Green Light with Chris Long - Will Blackmon! Breaks Down Super Bowl LV Then Judges Chris' Blind Wine Taste Test. Best Big Game Catches Ever.

Episode Date: February 3, 2021

(01:00) - Welcome and New Green Light Swag Update. (05:07) - Will Blackmon on Catching Punts in SB XLVI, SB LV Preview and Best Big Game Catches. (1:02:10) - Chris' Blind Wine Taste Test with Will Blackmon. Sign up for your DraftKings account at https://www.draftkings.com/sportsbook and use promo code : Greenlight 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

You caught punts in that Super Bowl, so... I caught the hardest punt ever, by the way. That's what I wanted to ask you. You caught the punt before the 88-yard drive for the score, yeah? That was the scariest punt I ever caught in my entire life. What's going through your head? Don't drop this shit, too. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

This is Greenlight Pod. I'm your host, Chris Long, and I'm going to be drinking wine today. Eight wines. Cowboy Reed went to Wegmans. He went to, what did you go? Market Street Wine. Shout out to Market Street Wine. They have a piano in Wegmans.

That's a rumor. You didn't see it, though. I didn't catch the piano. I went straight to the wine section. I know where the wine section is. You know that from experience, Cowboy Reed? Well, I don't drink much wine, but it's the wine's in the way to get to the Arnold Palmer. I know exactly where the Arnold Palmer is, and I know where the wine is because it's on the way to Arnold Palmer.

Cowboy Reed is just these? He's the man, dude. He's got this thing mapped out. Got eight wines, we're going to drink. And as I said, I don't know shit about wine. I'm not high class. I don't drink like a guy with my bank account. Let's put it that way.

I don't do a lot like a guy with my bank account. Will Blackman played nine years in the NFL, Boston College Eagle, played against him in college, played against him in the pros, defensive back, Super Bowl champion. He knows a lot about wine. drinks like a guy with his bank account, okay? He is high society, he's high class, but he started this thing called Wine MVP.

And it's basically like he's the plug. He's the wine plug. He's the middleman, you know, like these clothing companies that you're like, hey, this is kind of what I like to wear every month to get a box with different clothes. And you return them or you're like, oh, that's cool. You guys know me pretty well. It's the same thing with his wine deal, the Wine MVP. Not only, as I said, is he a connoisseur bordering on a Somalié, in fact, he's training to be a Somali.

He knows defensive backfield play, which is going to dictate so much of what goes on this weekend. You know, he was on the Giants team that slayed the dragon and Tom Brady the second time in 2011, 2012. He was on that Giants team, and I want to talk to him all about this weekend. The battles going on in the second level. Who's the fish? Who's going to get picked on? How do you stop Patrick Mahomes? What does Brady not like?

We'll get into all that. But we are going to do this blind wine taste test and class it up in this motherfucker. And Will Blackman is going to help me do it. So shout out to him. Housekeeping before we get to Will Blackman. Today is a momentous day. It was Groundhog Day, of course.

But, you know, it's Groundhog Week as far as I'm concerned. earned and making's coming back this Friday. I know a lot of y'all are missing making and that makes him feel very good. We're going to talk Groundhog Day. We're going to probably rank some stuff. I said it would rank some stuff today, but it's probably not going to happen and talk some ball later in the week. But one of the biggest things going on today is we officially have merch.

Like we don't have some big online shop, but I got a link. I put it on my social. Go check Twitter. Click on that motherfucker. If you like Groundhog Day as much as we do, buy, buy, buy. Groundhog Day merch to the moon. Right? Is that what people are saying this week?

So, yeah, check it out. We got a big Groundhog t-shirt on the web. You can be Big Groundhog, too. We're going to take this shit over, guys. So order one of those bad boys. and you can be a part of like a ground floor investor, okay? You could be a green light hipster. You could have been listening to this thing

from our first shitty show last fall, but if you don't get the merch, some other green light hipster is going to usurp you and have bragging rights. So go check that out. Groundhog Day to the moon. We'll talk more about that on Friday with Macon. But for now, let's get to one.

in defensive backfield play. We've finally done it. We got Will Blackman on, nine-year vet in the NFL, Super Bowl champ, part of Super Bowl 46, and that is relevant this week because that same villain

is in the Super Bowl again and Tom Brady, depending on who you ask. Giants won that 121-17, but the more important thing is that I'm not a wine guy and I've got the wine MVP here, Will Blackman.

Will, it's good having you on. What's up, man? I'm fired up. I'm glad. I'm just fired up. I'm just happy, man. I'm excited. I love watching you play.

I love what you do. I love what you're doing now, man. It's exciting. Thanks, man. I look at your dad, too. He's the man. He's the man. He's got good haircut.

You never changed. No, never changes. Here's the thing about you. And this is the thing I respect about you. You said something the other day. You were like, I saw this tweet. You seemed to be very comfortable of being yourself in the media.

And one of the things you said the other day was that the new brand is just being. you. You know, I saw Hawking you interacted. My guy, Andrew Hawkins, on that one. I would agree. And you're doing, you're killing it because you're kind of following your passions. And one of them is why I'm looking at your setup here at home for the people listening. I mean, he's got one of those fucking cameras at his house that you see when people score touchdowns now, like the 8K cameras. I've never seen a guess so crystal clear as Will Blackman. Because one of my good friends, he's like a celebrity boxer training. He was filming when we were working out. And I was like, what is that? He was like,

dude, you got to get the 4K cam link. You need to link that thing up. He said, because your stuff looks terrible. And I'm like, all right. So I got it. And yeah, I feel like I'm in a movie right now when I'm when I'm filming. Dude, it looks like I feel like you're in the room. What does that mean, though, be yourself in the media? Because, you know, it's like you have a certain way how you are off camera, you know, with your friends or family, whoever. But then all of a sudden, it's go time, you have to straighten up. You know, you have to be right with certain words. It's all kinds of like TV etiquette.

And there's a, that's what's taught everywhere. You know, it reminds me too of I can tell which coaches like really understand either from experience or did their homework to learn from players to coach versus the coaches that actually went to these football conferences and sat in a seminar and like, we'll taught how to backpedal or taught how to, you know, rip and do what happens. I can tell the difference. So I feel like, you know, the way media is going now is like you can, if you find someone who's articulate and is well, you know they're going to do well, you know, it's like, okay,

we kind of want to like shake a little bit and let's find someone who, who may, we don't know. I think the medium is friendly for that now because like what you and I are doing, like I see you on FS1. You want to speak for yourself. You've been on Coward and you like Colin a lot, right? Yeah, Colin's cool. So who's like somebody in the media now that you look at and you're like, this guy's a gold standard?

You know what? It's going to sound crazy. But at the end of the day, to me, it's still Stephen A is a machine, dude. That's what I mean, though, because it all comes down to like, can you perform? Can you shake people? Can you get a reaction on people? And he does. Whether he knows a lot about the topic or whether he doesn't, he's going to make you react. You know what I'm saying? So I mean, that's going to make you react. You know what I'm saying? So I mean, that. That's why he's getting paid. When he's getting paid, man, because he is the goal standard. If you can just, you can perform to the highest level like he does, and he does everything he's always on. So like I said, right or wrong, I respect everything Stephen A does. I do.

Listen, you can tell he grinds, even though. And it's almost an impossibility to be in front of a microphone every day. I mean, like as much content as you or I put out, it's hard to imagine every day having to weigh in on everything. Because there's certain things you and I just don't probably feel like weighing in on or have the knowledge to do at a high level. And somebody like Stephen A who brings energy to overcompensate for that sometimes, and it's consistent and seems to speak, you know, his mind, even when it's tough.

I respect that. I was on to what you were saying because I think in the medium that we're, that we're in now, you can go your own way a little bit. You can, you know, like you can grow in spaces that are exciting for you. You look like you have a legit setup. You look like you've invested in the wine thing. You know, you've got the wine MVP, which I'm going to have you tell me about in a second. Then at the end of this segment, we're going to do a blind wine tasting.

Okay, me and Will have been talking about this behind the scenes. But for now, I've seen you do so much wine content, which is cool. It might not be what everybody's clamoring for, like football fans, but what you do is obviously your passion. You could talk about football and you get to talk about the Vino. As somebody who doesn't know anything about wine, how did you get into it and what is the wine MVP? Yeah, well, for someone who doesn't know much about wine, I'm the perfect guy to teach. So I get into wine just enjoying it in college, you know, at BC. And I remember when I got drafted to Green Bay, you know, Green Bay is a big beer town, you know, beer and cheese. And kind of like, you know, wine is kind of, you know, more, more feminine, if you will.

