Green Light with Chris Long - Green Light Exclusive with Torrey Smith

Episode Date: January 30, 2020

0:40 - Joys of Retirement. 2:00 - Torrey Smith Breakout Game vs Rams. 3:00 - Torrey's Baltimore Days. 8:35 - Torrey's catch vs Falcons. 10:15 - Ravens SB and Power Outage Conspiracy. 17:55 - Eagles and Super Bowl vs Patriots. 25:35 - Quick Hitters. About Chalk Media: Following the unfiltered voice and vision of Chris Long, Chalk Media is the interactive online community for you, the intelligent and humorous sports fan. Driven by access, Chalk delivers a unique perspective that cuts through the canned talking points and provides a variety of content from your favorite sports and entertainment celebrities. Here at Chalk, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are rooted in challenging the perception of professional athletes. We embrace the “real” with a unique combination of humor and intelligence. Chalk is a community with a voice beyond 240 characters that brings a perspective and vibe to a traditionally brash and boastful sports media space. Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more. Nothing is off limits at Chalk - hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining me now on the Green Light Pod, I am excited to have my former teammate, one of my favorite former teammates, Marilyn Terrapin, although I hate to say it, in a long time NFL wide receiver, two-time Super Bowl champion, Tori Smith. Tori, how you doing, bro? Doing good, bro.

You're doing, man. I'm good, man. Retirement's suiting you good? Awesome, man. You told me about it, and I had to come on to speak for myself. It's pretty relaxing. You look more relaxed.

Everyone's saying that, man. I just like the edges off and it's crazy because I never even realized it. That's the thing. Like when you're in it, you don't realize I've had a lot of these conversations the past few weeks. I've had an epiphany, so to speak. It took me the entire fall getting through this media stuff to have some like downtime to think. And I'm like for years, I didn't realize I was on edge all the time because that's just the way you are. Yeah, I mean.

And it's an adjustment for that to us. I'm like, what do you mean on edge? What do you mean there's a difference? Yeah, and there you are. You're being on edge. But somebody's like, hey, I think you've been on edge for 11 years. I'm like, yeah, I'm like confrontational about what the fuck do you mean? I've been on edge.

Like, that proves the point. So I think both of us can relax now. It's pretty nice. So I know we got Super Bowl week coming up. I want to get you another time on the show to talk about your entire career because you got a lot of your story is very interesting. And again, one of my favorite teammates of all time. It was almost like sometimes we were in a contest to see you could stay in the building longer. It'd usually be me walking across the locker room and I'd hear a voice.

I think everybody was out of the locker room and I hear, what the fuck are you still doing here? And then likewise, because we were at the facility until like 7 o'clock every night. But you actually had your big breakout game against the Rams. I was on the field for that. 2011, you scored touchdowns of 74 yards, 41 yards, and 18 yards, all in one quarter. Rookie year. Yeah, you know, that was during the time where, like, if you needed a confidence boost,

She's called the Rams. Fuck you. And it was huge for me, man. It was my first start. Yeah. I remember the edge that I had then. It's just like, you know, they had drafted me in the second round to be a starter. And I just wasn't ready.

They traded for Lee Evans. Lee Evans gets hurt. And so all of us are, oh, you're not red shirt, brother. Here you go. Right, right. It's a big game. Like, it was huge for my confidence. And they honestly propelled my career.

It was big for my confidence, too, watching our defense. get burnt for three touchdowns by a rookie. And I knew who you were because, you know, being an ACC guy and seeing in Maryland, but that was a downer for us. So you mentioned Lee Evans. You know, in 2011, you're in Baltimore. You know, this is your rookie year, right? And then at the end of the year, was that the year you guys go to the AFC championship?

And lose to New England. And lose to New England. There was a, you were a missed kickaway. You were a Lee Evans dropping the end zone away. How hard was it to climb that mountain? Having been to two-shoe bowls, one of them, you're a new guy in Philly later, and we'll get to that. But in Baltimore, your first year, you're so close. And people talk about that fatigue after long runs.

How was it that your team was able to get back up off the mat and then get all the way and win it next year? Yeah, I mean, we had so many veterans that we kind of knew what it took. And we knew, like, just get your ticket to the dance and, you know, anything happens. And we knew we would end up having to go through five. which a lot of people had to try to do over the years. And it's not an easy task, but we went into it fully expecting to win. We felt like we should have won the year before. And we weren't even more confident than next year expecting to get it done.

