Green Light with Chris Long - Earl Thomas Reaction. Rob Ninkovich Ranks Top 5 Opposing Fan Bases. Worst Things About Training Camp.

Episode Date: August 26, 2020

1:13 - Open and Chris on Earl Thomas. 27:27 - Rob Ninkovich. 37:21 - Top 5 NFL Fan Bases. 1:09:45 - Worst Things about Training Camp. 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. http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whatever your prime look like, whether you're a Hall of Famer or a star for a little bit, you know, or a relevant player on a team, you get used to things being a certain way and then things change as you get older as your production dips, as you change teams, certainly. And you have moments where you realize I'm not that guy anymore. Like I had a moment or two like that in St. Louis where I was the guy for three, four years. Then there's like moments where you're like, okay, I just noticed that thing. and I know where I stand here and I'm not that guy anymore. You have a ton of those moments. Like, you better get that through your head

no matter who you are. When you join a new team as an older player, you're usually going to have a lot of those moments. And I think this was a moment maybe for Earl where he just wasn't that guy in Baltimore so much anymore. Happy Wednesday, everybody. This Greenlight Pod.

I'm your host, Chris Long. And I've got a football-packed pod. for you today. I have a really exciting guest coming up later in the week. Our Friday pod is going to be fun. Actually, two very exciting guests on Friday. I will tease that later. But today, Rob Ninkovich going to rank top five opposing fan bases.

Opposing. Again, that means teams that we did not play for. That means when I leave off the Eagles, the Pats, the Rams, and Rob leaves off the Patriots, that's because that's the rules. So that'll be fun. I mean, I just figured that it would be fitting right now with the fact that a lot of fans aren't going to be able to see games this year.

And it sucks. I understand it. You know, you're looking at different teams, the plans they're rolling out, some leaving it open-ended. Some have already shut the door. on fans the first few weeks of the season. We'll see what happens.

But no matter what, it's going to be pretty fragmented. Maybe not in Dallas. They seem to be trying to push for 50% capacity of that field going with Texas guidelines. And I know that McDermott got pissed off. Sean McDermott got pissed off about the fact that there would be certain inequities with home field advantage. That's going to be the case this year. I mean, it's really hard to tell certain teams that are able to sell tickets, not to sell tickets. I mean, if you can do it safely, the one thing I worry about, like I was reading about Miami and the dolphins,

I worry about the phasing of fans coming in and out of stadiums. Like, well, they'll be bottlenecks. It's easier to put on your ticket, like, hey, you're going to, it's like a boarding card or something with, with flying for seating. And most of these stadiums are going to be 20% capacity if they're full at all, it looks like, which is like for some stadiums in the teens, as far as thousands are concerned.

But will there be bottlenecks even with the stuff you're going to put in place to try to mitigate the risk of crowds? There's going to be no tailgating from what I'm reading. But what about on the way out? how are they going to do that? How are you going to empty the stadium? And, you know, I'm reading, people are going to have to wear masks except when they're drinking or eating.

Okay, that's all I see people doing at pro football games. So good luck with that. But either way, fans appreciate you. Most of you guys listen to this pod are probably football fans. And I think sometimes, you know, you don't talk about the fans enough. And fans will tell you that. but I want to make sure we do. So Rob Ninovich and I will be ranking five opposing fan bases that we really respect,

maybe with some honorable mentions in there based on our playing experience or general knowledge. Also, there was a great question asked by somebody it was to rank the worst things about training camp. Now, I didn't rank them, but I wrote some things down. And Nenko and I just shared some of the shit we just struggled with. during NFL training camps over 11-year careers, respectively. This was a question from Matt Palmer. So shout out to Matt Palmer. So me and Ninko will go through that.

We could get PhDs in training camps. NICO also played for Miami and New Orleans briefly, but we're not going to count those teams. So he is eligible to draft those teams, or to rank those teams rather. The first thing that we've got to talk about is Earl Thomas, right? That's been the big NFL news this week. and it's impactful as you look around the league it's impactful for contract reasons money reasons

it's also there's a lesson here that um i think will be clear as i talked this thing out and let me just first say that i love watching earl thomas play watched him in division for a long time one of my favorites to watch and be on the same field with and a guy that i've never had an issue with cool dude but it's kind of like when people get on ellen and people come to their defense in Hollywood, and they're like, well, she's always been nice to me. It's like, well, you never were working for her. And also you weren't there. So me saying that, like Earl Thomas doesn't mean that I know exactly what happened in Baltimore

or that I can completely vouch for him in this situation. And the evidence doesn't look good as for how his stay in Baltimore went on his end. Earl was released this weekend after, I guess, a fight with, you know, fellow Ravens defense back Chuck Clark. We know that, but by this point, it was a blown coverage in the red zone, which is money, money time in the NFL. It's a big deal when you blow coverage, when you let somebody break contain, when you fuck up in the red zone, it's a big deal. But of course, Earl Thomas, seven-time pro bowler, you know, he's going to get some leeway there. But there's more to it here. Chuck Clark slammed his helmet, and I'll get to that whole thing.

and we saw that on Earl Thomas's Instagram. Evidently, Earl said something to the effect of, it's cool, man, like, chill out. And Chuck responded, it's not cool. Go to meetings and walkthroughs and something to the effect of, and then you'll get it, which is a whole other story. I mean, you get to blow assignments, but if you're not at everything or if you're late to stuff,

no matter who you are, you know, you kind of become a little bit of a target for good reason. I mean, you've got to handle your business. And I'm sure Earl would tell you that. Um, my take on it, there are a ton of anonymous sources, uh, that speak ill of Earl Thomas in the wake of this situation. You know, I've seen quotes like lease like guy in the locker room, the leadership council evidently unanimously voted them off the island, so to speak. I've been on leadership councils. Um, they're not a hundred percent comprised of real deal leaders, uh, coaches often pick them. They're not always voted, but you're going to have some guys who are real guys in there.

So if it was as unanimous as sounds, not a good sign. According to Mike Silver, again, sources said he was chronically late in 2019, among a whole bunch of other issues. And of course, you remember the middle finger, but I'm not, like, that's not relevant to this, in my opinion. This year started the same way as 2019. Let's just talk about Baltimore. There was the incident in the summer, which I just want to point out,

really has nothing to do with him as a teammate, unless you're going to extrapolate things about his personality. but it's his personal life. So again, not relevant so much to this, but it's a pattern of stuff that eventually, you know, a front office or coaching staff has to deal with. And then when you compound it with hearing that he complained

about not having more time between meetings, kind of laid over a car wash to a meeting, there was the fight obviously. You know, my usual approach with anonymous sourcing and sources, and for those of y'all who have, know me for a while, you know this, is to take them with a grain of salt. I've been consistent on that. I mean, with the Carson Wentz thing, that felt like a hit job. And, you know, it really

stretched a few voices into seeming like it was an entire locker room. Trying to predict the motivation for reaching out to a reporter or sharing a quote is usually a good exercise when you're reading an anonymous source. Like, okay, why would somebody in the front office have a relationship with somebody who's going to go tweet this and knowingly give them that information when so much is preached about locker rooms and keeping things in house that pissed me off as a player. So trying to assign like a motivation is usually a good exercise. You can learn something that way. I'm usually not a fan of anonymous sourcing, suffice to say. But when you couple that anonymous sourcing with a deafening kind of silence or uncomfortable indifference that you can

kind of feel reading and hearing player sound bites in the wake of this incident, you can begin to read the room a little bit. And what I mean by that is when you listen to players quotes about a situation, often a guy getting cut, traded, a disagreement with the front office, with coaches, with another teammate, you can usually read into a quote. And players are not very critical of each other usually. But they also get their message across. They might not stand on the table and go against coaching staff or front office, but you can kind of read between the lines.

And the quotes have not been quotes that lead me to believe that guys in that locker room are pissed off that he had to go. Look at these quotes, for instance. Okay. And as a guideline when you're listening to player quotes, almost like a translation here. If a player is let go and you hear reaction being generic compliment, compliment, well wishes, and it finishes usually with, and that's the tough side of this business, I guess, or that's just the business. That's code for, I don't like it, but I don't want to piss the coaches off.

Okay. Many times now, you'll also see teammates tweet something to the effect of, you know, a sick emoji or some sort of, I can't believe it, some variation of that. Some, you know, like, damn, dude, like, can't believe it. Tough business. There wasn't a lot of that here. And again, I'll say this out front, either the Ravens are doing a terrific job of getting across their players that there's going to be no division between the coaches and the players and messaging and we're going to tow the line.

or the reality is guys weren't that bum that he was leaving, to say the least. And you couple that with the sourcing. You've got something there. The Chuck Clark quote, I mean, this is the guy that just got in a fight with him, so it is what it is. But fights happen all the time. And I've seen people point to this all week on Twitter. It's like, fights happen all the time. This is messed up to let him go.

Well, don't you think it was maybe more than just a fight? Chuck Clark's quote was, right now as a team, we're moving forward. We're putting that situation in the rear view. And I'm done addressing that. Okay. It wasn't a no hard feelings. It wasn't a, you know, wish him the best.

Deshaun Elliott, who's the replacement. He's been hurt, but he's healthy. The team really likes him. Also, I think part of the reason they felt like they could make this move is because they like this kid. Quote, Earl's a Hall of Famer, no doubt. I respect his game, but I'm not worried about Earl. I'm worried about me.

what I bring to this team. Okay. I know that I can make plays. You know, listen, he could be saying, I got to move on and focus on me getting the job done. That's certainly what he could be saying. But you know when you structure a sentence where you put the butt and what comes second where the emphasis is in the sentence,

like his sentence went, but I'm not worried about Earl. Listen, he could have said, Earl helped me a lot. I've looked up to him. It's tough to see him go. These things happen. I hope he gets a fresh start. I got to worry about what I need to do to help this team get better.