Yeah, uppity, more feminine. And I love, and I love wine. So the same year I got drafted is the same year we saw. signed Charles Woodson, free agency, which that story is crazy in itself that nobody else wanted him but Green Bay. Yeah, what was going on that offseason? What did Charles say about what was going on that off season? No, but because what happened was he had a bad rap, you know, on the Raiders. You know, he, whatever you want to say, all kinds of things about him. And everyone was so scared. They didn't want to touch that. Well, it's almost like if you're on a bad team, you can get a bad rap just by being there. If you're in a dysfunctional organization, it's just like everybody gets painted with a broad brush.

But that is an incredible thing to think back on it. That's another topic in itself. No question about it. But that's how he ended up in Green Bay because that's the only team who wanted him. And obviously it worked out well for everybody. But I found out like he enjoyed wine, which I thought was super cool. And then every away game, he would take the defensive backs out to dinner. And he would, you know, we'd go to like a nice restaurant.

He would buy all the wine and hook us up. And I was like, that's super cool. And then through these dinners, I found out he was in the wine business himself that he actually had his own wine label. And I was like, damn, dude, like, that's bonkers. You know, I always saw wine as like this untouchable field, this intimidating field. Like you said, you had to be uppity. You had to be, you know, very distinguished and buttoned up to have wine.

And I got this dude that I played football with who's, you know, total badass, has his own winery, which I. I thought that was dope, you know. And so that really made me more comfortable and sparked my interest to want to know more. And then, of course, yeah, when you're in the NFL, you get to go to all these, like, corporate events. And of course, again, they have all these wine with executives. I have people with, you know, swirling wine in my face and trying to explain to me like the legs and all these details. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I don't know what it means.

But I was so, I was so curious, you know. So, you know, the same way I fell in love with wine is the same way. I fell on a little of football, and it was because of the history of the game. My dad had all these VHS tapes from NFL films with John Fascenda and Steve Sable and Sam Spence, you know, Sam Spence. And your dad was in all those. The autumn win is a player. That's the best one right there. And I used to just love those.

And the same way, I used to check out all these wine videos. I subscribed to so many magazines because I was so curious. So this is what really set me off to really want to get after it. So I remember I was with this executive in Wisconsin and he took me out to dinner and he was swore on the wine. He was like, I love Burgundy. Burgundy is the best and it was amazing. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like that's cool. You know, I got to learn from him. And so later, I'm a lone diner. So I used to always go out to eat my own. I enjoy that. I enjoy. How does the wife feel about you doing things alone? Because my lovely wife, she does not like it when I go to the movies alone or go out to eat alone.

if I'm going to stop if she's not doing anything and I do that she's like what the hell bro you know I don't do that no I don't do that you're just alone in a corner at morton she's at the house with the kids exactly like swirling some fucking Merleau around in a glass and she's five miles away let me get the whole booth to myself so I went to this restaurant on my own I was like okay I got the wine list I'm like all right I'm gonna order this burgundy right so I get the I go to the list, the section, and there's like 50 different burgundy's. I'm like, oh, shit, dude, like, I don't know which one to get because I thought it was his own brand. Yeah, so I picked the burgundy and the Somalié walked away. He brought, then he brought the wine over. And I'm like, dude,

I said, this is not burgundy. I said, it's a white wine. He was like, I know. I'm like, what do you mean you know? This is not it. What do you mean, Somalia? Yeah. Yeah. And he said, But he was like, no, he said, listen. And then he's explained to me in France, they go based off the region. So you have to know what that region produces. So if it's if it's a red burgundy, it's Pinot Noir. If it's a white burgundy, it's Chardonnay. So I was tripping.

I didn't know all that. Wow. So like here in the States. You could have me right now at that. Like here in the States, we can put the varieter on the bottle. We can say this is Pinot noir. This is Chardonnay. but in France you have to know what that region produces you know so that's I was like now I'm

really curious to know what the hell is going on so you were sounding like a wine cop you were just basically like hey man let me get a burgundy and then he brought you out some white wine and you're like freeze this is not a sting operation um but yeah I mean like you mentioned just from the beginning you going out because I went to the same rookie dinners right and unfortunately a lot lot of people don't realize is this they take you out dinner all year and you might have an OG that's going to buy you wine like Charles Woodson if you're lucky but for the most part all roads lead to the rookie dinner at the end of the year yes and he was nice about it he took care of us the rookie dinner for people that don't know is basically at the end of the year we all as

rookies or at some point during the year have to go out to dinner with the whole defense if we play defense like well and it's usually an unreal insanely expensive steakhouse so basically you get to this dinner and you're like man i hope they take it easy on me but most of those stories end with especially the first round pick getting the bill and usually they pro rate it depending on where you got drafted so like i got crushed you know being a first rounder and whatnot when i tell you i spent 20 grand that night i spent 20 grand that night on a dinner against not against my will because i know if i didn't bother about it they go away i know some people are like damn 20 grand but this is st louis this is saint louis this is we had some

real old vets that were. Did Nellie show up to the dinner? Nellie did not show up to the dinner. Nellie didn't show up to the dinner. But we went to a Fleming's. How do you spend 20 grand in the Fleming's? You spend it on Opus 1? Opus, yeah, I was going to say, out the gate.

Louis to 13, out the gate. Yeah, it's the Louis. And then at one point, I remember Pisa, who was a linebacker on the team, he started ordering Opus 1. And I had to be like, hey, listen, man, I've been really cool about this night, but you're not ordering any more wine. You're not getting to go bottles of wine for your fucking basement.

You're a fight mode now. Yeah, dude. And they were kind of like, okay, this rookie's been cool. Now he's not acting so cool. We're going to cut the Louis off. But that's what it goes down like in the NFL. And that's probably where. That is the norm.

That's probably the time that most college, former college football players and now rookies get to experience what good wine is at the direction of a vet. Reluctantly. Reluctantly. Like, damn, this is good. You know, so. Wait, what did that receipt say? You've been doing a lot of homework because I was reading an article about the wine stuff

you've been doing. And I saw you went and studied under people and you're trying to be, I don't know, like, is it like karate with being a Somalié? There's different belts or, you know, like, essentially it's like that. So I'm in, I'm in two like certification fields, if you will. So quarter of masters, that's the one you can keep rising up to be one of those master's Somalia's, which is, there's only like 200 in the world. It's a 6% success rate.

So right now I have intro certification. They can, yeah. I have an intro certification. And then the next one is certified, advanced, and then master. So I'm like one of four. And the other other one is Wine and Spears Education Trust. It's based out of London, but they have one here. And you have level one, level two, level three.

and that level four, you get a diploma and you can be an actual certified teacher. And so I have my level three exam in like two weeks. Damn, dude. Yeah. So I got, as I'm saying, I got stuff, books. I got one. So, so you're like a north of a yellow belt. You're like a brown belt right now.

You're working up to this. Yeah, I would say level three is like a brown belt. Nice, dude. I could definitely a brown belt could definitely karate shop the fuck out of me. You could be somebody's ass. So listen, you, I feel. I feel pretty good about your wine. Dude, it's amazing.

And one of the things I know it's like, okay, if I give you my region right now, I live in central Virginia, what do you think about the grapes? I think it's dope. That's what I'm saying. Okay, I'm leading you into something here. Yeah, no,

because like Charlottesville has some cool stuff. And then I lived in Leesburg, and Leesburg is a badass wine area. Actually, here's what's funny. So when I play for Washington during OTAs, you know, you're done by like noon, right? So you have like the rest of the day. Right, right.

And I would, get boots and I would drive to Leesburg and I literally would work on vineyards after practice. I was nuts. So you had a, you had two jobs. I had two jobs, yep. I had basically two jobs. That's insane, dude. So did you tell people on the team where they're like, this dude's bugging?

No, no, no one knew. No, they knew I liked wine. I used to go to the Ashburn wine shop and hang out there all day and just all the distributors will come in and I would try wine. But now no one knew I used to go to the vendors. Go back that up for a second. You said what about the Ashburn wine shop? I used to go there and try wines when the distributors came in.

Oh, I thought you said the strippers would come in. I was like strippers like, why? Don't even try that. There you go. In Ashburn, where they at? Hey, the people listening might be like, I thought he said strippers. It's a distributor is pretty quick. You did sound like strippers.

