or five years. It's almost identical to ours. And so, yeah, I think for him, it's just learning the language, you know.

And when I reevaluated all his tape, I didn't see, I didn't see a poor arm. No. When he had guys deep, he hit him. Right. His deep accuracy was outstanding. He just didn't have that many speed burners, you know? Yeah.

What do you think is tough for working short to deep or working deep to short? I mean, obviously, I don't know much about the position other than trying to chase him down. I think it's always easier short to deep. Yeah. If the guy's opening a flat take it and get to the next down. But sometimes you have to know the matchups. All right. If we have Mike Evans in the slot.

and for whatever reason we catch him on a safety one-on-one. Take the deep shot. I don't care if it's third and two. Right. Taking, you know, it's just knowing their matchups. I think that's where Tom Orelish in our offense is when we create these matchups and he knows he's got them is to exploit him. You'll have so many matchup problems for other teams. I mean, listen, your division is stacked, but any team is going to look at your weaponry

and say, golly. I mean, if somebody emerges as the three and four threat, because I know you like to push the ball down the field, you like four guys outside on the field at different times. I mean, pick your poison. You've got that. You can run 13 personnel. I know that you're going to rely heavily on 12.

I mean, people complain about O.J. Howard's uses last year, but he played a ton, and he was a big part of what y'all did. You know, like with the tight ends, how do you balance that? Because you've got three guys that can catch the ball and be a part of what you do. How do you sell blocking and the dirty work to guys that might want touches? Yeah, I think it's the same at wide receiver. You know, I look back to Heinz Ward. It was kind of the bell cow.

I block, you block, I throw you the ball. All right. You block, I'll design stuff for you in the red zone to get touchdowns. And Gronk is a notorious blocker. He loves blocking. Yeah. So that just permeates in the room. All right.

The top guy's doing it. Everybody's going to do it. And OJ and Cam both, man, they blocked their ass off last year. They gave us all the effort in the world. And again, it's just finding matchups. And we had OJ two or three times last year that his numbers might have been better if we hit him. You know, I guess back to Houston game on a double move. And we had him and we missed him to win the game.

And so, yeah, I'm going to say. I always get criticized. I don't use the tight end, but when I had Heath Miller, he went to the pro bowl. My guy, Heath, yeah. Because Ben Rothersberger loved Heath Miller. Yeah. That was just security blanket, you know, so it's just building that chemistry. Yeah, and by the way, Heath just moved out of town.

We, he moved back to Pittsburgh. He had enough of small town life. He wanted to go back up to the Steel City. Is that right? Yeah, he just, he, because you know, me and Heath played together. at Virginia. We are by a year. And yeah, we were five miles apart here for a while. And then he just, he just rolled out. I guess he, something about the Steel City. He went back home. I would too if I was Heath Miller. They love him up there. I mean, oh man, he's God. He is God.

Yes, indeed. One of the most consistent and reliable people I've ever been around as a player and a person. You know, Gronk with the blocking thing, you mentioned that. You know, we know he's a good blocker. He was a couple years ago. I've seen pictures of him. We all deflate when we leave the game. I think some people think we get off the juice or something. But when you stop pounding calories and lifting weights every day, guys get skinny. How's Grom's transformation back into a football player going? And do you ever have, have you ever had experience dealing with a guy who had to come out of retirement? Yeah, a couple. But yeah, he's, I mean, he never got too low. I mean, he's almost, I think he's around 262, 63, but I don't really, he doesn't need to be too,

70 again. Right. 275. Just get 265 max and take that weight off your body and, and you'll be better because, I mean, that 10 pounds isn't helping you're blocking that much. No. So squats and those things. And, you know, he's working his ass off right now and ready to grow.

So I think the explosion is still in his body. But not a 60 play, a game guy. Right. Got to be real smart. that we would have to be smart as a coaching staff. Yeah, especially coming out of something like a long layoff where, you know, on top of the retirement, you just don't have eyes on people physically, you know, all summer. So that makes sense.

