NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Hard Knocks New York Jets: Episode 5 Recap

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

On the NFL's Official Hard Knocks Podcast, Dan Hanzus and Colleen Wolfe recap the fifth and final episode of the "Hard Knocks Training Camp with the New York Jets". Dan and Colleen start their recap by checking in on Dan and discussing how he feels after watching the series as a Jets fans (01:40). Dan and Colleen then wrap up a few story lines that they followed through out the series including the fate of a pair of young wide receivers (10:43) and one underdog (16:25). After the break, Dan and Colleen are joined by the legendary Keith Hanzus (20:50) and wrap up the show by casting their final votes for and revealing who is this season Hard Knocks MVP (34:40).  Note: Time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. One of the biggest pet peeves I have as a coach is when you're on a team that's not doing very well. And the opposing coach whose team is doing well walks up to you at the 50-yard line says, man, you guys play hard. I don't want to fucking play hard. I want to fuck you up. That's the mindset. No one's talking about how we play hard anymore. They're fucking hate me. And that's exactly what you're fucking want.

Oh! That's my head coach from the Chris Wesleying podcast studio. It is the season finale of the Hard Knocks podcast and Hard Knocks. And the show. The show as well. What's more important? Exactly. You decide.

If I had, I'm Dan Hansis, by the way. I'm Colleen Wolfe. Hello. That's Colleen Wolf. And you grade very high on the give a shit factor. That was one of my favorite lines from the entire show. I also wrote it down. It does.

That connected with me because sometimes when you work with people or whatever in life, you want to make sure that that factor is at a high or an acceptable level. Uh-huh. We all got to be in it to win it. I also just going off of what Robert Sala just had to say there, um, when coaches go up to him and say, man you guys play hard okay was it belichick how many times has belichick said that to him mcdermott like who was it that really got under his skin that that's what i want to know let's be

honest the jets have had two losing seasons under solace so far so plenty of coaches have had that opportunity to this point but this is supposed to be different collie and if i could offer a one-line synopsis of this fifth and final episode of hard knocks um to kind of an overview of the Jets in general, what we've seen this summer. That might be all as well in Jetland. Or if we want to add some dramatic Salayan, Salian. Yeah, Salahian.

Sala'ian, heft. We could call it where foolish crows come to suffocate then free fall to their pitiful deaths. Yeah, I mean, out of context, it was weird, but when we saw the full thing, Made it. Point is this team believes that's a reflection

obviously of the coaching staff led by Robert Sala and these five weeks served as a snapshot of a team, Connie, an organization that is absolutely certain of its place in the NFL right now. The confidence has never been higher.

Which, you know, let's get into that a little bit. Here's DJ Reed, the cornerback, underrated cornerback of the Jets. On Monday, had a Zoom call with reporters. And he said this, I think we have the potential

to be the best defense in the NFL. Just stop there. Stop there, DJ. We don't need it. But he keeps going. Honestly, I think we can be historical, not just the best defense in the league, but I think we could be a historical defense

like the 85, 86 bears, the LOB, Seahawks Legion of Boom in 2013. I think we could be that dominant if we just put all the things together. And that's the side of the ball, Colleen, that doesn't use Aaron Rod. Rogers. Right. I know. So what I'm kind of getting from you right now is like a little, a little stress maybe, a little anxiety perhaps a little bit because everyone is so confident and Hard Knocks really put together this like beautiful image of this Jets team that has everything going right. All the pieces are in place. The future is theirs to grab and take hold of and do whatever they want to do with it. you know, unless something catastrophic happens,

which never happens to the Jets. Right. And that's kind of the crux. It's like the Jets, they of the seven-game losing streak that ended last season and the 13-year and counting playoff drought, they view themselves as major players

with championship upside. But now here's the hard part, Connie. They actually have to like, uh, do it. Right. So as I've really enjoyed as a fan, entire summer, the spring, everything after Rogers' arrival. But I got to like some nerves now and watching this finale and seeing how high the confidence is that now they've got to go and do it.

Here is defensive coordinator Jeff Albrick, who, again, gassing up this plane, he believes. Guys, look around. This is it. This is it. Let's go. it's all we got it's all we need

guys in my whatever 20 plus years in this league I have never been around a collective group with such talent and such character and that's fucking real

like this is a special fucking group in so many ways it's our time that's not just words on a PowerPoint it's our fucking time

to dominate it's time to go let's go I've bought in I'm here for it. Listen, of all of the teams... Talk me down, my anxiety down a little bit. Well, I understand this because the first time,

the year that the Eagles won the Super Bowl, they had been playing so well and everyone was so high on them and it made me feel so uncomfortable to actually hear something positive that was real and happening with the Eagles. But this team really is set up so well. Out of all of the teams that kind of, they grab your attention and then they stab you in the heart,

like the Chargers, you know, like, you know, the Browns have done so many times, too. But the Jets actually feel like they are about to turn this around, that they are on. The logic checks out. The precipice of greatness here. That's what I tell myself. Listen, they had to be offensive and defensive rookie in the year.

I mean, everything is set right now for them. The table is set, and now they just have to, you know, they got to do it. They got to eat. They got to eat. I mean, should I be worried about the wall? Finish the wall. Finish the wall. Let's talk about finish the wall.

All right. The finale. So, yeah, the Finish the Wall situation, which I kind of love, they're going to basically take snapshots and scenes from every game, every week, and then put it on the wall, that long hallway that we saw in the episode. And so they did it for the preseason. And it's kind of like their own destiny is in their hands. And they don't want that hallway to be filled with terrible photos.

And they wouldn't do that anyway. But I think that this is kind of like a cool, nice thing. Also from like an artsy stand. Go ahead. I am so in. on this? Like I wish that I could help vote what pictures are going to go up

and what wallpaper they will be using for each week. I like it. I am, you are a 77-year-old woman. Aunt Doreen. named Ann Toreen, Waldenstein, trapped in a young woman's body.