And, you know, we had veterans and, you know, Harbaugh took care of us at the right time. And for me, I was wet behind the ears the first year, you know, not really knowing to expect. And I just assumed that we would magically be right back there again. Right. Yeah. And we did. And I realized the year after that when we missed the playoffs, that it doesn't just happen that easy. Yeah, it's not the case.

when you hear younger guys that, you know, get to the league and they don't realize, like somebody like me that weighed a long time or, you know, you go in a league, you're in a great organization, you've got vets that know how to do it. I think, and my dad used to say this, when he went to the Super Bowl in like 83 or 84, they never got back. And he assumed when he was young that, like, this is a regularity. But I think a lot of people learn that lesson. And then the next year, it wasn't like you guys were world beaters.

I think you were 10 and 6. You were a solid football team. A lot of veteran leadership. but you guys had to fire the OC in like December. Did I remember that right? They fired a camp camera, which was a surprise to me. I mean, we had been doing well. And we had a terrible game with the Redskins.

And that was the game that RG3 got hurt. Yeah. Oh, it was, wasn't it? And Kurt Cousins came in and was wheeling and dealing. We just knew when RG3 went down, we were going to win this game. Right. We ended up nothing. Like, we couldn't do a single thing.

And they coach shook it up a little bit. and we got blown out the next week after that. Right, right. With Coach Caldwell, then we kind of heated up and went on our run. But, I mean, it was a crazy year. You know, like there's so many different changes. And ultimately, like I said, we expected to be there.

Dude, that's like kind of unheard of. When I went back and I was doing some reading about that year, I was like, oh, yeah, they did fire that guy. But you don't hear about that with a team that wins a Super Bowl firing a coordinator during the year. It's almost unprecedented. I mean, it's irregular anyways to fire a coordinator period during the year. Right, especially when you know you're going to make the playoffs.

Right. We still won our division. So it's not like we were a team that was garbage, you know. And I don't know, I've never really asked hardball even listened to his reasoning behind it. But, I mean, we ended up winning. So, yeah, I guess it's all worked out. Exactly. It's tough for the guy that, you know, that was there for, you know, basically the whole season.

Because you're talking like week 13 or so. Right, right. happened. It wasn't like, you know, the middle of the season. And was this the year Jacoby Jones caught that, the Hail Mary? I've been Denver. So tell me, walk me through where you were on the field that moment. Yeah, man, it was so a lot of people don't know that. I actually said it for the first time last week.

We were literally the drive before, you know how you kind of go back out on the field? And it doesn't seem like you have enough time and it's almost seems like it feels like it's impossible. And literally the drive before that, we had got stopped when we knew we had our opportunity because we didn't think Peyton would go three and out. Chad Bailey tapped me on the shoulder and was like, hey, man, great game. Like, not in a, like, hater type way or negative, it was genuine. The game's over. Yeah, like, we're getting the ball back.

Defense goes, gives the ball back. And we're on the field and they're playing super soft. Next thing you know, again, they got out of, they played a cover two. And Joe's just like, y'all run. Call four birds. Just run. And he was like, don't be surprised if it comes up outside late. And, man, Jacoby was on the far right side.

I was on the left side. And I had a great ticket and seat to see like his angle change. The safety's angle. Like, I saw him flattening out. I'm like, man, he's not going to be able to get to this ball. Right. And it goes over his head. And, you know, it was super quiet.

And are you looking around? You're like, is there a flag or something? something. Right. And it wasn't. And, you know, to see him catch that it was crazy, man. So was that as much about the angle as it was about Jacoby in the throw? Bro, the throw was crazy, right? But it's covered too. Like, the safety, like, you have one job, dude. Like, I can't bash you. You have one job. Yeah, but when you see him just squaring up, like he squared up to, you know, he thought he was going to be able to pick it. Yeah. It kept floating and carrying it. Like I said, like my angle was a sweet view because I'm looking like,

Oh, man, like I thought for a second he was going to get to it. Yeah. See him level out. And he's like, man, the ball, he's not going to get to it. Dude, that's funny because you had front row seats and actually you weren't just a spectator. And one of the biggest plays of those two Super Bowl runs that people forget about. I mean, people don't forget about the Jacoby reception against Denver because you needed that to win the game. But in the Eagles run at the end of the first half against Atlanta, tell me what happened. man so we run the club on a little five yard in outside and foals is throwing the ball to erks across the middle and neil i can't think of his first name the safety for the falcons comes flying up and is it keanu neil keanu yeah yeah man i'm not going to lie to you like i had my little route but i was more so getting in try to make a tackle mode because it was straight to him yeah