It's a lot of ways you could say that differently. Callais Campbell, very well respected. Walter Payne Man of the Air this year. And newcomer in Baltimore. Obviously, things happen and you just kind of roll with the punches. Figure it out as you go along. I think this team is special. We've got a great team chemistry.

This team. We can be a special team this year. That's where it starts. So again, like bringing it back to this team, chemistry. Like I don't feel like talking about it. So again, either the Ravens are doing a good job of this, but there's certainly, you know, or guys just, they don't feel like talking about it.

They don't feel like, you know, wishing well or anything like that. Also consider the fact that players are afraid to criticize each other and especially popular players. I said that earlier. You don't see a lot of future Hall of Famers getting called out by teammates. So just because nobody's calling him out doesn't mean that, you know, on the other end, that things were okay. I think this pattern of behavior caught up to Earl and, you know, it happens. It doesn't mean Earl's a bad guy.

It might mean that it just wasn't the right place for him. And the teammates didn't mesh with him. He didn't mesh with the teammates. I know he can kind of be off to himself sometimes and that can rub people wrong. But it just didn't sound like the best fit. Mark Andrews, you know, tight end for the Ravens. has done nothing but go out of his way to praise Chuck Clark so kind of circling the wagons for their guy. Chuck has been this guy that, you know, guys quietly go to. These guys respect him a ton.

He's a leader of that defense. That's heavy praise. And it's the timing of giving that praise is kind of telling. So also on a great secondary with or without Earl, they're a great secondary. Certainly they miss Earl on the field. But again, they like the young kid. Maybe they don't think there's a huge drop off at this stage. And Chuck has elevated himself. to being kind of like a leader in that group. And he's the guy who gets the calls on the headset. And they're still going to be one of the best groups in the league. And Chuck seems like he's a leader in that group.

So I think even Earl Thomas had complimented Clark profusely in the past. Maybe if Earl fought somebody else, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But who you fight a lot in the NFL, it's kind of like what quarterback you get hurt or what running back you get hurt in the NFL matters. Who you fight in the NFL matters. You can't go around, fight. fighting top dogs. And even sometimes I think like in a situation like this,

Earl Thomas has the superior career. He's a Hall of Famer, but Chuck might be a guy that they see is the future. So a disagreement between these two, the Ravens might side with their guy, where if Earl was in Seattle and he was the future or in his prime, so to speak, you know,

you got to be careful about fighting Earl Thomas or hitting him late or that sort of thing. You know, it's funny. Whatever your prime look like, whether you're a Hall of Famer or a star for a little bit, you know, or a relevant player on a team, you get used to things being a certain way and then things change as you get older as your production dips, as you change teams, certainly. And you have moments where you realize I'm not that guy anymore. Like I had a moment or two like that in St. Louis where I was the guy for three, four years. Then there's like moments where you're like, okay, I just noticed that thing. and I know where I stand here

and I'm not that guy anymore. You have a ton of those moments. Like, you better get that through your head no matter who you are. When you join a new team as an older player, you're usually going to have a lot of those moments. And I think this was a moment maybe for Earl where he just wasn't that guy in Baltimore so much anymore.

And it happens to everybody. It happens to Hall Famers. I was never near as good as Earl Thomas. But I had those moments. and I know I'm sure Earl has had one or two since he left Seattle. You know, the buildup is probably, it's a collection of stuff that happened, no fight. I mean, not even like a Steve Smith type fight. We'll get a star cut.

It's just a pattern of behavior. And listen, if that stuff is true that's anonymously sourced and again, take things with a grain of salt, being late is kind of a fuck you in the NFL to team. to, you know, to coaches. And that's like a thing you're really nervous about to be late over car wash, that sort of thing. It's not great. And then the fight, like, I had Michael Bennett on a couple weeks ago.

And he talked about L-O-B. And I remember I didn't want to, like, disagree with him. But he was like, you know, what made L-O-B great was, you know, the accountability, the leadership, all that stuff. I think there was a lot of that. They, you know, I think very highly of those guys. But they were also really fucking good. You know, like that defense was really talented.

They had a lot of, a couple guys that are probably Hall of Famers and some guys that were perennial pro bowlers, like, yes, I'm sure the leadership was pretty good, but there was also talent. But this was a situation where if it's true that there's this pattern of behavior and you're fucking up a red zone thing and, you know, guys are on edge and you haven't been a walkthroughs or you've been late and somebody throws their helmet, that's kind of how you describe, you know, Chuck Clark's getting your face because he's trying to set a tone, a standard, you know, create some accountability. So I certainly don't think Chuck Clark slamming his helmet is out of line.

I also have seen NFL fights over stuff like this before, but it's a pattern of behavior, obviously. So the ramifications, money-wise, I think there's a looming dispute over the $10 million and guaranteed money that an agent told PFT will be, quote, groundbreaking. And that's pro football talk, not PFT, comment. I love that you have to qualify that now. Shout out to PFT commenter. That means it should be interesting and impactful as a precedent. I think it's a personal conduct issue. Okay, so contact detrimental. That's what you hear. That's that dirty word. It's worse fines, worse outcomes, and one of them can be getting fired over it. This is not a skill or injury deal. That's what you're

protected against when it comes to guaranteed money. And Earl has, again, that 10 million in guarantees that we're going to find out if it is guaranteed or not. That's the buzzword when you sign a contract. skill or injury. My dad used to say, don't let them take your money. You know, if you had a bad day at work and you hate a coach and you get into it with a position coach or something like, don't go nuclear. You know, like don't get in a fight.

Like don't do something stupid off the field. That's how they can get your money. And this will be a long fight and it will resolve itself in the heat of the season. Of course, the Ravens are going to want that money back. You know, the way things are set up right now, they can probably get it back. and they probably feel like they can get it back because they took a chance

and said, hey, we're not going to let this thing linger. The 10 million be damned possibly, but we probably feel like we can get our money back. Again, there'll be a great secondary on the football side of this thing from a ramification standpoint. The front's better. Derek Wolf, Clayas Campbell. We also saw, you know,

I think they saw what people saw last year in the run game a little bit at times getting bullied, Patrick Queen, from LSU. They got a really good secondary. And all it is is like, hey, listen, Earl Thomas might go make somebody really good somewhere, but it wasn't working in Baltimore. And it's a rare miss by DeCosta.

They tried for the Honey Badger and lost out to him a while back. Now they kind of got left with this situation. But at least they've taken a strong stance and said, let's not let this thing linger in this season. And most coaches in front office people don't have the balls sometimes. But that's what culture is. That's what like setting a tone, a culture is. It's like, you can't be enamored with this guy's probably a Hall of Famer,

but he can be a pain in the ass right now. He's going through something or something's wrong. Like, well, we just don't have time for that. And it doesn't matter. This is not a popularity contest. We have a culture. And Baltimore has a strong culture. And people in the league talks.

So like when you get cut from New England or cut from Baltimore or some of these places, it's not always fair from a chatter side because, you know, people slander each other. And that could be what's going on with the anonymous sourcing in Baltimore. But when you hear from people like Jerry Rice cautioning the Niners, you've got to be very smart here is the quote, if a team like the Ravens let you go, it's really making a statement where this guy's head is at right now, end quote.

That's Jerry Rice. Another thing you said was, quote, sending a message throughout the league that this guy has problems, end quote. I don't want to go as far as saying he has problems, but something's not clicking right now or it wasn't clicking. in Baltimore. And Baltimore is not the problem because their culture is pretty intact. So the Cowboys are his preferred destination. You know, there was outside the locker room thing. Obviously, he wants to be there, but they seem patient at best, kind of disjoint it at worst,

because this is the most interesting thing. If you're evaluating a landing spot for him, Ian Rappaport tweeted at 9 a.m. yesterday, as you listen to Wednesday morning, that the Cowboys were out on Earl Thomas. And Mike McCarthy's been kind of like, quote, I like the team we have, close quote, kind of sound bites, which usually, again, playing translator means,

you know, like I'm either tired of this question or we're fucking good. But Jerry got on the radio, as he does, 1053 of the fan later yesterday evening, quote, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And like a really,

disdainful tone. So somebody's given him the idea that they're over it, him being Ian Rappaport. And if you're Mike McCarthy, if he's the guy, or if somebody on his staff as a guy, I can understand why gamble on a locker room issue in your first year in Dallas. If you think you've got a really talented team,

the risk of reward of adding somebody like, like Earl Thomas, who might not be a model citizen at this point, might not be worth it. Because at the end of day, Jerry's going to blame you. matter what. And if you're Jerry, you just fire away. So what that screams to me is not on the same page. So maybe, maybe not. Maybe Ian made it up. I don't think so with his track record. You know, you could have whatever conspiracy theory like. One theory I might like that would be maybe it stems

from misinformation planet to cool the race for Earl. I've heard Tyron Smith, you know, took a essentially a pay cut or a restructure yesterday. million dollars. I don't know the details of that, but Gilbrand wondered aloud on Twitter.com. By the way, Gilbrandt is killing Twitter for his age bracket. He wondered out loud if they might be making room for Earl with that. But I think, I suspect it could be something else. Maybe Clowny. I saw actually somebody responded very aptly that it could be. I think he could still end up in Dallas, he being Earl Thomas. There were some other places floated that I read about.

But I think the most interesting thing about Dallas is that this is the first time that Mike McCarthy hasn't been able to speak for himself or be the boss. I mean, like, when he was in Green Bay, he had a lot more clout in that building than he does in Dallas because he's just, this is, this is, things are different in Dallas 101. And Jerry's probably reminding him of that and we'll see how it ends up. but I saw Cleveland floated. They just lost their young guy to an Achilles. Stefansky, do you want to take that on?

Kind of like the Mike McCarthy thing. But, you know, one more personality in Cleveland might be tough. Houston was floated. I could see that, but I think he'd walk all over Bill. You know, the Colts, not a Frank Reich move in my eyes. New England, now I like that. I think that's plausible. I don't want to, you know,

zag on this thing because that seems like not even a hot take, but I could see New England. Atlanta, okay? Like when Dan Quinn, who seemed like disinterested, to say the least, in this situation this weekend, his secondaries a weakness.