No, I was, I was knee-dee-needed-to-married. So you're the first guy. You're one of the only guys in NF, you're one of the few guys in recent NFL history that's had two real jobs. you know like i don't know too many guys that left o t a's to go do something else uh in the afternoon and you're definitely the only dude i didn't get i didn't get paid to do it i just did it to learn love of the game about vitticulture love of the game what did you call it what kind of culture vitar culture help me with that so i can say it confidently next time i'm around like v i ti just vita culture vita culture okay yeah i'm into vitticulture yeah i like i like uh burgundy's

I like maroons. Would that fuck me up? Would I sound like a wild? So, so well, what's the why, dude? I say, that's some funny.

So tell me, listen, next thing you go to, I want to be with you, bro. Let's go to a restaurant. But like, where's your list of maroons,

man? Yo, we should do some content where you take me to a really nice restaurant and just let me ruin your reputation there. I will fall. I'll be swinging a thing around asking.

Yeah, I like maroons. What's the wine that when an athlete buys it? Because you've been in locker rooms now with everything you know, and not everybody knows what you know. What's something you could say at a nice restaurant or something you'd order at a nice restaurant to let everybody know that you don't really know what you're talking about?

Say the big wallet guy comes in and buys. What's the thing that the rich guy buys that you're like, yeah, he doesn't drink wine a lot. He just bought the stocky rich thing. If someone's like, go and they buy like the popular brands, like everyone knows opus. Obis makes great stuff. I know that was me.

I sounded like a total virgin when I texted you about. Okay. So for example, when this wine shop that I partner with here in California, this is how we know, this is where we keep an eye out for like crooks, you know. So they walk into the wine shop and the first thing they asked for was like, hey, you know, where's the opus at, you know, where's the Kamesh, you know, where's the Bond? They immediately go in Bond. Bond is like $5,600, 700, a bottle.

and they want to know where Bond is and they were like, all right, dude, like you're a suspect right now. Yeah, why do they want to know? Because they're going to do a wine heist? Yes. What are they going to like bus in your shop in the middle of night? 100%. That has happened several times.

Bam, dude, really? A dude broke into the wine shop and legit had one of those like suction cups with the laser and poke the hole out. I'm dead serious. So they were on some mission impossible. Yeah, or some guys will they stuff bottles in. you know. Damn, dude.

I'm so interested in this stuff. We're going to get to the wine a little bit more, but real quick, wine MVP, you know, a lot of people plug stuff on the back end. I think what you got going is so cool. Just tell us about that before we talk football. Yeah, so basically what the wine MVP is, it's a VIP concierge. So I'm basically the middleman. And it started because I originally like most people wanted my own wine label.

And I'm like, damn, dude, I got such a pretty cool network of people who like wine that I can just be the middleman for them versus me. have my own wine. So I do everything from like trips and tastings. I do brand strategy, consulting. And the first thing I started doing was wine sellers. Actually, the very first seller I did was Matt Ryan. He has a pretty cool seller in Atlanta. Really? Reggie Bush has a, he built a brand new seller. I filled his entire seller up, Justin Tuck. I sent Sydney Rice and wine all the time. And Josh Allen, he just, he called me before this. He has a seller that I'm going to hook up. So I just- Buffalo Josh Allen or Jacksonville, Josh.

Josh Allen. Buffalo Josh Allen drinks wine, huh? He loves wine, yeah. Oh my God, dude. This guy is, this guy's winning. He wanted to do a tasting, but he was like, man, let's go after the season. He said, because, you know, this year I'm rock. So who's got the best athlete wines? Because I know Gretzky has a wine, et cetera, et cetera. Like, so who puts out the best wine?

I will say, so Charles, his, what's really cool is his wines, they're made in Paso Elisorobo Central, Central Coast. And his wines are $20 a bottle. His intercept, and his red blend is like unreal. But Drew Bledso, his 2008 doubleback cabernet is stupid. And Rick Meyer, he makes a really cool charterne. Man, that shit is really good, too. Wow.

Yeah, so there's some guys doing some stuff out there. I'll be on lookout for all that. I got to get in this stuff. So we're going to do the tasting in a few. but I mean obviously what makes you so so different in that space and I think what's cool I'm sure among people who are wine enthusiasts is like the athlete angle you played nine years by the way I'm going to have wine right now go for it dude I'm thirsty as hell I'm going to roll a joint right after we get done here so I got a wine in a can good like that no wine in a can it's called nomadica I got a whole pack of raw cones here uh so Um, your Super Bowl, uh, you signed with the Giants in 2011. And I realize you signed later in the year. It was your second go around with this, with this team, you know, drafted by the Packers. Um, so I got cut. I got cut the year Green Bay won. That was like devastating. Dude, what's that like? I mean, you just said it, but like take us through that. Yeah. Well, because again, when I, when I, when I tore my ACL in 2009, I did everything. I did ACL lateral. and it's dislocation. Like I fucked my shit up, bro.

And you did it all the way. I did the whole deal. You don't do anything half-ass. Did the whole deal. And, you know, when I had my surgery, apparently it wasn't done properly because when I came back, I felt even worse. And I could, I could not get going. Yeah.

And so they tried to move me to safety so I can get some reps. And then all kinds of things happened. And I was just like, I kind of saw the riding on the wall during training camp. Like, and it just sucks. because I just saw the, I remember we were in our team meeting, and that's what McCarthy showed us the blank roster. Like, he's like, we're going to fill this up this year. And we had all our wives are pregnant. So that's like a Super Bowl tale, you know, wives tale as well too. Right. Yeah, that's true. So we knew we were going. Then I got released, which was tough.

And that's, I mean, that's the first time I actually saw like emotions out of Ted Thompson, you know, rest and peace. Yeah. You know, he held on to me for dear life. I remember I I woke up the next morning. My wife turns around. She was like, I had a dream. I'm like, what? She said, you're going to go to the Giants? I was like, man, go to sleep. You married Ms. Cleo? Something like that. And sure enough, like 10 minutes late at my age and was like, yo, the Giants want to bring you in. I was like, wow, I looked at her. I said, you're crazy. So I said, man, tell them they give me like a few weeks because my knee was jacked. So I went back, I went back home to California and rehabbed enough. came back to the Giants. And what's crazy is that I actually failed my physical. Yeah. Okay?

Because he said, your knee is still loose. Like I said, but I could run. He was like, all right, if you say you can run, you know, then by all means, like, go do your thing. Guys got a loose knee, but let's just see how I go. Let's go. Yeah, and it was me. And guess who worked me out was me and David Gettleman. Oh, wow.

At the time. And he's, it was crazy. He's the nicest dude, man. Yeah. Like when I walked on the field, he was like, hey, he gave me like a big big giant hug and he's like he was like so affectionate yeah which is funny because he and it probably felt like a good a good situation walking to because they have a really great franchise but i want to backtrack if you get cut and i try to explain this to people

i don't care how many of your friends are out there it's hard to root for the team that that cut you or that you're not on anymore that's super bowl let's be honest now authentic media guy here were you rooting for the Packers? I didn't care, man. That's what you have to do. You got to reduce yourself to just rooting for your friends to have a good game. I didn't really care. I was just,

I was like, man, because I was there the whole time. I always tell people when there's a new head coach, right? There's a four-year plan. Yeah. Like there's a four-year process. Because year forward,

all right, we got some shit out now, you know? So McCarthy got there was like, okay, boom, you know, one, two, three. And then year four was like, all the pieces in place. This is it.

Let's roll. Yeah. I knew. I knew that was the year. And that window's getting squeezed now the way for quarterbacks and coaches, the way everything's sped up. I mean, look at LA. Everything's in fast forward now. So that's a conversation for another day.

But you get you, you end up in New York. Yeah. And then the next, so I play that season. So here, okay, I'm going to show you, I'm telling you another rare situation. And you need to hear this. Yeah. So when I signed with. the giants. I end up, they end up doing well. They signed me anyway. I signed that waiver,

right, that says anything happens to your knee, we're not responsible. Yeah. Right. And they cut your pay in half, all that bullshit. So at the end of the season, my knee just end up failing miserably. Didn't hold up because I needed, I pretty much needed a surgery. So the training staff calls me into the office. And this is Dr. Ronnie Barnes. He was like, listen. you need to fix your knee. I'm like, I'm like, yeah,

no shit, you know. Yeah. And he said, he took the contract. He said, we're going to rip this waiver up. He said,

we want you to pick any surgeon, any physical therapist, any trainer, and you just sent us the bill. Wow. Tell me about it. And I was, and my contract was up.