Dude. And he jumps up in the air, the ball bounces off his knee. And I kind of just drifting. I'm like, man, I can catch this ball. I catch it. I kind of try to run around the side a little bit. But honestly, that was the craziest play I've ever been a part of because literally in your mind, you know when it's going to be just feeling like when it's

going to be picked. Yeah. And all I see is like three potential lead blockers. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. Like, how am I going to stall to get? You think it could have been a pick six? was it I'm not quite the wedge busting

so that's a nine-point swing right because we get points before the half and end up winning the game by less than a touchdown. I mean on that Julio Jones drop or the Mills coverage, whatever in the corner of the end zone. So you were a part of two of the biggest plays

right there on two huge Super Bowl runs and I think that's what's funny. It's not just the Super Bowl's. There's a couple bumps along the way that if it'd gone one way or another, you're not there, and that's football. But you end up in New Orleans that first run with Baltimore. Tell me about the lead up to the game. You've got guys like Ed Reed, right, who have been waiting their whole career,

Hall of Famers, Legends, Pallodi Nata, right? Don't have rings yet. You know, are the guys you're pulling for to get those rings more than others? Was there that sense that we've got to do this now for the older guys, or what was the mindset of that team? It was that sense. You know, if you remember, Ray Lewis that came back from that torn trisette,

we all knew he's going to retire. So, you know, it was like, man, you want to try to send him out the right way. But do you think about Ed Reed, who's never been in that position, and all of a sudden, he's playing in his hometown for a Super Bowl. And like I said, you spoke on Holodi,

a lot of legends on that team, older guys on that team, you know, Sugs, whoever, you know, who weren't a part of that first one. It's like, man, you wanted to do it for each other. And it was a crazy year. And to see the way it ended down there in dramatic fashion, I still think it's a conspiracy, but I'm going to hold that thought when it comes

to that power going out. But it's wonderful. Talk to me about that theory. And then what happened? Like, was the first thought, like, is this shit, is shit fucked up right now? Is this terrorism? Is this like a power outage? Is it like?

The terrorism piece because, like, that shows how naive we are in America. They're like, if people overseas thought it was a terrorist attack, we're just like, what's going on with the lights? You didn't think anything was, like, I would have been thinking first things first, like, we're fucked. The lights just went out at the Super Bowl. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, we thought, like, because you can still kind of see, I'm like, well, we're going

to play with them lights or something. Like, I don't know. But my thoughts were just like, all right, I know we got to wait at least 20 minutes for it to cut back on it. You know, it took a little bit of a little while. when they get it figured out. And we were hot, you know, at that point. Like it felt like this game was going to be a blowout.

And then we come out afterwards. I remember Ray Rice fumbling and then the 49 is going on the run. And you want to talk about the energy leaving? Like, they took everything out. And it was a fight and a battle to try to finish that game off, man. But I think Jacoby says it best when it comes to the game. Like when it felt like a blowout, all of a sudden the power goes out. right and they're blaming Beyonce or whatever the power's never gone out in the Super

dome and on top of that it didn't even go out when Katrina was there and it goes out doing our football game with a blowout it's like come on dude you've been watching too many YouTube videos there's been Super Bowl blowouts before why did they want you guys to lose so bad you know how it is when you're on the other side man people just hating they're hating they just chose the Baltimore Ravens they could have turned the power out of Joe Robbie Stadium when the Niners beat the shit out of the Chargers or the Bears were beating up the, you know, back in the 80s. And beating up the Patriots like, I feel like you got to give me more for it to be a conspiracy theory. It has to be, man.

If the power in the Superdome didn't go out doing Katrina. Yeah. When endless lives were long. Yes. And it goes out with Beyonce and she gets the blame. Come on now. Stop it. Okay.

All right. Well, it was 28 to 6 at that point, yeah? Yeah. And it felt like it was going to be a hundred. 35 minute delay. What are you guys doing? First off, when the lights turned out, it was pre-play or was in the middle of the start of a play?