Quarterback thing, here's an interesting one I heard. Okay, you're preparing for a season with COVID. And I'm not going to hammer you on COVID stuff because we just don't know. We don't know where it's going to be in the fall. We can speculate. But the one thing I wonder is there's a lot of players that if they tested positive, you would have to make some adjustments as long as it's contained. And I know that probably they'll expect players to quarantine for two weeks if they test

positive. I don't know. But with the quarterback position, okay, it's a room full of two, three guys. If Tom test positive for COVID, knock on wood, you're going to need a good backup. But what if that backup's been sitting in the room for him while he's infected or symptomatic? I heard some crazy, but maybe it's not such a crazy idea, to have a question. quarterback on your roster that is not at the facility around the guys because you could conceivably end up in a situation where you're down to quarterback three relatively quickly. Yeah, that's one of the

things I've been pondering in the last two or three weeks as we as we set the protocols. And from what I'm understanding is if you test positive, you're quarantined for two weeks. Now, that if you have no symptoms, I don't know what that means. Yeah. Is it a false one? Is it a I mean, so there's so much to learn and still explore with this thing. But I've thought about keeping the third quarterback on the roster out of the room. You know, we have two guys that have been in our system really sharp. So I might have to quarantine a quarterback just in case of a quarantine. Right.

This year, you know, with the possibility of no crowds, how does that change the way you prepare players? Because I know that like for a young player on the road on the office. offensive line, that might be a good thing. You know, you might not have to use silent count, you know, for a defensive lineman, who's accustomed to having a big home field advantage somewhere like Seattle. You know, you might look at this and say, man, shit, I need the fans. Have you thought about the communication and how to how to communicate with your players without the other team hearing and that sort of thing?

Yeah, I mean, it's a very unique situation. We open into our lives, one of the loudest places in the league. And to not have fans would be under. unbelievable for a young tackle. Yeah, well, and for Tom Brady, do you use a hard count. Yeah.

So it would level the playing field for a young tackle, especially. So, yeah, I think, yeah, we have to, and then we play them again. So whatever verbiage you're using as audibles and different things in your lap counts, you'll probably have to change the next time you play them.

Yeah, there's going to be a game of chess that's going on that fans don't even understand with the communication, because you're essentially now going to practice with people. If there's no fans, you know, imagine all the times we used to seal the offensive signs and communication and practice, that's going to be what it is, especially in the division. So got to keep an eye on that for sure. I said, I can't cuss out the rest is loud because my mom will hear it on television. That's another thing. The shit talking, the trash talking, like,

you know, people are like, man, I really want an inside look at what players say to each other on the field. I'm like, are you sure? Your favorites, your hero. No, you don't. I might take it. I'd I mean, there's going to be some unorthodox things that you all have to consider going in this year that just, it just. I mean, the biggest thing is nobody's facility is big enough to handle the protocol. Yeah, the actual distancing. So we have, so we have 90 guys, 30, we have 30 coaches. And if you have six feet apart, we don't have room big enough for that. Well, I mean, you know, and we play in the most contact, heavy sport, you know, so there's no distancing between players.

You can throw that out the window. And then your players, they go home from work eventually. And, you know, for you, they might go home an hour earlier than some people who keep the players in the building way longer. You know, they have families. They have social lives. And then there's expansive staffs that fans don't know about it. I just think it's going to be tough to contact trace everybody. And you know, you as a coach, have you thought about how much you'll discourage guys to get out and about?

I mean, I know that it's a situation. When we get together, it's going to be like, dude, you got to be smart. Hopefully there's fans, you know, but if you're flying family members in, you better have them tested before they come in, you know. I mean, to stay, they're going to stay at your house. All the things that we have to go through to make sure that that positive test doesn't show up. I mean, there's not going to be going out to restaurants, and that's, I'll be like, you've got to be really, really, really smart.

And until we get through this season and see how this goes. Yeah, absolutely. Mike Evans, best wide receiver in the NFL? I mean, I certainly would say he's the most underrated. Yeah, he's the best I've coached. And I've coached some really good ones. You know, Larry Fitzgerald, Marvin Harrison, Heinz Ward, a lot of good ones. Mike, he is heading in that direction to be better.

Yeah. I wouldn't say he's better yet. getting in that direction. First of all, he's a great young man, just fantastic, great teammate. But his skill set is unique for big man to be able to drop his hips and run routes the way he does. Yeah, he's a very unique player. If he's not the best, he's won the top five. You know, the Tristan Worf's thing, you're expecting him to contribute. And so that's a tough thing anyways for a rookie, but you add in the lack of time with everybody. is there a position as a rookie that you think is the hardest to roll into with no prep kind of like guys are doing now and is there one that's easier than others?