So I wasn't even a giant this whole time. I've actually never heard of that. Yeah. And this, I wasn't a giant. And this was, I think, during the lockout season,

too. So I mean, it was crazy. I went, I picked my surgeon out here, Curl and Job, got the operations, flipped the bill, they got it. Anytime I went to physical therapy, sends them the bill, boom. Anytime I went to training, boom. And they did this for like eight or nine months. Jared Reese was like, hey, man, when you feel better, give me a call.

I'm like, you know, I know you're saying it, courteous. Yeah, I'll call you. I'm going to give you a damn call. And sure enough, I called them. And he brought me in for another workout later in that season because they had a lot of injuries. And then the rest is history, bro. I think I saw it was the last week in November, right? So people back looking at 2011 historically in the subsequent 2012 Super Bowl,

it's the lowest win total by a Super Bowl team of all time. So at 9 and 7. So and you guys scrapped and clawed to get to 9 and 7. So when you joined that team in late November, you think I'm playing football for a month now? Be honest. No, because we did have the division sewed up. It was kind of like how it is, how it was this year.

the NFC. NFC, yeah. Yeah, it was pretty wild. And, but we did, we got smacked by the Saints. I remember that. And we dropped the Washington game. And I was like, gosh, now for us, it came down to the last game. We played Dallas and we had to win that game.

Unbelievable and unbelievable run. I was at that game. I was staggering around trying to skimp on my pain pills. I just had surgery. Marshawn Lynch ran through my right hand and I had a plate in it. and so this was me fresh off the operating table because I wanted to go down to Indy and make some money and party, right? So that week was a drag.

You know, you actually play with. This is who I was going to mention. Remember Clint's sent him? I love Clint. Clint's one of my roommate in college. Yep. Yeah, so I was down there to visit Clint. Check that out, but he was hurt at the time.

I just remember, I mean, like fast forward. What years were at UVA? I was there. So we played you guys in the rain when they had true blood. and that cheap shot. Cheap shot, Brad Butler on Kiwanuka. Yes. Which was cheap as fuck, dude.

God damn. And now I know this dude's a 37-year-old man at this point. I'm sure he feels bad by this. I know. He probably forgot about it. And there we go. And here he is. He's on a podcast.

He's probably an accountant somewhere and he's like, God damn it. So you remember the dude who jumped on him afterwards, Al Washington? No. He like, he snapped and jumped on him. Well, now he's the linebacker coach for Ohio State. Oh, is he really? You know what's funny is me and Jolon Dunbar became best buddies. I love Joey.

Jolon was an absolute dog and we had some great times in St. Louis. And at that time, we're watching you guys play. And fast forwarding to this game here because I guess the first question I would ask is, why did Coughlin's teams talking to guys there and experiencing it peak late? Why did Giants team seem to get stronger as the year went on? And why did they play that underdog role well? Why did Eli peak late? I don't know.

I think Eli needed something like that matters. I don't know. Because playoff Eli is unbelievable, you know? Yeah. And we, but we, our team that year, though, the 2011 team, we had everything we needed in terms of like we had the leaders. We had the grown men, you know, we had just bad asses. everywhere. But we also had like, I think 30 guys on injury reserve damn near, you know. So there

was a lot of plug and play trying to figure out. We lost a lot of games late. And I feel like every, you know, usually every year you play, there's the one team. You're just going to get mop. And that was the Saints. They hung like 50 on us. We were like, okay, let's get, let's get our asses kicked and let's just go home. It's true. The year we went, and we were a player or two away from getting to the NFC championship, but I think we might have had a shot at repeating. It was 2018. We lost the Saints 47 to 7 down there. In New Orleans, right? Yeah.

That's a hard place. Yeah, they start playing that fucking, who is it on the... Boom. Here we come. And you're like, whoo? I've heard that so many times today. But then we played him the second time. We really damn near beat them.

So everything changes to your point, like the plugging and playing, the reshuffling. And we had injuries that year, too. So that makes a lot of sense. We had some, like, hardcore leaders. I mean, if I just going on the list, I mean, offensively, obviously, Eli, you had Jacobs and you had, you know, David Deal, you had Richie Sabre, you had, Snee, you know, defense, O.C. Minior, Justin Tuck, Dionne, Antroarro, Chase Blackburn. Like, you just, you know, just so many leaders all over the place that was able to

handle it, you know? So I think that we were just, we were just stuff like that. I don't think we played an underdog role. We were just like, let's just like, let's get into this playoffs, man, and then we can just, like, handle people. And see what happens. I feel like teams like that who are mentally tough can leave everything happen for 16 weeks behind them and say, let's just get in the dance, bro. Let's get in the dance. And that's the truth.

And at the end of the dance, you caught punts in that Super Bowl. So I caught the hardest punt ever, by the way. That's what I wanted to ask you. You caught the punt before the 88-yard drive for the score, yeah? That was the scariest punt I ever caught in my tire line. What's going through your head? don't drop this shit I just right up

it's like dude like you don't you don't need to get everything they tell you to not think is what I was thinking I was like okay you know I don't need a big return let's just get Eli in the football and so I'm going out there and I'm like gosh I was like if I drop this thing like it will be the end of me I will get absolutely obliterated and I could tell myself I was like just don't drop this shit

like don't drop it and for people listening at home you weren't anywhere near the porch where you can kind of say, okay, past this point, you know, when guys like inexplicably to the untrained eye run away from a punt because they don't want to get Peter called and the punt hit them in the leg. And at that point, what's that point? Like five, 10 years or not.

No, that's what happened. It happened the week before. Kyle Williams in the Niners. It hit his leg twice, I think. That was the year. Yeah. That's the, so at people at home, if you're a special teamer and you hear Peter like,

get the fuck out of the way, but you didn't get let off the hook. You actually had to field the punt. I had to feel the punt right to get good field position. This wasn't like a thing like, okay, let me let it hit and then it can roll. Like, nah, dude, we have to drive. So I actually had to run up. It was the ball was in the air for about a good, maybe six minutes.

Yeah, it feels that way, huh? And then I got to the point where I just heard my heartbeat. And once I heard my heartbeat, I was like, okay, good. Everything is cool. I'm going to catch it. Oh, good. I can hear my heartbeat. This is going to go fine.

That's not how my brain works. I don't know. It is because I can just hear myself. I, I, the, the sound from the crowd went out. I mean, everything was good. But you and I played very different positions where for me, it's like the more chaos I can create my brain, the better. For you, you got to find a, as a DB and as, that's what I know I'm in the zone, though.

Yes, your zone is quiet. My zone is loud. If I'm playing, if I'm playing man, it's just like how they show in movies where you hear nothing else, you just hit a two guys. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the hand fighting. You're in a martial arts movie. It's like, yeah, like It Man. So is the scariest position to play in a Super Bowl DB?

And why or why not? No. It's kicker, right? Yes. Because Scott Norwood, everybody remembers that, but you can't tell me, I could tell a normal fan, be like, give me the worst, most egregious PI or mossing in Super Bowl history. Nobody remembers it.

They remember the guy who caught the ball. Yeah, like they can say the non-call. for that was on what's his name uh crab tree you know or anything you know the a pick or whatever it's those kicks it's the kicks dude you go back to the uh right the 15 and 1 vikins team will just kick it and you beat atlanta and you go into the super bowl you know you know that forgot about that one and he never missed one the whole year that was the first one he missed golly dude yeah it's terrifying what's what's that version of that play for you as a defensive back. Okay, here's what's crazy about this is twofold, right? So this is my whole thing

with like analytic, pro football focus, right? Yeah. So when I was on Washington and 15, we played the Giants. And I had a heck of a game. I think Odell had like one catch on me. I had an interception and a bunch of PVUs. But I gave up two late, fourth, I mean, back to back fourth quarter touchdowns. Really? Yes. Two back to back. Ruined your whole day. all ruin my day, right? And what's crazy is that week, I finished second overall. And the PFF grade.