He once coached Cheryl Thomas and called him one of his all-time favorite players. When he kind of gives off this indifference or this, I'm not interested vibe, maybe, respectfully, it's a bad sign, you know? So I don't know the cap situation there. Let me not extrapolate too much from that.

But you've got Pete Carroll's take, which was kind of like, gee, I'm sorry Earl got himself into this. You know, like, I don't know. I hope he ends up somewhere where he can finish his career the next couple years. And I'm sure he could play a lot longer if he wanted to. But I hope he goes somewhere where he's happy because the game is better when Earl Thomas is happy. and when he can be out there flying around. And I loved watching it, but it sounds like in Baltimore,

I wasn't working out. Also, it tells me that Pete Carroll was a wizard for managing personalities. Jamal Adams is probably looking at this thing like, damn, didn't think about a fight. Could have been late for a meeting, you know, and just said I was at the car wash.

I could have gotten out. I could have gotten to Dallas. And then he's watching the Buda Baker thing, and by the way, just signed a mega deal. highest paid safety in the history of the league, I guess. Swiss Army knife type guy, Buda Baker is they seem to like those guys in Arizona.

You know, the kid from Clemson, Isaiah Simmons is that type of guy, just locking up more of them. And it all comes from that Tyron Matthew iteration, again, of like a guy that's able to do a bunch of different stuff, and that's trendy right now.

So I think that it's interesting that the Honey Badger keeps popping up in all these conversations and was so instrumental in, Kansas City getting that championship last year and that the defense the way it changed. And that's got to twist the knife for DeCosta who lost out to Kansas City in that race and is now ending up with a dispute over $10 million and a headline in training camp. So without further ado, that's enough boring analytical stuff. Let's get to Rob Ninkovich and have some fun with fan bases and training camp pet peeves.

So Ninko's back. Guys, it's a big deal. I love having Rob Nikovic on. I see him on my TV all the time. For a while there during the pandemic, he didn't look great. I let myself go, Chris. I let myself go. I didn't have a haircut for many months.

And there's a little thinning in the rear of my head. My dad calls it the flesh-colored yamaca. And when I get the side shaved up and a nice trim, put a little black powder back there, I look amazing. So right now I look good. I look amazing right now. I mean, I must say. You do. you do. I'm on Zoom for the people out there listening to the pod. You know, and by the way,

you can't watch it. So I don't want to mislead you. It's, I'm denying you quite the treat to see Rob Ninkovich's beard. It is so manicured right now, even in a pandemic. Always impressive. It looks good. And I actually recently got a haircut when I was at my parents' house. I took a little trip, you know, with the family to go see my mom and dad, obviously because of the virus we drove, like 14 hours. It was great. So I had a terrible hair. I mean, obviously you saw it. I had like this comb over.

Yeah, many terrible hairs. And I put, yeah, many, many terrible hairs were just, I mean, so then I slicked it back. So anyway, I found this like barbershop. I make an appointment. I go sit down at the chair and there's nothing worse than a bad haircut. You can just feel a bad haircut. Like he walks in the door, I hear the bell and I see everybody's face. And it's just bad, like obviously right now with the virus, nobody's in there.

So you're all by yourself. So I walk into this place, never had a haircut there. I sit down. And you can just tell when somebody's like timid with the scissors, they're like barely cutting. And you're like, is this guy confident in what he's doing right now? Because I thought you were an Eastern Promises guy. He didn't want to nip your ear or fuck up your hair. I asked him.

I said, hey, like in conversation, like, how long have you been cutting hair? He's like, six weeks? I said, I started sweating. Just started sweating. I mean, because the guy's got, what, a month and a half of experience? Kid me? Like, how's he going to do this? So honestly, like, it's a little off.

I mean, I had to do some cutting of my husband. But this guy made it on NFL live. Yeah, he did. He did. Shout out to this guy. Yeah. I think his name was Rick Harrow or something. I don't know.

That's the kind of rookie production and poise you want. I got a couple of gray hairs in my beard, too. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean, I have like four gray hairs. They're coming. It's coming. Yeah, I feel good about the gray hair thing when it pops up. I thought, you know, when I was younger,

whenever I went gray or saw my first gray hair, I'd freak out. Not the case, because I feel like you just got to get on with it. The longer you're waiting for that impending doom situation, it just drags you down. Once you get a gray hair, you start justifying it and pulling up pictures of people that women think are handsome that have gray hairs and that look smart. And, you know, like just dive right in, man.

So I'm good with the gray hair. So we played damn near everywhere, right? I added it up. I think I played in all, but maybe one stadium. in my NFL career. I think I played in every stadium. I think I played in every stadium, honestly. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. The fan bases, you were a Chicago kid, right? We like Bears fans. You were, were you a Bears fan? Yeah, the Chicago Bears. They sucked in like 95. Are you kidding me? Or Sean Salam and Kate

McNaught. Like, give me a break. No, I wasn't a huge Bears fan because they weren't very good. So, I mean, I think back to my childhood in the 90s, you know, who was great in the 90s, the Cowboys. So I had like the Cowboys bed spread and all that stuff. Yeah. And you were, you were a suburban Chicago kid. You would have got beat up if you went into like the city with that. I had the starter, like the starter pull over, you know, with the pocket in the front or I know I had a starter and I had an apex. Remember the apex, which was a pretty cool pull over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember those. They were both hideous. Yeah, they know, the material on me, just sweat inside there. So your Cowboys and, and

You got to be a Bulls fan. You don't outsource that. No, no, no. When you're like a kid and you have Jordan and Pippin and Luke, you know, the intro, I used to put on the TV in the garage and they'd be like, do, do, do, do do do do on the intro. And now, you know, the whole thing. And I used to, like, get the ball and just start shooting, you know?

And then. Dude, we had it at our wedding. Like, you know how people, and I hate this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Did you see that video this weekend where the dude ran out and was like, acting like he was a center at a wedding. You know where the bride's made and the groomsmen. Everybody's got to do some cute shit. I hate that. It's the most putting people on the spot to do that stuff

is the most uncomfortable thing on planet Earth. And I hope it stops. But at our wedding, we did some variation of that. So guilty is charged. So basically, and I explained this before you came on, that you're from the suburbs of Chicago. You're not like truly from the tough part. No, no.

You say Joliet, but there's a difference between Joliet and some other places, right? that you've been claiming. Yeah. So a lot of people, if they're from the suburbs, they say I'm from Chicago. You're not really from Chicago. You're from the suburbs. So for me, Joliet's right next door to New Lenox, Illinois. You know, it's a nice, nice little town.

I wouldn't say it's like the, you know, sock them in the eye town. It's, you know, like you don't get. You never got socked in the eye in the streets of. The old sock in the eye, you know. But. So, so I guess my question is then now you're looking at, you get beat up. if you go downtown because you're a sellout Cowboys fan. You know, you're a Bulls fan.

That doesn't get you any street credit. Everybody was a Bulls fan, like around the world in the 90s. Are you overcompensating because you were from such a soft place? And are you going white socks or are you going Cubs? Because you want to seem like a South Sider. Well, I was a South Sider because that's where you're at. If I was, you know, like... Yeah, but not like a, you're not like a Southland.

If I was like a North suburb guy, you know, like maybe I'd be Cubbies. But I would say that the family roots were the south side. They were in the city back in the day. My grandparents lived in the city. So there was the south side. So there was the socks. So that's what you are. So I was a socks fan,

which I used to stand by the fence and, you know, just stand there when the players would come out and ask for autographs. And I got a Bo Jackson, really got me excited because he was really awesome. Through the baseball, caught it, signed it. It was really cool. Those are the moments that you remember for the rest of your life.

So that's why when I was a pro, and at any time my kid came up to me, you know, I'd take the time to sign stuff when then like an adult would come to me with like a shitty ball and like a ballpoint penny got at the bank or something. Yep. I'd be like, get out of here, dude. Like you're like 40. Come on. No, I know. The people that wait outside the hotels with the big bags and they kind of employ kids to come over and, you know, you see them when you walk around the corner. And listen, I've signed every autograph that I didn't suspect was going to get sold.

And I signed a lot that we're getting sold because who am I to be like, oh, I deserve a cut of that. 499 on that Chris Long, aging veteran Tops edition card. Like, I'm going to probably sign the card if a person's polite. But just like, be real about it. You're, you're selling the fucking thing. Yeah, of course. Like, oh, this is for, you know, one of my family. I'm like, yeah, come on.

But you see them the way they huddle. Like, my thing is, if you want an autograph, don't walk up and say, who are you? Don't get my name wrong. Because, like, I've never, like, I'm not big on autographs. Like, on my end, I wouldn't ask for too many people's autographs. Of course, I was a pro athlete. but I would never ask for somebody's autograph that I wasn't sure who they were.

Now, for a kid, I get it. But if you're an adult and you walk up and you say, who are you or what's your name? Don't you play? Why are you asking me for an autograph? And then the other part of it is just the fact that you see the people gathering as you're rounding the corner around the Sheridan on the road. And they're like, who's that, who's at? And they're looking at their sheet. So even the people are flipped into the book to see who you are.

Yeah. So anyways. So then you were, you were, you were, baseball, you're spoken for hockey. What do you, what do you have? Hockey, I was with the Blackhawks. You know, I used to watch, you know, Chris Chelyos. The guy was a tough guy, you know. So I was, I was a Blackhawks fan.

I wasn't really a huge hockey fan. Obviously, you know, the Midwest hockey isn't like that big. I know it's, it's not like it is on the East Coast. So, you know, for me, my parents really didn't have any money. So I didn't have a chance to even play hockey. I didn't really know too much about it as far as rules are concerned. So, you know, I'd watch it. My dad had it on or something.

I'd watch the Blackhawks. But other than that, I wasn't, I was more like baseball football. That was my two, you know, the two sports that I love. This is great. I'm picturing. And, you know, I've seen pictures of adolescent Rob Nankovic. He's got the puka shells, folks. Oh, yeah.