I enjoy that about you. I can picture you in an upstairs of an old house. In an attic. In an attic, locked away in the attic, hardwood floors, heating and air conditioning, not great, but it's okay because you've been given an easel and one window and you're just painting.

You know I paint. Right. Yeah, I birdwatch. Birdwatch and you paint and it's an anthoreen corner. But the hallway, finish the wall, that is a very confident plan that they have there. Right. And again, I love it. I love that this team believes.

And when Jeff Ulrich, the D.C. talks about how special the defense is. And when DJ Reed does the same thing in a conference call with reporters, I get it. But I think it's just six days to kick off and anxiety is setting in after what's been such a great ride. By the way, this hallway and a great opening, opening shot in the finale, just it's a 100-yard hallway that butts up against the practice field, the main practice field.

And Leif Schreiber, who big year for Leif, Let's go. Let's give it up for Leif Schreiber. Not only once again, and whatever Paul Rudd in the chief season, get off the corner. This is Leev's territory. And he was in the opening credits, Cryon, this year. He, Kyron. Cairon.

I was like Cry on. Cry on. That's the time that I missed. Opening Kyron for the first time. He took a goddamn helicopter to the practice field. Shout out Blade. Shout out Blade. How much?

Who paid for it? No, no. Probably the guy with the $7 million chain he used for 35 seconds in one episode. But anyway, Leavv does a great kind of opening monologue here. HBO is almost like, how much are we paying? Leav, we got to get the most of him in episode five. Here's a portion of it, not from Leav, because he's a hugely successful actor, and there's all sorts of legal loopholes that preclude him from being on an NFL media property like this.

One day, maybe. But we did get Jason Zumwalt in an old airport. It's true, the hall is dead straight, and every NFL season has twists. So the metaphor is not perfect, but it's not bad. Besides, the most important part of this hallway is what lies at its end. Four letters that now means something new. J-E-T-S. Today is about learning who's earned the privilege of being called.

called one. Wow. I love the light music playing in the background, the ambion music. Is it just me or is that his best delivery? I think he likes an audience, apparently. He was in the airport doing it. Who knows where, what little space he carved out for himself. Oh, he must look nuts.

Yeah, probably. I love that. I know. We were hoping that he would be in an actual airplane, that he would have to do it from the bathroom with the hum of the engines. Somewalt's initial plan. He was flying. He was working with.

Louisiana heading back up to Connecticut. His initial plan was to do it from an airport bathroom. And then he said to me, this is great with Jay. He texted me, I'm going to send it to a guy. He has a guy that would filter out the ambient sound of being in an airport bathroom or

in a plane bathroom. I was like, no, we want that. Oh my God. We want the ambiance. Anyway, good job by Jay all season long and Leah, way to go, buddy. And he's teeing up, who's going to make the team? Yeah. And the episode kind of starts on a very positive note.

No, yeah, though. I can't complain you. You've been nervous? Man, am I? How you feeling? Feeling pretty good. Yeah. How you think the preseason went?

It's been pretty good, you know? Yeah. Well, man, you know the odds are stacked against you from the jump, man. So you did a lot of good things this camp, man. Yeah, so we appreciate your hard work. I just want to let you know, man, you're in New York Chess. Oh Take out

Welcome to the team brother I appreciate it man I had a long 20 minute drive back I know I know No you're earned it You're gonna do a lot of good things For us this year Should Robert Salo be doing voice work

Just as an aside I mean he has a great voice Uh Zumwald doesn't need more competition Let's keep him on the sideline That was Xavier Gibson One of the wide receivers young wide outs that made the team

Jason Brownlee also made the team and also got the fake out treatment by, oh, by the way, oh, Joe Douglas. He's actually with the organization. We finally saw him. In episode five. He is alive and well. I remember in the 2010 Jets Hard Knocks,

Mike Tannenbaum, the GM at the time, you actually, they were showing Mike on the field trying to catch as many punts as possible in his arms and like stumbling and falling. I remember Princessa on New York Radio would be like, that's a clown show. You look like a clown. You know what?

That's why Joe Douglas didn't show up until the finale as the hero. Yes. I love, this was very wholesome and pure because we had mentioned that we hadn't really gotten a lot of, you know, inner workings of the coaches kind of standing on the table for their guys. We never did, actually. We had seen that in all of the other past hard knocks, but not with this one. And the Jets were pretty clear about that from the jump. So I kind of had a feeling when I saw Jason Brom. Brownlee go into the office with Joe Douglas for his maiden voyage on the show,

his first appearance and Robert Sala, that this would be a fake out. But then it also had me wondering, because Jason Brownlee and Xavier Gibson are such close friends, Jason obviously called Xavier to tell him that he made the team. And I'm sure he told him exactly what happened, like how they faked him out. So I wonder if Xavier kind of knew that that was happening or could be. a possibility because otherwise it was like really that's what you're going to do oh my god these guys think that they're going to get cut um here's what aaron rogers said i'm really proud of those guys and he mentioned how they didn't get big signing bonuses they were disappointed on draft day but to end up with a spot on the 53 and now we're a week

further from the cut down day and um week one is coming up on monday night these guys look like they're safe um and they're going to be on the 53 which is a big uh a really big moment moment, obviously, and something you don't see off. And I did think it was really interesting. We never, on the season, we never even heard about Corey Davis. No. And the reason. It's really on your radar.

The reason why Xavier Gibson and Jason Brownlee both make the team. It used to be two kids for one spot. And Corey Davis retires abruptly as a big contract veteran guy. He's had, you know, really success, a lot of success. And with the Titans, not as much with the Jets, but he was supposed to be a part of it. He retires suddenly. We never hear about that on the show. or it's never really made clear why it became two spots.