And PFF. I was like, did everyone else put like shit? Like they don't always know how to grade people. I mean, like, I think there's some good analytics that pop up. But like, I think that some of the grading is a little off. You, where were you standing for? Because after that play, you say, thank goodness, okay, your, your balls come back.

out of your stomach and they're down where they're supposed to be again and you're on the sideline and you're watching that drive where were you for the manningham catch no i have no idea you don't remember no it's funny how much of a blur that is dude somebody i don't i don't remember any sideline interaction that game it's so funny dude i was just talking about this this week i couldn't tell you until this week i was talking about betting the the anthem and i went back to study you know anthem lengths and just I was just down a rabbit hole. I literally was like, hmm, Luke Bryan sang the national anthem. And then it's like panning. I was like, this is our Super Bowl. I don't even remember that. So I don't know. My wife told me, it was Kelly Clarkson and she likes Kelly Clarkson.

She did a great job too. Kelly Clarkson crushed it there. What about that catch? Where do you rank that catch as far as Super Bowl throw catch connections? I don't know why, I don't know where I rank it, But it was, I mean, it's more the throw. The throw was nasty, though, okay? But also the, the catch was tough too because he had the aware enough to stagger his feet, you know, and single file, lean, and then pulled his hands on the outside and single file and knowing he's going to get drilled. Yes. You know, and what's funny is all these coaches like, man, you can't, you need to catch it like this, frame the football. I was like, bro, just catch it.

because you actually keep it away when you stretch your arms out underneath like this. Yeah. You went like this. That would have got broken up out here. And also the story is great too when you hear the audio. Let make them go to Manningham. Make them go to Manningham. Don't let Hakeem or Victor Cruz make him go to Manningham.

He went to Manningham. It was like, so crazy, dude. I didn't never catch that audio. Yeah, Bill Belichick went to the DBs. He said, make them go to Manningham. Do not let them go to Hakeem or Victor Cruz. you make them go to Manningham. This is still a cruise in next game.

I mean, I know we're right on him. It's tight. And that's exactly how they went. And he made out of real good. And they went to Manningham. But I was, you know, the Edelman catch was amazing. To me, Santoneo Holmes is legendary. The jury's still out on that catch.

You think so? You think so? I mean, Julio Jones got one that, you know, didn't amount to shit. But it was unbelievable. The curse catch. There's so many great catches. I think the Manningham throw was even more so impressive than the catch. How do you truly feel about the Tyree catch?

The David Tyree catch was more about the throw. You think it was more about the throw versus him hanging on? I think, listen, him and Edelman did an incredible job of focusing and catching the football, but so many things had to happen that were dependent on the other team making mistakes in those plays to allow them to make those incredible hyper-focused, I was more impressed at the ref to blow the whistle. Right, right. I was impressed with it.

No, but like me and Ninkovich were on here the other day talking about the scariest play, right, for a D-Lyman. And I was thinking it's a miss sack followed by a big completion. And then Niko's like, for sure, you know, X, Y, Z missed that sack on Manning. And I'm like, you don't even remember. And to my point, you actually, I don't even remember who missed the sack. It's more about the throw. If you're D-Ford and you jumped off sides two, three years ago, or you were in the neutral zone,

like everybody remembers that because the game stops. You know, it's like, look at this guy. But when you're the benefactor of the other team's mistakes, like Edelman, and I'm not taking anything away from it, it's an unbelievable. It's one of the best catches in the history of the game. I actually put Jules catch right up there. The only thing that works against him was a first down play.

Right. You know, like the- Situation, right. Yeah, like the stakes for Tyree. The stakes for San Antonio Holmes. So do you think San Antonio's was the best play in Super Bowl? No, I think the best play in that Super Bowl was actually in any Super Bowl period of all time was James Harrison's pick. Do you remember the pick six against Kurt Warner? Yeah, Kurt Warner.

We dropped back and picked it off. So that wasn't even the greatest play in that game. But as far as catches are concerned to me, that's up there. No, that was the most exciting. I would say for me, I think the greatest play ever was Malcolm Butler's pick, bro. Oh, dude. That right there. Unbelievable.

That right there. Oh, my God. Because all it came down to was having the balls, one, to do it. And Malk definitely has the balls to do it. And two, it was that meeting that you're at the end of a meeting during the week. And everybody's like, I need to get the fuck out of here. The story. Yeah.

It's that one thing he picked up that maybe if it was three out of the other four guys in the secondary, they didn't pick it up. I don't know, but like he happened to be the guy. It was his turn to make that play and he remembered. And he did it. You know, just to catch the football. The whole story, the whole practice story, and then even B-Flo, like, Malcolm, get in the game. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Actually, I play with B-Floaflo's the man, bro. Beflow's a man. Love him. How he is as a coach is how he was. He's a dude. You talk about authenticity. It's exactly what we were talking about. So the game is kind of flipped from the usual braids.

story, which is interesting. They're the underdogs. They're the ones that kind of surge late. They're the ones that need to employ a really good four-man pass rush to slay the dragon, so to speak, and Patrick Mahomes. Brady's used to be on the other side of that. So first off, how do you see the game playing out? Man, you know what? I'm kind of cool with whoever wins, really, because I feel like Kansas City is the new dynasty, you know, in the meantime. But, But also, I love greatness. I do too. I love the fact that like it's so hard to win, bro.

And the fact that he like, I don't people, people get over it. But I'm like, you guys don't understand how hard that is. And it's so impressive. And I would like for him to get number seven and get the hell out of here. Right. I was what I want to do. But I'm just, I think it's cool. I love watching greatness.

I love watching like people flourishing for him to do that. I mean, it's just unbelievable. But I also can see, you know, Kansas City, that's the new wave, you know. That's the team. But if anyone is built, it is Tampa Bay. They already got dragged, you know, the first time. So we're going to be tired of Kansas City in about a week. I keep this theory of Madrid and people's head.

They are the most likable dynasty candidate, but they're going to wear on people here in about a week. I'm telling you, whatever you think about Kansas City right now, if they win this game, people are going to start to be like, oh, they're that team. Andy Reed helps them be incredibly likable. Patrick Mahomes helps them be incredibly likable. And for years, I felt like Kansas City through not just Andy Reid.

I mean, his years in Philly, he was so close, but also Kansas City was that team knocking at the door. And now the doors kicked down, but they're acting, they're acting awful quick, aren't they trying to snatch up two Super Bowls in two years? Well, I think what you're saying will change once Andy retires. I think the fact that the whole world was rooting for Andy, because he, he was so close in Philly and he just couldn't get there. And the fact that he finally got his ring, you know, as a head coach, everyone is, yeah, everyone's room for the cheese, but it's more so about everyone's rooting for Andy. I think that's really what it is.

And it'll change once he leaves, I promise you that. So with Brady, I mean, everybody knows he'll slice up man, right? Why is zone not as easy a look for him? Is that just a general rule for quarterbacks? The most of, okay, I gave it a tail of both quarterbacks, right? The most challenging thing with Patrick McHolmes is that he can let the ball go from anywhere and it will get anywhere. Yeah. Right.

If he's falling, he's going to go here. If he's going to his right, he's going to throw with his left. There's nowhere he cannot fit the football. That's dangerous in itself, right? Aaron Rogers, Josh Allen, Matt Stafford, like, those are the guys, right? Yeah. And so the hard thing with Brady is that he knows your defense better than you do. Period.

You know, there isn't anything he has not seen. I'll go back to the AFC championship game versus Jacksonville, right? I think it was like third and 15. And the only route you're really going to run is a deep dig, you know, to get to the sticks. And so you know Jacksonville is in cover three. That's what they love to run. And the hook players, they're reading the quarterback. Right.

He knows that. So what does Tom Brady do? He drops back. And I think Miles Jack is the left side linebacker. He jumps to his left as if he's going to throw a check. down and he just moved a linebacker out just a smidge and he snapped back and boom he hit i think mandola uh for a 15 yard dig for a first down and i damn sure was watching that because i was in the the office in philly outside the training room put my stuff on like i hope we play the jaguars

damn it you you know what i mean like that's the type of shit behind the seas don't i mean it's no no i know it's so funny that people don't realize like you and i like as players There are moments like that. People with all these cliches, doesn't matter who we play. Like all this stuff. Like you're not watching the games. Like, no,

I was putting tape on walking back into that office, trying to will the Jags to win because I was worried about us matching up with Grunk and we held them in check till the second half. Look, we, on the Giants, we were praying for San Fran to beat the Saints because we did not want to go back down our New Orleans.