Yeah, I think both tackles are really hard because you haven't seen the speed rushers and the power you're seeing you're going to see. I think if there's an easy spot, it's a running back because other than pass protection, all right? A running back just running. He's doing the same thing that he's always done. He's running with the ball. His eyes are good. His vision's good. His instincts are good. Now, if he can't pass,

well, I don't ask him to. Until he hurts out to, you know. And that's the biggest, that's the biggest step for a running back coming into the league is pass protection. So, yeah, I think that's the easiest spot. Probably receiver would be next. Quarterbacks in slumps.

I heard the story about Peyton and him throwing a hat trick the wrong way. And you just saying, hey, we're keeping you out here. you know, because it's a mental game, too, when you make a mistake as a player. Yeah, I mean, I think it was Peyton's rookie year up in New England. And he'd thrown three or four picks. And I could tell by his voice, you know, hey, I really want to get out of this game. There's like, you know, 12 minutes left or whatever. It's like, dude, we're going no huddle, two a minute, go learn something.

All right? Just get to experience, learn something. And I think he took about five checks down to Marshall Falkin. when we went down and scored a touchdown. And I said, he just learned something. You're running back, your best friend. You know, take the checkdown. But yeah, he kept growing from there on out, you know.

And, you know, James was a guy that he'd come to the sideline. That play was over. He was on to the next. And, you know, I think James is going to have a hell of a career. Yeah. Just, you know, if Tom was available, we had to make that decision. And when I wish him all the best. I got a quick grab bag for you.

What are your biggest pet peeves as a coach? Every coach I've ever had, had like, you know that this is that guy's bugaboo, whether it's being late, whether it's, you know, tucking your shirt in it practice. What's the thing that if somebody played for you, they're like, Bruce does not fuck around on that?

Being late. Yeah. Being on time. And that's just a respect. Yeah. You know, we don't have any rules. We have three words. Trust, loyalty, and respect.

Every year I put the definition of those words. All right. If you just do these three things, we don't have any problems. Everybody's going to be fine, you know, and you can't trust. I can't trust you until I trust myself. You got to look in the mirror and trust that guy first. And then be loyal to the cause and the cause is the rain. So whatever decisions you're making and then respect is coming to work. You know, I think mom and dad taught us all to respect to each other and we need to do more of that. but for us it's respect to process. This is Monday's work.

This is Monday's work. This is Tuesday's work. This is Wednesday's work. We have to get it done. And for us to be successful on Sunday. Where does the big bend of San Antonio throw that you referenced earlier rank in throws and catches in Super Bowl history? The throw was amazing. I think San Antonio just put his hands up.

I mean, Tone did a great job keeping his toes down. Yeah. The throw, when you think about everybody runs a star pattern, you know, and it was Heinz on the goal line, the back in the flat, and Ben pumps. And only he could actually throw it and pull it back, and then reload it and throw it over top of Carmardi's head in the back of the end zone where only tone could catch it. And it's one of the greatest throws I've ever seen.

Of all the head coaches you worked under, give me one that you'd want to quarantine with in a house. It's a nice house. You've got internet. You got TV. You guys can drink beer and hang out. You just can't leave the house. And give me one that you absolutely wouldn't want to quarantine with.

You got to spend a month. Jimmy Sharp would be the one I wanted to. He was my coach of Virginia Tech, my senior year. He got me into coaching. And I love him. But the one I would not want to be with was probably Jackie Sherrill. Oh, really? what's wrong with Jackie Sherrill.

I just, Jack and I just, it just wouldn't work. I just know it would work. Okay. Say no more. He'd be telling me what I was doing wrong all day. Yeah, exactly.

And you're like, I'm trying to relax. I'm stressed as a pandemic. One thing that people might not know about Bear Bryant. Coach was a master of personnel. I don't know if enough people have realized we played 66 players a game.

If you wanted to get your ass fire, you'd send somebody in. Because he substituted every player. Really? And we played three quarterbacks. Nine running backs. He picked and chose when he played everybody. And that's way ahead of his time.

I mean, nowadays, if you're not subbing, at least on my side of the ball, you're in the dark ages. Coach Bryant was a master of personnel. Yeah. Knowing when to put this guy in. How about out of all the quarterbacks you've coached, can you build me a Frankenstein? Perfect traits.

Yeah, I mean, I've been very lucky. Peyton's brain, Ben's ability and heart and toughness. Carson's Deepball. Yeah. Timmy Couch's toughness and his his ability to throw into the second level. And then if you put all those together, you probably have Andrew Luck. And the conscience of James with maybe a little more conscience? A little more conscience, yeah.