I can't remember. It was right before the start of a play. Jacobi had a minute kickoff back. And then we were getting ready to go out again. It was three and out, I believe. How do you have, what are the guys? Because you know guys, you go in the locker room, right? No, we stay in the field.

Okay, so what are guys walking around, circling each other, talking, to keep you up. Right. I remember just like kind of staying loose with Jacoby like jogging around like horse playing a little bit like trying to stay loose but took so long man. You had that long half time. Yeah. And you have that. It's basically you had two half time, two Super Bowl halts. Yeah. Like you're looking at 70 minutes total of bullshit. It was crazy to try to stay loose, try to stay focused. And the 49's did a better job than we did coming out. So how do you feel when you're watching San Francisco drive

at the end of the game and it's coming down to a play and you're helpless and you're on the sideline. It was a sick. I get nervous thinking about it to this day because that play, even though it wasn't catchable, like they could have called PI. Right. You know, we very easily could have lost that

or tried to have our own little version of it. But it's even crazy. It's playing in San Francisco, So the special teams coordinator broke down the kickoff return. They had one of their guys blocked the right person, Ted game with a house the damn kick. Oh, man. To, and we would have lost that way.

Like, I'm about to throw up thinking about this. It's the craziest thing to kind of see like both sides of the fence. And you know what it is, man. There's nothing like actually being able to win and celebrate. Because you weren't in San Francisco long after that. I mean, it was only a couple years later. you were probably still talking to a bunch of guys that you beat in that Super Bowl. Joe's when you're,

when, yeah, Joe. And how about Joe? Like, fast forward to this weekend, he, usually when a guy sees that window open and close and they're a veteran, they're never getting back on that same team. He saw the window open. He missed the opportunity. They lose as many games as anybody outside Cleveland in the last four years,

which is astounding. And now they're back in it. It's just insane. So, I mean, so as you're getting ready to play that game, backtracking, you've got Seattle and San Francisco, I believe, with the two teams, they had an opportunity to play that year in the Super Bowl, and you, of course, with the Ravens. Was there a team that you're rooting for?

Because I tried to explain to people when you're getting ready to watch, or when you're getting ready to play somebody in the playoffs, you're paying attention to what your matchups are. So as a wide out, you're looking at the defensive backfields. Was there any analysis here? You're like, I'd rather see this team or that team? Yeah, to me, it didn't really matter. We felt like we matched up well with both of them.

We had played the 40 honors a year before, and I beat them in a tough game. But for it, honestly, didn't matter who it was. We felt like we were going to win. Right, right, right. Yeah, so who gives the pregame speech before that game? Ray Lewis is giving the pregame speech for everything. In the locker room and outside. Everything. He's giving the speech when you land in New Orleans.

He's giving you everything. Everything's passionate. Who gave a better pregame speech? speech, Brian Brayman or Ray Lewis? The amount of spit that's being thrown around out there, man. I'm a roll with Ray. I'm going to roll with Ray Lewis still. Braven is the craziest thing.

The world needs to understand the type of rage that can happen in football. I tried to explain to somebody in an interview the other day. They were like, who gave the, because we were talking about who gives pregame speeches. Malcolm would usually talk on the field and I do in the locker room a lot of times. but if Brayman started yelling, everybody just got the fuck out of the way. And most people have no idea who Brian Brayman is, but if you played with Brian Brayman,

you know exactly who Brian Brayman is. And then they asked me the contents of that speech. Do you remember the contents of that speech? I don't know, but I just know it was about blood and murder and like... 300 men of football. Yes, exactly. So fast forwarding to the next one, right? So how do you end up signing with the Eagles of all places?

Well, my relationship with Joe Douglas, you know, Joe's a guy who I'd known since I was drafted in the Baltimore. He was a huge reason as to why I went there. And I really had a really good feeling about it. I remember watching San Francisco and seeing Carson Went. I was like, man, it's cats a beast. You know, he's going to be a good one. And the more you start to learn about it, their talent and their team, you're like, man,

they're only a few pieces away, even though the record made. come off a little differently. You know what it's like. When you look at it, I'm like, man, they're a few pieces away. And I felt like they had the better opportunity.

My wife from outside of Philadelphia and Contra Hocken, and it was an opportunity to be close to their family. I literally passed up the opportunity to go back to Baltimore to go to Philadelphia. Right.