Well, I was like Gariputo. Like, I was a little chubby, you know, like had a little heft to me. I used to the bugle boy huskies. You know, I asked my mom why. I got to wear this stuff, you know, the husky section. She goes, oh, you're not, you're not fat. You're just a little thick bone, you know, just to make you feel a little bit better. But I was pretty thick, you know, and it helped.

It worked out. You know, my mom always. Hey, years later, you're jacked. Yeah, jacked up. I still got a midsection, like, you know, like, I don't look great. But, yeah, well. You know, it is. I know when the first time he's gone, you're like, wow, that guy's in the league.

Like, come on. No, I had to, again, it's a shame we didn't play with each other earlier. I think we both, we both think. except the fact that we were both left ends and cutting into each other's wraps. The first time they signed him, I'm like, what the hell is he doing here? He's going to take my third down reps. And I text you being nice, like it's up on Twitter, I think. You're like, am I being soft, just totally conceding to this guy and reaching out?

Anything, just let me know, a little laxative in your coffee. Let me know, except for snaps, motherfucker. A rat poison in your lunch. Ted would never let that happen. And shout out to Ted, the nutritionist in New England. So we're doing top five fan bases. And these are fan bases. So when people listen to this, I do not want in my DMs,

which is going to trigger you, of course, to DM me this exactly, because I know how you guys need to grow up. I do not want, what about the Eagles? What about the Patriots? What about the Rams? Because the rule of this segment is you can't pick teams you played on. So no Patriots, no Saints, no dolphins for Rob Nikovic, unless you want to count, are you counting those guys? I really, I don't.

So, yeah, I guess I got to count the Saints because I played there for like a cup of coffee. No, you know what? It's fine. You don't count. I played there three games and then I cut me. That doesn't count. That doesn't count. I played, okay, so I played three places for at least a year.

I didn't play a year there at all. Okay. So I'm not going to be using any of my teams I spent time on, and Rob's not going to use the Patriots. But we've got five teams. We'll rank them top to bottom. Let's start with my top five here. And this is a nice segue because we've been talking to Chicago. Yeah. Chicago Bears fans, number five. Okay. Chicago Bears fans, they're like very self-aware. They're funny. They're cool. They're like the cool kids in high school. They're very nostalgic. I love the nostalgia. Everybody's still living in the 80.

They've been quietly tortured. But they've also had some good highs, man. So I respect them. I respect the strong culture, the costumes. They love to dress up like Mike Dicca. Dicca, the Bears. Give me Bears fans at five. Okay.

So here, let me just, I experienced probably one of the worst bears losses in the last. This is amazing. I forgot about this. Okay. So, yeah. the Eagles are playing the Bears recently, okay? The double-doin game.

I'm smiling so big right now. My friend, my friend Rob Yeager, calls me up. I'm in New England. He goes, yo, I got playoff tickets to the Bears game. Eagles Bears, this is the game. We're going to go. This is the year we're going because he's a huge Bears fan. So I tell my wife, I say, hey, I'm jumping on a plane.

Saturday. I get to Chicago. I'm tailgating, having a great time. I, you know, just experiencing what the bears. You're fresh out. Yeah, I'm fresh out. I've never done this. I never tailgated in my life.

So this is like the first for me to ever like tailgate, soldiers field. We both did that the same place because I went to see Kyle's opener my first year out. So I had, you know, it was great. The tailgating was great, you know, experience. You'd come in there. It's like a funnel of people. There's like a massive line. You got to wait forever.

Oh, that one. That was tough. It's ridiculous. I'm sitting there like, Really? But I was standing next to Howie Long, so it's just like everybody's staring at. Oh, yeah. I'm just, fuck me.

Yeah, that's, and that guy's scary looking. Yeah. Um, so anyway, I sit down, you know, I got Philly. There's a row of Philly fans behind us, right? And then, and they're nuts. They're screaming. They're, the Philly fans insane. They're amazing.

Some of the craziest stuff you can imagine. Um, and to top it all off, before the game, we get in there. I'm trying to get Chris's attention. He's got the, crazy war paint on. You know, Chris has got these eyeballs that when he's like in the zone, like he looks like he's just out of his mind in another world. Like he's on something that there's not like nobody even knows what the chemical compound

is because his eyes are so big. It's not cocaine. Okay. So he's walking. He's pacing up and back. He like sits down on the bench for a second. He'll stand up, walk around. You know, he's like a gold retriever looking for the ball, you know, like he's always

amped, you know, during the game and before the game. So I'm trying to get his attention. I'm screaming. People are like, shut up. Like, he doesn't know you. I'm like, I know that guy. I'm telling you. I'm also, Rob Nickovich.

Yeah. So I used to play with him, okay? So finally, he's like, I get his attention. He sees me and, you know, it gives me the arm. He's all excited. But. Oh, made my day. To finish this story up, okay, we all know this game ends with the misheogel and the double

doink and all this crap to see grown men crying. Throne men crying and just absolutely destroyed by that misfield goal. I'm looking around at these dudes and I'm like, are you freaking kidding me? It's just a football game. These guys got paid today and I'm sure they're a little upset because they're not in the playoffs anymore. But like you're literally like crying right now and this is. Well, I think they were also like two point favorites or something. So that could have been.

Oh, it could have been. It could have been that too. But now I feel it was more so like they thought they were going to the Super Bowl, you know, because you know what, that defense was so good, that defense was so good that maybe they find a way to end up in the championship game. I mean, they would have seen the Saints next week and who knows. But that was, that was amazing. Just what you said, by the time we got on the bus, the interesting story about this, and I've told it before, is that the way I learned that the kick was blocked, partially blocked, was from Trayvon Hester in the locker room.

That's where I learned it. He was like, yeah, I got a piece of that big bro. And I was like, what? I just thought this kicker choked. And I felt terrible for him. Yeah, well, they cut him or run out of town. It wasn't a great kick. But it got blocked.

And people were running out of the stadium. By the time we got on the bus, this guy's got death threats. You're looking at like, you know, viral videos. We all know the guy that was like running out of the stadium in that thick Chicago accent, having an aneurism over this kick. It was that personified times 2000. and you had people cussing me out from the third upper deck getting on the bus. It was the angriest I've ever seen the fan base.

And at the center of it was that poor kicker. And they cut them. And they had actually just signed them to an extension and they still cut them. Geez. Yeah, well, I mean, life in the NFL is rough. But Bears figure out of five. That's me trading. This is my olive branch for the double doint game, which was a terrific game.

A lot of fun to play there. Honestly, one of the most fun stadiums to play at. I love the old stadiums. These new stadiums outside, you know, the Las Vegas thing, which looks pretty cool. But it's a shame they left Oakland. I'm never a fan of the new sterile kind of indoor, outdoor things they have gone to Chicago. I love the fact that they stayed old school. The fans are awesome.

They're five for me. Okay. Number four, give me the Seahawks. Okay, division rival went up there like clockwork every year. Week 17. I don't know how the schedule group fucked us like that. I mean, the lowly Rams. but we go up there and get our ass kicked in the rain, 41 degrees perpetually.

And they can be super effective without cussing you out. They're very like polite, excited people. A lot of coffee. If you live in Seattle and you deal with that rain all year around and you're literally around to talk about it and excited on game day, good for you. I think the pipement noise. They're that good. But that's a compliment for Seattle Seahawks.

I like that. I like the Seattle Seahawk pick. We played up there. It was the first time playing up there. I think it was 2014, early in the season. Yeah, that was the day that Richard Sherman talked shit to. Yeah, yes, yes, that's what happened in that game. I want to say you threw a pick deep in that game.

I got knocked out in that game, so I don't remember too much. That's a tough place to get knocked out because you have a six-hour flight back to New England that's going to land at like 5 a.m. So I guess I got up and went into the huddle and they called the play and it was like a four three defense and I was like off the ball stack linebacker. Like everyone's screaming like you're the DN, you're the DN. And I'm like, what? I'm the linebacker. What are you talking about?

So Russell Wilson just took the ball and just ran for like five yards where the DN was supposed to be where I was supposed to be. And then they pulled off the field because they're like, where are you doing? I'm like, what do you mean? I don't know what I'm doing. What's going on? And they're like, get them off the field. get them off the field so that you know bill's like get them off of the field get them out of there and uh that was yeah that was uh you know a couple years probably off the end of my life well i didn't

get to win in seattle until like basically until basically the last month of my tenure in st louis i mean seven times in a row we lost there and it's wow that place is you know very very hostile very hostile but without cussing again no it's a polite like they don't just Because you go to some places and they're real disrespectful and you want to jump into the stands. Yeah, no, no, no. Seahawks fans, you can't. Although one guy cussed me out by the field and I got him ejected, which was kind of a petty move by me. Big, big, big petty move right there.

See that guy? See that guy right there? Oh, yeah. Yeah, fuck that guy. Wherever he is. He said something that was ridiculous. Three, Raiders fans. Yeah, Raiders fans coming in number three for me, the Black Hole.

Um, you know, these guys, these guys buy Spirit Halloween out. I mean, they literally dress up so perfect every Sunday. And I don't know what they do for a living. I don't know what all of them do for a living. Like I want to meet people from the black hole outside the black hole. It's the most intriguing shit in the world. My pop's played there 13 years. Great fans.

Tough fans. It's a shame we won't see any more Oakland Raiders fans anymore. I mean, so I'm not saying. Las Vegas Raiders fans. We'll see what that is. That's going to be a bunch of like CEOs and shit and people from out of town who went to Margaritaville and got drunk and stumbled into the stadium over that little like Skybridge. It's not going to be like Oakland.