But it is, and to the benefit of these guys, they get a chance. And now we'll see, again, it's almost weird after this very unprecedented season for Jets fans. We're going to see what these kids can do. Are they going to get run? Is Aaron Rogers going to throw him the ball? Right, exactly. And then also the other rookie that I'm super interested in now is the running back, Izzy Abonaconda.

First of all, I just like his name is so much fun to say. Easy, right off the tongue. And he was hurt. He was able to come back so quick, that thigh injury where he was on the field, he couldn't even feel anyone, like, touching his leg. You know how about, like, imagine everyone's gotten, like, either need or punched in the arm by their buddy or some jerk, like a bully. And then it's like, ooh, it's sore.

It's almost like, imagine being kneeed so hard in the thigh that the trainer comes out and you can't feel it's a brutal game. I can't, I can't. I mean, he was supposed to be out for a month, came back in a week. And then we had a chance to meet his family a little bit more. Nice. They're Nigerian. They talked about how they love parties.

They love to celebrate, which I just feel like I would get along so well with this whole entire family. That food looked so bomb. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was some type of rice situation. We make a note of this food look bomb. Get it to Connie in time. Yeah. I don't know if it was a nice.

Nigerian dish that they were cooking, but if it was, it could have been Joloff rice. That is something I've looked like. Is that research you're doing on? Yeah. There's also something called Puff Puff, which is fried sweet, a fried sweet dough ball, which just looks like maybe funnel cake. Isn't that like a Zeppoli or whatever? Oh, probably.

Is that a New Jersey turn? Oh, man, that sounds so, no, it's like Italian, Italian Jersey, New York. Zepoli is like a, do you know Eric Roberts? You're from, where are you from originally? Los Angeles. Zepoli, you ever heard of it? No, no idea. It's like you get in a bag or it's great.

I don't know. That could be in Northeast. It might be. We'll find out. We've come back into this cul-de-sac once more. Here we are. Yeah, Tanzal Smart, the defensive tackle, who everyone really that watches show, he was impossible not to root for, he does not make the team.

We notably do not see this because in, you know, old hard-knocks days, there's a GoPro in the coaches of the GM's office. Brownlee Gibson, like, there's a cameraman just, like sitting in there hanging with them. Yeah. Imagine what those guys were thinking. It was like, am I about to get cut with this cameraman three feet away from me? But they weren't smart. There were no cameras for that.

We did get, though, a conversation after the fact, and it was sad. It was sad, Connie, because he's holding his young daughter. And we knew just from how NFL films did such a great job tracking his story, how much this would have meant to him and changed his life. If he made the team he doesn't, he ends up on the practice squad but that was not his goal here is smart. You just want to get

what you deserve, you know, and I feel like I deserve I deserve to be on the 53, so if, you know, if God want me to be here, I'd be here, but if not I need to go be on the 53. I just put a lot of good shit out there. And that's why I read it on even like

you can see my face. I'm not I'm upset, but I'm not like, oh, devastated. At the end of the day, I put everything I could into the shit, and it is what it is. That's the human side of what makes the show so great, and that's hard to watch because how real and human it is. You say, look at my face, and his face tells the real story. Right.

He's crushed. He's completely, you can hear the frustration, but you can also see the defeat, and I think that's, like, what he's getting at when he says, look at my face. Like, I'm not crushed, but it's like, Of course he is, and he's felt this many times over again, and he wants this so bad.

And he's holding his daughter, who's so sweet and so cute, and he's looking at her. And it's just like, I want this for him because he wants it so bad. So that kind of pulls at the heartstrings. Yeah, I always think about it. It's one of my favorite moments in the history of hard knocks. It was in the Bengals season, I believe the second Bengal season, another defensive tackle, Terrence Stevens,

who is a great singer and he's trying to make it on the roster. I remember when they would show practices and games, he just wasn't necessarily hanging with the big boys. About to cry. But he's a great singer and he sings this John Mayer's song called Gravity and the lyrics were so poignant for the moment

and it's like gravity is working against me, gravity is keeping me down and keep me where the light is which was just like there were so many kind of parallels to NFL life. And I thought about that again with Tanzel Smart. But he ended up on the practice squad. And here's the good news. And I did the same thing last year because I remember I got deja vu. Here's the good news for us.

People that understand the practice squad is not where you want to be as an NFL player. But according to my quick internet research, the minimum for players who have accrued more than two years, years in the NFL or two seasons. And Tanzel's 27. He bounced around a little bit, starting the Rams. You make 15,400 per week or $277,200 for 18 weeks of the players accrued two of more seasons. So that's not bad.

Okay. So that's good for his family. That's good for him. And if things, an opportunity arises, maybe we see him at Jet Life Stadium. You know what? That feels like a win. And I'm hoping for bigger things in the future for him. And Quincy Williams.

I want to eat a carcucci board. Exactly. Quincey Williams says it Wells. He can buy so many carcucci boards. Will McDonald and Quincy Williams walking off the field after the news broke about Tanzel. It's business. It's not personal. Right.

It's tough. It's tough. All right. Let's take a break. Okay. And we're going to have a very special guest. Oh, my God. I'm so excited about this.

I mean, this has been building for five apps. And now it is time. Big reveal. After this break, the old man. What's up everybody? And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from Scouting Reports and player development

to team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision-makers, insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on

game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones.

I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What a day. What a day? How's your dad doing, by the way? Oh, he's great.

Ed Wolf? Awesome. Ed Wolf saw the UFO. Oh, he sure did. We'll tie that together in the conversation a little bit later. But from one father to another, around the NFL fans, know him well. The man that made me a Jets fan for better or worse.

And made you. And made me. You got that right, too. Cue the music, Eric Roberts. His name is Keith He's Dan's dad No doubt about it He's a big Jets fan

What is he going to say About the game today? What is he going to say About the game today? Hey-oh Joining us now from Spring Lake, New Jersey Amir Stones Throw From the Florham Park

Headquarters of New York Jets It's Keith Hansis My Dad Hey, Pop Mr. Hanses, hello. Hi, Dan and Colleen. How are you guys doing? We're doing well.