Good. Dry heat or Florida humidity? What's worse? Dry heat, man. That's like putting your head in a microwave. Give me the humidity. I like sweating. Yeah, okay. That's fair. I mean, I'm kind of from here, so I'm good with that. Give me the first time you've put on a beret. How did that start?

Oh, I mean, I was a kid. I mean, we wore hats in the streets of York, you know. You've worn them sideways. Everybody had a hat, you know, and a big apple or something, you know. I always had that style of hat. And through the years, they just got a little bit different, a little bit colorful. And then when we got, actually when the foundation started is when I start wearing them all the time because we can sell them to help children. Yeah. And then lastly, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, which one was more blue collar or city? Oh, Cleveland.

Yeah? Yeah, Cleveland. Yeah. I mean, I think the Browns fans, I always go back, week 16, the Colts, we need to win, go to the playoffs. They're one in 14 and snowing like crazy. We offer warm-ups. I told Peyton, you know, I'm going to worry about a silent count today. There's going to be nobody here.

We come back out and there's an ass in every seat. Yeah. I mean, they're going crazy. Yeah. And then the coached there for three years. And, yeah, I think the Browns fans are some of the hardiest. fan. Again, I want everybody to check out the Ariens Family Foundation.org. That's where you can find it. They work with CASA. They work with programs to prevent neglect of children, and they have masks on that are

stylish. I saw them on the site. So go check it out. Coach, thank you so much. You've been very gracious with your time. I know you got a football season to get ready for it. Appreciate it. Tell everybody hi for me. Tell Pape. Good luck this year, ma'am. I appreciate it, brother. Okay, talk soon. So that was Bruce Ariens. And I mean, he said a lot of interesting stuff there. I was really excited that he had thought about the same thing I've been thinking about, which is that possibility of keeping a quarterback in the bullpen, so to speak. That's a very interesting topic to me.

It's unprecedented in football to have to worry about this. Obviously, every fall you have to worry about the flu. But probably what's going to be a mandated two-week period of quarantine for a quarter of quarterback, if one unfortunately comes down with COVID, could derail a team season. Two games can really, can really, really change things. So him addressing that, talking about that was interesting. And then hearing, like for me, I just learned a day ago that he's essentially kind of an uncle to Tiki and Ronde by way of knowing their dad from Virginia Tech and, you know, Bruce. his history, being the first white player to room with black players at Virginia Tech.

You know, I don't know where he learned to be equitable, to be fair, and to be a standout in a field of coaches that don't seem to get it. Again, when I say all this, you don't deserve a medal. I hope we can get to the point where a Bruce Ariens is more the norm. But he was taught it somewhere along the line and I can't help but think, you know, it just came natural to him through his experiences. And as I asked them those questions, it did seem like it was more, hey, listen, this is just how it is. I didn't have to learn it. Nobody had to teach me how to be a good human being, how to be fair, how to respect people. That's just the way I am.

And I believe that. So let's look at their schedule real quick. I mean, we talked about this. Tampa Bay is going to open up with New Orleans. And interestingly, as an extension of a point about COVID and hard count and some of that discussion, they are going to play in a hostile environment that maybe won't have any fans. So that could be a leg up for them. But I do think that early on, when you look at their schedule, I think we talked about that as I live streamed,

the schedule reveal, they have a lot of challenges on the front end. Now, there's one positive, if you're the bus. Tom Brady, who's older, who certainly could use rest, could use warm weather, is not going to play too many games in the cold. I think if I remember correctly, Charlotte is projected to be the coldest game they play in. And that is, as I look at this thing real quick, they are playing the Panthers November 16th. Otherwise, after that, you've got L.A. at home, November 23rd. You also have Kansas City at home. That's a terrific draw out of division.

You could have gone to Arrowhead late in November. That could be a tough place to play anyways. But you had the cold weather in for an older quarterback, that sort of thing. That's not ideal. And then your road games are dome games the rest of the way. You got a long homestand in there in November. You know, you're going to spend a month at home. before you take a short trip to Atlanta, December 20th.

So from November 15th when they play the Panthers, they're going to get on a plane to come home. And they're not going to take a flight longer than an hour or so until they go to Detroit, December 26th. So they finish the year at home against Atlanta. The back half of their schedule, it's a lot of home games. and the road games are pretty temperate or indoors. And, you know, they're going to have some challenges early.

They're going to have some real challenges early with the Saints. They're going to have to go to Denver, which is never easy. And, you know, Drew Locke has more weapons and it's a longer trip. Then you've got the chargers at home, the bears on the road, the Packers at home, that's going to be a test. And then Vegas, week seven. That should be a lot of fun. Tom Brady in Vegas.