They were hardcore. I love the black hole. Raiders fans number three. I like that pick. It's a good pick. I can remember when we played out there, the stadium was just terrible. You had like a six mile walk to get from the visiting locker room. You had to go down these stairs.

were like covered in artificial turf from artificial turf narrow narrow artificial it's like a ghostly feeling walk yeah i just remember i remember it's smelling like fuel or something it was weird like the golf carts had just been running in that tunnel for hours upon hours you come down this long hallway you have this forever walk and i got hurt in that game too all these crazy stories um so i think it was mcfadden the mcfrey running back so we're playing in oakland the first thing I wanted to do, honestly, you know, you watch the NFL films and you see like the, the Raider dudes with like the shoulder pads on with the spikes. Like all I want to do is see those guys in person. So I literally walk out there trying to find them. I'm looking around like,

oh, there they are. You know, it's pretty cool. So the history there was always interesting to me because as a kid, you watch the Raiders and you have an idea of what the stadium would be like. and then after the game you come out, you know, they're intense, man. I'm telling you. They weren't happy that we were there. I'll tell you that much. No, they're hardcore. They're not like, hey, give my wife and family tickets to go to the Oakland stadium and show up.

And like when Meg and my mom used to go to Candlestick because we put there every year, which I loved Candlestick. I told them you're not coming if you wear RAM stuff. Just don't bother. In fact, one year, I hired a security guy, bought him a ticket, sat next to my wife and my mom. Because, you know, if you cheer for me and I used to get off their ass in that stadium, you're a target, you know, and I just not a fan. Number two, Browns fans.

Yeah, I mean, they're in the same boat as the Lions fans. I get it. Like, you respect the stick-toitiveness. And I just pick them over the Lions because I kind of, I think Cleveland's, more of a, people from Michigan will be offended, but Cleveland is so football, dude, so football, great fans, knowledgeable, couldn't be more tortured. Detroit fans, they kind of, that whole atmosphere up there at Ford Field is weird. I just, that's, that's the way I'll put it, just weird lighting, weird architecture, weird kind of, it's just, it's damn near Canada.

It makes sense. Yeah, no, I'll take Cleveland too. look I would say this about Cleveland I feel like that's one of the stadiums where I needed to have security around my family because there are people you know when you get the away visiting team tickets they're like way up in the nosebleeds but they still have like crazy nut Cleveland fans that are right there by all the visiting families oh yeah oh yeah and there was some like really really bad things said about like me and like teammates you know I think I had a sack or something my parents started. started cheering and like the fans were like, I hope he breaks his neck and just crazy stuff that, you know, my dad turns around like wants to fight people. But, you know, there's like moments in a stadium. I can see your dad in one of those videos, uh, fighting in the stands with his panther tattoo on his forearm, just right cross. He's almost, he's almost not, he's almost fought plenty of times. And like my parent, my mom has to like, Mike, it's Mike, just relax. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. You know, like, hey, Rodney from Joliet. Your dad's in,

jail right now because you've got to fight in a freaking stadium, but he's too old now. He can't fight anymore. He's old. I tell him all the time, I said, dad, you could hit me right in the face and I just laugh, brush it off. You're too old. You got no muscle, man. Anyway, he looks good. He looks good.

He looks good, but like Cleveland, I respect the fact that those guys have a ton of history, tradition and they're sticking with their team. I mean, there's been a lot more downs and ups it seems like in that. I think they're going to be good this year. I feel like they're in the wrong division to try to get going

because I think the Steelers are going to be back. If they can keep Big Ben healthy, they didn't address the backup quarterback thing. They have five alignment over 30 years old or four out of five over 31 years old or something like that. So like if they can stay healthy, they're going to be nuts good.

And Baltimore's going to be damn good too. So tough division, they could miss the playoffs and you might know they're headed in the right direction. I think Cleveland fans are going to be excited this year. Yeah. I, you know, I think that they have the talent.

They definitely have the talent across the board. So it's how do they bring all that together? I guess we'll see. Maybe the place really is cursed. We'll see. Number one, this is the Buffalo Bills, man. It's the Buffalo Bills fans. They are so awesome.

If I could be reincarnated as an NFL player on a new team, start over, I would want to be a Buffalo bill. Like just redrafted somewhere. And I couldn't be an eagle, you know, a ram, a patriot. it would be a Buffalo bill. The stadium is so intimate. It feels like a college atmosphere, but like without the college kid binge drinking, it's like really experienced adult binge drinkers.

You know, Buffalo vibe. I love that vibe. Every time we played there and you did more than me, I wanted to like slip off into some dive bar and just start hammering butt heavies in solitude. It's just got that vibe. You just want to belly up to a bar and get drunk. And that's what everybody does, I think, for the 24 hours before they, game. They are ready to roll when you get there. Yeah, I mean, I 100% agree with you. I like

your number one. I played there a lot. I feel like the atmosphere there. One of my favorites, look, the visiting team has a terrible locker. They got like one toilet to share amongst everybody. They got terrible showers. Like after five minutes, it's all cold, ice cold. You know, you feel like you have to wear gym shoes everywhere because you're going to get like, you know. Yeah, you're going to get like at least athletes foot or maybe something. or staff. Yeah, it's the staff all over the little place. You get your ankle tape.

But I would say that when you're on the field, the fans are close. They're right on top of you. I can remember every single time we would go there. I would look forward to driving in to the parking lot. Because when you're coming in, there's people flashing you, throwing stuff at you, flipping you the bird, you know, dudes dropping their pants. I'm like, what the hell is this, you know? Dildos on the field.

Yes, yes. Power move, power move. They might have, that might have catapulted them at least a spot. Oh, 100%. 100%. I mean, throwing that onto the field, I mean, that's stuff of legends collective guys. The dang corn cop they threw out there.

But honestly, you know, they had to stop the game. And someone had to pick it up, though. I think they kicked it off. They somebody, because someone touched it out. Oh, yeah, somebody kicked it. It was a real ref. The minute the ref saw that object hit the field, the way it bounced, dildos only bounced one way.

Oh, man. I mean, he just immediately, he was like, we got to blow the whistle, something's on the field. Oh, God, that bounced like a tilda. Oh, that rub a thinga. Anyway. So number one, Buffalo Bills. I like it.

And I remember the one time, I think you posted after we had beat them, you posted like everything, it was a wasteland, you know, Yeah. The parking lot's full of broken tables, you know, people, the cups everywhere. There's half the people that have left already, left every, all the garbage everywhere. Dude, I saw somebody throw a baby through a table. I did see that. And I was like questioning is, I don't know.

Yeah, Bill's fans. You got to, you got to, the elders of the Bill's Mafia have got to educate folks on the, bluish and stuff. Yeah, they're just not good. Not good. So what are you got, top five here? Let me run through my list. some of the places, you know, similar to you.

Number five, Oakland, obviously, respect there. Yeah, yeah. Number four, Buffalo. Just covered that. Number three is Philly, okay? You know about Philly. I love it. I love it.

You love it. So we played in Philly. I played there one time in the preseason and then we played the regular season there. I can remember, you know, coming out of the field and just the energy of the fans just really, really not liking you at all. You know, you can just sense when people want you to fail badly. And they don't even care. Like you could possibly like never walk again and they wouldn't care.

Oh, come on now. I mean, my blilering thing, it's been a long time, which was terrible. It was terrible. But I would say that the, you know, the first thing that you do when you get there, I'd never been. So, you know, the first thing I wanted to do was go get a Philly cheese. Got to go do that. And then I just kept thinking to myself like,

I hope they don't know who I am because I don't want like anything in my Philly cheese, which I don't think they would do that. No, I think there's, there's ethics. You know how many people could have been poisoned? Because everybody comes in looking for the cheese steak. Yes. I always wondered that though, like as a visiting team, like when you're at the hotel, like how easy it would be for someone to like make everybody.

So easy. I think about it all the time. But the only thing that made me feel better when I was in St. Louis was that nobody's that worried about us. You got to be worried about a team to go to the links of poisoning somebody. That's what happened to Michael Jordan with the pineapple. pizza in Utah, bro. I mean, and by the way, the fact that Michael Jordan's eating a pineapple pizza the night

before an NBA finals contest is just beyond me. You have to have three guys that tasted before you like a poison test. You might have the munchies or something. I don't know, maybe. But he, I don't, yeah, I don't know. We won't get into that one. Anyway, so number two is Seattle. We just, we covered Seattle.

and number one, I know you said the rules. I didn't play a full season there. No, it doesn't matter. Number one to me is Hootat Nation, the Saints in New Orleans. I'm going with the Saints, number one, because the Hootat Nation, they're absolutely nuts. Have you played down there, Chris? Did you play in the... Yeah, I love playing down there.

It's truly like nut up. It's the loudest atmosphere. I mean, I think in college, Penn State was the loudest place in Ohio State was is one of the loudest, you know, stadiums that I'd ever played in. And then the Saints, um, the actual game that I blew my knee out in was the reopening of the Superdome after Katrina. So remember like the Steve Gleason block punt, all that stuff. I was on the field.

It was called Pistol, it was the block punt call. And I was right next to Steve. He had like a B gap rush. He had like an A gap rush. And I just remember like when he blocked the punt, it was like the loudest, most deafening, shaking. Like, I felt like my brain was rattling because it was so loud in that stadium. So they're my number one because it's just how crazy the fan base is.

So you blew your knee out the night all that happened. My career ended in New Orleans with opening the Superdome up after the Katrina against the Falcons on a kickoff right after that block punt. That is a terrible night. could use some pick-me-ups because nobody gives a fuck about the guy on the training table after went like that. It was the worst. I remember like being inside the training room. I called my parents, called my good friend.

Like, yeah, I blew my knee out. I can definitely tell it's gone. And like, you know, I was watching the game on TV. Obviously they won. Like everyone's coming in the locker room. It's just like everybody's so euphoric. They're like, yeah, let's go. Hey, sorry, Rob.

We're all going out. We're going to the club. We're going to the bar. We own the city. And I'm just sitting there and like trying to get off the table like just flamingo my knee just standing up on it. You're like, I'll meet you down at in the French quarter.