Better now. Yes, we've been wanting to have you on the Hard Knocks podcast. We wanted to pick the right spot. And I feel like the finale dad is the perfect time to bring you in as a jet fan going back to the Namath days. And first of all, what were your thoughts? Let's talk about the finale. Anything from the finale that really kind of stuck out to you tonight? Oh, yeah.

What a finale. You know, the thing that I really took from that finale was two big things. First of all, when they were walking down that hallway initially, right, and they were saying that was the length of a football field, right? And then when they, at the very end, they showed how then they were sequencing, putting pictures in up to with the hard knocks, and then they were going to put more pictures throughout that hallway. As the season progressed, I thought that was pretty cool because that was such a

long hallway. Yeah. But the big thing I got, the biggest thing I got was Sala. I thought when his reference to Mount Everest, you know, the analogy of, you know,

climbing to the top of Mount Everest and, you know, the jets, you know, that they really need, this is really the first time and so long that they have, you know,

good hope in the preseason going into the season. Yeah. With Rogers. And he pointed out, Connie, and the rest of the team. They've only gotten to the base camp right now. right there's so much farther to go and dad you mentioned that hallway we talked about right the base camp

Right. We talked out at the beginning of the show how that hallway and how they're going to put up photos celebrating each week, big moments from each week, it's kind of like that could backfire if the season doesn't go well. But at the same time, they don't think about that because there's so much confidence around this team. Can you ever remember as a Jets van dad, an off season? And they've had a lot of down years, obviously. But there have been years where from Namath through some of the Ken O'Brien years, Vinnie Testaverty, Hennington, even Mark Sanchez. There have been moments of excitement for this fan base.

But do you ever remember ever being like this? Well, when it comes to the Namath years, you know, right after the Super Bowl, they made the playoffs and then they lost the tough game to Kansas City. And then the following season, 1971, you know, all the jets had really high hopes because they had a strong defense and a great offense. And what happens in preseason, Namath trying to make a task. In those case, six games were played in preseason, all right? Oh, my God.

He tries to make it, yes. He tries to make a tackle of Mike Lucci, the linebacker of the Detroit Lions, and he tears up his knee, and he missed almost the whole season. So that, to me, that was like everybody was looking for that season to be such a, to come back season for them. And then, of course, you know, after that, Namath had a couple of more good years, but that was, you know, the team was never the same. Well, listen, I've been watching Danny, as you call him,

and I feel like when you're on and when I'm around you, I have to call him Danny. Danny kind of work through different emotions while watching hard knocks, going from just the excitement of the fact that it was about the Jets and then working slowly towards a little bit more of a stressed out situation because so much is now around the Jets. There's so many spotlights on them.

So for you, I just want to know your experience, Has this show given you more confidence or more anxiety about the season coming up? No question about it, more confidence, totally more confidence. And let me just say one other thing about, you know, about you said how the Jets fortunes, how was I looking at the, when it comes to Danny, all right, that's when the Sanchez years came in. That was big post-name that we thought was going to have something happen. But yes, this, watching this show, I was definitely on a high. Yeah, I bet what about your opinion?

I remember being in the garage with you, dad, at my old house in Culver City. And it was a Thursday night. And I had a TV set up and we had the, the heat lamp set up. And it was me, you, our dear departed friend, Chris Wessling, Greg and Mark. And we were watching the game. Colleen was at Lambeau Field while this was going on. And we were talking about the Packers. And we famously called the coach LaFleur, a bearded boy.

which was great, but also in that conversation that was always brought back up that you said you didn't like Rogers. He's arrogant. That was the word. Danny, I don't like that, Rogers. He's arrogant. Has your opinion changed at all on Rogers over the past four or five months or even the last five weeks with this show? You know, you're absolutely right. I did have that feeling

because he does have that sort of rough edge to him, but not seeing the different side of Rogers, which we saw in hard knocks, was big. All right. You see how he was not only to his teammates, but the coaches and then players that even in preseason. You see the way they all go over to him and embrace him and say hello. He says hello to all these guys. You know, it's like he's not that same guy that had that attitude in Green Bay.

I don't know if that's what I'm seeing differently, but he's certainly, he's a totally different guy, I think. Maybe I just didn't know him. It's like watching Dan at work. Everyone kind of comes up to Dan. They gravitate towards him. They're giving him high fives when he walks in the building. Everybody loves Dan here. But I'm like Rogers when he was the tail end of the Packers.

I just tell everybody to get away from me. You know what, though? Mr. Hansis, I have a question for you because for years and years and years, Dan has been telling us about his hometown where you live now, Spring Lake. Would you describe it as a coal town as Dan has? Well, Pearl River is where I grew up in the York. Pearl River. I'm so sorry. Is that a cold town? Well, that was Danny's description of Pearl River. I never saw any coal mines in Pearl River or anything. But I guess Danny was referencing it to some other things that he was equating it to. I'm not quite sure. And Colleen, you can call me Keith, please.

Okay, great. Great. The best part is my dad never really had any issue with it. But my mom, Deb, she'd be like, I don't like that you call it a cult town. Um, dad, um, before we say goodbye, you know, Joe Namath, your two heroes growing up, Namath, Mickey Mantle, okay, name it towering figure, uh, in Jets history. Um, I think Aaron Rogers, if he ever, if this ever ended best case scenario, um, and, and he took this team from where they were last year to a Super Bowl title, I think he, he, He would have Clout as a New York athlete that maybe you don't touch Namath because it was a different era too. But he would be a legend in New York. You agree, right?