I just had a really good feeling about it. And the timing of it, I felt like, you know, they wanted me to be there. So, I made the right decision obviously it paid off. It's a crap shoot because I was a free agent in the same year. And if you don't, I don't know if you remember this, but me and you talk beforehand.

And you were like, you're going to love Joe Douglas. If you get a chance to come up here, like you got to talk to me. I was like, talk to him for me. Because at this time, we weren't on each other's radar, me and the Eagles. But it was like this whole slew of free agents just converged upon Philly. And I got to say, I wasn't going there thinking, hey, we're going to win a Super Bowl. I was going there thinking this is a team that could make a playoff run. we could slide in and we'll see what happens.

So everybody knows what happened at the quarterback position. You know, Carson gets hurt in the Rams game. Nick, you know, a lot of people forget. Nick took, he had his bad games leading up to the playoffs, you know, whether it was Oakland or, you know, some of the games that it took to warm up, including Atlanta, which you talked about, which wasn't a spectacular performance, but eventually we got rolling.

And you made one of the biggest, most memorable plays in that playoff run with the flea flicker, right? down the left sideline against Minnesota. Can you talk me through that play? Hey, you know, flea flicker, the same play, you draw up in the backyard and hope that you can run it one day. Yeah. That feeling, man, I get goosebumps thinking about that still

because it's like, you look at honestly what that meant for Philadelphia was that we're going to the Super Bowl. It's kind of like the tagger in a sense. And the throw was ridiculous. It was a great feel by football. because I was actually supposed to run a post. So I was supposed to be across the middle of the field, but I realized the safety was standing in the middle of the field.

So why am I going to round my route that way, have him stuck on Alshan only. And the way it worked out. So you're telling me you were supposed to run a post there, and somehow you decided to run straight and Nick played off of you. He saw the same thing I saw. You know, you're running it. I knew I could catch the guy's sleep. and outside and we did and I was like, well, why am I going to run to get covered if I can go

vertical and he has the ball in his hands? We can get the time and right. He can make the stolen. He threw a dime. Yes, he did. He dropped it right in the bucket. So you're headed to Minneapolis, drum roll, Minneapolis, you know, your first Super Bowl is in New Orleans. I felt like the Minneapolis Super Bowl, it was like a better fit geographically than anywhere you could be for a young team that didn't have, you know, a ton of playoff and Super Bowl experience because what the fuck are you going to do? Nothing. Nothing, dude.

It was probably got, probably burnt more calories walking the Mall of America. The Mall of America. You want to go eat or whatever. It's all right there. But, I mean, it was cold. You go outside. You're like sprinting into your Uber or whatever. It was crazy out there.

Well, you know, you mentioned the Mall of America. I also talk about this often that the entire team was sick that week. I don't know about you. I had a solid cold, which when you're getting ready to play one of the biggest games of your life, you don't want to be sick and you don't want to feel sicker

and sicker as it's getting to Friday and Saturday. Did you have the sniffles that week? I was good, man. I think my kids had all right prepared me the month before I was going through it. I made out all right, but yeah, like I said, half the team was going through it.

Now, do you remember leading up to that game? I don't know if I walked up and asked you, but I was walking around and asking all the offensive players, how many can you score this week? How many can you score this week? Because I knew we'd play well against the Pats, but you can only contain that group with Grunk and Tom and, you know, Josh McDaniels drawn up all these plays.

Like, I needed a target in my head, like what we can hold them to. Did you know that y'all were going to, you know, dent a hole in that defense the way you did? Yeah, honestly, we thought their defense was terrible. Like, I thought we were going to score a lot of points. I thought their offense was their saving grace. That's just being completely honest. I thought we were going to be in the throw the ball wherever we wanted. It didn't matter if they started there, Malcolm, Butler, or not.

We were going to target him. I mean, I'm just being honest. Like, we didn't fear them at all. We knew we were going to be able to score points. We actually thought y'all were going to shut them down. Well, you should have talked to me. I would have told you, I would have told you, here's what I would have told you. I think maybe we can hold them about 24 points.

That was, now they scored one more touchdown than that, but when it got real dicey is we did a good job. in the first half, but after the half, their adjustments were just so good. And they started getting the ball to gronk. You know, they started picking us apart a little bit more, and we couldn't get off the field. And I know you guys were like, hey, just one stop would be terrific here.