I remember like trying to walk in like my knee literally went backwards. I'm like, well, I don't think I can do anything right now. So I better just go home. And I bought a piece of the plus that you could slip on horse shit and in the, fall on the slide down there. And the floors are always, this is one of my favorite places in the world. I've never felt so at home in a place that,

that I've never spent any time than New Orleans. I'm going to give an hour of... The dirtiest floors in America. Yeah, don't go out. No new shoes there. They're freaking filthy. But I'm going to give an honorable mention here. Let's do some honorable mentions, real quick.

Shout out some teams. Honorable mention to the Indianapolis Colts. in the RCA in the, I think it was RCA dome back when they had before they built the new stadium that the Lucas Oil, their fan base there. I mean, granted, I'm not trying to offend anybody, the Hoosier State. They could be pretty, pretty offensive.

And one, we played down there in 2009. That was the, I don't know if you remember when Bill went forward on fourth and two because we couldn't stop Peyton and their offense. Yeah, that became a big deal. Yeah. So we went forward on fourth and two on like the 30, which obviously,

you know, Bill had tons of confidence in the defense. He went for it on fourth and two, but in that game, I blew my knee out. I didn't blow my ACL. I just, I think it was Brandon Merriweather,

like torpedoed my knee and tore my MCL. And I remember like walking back into the locker room because I had to have them check me out. And like the things that were being said to me, like as I was walking, made me want to jump into the stands and strangle people. Like there was a guy, I remember like yesterday, he was like, 50, 50, you'll never be brable.

And I remember just being like, this freaking asshole. Like, you know, another guy, you know, Nanko, Nankovitch, I hope your ACL's blown. Like, I remember that too. So, you know. That's a bad one. That's over the line even in the dirtiest. Yeah, that was a pretty tough one. I just remember shaking my head, like, anyway.

I want to mention in the same vein, well, I mean, just a team that could easily be on here. Jets fans, okay? Yeah, Jets fans. Again, that's the blue collar affiliate of New York football. I mean, like colleges, you've got your two schools in state, and there's ones like the tough guy school and ones like the more highbrow place. Jets fans, I picture them all like watching games on black and white TVs with slings. like back hair, suspenders, white t-shirts. Maybe I'm describing Goodfellas,

but like kids out in the cul-de-sac riding bikes. And they're just honest, hard-working people. And they're loyal because they've stuck with the Jets. I mean, the Jets are quietly, really tough. Kids in the street have like newsboy hats. I think the Jets fans are great. The fireman, Fireman Ed? Yeah, no, I really respect the Jets.

We played there a bunch, obviously. When Rex Ryan was the head coach, they were a really, really, really tough team to play. I can remember every time we played the Jets or the Ravens, I was very sore for the whole week leading up to the- Yeah, yeah, they were physical. They were very physical, you know, running game. They had big dudes on the offensive line. Jacomini, that freaking maniac. Yeah, dude, I had him in Seattle Nods. I had him earlier than that. That got hands to the face and late hits trying to blow my knees out. I could just remember me like, dude, get off of me.

Stop. I remember. I talked about him on this podcast. Somebody asked me, like, who was, like, the biggest battle? And I was like, I'm not saying he was good. I just respect. I beat him. One time I beat him clean with, like, a double swipe dip off the edge, just going to have a sack.

He just turned around, grabbed me from the, like, behind my collar and just held on to me. And he got a flag, but I'm like, what is that? Yeah, that's just like, you just don't care. I'm going to go Falcons fans, too. As an honorable mention, maybe this will. make make some peace after 283, which we were both on the field for. But I just feel like they're so cynical and realistic. They seem smart to me as a fan base. Like they know they're like, we're pretty good, but some shit's going to happen at the end of the year. Like, you know,

like we're just not meant for this. And that's what happened with 28 to 3. So I respect Falcons fans. Also Steelers fans, which for you, you might be polarizing. But I mean, these dudes, I feel feel like they just Irish pubs all over America, black tuxedos, the bumper stickers. I respect the, the Pittsburgh fans. They're, you know, the terrible towels going crazy. It's always a good atmosphere too. You're on the river there and it's just a really cool stadium to play at. I like the chiefs too, that the Tomahawks and, you know, just like the feeling there. We played there one time on a Monday night. We got just killed, absolutely destroyed. But it was like a really, really, really cool, like just super loud energy was really high the whole game.

Yeah, I'm sure they could be in this conversation. For me, the problem was I didn't play there enough. I played there in the preseason. I never played there in regular season. You got to play in like a big. I'm sure maybe they'd be right up there. Also, uh, had some, uh, construction being done on my house recently. I looked outside into the, uh, the electricians van and there was a Dolphins hard hat and I was thinking to myself, holy shit, that is one committed Dolphins fan. Most Dolphins fans are super apathetic. I mean, this guy lives in Virginia and he's got a proud Dolphins hard hat on his dashboard. I was amazed. It was like I saw, it was like I saw a unicorn. I mean, I played for Miami and I'm just telling you when you go down there, there are no favoritism

towards a Dolphins player. I remember like being in Miami. I was like 22, 23 years old, trying to get into a place like they're like yeah lines back there i'm like uh you know i play with the dolphins they're like who they suck they're back in the line i'm like okay like no i've never seen such like a fuck it we'll see what happens crowd like in my life that was florida football fans for such a place that has such rich college football tradition they have the most interesting venues you got that pool in jacksonville that listen i'm not throwing shade i'm not sure how many people are peeing in that pool everybody you know the guys in there the whole game and drinking like 12 beers where do you think he's going he's going right in that pool because the lines the bathroom is tough so uh Tampa Bay like you know

when you watch end zone tape of Tampa Bay you see it that you see the scoreboard and behind it yes grass parking lot and it just reminds you like Tampa Bay is country as fuck like that fan base I'm just gonna let's just I'm putting this out there I don't think I've been in a pool I haven't peed in Great. I'm just seeing, what about all the like the recovery pools in New England? Oh, just right in it. Hot tub. No, I'm kidding. No, that's, I mean, look, that's, that's different. I mean, a hot tub with a bunch of dudes is different than like when you're at a pool.

Man, listen, I don't, I just don't pee in the pool anymore, man. I'm kind of a grown up now. I've never peed in a pool as a grown up. Just kidding. Anyway, come on, you pee in a pool as a grown up. Let's be serious. Come on, Chris. I doubt I've been in a pool. Never peeing a pool? You've never peed in a pool? I think I was as a grown-up, probably not. Because I don't believe that. I don't believe that. I don't believe that. That's the golden rule. No pun intended, it's the golden rule. You're telling me that all the kitties like swimming around, they're not just peeing in their pains, too. They definitely are, but it's something different about like a kid who doesn't have a choice, can't control their bladder, doesn't understand like the societal,

no-no that being in a pool is versus an adult who's like, I'm just saying like versus an adult who's sitting there in the corner slamming margaritas and like I see the pool bathroom over there. But gosh, if I get out, I have to like, you know, walk by and kind of look chubby. Walking by everybody in there. So I think I'm just going to sit here and piss. No, look, when you're when you're in a close, like close, close environment, you don't, don't do that. But if it's like, you know, Olympic-sized pool, big pool, I'm sorry. Oh, so you're in a lot of,

you went from saying, I've been a pool that I've been in. It was like you checked, you checked the temperature of the room and it wasn't what you thought it'd be. So now it's just Olympic-sized pools. I mean, above ground, you know, 24-foot, maybe I've done that four-footers all the way around parents. Now, listen, if I'm in a river or a lake, look out, give me some space because, you know, or the ocean. Yeah, you're going straight in there. Well, yeah. Anything. think about all the other stuff in that water. That's the wild. That's the wild. Yeah, that's the wild.

Shout out to Dolphins fans, Tampa Bay fans, Jacksonville fans, the state of Florida. Meg actually sent hers in. I asked her, my lovely wife, Meg gave me four teams before she became disinterested and just walked away. But the first one, she said, Green Bay, because they travel really well. That's very true. Very perceptive. I think she's remembering the game in 2012 at the Edward Jones Dome that we,

went on silent count. But she said they also have cheese on their heads and have normal jobs the next day, which is very funny for somebody who's not, you know, a hardcore football fan to identify that. I think about the same thing with the Raiders. Same thing. It's like you could be a lawyer, a doctor, an accountant, Sunday night, you've got a fucking block of cheese on your head.

I mean, could you imagine? I just couldn't picture myself putting a block of cheese on my head and feeling cool about it. I mean, I don't think they feel cool. I mean, like, it's the same. No, the guys who are shirtless in Green Bay, the guys in shirtless who are green bay are just unbelievable. Like, they just turn pink, you know? I don't know how they do that, by the way. It's unreal.

They got like half camo overalls on. And they got those snow hats, uh, which looked toasty. But the rest of the thing is just exposed. It's, it's, I really respect Green Bay. The second one here, I got a great mailbag question. I wanted to share with Rob here. Rank the worst things about training camp. And this isn't like a ranking thing.

I just said, like, do you have, time for a top 30 because as I went through it, it's almost like there's not much I liked about training camp. Yeah, it's bad. So I guess what I'll do is I'll share my list with you and you can tell me what comes to mind for Rob Dinkovich. Okay. So I guess the first one would be that walk to your car in the morning.

Yeah. And it's like the heat on the parking lot is like, fuck you, Chris. it's going to be a long day. You know what I mean? And it's like the morning due, like the sun is just coming up and you know like, I'm going to be really sore after this day's over.

Oh yeah. And also the rush. Like if you decide to sleep in, like relatively speaking, you feel like there's a magnet. And if there's a little bit of traffic and you're cutting it tight in the morning, you're just anxious the whole way.

Like you're going to be late. Like you're just freaking out. And by the way, I don't know about you, but I can't stand the 8 a.m. individual or 8 a.m. stretch. Like some teams for people listening do afternoon practices, some do morning. I cannot deal with, you know, wake up and in an hour, I'm going to be running full speed to people, just not a morning person that way. Yeah, I agree. I agree with that one. I'm a definitely afternoon type person.