Like Rogers has a chance to enter rarefied air. As someone's been watching the New York sports scene for a long time, that would put him in a special category that only a few enter. Absolutely. You know, if he can take this team, which, you know, they have one of the toughest schedules, which I know you guys have talked about. And if he could take him to like 11 or 12 wins, hopefully for at least 11, you know, this would put him in a total. I would definitely be,

there's no other Jet quarterback. I'll put it this way other than name that could do what he can do, Rogers, what I feel. So yes, I would put him right up there, Jack, next to Joe. Because who else on the Jet, the quarterbacks over the years could even,

you know, could you even put there, you know, Testa Verde had some good years, but, you know, pretty much they've had some guys. that really would be nothing really and i hope that right no nobody really well i was just going to say i wish that we could have keith on a show every week he's so much fun get him on a tanner such a blast hanging out with your dad before the super bowl this past season he told us so many stories about you growing up and it was just like a delight so anytime you want to come on any of these shows i mean even shows that i'm not on you should come on open thank you very much i i appreciate that

Let's end it this way, Dad, because you introduced Jets fandom to me, and I learned a lot about Nameth from you and watching old clips over and over and over. I was hoping we'd see Joe. I was hoping we'd see him at the Hall of Fame enshrinement where two Jets went in and they played in the Hall of Fame game. We didn't. I was almost certain we'd see him on hard knocks, but we didn't. I hope everything is good with Joe. But since we didn't see Joe in these episodes, other than a little quick clip at the

top of the show, at the top of the season. I want to play my favorite Namath clip for you, Dad, before we say goodbye. Hit it, Eric. Okay. Sometimes they talk about drinking and conniving around with ladies and stuff. It seems almost un-American to me for a bachelor not to me, you know, go around having a drink with a lady now and then. And why all of a sudden that's become an evil in me. Just trying to get by. Look at that shot. And he buries the shot, Dad. Iconic. He buries the shot.

He buries the shot. And if that isn't the 1970s, nothing is. And that was just typical of the way things were in those days, that it was really good. And I did get to meet Joe one time when they used to train in Long Island at Hofstra University. And a good friend of mine was on the Hofstra football team. And I'd just say this one thing quickly. He said, Keith, do you want to meet Joe? I said, are you kidding me?

Are you asking me that question? And I said, of course. And he says, well, listen, he has to be in by 11 o'clock in the dorm. And they were in the Hofstra dorm just would have college guys. Long Island, yeah. And sure enough, in a big Cadillac, Joe comes pulling into the parking lot, gets out and starts walking up. And we're right at the doors. And I said, hey, Joe, how are you doing?

Hey, you're my favorite player. And here I'm there, I'm about 18 at this time, right? And I'm saying, get out of here, you know, very friendly, very nice. So that's my name of the story. Wow. Did he make curfew, dad? Did he make curfew? He made it because it was right at 11.

So, and sure enough, like he said every time, it's the same exact thing. The car came peeling into the parking lights. Literally, you heard it. And then out of the car, and he got in at 11 o'clock. Wow. So, yeah, that's a true story. Well, from one legend to another, Keith Hansis, thank you for joining us. Papa.

We love you. Thank you. Thank you very much. There you go. My dad, I love that Hofstra story to, like, 18-year-old kids in the 70s waiting for the great Joe Namath to roll in. So good. He said 11 or 12 wins. Yeah. He's feeling good. But, like, I will say that if they win 11 games and, you know, go quietly in the playoffs, it won't feel like. like good enough to me.

Like I think they, the bar is high enough now where not only they have to get back to playoffs, they got to make a little bit of noise. Okay. And then you dream big for something beyond that. So just making the playoffs would be a disappointment. A little bit. Okay. A little, let's get to, uh, do you disagree?

No, I, I agree with all the fanfare and everything. But I think, too, that is why some teams sometimes don't want hard knocks because they think that it's going to. We'll get to that. Too much. Let's sit on that. Let's get to our final. Okay.

MVP This is it Votes And this is a major episode for Eric Roberts Vector Voting System Well I mean First of all

He came into this episode Extremely strong He was able to Navigate all sorts of technological issues Going into our screening room He figured out how to work The Theater

Which neither one of us know how to do We just kind of sat there And heckled him While he did it That was my favorite part of the season Really great job

guys cheering me on. I thought you were just setting him up to mention that he forgot to turn on our mics at the beginning of the taping of this episode. You can't win them all. Magic of podcast. Eric's done wonderful work all season. His job

is to be the mathematician of the group tabulating the vector voting system. Better him than us. Let's do our votes for MVP and then once we hand out these three prize places, Eric will share with us the hard-doc 70P.

Okay. Third place for me this week. Let's hear it. Robert Sala, the motivator. I would play for that guy any day. I like Keith Hansis, loved the Mount Everest analogy. At first, I thought it was maybe going to be cheesy, but the way that he explained it and landed that plane, perfect.

And then... Jets. Exactly. And then you know that the finish of the wall, I mean, that has to be his idea. so and I think that that is like an onion type idea so third place it is it's kind of putting yourself out there and we talked about it around the NFL that very rarely does a coach get three years if you don't make the playoffs right any of those first three years you're gone they have not made

the playoffs yet in his first two seasons saw has a lot of pressure on him but you could tell he believes that this is the right team I had to miss my second place vote okay so solid does very well in are voting enough to win it we shall see my third place votes a vote goes to you know i i love this defensive line love all season long and by the way if i could really can we just quick aside here if i really had to hand out one MVP for MVP for season five it's colline wolf oh whoa who absolutely nailed her prediction uh slash wish that they end Hard knocks, season finale with a trip to Broadway. Thank you.

And what do we see in the first 15 damn minutes? Aaron Rogers, Zach Wilson, a host of other players at the MJ show on Broadway. You nailed it. My dream. This is all I wanted. Your show business, baby. Your box office. Like, on one hand, I would love to be like, yes, this prediction was so awesome.