Okay? We didn't want to go back down there. Yeah. We already got dragged in the mud. We didn't want to go back to you. Yeah, that makes sense. They hung 50 on you. But the fact that Brady knows your defense better than you do, it's kind of like, okay,

what has been the common theme to beat Brady? You've got to get to him. You got to get to him before he gets to you. Right. Period. And if he's sitting back there and he can dissect and see what's going on, trouble. But if you can get to him before he can process information, you're going to win. And that's all the Super Bowls he's lost, he has been hit.

Regardless, he hit you guys for 500 yards. Yeah, dude. We just kept the bleeding, you know, from, I mean, we, we applied pressure. We never stopped it until there were triple zeros. But the whole second half felt like we were hemorrhaging yards. And the minute they stopped being able to seven-man protect and had to get guys out in the route to close distance faster, we were able to get there. And that's the whole key is, you know, they, I think they're going to, if they can block Chris Jones, they'll keep him clean. That's the big question mark for me.

Chris, yeah, Chris and Frank Clark. Yeah, I mean, Frank, I think they're going to, unless Donovan gets lazy or falls asleep, they're going to have a plan to help him. The kid I love is Worf's. Yeah. That dude is solid already. Honey Badger, what does he have to do to become goat status, bro? Like, I feel like he's one of the hardest ones to legacy-wise.

Where are we with him? Because I don't think people appreciated how dynamic. he was until he went to Kansas City. Yeah, well, I think he just ended up with the right person. You know, I think Coach Spagnola is totally an underrated piece for the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean, if any, he, he took Don Brady himself in 2007, you know, he knows what to do. And he was able to use, you know, dynamic safeties.

It understands, like, what Tom Brady like. So I think for him, just keep building on his current resume, you know, I think that's the thing for him, you know, he already has. the title, just keep building your, his current resume. I mean, there you label him, you know, all decade safety and left out Cam Chancellor, which I'm still baffled about. You're baffled by that. No, I'm not saying, listen, and when I say goat status, I don't mean that he's ever going to be the goat. I mean, Ed Reed to me. Ed Reed and Troy. In Troy. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, like, I'm not saying he's going to eventually

take Ed Spot or Troy's spot, but I'm saying to be in that conversation, Hall of Fame conversation, You know, he just has to keep stacking up the resume. He's on the right track. He is because the difference between him and pretty much every other defensive back, it's like his timing of when he makes his plays. Like I feel like every time he makes a play, it's like right when they need it. It's like in clutch time, you know, it's not one of those like first quarter picks. Like, okay, we got turnover.

It's like, okay, the team is fighting back and it's like, boom, he just shows up. The play against the Browns, you know, he's sitting up there in Robert. and just, you know, he's running straight across the field, sticks a foot in the ground, and then undercuts that route, and you're just like, this was the perfect time, to your point, and the game wasn't the same sense. So if you're a coordinator and your Spags, what do you think his game plan is going to be against Brady?

I mean, obviously you've got to heat him up, but on the back end, what wrinkle you think they throw in? They blitz them half the time the first time they played. That's kind of uncharacteristic for him. What do you think they go this week? Well, here's an interesting thing, too, is like they're throwing to the backs more. You know, I, I thought last week.

If they catch the damn ball, well. You know what I mean? They irritate the shit out of me dropping those balls. I'm like, the goats throwing you a checkdown, dude. You know, like put your hands out. No, I think the biggest thing is they get the ball to them. And they might, I thought they would go 20 personnel last week. It could happen this week too.

So it's like, man, you just got to play a ball. You know, if they want to go man, they probably were going to go man I don't know if the guy's outside can handle it but they're going to create some kind of exotic things to to figure out Tom it's just like if you do go zone like just be disciplined because he knows

where you're supposed to be right so how about here's the big question because Tom I feel like at this point you know it's not he's the goat but the guy we're really terrified of if we're playing defense as Patrick Mahomes what coverage can you actually play

because I came away from that game the first time and I was like damn they ran too much man well really it was just the the nine times they ran man they gave up bombs it was like they were terrible when they did okay you want to

sit in too high he's going to hurt you there too so what are you doing coverage wise is there even a good coverage for him I think like quarters is tough can't really do you can kind of run cover too but your your hook players in any cover you run they have to be on the money explain that to the people on my pod that don't know cover yeah so

if you're in cover three you know you have two outside third corners you have a deep middle safety and then you have curl flat or buzz players and then right the other hash is you have two hook curl players and those guys obviously responsible hook curls and what have you but they're also responsible if you get trips, which is three by one of the third guy, if you're counting outside in, the third guy runs a deep over-out. And the weak hook guy has to pick that up. And also just know where people are. You know, Tyree Kill, if he's at the number two slot guy, he's probably getting the ball.

If he's at number three slot guy, he's probably getting the ball. Right. If you could just eliminate the explosive plays. Right. then that that will give you a chance because they're going to score 28 it's going to happen you know

oh so you like the over yeah I mean they're going to score points that's just that's just a fact that's just what they do you know so I think of it's just hard man scramble drill we hear about it nonstop they're so good at the scramble drill we never hear about in scramble drill being when the play breaks down

people are just running around like mad dogs trying to get open and Pat Patrick is doing his thing. You don't hear about it from y'all's perspective, defensive backs a lot. So what goes into your head when you're getting ready to play a team like this that I don't think they're going to have as many extended looks because of the offensive line, but that's something you ought to consider.

Yeah, well, again, it goes back to like what kind of quarterback are you playing? You know, you have a guy who can just sling it from wherever. You know, one of the teams that was, that's always really good at Scrammwood Joe, was the Green Bay Packers or Aaron Rogers. you know and I found that out firsthand not only playing in Green Bay but playing against Green Bay where if so for example I was covering James Jones and he ran an out route if he did not get the ball he took off turtle neck James Jones turtle neck James Jones he ran an out route and if he didn't

get the ball he took off immediately right you know why because Aaron can get it there Mahomes can get it there Stafford Josh Allen he's going to run around the circles they can get it there. So do you know, do you watch tape of Tyree Kill and be like, when this goes three seconds, I know where he's going, what he's prone to do. This is what Travis Kelsey does. He's going to sit down in his own, he's going to sit down in a spot and play, you know, he's going to post you up, you know, and Hardman's going to do X. It's just, it's funny because I'm training guys for their pro days right now. And same thing is, like, guys have tendencies regardless. Yeah, I remember Aubrey Pleasant. He's now, he was in the Rams. He's now going to Detroit as a new

defensive back coach, which is going to help them tremendously because he's, he's unreal. But he used to come in when he did quality control from Washington, and he did like the craziest two-minute presentation. And one of them was on O'Dell Beckham. And he said, listen, if O'Dell catches the football between the hash and the numbers, he is going to the house. Right. I'm just letting you guys know.

We're like, okay, like, what do you mean? He pulled up maybe 10 clips of him catching the ball, whether it was a slant, glance route, a shoot route, anything he caught the ball between the hash and numbers, he took it all the way to the house. And so teams started covering that area, hash and numbers because he wants the ball now to go score. That's a thing about the Rams is the Exodus coaches

and that sort of thing. It's like they lost everybody. Yeah, it's going to be scary and they're going to lose some guys in free agency, but who's the fish this weekend? No disrespect to anybody, okay? Fish is pejorative. But when we were defensive linemen in a D-line room,

we would huddle up like meatballs on a Friday watching pass-rush tape and we'd be like fighting over who wants reps on this guy. You know, like we'd call it the fish. Who's the fish? Sometimes you have a couple fishes out there. If you're Tampa's D-line, you're thinking maybe I got two fishes out at tackle. Who's the d-s? defensive back that's going to get picked on the most this weekend?

Well, last game, the fish was Carton Davis. He gave, you know, Tyreek had 200 yards. I know, but they just felt like they left them alone. Did they not? Well, I mean, it was interesting. So obviously he knows that. He's going to come back. But I'm interested to see how the Kansas City Chiefs corners play, both of them.

I feel like those corners are going to get tested a lot. Yeah, for sure. And lastly, what did you think of the PI stuff last week before we bust out the wine? I'm glad they let him play. like it. If the tug is subtle, like by the hip a little bit, I get it, you know, don't call it. But I understand if it's like up by the shoulder pads and you turn the guy around, okay. But if it doesn't alter, then I wouldn't call it because at the same time, if the ball is coming and the receivers near you, he's going to do some kind of lean, some kind of push. He's going to do something for him to get the football.