Sleep stuff, because you know how obsessed I am with sleep, Rob. Yes. Hotel room. I hated the hotel. I love hotels. That's the one thing about training camp that I don't mind is being in a hotel. If the hotel's solid, I don't mind it. See, I didn't like, you know, the Patriots training camp. You have to go to like this. That hotel, nah. It's kind of like an extended stay. So you have like a little kitchenette. But it's like the only thing. And they put gatorades in the fridge. So you walk in and you have like a palette of gatorade in your fridge. It's just, it's kind of like depressing. Because you know, like all I'm going to do here is come in late, go to sleep, wake up. We were also in there a long time, relatively speaking. Bill keeps you in a while. But honestly, the thing I like about training camp in a weird way sometimes is there's

no time to overthink anything or be miserable. You're so busy all day. Like you're strangely at peace just in the routine. It sucks really bad. But you only have an hour to yourself when you get home at night if you're going to be responsible and get eight hours of sleep. So it's very simple. you know, it sucks. It's really hard, but life is never more simple than training camp.

Yeah, I used to, I used to like just remembered Shark Week was always during training camp. So I'd come back, I'd put on Discovery and watch Shark Week and then pass out. But the only thing that always would mess with me is I knew I only had like an hour before I should go to bed. And I'd always like push it a little bit. Like I'll stay up like a half hour long. And I knew when I looked at the clock, if it was like midnight, I'm, I'm like, oh, man, I didn't go to sleep early enough. I'm going to be so tired tomorrow. I like having that time to myself.

I sleep to the last minute in the morning. I'm not like one of these people. Unless a DB wakes me up with their loud ass, you know, 648 in the morning, you know, they're playing their boombox through the bathroom vents. I'm hearing it like it's in the room. And my alarm is for 710. And I'm 33 and this kid's 22. But I'm up at 648.

bumping little boozy. Shout out to Lilboosy. I don't mind Little Boosy, but I just don't like it at 6.48 in the morning. It's fucking annoying. Also, with the sleep thing, coaches, they say 11 o'clock's your curfew, right?

So they wake you up. What if I want to go to bed at 10? And you bang my door open and closed at 11 and yell, Cruz, like, where the fuck am I going to be, dude? I'm not a morning person. And we got to be out there at 8 a.m. full pads. Like, where do you think I am? I'm 32 years old at this point, or 33 years old.

So, yeah, that annoys me. And the cleaning ladies maybe sometimes on days where you're able to sleep in, that wake you up knocking the door. Well, I always hated that during training camp, there was going to be one day that the testing people come to get you. It's on my list. That's true. You have to, if you are one of the guys that they come and get,

and there's already like six guys in front of you. Like you're literally up at like 4.30, like 430. They bang on your door. You try and get into the room. You want to be the first one in because if you're not, you're going to be standing there for literally an hour. Could be an hour and a half. Sometimes it's two because some guys,

they're standing there. They can't go. So like they had like, so why did you run ahead of everybody? Yes. To get first in line if you can't piss, dude. If you have a prostate of a 61 year old. So they're sitting there,

drinking water and I'm just looking at him like can I go in front of you and sometimes you can get in front and go and do it because like hey I got to go right now and they're like all right go but then sometimes they're like they're like halfway done and they have like the packaging they're going nobody talks like everybody just stares at each other in the room because it's super quiet and usually it's like one of those double rooms with like the door in between that they open up towards two rooms and you got you know people come you got people coming into the room you got multiple guys there from the NFL doing all the testing stuff and they're always just odd you know like and they're pushy they're kind of pushy you know like pants down I'm like it's

five and dude yes and they're like obviously they we got to see it and they're like all right check it out you know so check it out I'm just going to put my pants around my ankles to be obnoxious and that used to be my move take them all the way off like kindergarten you know you let's that one kid in kindergarten that pulls his pants all the way down that's how I used to piss when they used to be like well, I need to see it. I'll be like, all right, well, uh, pants down around my ankles. All the way. So that was always one of the, I always hated the day when I knew that, because you don't know, like you don't know when the day's coming. So you're like, I'm going to just, you know, you'll have like a great dream. You're feeling great. You're sleeping

off and all of a sudden you hear boom, boom, boom, drug tests. You're like, oh. And then you know, it's not unpredictability. No, yes, exactly. You walk down the hall. You see the line. You're like, oh gosh, I could be sleeping right now. Also, like, recovery-wise, doing 100,000 things to make yourself less sore, thinking you can outwork training camp and then waking up, feeling as bad as you've felt the whole time. Like, you feel pretty good before bed. You're up to 1130 doing whatever modality, stem, eye, stretching.

You get your specialist in. You wake up and you just feel like a piece of beef jerky. So it really didn't matter at all. Training camp constantly reminding you that your body is breaking. Yeah. No, I mean, I can clearly remember usually during training camp. This is before. I mean, look, we were to get, we were in the league when we had two a day practices to where we were really like old men right now. I know, I know, but like telling mermaid stories to fucking little sailors. These kids don't realize the that after your first practice, you would come off the field. You're soaking wet. Your shoes are soaked. Your pads are soaked. And in the back of your head, you know, in three hours. I I got to put all this wet shit back on. It's like the water. Yeah, the wet stuff, dude.

The wet stuff. You put the wet stuff on and you're like, oh my gosh. Wet cleats. And you're sore to begin with. So I can just remember my neck and I used to get a lot of stingers. Like just how sore my neck would be. Like I feel like right now I couldn't even, if I went out there and just did one day of getting hit, like I don't think I could even function the next day.

I think I wouldn't be able to get out of bed. Like I was the thing. I think we sit around sometimes. Like I jogged to the car yesterday to get something. And I thought, I look pretty fucking springy right now. Like, I think I can go. And then I thought to myself like, yeah, but what about the next day? Yeah, it's not that day.

It's the next day. And I don't know. I think it was like a week ago. I'm like, I was at the, there was like a little gym. Oh, I was actually when I was back home, my old coach gave me the key to the weight room to the high school weight room. It was all closed. Of course you did. Nobody in there.

So I'm going in, you know, I go in that weight room. Basically a Gatorade commercial, Rob Nickvitz, he hits the lights, walks in, he spot it. So I put, you know, I'm at the squat rack. I'm like, I'm going to squat a little bit today. So I put 225 on there. You do it 10 times. I'm like, yeah, felt okay. You know, put 275 on there.

Okay, felt okay. Put three plates on there. I did five reps. The next day, I literally woke up and I just, all I did was look at the ceiling and go, I made a mistake. Made a mistake. and I couldn't like for a week I was sore I was like what is wrong with me but one week I was sore like that's the problem that's why you can't that's why like when your brain tells you I think I could

do this you just need to be careful with that thought I think also which I still do to this day so this is a frustration of everyday life trying to stretch your way out of a back spasm you know like if I just stretch my quad more I get this you know if I just turn on my side and do some leg kicks I'll get a pop like it's not happening but you do it anyways it's like a dog scratching an itch yeah i don't miss those days you know people ask me all the time like what do you missed like well i'll tell you one thing that i don't miss pain because anytime you're in training camp like the whole time training camp no matter what you do i don't care who you are you're going to be like in pain the whole time like and your stomach hurts because you've been popping celebracs or whatever anti-inflammatory

I was indicent. The max, and it's just, it's indescent is just ripping the lining of your stomach, but you just have to do it because you'd rather be in 20% the pain with 300% the diarrhea. The other way, right? I know, I know. Walkthroughs suck. I hate walkthroughs. Now they replaced the second practice, so there was something I like about that.

But at the same time, it's like for D-Lignment, now in a New England walkthrough, and I learned this when I got New England, you can never relax. because there's always something that you have to think about as an edge guy. Like, am I dropping? Am I getting a certain call right before the snap that Maddie P's going to walk up and whisper in my ear? And like I'm expected to just know I got the hole like right away. Or am I setting the edge or am I looping inside? Like most places, a 4-3 defensive end is in a walk-through just standing in front of a fucking white trash can and taking two steps.

And coaches will do cover two, cover three, four man for an hour. straight out in the heat and you're like I could be anywhere right now I fucking hated walkthroughs I almost feel like trending camp too that was like they would just come up with anything to kill time to where you weren't out of the building too early you know so it would just come up with a walkthrough or an extra film session to do something just to stay in the building until nine o'clock that's how coach's brains work justification of busy work and spending time like no doubt about it I understand the conundrum of I can't let the front the defensive front go inside and eat ice cream while the dbs do you know coverage stuff like everybody has to be doing

something but it's overt busy work it's the same thing coaches do at night when you know coach says meetings wrap in nine but i've been watching the same pass rush reel for six weeks at this point and you're like let's watch this pass rush reel one more time or like let's pop in a tape that's a bd thing right there let's let's see this process right there huh to our guy brenden daily our dude got another other ring in Kansas City. There, there it is. There it is. I mean, listen, and I understand, like, I understand that coaches can't be, you know, if an assistant

coach, his position group, the head coach is walking down from his office after night meetings or before night meetings, let's have to sneak into his car and he's getting beat to the car by all the delinement. It's the de-line coach's head. But I, I just think, like, sometimes it's a little excessive to try to keep everybody and, like, that everybody's in your room last. You know, one thing that I really hated during training camp

was like a post practice lift because... Oh, God, I forget that. What are you going to get out of a post-practice lift after you literally were on the field for three hours beating yourself to a pulp? And then after practice, conditioning, number one, and Bill, to the hell! We got to run your hills, you know, conditioning.

Which was not a tough hill at all. It was just more that. actually like I'm out here another 10 minutes. Yeah. What a hell? You know, and then you go, you do your whole practice, you're conditioning, and then you huddle up and you come together and they're like, and then the strength coach says, uh, deal line, defense, don't forget to get your lifting

today and you're like, oh. And eat lunch and be at meetings in 30 minutes. Yeah. So like, you get the field. You try and slam. And don't get staff, but you're not going to be able to shower until tomorrow morning. Yeah. You know what, though?