We talked about it. That's Halloween. I joked on an earlier pod about how funny it's going to be to see a bunch of grown men dressed up as pirates. You've got Raiders fans. We'll see if the black hole transfers, the gentrified black hole, a bunch of Vegas businessmen and sweets. I'm sad just thinking about it. And then we've got Bucks fans. We're going to take over the slot machines in Vegas.

No bottle service, just slots. That's the type of fans, I think. Tampa fans are and I mean that as a compliment you guys are smart with your money I think I don't I don't Tampa fans don't strike me as people that are gonna go to Vegas and and and blow all their cash and then you got the the rest of the season which we already discussed so I think that the number on them was about nine ten wins I could see this thing going either way that the must wins are are pretty clear. The must

win is probably that second Saints game. I think that's going to be a must win for them at that point in the season. And that could catapult them into a nice run in the latter half of the season. They still have some tests, but they have to win some division games. And I'm not going to expect them

to win the opener on the road. That second Saints game for me will be a big time barometer as to where they are and how that offense is jelled. And who might win that division? So mailbag, let's see. I'm only going to take one today.

Sports bros, Seattle Sports Bros. Ask, if you are going to live in one NFL city, what city is it and why is it Seattle? Well, I liked your question. I broke it down. And mind you, I'm not some expert on these cities. So don't get offended. I'm sure somebody listening is going to be like, my city is way cooler than you're making it sound.

I haven't visited all these cities. Actually, I've been to all these cities. Some of them were business trips. Some of there were football trips. But I grouped the NFL cities into three categories. Could live, maybe. And then we've got no-fly-zone type cities. Now, the could-live cities, I just broke them down, West Coast, East Coast.

By West Coast, I mean, like, anything really fucking far away, because I'm a Virginia boy. I don't want to leave. So the thought is really crazy to me. Even when I go out west and fall in love with the place, I just remind myself that you're essentially moving out of the country. Out of the could-live category out west, I'm going to probably put San Francisco one, believe it or not. And it's a close one between Denver and San Fran.

San Francisco, the city I love, every time I go, I get this feeling. I'm like, man, I don't know. go to San Francisco and be a writer or something and just kind of get lost in that city. I love everything about it, but I'm afraid to die in an earthquake. Probably a totally unwarranted fear, but wouldn't it suck if you moved out to San Francisco and started all over and left your life from Virginia and like your first day, there was a huge crevasse that opened up in the middle of the freeway and your hybrid just plummets 300 feet into some chasm leads you to the core of the earth.

So Denver, I love it. It's a beautiful place. One of my favorite places to live. It's really hard not to love Denver. Wonderful spot. L.A., that's three for me. You know, I don't like most of L.A., but South Bay, Manhattan Beach, Redondo, all that stuff, Hermosa.

It's hard not to love that place. You just sit there and you look out over the Pacific and you think like, there is nothing for a long time. And it's just beautiful. You don't get that feeling in too many other places. And you know you're close to everything. I could move out to like Big Sur or something, but I probably feel weird and isolated.

If you're in South Bay, there's always the reminder that if you want to leave, you're going to be stuck in traffic forever, which is a bad thing, but it can be comforting to know that you're not in the middle of nowhere, staring out in the Pacific Ocean. You feel that isolation on one side of you, but you look east and it's a sprawling city.

And, you know, there's a lot going on in L.A. So maybe I could try that out. I did train out there one time, Manhattan Beach. My wife and I stayed there for a couple months. We stayed just a couple blocks off the beach. I loved it. But after like a month and a half, I got cabin fever. I don't know if I felt claustrophobic because the thing I just described is if you try to leave South Bay, you can't.

And one night I said, Meg, we're out of here. I want to go home. She said, when? I said, tomorrow. She's like, well, it's going to be hard to get a plane ticket. I said, we're driving. So I packed up the forerunner. And I drove that thing across the country.