I'm trying to win a Super Bowl. I'm not going to lie. I really thought, like, seriously, when I saw our front seven and our big guys up front, I did not think they could block us. Well, they chipped out every play. That was the big thing was they did. they did seven man the entire game

and they decided that like we're not going to let the rush beat us we're not going to let that NASCAR group which is what we called it with Fletch inside BG inside me and DB on the outside we're not going to let those guys beat us in that wave with like Vinny coming in and Bo and our entire group

and they really did a good job of limiting our production but that was the big thing when they needed a drive where they couldn't max up and you couldn't ship out and you get guys out in the route fast they couldn't block us, and that's when BG came up with that big strip set. Which win was more thrilling to you? Between the two Super Bowls?

Yeah, you're a pretty honest guy. I don't think you're going to be political here. Nah, and it's crazy, like, because obviously we're leading up to the Super Bowl, so I've been asked that a lot. And to me, they both, like, I was in two different phases of my life, so they had two different meanings. Yeah. Which is 100% a political answer, but it's really.

No, it's true, though. I mean, like, yeah. When we born my second year, like I said, I was super young. my brother had passed away that year like it was a very emotional year for my family, the growth and had the opportunity to win in Baltimore I went to Maryland so 30 minutes with the road

40 minutes of the road and it was like it was a different situation I'm celebrating my family we had never really been out of Virginia like that so to have everyone down in New Orleans experience and you fast forward to Philadelphia I'm celebrating on the field after coming off of two rough years in San Francisco

being a part of their first Super Bowl and I'm celebrating with my kids now. I have kids. You know? They were non-existent that first Super Bowl. So to kind of see how life had changed since then, like, it was pretty special. So a quick hitter here, or a number of quick hitters here from your two big games

and in the game this week coming up before I let you go. First off, the ring parties, both ring parties that you did. Who was the coolest person you met at the ring party? What was the best act that they booked or talent that? they booked? Easily the Eagles. Right? It's not even close.

Like, they had Meek Mill, Rick Ross. Like, that was a real live, and that was the whole way. That dreams a nightmare song by Meek Mill, like, carried the city through the playoffs. And, I mean, it's tough to compete with that. What do you think when you hear that song now? Same thing I felt when I first heard his album the first time, like, I'm ready to run through a mall.

I run through a wall. I said a ball. Run through a mall. We did run through a mall. You're right. The Mall of America. But then we ran through a wall. But that was the truth.

Like, the dreams and nightmares, it hit right when I was in St. Louis on, you know, teams that had no Philly ties. And we used to listen to it every Sunday before game. But then to be in Philly during that run when that song would come on, I love that video pregame before the NFC championship. I don't know if you remember this video. I've shared it on Twitter.

Twitter sometimes. They play Dreams and Nightmares about 40 minutes before the game. The stadium's full. And I get chills every time watching. Like, nobody was beating us that day. You got them right now. Right now, man. Nobody was beating us. I'm sitting there trying to calm myself down. You watch a video. You're sitting right now. I'm just like tipping. Like, stay calm. Yes. You're in the video. Corey's having a full out concert.

Bouncing around. Like, Laguerre's going crazy. And I'm like, I'm trying to like attain myself. on pregame, but like the energy you could feel like it was crazy. Yep. It made the Super Bowl seem like it was cake from an atmosphere standpoint. Do you remember the time when we were in the walkthrough at speaking of that stadium in Minneapolis and we had to run some fake plays to. A hundred people on the field at one time? Talk me through what you were doing offensively there.

I walked through before the Super Bowl. We didn't do a single thing like. We would call it plays. We had 20 offensive linemen, like six receivers. Now, for the people listening and watching, that's just because of who we're playing in the track record. Only because of who we're playing. You don't know who has access to what.

You know, maybe it was a little extra, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Definitely better to be safe than sorry. Okay, so do you have a favorite ring? I asked you about the ring party out of the two rings aesthetically. The Ravens ring, you know, from almost a decade ago and then the Eagles won. The Eagles ring for sure. They put some thought into it. Yeah.

Like the meaning behind it. I mean, you should feel proud of yourself, man. There's a dog mask. There's a fucking dog mask in there. That's legendary stuff. Yeah, dude. All it took was me and Lane sitting on the training table getting taped up to go to practice, you know, with some dumb idea and who knew what it would turn into.