And I knew it was going to happen. I saw it before it even happened. But also, it's like I would like to be. believe that maybe I planted this seed and they were like, you know what? That is a great idea, Colleen. We will all go to Broadway. So here we are. You don't know for sure that's not what happened. I know. But either way, this is the power

of putting things out in the universe and seeing them happen. So this was so awesome. Like I love this defensive line too and I'll let you keep going. Yeah, I was going to say Tanzel Smart was one of the people there, Mr. Carcucci board himself. Michael Clemens I don't know

Was Clemens there? I'm not positive But I just said more We saw him in a different part The show A general like shout out To the D line Last week I gave it to Smart

Kind of representing the D line I'm giving it to Michael Clemens For a birthday wish To Sauce Gardner That kind of sounded like a death threat Let's listen in Oh damn it is Sausage birthday though

Sausage did he say I think so Damn Damn Damn, deal, dear, damn, damn, damn. Smirk. Happy birthday, my boy. Happy birthday, bro.

Here we go again. Happy birthday. I hope you have a great thing. I appreciate it, bro. Sauce's not making eye contact. No, won't look at him in the eye. And if you're not watching this, like, Clemens has him by the chest, like, by his jersey. It's really funny.

This is Soss Gardner, who is arguably the greatest young defensive star in the sport entering his second season, being grabbed by the jersey collar and refusing to make – it's like my dog when I come home and he chewed something up. He just – he won't even look at me. I don't know what the back story is between Clemens and Saw – it seems pretty clearly like a bit. Yeah. But I just like the idea that there's a whole other thing that's going on through training camp that we were not privy to. So all we have is that with no context, and I loved it. But I also did not see Sauce laughing at the bit, quote, unquote. So I don't know what the story is.

Sometimes a bit is only a bit to one side. Right. Yeah. Exactly. So this actually works perfect because my second place vote. And I guess if we're going to do D-Line, so you had it for the full D-Line or Clemens. I gave it to Clemens on behalf. Okay.

So I'm going to go with Solomon Thomas here. Oh, yeah. He's had a nice run. He was sort of, I would like to think that he was the leader in. getting this Broadway show and the feels like it to happen in general and they went they saw Michael Jackson I think Solomon Thomas said that this was his fourth time seeing the show so avid show watcher and Broadway guy but it was just so fun to see all of the players out in the wild and at a musical too so they're dancing they're singing I just wanted to know though

the people in the audience that were sitting behind the players they had to deal with all of the hard knocks cameras. Oh, they seemed a little annoyed. Very annoyed about that. That would have been absolutely on my radar. So I don't know how they felt about it, but it was something that I was track. Probably not a cheap ticket.

No. You know, to the MJ Broadway show. Nathaniel Hackett had on a sport coat. That was cute. Yeah. I loved it. Yep. They taught Solomon Thomas had a moonwalk.

That was the part that I liked, though. And he was not good at it, but it was funny. I should, before we move on to our second and first place votes. I have a prize for you. I have a, yeah. A prize or a surprise? It's a surprise and it's also an award for being so prescient with your prediction. Yes.

Earlier this season, the premiere, in fact, we had a certain player that wears number eight on the Jets wearing a certain hat that you thought was cool. So behind the scenes here at... No way. Yes, the hat that says, cherish the little things, a gift from NFL media. Stop. Are you serious? I love this. Look at that.

I love this. I'm going to wear this all the time. First of all, it's black and white, so it's going to go with so many things. Including this outfit currently wearing. Yes. I love baseball hats. I love trucker hats. This is going in the rotation.

I love this. Thank you. All right. What did you get me? My presence is the gift. All right. You deserve that, Colleen, for that prediction. I deserve that too.

I owe you. Here's this visitor's badge because I forgot my pass today. Thank you. That's perfect. We're even. All right. Like I said, I had Salas second. Okay.

You had second place. Solomon Thomas. Solomon Thomas. Uh-huh. First place, who do you got? Aaron. Sam'sies. We both have Aaron Rogers.

Got to go with Rogers. I just, I mean, he was a state. throughout this entire series, clearly, but the UFO story alone really drove home my first place MVP vote for him. I have to say, Colleen, I got something else here. What else is over there? This is like Christmas.

My banana just fell. Not a euphemousal. You know how many, like, you know how many things have happened this year where I've thought to myself, or during this show, like, I feel like this was made for me. Like, it's a show about the Jets and, you know, all these different things. This Aaron Rogers,

the UFO tidbit from Aaron Rogers felt like I was watching Unsolved Mysteries, which is like my favorite show. Robert Stack Forever. Robert Stock Forever. I wanted to bring in this Leslie Nielsen autographed photo that I believe, I would say this is my sister or my brother maybe

or maybe my cousin. It was a family member. This is real? It's signed. My son was born in 2014. Jack. Luck and Laughs Leslie Nielsen from Naked Gun who was prominently discussed by Nate Hackett and Company

as a legend of the form. Now, here's, you want to talk about Unsolved Mysteries? That's so cool. Leslie Nielsen died in 2010. Uh-huh. My son was born four years later, so I don't know who signed this or if Leslie... I don't know.

I just want to say that Leslie Nielsen... You got this gift before Jack was born? I got it for his birth, yes. Leslie Nielsen signed 8 by 10 loss. Gotcha. Four years after Leslie passed. Wow. So somebody, my son's name did not exist in the ether when Leslie left us.

What an unsolved mystery. That's an unsolved mystery. Now another unsolved mystery, Aaron Rogers, with his old Cal teammate in the New Jersey woods, seeing something that changed them. We had this great dinner at his house in Jersey. I was making my way to bed. I had like a 5 a.m. wake up. And I was getting down to bed.