We stopped in Flagstaff and took a nap. I did not stop other than to get gas or take a piss. The entire time from Flagstaff to Virginia, it was my most psychotic trucker moment of my life. I pulled in probably, I think it was like 36 hours of driving or something like that. And we took a couple hour break. It was an unbelievable feat. I felt like a total trucker. Yeah, L.A. would be three for me. Arizona and Seattle in four and five. I want to say Seattle, because that's another city when I get there, I fall in love with it. I played there for eight years late in the season in December, usually week 17, playing the sea hawks. But I couldn't help

but just look out my window. And I know it was always dreary, perpetually like 43 and rainy. But you just feel like taking a nap. And I love naps. And also, the people are kind of cool. And when it's sunny out, it's gorgeous. If Seattle was sunny, 250 days of the year, doesn't even have to be 300 like Denver, which, you know, again, to raise. about Denver. You got red rocks. It's essentially like a big REI crowd and I'm kind of like the pseudo Virginia hippie. It feels like you're kind of in Virginia. Seattle's the same way, but in the rain. If Seattle were 250 days a year of sunshine, it would be number one on a list and a landslide. I might not even be living in Virginia. Arizona, listen, not enough trees, in my opinion.

It's a beautiful place. It's certainly very nice when it's not, you know, like you could fry an egg hot. It's a great feeling to step off the plane when you play in the NFC West late in the season and go stay at a nice hotel. And just the air is crisp. It's cool. The unrelenting wind in St. Louis, you know, the perpetually sub-30-degree weather we used to practice in out there. it all goes away when you get off the plane there. But not enough trees for me.

Gorgeous place. Not enough trees. The places in the middle, there are a few of them. There are a few of them. Now, out of these, you know, and again, I separated these as West Coast, East Coast type cities are the places I could live. Now, the places I could live that are back east, I'm going to go Philly. Number one, love the city.

Everybody knows them some, like, weird Philly. guy that didn't discover it until I was like 33, but the place is just amazing. Love the people. Certainly it doesn't hurt to be on that Eagles Super Bowl team. But they also kind of leave you alone and they're cool about stuff. Like people in Philly, they don't like bother you. They don't have weirdo like conversations with you. They're awesome fans. They come up. They're respectful. You know, thanks for the Super Bowl. I met three Eagles fans on a hike today in Virginia. They're everywhere. Let's go. I love Phillies downtown.

I love how all the sports teams are right there in South Philly, the facilities. It's a really cool thing. I love the bridges, although Bill Bird doesn't like the bridges, if you've ever heard that routine. I love, you know, the entire vibe for an East Coast city. Love it. It's also very central to everything. DC, not as much a fan of D.C., but I'll put it in there because McLean, Virginia.

I think I drove through a one seem like a wonderland. You don't even know that you're close to the capital of the United States. It's gorgeous. I think the property value probably reflects that. McLean, I haven't hopped on Zillow. A beautiful place. And also, like, if you're in D.C., low-key, you're not far from the mountains. You know, the Blue Ridge, not far.

If I ever had to leave Charlottesville, D.C. is very close. If I lived in New York, I'll put that three. Let's go Brooklyn. I'm living in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a place that maybe it seems like a good idea and I never fit in. But I kind of like Brooklyn. I don't know if it would turn me into a hipster. I really like Brooklyn.

I stayed at this hotel there called the one hotel, I think it was. It's right under that bridge. I don't know if it's the Brooklyn Bridge or another bridge. Some of you New Yorkers are probably like which fucking bridge dude. There's many bridges, many bridges. I love Brooklyn. I don't know if I would be, you know, converted to, to hipsterdom, but I do enjoy the place.

The thing about New York, though, is it's just claustrophobic. So I don't know if I'd be able to get over that. And a different claustrophobic, of course, than California. Because in California, you can get around and drive your car. You might sit in traffic, but, you know, there's a functionality of driving your car. New York, nope. St. Louis is my number four on the East Coast side. I've lived in St. Louis.

I love St. Louis. It's a very underrated city. It has a lot of cool different areas. Forest Park, Clayton. I lived in Clayton. You know, those mansions they built in St. Louis, they built mansions during the World Fair, around the turn of the century, obviously 1900 century. And they built all these awesome mansions for like international dignitaries.

And they left and they just became houses is what I heard. I could be spewing bullshit, but for all I know, that's true. And the mansions are not like, if these mansions were in New York, they'd be astronomically more expensive, obviously. But pick any major metropolitan area. These mansions are gorgeous. They're old, cool architecture, right? On one of the biggest parks in the country.

Actually, Forest Park might be the biggest city park in the country and a gorgeous place. And they're just looking out at it. And they're not that crazy expensive compared to. you know like in the mansion territory like if you're buying a mansion in a big city they're actually not that insane if you looked at some of these houses you'd be like oh that's a 10 million dollar house and it's like a 10th of that um Atlanta I go after that there's a bar that me and we're so like to go to uh it is a bar that is escaping my memory right now it is a live music type of dive bar but it's probably the granddaddy of all dive bars.