But I like, I do like the Eagles ring. I love my New England ring too because the 283 diamonds in there for 28 to 3. But the thing weighs my hand down. Eagles one's cool because of the dog mask. How about one way you would fix the Super Bowl, one adjustment you might make to the Super Bowl, from a viewer's perspective or a player's perspective? Short of halftime, man.

Yeah, nobody likes the halftime show anyways. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No one really likes it anyways. There's a way to have a solid performance and get people out. But I think it would make their job easier instead of trying to entertain folks forever. But I guess those commercials do make a lot of money. But I don't know.

I'll probably say that. the biggest adjustment I would make, and you may not agree with this, but the Super Bowl would have one destination only. You know, and where would it be? New Orleans. Bullshit, okay? You can walk everywhere.

They're there for you. You got to do with your little traffic, get in there, whatever. But like, it's the perfect location. Okay, I have a location. I have a location now. I can't stand watching an indoor Super Bowl. I just can't.

Like, to me, it takes... I actually hate the... I'm the opposite. I want to know the best team's going to win, not the team that played... So you're a fast guy. You're a fast guy. That's why.

Because you want to run as fast as you can. First off, the grass is easier on my joints. You know, warm weather spots where you're going to have a Super Bowl or outside other than New York, but that experiment is over. It comes down to Miami or L.A., really, in Houston, whatever,

but they have an indoor field. I think that every Super Bowl, if you're going to do it in one place, should be at the Rose Bowl. What? Fuck the luxury seating. From a viewer's perspective, I want to see that golden hour sunshine.

Every time you turn on the Rose Bowl, how does it look? It looks amazing. Yes, that's how the Super Bowl would look if they did. What do you think about an international Super Bowl? You think they go international in the next 25, 30 years?

It's a lot. I think it's going to happen eventually because eventually, this whole trend of build a stadium, promise a Super Bowl for building the stadium. That's going to end because all the 32 teams are going to have new stadiums soon and they're going to have to go somewhere else. So Rio 2030?

I'd be there as a yes. You and me will be there. Yeah, we'll be down there making money. Okay, so one hit, this is Sunday Super Bowl. Chiefs, Niners, if you've been living under a rock, it should be one of the most exciting from the past decade. one hidden key to the game. One hidden key to the game.

I think if you're the, I don't even think it's really a hidden key. You don't need to hide it. I think if you're the, I think it be the chiefs, you just have to put it all on Jimmy G. Like, don't let them run the ball all over you. You know, it did a pretty good job last week with Derek Henry.

But it's a different kind of animal with the way they stretch and the speed they have at the back position with the 40-9ers, but I think it makes for a better Super Bowl for all of us if Jimmy, they put it on Jimmy G, and he goes out there and he delivers because I think he was honestly one of the missing pieces towards, you know, the stability of the quarterback position out there. So I'm rooting for the 49th, so I hope he goes out there and he gets it done. But from a strategist's perspective, you have to put it on him. You can't let him run the ball and let Kyle do all that, the creative things that he does

offensively. I think Jimmy gets, he's a victim of. how well one the stigma of being a backup in new england which is not a bad thing you played behind the goat um and then also i think the stigma of being a part of an offense that's scheme driven i think there's two guys on that offense that would get theirs no matter where they are and sanders you could argue that too i mean since he arrived they've been much better but he is older i think there's two guys really that could get buckets anywhere and that's debo and uh kittle now i think jimmy gets unfair yeah i think jimmy gets unfairly thrown into this thing like he couldn't win

anywhere else because Shanahan's so dynamic. Who would you compare Jimmy to, like on a level of quarterbacking around the league? I think he's a military guy. Yeah. You know, I think Andy Dalton when Andy Dalton was hot. Yeah. You can win a game with them, but you could also lose a game because of them as well. Right.

The scene making and all that. But I think he has the ability to take over games. And I love Andy. Yeah, and I think a lot of people, shit on people, you say, you know, middle-tier quarterback, like, there's only 20 good ones in the entire world. There's a perpetual carousel in the bottom 10, and sometimes not even 15 are good. So, you know, I mean, like, there's not a lot of quarterbacks out there. So, you know, good for a guy who's middle of the pack. I mean, that with a defense like that and some weapons like they have,

you know, they could go out there and win this thing. To be fair, I think he has the potential to be one of those guys. Like, I've always been a fan of him. I like him in New England. When he, He spot started for us in some games where Tom was suspended, the wind down in Arizona. You know, the first half of the Miami game before he got his shoulder separated, he was on fire. And you were like, I see why maybe some people want him to be the succession guy when Tom leaves. But of course, Tom stuck around a long time. So give me one guy you're rooting for. One guy that you, like, you know, I know you want to see the Niners win, but maybe one guy that you're like,

I'd be really happy to see him get a ring. Andy Reed. I know. So that's the hard part. You're rooting for the Niners, but you know how bad Andy wants a ring. Yeah, like, you know, I'm moving for the Niners because I was the first person kicked out by the new regime. Oh, yeah. There's no hate.