I heard this alarm and distance going off. What is that? It just didn't seem like normal when I heard some rustling downstairs. So I got up, walked downstairs. It was a beautiful night. And Steve and his brother and I walked outside. and up in the clouds, you know, we heard this sound and we saw this tremendously large object moving through the sky. And it was like a scene out of Independence Day when the ships are coming into the atmosphere

and they're creating this like kind of explosion-type fire in the sky. I am on the edge of my seat. My heart is pounding, Aaron. And I need more. More, more. I need more. We stood frozen, the three of us on the front stoop of Steve's house. And about 30 seconds later, we heard the real recognizable sound of fighter jets going,

Shour, Shoo, Shoo, Shoo, Shoo, Shoo, Shoo. That seemed to be chasing this object. And again, we just stood there in just disbelief for another few minutes. Nobody said a word. And then we all got to look to each other like, did we just see what we think we just saw? What was that? You saw it. You definitely saw it.

That's what it was. That was a UFO. Now, Rogers, obviously, has taken his fair share of slings and arrows for being a little bit out there. And I can understand why a certain, like a doubter, a skeptic might say, oh, that's the guy who's going to lead you to a first Super Bowl in 55 years. Yeah. You're damn right. That's the guy. You know why?

Because he's seen the light. Because he's right. He's right. That story was insane. You know what? A good music cue goes such a long way, by the way. That was very stacky and unsolved mysteries. Good job.

Bravo, as usual. They really, really set it up well. But I believe him. My dad has seen a UFO. And Aaron Rogers even said in that whole retelling of the story that they were, right by a nuclear power plant, like a few miles away from one. And that is a noted area of UFO activity. Classic alien behavior.

Exactly. And that's where my dad saw his because he was in, it was in the middle of the night. Ed Wolf, Manning, the air traffic control tower. He's a straight shooter, Ed Wolf. He is. He does not, like, he doesn't exaggerate about things. He's not a storyteller that, like, you know, just adds in fake details. He doesn't embellish for the stake of the story, yeah.

And he's even like sometimes a little bashful about telling this story. And he's at an air traffic control tower in the tower in the middle of the night. And it's at a missile silo because that's where he was stationed during NAM. And he sees this bright light that's not on the radar. And he's sitting with someone else. And he sees the light zigzag across the sky and then disappear. And he turns to the guy next to him. And he said, did you just see that?

And the guy goes, unless you want to go to Vietnam, we didn't see anything. Nobody wanted to go to Vietnam. That was it. Yeah. By the way, you can only say Nam if you actually battled. During Nam. He was manning the nuclear missile silo. I, listen, man.

And it's coming out more and more. And Dorie. And Doreen. Yeah. Ed, I believe you. I believe your story. And I believe my quarterback saw something. He wasn't maybe supposed to see.

Are we allowed to be talking about it? Who's watching us? They are. Of course they are. I know many people who have seen one. All right. I think not to take the air out of the balloon on this one, but I think it's pretty clear who the MVP of the season is.

but why don't we go five to one Eric Roberts and according to the vector voting system because I'm just going to say, Connie. Yes. No, I don't want to step on it. I have in my mind, my mind, who is the runner up, I guess that I have. But let's hear.

Okay. I actually think I know I'm going to write it down what one, two, three is. Okay. Okay. I'll do the same thing. All right. There we go.

So how about you go one to four? Because after four, it's a big old tie. Start at four, though. I'll start at four for you guys, right? Let me just make sure I have this written down for posterity. Okay, I am good. I have my, I'm like the mentalist right now. I'm writing it down.

I love that you call me Aunt Doreen, but like you're writing stuff out and you have Leslie Nielsen a framed photo of it. Hey, I'm with you on the writing, man. I love writing. There you go. Okay, fourth place, guys, Quinn and Williams with 12 points. Q. Hugh, okay, I would have guessed that, too.

I didn't go to four, but that makes sense. He had a great year defensive lineman. It's Soss Gardner, who has arguably the highest upside of all these defenders and the guy that is the kind of face of the defense, but Hugh is a star who just got paid and really showed himself well in the series. Just like a nice guy. A baby-faced personality. Had a pretty funny line in the last episode.

You don't love me. You love that I get you sacks, basically. Right. I love what I do for you. To Mr. Hackett, yes. Third place. Hi, my name's Nathaniel Hackett. Thanks.

It's nice to see you out here. Yep. So none other, he was always good for a good one-liner. So he, you know, that is the power of Nate Hackett, offensive coordinator. And what a great job this show did kind of rehabilitating some of his public image after the Broncos. Him and Rogers. Yes. Biggest winners.

I just want to fly around like a butterfly. Exactly. Me too. Hack. Okay. So Hackett gets third. He consistently, he was a little quiet in the finale. But overall, we.

after week was delivering one-liners. I'm not surprised. Second place. Second place, guys. Robert Sala. If you ain't got no haters, you ain't popping. That's right. Sala, I think he also quitted himself very well, Connie, this season. He absolutely did. Leader of men.

And he should be doing way more voice work. Well, Jason doesn't need, again, more competition. Which means, of course, first place. And the last year, the winner of the Hard Knocks MVP was somebody. Probably Jamo. Was it a deuce? Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell.

Okay. This year, 2003 Hard Knocks MVP, Aaron Rogers. Yes, yes, Aaron Rogers. He's going to be so excited about it. Oh, look at this graphic. I mean, Eric, the dead mics at the top of the show

completely forgotten now. Yeah. Look at that, Hard Knocks MVP, number eight with a big old smile. He's just so happy to receive this honor out of all of his honors. And look, he gets another MVP, which is great. And that's, yeah, it takes us to, yes, he's got five now.

It takes us to final thoughts of the season, Colleen. What did he get, by the way? How many points did he finish with? Do you have that? He finished with 42. And Salah had... Salah had a distant 14. Whoa.