It is a, it's like the boss of all dive bars. I have to go to all the other dive bars. This is like dive bar heaven. And I can't think of the name. And it's totally fucking me up. Yes, the bar is called Northside Tavern. It's amazing.

We shut that place down at the Super Bowl a year ago. What a long year. I mean, that was a whole Super Bowl ago. but golly, this year and a half has been something. Atlanta's a cool place for a big city. Let me go Miami, and I don't know why it wasn't even earlier. I love Miami. Put me just about anywhere there.

But, you know, Miami is a big place for guys that, like, do pull-ups on the beach with weightlifting gloves and stuff like that. I mean, it's just a, I would feel fat. You know, like if I moved to Miami, I don't know if I could elevate my game to be as obsessed with my image as everybody who lives down there is. But I guess if you're outside all the time, you work out a lot. It's funny, I won't do shit for a month and I'll go on like vacation in Miami and I'll get drunk all night and then wake up and be like, oh, let me ride the bike for three hours or go run outside for five miles. Like, I don't even do that.

But there's just something about being outside. I like Miami. Miami's there. Jacksonville. I could live in Jacksonville right by the beach. Not a lot of people, one of the biggest cities, landmass-wise, in the United States, a place called the landing. It's cool. They have some shops down there.

A hooters also used to go there to play baseball in high school. We go play the Jacksonville teams and get our fucking asses kick. One big negative about Jacksonville is the water tastes like sand, tap water. Don't know if that's changed. We stay at the Sea Turtle Inn down there if I have any listeners from Jacksonville, which has since been demolished, I think. But I like the place, again, big city, not a lot of people. Charlotte, Charlotte could be higher.

Charlotte is very underrated, okay? I just haven't spent enough time there to confirm that. But it's the type of place you go and you're like, yeah, this place is underrated. But I never spend more than two, three days. Tampa threw it in there. Imagine it's hard to be depressed there. In the middle cities for me, okay? And I'll run through these quickly because there are places I could go either way on.

Chicago, great culture, like very strong Chicago culture. It's like a, they got their own thing going there. Definitely nice in the summer. Just very cold. A lot of wind, right? y'all even like take pride in the wind you know when somebody takes pride in something that's kind of shitty it's like a bad sign uh yeah a lot of wind um but kyle loves it i never spent a ton of time there lake forest looks beautiful i know kyle lives in lake forest i'm not going to give you all his

address but he's there um but chicago's probably at the top of the maybes for me also you got that lake basically like an ocean um i'm gonna go new orleans as a maybe always charmed by new Orleans but i think it's a place that would swallow me whole i think that new Orleans uh would turn me into i don't i don't know like the personification of the song the house of the rising sun and i don't even remember what that song's about i just feel like it's about somebody like losing everything they have and stumbling out of some seedy place at six in the morning in a New Orleans. Is that song about New Orleans? It's just the vibe I get.

Like that a month, like the first week in New Orleans, I think is awesome. And then like two and three weeks in, I think everybody starts looking at me like, you're not from here. And then like a month in, I feel like I just go off the rails and completely descend into madness or alcoholism. Yeah, so San Antonio, I'll say a maybe, because I'm sure it's nice. Dallas, I'm sure it's nice, sunny down there. The only thing about San Antonio and Dallas is I don't fuck around with like huge rattlesnakes.

And if you're not from Texas, I think you have this misconception that rattlesnakes are generally like the size of black snakes or other like relatively harmless snakes. Rattlesnakes are like fucking two by fours, like just slithering. two by fours. Those things are huge and they're everywhere. When you talk to people in Oklahoma or Texas, like that's the one reason you couldn't give me enough land in Texas. Somebody was like, I'm going to give you 3,000 acres. You got to pay $20 for it. I'd be like, well, I'd be wasting $20 because I'm never coming down there. Fuck rattlesnakes. So yeah, Dallas or San Antonio, I'd have to get like a loft downtown, but sure they're nice places. Baltimore, close to home good seafood close to home good seafood also they have a huge smokestack Houston nice place nice

malls won a Super Bowl there pretty fucking hot though it's a maybe for me I could do it at least it's not dreary and depressing okay so no offense to this group of cities um that are no fly zones for me uh Detroit no thank you uh Also, that city is essentially in Canada. Did you realize that? I didn't until I played there and looked across the river at a place called Windsor. Had no idea. Detroit is essentially Canada.