Like, I just think, like, what they've been through over the last few years as a fan base, it was miserable. I know first thing. So I love for them to win. See Jet York go out there and get one. but Andy Reid, man, he's my favorite coach that I've never played for. Damn, that's a really, really interesting point. And I think, like, that's almost universal. If you ask guys around a league, I've never heard anybody say anything bad about Andy Reed,

and that includes guys that didn't play for him because they've heard so many good things. So I think Andy Reid, I would agree with you there. I would also like to see on the Niners side, Staley get one. We mentioned him earlier. You know, having... It's a joke. He's one of my favorite. He's like, I said, man, you're my favorite teammate ever.

a great teammate, I'm sure. Great person, full of energy. And you're talking about a guy weathering the storm? You're talking about three, four years ago, right when I was there. I thought he might have retired then because of how he was mentally, like, the stress of the game, the injury and all that, to see him fight through to bring that joy back with the regime he was happy with. Man, I love for him to get one.

Give me a dark, give me. Huh? I said, but there could only be one winner. I know, exactly. Give me a dark horse MVP. George Kittle. I don't know if that's a dark horse. I think he's going to go for about 150.

I think he's going to go for about 150. 150 and two touchdowns will get you the MVP. You're right. They can, especially the way they play. But that's your dark horse MVP. I'm not going to press you and give me another one. You know, typically it's going to go to a roundback or a quarterback. Here's my dark horse.

Honey Badger. Honey Badger. on the other side of it is going to have to play out of his mind for Kansas City to play well defensively. He's going to have to be great in coverage on Kittle. He's going to have to be good in the run game. I think that... You like the matchup? I don't know if I like the matchup. I don't like him one-on-one with Kittles.

I don't like the match up, but I'm saying that if he plays well, if he has a great game, he's going to have a shot at winning the MVP because he's going to have to be the reason they win. Okay, so how about a prediction Sunday? Diction. Putting you on the spot, scoring all. Kansas City 2814.

Oh, wow. It's not going to be close. Here I was thinking we had this great Super Bowl lined up. Yeah, man. I just think like Kansas City, bro, like,

and I feel this way about Patrick Mahomes. Like, you know, I've always been a guy that whenever I'm not playing the Patriots, I've always kind of picked a team that is playing against Tom Brady. Yeah.

And I'm wrong like 99% of the time. Right. And I see that kind of feel from Patrick Mahomes that like he's that guy. So even if they're losing, it doesn't matter. Like he can go put up 30 that quarter. Like he's going to do whatever they need to do to get it done. But I just, I can't bet past the way he's been playing as of late. And you know, like I know, the hot team wins.

No doubt about it. And there's nobody hotter than, you know, now with the Ravens out for a while now. And you were at that game. there's no hotter team than Kansas City. They have not lost since that first Tennessee loss. And even while the Niners had those rough patches, and the Niners have had some good draws in the playoffs now. And so is Mahomes.

I mean, he's played two of the bottom five, bottom eight, past defenses, and they've lit it up. But they've just been hot, and they've gotten the defense just good enough lately. I feel like the Chiefs win, but it's only for me because Mahomes is that much better than Jimmy G. And that's no disrespect. He's the best on the planet, right?

now. So, yeah, I hope it's not as lopsided as you say, but I agree with you on the Chiefs. Tori, I will see you in Miami. I appreciate you coming on. One of the best teammates I ever had. And a really smart guy, I can't wait to see what you're doing in the media too, man. You think you can do some media stuff? Yeah, man, I'm going to go join Chris Lylem, man. Come on, man. Let's go. Let's take over the world, dude. Come on and do some chalk stuff. Okay, man, we'll talk to you soon. All right, bro. Talk to you. See you.

Thanks, bro. Thank you.