So it was just such a hard right turn from what they've been doing. It was like nobody warned. us that they were going to play like it was 1996 out there you know what I mean it was just like we turned on the TV I was like fuck that's not PI okay I'm cool I'm a defensive dude I like it but golly I mean like be consistent you know but that but you know right before every game what does the coach do he tells you who the crew is right you let you know like okay that's an interesting tidbit that you bring up for people at home is before every game head coach Saturday night this is our crew just like Will said. And for the D-Lyman, we'd focus on, you know, we'd hear them talking about. This guy calls more PI than anybody. This guy calls more ICT than anybody at legal contact.

Tendencies, right? Yeah, they have tendencies like us. Right. So you go in and you kind of know that. I'd be interested to see if that crew that was a tendency breaker for them. And I will go and I will pregame, I will go talk to, you know, the back judge, the side judge, like, hey, like, what's the deal? You know, and I would have conversation with them. And they just, they kind of let me know, like, we let you get away with this just be careful with this be careful with that so i gotta just by being cool i got i got a shitload of warnings yeah i got called a motherfucker by a referee did you really listen because i just so you gotta be like me though we listen you had the politics down where you were kind of like hey you had that mall back lately anyways you know no even worse

even worse and i got i posted it on twitter that when we played the bangles in london when i was in Washington. I went over with my family flew out to London. I went over to the sideline and one of the rest was there and I gave him our daughter. No, you did not. Oh yeah, I got a picture of the ref and our daughter. This is whose money you're taking off the table, Mr. Official. If you call this flag, if you call me, she can't eat. That's so funny, dude. The 55th big game is this weekend, 55. A game this big deserves a big prize, not just some trophy. To finish off the football season, Draft King's Sportsbook, America's top-rated sportsbook app, is giving all players a no-brainer of an offer.

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Oh, eight, I'm going to be fucked up. Eight wines. Then get a, no, get a spit bucket unless you want to get drunk. No, I'm not going to get drunk. I'm going to drink them all, but I'm not going to get drunk. I'm not going to get drunk, man. I just want to taste the wine. So, uh, Red,

Cowboy Reed. Do you wear green every show? You know what? That's a good question. A lot of times I wear black because it's slimming, but then I got skinny and people are telling me I look sick. I'm offended by that. You know who looks amazing?

Joe Staley, he's out here training. Joe Staley's ripped now, huh? He looks great. He looks like he looks like he's about the pass rush. He's doing the Joe Thomas thing. Is that what he's doing? I don't know, but I just figure that's what all these o'leignment are doing after they retire.

Just eating cowboy ribbyes. Well, they're eating algae and shit. They're going in the smoothie shop and getting the wheatgrass. And that's like what they're living off of, like some manatees. So basically the WSET level two systematic approach to tasting wine is appearance, nose, palate, and conclusions. That's what it's all about. And you should have a descriptor sheet on the other one. Oh, I got a WSET level two wine lexicon.

Lexicon. Supporting the WSET level two systematic approach to tasting wine, of course, this is comprised of the aroma and flavor with a OUR. So we know we are bougie in this motherfucker. Or we're in London. Yes, or we're in London, which is automatically bougie. But I love it. I love London.

flavor characteristics, spice slash vegetable. Tell me what this means. Tannin. Tannin. So it's only in a red wine. And so if you take a sip of a red wine and you switch it around, it's the grippy feeling on your mouth. It's kind of like it's binding to you. Exactly.

The tannins bind to the saliva and create the dry fin. So think of like if you bit the skin of a grape and you get like that bitter dryness. Yeah, yeah. that's where the tannins come from got it so acidity how can i how can you tell the acidity how much your mouth waters okay if your mouth is watering a lot afterwards yeah so think of like think of like eating a solid patch kid right so it's not good if you have an acidic wine no you know it acidity is good okay okay okay sweetness i know what that is flavor characteristics finish what's the finish how long it stays there in your palate okay quality i know quality when i

see it. When I see it. And when I taste it. And then we've got things like floral, green fruit, citrus, citrus stone, tropical fruit, red fruit, black fruit, dried fruit. So basically when guys, here's the thing, when people blind taste, it's like really a process of elimination. Like each varietal in each region has a certain style.

So the more you taste wine, the more you get to know about each style. So it's literally a process of a living, a little animation. What's, okay, I'm going to, oh, look at these wines. Look at these got us out here in these nice wine glasses we have. So I'm not going to mess. I forgot my flannel and plaid. You guys are just. So look at the, yeah, we're white guys that live in Virginia.

We pretty much, that flannel is like the only pattern in our closet. Look at that. That's snazza frazz. Yeah, this is really snazafras, dude. This is a Traeger, Trey. Thank you to our friends at Treger. I love my Trigger. Isn't it great?

Oh my God. The good folks to Trigger. I made my Thanksgiving and Turkey in the Trigger this year. So did I. It was money. It came out awesome. People were nervous, but I nailed it. Start with the white wines.

We're going to start with the white wines, okay? Yeah, that's how you do a formal tasting. You start with white wines. I got some water here. I drink a lot of water now. Cleanse the palate. You know about that. White wine number one,

Francia Chardonnay boxed wine. $17 for five liters or $3.25. a bottle. This is the first white wine here. Okay. So before you drink it, you need to look at it. So clarity, is it clear meaning like there's nothing like floating, nothing weird, right? It's clear. No, it looks pretty clear to me. I mean, and that's what we see. Yeah. You can see through it, right? It's pale. It's pale. It's kind of pinkish almost. You think it's pinkish? Well, it's not pink. It's just less, it's not, I wouldn't call this. Is it lemon gold? Yeah, it's like, It's more goldy than a condition.

So you'll call it gold. It's clean. It's not pungent. Okay? It's not intense. Now, use your lexicon. Aroma. This is awesome.

What about any citrus fruit? I trim my nose hairs today. This is perfect. That's terrible. It's not terrible. It's good. Did the wine go straight in my sinuses? Let's start with citrus fruit.

What do you get citrus fruit? I'm getting, um, it smells like a white girl's bachelor's party oh Lord have mercy let's start with citrus fruit do you get anything

lemon no I think a little more floral okay that's all I got dude all right well let's go to the palate then just take a sip okay that's stuff you need a sip you look there to see swish it around

swish it around hmm is your mouth watering a little bit just hold your tongue out a little bit go, uh, yeah. Yeah, my mouth's watering, dude. It's highly acidic. It's an acidic white.

No, okay. What about flavors? Take another sip, switch around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure. I love, I love booze. It's not bitter. What flavors you're getting? Uh, maybe a little hibiscus flour.

Okay, you're just saying that? No, I think it's, I, I taste, um... You don't get any citrus fruit, any, like, like, you don't It's not citrusy. No, it's not. What about stone fruit? You get peach. You get apricot, nectarine.

What about tropical fruit? You get mango. Lichy. Ooh. I think I might be getting some lichy. Really? It's sweet like that? No, it's not like a lichy.

That shit is more like a sultana. I see that here on level two wine lexicon. He's like, this is going to be a rough tasting. It is a rough tasting, bro. I'm bad at this Just guess anything Sutter home What varietal

Oh it's it's a white wine It's a Listen I used to eat Or drink Pino Grigio in college It's not Pino It's something else What is it Saviom Blanc I think it's Savian Blanc

You're close with It smells like a white girl's Basser party Bachelorette party Yeah It's Francia Chardonnay boxed wine That's Francia dude

I like Francia. Okay. Every man wine drinker here. So that was Francia. I'm fair game, bro. White wine number two. Marisol closed du Cromin, 2016 for $60. Ooh, this one smells sharper, like this thing's more, it's kind of funky.

Hmm. Like aromatic? Yeah, it's aromatic. It's aromatic. It's a little yellower than like. the last one. Okay. You know? I smell like spice. Okay. See, you're in the group now. That just sound like a song. Okay. I'm smelling some spice in this lexicon. France? Maybe this was, this feels French. Take a sip. Okay. It's bitter. It's like, kind of like, you know,

gives you the chills a little bit when it goes down. It's got that sharp, bitter taste. I like. I like the taste of this wine. I don't think it's as acidic as French. We'll try it again. Okay, hold on. That's like the, you know, like it's got, it's got that going on. It's got like the cop and dumb and dumber. It's got the, this thing is unique of all the whites I've had. This is up there.

I do like the taste of this one. This one, this one's a good one. This is number one so far. This is a good, solid, well-made wine, 80 to 84. I'll give it an 81. This is a Mersot-Claude du Cronin. Oh, Morses. $60.