Although I hear it's underrated athletes who live there say it's a very underrated city. Cleveland, okay? I would live in Cleveland before I live in Detroit. I thought Cleveland gets a bad rap. Maybe I was there in the summer and that's what made it okay. Kelsey explained to me that in the wintertime, it depends on where you live because different places get dumped on with snow differently than others. I like snow.

Also, didn't mind Cleveland. Didn't mind the vibe. Maybe I was having a good day. Buffalo. Again, not ranking these right here. There's just no fly zone for me. Love that fan base. I think it'd be so cool to play football there.

I just don't know if I want to live there. It's essentially Canada. I think Buffalo is one of that places you've got to be from Buffalo to want to live in Buffalo. And I respect that. When I went there to play, not only was I super impressed with the whole game day experience, also like going to meetings the night before, I just got this like urge to go get whiskey drunk solo at like a dive bar that only factory workers go to and just like put quarters in a jukebox. That was just my Buffalo feeling. And I don't know if that'd be a good feeling to have 365 days of the year. but I would like to get drunk in Buffalo.

So if I ever get up there, anybody's listening from Buffalo, it's a respectful pass. Pittsburgh, very blue-collar, cool place. I contend that Pittsburgh has weird juju, and I don't mean juju-jou, Smith-Schuster. I just mean it's just one of those places

that you're like, something happened here. I don't know if it's like Wicca, witchcraft, something happened there. You know, I do want to be fair to Boston. because I just lived in Foxborough. I know that I'm putting Boston in no-fly zone. Let's move them to the middle.

And that's not me being political here. It's not fair to me to associate a year in Foxborough living behind Patriot Place, which is a lovely neighborhood. But not if you're from out of town. It's not the easiest place to live, especially with all that cold weather and darkness. I'm sure if I lived in the city,

I heard the city was great. I literally only went in the city other than to the airport, I believe one time as a New England Patriots. So good thing they're called the New England Patriots, because I did not live in Boston. But Boston, let's move them to the middle. So that was an oversight guy.

Kansas City, this was a tough one to put in there because I've lived in St. Louis, how different could Kansas City be? But I think probably a lot different. It's a whole state to the left. Things change as you get into that area. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere. airport's really far from the city,

which was a major oversight on the part of the settlers of that city. The airport is an hour from the city. And the stadium feels like it's like an hour from both of those things. Or maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. I just feel like it was fairly spread out.

And I don't like barbecue enough to make that the main event for me there. Although I hear there's a power and lights district is wonderful. Guys, on any of these cities, if I'm wrong, tell me why I'm wrong. Let's just be respectful about it. I'm not being disrespectful to your hometown.

I'm just telling you maybe I'd rather not live in Buffalo or Kansas City or Green Bay, for that matter. Lovely place, charming. The things I think about besides Brett Favre and guys who are like beat red in sub-zero temperatures drinking beer at the stadium, which is awesome, but that's only eight nights a year. I think about Appleton. The Steakhouse is there.

The Steakhouse and Appleton's lovely. I also think about making a murder. That was a depressing documentary. Yeah, no thanks. Coming down the home stretch here, haven't said Las Vegas yet. You might wonder if that was an oversight, it was not.

I could not live in Las Vegas. Now, my brother lives in Henderson. I hear that's lovely. But in Las Vegas, my experiences are that it can be very fun but as of late in my 30s it just gives me anxiety if I'm not drunk immediately when I get there or if I stay too long with a hangover it starts feeling weird the gremlins come out you know Sunday scaries whatever you want to call them you get Sunday scurries before you get drunk in Las Vegas in my opinion unless you're in your

20s. It just gives me anxiety. Minneapolis, okay, cold, maybe could move up on the list if it were warmer, like a Seattle effect. If it were at least just like East Coast temperatures, I hear it's a nice place. Obviously, the police department sucks a lot of ass, but so do a lot of the departments that, well, I'm not trying to make this a political mailbag segment, but I can't. can't mention Minneapolis without highlighting just how shitty their police department has been. But a nice, nice place, a lot of lakes up there. Indianapolis, I don't mean to put this last. It's just last on my list that I had jotted down here.

I'm sure it's a lovely place, but I can't live there. I can't do it. Those, I think that's 32 cities. So good question, Seattle Sports Bros. Seattle's up there. If I had to do a top three looking back, probably Philly, Denver, San Francisco. How's that? And then everything else after that.