Who used to win those sprints all the time? There's one guy, I remember, used to win those. sprints in New England all the time and Bill loved it. Shaq. Oh, Jack by nose. Fast. Jack was rolling up that hill.

Jack is fast. Jack ran like a 4-7-40 or something. Yeah, he used to smoke fools in that in that drill after practice. Also, the heat bugs. When you walk out there in the morning, it's hot as shit. I guess they're like daytime cicadas. There's a difference between nighttime cicadas, which I love. The worst bug on earth is a daytime.

Cicada. There's no one squealing like because it's hot. It's like it's like it's fucking hot like the whole time in individual and also stretching like trying to stretch and move around. Patriots had the worst stretching routine act like hash and back run to the hash, run back, side shuffle, back pedal, karaoke. Like you're like it was the worst stretching routine. I can remember back before they put that in.

We would just do a regular stretch like on the ground. and I can remember like when we'd be laying down on our back to do our quoth. I remember like every time I laid down, I would just try and close my eyes. And I wasn't stretching. I would literally try and disappear for like however many seconds I had. Like if it was like a five, 10 second stretch and then they changed it up, I would just try and think where can I go right now mentally? And I would just try to escape stretch.

I would just escape everything. I'd just lay there and look up into the sky and then close my eyes and be like where I just want to be anywhere but here right now. Listen, and again, we loved our jobs. Yeah, yeah, I'm saying the only the hard part about it was going. The premise of this segment is to illustrate how miserable times you can be in training camp. Yeah. And it's not like it's that hard physically anymore.

No, not anymore. Like you mix it with us getting older. I have no idea how older guys used to get through training camps the way they used to have them in their 30s. Two days. Mid-30s. Three days. I mean, but they didn't know anything else. So that's what you had to do it.

You know, like just the pressure coupled with it. Yes, the pressure. Pressure coupled with it. and just like the humbling nature of emptying the tank every day and being like tomorrow I could get better. I'm going to do this better tomorrow. I'm just going to will my way to be able to land this move or get the corner tomorrow. Like I'm studying tape till everybody's gone.

And then you go out there and one on ones the next day, it's the same fucking bullshit. I would like the one thing that always got me to was if you, when you're doing one-on-ones, because that's a defensive end, like all you think about is your one-on-one rush. And because during training camp, that's how you're evaluated and you're going against the guy, like, offensive linemen. It's kind of dumb. It is. It is. But that's how they judge you, right?

If you can go out there and one-on-ones and you can beat everyone that's out there and, like, clean rushes, like, that's what you want. As a defensive end, that's what you live for is like a clean rush, good, great hands, you know, good get off. And when it works, it's great. Feels awesome. And one-on-ones is the best feeling. It's the best feeling. but when you are like in a slump and you're in training camp and like you're just not winning like you literally feel like you see yourself being instantly cut and not in the plans for that

the minute I get blocked in one-on-ones now of course I'd be like I'm pissed I want to go back and now I'm a bull to bulrush the fuck out of somebody right under their chin but the second thought is they're going to talk about me upstairs they're going to try and take somebody's reps and put them in my spots I just hear them I just hear them I just just hear him upstairs like, oh, well, he's getting old. You know, he doesn't still have it. You know, he's losing a step. Like, he doesn't, you know, that maybe let's give who so-and-so another rush here

and a look on third down. So like the pressure to go out there in one-on-ones and like win and not just like the second and because that's another thing too. Like people don't realize. If you're a starter in the NFL, and I talk about this sometimes when I'm covering like preseason games, if you're a starting caliber, defensive end or a pass rusher in the NFL and you're going up against a second or a third string tackle, third string tackle, you need to make him look foolish almost every single time you go against them.

Yep. So when I see somebody winning, like if I see a rookie, you know, third round draft picked in the fourth quarter or the fourth quarter or fourth game in the fourth preseason game in the fourth quarter beating a guy and they're like, oh, this guy is going to be the next great pat. I'm like, he's beating somebody that's not going to be on a team. Yeah, he's being a guy who's going to be doing something else in a couple months. You have to go and beat like the best. So like you got to go against the best tackles, the starters, and then win.

Because if you can't do that, there's no chance. You don't have a chance. You got to go against the best dudes. Yeah, you're right about that. And, and honestly, I've heard a million times people being like, well, that guy had four sacks that last preseason. Dude, I had 70 sacks in the NFL. I have one in preseason. It doesn't matter.

And then especially like, I mean, look, I've seen dudes go out there. They look great in the shells, OTAs, minicamp. They're running up the field. Speed, speed, dip, rip, get to the quarterback, running past quarterback. They get in the preseason game. They can't even sniff the quarterback. Yeah, practice is different. Practice is so different.

And that's so another reason, like, right now with no preseason games, I feel bad for dudes that can't show themselves like they would if they had a chance to actually hit a quarterback, you know? So somebody knocked down Tom Brady in practice the other day. I read that. I read that. They said, though, that Tom was backing up. So I figured it was probably a screen, which makes it painful.

Because you know with some young kid that was like, oh, I just won this drill. I got to show them that I won the drill. I got to show him I beat this block. I'm going to put my hands on Tom Brady and it's a fucking screen. You didn't win. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that's what happened, but I read Tom was backing up and got pushed to the ground by an undrafted rookie or somebody down in Tampa.

It's one way to get cut. So yeah, how about the long walk in New England to practice? Practice. Yeah. It's like a mile long through the stadium. Great facilities, but the practice facility is a half a mile from the fucking locker rooms. And just the sound of your cleats on concrete every morning, clark, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack,

and then the big staircase to get up to the fields. I mean, the only good thing was it wasn't hot there in New England. Yeah. You want to know my number one, the most dreaded thing that pissed me off every single time I had to go to training camp in New England. You want to know what that is? What? Mandatory knee braces for D-Lyman. Oh, that was the worst. So Bill wants to protect, oh, you know, like what do you want me to do? Like, you get hurt. So Bill wants everybody to wear knee braces if you're on the D-Line. So that's Interior and D-N's D-Line offensive line, have to wear a hinged

knee brace. Now, look, I'm a, I'm a guy that has to drop in coverage. I got. I got got to cover the backs. I got to run. Yeah, we got a rush. How the hell? And I got to rush. And as a D.N, you have to be quick. You got to have speed. You got to have your counters. You got to be able to cut. You got to be able to run all your games. So when you put a neoprene knee brace over your knee with a hinge on it, it definitely slows you down. You do not feel great. And it makes your calves cramp up and your legs feel awful. You feel heavy. So what I would do is I would minimize everything about it.

take the hinges out, I would cut the backs out of these things, and I would get a new pair every single day because I didn't care. Like, you want to make me wear a knee brace? I'll destroy every single knee brace in here to where I didn't even feel it. And I think I told you about this, Chris, to cut the backs out of it. Yes. And I think you cut it out and at the end of practice, it just falls apart. It's like, whatever. This ain't first 48, bro. Don't be snitching on me to Bill Belichick over the airways, okay? You want to go down with the fucking ship and be Johnny honesty about your, your doctored knee braces? I plead the physith. Hey, guess what?

Whatever it takes, man, when you're in your 30s, you got to have every you're damn right. Every bit of speed that you have. You're damn right, you do. And the weirdest day to wrap it all up, I do not like the day after everybody gets cut because the room empties out so much.

Like, it's exciting because you're getting ready for your first game and you get to go home and that sort of thing. And that's great. But it also feels weird. You've had a room that was like up in the 80s, full of guys, you know? and then all of a sudden it just clears out. It gets way more serious.

There's no more rookies singing. There's no loud lunches, loud dinners where guys are having a good time. So I guess that says at camp, although it sucks ass in a lot of ways. I would do it. I would do it. I miss that like just the feeling of, you know,

the rookies going up and you're in the team meeting room atmosphere. And that's especially at night. Yes. Like after the practice is over and you know you're getting out. and I can remember the one thing that New England, and I'm a big cookie guy, you know, so they would have like these monster cookies for a snack at night. Oh, yeah. I'd grab like three of those suckers because I knew I was going to burn them all off.

Now I'd probably be through. Or some of they say, because I never used to get more jacked in training camp. I just get fatter and more sore. I was just, I was going to the chair because I think like I'm going to burn it off. And it's just like I guess I'm misinterpreted it. It's not eat whatever you want. like that second snack at night before you go to the hotel at 9.30 at night is what gets you because they do dinner. And dinner's usually like a little too early and you're like,

I don't want to go 12 hours without eating. So you load up on chicken wings, pizza. It's always chicken wings of pizza. Yeah. Yeah. At 10 o'clock at night. They'd have chicken wings pizza and massive giant cookies the size of your head. And you would like load up three boxes of it and just stuff your face. I know that can't be the right thing to do. It's just a football culture. your thing. Yeah. No, I mean, that's another thing too. Like right now, like obviously they can't do any of the stuff that they have done ever before. Like you can't have open cafeteria stuff. Like, it's all completely different. So- Gotta suck right now. Listen, I, the other day, somebody, I think it was a mailbag. It was like, would you come back and play if somebody called you, if they weren't for the

pandemic, I think I'd listen to whatever it was. But like, I would not play in this situation. It's just It makes no sense to me. I mean, I get it if you're making a lot of money or if you were in the league. But to come out of retirement, anybody's like on the fence about playing. This has to push it over the edge. No atmosphere at games. Also, if you're a pass rusher, how weird is that? No, and I would hard count you so bad.

You know, like get Chris on the tree. You'd be gone. Chris is jumping off that four point stance. His eyes as big as a gold retriever looking at that ball. Trying to get after it. Ball, ball. Ball. But it's good that we're not doing that anymore.

I wake up in the morning and I look at like the Eagles Instagram account and I see people stretching in the heat and I'm like, you know, and I'm totally good, man. Yeah, no, my one-year-old headbutted me and I had to go on a concussion protocol. I couldn't take another big massive head shot anyway. So I'm good. Rob Nickovich. Always great having you on the pod, man.

The people love it. People love having you.