That's a good wine, by the way. That's a good wine, right? That's a great wine. Would you put that in the 80 to 84 range? I put it maybe a little higher. Wow, see, I'm a tough critic. White one, number three, Antiquim Farm Daisy, Pinot Gris for $30. This one smells like Miller High Life.

Okay? This one's more floral. Yeah, this is like grapefruit. okay yeah it's like a citrus i think you're getting a but it's not that is it more of a tree fruit yeah i think it's a tree fruit like an apple or pear or yeah i think it's more it's more of a fruit that grows in a tree and you know i think will that this one's uh you get any tropical fruits yeah it's a little more tropical bro it's a little more tropical you get pine out any pineapple take a little bit any pineapple in If my pineapple tasted like that, I would think somebody was drugging me.

It tastes like alcohol. All right. So right now, Will, what I have is not recommended. 50 to 74. I would not recommend this to any of my Somaliers. Somali. Somali, a, Somali is a, I know, I'm fucking with you. White three is a Pinotree.

Yeah, that was, you know what, in college, at one point we had a health guy. come through and tell our team, hey guys in the NFL, they drink wine to be healthier. So we would drink like the huge 7-11 bottles of Pinot Grigio in one sitting and thinking we were cheating getting blackout drunk. That probably brought me back to those days. Red wine number one, Fess Parker's Ashley, Pino-Noir, 2018 for $50. Red one.

I'm more into red wine, dude. To be honest, when I do have it, I'm a big fan. All right. Now, let's use the brain here now. Okay, I'm using the brain. Brain is on. I'm just not a big white wine guy, dude. This thing barely has a smell. Swish it. Oh, man. Major. Acidity, right? Yeah, very, yeah, acidity, my mouth's watering. Yep. Very bitter. Bitter as in the dryness or bitter just like, it's bitter because it's red wine. Yeah, but it's on the scale of... Do you like coffee?

I don't drink coffee. Well, there you go. That's why it's better to you. I think I feel this one. Let me see. This one works fast, okay? This is like a fast acting one. What flavors are you getting?

Let's start with red fruits because it's a red wine. What red fruit flavors are you getting? Red fruit. I'm getting closer to... Ooh, it's almost oaky. Gali plum. Okay. Am I off there?

You taste plum, you taste plum. That's right. What else do you taste? I taste. I taste oak. It tastes like the scotch of wine. Take a sip because it wore off. Plum or cranberry.

You get cranberry? I don't get something that's sweet. I get something that's more like... That's not sweet. That's tart. Yeah, tart, right? Yep. So yeah, that's what I got there.

What do you think the wine is? Well, I'll tell you what it is. I think it's mediocre, 75 to 79. What is it? It's a peanut noir, 50 bucks. Fis Parker Pinoa. Miss Parker.

Red wine number two, dark horse mallow, $7. Oh, this one's got an interesting floral smell to it, I think. Okay, like violets?

Sure, you know. You got to understand here. You know, I don't. You never smell the violet. I mean, I have, but I don't, you know, I just, I don't discriminate with flowers, man. I just, they're all great. Yeah, it smells like a violet.

And taste-wise, it, you know, this thing is like dark. Yeah, it's opaque, right? You can't see through it. This got an interesting taste to it. You got some mocha in there? Yeah, it's heavier. Like tobacco leaf or tomato leaf. Yes, it's not fruity.

Right. Oh, yeah. This is like woody. It's like, yep. I'm sitting in a, in a cigar lounge. Okay, yep. All those are good. That's all good.

I think it's good, solid, well made, 80 to 84. So it's a Merlo. I love Merlot, dude. Dark Horse Merlot, $7. $7. You're a simple man, dog. I mean, it's good. It's solid, bro.

It's solid. I'm not above Dark Horse Merlo. Red one. number three Mount Peak Sentinel Cabernet Savignon 2014 for $60. Not as intense. Get a little swirl. Yeah, you're right. That's what you got to do, right?

That's what you were doing at that restaurant when you first learned what wine. Wow, that's one of those things that you described. It just did. It's tannin. A lot of tannin here, right? Yep, hi Tannenen. Yep. Fuck yeah, dude.

Will? That was my aha moment. This is the moment where you just looked at me. You're like that you might have something here, Chris. You might be a Somalié one day. I don't know if I was there, but. Okay. Well, I kind of saw a look.

You know what? I just got in the mail, not to interrupt. I just got T.O's wine. T.O.'s wine. Shout out to T.O.'s wine. What is it? 81 Vino. That's sick.

I actually like the label a lot. Yeah. And the, the label is like, the grip from the pig skin like it's pretty cool. Oh my god dude yeah it was pretty genius if you drink that wine with a broken ankle you'll be back on the field in a week

just drink like five bottles of shit it'll hear you I'll put it right next to right next to you know oh there we go yeah I gotta get him to sign this look at that Tio's a man this Tio was an absolute mutant he was a dog bro Dallas Dallas Tio all right

I got, oh man, it tastes like this is the oaky, this is the oaky one. Okay, yep. Yeah, am I right on the right track there? Yeah, they definitely barrel age. Okay, this is a barrel, obviously. Yeah. Red fruits, let's go plum.

Okay. That's like your go-to red fruit. I love this wine. I like this one. It's smooth, ma'am. Very good. A wine with special qualities, 85 to 89. Okay.

Cabernet. What is this? Is this a heavy cab? Yeah. California cab. California Mount Peak Sentinel. I love Mount Peak. There we go, dude.

I'm telling you. Red wine number four. Coat Duran for $27. Yeah, you're never going to guess this one. Never say never, dude. I'm saying never. Remember, always start with red fruits when you taste. Okay, good, good.

Oh, this thing is like high tannin, low acidity. and not a bold flavor. I'm picking up tropical fruit this time. You are. Hints of tropical fruit. Hints of, ooh, pineapple? Way off.

Okay. Which fruit is it? You tell me. Because I'm never going to know. Do you say plum? No, yeah, yeah. No, I keep going to... This one should have more of like a blackberry type.

type of. Oh, okay. Hold on. Now I'll try it. This is the way my brain works. Yeah, that's how everyone brains work. I could see Blackberry there. I could definitely see Blackberry. I'm going to give that wine a, it's a solid wine. It's on the edge of being mediocre. It's like an 80. What is that wine? It's a coat du rhone. It's called coat du rome, but they don't tell you, again, the varieter because it's French. So coat du ron makes soror. So that was a sarah wine. Sirrah. Red wine number five, Gervre Schimerton, Latrio Burgundy

2016 for $90. So here's the final wine. I'd say I'm acing this thing well, don't you? Yeah. No, you have to get this one. I like this wine. You have to get this one.

I like this one. It's not like overly smelly, as you guys would say. This is like the perfect finish to this pod. Like you have to get this one. Well, you said it a couple times. It's a wine that I've heard of. It's not opus because he wouldn't go get opus.

It's on the fringes of the budget I gave a read. I'm getting dried fruit. Yes. Yes. I think it's a fig. Yes. I really like this. 90.

Outstanding. What is it? Burgundy. It's a burgundy! Of course it's a burgundy, man. It's a true burgundy, too. This is from France. It's a real burgundy, and this is an expensive bergium.

Which region? I know I have a snobby nose. Jervais-Shambatin Burgundy, man. It is 90 bucks. This is the real deal. We're drinking good at the studios here. He went high level. By the way, I'm launching a new pod.

All right, plug it, dude. What we got? Yeah, it's the wine AVP. Well, Will Blackman. Wow. The whole wine yards, baby. So basically, if I come on this pod, I just drink wine on the other end. Is that the...

You can drink whatever you want because we're going to... I talk wine, whiskey, beer, cigars. I do all the above, man. What you need is a correspondent for the non-alcoholic vices. Cigars. Sounds good. You're a motherfucker. All right, so you got to check out the Wine MVP podcast.

When does it come in? And on what platforms? Next Wednesday on all platforms, Spotify, Apple, all the above. There we go, dude. Now we got to do some home and homes. And this is breaking news. I told no one this. Damn, dude.

I like this guy, dude. The green light. The green light plug. Hey, the green light plug is worth a little something. It's not, you know, it ain't like being on 60 minutes now, but we got some. Give me the green line. Will Blackman, awesome guest. It was great talking football and wine, man.

You've got to come back some other time. And if I'm lucky, I'll do beer. Yeah, let's do beer. All right, man, good talking to you. And just hit me up and I'll come on the show, dude. My man, appreciate it. Okay, dude, thanks so much.