I didn't even... I thought we were kind of like, we were a little... The problem was, reserved in the middle weeks. You guys spread out the, like, the points behind first. Pretty like... Nice. So it was never solid like a second, second, second. It was always like Aaron and then like a mismatch.

of like two through four. See, that's the vector voting. Vector voting system. But that, I mean, if we would have come to any other conclusion other than Aaron Rogers as the MVP of the show, we would have been, that would have been, the vector voting system would have been torn asunder. Yeah. He was the MVP.

He deserved to be the MVP. Hopefully he's the real MVP and real football starting next Monday night against Roberts's Buffalo Bills. Hold on a second, though. Are we paying off? What did you have written down here for your predictions? Oh, close. I had Rogers Hackett, Sala.

What did Hackett have 12? It was 14 for Sala, Hackett for 12. Quinnon and Hackett both had 12 points. And Connie, she did it again. Nailed it. You get that hat again. I was going to take the hat away, but now you get it. It's mine.

Cherish the little things. Starting with Aaron Rogers wearing that in episode one, I thought this was a great platform. And it feeds into my final thought, Connie. Teams need to relax. Teams need to stop taking themselves so seriously. and I include the Jets on this. I mean, you are not in charge of the Manhattan Project here.

You are a football team and Hard Knocks is a program that should not be seen as a distraction or in any way an impediment to your goals and the said goal of hoisting Lombardi Trophy in February or, Connie, to look

at it another way if having NFL cameras on your property for like a month is enough to sidetrack your summer and somehow booby trap the season to come. You were doomed anyway. Yeah, bigger problems to worry about than the hard knock can't. So all the teams, and I hated it as a hard knocks lover,

that the enduring storyline leading up to the season was like, who's going to do it? They can't find anybody. Please, teams, look at this as the golden opportunity that is so clearly is to show off your players and coaching staff and ownership and fans and your state-of-the-art facility and your team history, in short, let NFL films cook. You'll be better off in the end. Yes.

Isn't this whole thing, what we do? We talk about a game. A game is entertainment. The show is entertainment. We're in show business. Show us for. You play to win the game. You play to be on hard knocks.

That's exactly right. I nailed that. And, you know, we did get a little bit of less access from the Jets also. And I don't want that to be the start of a new trend now. Let these teams, let the NFL films crew do their job and kind of everybody will win.

Does you think anybody watch these five episodes of Hard Knocks or any of the past season, maybe the Brown season? You would come out of thinking a little different about the team. Hugh Jackson and Greg Williams going at it behind the scene. Yeah. But it's, it makes, it paint you in a positive light if you are a team that it has

it's together. Right. And I think the Jets do right now and that's what's so exciting. And I think that it shows confidence in an organization if you say yes to Hard Knocks. It shows that you don't have anything to hide and you're not worried about distractions because you have what it takes to go and win when it actually matters and that this is really just base camp right here before we get to Mount Everest. And you know what else? I would like to see more offsite gatherings like Broadway. So to the future producers of Hard Knocks, please take us offsite and I want more field. You want more. See, I don't.

need that as much. Really? I love that. I thought they'd a good job but kind of raining that in a little bit this season. What I would like to see in the future is more behind the scenes. I want to see more table pounding and things like that. I thought they kind of got it just right with, we went to Broadway, we did some charcutory. I did that. We got some tattoos with Will McDonald. It was nice. They did a nice job. It was a very enjoyable. And it was there, and they absolutely crushed the Sopranos open.

Oh. Like they did New York well. That's the other thing. Like I said, Leslie Nielsen name dropped. Okay, my favorite comedic actor ever. Love them so much that from beyond the grave, he autographed a glossy for my newborn son. Sopranos, probably my favorite show ever.

Yeah. Jets, my favorite team ever. You've always loved Hard Knocks, too. And Colleen, my favorite person. Hey! Doing a show with you, being lucky enough to do that, I really, it's pretty cool. You know?

I'm sad that it's over. I am too. But I do think that we have one more piece of business, do we, to get to? Do we? Because when I think about New York and the Northeast, I think about the food. People always ask me, you know, do I miss Philadelphia and Philly, right down the street from New York? Right. I say, yes, like, of course, I miss my family.

But I miss the sandwiches. I miss the carbs. Doe, any type of bread items, please. So we have. What do we got in? What do we have here? Get a camera on this. Okay.

So we have some food being delivered that is... What do we got here, Colleen? I honestly don't know what we have is it's a Taylor pork roll situation. It's a Taylor pork roll. Oh, and disco fries. And disco fries. Disco fries was not like part of my Philadelphia life. So thank you so much, Parker.

What is on a disco fry? Let's... That looks like... Well... Look at this, Colleen. Let's get a picture of this. This is basically New Jersey staples. Parker, can you get in the shot there?

Staples of... You tell her to get in or get out. I said in, but she went running. Staples of New Jersey diners. There's nothing more New Jersey than diners. What do we have here? So it's like a breakfast sandwich of sorts with, is this Taylor Porkroll? Yeah, this is it.

And so Taylor Pork Roll, egg and cheese? That's everything you. would ever want in a sandwich and tailor is a brand of pork but everyone just calls it a tailor right i don't know my dad calls it taylor pork roll like the full name which i think is um not popular where did this come from by the way it just got wheeled in out of here into this uh studio this is courtesy of the huddle are um our nice people upstairs that keep us fed and hook us up with all the great food from upstairs that is aerial put it together climb in schneider had their hand involved in this, you know?

Well, I feel like we should at least try a bite here, right? Eating with the mic is always weird, but... I don't know. Do we say bye and then bite? Yeah, why don't we do that? Again, yes, thank you to Matt Schneider, everybody behind the scenes here. Thank you to Ken Rogers and the NFL films who gave us this great access to a show. I will be wearing my hard-knock shirt proudly.

That we so obviously, I hope we express it adore and we hope to be back here again next year. Until then, heed the call. All right, let's go. Get it out. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the I. iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.